Papoorboy snags a two-outer on the river to eliminate Jacks_10.
The major tournaments on
PokerStars and
Full Tilt (the
Sunday Million and the $400,000 guarantee, respectively) were replaced by massive
World Series of Poker main event qualifiers last night for this weekend only, and the two missing big guns seemed to have thinned the Internet poker crowd across the board. This Sunday's attendances were further affected by those taking time to be with family for Father's Day. The turnouts for the qualifiers themselves, though, were huge.
PokerStars and Full Tilt World Series of Poker Qualifiers
The PokerStars and Full Tilt
World Series of Poker main event qualifers last night were huge successes. PokerStars held a 150-seat-guaranteed tournament (equivalent to $1.8 million in prizes) that lured a
Sunday Million-worthy 6,934 entrants at $350 apiece, to build a prize pool of $2,426,900. That prize pool offered 220 $12,000 main event prize packages (a $10,000 seat plus $1,000 for travel and $1,000 for wearing the PokerStars logo, which is added by the site). Some big names among the winners were IBluffUOut4 (who final tabled both the
Sunday Million and the Full Tilt $400,000-guaranteed tournaments simultaneously on April 8 of this year) and Jason "JasonGray" Gray.
At Full Tilt, the 100-seat-guaranteed tournament held there (which guaranteed $1.2 million in prize packages) had 3,338 entrants. The $1,669,000 prize pool meant that 139 players stood to leave with a seat in the main event and $2,000 spending money. The seat winners included prominent Internet pro Steve "gboro780" Gross, and notable players FundMyAudi , DF_Newbie, timkrank, and Wake all in.
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
The $200,000 guarantee at
UltimateBet lured only 783 entrants last night, likely as a side-effect of both the Father's Day holiday and the replacement of the major Sunday tournaments this weekend on PokerStars and Full Tilt. The dearth of entrants meant UltimateBet had to come out of pocket for a massive $43,400 to match the posted guarantee.
Dmacm held the chip lead as the final table began, with $393,000 in chips. TallPaul75 wasn't too far behind with $322,000 and feldliss was bringing up the rear with just $62,000 when the big blind was $8,000. Internet notable Alex "AK87" Kim was also at the table as a mid-stacked player. Feldliss managed to double his stack and avoid the chopping block for the first elimination hand.
AK87 raised to $25,000 from late position (with the big blind now at $10,000) and TallPaul75 called on the button. UKpaul, the new shortstack at the table, reraised all in in the small blind for $48,000 and AK87 pushed all in over the top for $300,000, folding TallPaul75. UKpaul turned over Q
J
and AK87 held a dominating K
Q
. The board ran out 9
7
4
9
K
and AK87 made a needless pair of kings on the river to take UKpaul out in tenth place ($2,000).
Next, TallPaul75, who had already lost more than half of his stack, lost another large chunk in a big hand. He raised to $30,000 from under the gun, with the big blind now at $12,000, and sterio 48 pushed all in in late position for $114,000, folding the remaining opponents. TallPaul75 called and showed pocket fours, and had a slight lead versus sterio 48's A
K
. The flop came K
9
2
to put sterio 48 in a commanding lead with a pair of kings. The turn and river were blanks and TallPaul75 was down to just $54,000 to become the new short stack.
TallPaul75 regained much of what he lost in that hand, however, and managed to survive through the next elimination hand. Papoorboy raised to $33,000 in mid-position and Jacks_10 reraised all in for $75,000 in the small blind. Papoorboy made the call and showed A
6
and was well behind Jacks_10's A
Q
. The board ran out A
K
9
3
6
to give papoorboy the two-outer he needed (the 6
would have completed a flush for Jacks_10) to send Jacks_10 to the rail in ninth place, for $3,500.
It was more than 30 minutes before the next elimination hand took place. TallPaul75 raised to $50,000 from under the gun, with the big blind now at $20,000, and the table folded to AK87 in the small blind. AK87 pushed all in for $504,000 and papoorboy folded in the big blind. TallPaul75 called all in for his last $240,000 and showed pocket sixes. He was in horrible shape versus AK87's pocket jacks as the board bricked out. TallPaul75 had gone from second place to out in eighth, with $5,000 in his pocket.
In the very next hand, Narboza open-pushed all in for his very short stack of $24,000. AK87 reraised all in over the top for $778,000 on the button to isolate Narboza, folding the blinds. Narboza flipped up Q
6
and AK87 held A
2
for a small lead. The board paired, but otherwise missed both players, and Narboza was out in seventh place, earning $7,000.
Fairly soon thereafter, papoorboy was crippled when he called smd6971's preflop all-in bet with pocket deuces. Smd6971 held A-K and spiked an ace on the flop to double up, leaving papoorboy with just $24,000 and in the big blind next hand. The table folded to AK87 in the small blind, and he raised to $72,000. Papoorboy pushed in what little remained of his stack and showed K
2
. AK87 held a dominating A
K
and the board bricked out, leaving both players unimproved. AK87 took down the pot to send papoorboy to the rail in sixth place ($9,000).
Sterio 48 was the next to get it all in preflop. He raised to $80,000 from under the gun, leaving himself with just $62,000 behind, and AK87 reraised to $280,000 on the button, folding the blinds. Sterio 48 called all in and showed K
J
versus AK87's leading pocket nines. The board paired, but otherwise missed both players, and AK87 took out yet another opponent. Sterio 48 got an $11,000 payday for fifth place.
The rest of the tournament lasted just three and a half minutes. AK87's bloodlust continued when he open-pushed all in in the very next hand from under the gun. Smd6971 called all in from the button for his last $204,000 and the blinds folded. AK87 showed pocket deuces and was a very slight favorite compared to smd6971's A
Q
. The board once again put out blanks and AK87's deuces held up to chalk up another kill for him. Smd6971 made $13,000 for fourth place.
AK87 had $1.5 million in chips, almost 78 percent of the chips in play, as threehanded play began. Dmacm was in second place with $345,000 and feldliss was in bad shape in third place with $101,000, barely more than five times the big blind. A few minutes into three-way play, Dmacm pushed all in in the small blind and feldliss called all in and showed J
8
. Dmacm was leading with Q
3
as the board ran out K
7
5
5
6
. Dmacm raked in the small pot to put feldliss out in third place, for an $18,500 payday.
Dmacm now had just $287,000 versus AK87's commanding $1.7 million. The final hand was only minutes later. Dmacm pushed all in preflop and AK87 called and showed pocket sixes. The sixes were in a slight lead against Dmacm's K
10
as the flop came out A
4
2
. Dmacm now had more outs to double up a king, 10, or any club. The turn was the 4
and the river the 7
, however, and Dmacm was eliminated in second place ($28,000). AK87 took the $46,000 top prize in the tournament after gunning down seven of his nine opponents at the final table.
The final results were:
1) Alex "AK87" Kim - $46,000
2) Dmacm - $28,000
3) feldliss - $18,500
4) smd6971 - $13,000
5) sterio 48 - $11,000
6) papoorboy - $9,000
7) Narboza - $7,000
8) TallPaul75 - $5,000
9) Jacks_10 - $3,500
10) UKpaul - $2,000
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
The
Bodog $100,000-guaranteed tournament had just 738 entrants last night, meaning the site had to put up a $26,200 overlay to match the guarantee.
BuddyHammer was the chip leader when the final table kicked off. He had $454,000 in chips compared to Kirk50 in second place with $260,000. Both players carried their stacks (and respective places, for that matter) into three-way play. BuddyHammer now had $819,000 in first place and Kirk50 had $515,000 in second place. However, Kirk50's second-place standing was on tenuous ground, as jacksup13 had $511,000 in third place, with the big blind at $30,000. A big hand early in threehanded play would change the course of the tournament.
BuddyHammer raised to $166,000 on the button and jacksup13 called. The flop came A
J
4
and jacksup13 checked. BuddyHammer bet $137,000 and jacksup13 again called. The turn was the K
and jacksup13 again checked. BuddyHammer checked behind and the river was the 10
. Both players again checked and jacksup13 turned up A
2
for a pair of aces, prompting BuddyHammer to muck. Jacksup13 was now the chip leader with $763,000 in chip and BuddyHammer had sunk back to second place with $567,000.
In the next elimination hand, BuddyHammer raised to $104,000 preflop from the button and Kirk50 reraised all in for $317,000, folding jacksup13. BuddyHammer called and showed A
6
and was leading against Kirk50's K
Q
. The flop came Q
10
2
, putting Kirk50 in the lead with a pair of queens but giving BuddyHammer a flush draw. The turn was the 6
and the river the 2
, completing BuddyHammer's flush to knock Kirk50 out in third place ($9,200).
That hand put BuddyHammer back in the lead with $994,000 versus jacksup13's $851,000. The tournament lasted just five more minutes. In the first big hand of heads-up play, BuddyHammer ($981,000) min-raised to $60,000 preflop and jacksup13 ($858,000) reraised to $190,000. BuddyHammer called and the flop came Q
3
2
. Jacksup13 bet $250,000 and BuddyHammer pushed all in. Jacksup13 immediately called all in and showed pocket kings (with no club). BuddyHammer turned over Q
6
for top pair and was behind. The turn was the 8
and the river the 4
and jacksup13 raked in the huge pot to put himself at $1.7 million and leave BuddyHammer with just $124,000.
BuddyHammer managed to double up three times after that hand through some continuous, fast-paced preflop all-in action, which put his stack up to $636,000. However, BuddyHammer may have experienced velocitation of sorts, as he continued his fast, preflop all-in playing style, even with his very playable stack.
Jacksup13 min-raised to $80,000 preflop and BuddyHammer pushed all in over the top for $632,000. Jacksup13 quickly called and showed A
J
and was ahead of BuddyHammer's 8
6
. The board ran out 6
4
2
8
K
(action would likely have been heavy on the flop and turn, anyway) and jacksup13 took down the final pot with an ace-high flush. BuddyHammer made $14,300 for second place and jacksup13 pocketed the $25,000 first-place prize.
The final results were:
1) jacksup13 - $25,000
2) BuddyHammer - $14,300
3) Kirk50 - $9,200
4) Dubduece88 - $6,900
5) msvlmatt - $5,500
6) georgia frank - $4,500
7) poker2000ss - $3,500
8) daisyxoxo - $2,500
9) monet878 - $1,600
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