PokerStars Sunday Million
The
PokerStars Sunday Million tournament came back strong after its historic anniversary event last week. Last night's event lured 6,964 entrants to build a prize pool of $1,392,800.
Power2prut had a massive chip lead heading into the final table. He had $23.3 million in chips, which equated to a third of the total chips in play and more than twice as much as renassence in second, with $10.8 million. Dontriverme2 and espnman were virtually tied as the short stacks at the table, with $2.15 million and $2.18 million in chips, respectively.
With the big blind at $320,000, it was only a matter of time before the short-stacked players went down to the felt. Dontriverme2 was the first to go just two minutes in when he pushed all in preflop and power2prut reraised all in over the top, having every player covered. Power2prut's reraise folded the remaining players and he showed 10
10
. Dontriverme2 was dominated with pocket fours, but the flop came K
4
3
to give him a set for the lead. However, the turn was the 6
to give power2prut a flush to retake the lead. When the river was a blank, power2prut raked in the pot to eliminate dontriverme2 in ninth place ($8,218).
Espnman was sent to the rail three minutes later when his preflop all-in was called by kuparinen, who showed A
J
. Espnman held a slim lead with his pocket treys. The board ran out Q
5
4
J
Q
and, with the jack on the turn, kuparinen won the hand to take out espnman in eighth place. Espnman made $12,535 for his finish.
Matlik's stack had been crippled in a hand in which he'd pushed all in with pocket jacks and was called by Vorcirion with pocket kings. He now had less than $800,000 when the big blind was $400,000, and he decided to push all in preflop from mid-position. Round42 called in the big blind and showed J
2
versus matlik's 7
6
. The board bricked out and Round42's jack high held up to take down the pot. Matlik took home $21,588 for his seventh-place finish.
Just over 10 minutes later, geotico raised all in preflop for $2.8 million and was called by Vorcirion ($5.9 million) in the big blind. Vorcirion showed pocket sevens and geotico turned over A
Q
and needed help. The board bricked out until the river, which brought a third 7 to give Vorcirion and unneeded set to take out geotico. Geotico collected $30,642 for sixth place.
Power2prut had further increased his lead with five players remaining. He now sat with $32.4 million compared to Round42 in second with $10.2 million. After close to 15 minutes, Round42's stack had diminished to just $6.5 million. He raised to $1.2 million preflop and kuparinen reraised to $5.3 million. Round42 pushed all in and kuparinen called, having him covered. Kuparinen showed A
K
and was dominating Round42's A
Q
. Round42 completely missed the board and kuparinen completed an unnecessary heart flush to eliminate Round42 in fifth place ($41,784).
Three minutes later, renassence was out the door when he pushed all in preflop with pocket treys and was called by kuparinen's pocket queens. The board missed both players and kuparinen's queens held up to take the hand. Renassence earned $55,712 for his fourth-place finish.
The very next hand claimed yet another player's tournament life. Power2prut raised to $9 million preflop from the small blind, effectively putting Vorcirion, the big blind, all in. Vorcirion called and showed A
4
and was slightly behind power2prut's pocket treys. The board ran out 8
5
2
K
7
, improving neither player, and power2prut's pair of treys was enough to eliminate Vorcirion in third place ($69,640).
Power2prut now had $42.9 million in chips to start off the heads-up match, but he wasn't too terribly far ahead of kuparinen, with $26.8 million. The two players paused the tournament after a few hands to discuss a possible deal. A slightly modified by-the-chips chop was agreed upon with kuparinen giving power2prut an extra $8,000. $30,000 was left on the table for the eventual winner, per the PokerStars chopping rules. Here is what each player was guaranteed as a result of the deal:
power2prut - $150,000
kuparinen - $115,273
Power2prut took $10 million off of kuparinen over 10 minutes before the final hand. Power2prut raised to $1.8 million preflop, with the big blind at $600,000, and kuparinen reraised to $6 million. Power2prut pushed all in over the top and kuparinen called and showed K
9
. Power2prut was in the lead with A
8
as the board ran out A
J
5
Q
5
. Power2prut had improved his hand to two pair, aces up, while kuparinen was left with just the board pair and his king kicker. Kuparinen was eliminated in second place.
Power2prut earned the extra $30,000 for his first-place finish in the tournament to put his total winnings at $180,000.
The final results were:
*1) power2prut - $180,000
*2) kuparinen - $115,273
3) Vorcirion - $69,640
4) renassence - $55,712
5) Round42 - $41,784
6) geotico - $30,641.60
7) matlik - $21,588.40
8) espnman - $12,535.20
9) dontriverme2 - $8,217.52
* Payout reflects a slightly modified by-the-chips chop with $30,000 left for the eventual winner, per the PokerStars rules.
Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee
Full Tilt held its monthly $500 buy-in,
$750,000-guaranteed tournament last night after an almost 2 month hiatus as a result of last month's
Full Tilt Online Poker Series III (
FTOPS III). The tournament had 1,573 entrants to build a total prize pool of $786,500. This was a huge step up compared to the last time the event was held (Jan. 21), when it had just 1,380 entrants and required a $60,000 overlay.
Internet poker phenom Josh "foshio" Klehr made the final table of the event and started final-table play in second place, with $1.4 million in chips versus Skattmann in first place with $1.7 million. Foshio quickly pulled into the chip lead early on at the final table, but eventually fell back to third place.
Foshio then got tangled in a big hand that would determine his tournament life. Andre07 ($1.2 million) min-raised to $120,000 preflop and foshio ($1.4 million) called from the big blind. The flop came 6
5
3
and foshio bet $180,000. Andre07 raised to $360,000 and, after some thought, foshio pushed all in for $1.3 million total. Andre07 called all in and showed J
6
for top pair and was ahead against foshio's pocket deuces. The turn and river were the 3
and the Q
and andre07 took down the pot to severely cripple foshio.
Foshio pushed all in in the very next hand and was called by titantom32. Titantom32 showed K
6
versus foshio's Q
10
. The board completely missed foshio, aside from pairing itself, and he was eliminated in sixth place ($26,426).
Skattmann, titantom32, and andre07 made their way to three-way play with stacks of $4 million, $2 million, and $1.8 million, respectively. Both skattmann and titantom32's stacks grew as andre07's stack eroded into oblivion. Andre07 was eventually down to $790,000, with the big blind at $120,000, 10 minutes into three-way play. He pushed all in preflop in the small blind and was called by skattmann in the big blind. Skattmann flipped up A
7
and was dominating andre07's 9
7
. The flop left andre07 drawing dead when it came 8
4
3
, giving skattmann the nut flush. Andre07 earned $63,313 for third place.
At the beginning of heads-up play, skattmann had $5.3 million, more than twice as much as titantom32 with less than $2.6 million. Titantom32 made slow but steady progress against skattmann over the next 10 minutes, building his stack up to $3.7 million versus skattmann's $4.1 million. The next hand would determine the tournament.
Skattmann limped preflop for $160,000 and titantom32 checked his option in the big blind. The flop came J
8
6
and titantom32 checked. Skattmann bet $160,000 and titantom32 check-raised up to $480,000. Skattmann reraised to $1.6 million and titantom32 called, after some thought. The turn was the J
and titantom32 pushed all in for $1.9 million. Skattmann called and showed J
5
for trip jacks with a flush draw against titantom32's 8
3
for two pair, jacks and eights. The river was the 2
, unnecessarily improving skattmann to a flush to win the hand and the tournament. Titantom32 made $91,627 for second place while skattmann raked in a huge $147,862 payday for his win.
The final results were:
1) skattmann - $147,862
2) titantom32 - $91,627.25
3) andre07 - $63,313.25
4) fsoyars - $48,763
5) livb112 - $36,965.50
6) Josh "foshio" Klehr - $26,426.40
7) jpmetalman - $19,269.25
8) Cancer - $14,943.50
9) Howdoiplayxx - $11,482.90
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
Attendance at the
UltimateBet $200,000 guarantee has been a rollercoaster ride as of late. Two weeks ago, the tournament almost broke its own attendance record when it had 1,001 entrants; then, last week, attendance shot back down to just 879 players. Tonight, the tournament had a respectable 952 players, about what it would normally expect. UltimateBet forked over a smallish $9,600 overlay for the event.
The final table of the tournament featured a well-respected Internet pro, Maria Nuccia (more commonly known as t soprano on PokerStars). Maria Nuccia entered the final table in third place, with $277,000 in chips. He was behind TheMasterJ33 in first with $387,000 and spiker123 in second with $324,000.
After failing to significantly increase his stack throughout the final table action, TheMasterJ33 was eventually sent to the rail in fifth place ($10,500) when his pocket nines were cracked by One Above All's A-J. Spiker123 also saw an early end when he lost two big hands to Fish991. In his final hand, his pocket fours failed to outdraw Fish991's pocket kings and he was eliminated in fourth place ($13,100).
Maria Nuccia was still in it with three players remaining, but he had just $410,000 compared to Fish991 in first with $1.3 million and One Above All in second with $674,000. Fish991 began to aggressively siphon chips from both players until One Above All finally pushed back. Fish991 raised to $76,000 preflop, with the big blind at $20,000, and One Above All reraised all in for $410,000. Fish991 called and showed A
10
and was dominating One Above All's A
8
. The board bricked out and Fish991's kicker played to take down the pot and eliminate One Above All in third place. One Above All earned $18,000 for his finish.
Fish991 now had a dominating $2.1 million stack compared to Maria Nuccia's $277,000. The tournament was over in the very first hand of heads-up play. Maria Nuccia pushed all in preflop and Fish991 called and showed A
Q
. Maria Nuccia needed to catch up with J
7
. The board ran out 10
8
6
4
Q
and Fish991 took down the pot with a pair of queens. Maria Nuccia took home $26,500 for his second-place finish and Fish991 pocketed $45,000 for his win in the event.
The final results were:
1) Fish991 - $45,000
2) Maria Nuccia - $26,500
3) One Above All - $18,000
4) spiker123 - $13,100
5) TheMasterJ33 - $10,500
6) Froggy_06 - $8,500
7) Kingdan23 - $6,500
8) bad_egg - $4,500
9) Buckohfive - $3,400
10) bassman64 - $2,000
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
Kice snags quad sevens to double up.
In an unusual coincidence, the
Bodog $100,000-guaranteed tournament had 756 entrants for the second week in a row. That number meant the site again had to put up a $24,400 overlay for the tournament. The tournament has been luring an uncommonly low number of players recently.
MrPVol was the chip leader at the start of the final table with $392,000 compared to BIRDMAN101 in second with $326,000. BIRDMAN101 eventually made an early exit when his J-10 ran into kice's A-8 and kice snagged an unneeded two pair to eliminate him in sixth place ($4,500).
When three-way play began, kice had a good-sized chip lead with $959,000 versus MrPVol in second with $593,000 and jermdawg in third with $337,000. Jermdawg doubled up through kice early on and all three players' stacks became very closely matched.
MrPVol began picking on jermdawg and whittling away at his stack until jermdawg finally pushed all in from the small blind for $407,000 (with the big blind at $40,000). MrPVol called in the big blind and showed pocket eights, which were dominating jermdawg's pocket sixes. The eights held up and jermdawg was out in third place, earning $9,200.
MrPVol now had $1.1 million compared to kice's $793,000. Kice took over the chip lead just two hands into the heads-up match. He called all in against MrPVol's preflop all-in raise and showed pocket kings. MrPVol held A
Q
and needed to improve. The board ran out Q
9
7
2
7
, not enough for MrPVol to take the hand, and kice doubled up to $1.5 million.
The final hand took place just a few minutes later. Kice limped preflop for $40,000 and MrPVol min-raised. Kice called and the flop came 7
6
6
. MrPVol bet $40,000 and kice called. The turn put out the 7
and MrPVol pushed all in for $224,000. Kice quickly called and showed 7
6
, for a flopped full house that had improved to a better full house on the turn. MrPVol held a thoroughly cracked pocket kings and needed another king to survive. The river was the J
and MrPVol busted out in second place ($14,300). Kice raked in the pot to win the tournament and the $25,000 first-place prize.
The final results were:
1) kice - $25,000
2) MrPVol - $14,300
3) jermdawg - $9,200
4) warpig40 - $6,900
5) Flopaholic - $5,500
6) BIRDMAN101 - $4,500
7) _TheFinisher_ - $3,500
8) ebisumaru - $2,500
9) TonyAKQJ - $1,600
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 Poker.
.jpg)