Poker Stars Shows Resilience With Sunday MillionPokerStars Continues to Break Records and Bodog Edges Closer to Avoiding Overlays |
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FullTilt may have kicked off its Online Poker Series (FTOPS) this weekend (read about it here), but PokerStars still held claim to the largest prize pool of the weekend.
PokerStars continues to one-up both the competition and itself with its record-breaking weekend tournaments. This weekend's Sunday Million Guaranteed tournament continued the upward trend of entries and prize pools by enticing a record 6,740 poker players to battle for $1,348,000. PokerStars continues to prove its resilience in the face of both the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and major events at other sites.
Entry numbers for the UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed tournament slouched ever so slightly at 946 compared to last weekend's 982. This made for a smallish $10,800 overlay for the tournament. Bodog's $100,000 guaranteed tournament showed the best attendance it's had in recent memory at 999, making for the lowest possible overlay of $100. Both tournaments have shown relatively steady progress toward finally breaking into quadruple digit entries to avoid having to buck up overlay money.
PokerStars Sunday Million Guaranteed
With $1,348,000 up for grabs and $188,720 on the line for first place, a monster 6,740 players had their sights set for huge paydays. Unfortunately, "only" 975 of them would get a piece of that enormous prize pool, the largest prize pool ever for a regularly scheduled weekly tournament. Even FullTilt's Online Poker Series couldn't slow down the PokerStars juggernaut.
Well, that's not technically true in every sense. While both the PokerStars Sunday Million and the FullTilt FTOPS final tables started at basically the same time, the FTOPS table was down to five players before PokerStars had even had its first elimination. The PokerStars final table started with a topped-out blind structure at $200,000-$400,000. This lenient, stagnant blind scheme allowed for some patient play, similar to last weekend, and players were taking advantage. BadcardsAA sat as the big stack with $16.8 million and holla@yoboy was trailing in second with $10.9 million. BroDawg was hurting in ninth place with only $1.9 million in chips.
It took almost 25 minutes before anyone was eliminated. BroDawg had managed to scrape together some chips in the interim and GF_PLAYA was now sitting at the bottom of the heap with only $2 million. GF_PLAYA pushed all in preflop and was called by Legato. Legato had GF_PLAYA's A
6
dominated with his A
J
and a jack on the flop was overkill as GF_PLAYA went out in ninth ($11,054).
Next on the chopping block was bubbaloo2 when he went all in preflop against BadcardsAA. Bubbaloo2 was ahead preflop with pocket sevens versus BadcardsAA's K 4, but BadcardsAA snagged a king on the turn to put him in the lead. The river gave bubbaloo2 no solace and he was sent packing in eighth with $16,985.
BroDawg may have made a comeback from his dismal starting stack early on at the final table, but it wasn't to last. BroDawg put all of his chips in the middle preflop with pocket tens but ran into Legato's pocket jacks. Neither improved and BroDawg was sent to the virtual rail in seventh ($22,916).
The final six players decided to pause the action to discuss a deal. After much discussion, the six decided to a slightly modified by-the-chips chop with $30,000 left on the table to play for, per PokerStar's chop rules. Legato had the largest stack at the time of the chop and was guaranteed at least $102,143 as a result. BigAl1647 was pulling up the rear and was guaranteed $46,817 from the deal.
The first hand after the deal was finalized, another player bit the dust. It was not short stack BigAl1647 but third-place ViP_MoDee who found all of his chips in the middle. On a flop of A J 8, BadcardsAA checked and ViP_MoDee bet about two-thirds the pot. BadcardsAA raised more than two times the bet and ViP_MoDee pushed all in for over half again over the raise. BadcardsAA called and showed A Q for top pair and ViP_MoDee flipped over A 10 for top pair with a worse kicker. The turn and river brought a king and a 10, giving ViP_MoDee two pair, but completing a straight for BadcardsAA. ViP_MoDee took home $68,228 in sixth for his portion of the chop.
Five minutes later, Lem Motlow was eliminated in fifth. Things were looking up for Lem Motlow when his preflop all in with A Q was called by BigAl1647 with A J, but it wasn't meant to be. It wasn't the flop or the turn that did Lem Moltow in but the jack on the river went straight for the jugular to put him out in with a $51,703 payday due to the chop.
The chop had obviously loosened up play, as it was another minute before the table bid adieu to another player. Holla@yoboy found his tournament life at risk preflop against BadcardsAA. BadcardsAA held pocket deuces and holla@yoboy was looking to win a coin flip with K J. However, the coin landed on the other side as the board bricked out and BadcardsAA's deuces held up to eliminate holla@yoboy in fourth ($59,548 with the chop).
BadcardsAA was now sitting with a healthy chip lead of $37 million compared to BigAl1647 in second with $17 million and Legato in third at $13 million. It took only one hand for the tides to turn. On a flop of Q 9 4 both BadcardsAA and Legato checked. The turn put the 9 on the board and now BadcardsAA led out with a roughly pot-sized bet. Legato called to see the 7 on the river. BadcardsAA again bet out, this time about two-thirds the pot, and Legato pushed all in for over twice as much. BadcardsAA called and showed K Q for top two pair and Legato flipped over pocket sevens for a full house to take down the pot and double up.
That was the beginning of the end for BadcardsAA and he went all in against Legato 10 minutes later on a board showing Q 9 9. Legato called and showed K Q for two pair while BadcardsAA turned over A 10 for ace high and would need to improve. The turn and river were blanks and BadcardsAA was ousted in third, making him $93,812 for his portion of the chop.
It was now heads up between BigAl1647 and Legato for the $30,000 remaining after the chop. BigAl1647 had managed to come back from last at the time of the chop to second in chips and only stood to make $46,817 if he didn't nab first for the extra $30,000. Had a deal not been made, BigAl1647 would have taken at least $93,955 for second. Alas, BigAl1647 only lasted just over five minutes before Legato closed the deal. After heavy preflop betting, Legato bet out on a flop of A A Q. BigAl1647 called and the turn put out the 7. Legato now checked and BigAl1647 pushed all in for over twice the pot and Legato called and showed A 10 for trip aces. BigAl1647 flipped over pocket sixes for just two pair and would need a six on the river to take the hand. The 3 on the river gave Legato the tournament and the extra $30,000, putting his total winnings at $132,143.
The final standings were:
*1) Legato - $132,143
*2) BigAl1647 - $46,817
*3) BadcardsAA - $93,812
*4) holla@yoboy - $59,548
*5) Lem Motlow - $51,703
*6) ViP_MoDee - $68,228
7) BroDawg - $22,916
8) bubbaloo2 - $16,984.80
9) GF_PLAYA - $11,053.60
* Indicates a payout reflecting a six-way by-the-chips chop per PokerStars rules.
UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed
The UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed tournament lost a bit of ground this week, luring 946 players, down from the 982 of last weekend. Njm3111, the short stack entering the final table, would rout his opponents to eventually take down the tournament. To be fair, all of the stacks were fairly close in size entering the final table, but it is always impressive to see a short stack go the distance.
In the final hand, njm3111 raised preflop and was called by his sole opponent, MavFish. The flop came 8 7 2 and njm3111 put out a pot-sized bet. MavFish pushed all in over the top for over twice the bet and njm3111 called, showing pocket kings. MavFish realized he had made a misstep when he showed 7 6 for middle pair. The turn brought hope for MavFish with the 9, giving him an open-ended straight draw, but a third king on the river gave the hand, and the tournament, to njm3111.
The final standings were:
1) njm3111 - $45,000
2) MavFish - $27,000
3) Papa Bull XL - $18,500
4) play-2-win - $13,000
5) Your_Whack - $11,000
6) -NOONAN- - $9,000
7) nederen_dk - $7,000
8) 321654 - $5,000
9) phat_cat - $3,500
10) Nine to Five - $2,000
Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed
The Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed tournament was just one player away from meeting its entry requirements to avoid an overlay. That left an insignificant $100 bill that Bodog had to foot and made for the highest entry numbers Bodog has seen in quite a while. Gdlesh was the eventual winner of the tournament when he took down the final pot after pairing his king versus CrazyBa's unimproved ace. The final standings were:
1) gdlesh - $25,0002) CrazyBa - $14,000
3) DrewStar - $9,000
4) beat man - $6,500
5) Beanbag77 - $5,400
6) Askesis - $4,400
7) tejas66 - $3,400
8) the_kid32 - $2,400
9) rivermanrob - $1,550
Card Player is 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.
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