Gianluca 'Tankanza' Speranza, an Italian pro residing in Austria shipped the 2019 SCOOP Main Event on PokerStars in back-to-back years. The 2018 SCOOP Main Event champ successfully defended his title in the $10,300 Main Event against a field of 662 runners. Speranza banked $1,028,203 after a heads-up deal with OMGitshunt.

Ship it to Tankanza... two times! Gianluca 'Tankanza' Speranza picked up his second SCOOP title of the 2019 Spring World Championship of Poker on PokerStars. The 2018 SCOOP Main Event-High champion went the distance once again by winning the 2019 SCOOP Main Event-High. It's one of those crazy things that can happen in the virtual world because it's not easy to win a 10K event with a 600+ field once, let alone twice.
Tankanza, originally from Italy, relocated to Austria to play online poker on a global platform. He had a great 2018 SCOOP by taking down the 10K Main Event for a score worth $1.1 million. This year, he banked another cool million by winning the Main Event after a heads-up chop.
Last year's SCOOP Main Event attracted 654 runners to the High version of the marquee event. All SCOOPs offer three levels of buy-ins to accommodate players with modest bankrolls. The 2018 SCOOP Main Event final table also included Chris 'Big Huni' Hunichen, Niklas "Lena900" Astedt, Thomas "WushuTM" Muehloecker, nailuj90, mikki696, caaaaamel, JayP-AA, and ULOSEMFKR!! Lena900 busted in eighth place, WushuTM took seventh place, and Big Huni bounced in third place.
Tankanza picked off nailuj90 in second place, Austria's nailuj90 took home $837K for a runner-up share last year. Tankanza's score was worth $1,133,160.03.
This year's Main Event final table included two faces from last year with nailuj90 and Tankanza going deep once again. The 2019 final table featured Tankanza, OMGitshunt, Dinesh 'NastyMinder' Alt, Francisco 'Tomatee' Benitez, and American online exile Nick 'caecilius' Petrangelo. The final eight also included felipebeltra, Korrinho, and OMGitshunt.
Nick 'caecilius' Petrangelo hit the bricks in eighth place.
nailuj90 was the runner-up last year, but this year he busted in fifth place. nailuj90 banked $324K for fifth.
Francisco 'Tomatee' Benitez was knocked out in fourth place, followed by Dinesh 'NastyMinder' Alt in third place. NastyMinder took home $604K for third.
It got heads up between Tankanza and OMGitshunt. They decided to chop up the money and leave $100K on the table, plus the title and bragging rights.
Tankanza defeated OMGitshunt heads-up for the title. OMGitshunt locked up $924,096 for second place. Not too shabby, eh?
Tankanza earned a payout worth $1,028,203. He won $2.1 million in the SCOOP Main Event the last two years. In live events, he banked over $2.5 million including a runner-up finish (worth $800K) at the 2017 WSOP Europe Main Event in RozVegas.
2019 SCOOP Main Event High
Buy-in: $10,300
Entrants: 662
Prize Pool: $6,620,000
Final Table Results:
1. Gianluca 'Tankanza' Speranza $1,028,203 **
2. OMGitshunt $924,096 **
3. Dinesh 'NastyMinder' Alt $604,383
4. Francisco 'Tomatee' Benitez $442,597
5. nailuj90 $324,119
6. felipebeltra $237,356
7. Korrinho $173,819
8. Nick 'caecilius' Petrangelo $127,290
** heads-up chop