PokerStars had lots of good news this weekend with the introduction of two new successful tournaments - the
High Stakes Showdown, a $10,300 buy-in heads-up tournament limited to 16 entrants, and the
Sunday Hundred Grand, a $100,000-guaranteed tournament with an insanely low $11 buy-in - and the continued success of its
Sunday Million event.
Stevesbets was the winner of the
High Stakes Showdown, which attracted its 16 entrants within hours of open registration. Stevesbets won $72,000 for first place, while DaMadPotter, his opponent in the final match, earned $40,000 for second place. ActionJeff and Genius28 earned $24,000 each for their respective third- and fourth-place finishes. As of this article's publication, next Sunday's edition of this tournament already has 13 entrants, including
Alex "AK87" Kim,
Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis,
Danny "THE__D__RY" Ryan, and
Sorel "zangbezan24" Mizzi along with DaMadPotter, stevesbets, and Genius28 again.
The
Sunday Hundred Grand tournament's 15,000 entrant cap was reached
days before the tournament's start. That stellar attendance meant that those who participated in the event were taking part in the largest real-money tournament (by attendance) of all time. That record is very likely to be tied next weekend by this event, as more than 2,500 entrants are already signed up. The 15,000 entrants meant that 2,000 players got paid in the event and the ultimate winner would earn $18,900. Danolo83 was the eventual winner of last night's inaugural run, and he pocketed the first-place prize (for a five-figure payday, after a chop) for risking just $11 ( more than 1,700 times his buy-in).
After getting all in preflop, CJCAT's pocket kings are outdrawn by FcMunky's 10-9 suited.
PokerStars Sunday Million
Like the aforementioned two tournaments, the PokerStars Sunday Million had good news last night when 6,821 entrants ponied up the $200 buy-in, up slightly from the 6,813 of last weekend. The prize pool came to $1,364,200, which offered the first-place finisher a hefty $192,000 if no deal was made at the final table. Notable Internet player
Matt "mattster24" Sterling bubbled the final table when he was eliminated in 10th place ($5,730).
Rkruok was the chip leader when the final table began, with $18.8 million, compared to Dallas Rob in second place, with $14.2 million. BSTLCU72 was the short stack at the table with just $1.7 million when the blinds were at $125,000-$250,000. BSTLCU72 open-pushed all in in the second full hand of the final table and was called by vietcong01, who showed A
Q
. Vietcong01's hand was dominating BSTLCU72's A
2
as the board ran out Q
5
4
K
2
, pairing both players' kickers but leaving vietcong01 in the lead. BSTLCU72 went out in ninth place with $8,049.
It was almost 20 minutes before the next elimination hand. During that time, rkruok lost a huge chunk of his stack in two hands. In the first, his opponent flopped a set of kings and rkruok rightly folded on the flop, but not before sinking close to $7 million into the hand. In the second, his pocket aces were outdrawn by an opponent's K-Q, which snagged two pair. He was left hovering around $2 million in chips after those hands.
Mrsgardener was the next player to be eliminated. She checked her option in the big blind preflop, after sgloon limped from under the gun, to see a flop of 8
3
2
. Mrsgardener pushed all in for her remaining $2 million and sgloon called and showed slow-played pocket kings. Mrsgardener held 8
6
for top pair and was behind. The turn and river bricked out and Mrsgardener was sent to the virtual rail in eighth place ($12,278).
Rkruok's newly crippled stack got pushed into the middle just one minute later. CJCAT reraised all in, folding the remaining players, and showed A
7
. Rkruok held 6
5
and needed to improve. The board ran out J
2
2
9
4
, completely missing both players, and CJCAT won playing his ace kicker with the board pair. Rkruok made $21,145 for seventh place.
In the next elimination hand, sgloon open-pushed all in in the small blind for $1.9 million (when the big blind was $300,000) and FcMunky called in the big blind and showed 8
5
. Sgloon had the lead with K
7
(a
62 percent favorite, preflop) as the flop came A
7
5
, giving both players a pair, but leaving Sgloon in the lead. Sgloon now had a
78 percent chance to survive and double up. The turn was the Q
and the river the 5
, giving FcMunky trip fives to win the hand and eliminate Sgloon in sixth place ($30,012).
CJCAT went down to the felt just two minutes later. He open-raised to $1.2 million preflop, with the big blind now at $400,000, and FcMunky reraised to $5 million, enough to put CJCAT all in. CJCAT called all in and turned over K
K
and was well ahead of FcMunky's 10
9
. The flop was scary for CJCAT when it came Q
5
4
, giving FcMunky a flush draw. The turn sealed the deal when it brought the J
, giving FcMunky the flush and leaving CJCAT drawing dead. CJCAT collected $40,926 for fifth place.
Program1 crashed in the very next hand when he open-pushed all in and was called by vietcong01, who showed K
J
. Program1 held 10
9
and was hoping to recreate FcMunky's magic from the previous hand. The flop came A
Q
10
, which gave vietcong01 the Broadway straight and left program1 drawing dead to running cards for a flush (or a king and jack for a board straight, to tie). The turn was the 6
, however, and he was eliminated in fourth place ($54,568).
The three remaining players then paused the tournament to discuss a possible chop. A by-the-chips chop was quickly agreed upon with vietcong01, the chip leader, being guaranteed $127,154. Dallas Rob, in second place, was guaranteed $102,631 and FcMunky was assured $97,634 in third place. The three would play on to claim the $30,000 remaining in the middle, per the PokerStars chopping rules.
Dallas Rob then lost some ground and became the next player on the chopping block. He raised to $1.2 million preflop and FcMunky, whose stack had surpassed Dallas Rob's, pushed all in over the top. Dallas Rob called all in for $7.8 million more and showed A
9
and was dominated by FcMunky's A
Q
. The board bricked out when it came J
8
5
6
2
and FcMunky's queen kicker was enough to make Dallas Rob railward-bound.
FcMunky now had Dallas Rob's chips in his stack, which was now at $19.6 million, but he was still at an almost 2.5-1 chip disadvantage against vietcong01's $48.6 million. The final hand was just one minute later. Vietcong01 raised to $1.5 million preflop and FcMunky reraised all in for $15.6 million. Vietcong01 called and flipped up K
K
, which was well ahead of FcMunky's 7
6
(the kings were a
78 percent favorite to win). The board ran out A
7
4
Q
K
and vietcong01 snagged an unneeded set of kings to eliminate FcMunkey in second place. Vietcong01 earned the extra $30,000 for taking down the tournament to put his total winnings at $157,154.
The final results were:
*1) vietcong01 - $157,154
*2) FcMunky - $97,634
*3) Dallas Rob - $102,631
4) program1 - $54,568
5) CJCAT - $40,926
6) sgloon - $30,012.40
7) rkruok - $21,145.10
8) Mrsgardener - $12,277.80
9) BSTLCU72 - $8,048.78
* Payout reflects a three-way by-the-chips chop that left $30,000 for the eventual winner, per the PokerStars chopping rules.
JCarver makes an amazing call with just a pocket pair of deuces when Johnny1987 pushes all in on the river for more than the pot.
Full Tilt $500,000 Guarantee
The
Full Tilt $500,000-guaranteed tournament had 3,008 entrants last night, which was down relatively significantly from last weekend's 3,189 entrants. The tournament had a prize pool of $601,600. Despite the lower-than-usual attendance, some all-star poker players bought in and a few big names made it to the final table.
Both Online Player of the Year top-10 contender
Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron (playing under his Full Tilt screen name mjorgenson13) and notable Internet player
J.P. "MavFish" Kelly secured their seats at the final table of the event. Also at the table was
JCarver, a player more widely known as taknapotin on both PokerStars and UltimateBet. JCarver won the $200,000 guarantee on UltimateBet on March 11 of this year.
Mjorgenson13 was the chip leader as the final table began, with $2.06 million in chips. JCarver was right behind him with $1.97 million in chips and MavFish was the second-most shortstacked player at the table with just $221,000 when the big blinds were at $34,000. MavFish busted out according to his stack when he open-pushed all in preflop and Balderdashin22 reraised all in, folding the remaining players. Balderdashin22 held A
J
and was ahead of MavFish's K
6
. The board completely missed both players and MavFish collected $10,829 for eighth place.
Mjorgenson13 made it to threehanded play along with JCarver and vtlaxer09. JCarver was the chip leader at that point with $4.5 million in chips compared to mjorgenson13 in second with $2.9 million and vtlaxer09 in third place with $1.6 million. It was just over 15 minutes before the next elimination hand.
Mjorgenson13 raised to $233,000 preflop from the small blind, with the big blind at $80,000, and JCarver called in the big blind. The flop came 10
7
5
and mjorgenson13 bet $334,000. JCarver raised to $5 million, enough to put mjorgenson13 all in, and mjorgenson13 called and showed 7
3
for mid-pair and a flush draw. JCarver held K
7
for mid-pair with a better kicker and was just a
52 percent favorite to win the hand. The turn was the 8
and the river the 4
and mjorgenson13 was eliminated in third place, earning $42,714 and 800 more points toward his OPOY leader board standing.
JCarver now had $6.6 million versus vtlaxer09's $2.4 million. The heads-up match lasted seven minutes before the final hand. Vtlaxer09 limped preflop in the small blind for $100,000 total and JCarver raised to $340,000. Vtlaxer09 reraised all in for $2.9 million and Jcarver called and showed pocket kings. Vtlaxer09 held an unfortunate pocket jacks. The flop all but sealed the deal when it came K
4
3
, giving JCarver a set and leaving vtlaxer09 needing running jacks to stay alive. The turn was the 5
and it was all over for vtlaxer09. He made $65,574 for second place. JCarver pocketed $107,716 for his first-place finish.
The final results were:
1) JCarver - $107,716.48
2) vtlaxer09 - $65,574.40
3) Isaac "mjorgenson13" Baron - $42,713.60
4) Balderdashin22 - $33,388.80
5) Johnny1987 - $24,966.40
6) I_Hate_To_Lose - $18,469.12
7) appledome - $13,836.80
8) J.P. "MavFish" Kelly - $10,828.80
9) The Fluke1200 - $8,061.44
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
The
UltimateBet $200,000-guaranteed tournament's attendance was down quite a bit this weekend when it had just 813 entrants compared with last weekend's 901. The tournament required a hefty $37,400 overlay to match the posted guarantee.
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy bubbled the final table when he was eliminated in 11th place ($1,600).
There was still some star power left for the final table, however, when
Shawn "phat_cat" Luman claimed a seat. He initially sat down with $247,000 in chips, which put him in fourth place. Skip6723 was in first place with $501,000 and Jungleras was in second place with $358,000.
Phat_cat bled chips until his final hand, which occurred fairly early on at the final table. MarkT1234 raised to $69,000 preflop and phat_cat pushed all in for $92,000 in the big blind. MarkT1234 called and showed pocket nines and was dominated by phat_cat's pocket tens. The board ran out A-6-2-9-A and MarkT1234 snagged one of the two nines he needed to take the pot away from phat_cat and send him packing in eighth place ($5,000).
Skip6723 lost chips at a relatively steady pace until he had just $286,000 when the big blind was at $20,000. In his final hand, he raised to $80,000 from the cutoff seat and OrionHigh reraised to $210,000. Skip6723 reraised all in for $324,000 and OrionHigh called and showed pocket tens. Skip6723 held A-9 suited and the board ran out Q-J-8-2-9. The tens held up and skip6723 was out in fifth place, earning $11,000.
When it got down to threehanded play, OrionHigh held the chip lead with $1.1 million in chips versus MarkT1234 in second with $586,000 and Jungleras in third with $346,000. Jungleras managed to siphon some chips from both of his opponents before the next elimination hand.
OrionHigh ($975,000) raised to $65,000 preflop and Jungleras ($659,000) called in the big blind. The flop came 10
8
7
and Jungleras checked. OrionHigh bet $70,000 and Jungleras check-raised to $358,000. OrionHigh pushed all in and Jungleras called and showed K
9
for an open-end straight draw. OrionHigh revealed pocket aces for the lead. The turn and river were the 8
and 7
and Jungleras was eliminated in third place, for $18,500.
OrionHigh now had a commanding chip lead with $1.7 million versus MarkT1234 with $380,000. Despite the chip advantage, the match lasted almost 15 minutes, over which time MarkT1234 actually took over the chip lead at one point before dropping back down to around $632,000. In the final hand, MarkT1234 limped for $30,000 total from the small blind and OrionHigh raised to $90,000. MarkT1234 called and the flop came 9
7
5
. Both players checked and the turn was the 2
. OrionHigh again checked and MarkT1234 bet $186,000. OrionHigh check-raised to $744,000 and MarkT1234 called all in and showed 9
7
for top two pair. OrionHigh held A
6
for the nut flush draw and a gutshot-straight draw. The river was the 3
, giving OrionHigh the flush that he needed to win the hand and the tournament. MarkT1234 collected $27,000 for second place while OrionHigh raked in $45,000 for his first-place finish.
The final results were:
1) OrionHigh - $45,000
2) MarkT1234 - $27,000
3) Jungleras - $18,500
4) BigBlueBin23 - $13,000
5) skip6723 - $11,000
6) chpskrwd - $9,000
7) NeddyFlanders - $7,000
8) Shawn "phat_cat" Luman - $5,000
9) MIDNIGHT76 - $3,500
10) JJDanger - $2,000
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
The
Bodog $100,000-guaranteed tournament had 846 entrants last night, which required Bodog to put up a $15,400 overlay for the event. In an unusual coincidence, last Sunday's tournament also had 846 entrants.
Tigers2222 held the chip lead in the early stages of the final table with about $430,000 in chips compared to SoxNation83 in second place with around $350,000. Tigers2222 made an earlier-than-expected exit from the final table when his stack got down to just $232,000. He pushed all in with 10-9 offsuit after the action folded to him on the button preflop, with the big blind at $30,000. Dcmoeron called and showed pocket aces for a commanding lead in the hand (the aces were an
81 percent favorite, preflop). Tigers2222 failed to significantly improve and he was out in sixth place, earning $4,400.
Dcmoeron made it to threehanded play as the chip leader with $832,000 versus SoxNation83 ($670,000) and El Presidente ($613,000). In the first elimination hand of three-way play, dcmoeron raised to $152,000 from the button and El Presidente reraised all in for $425,000 from the big blind. Dcmoeron called, after some thought, and showed Q
8
and needed to catch up versus El Presidente's A
J
. The flop was horrible news for El Presidente when it came Q
8
8
, giving dcmoeron a full house and leaving El Presidente needing running aces or jacks to win and stay alive. The turn and river, however, were the 4
and the 7
and he was out in third place ($9,000).
Dcmoeron now had a huge chip lead going into heads-up play. He had $1.6 million compared to SoxNation83's $489,000, a more than 3-1 chip advantage. The remainder of the final table lasted just six minutes.
In the first big hand, dcmoeron min-raised to $120,000 preflop and SoxNation83 reraised all in for $727,000 total. Dcmoeron called and showed pocket nines and was in a coin flip versus SoxNation83's A
K
. The board ran out K
J
6
8
8
, giving SoxNation83 a king on the flop to double up to $1.5 million, leaving dcmoeron with $648,000.
In the very next hand, SoxNation83 open-pushed all in preflop and dcmoeron called all in and showed K
7
. SoxNation83 was ahead with the A
6
as the board ran out Q
10
2
9
4
. Dcmoeron lost the hand and collected $14,000 for second place. SoxNation83 took down the pot to secure his $25,000 first-place payday.
The final results were:
1) SoxNation83 - $25,000
2) dcmoeron - $14,000
3) El Presidente - $9,000
4) UncleBrmcorn - $6,500
5) TribeTime07 - $5,400
6) tigers2222 - $4,400
7) jbreazy - $3,400
8) yurabond - $2,400
9) storkebab_ - $1,550
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