PokerStars Has Biggest Ever Weekly Tournament

Soon after President George W. Bush signed the port security bill that effectively banned banks from funding gambling sites, Party Poker took some drastic measures. Aside from disallowing US players from sitting in real-money games, and the big pop-up message announcing the cessation of dealings with Americans, there were two big things missing. First, the Sunday Million weekly guaranteed tournament had vanished from the listings along with many of Party Poker's other guaranteed tournaments. Second, and most noticeable, all of the Party Poker Monster Freeroll trappings were gone from the site. No more Monster prize pool ticker, no more Monster filters for game selection, and no more Monster tournaments or qualifiers were listed anywhere on the site.

With such severe actions being taken by the industry leader, all eyes were on this weekend's tournaments at other sites to see how they would be affected. Poker Stars set the tone for the weekend by having its largest ever number of entrants in its weekly $1 million guaranteed tournament. A total of 6,157 players entered the tournament to build a prize pool of $1,231,400. The Full Tilt monthly $500,000 guaranteed tournament also went beyond expectations, with 1,127 players and a prize pool of $563,500. Ultimate Bet missed its target number of entrants again this week, but its $200,000 guaranteed tournament's entry numbers have shown an upward trend over the past month, regardless of the US Legislation.

Thus, while the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act took down the leader in online poker, the sites that chose to stay open are more than willing to pick up Party Poker's slack and have seen increased traffic as a result.


Poker Stars Sunday Million

With Party Poker out of the running, Poker Stars is the new online poker leader in terms of traffic. Party Poker passed the torch and Poker Stars turned it into a flamethrower with this weekend's $1 million guaranteed tournament. The tournament made Poker Stars history for being its biggest weekly tournament ever with a first-place prize of $176,000.

Four of the nine players at the final table were from the United States, showing that American interest in online poker is still strong, in spite of the legislation. Sweden's Håcken entered the final table as the big stack with $10.3 million in chips but dazzy2004 was close behind with less than $100,000 fewer chips. Nobbyhayes was at the bottom with only $2.7 million. These were huge chip counts for a Poker Stars final table, especially when compared to last week where the chip leader entering the final table had only $3 million, almost as much as the short stack here.

Despite the largeness of the stacks, the blinds were high enough to compensate. The pressure of the blinds eventually got to nobbyhayes, who had only 10 times the big blind when he sat at the table. He pushed all in preflop for $3.3 million and was called by rockdown who had almost $5 million. Nobbyhayes flipped up A Q and rockdown showed pocket fours for the lead. Rockdown spiked another 4 on the flop to all but seal the deal and the turn and river sent nobbyhayes packing in ninth ($10,590.04).

After a half hour with no eliminations, Håcken managed to take out two players in back-to-back hands. The first to go was herschelw, who called all in after some aggressive betting on the turn of a board showing 8 4 3 10. Håcken showed K 9 for a flush and herschelw turned over 10 7 for a pair of tens and was drawing dead. He earned $16,008.02 for eighth. In the very next hand, Håcken went up against jere1997 who pushed all in preflop. Håcken turned over K Q and jere1997 showed Q 8 and was dominated. The flop put down two queens, giving both players trips, but no 8 came and jere1997 was sent to the virtual rail in seventh ($22,165.20).

Dazzy2004 was the next to go, despite sitting in second place at the final table's start. His stack was chipped away at until he finally pushed all in on a flop of 10 9 7 against WSODice, who had him covered by $2.5 million. WSODice called and showed pocket aces while dazzy2004 flipped up Q 8 for an open-ended straight draw. The turn and river missed dazzy2004 and he took home $28,568.48 for sixth.

Cookiedough1 made for the second back-to-back knockout of the final table when he went out the very next hand after dazzy2004's elimination. He pushed all in preflop and was called by Håcken, who showed pocket nines. Cookiedough1 turned over pocket fives and was in big trouble going to the flop. The flop all but put the nail in his coffin when it put out a third 9 and, after the turn and river failed to help him, cookiedough1 left in fifth for $35,341.18.

The next player sent to the rail was WSODice when his J 9 went up against Håcken's K 4 preflop. Neither player improved his hand and Håcken won with ace high with a king kicker. WSODice got a $44,084.12 payday for his finish.

UGOTPZD was eliminated after he pushed all in on what appeared to be a bluff. On a flop of 8 5 2, UGOTPZD raised all in, after Håcken bet out, and Håcken called. UGOTPZD said, "...why am I so tricky..." before showing A 4, apparently referring to his attempt to trick Håcken. With only an inside straight draw and an overcard for UGOTPZD, Håcken was sitting well with his 10 8 for top pair. Håcken hit two pair on the turn and the river failed to bring a 3 to complete UGOTPZD's straight, busting him in third ($55,289.86).

Håcken had over a 4-to-1 chip lead going into heads up against rockdown, but rockdown managed to quickly shorten that gap in the very first hand of heads-up play. Rockdown raised to three times the big blind and Håcken reraised all in over the top. Rockdown called and showed A J while Håcken was behind when he showed A 7. Neither improved and rockdown doubled up by virtue of his jack kicker. The stacks were now $24 million for rockdown and $37 million for Håcken. These stacks remained virtually unchanged for the next 10 minutes, until rockdown finally called all in after some aggressive preflop action. Rockdown showed pocket kings and Håcken was hurting when he flipped up A K. The flop was no help when it came 9 7 4. The turn put the 10 on the board, and it looked like rockdown would strip the chip lead from Håcken with this hand. The river was a miracle ace for Håcken and he took down the pot to eliminate rockdown from the tournament in second ($87,798.82). Håcken took in a huge $176,090.20 for his first-place finish.

The final standings were as follows:

1) Håcken - $176,090.20
2) rockdown - $87,798.82
3) UGOTPZD - $55,289.86
4) WSODice - $44,084.12
5) cookiedough1 - $35,341.18
6) dazzy2004 - $28,568.48
7) jere1997 - $22,165.20
8) herschelw - $16,008.20
9) nobbyhayes - $10,590.04


Full Tilt Monthly $500,000 Guaranteed

Full Tilt didn't shy away from US customers or its monthly $500,000 guaranteed tournament. The move worked out for Full Tilt when the tournament's prize pool went beyond the guarantee to end up at $563,500. The top finisher of the 1,127 entrants stood to make almost $127,000 for his efforts.

The prize was basically JungleKing's for the taking as he entered the final table with $1.4 million in chips compared to second-place SICK_1's $400,000. However, JungleKing's stack barely moved an inch over the course of the final table while one of his opponents, copi, slowly but surely accumulated chips from the rest of the table. Copi eventually took over the chip lead when there were still five players remaining and both he and JungleKing fought their way into heads-up play.

Copi bolstered his lead by the time the heads-up match started. He sat with $2.2 million compared to JungleKing's $1.1 million and retained the lead for the next three minutes until the final hand. After a raise by JungleKing and a reraise by copi preflop, the flop came 9 8 4. Copi led out with a bet and JungleKing pushed all in. Copi called and showed pocket tens for an overpair. JungleKing flipped up pocket aces for the lead. The turn put another 10 on the board, giving copi a set and leaving JungleKing needing to hit a two-outer to resuck on copi's two-out miracle. However, the river was the 7 and JungleKing was eliminated in second ($80,298.75). Copi earned $126,787.50 for toppling the monster stack at this final table.

The final standings were:

1) copi - $126,787.50
2) JungleKing - $80,298.75
3) PallasAthene - $59,449.25
4) SICK_1 - $46,488.75
5) blackmetalhead - $35,218.75
6) DoggerAZ - $25,357.50
7) joc - $16,905
8) joonklee - $12,678.75
9) sportsrecord - $9,016


Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed

The Ultimate Bet tournament missed its required number of entrants again this weekend, as previously stated, but the number of participants in its weekly tournament continue to increase. This week, 896 players took to the task of taking the first prize of $45,000, meaning Ultimate Bet had to overlay $20,800 for the tournament.

After almost seven hours of play, Farkouh was the eventual winner when he pushed all in on a board showing Q 6 5 5 and was called by his opponent Nauti 1. Farkouh had Nauti 1 covered and he turned over Q 8 for two pair. Nauti 1 was behind when he showed J 6 for a flush draw and a worse two pair. He was almost a 5-to-1 underdog going to the river as it came the 3. Nauti 1 placed second ($27,000) and Farkouh took down the pot and the tournament to cash in for $45,000.

The final standings were as follows:

1) Farkouh - $45,000
2) Nauti 1 - $27,000
3) Dawg Balls - $18,500
4) Cathemeral - $13,000
5) Jagtalon - $11,000
6) Destructo6 - $9,000
7) winemo - $7,000
8) Aceaholic - $5,000
9) timkrank - $3,500
10) IRAWENDY - $2,000


Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed

Rather than only have three major weekly tournaments to report on due to Party Poker's absence, we've decided to fill the void with Bodog's $100,000 guaranteed tournament. Like Ultimate Bet's tournament, Bodog missed its guarantee requirement by 164 entrants, resulting in a $16,400 overlay for the tournament.

Billmeho entered the final table with a chip lead of $512,000 compared to UND_Dominate's $366,000 in second place and snowpaup's $297,000 in third. Those three players carried their stacks to the final three places. Billmeho's stack barely fluctuated throughout the final table before he was finally eliminated in third ($9,000) when he called all in against snowpaup witk K 9 and was dominated against snowpaup's pocket nines.

After eliminating Billmeho, snowpaup had effectively closed the chip gap between UND_Dominate and himself. Both players sat with roughly $1 million in chips. The heads-up match between the two took 12 minutes, which equated to 25 percent of the total final table action. UND_Dominate chipped away at snowpaup's stack until snowpaup was left with under $400,000. Snowpaup built his stack back up to almost $800,000 until finally pushing all in after some aggressive preflop action. Snowpaup showed A J and UND_Dominate flipped up A Q for the lead. The board improved neither player and snowpaup was eliminated in second ($14,000). UND_Dominate took home $25,000 for his win.

The final standings were as follows:

1) UND_Dominate - $25,000
2) snowpaup - $14,000
3) Billmeho - $9,000
4) Shangnasty - $6,500
5) FatMoneyBags - $5,400
6) divingduck - $4,400
7) Di_Maestro - $3,400
8) Blitz29 - $2,400
9) Whartonchick - $1,550


The sites that decided to stay are even offering deposit bonus to encourage play. Click the following site names to collect the bonuses: Full Tilt, Bodog, Absolute and UltimateBet.

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