Mustapha Kanit Claims $1.3 Million and SCOOP Title

May 26th, 2015 | by Kaycee James

Italy’s Mustapha Kanit takes down this year’s SCOOP Main Event for $1.3 million. (Image: PokerStars.com)

If anyone is thinking about betting on a player to win their first bracelet at the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) this summer, then Italy’s Mustapha Kanit could be a wise bet.

Earlier this month the young pro took down the EPT Grand Final’s â‚¬50,000 ($54,000) Super High Roller for a â‚¬936,500 ($1,048,243) pay day and he followed that up this weekend with a win in PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event.

King Kanit

The $10,000 online event offered players the chance to compete for a guaranteed prizepool of $4,000,000, but once the registration desks had closed and 694 players had taken their seats that figure had been pushed to $6,940,000.

As expected, many of the world’s finest live and online tournament pros were in action, including the likes of Dan Cates, Viktor Blom and Richard Lyndaker, aka ‘nutsinho’.

However, by the time the final table rolled around on Monday, it was Kanit pushing for the title ahead of some stiff competition.

When the final table got underway it was Austria’s Tonio RÃ¶der pushing the pace when he eliminated ‘albeainy’ in either place.

With the elimination floodgates open, Kanit soon stepped into the fray and took out arguably the toughest player in the finale, Shaun Deeb.

After winning a race against Deeb with Ac Qc, Kanit was able to kick on and accrue enough chips to book himself a showdown with former WPT champion, Emil Patel. With a wealth of experience behind them, both players were confident in their skills and neither appeared ready to cut a deal.

Boasting a 3-1 chip lead before the final round of cards were dealt, Kanit held his nerve while Patel mounted a mini-comeback and eventually brought the hammer down after looking down at Qs Qd.

Following a flurry of betting pre-flop, the pair were willing to get all their chips in the middle with the board Jd Qh 9h Qs Ts.

A Hot Tip for the WSOP

Holding an unbeatable four-of-kind, Kanit made the first move on the river and instantly made the call after Patel moved all-in holding Js Th.

With the hand over and the final chips now in his possession, the chat box erupted with messages of congratulations as the Italian was shipped the $1,304,720 top prize.

That win not only took Kanit’s monthly tournament earnings beyond the $2,000,000 mark, but it should give him a timely confidence boost ahead of the WSOP.

Momentum is crucial in the poker world and, if Kanit can parlay his recent success into a strong run in the Series, he could put himself in a position to become the first Italian winner in Main Event history.