London banker Talal 'raidalot' Shakerchi and high-stakes poker player is also one heck of an online poker player. Playing on PokerStars as raidalot, Shakerchi binked his fifth SCOOP title with a victory in 2021 SCOOP Event $2,100 HORSE. Shakerchi won a SCOOP in back-to-back years after he won his fourth SCOOP last spring. He's now a member of the 5 SCOOP Club with Jason Mercier, Luke Schwartz, and Shaun Deeb.
Ship it to raidalot... again... for the fifth time with a title in 2021 SCOOP. Talal 'raidalot' Shakerchi won his first SCOOP back in 2012. Since then, he's won four more SCOOP titles and added numerous final tables along the way. And this is just during PokerStars annual Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP).
Shakerchi has now reached the halfway mark of the current SCOOP GOAT. Cal 'cal42688' Anderson, an American pro who spent numerous years grinding in exile in Mexico, took down ten SCOOP titles during his tenure as one of the greatest tournament players in PokerStars history. Anderson binked two SCOOPs in 2018, but has been silent ever since.
Connor 'blanconegro' Drinan, Mike 'SirWats' Watson, Shaun 'buck21' Buchanan both won six SCOOPs. Drinan won five last year during his heater at the 2020 SCOOP. Watson also had a sensational 2020 SCOOP with three titles. Buchanan got hot in 2016 when he binked three that spring.
Shakerchi are chasing the GOAT, but Shakerchi is halfway there. He's in the grouping of five-time SCOOP champs including Shaun Deeb, Jason Mercier, Luke Schwartz, Nic Chouity, Rui Ferreira, Benny Glasser, and Jussi 'calvin7v' Nevanlinna.
Shakerchi popped his cherry back in 2012 with a victory in a 2012 SCOOP Event #20-M $215 NL. He banked $172K. In 2014, he took down SCOOP Event #16-H $1,050 NL Big Antes for $169K. In 2016, Shakerchi hit pay dirt when he shipped the Main Event. He took down Event #54-H $10,300 for a sick score worth $1.4 million. Last year, he took down Event #25-H $2,100 Triple Draw for $42K. This year, he added a HORSE event to his resume. He's now won over $2 million in SCOOP events.
Considering he's in his 50s and wasn't a 20-something during the poker boom, Shakerchi has been able to excel as a hybrid poker player with mad skills in both the virtual online waters and the brick and mortar scene. His background in finance has made him a tough opponent at the tables. In live events, Shakerchi banked over $7.6 million in tournaments with his largest score of $1.1 million at the Super High Roller Bowl in Vegas in 2018. He's had sizeable scores with final table appearances at WPT and EPT events. In 2013, he shipped a high roller at the EPT London for £436K.
Shakerchi is currently ranked #6 in Hendon Mob on the all-time England money list and passed the legendary Devilfish, who is currently ranked #8 for $6.2 million. I doubt anyone will catch pro Stevie Chidwick, who now has $34.7 million and counting, as the top English money winner. He's currently #6 in all-time with that much loot. English pro Sam Trickett is second on the all-time money list with $21.7 million, while Charlie Carrel is closing in on $10 million and needs roughly $420K more to reach the exclusive eight-figures mark. Shakerchi trails Ben Heath ($8.6 million) in fourth and Jack Salter ($8.4 million) in fifth, but he's within striking distance.
