Online Poker: TimDawg888 Wins Sunday MillionSunday Million Had Double Guarantee, Biggest-Ever Field, Dipthrong Wins TWO Majors |
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PokerStars Sunday Million
As part of the PokerStars 2X promotion, the guarantees for many of the major events last night were doubled, including the Sunday Warmup, the Sunday Million, and the Sunday Second Chance. The doubled guarantee meant that the Sunday Million was more like the Sunday Two Million, as it had a $2 million guarantee. As per the usual with special Sunday Millions, the promotion prompted a more than proportionate rise in attendance. The guarantee was smashed when 14,181 entrants bought in, the most a Sunday Million has ever had. The prize pool came to a whopping $2,836,200, which was also the largest-ever prize pool for a Sunday Million. (The next-largest Sunday Million was on May 20, 2007, when 10,894 entrants generated a prize pool of $2,428,800.)
The winner of last night’s event could earn almost $300,000 if no deal was made. But, as with most PokerStars tournaments with prize pools this big, a deal was, in fact, made. The final three players — xanja (the chip leader), TimDawg888, and PokerMurphy1 (the short-stack) — made a deal that guaranteed $235,000 to xanja, $205,356 to TimDawg888, and $167,789 to PokerMurphy1. As per the PokerStars chopping rules, $30,000 was left in the middle for the eventual winner.
PokerMurphy1 was the first to leave the running for that extra $30K when he was eliminated by TimDawg888 in third place. It then came down to heads-up play between TimDawg888 and xanja, but xanja still had the chip lead, despite TimDawg888 eliminating PokerMurphy1. TimDawg888 doubled through xanja shortly into the heads-up match and then proceeded to take xanja out a few hands later to win the event. TimDawg888 pocketed the extra $30,000 for a total winnings of $235,356, making him the leading money-winner in the tournament by $356.
The final results were:
* Payout reflects a three-way deal made at the final table, with $30,000 left for the eventual winner.
Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee
Whether because of the big Sunday Million event at PokerStars or because of some other reason, the Sunday majors at the other big sites last night also experienced larger-than-normal attendance. That was very good news for Full Tilt’s $750,000-guaranteed tournament, which had been suffering from 10 straight weeks of overlays. That overlay streak was broken last night when 4,173 entrants bought in, building a prize pool of $834,600, which offered a $147,382 first-place prize.
After 4,171 other players had hit the rail, it was down to Mark “dipthrong” Herm and DG101 for the big payday. They were fighting for a more than $58,000 prize difference. Dipthrong busted his final opponent to snag the lion’s share of the money in the event. That was a big accomplishment on its own, but it was an even bigger accomplishment considering what he had already done in the Bodog $100,000 guarantee (read below).
The final results were:
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
Like Full Tilt, UltimateBet’s major Sunday event also saw substantial growth last night when 987 entrants bought in. The tournament still required an overlay, but $2,600 is nothing to a site like UltimateBet, especially compared to last week’s $28,800 overlay (from 856 entrants).
The final two players, both of whom were gunning for the $45,000 first-place prize, were njm3111 and monika13. Monika13 took down the final pot of the event to earn the biggest payday of the event, while njm3111 snagged a still respectable $25,500.
The final results were:
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
Bodog’s $100,000-guaranteed event saw a rise in attendance, much like the other major events this weekend, but its rise was a little bit less pronounced. The tournament had 783 entrants (compared to last week’s 728), which meant that Bodog came out of pocket for $21,700 to match the tournament’s guarantee.
The two players vying for the top prize were 1ManCrew and Mark “dipthrong” Herm, who was in the middle of the Full Tilt $750,000-guaranteed event that he would ultimately win at the time. Herm eventually bested 1ManCrew to take down the event and the $23,600 first-place prize, which isn’t bad for a night’s work. Whether this win affected his play in the $750,000 guarantee can’t be known, although it is likely that it did in some way. All said, dipthrong earned a total of almost $171,000 for his unprecedented two major wins.
CardPlayer.com readers should remember to check back on Thursday or Saturday for the password to the Card Player-exclusive Bodog $100K qualifier, a tournament in which Bodog overlays five seats to the event.
The final results were:
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