While
PokerStars may have had another record-breaking weekend, all eyes were on the
FullTilt final table. Both Mike Matusow and Juan Carlos Mortensen battled their way through a record-breaking field at FullTilt's newly titled $350,000 guarantee to make it to the final table. It's hard to compete with that kind of star power sitting at the final table of FullTilt's biggest ever weekly tournament.
FullTilt $350,000 Guarantee
FullTilt prompted some excitement for tournament watchers when both Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and Juan Carlos "The Matador" Mortensen were doing very well for themselves entering the final 100 players. Both Matusow and Mortensen had been taking turns in the chip lead throughout the last hour before the final table was formed. Neither pro strayed far outside of the top 10 in chip stacks in that hour as they made their way to the final table. After beating out 1,997 players, the final nine took their seats to claim a piece of the record $401,200 prize pool.
Not only did Mike Matusow make it to the final table, he came in as the chip leader. Mortensen wasn't doing too badly for himself either, sitting in fifth place among the tightly packed mid-stacks. FullTilt railbirds were going crazy. Of course, every railbird had an opinion on both Matusow and Mortensen, and they were more than happy to share their sentiments on a hand-by-hand basis. Every hand that Matusow lost, for instance, was a precursor to one of his famous "Matusow Blowups," as far as the prophetic railbirds were concerned. And maybe they were right. Five minutes in, the nine players were down to seven, having lost both DEADMONEZZZ and HoosierAlum along the way in ninth ($5,617) and eighth ($7,422), respectively. Matusow remained at the chip lead with $1.3 million, but Mortensen had gained some speed and was now in second with $1 million. It was then that Matusow hit a big speed bump.
Matusow sat in the big blind and called 1stueyungar1's preflop raise of three times the blind. The flop came out 8
5
2
and Matusow pushed all in, having 1stueyunger1 covered by $700,000. 1stueyunger1 called and showed pocket fours. Matusow flipped over 9
7
for nine-high with a gutshot straight draw. The 3
came on the turn and the 10
came on the river, further improving neither player, and almost halving Matusow's stack.
Matusow kept his stack at the same level for a little over 10 minutes before again getting involved in a big hand, this time against MrTimCaum. Action folded to Matusow in the small blind and he limped in. MrTimCaum raised to $120,000 from the big blind, four times the blind, and Matusow responded by pushing all in for over $700,000. MrTimCaum called and showed K
Q
, while Matusow flipped over 8
7
. The flop paired MrTimCaum's king and it was all over from there. Matusow was left with only $160,000.
Matusow pushed all in preflop the very next hand against freegas2 and showed Q
J
. He was in trouble when freegas2 flipped over pocket aces. The flop failed to improve Matusow and the turn gave him false hope with an open-ended straight draw that the river failed to complete. Matusow was sent to the rail in seventh ($9,428) after entering the final table with a 4-to-3 chip lead over second place.
Kchang3 was next to go when he called all in against The-Toilet 0 preflop and showed K
J
. The-Toilet 0 turned over A
J
for a dominating hand going to the flop. The flop brought an ace to make kchang3's plight almost hopeless and by the river he was already packed and gone in sixth, earning $12,919.
Mortensen's stack had dwindled at this point to just over $100,000. Mortensen managed to double up twice, first through 1stueyungar1 and then through MrTimCaum, to put his stack at a more comfortable $400,000. The double-through hurt MrTimCaum's stack enough to cause him to push all in preflop. He was called by The-Toilet 0, who showed A
J
. MrTimCaum flipped over pocket eights for a slight lead in the coin-flip situation. The flop paired both The-Toilet 0's cards, which was enough to eliminate MrTimCaum in fifth ($18,054).
Mortensen continued to lie low and nurse his stack as fourth place was eliminated. 1stueyungar1 was in the chip lead with $2.6 million and raised to $200,000, four times the big blind. Freegas2 was sitting in second with $1.9 million and reraised to almost $700,000. 1stueyungar1 called to see the flop of 7
5
3
. 1stueyungar1 checked and freegas2 pushed all in for his remaining $1.2 million. 1stueyungar1 called and showed pocket queens, while freegas2 flipped over K
10
for overcards to the board. The turn was a blank and the river brought another queen to give 1stueyungar1 an unnecessary set to eliminate freegas2 in fourth. Freegas2 pocketed $23,671 for his finish.
Mortensen had squeaked by to the final three, holding less than $400,000 compared to The-Toilet 0's $1 million and 1stueyungar1's massive $4.6 million. Mortensen climbed his way up to almost $760,000 before opting to push all in preflop. 1stueyungar1 called and showed K
3
and was up against Mortensen's A
6
. Mortensen held the lead only until the flop brought both a king and a 3 for 1stueyungar1. An ace on the turn wasn't enough to save Mortensen from hitting the rail in third, for $29,689.
With an almost 4-to-1 chip lead over The-Toilet 0, it took 1stueyungar1 only three minutes to put the final nail in the coffin. After The-Toilet 0's preflop raise, 1stueyungar1 pushed all in. The-Toilet 0 called and showed A
7
, while 1stueyungar1 showed pocket eights for a good lead. The-Toilet 0 failed to connect with the board and he was eliminated in second ($45,336). 1stueyungar1 took down the tournament, beating 2,005 opponents and two big-name pros at his final table, and left with a $73,821 payday.
The final standings were:
1) 1stueyungar1 - $73,820.80
2) The-Toilet 0 - $45,335.60
3) Juan Carlos Mortensen - $29,688.80
4) freegas2 - $23,670.80
5) MrTimCaum - $18,054
6) kchang3 - $12,918.64
7) Mike Matusow - $9,428.20
8) HoosierAlum - $7,422.20
9) DEADMONEZZZZ - $5,616.80
PokerStars Sunday Million
Another week, another record for the
PokerStars $215
Sunday Million guaranteed tournament. While the prize pool wasn't as big as last week's, the comparison is slightly unfair due to the fact that the buy in last week was $530. The tournament did make for the highest ever entry (and thus, largest prize pool) for the regularly scheduled $215 events, luring 6,606 players into a fight for $1,321,200.
The PokerStars tournament likely broke another record this weekend: the longest final table in the event's history. While not confirmed as the longest, the final table lasted over three hours, 2.5 of which were for the final three players and an hour of which was heads up. The reason for the incredibly long table was the fact that the blinds reached their maximum level early on at $400,000 for the big blind, when the final three players had an average of $22 million.UGOTPZD had a slight chip advantage going into three-way play with $28 million. UGOTPZD was familiar with the PokerStars final table, having finished in third ($55,290) just three weeks ago. CZuke39 was in second with $22.6 million and peedsster35 sat in third with $15.3 million. After over an hour, and plenty of ups and downs for all three players, UGOTPZD managed to push his lead to over four times CZuke39 in second.
CZuke39 and peedsster both had stacks near $10 million when peedsster35 pushed all in preflop. CZuke39 called, having peedsster35 barely covered, and showed K
Q
. Peedsster35 flipped over the lead with A
7
. The lead wasn't to last as the flop came K
Q
7
, giving CZuke39 two pair, which would be enough to eliminate peedsster35 in third $57,472.
CZuke39 took his 2-to-1 disadvantaged stack and turned it into a 2-to-1 advantage within 20 minutes. At this point, the two players took a break to discuss a chop. They eventually decided that $127,965 for CZuke39 and $119,091 for UGOTPZD would be fair, with $30,000 still on the table for the winner. The two traded the chip advantage twice before CZuke39 finally started chipping away at UGOTPZD's stack almost an hour later.
Left with a relatively crippled stack, UGOTPZD called all in against CZuke39's raise on a board of 9
9
8
. CZuke39 showed Q
8
and UGOTPZD held 8
6
. UGOTPZD was behind, but the 6
on the turn gave him a few more outs. The Q
on the river sealed the deal and sent him packing in second. CZuke39 raked in the hand and the extra $30,000 to put his total winnings at $157,965.
The final standings were:
*1) CZuke39 - $157,965
*2) UGOTPZD - $119,091
3) peedsster35 - $57,472.20
4) chickenhawk9 - $44,788.68
5) Jonaz - $35,408.16
6) Bklyn55 - $28,537.92
7) aptharry - $22,460.40
8) 04Bosh - $16,647.12
9) Gussjio - $10,833.84
* Payout reflects a two-way chop deal.
UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed
Things were alos going well over at
UltimateBet. While the site's flagship $200,000-guaranteed tournament still required an overlay, it was closer to breaking even than it has been in recent memory. The tournament gathered 982 players to spar for the $200,000 prize pool, making the overlay from UltimateBet a smallish $3,600.
Ninja_Nate had the chip lead at $599,000 going into the final table and huskydog was close behind with $521,000. The next nearest opponent was Zorro99 with $221,000, and all the remaining opponents were relatively tightly packed around him. These large stacks would be enough to carry Ninja_Nate and huskydog into heads up, after watching all of their opponents bust before them.
Even in heads-up play their stacks were fairly comparable. Huskydog was in the lead with $1.4 million and Ninja_Nate wasn't far behind at $1.1 million. Regardless of this closeness, it was only 10 minutes before the final hand. Ninja_Nate's stack had dwindled to $440,000 and he opted to push all in preflop. Huskydog called and showed A
8
. Ninja_Nate was behind with J
9
and would need to improve. The flop paired huskydog's ace, all but securing his lead. The turn brought a 9, giving Ninja_Nate some hope for survival before the river put out the 3
to seal his fate and send him home in second ($27,000). Huskydog won the tournament, to bring in $45,000.
The final standings were:
1) huskydog - $45,000
2) Ninja_Nate - $27,000
3) HIGH FLUSH - $18,500
4) Zorro99 - $13,000
5) MoeDobbs - $11,000
6) Kush99 - $9,000
7) Bolikk - $7,000
8) NeddyFlanders - $5,000
9) gb2005 - $3,500
10) RiskyBusines - $2,000
Note: Bodog's $100,000 guaranteed tournament was canceled this weekend. According to a representative at Bodog support, the cancellation was due to unknown technical difficulties.
Card Player is also working with several sites that continue to serve U.S. players to provide deposit bonuses to our readers. Click on the following names to receive bonuses:
UltimateBet,
Bodog,
Absolute, and
Full Tilt.
