The
PokerStars Sunday Million guaranteed tournament failed to break its own attendance record for the first time in almost two months. In fact, both
UltimateBet and
Bodog saw slight decreases in attendance yesterday as well. Either the
FullTilt Online Poker Series (FTOP) main event was a big enough draw to affect tourney attendance on other sites or online poker had reached a temporary plateau of sorts last weekend. Next week's numbers will be the best judge of which is more likely.
PokerStars Sunday Million
PokerStars
Sunday Million tournament lured 6,733 players this week, down ever so slightly from last week's 6,740. However slight the difference, the effect was huge. The seven-player deficiency meant that PokerStars had ended its almost two-month streak of breaking its own attendance (and thus prize pool) records. Players put in $215 in entry fees to duke it out over a prize pool that came to $1,346,600, with 975 paying places.
Gobboboy has been doing quite well for himself this month in online tournaments by making huge finishes on three different sites. First he beat out the entire field to finish first ($45,000) in the UltimateBet $200,000 guaranteed just over three weeks ago, and then he finished fifth ($9,600) in the limit hold'em event of this week's
FTOPS. He continued his deep cashes with this tournament when he finished in 12th ($5,521), barely outside of the final table. Eric "E-WeE" Mizrachi also made it deep into the money, eventually busting out in 50th to earn $2,020.
98club entered the final table as the big stack with $12 million but was followed very closely behind by jeppg1111 with $11.97 million. The other seven stacks were scattered liberally between those two top stacks and grgr333 in ninth with $1.9 million. Daytona650 was a middle stack but put his tournament life on the line early with an aggressive reraise preflop. Jeppg111 raised to $650,000 with the big blind at $240,000 and daytona650 pushed all in for $7.36 million. Jeppg111 called and showed A
K
while daytona650 was behind and dominated with A
Q
. The board bricked out and jeppg111 eliminated daytona650 with his king kicker. Daytona650 earned $11,042 for ninth.
It wasn't much longer before 9ballor8 was nearly down to the felt, left with less than 10 times the big blind. He pushed in preflop and was called by 98club. 9ballor8 revealed A
Q
and 98club showed pocket deuces for a slim lead. The slim lead was all he needed when the board failed to spike an ace or queen for 9ballor8, and he was sent to the rail in eighth ($16,967).
Grgr333, previously the short stack, had almost quintupled his chip count and was sitting with over $9 million. MxdMeta4 raised to $960,000 preflop with the big blind at $320,000 and grgr333 reraised up to $1.9 million. Tiger76 raised all in for $5.7 million and MxdMeta4 folded. Grgr333 called, having tiger76 covered, and showed A
K
, while tiger76 flipped over pocket jacks. The flop was devastating for tiger76 when it spiked an ace for grgr333 and the 7
on the turn was no help, either. But Tiger76 spiked a jack on the river to give him a set to take down the pot. Grgr333 was left with $3.3 million, less than 10 times the big blind. He opted to push all in preflop against a raise by jeppg1111 and jeppg1111 called. Grgr333 turned over pocket eights and jeppg1111 had 10
9
as the flop came out A
9
5
. Jeppg1111 took the lead with a pair of nines and took down the pot at the turn and river blanked out. Grgr333 took home $22,892 for seventh.
Jeppg1111 now had a chip lead of $24 million, almost double tiger76's stack in second place. Sunangel90 was dragging the rear with $3.7 million and was the next to go just four minutes later. Sunangel90 pushed all in preflop against jeppg1111 after some aggressive back and forth raising. Jeppg1111 revealed K
J
and sunangel90 flipped up A
Q
for the lead. The lead was short-lived as the flop spiked a king for jeppg1111 and he caught an unnecessary two pair on the river with a jack to take down the hand. Sunangel90 pocketed $29,087 for his sixth-place finish.
98club, having started the table with an early lead, had been overtaken by jeppg1111 and tiger76, with their huge elimination hands. Even MxdMeta4 held more chips than 98club after taking down some major pots. With blinds now at $400,000, MxdMeta4 raised preflop to $1.2 million and was called by both 98club and tiger76. The flop came Q
Q
5
and both tiger76 and MxdMeta4 checked. 98club bet $1.2 million, prompting tiger76 to fold and MxdMeta4 to call to see a turn of 9
. MxdMeta4 again checked and now 98club pushed all in for his remaining $3.5 million. MxdMeta4 called and showed Q
J
for trip queens while 98club flipped over pocket aces and was well behind. The K
on the river was no help and 98club was ousted in fifth ($36,089).
Bossen was next to go when he called all in preflop against a raise by jeppg1111. Jeppg1111 showed K
9
and he was dominated by bossen's A
9
. The flop didn't give jeppg1111 any improvement when it came 8
4
3
. The turn gave him a little hope with the 6
for a flush draw and the river fulfilled that hope with the 10
to give him the flush and eliminate bossen from the tournament. Bossen got a $45,650 payday for fourth.
The remaining three players, jeppg1111 ($36 million), MxdMeta4 ($21 million), and tiger76 ($10 million), had stacks all over the board. The chip gaps continuously closed up after 35 minutes with no eliminations until all three were sitting with virtually equal stacks. At that point, all three decided a three-way chop for $103,653 was fair, with $30,000 set aside for the winner, per PokerStars' chop rules. After the chop, it was still almost 20 minutes before an elimination. Tiger76 limped preflop from the small blind and jeppg1111 raised to $1.2 million. Tiger76 reraised all in for $20 million, having jeppg1111 covered by almost $7 million. Jeppg1111 called all in and showed 7
6
while tiger76 turned over pocket sevens and was dominating jeppg1111. A 7 came out on the flop to give tiger76 a set and the board paired on the turn to upgrade him to a full house. Jeppg1111 had only two pair and was eliminated in third with $103,653 from the chop.
That elimination basically put tiger76's stack up to even with McdMeta4's stack. Despite the even stacks and relatively low blinds, it was only five minutes before a player took in a huge pot to gain an edge. Tiger76 raised to $1.6 million preflop and MxdMeta4 reraised up to $4.4 million. Tiger76 called to see a flop of Q
10
8
. MxdMeta4 bet $5.6 million and tiger76 called to see a turn of 7
. MxdMeta4 checked and tiger76 pushed all in for $26 million and MxdMeta4 folded.
With that $12 million pot, tiger76 forged an edge that he maintained until the final hand. After a limped preflop, the flop came A
9
8
. MxdMeta4 bet $800,000 and tiger76 pushed all in for over $40 million. MxdMeta4 called with his remaining $25 million and showed 9
2
for middle pair while tiger76 revealed A
5
for top pair. The 7
on the turn was no help to either and the unneeded A
on the river gave tiger76 trip aces to win the tournament. MxdMeta4 took home $103,653 for his chop deal in second and tiger76 took in the extra $30,000 for a total winnings of $133,653.
The final standings were:
*1) tiger76 - $133,653
*2) MxdMeta4 - $103,653
*3) jeppg1111 - $103,653
4) bossen - $45,649.74
5) 98club - $36,088.88
6) sunangel - $29,086.56
7) grgr333 - $22,892.20
8) 9ballor8 - $16,967.16
9) daytona650 - $11,042.12
* Indicates payout reflecting a three-way even chop with $30,000 going to the winner, per PokerStars rules.
UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed
The
UltimateBet tournament brought in only 910 players this week, down from 943 last weekend, making for an $18,000 overlay. This was especially disappointing considering the tournament had been generally increasing its attendance numbers over the past two months. The downward swing could be attributed to the
FTOPS main event that was running simultaneously, but only time will tell if that is the true reason.
RockSolidAce entered the final table as the big stack, but drbob0008 and longhorn757 quickly deposed the leader and he was eventually eliminated in fourth ($13,000). Drbob0008 and longhorn757 held on to their leads until they made their way into heads-up play after GIGITUP7's elimination at the hands of drbob0008. Drbob0008 was still slightly behind longhorn757 but continuously narrowed the gap until the final hand.
After a raise and a reraise, longhorn757 pushed all in, having drbob0008 barely covered. Drbob0008 called and showed K
Q
while longhorn757 had him dominated with A
K
. The board bricked out with 10
8
5
J
4
and longhorn757 took down the hand to win the tournament. Longhorn757 made $45,000 for his win while drbob0008 took home $27,000 for second.
The final standings were:
1) longhorn757 - $45,000
2) drbob0008 - $27,000
3) GIGITUP7 - $18,500
4) RockSolidAce - $13,000
5) gaiaknight - $11,000
6) SDStryder - $9,000
7) Wubanga101 - $7,000
8) ThomasToget - $5,000
9) Azimut85 - $3,500
10) Cava72 - $2,000
Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed
The
Bodog $100,000 guaranteed tournament saw results similar to those of UltimateBet, although even more pronounced. Bodog had 927 players this weekend compared to 999 last weekend. The deficiency in players meant an overlay of $7,300 on the part of Bodog to match the posted guarantee.
Chip_Towers had the chip lead going into the final table with $538,000, but socpete wasn't very far behind at $479,000. Key hands eventually eliminated both players until it was two middle stacks, taktloss47 and Fled who carried their way to heads-up play. The two were failry even, stackwise, going into heads up, but Fled eventually climbed his way up to an almost 2-1 lead before the final hand.
After betting aggressively throughout, taktloss47 eventually pushed all in on a board of K
J
2
4
and was called by Fled. Taktloss47 showed J
9
and Fled flipped over K
9
for a dominating lead. The river improved neither and Fled took down the pot to win the tournament and take home the $45,000 first prize. Taktloss47 took home $27,000 in second.
The final standings were:
1) Fled - $25,000
2) taktloss47 - $14,000
3) Chip_Towers - $9,000
4) basebaldy - $6,500
5) tricky15 - $5,400
6) socpete - $4,400
7) gambelaro - $3,400
8) linkocracy - $2,400
9) Yardmaster - $1,550
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