There have been several mammoth tournaments held so far during the 2012 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker, or SCOOP. And, believe it or not, there have been a few of them that didn’t feature PokerStars pro Viktor Isildur1Blom at the top of the leaderboard. Among those flying high so far is Sam TheSquidGrafton (pictured), who recently won a PocketFives Triple Crown and was part of a five-way chop of the high-stakes version of SCOOP Event #2.

Grafton walked away with $234,000 from the $2,100 No Limit Hold’em tournament following the deal and received the event’s largest payday. He officially took third place and told PocketFives how the chop went down: “We were five-handed. I had the chip lead and decided to look at the numbers. I clicked the button to discuss a deal and we made one instantly. I guess the others had already clicked it and we just took ICM.”

He pocketed $234,000 from the ICM deal and played on for another $20,000 in cash. “I was confident I would win, but when we played it out for the remaining $20,000, I was the chip leader and got coolered, running T-T into A-A and two pair into two pair. It just shows the variance.”

PokerStars member greezhool, who hails from Lithuania, officially came away with the win in SCOOP Event #2 and banked $220,000. Second place and $193,000 went to Germany’s @cey@lone, while a familiar face in the PocketFives community, Canada’s Luke IWEARGOGGLES Staudenmaier (pictured), finished in the #4 spot for $187,000.

The U.K. native is the holder of four Triple Crowns, the most recent of which was solidified on the final day of April. He shot up from #123 worldwide in the PocketFives Poker Player Rankings to #70 when the standings were recalculated on Wednesday and is the #8 player in the United Kingdom.

Getting to represent his U.K. countrymen, several of whom have been active in our new United Kingdom pokercommunity, was a thrill. “I’m just excited about the SCOOP,” Grafton shared. “There are so many incredible English players, so I’m glad I got a good result. I’m sure many of my mates will get results soon.” Grafton holds the top Sliding PLB score in the city of London.

He’ll now head to Las Vegas for the 2012 World Series of Poker and shared his advice for those looking to strike it big online. You’re not going to believe this one: “My one recommendation to the poker community is to make sure you have a good avatar.” Yes, it’s all about the avatar.

Grafton explained that a simple avatar change seemed to be the key to victory: “In the first few months of the year, my avatar had members of the community who are good friends: mcc3991, EMSGAWA9, and OMGJayGatsby. I ran terribly. Over the last two months when I got my Triple Crown and the SCOOP score, I went for the big hitters: badpab2and moorman1 (pictured). I’ve run like God ever since.” Maybe it’s not a coincidence.

At this year’s WSOP, Grafton has his eyes set on Event #28, a new $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Four-Max tournament. The event is bound to feature plenty of action, with Grafton previewing, “I can’t wait for the Four-Max. I love the battles, the blind wars, and all that stuff.” He has one WSOP cash to his credit, a $25,000 haul for taking 14th in a $2,500 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em tournament last June.

He’s maneuvered his way to a number of solid cashes as of late, including a win in the PokerStars Big $109 in January for $18,000 and a 98th place exit from the WCOOP Main Event last year for $17,000. He has $1.3 million in tracked MTT cashes to his name and holds the 51st best PLB score worldwide.

Don’t forget, PokerStarsis running a special freeroll on Sunday, May 13th at 2:30pm ET for PocketFives readers. It’s a winner-take-all freebie for a $1,050 ticket into the 27th event of the Spring Championship of Online Poker. We’d like to thank PokerStars for bringing this type of value to the PocketFives community. Sign up for PokerStars today.