Online Poker -- Steven 'UFman2' Burkholder Wins Third Major

There are less than two weeks remaining in the 2008 Card Player Online Player of the Year race, and Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis has shown no signs of letting up. With a sixth-place finishin the $100 rebuy on PokerStars, Kamberis put more distance between himself and the pack behind him. At this point in the season, it will take a near miracle to catch him.

Sunday was highlighted by the numerous notables who were able to take down the various rebuys and big guarantees. Johan "busto_soon" Van Til, Ben "benba" Lamb, Chad "lilholdem954" Batista, Mike "Bonzo9876" Katz, Jason "JP OSU" Potter, Jonathan "M0NSTER_D0NG" Karamalikis, and Josh "Dahjinerat" Mancuso were all able to score victories, pocketing between $40,000 and $100,000 in the process. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad, continuing her mini-comeback into the online world, scored a runner-up finish in the Sunday Mulligan on Full Tilt.

The biggest story of the weekend, however, was the heads-up match at the Full Tilt $1 million guarantee. Die-hard Florida Gators fans Steven "UFman2" Burkholder and Frank "Gator93" Hernandez went head to head for the top prize, just weeks before their favorite football team gets set to dominate Oklahoma for a championship of its own.

Read the recaps for Sunday’s flagship events on Full Tilt, PokerStars, UltimateBet, and Bodog below:

Full Tilt $1 Million Guarantee

The big Sunday tournament on Full Tilt stepped it up for its monthly increase and raised the buy-in from $200 to $500. That influx of cash increased the prize pool to $1,097,000, leaving just over $200,000 for the eventual winner.

Trond Eidsvig and Isaac Baron represented their site with a cash for the red-named pros, and notables David "GhettoFabolous" Randall, Keith "DaMurdera3" Ferrera, and Darryll "dfish21" Fish all made deep runs.

After a long final table, the heads-up match came down to two loyal Florida Gators fans in Steven "UFman2" Burkholder and Frank "gator93" Hernandez. When the dust settled, Burkholder came away victorious for his third major tournament title in 2008.

This was Burkholder's second Sunday major on Full Tilt, after taking down the Sept. 7 $750,000-guaranteed event. In addition, he also has a win during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker in event No. 29. His total winnings for the year thus far have amounted to $779,631, putting him in the top 20 of the OPOY race.

Here were the final table results:

1. Steven "UFman2" Burkholder (aka PiKappRaider) — $201,848
2. Frank "gator93" Hernandez — $123,961
3. bellbop — $81,178
4. Daniel "All4non" Drescher (aka Allanon85) — $64,723
5. Elephant — $49,365
6. smfit29 — $35,323
7. bl4z3j4ck — $25,780
8. Kory "s00tedj0kers89" Kilpatrick (aka s00tedj0kers) — $20,295
9. Jimbostar — $15,358

PokerStars Sunday Million

The Sunday Million had a great week with 8,015 entrants putting up the $200 buy-in to create a total prize pool of $1,603,000.

A number of familiar names made a deep run at the title but ultimately fell just short, including Dane "WatchTheSea" Miller, Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy, Dan "WiLDmAn75" Buzgon, and Jeff "jeff710" Hakim.

Hakim just narrowly missed the final table, making way for a heads-up battle between Kopplar Jocke and crazylarry43. Kopplar Jocke had the monster chip lead and finally put his opponent away with a dominating ace.

Here were the final table results:

1. Kopplar Jocke — $130,723*
2. crazylarry43 — $132,407*
3. phil steve — $119,579*
4. vuki — $133,610*
5. DFGBOYS — $56,907
6. dstrung — $40,877
7. gladik — $28,053
8. tAAggart — $18,435
9. mezyoureyez — $11,221

*Payout reflects a four-way deal made at the final table.

UltimateBet $200,000 Guaranteed

With the help of the Cereus network, UltimateBet is getting closer and closer to permanently avoiding overlays in the $200,000-guaranteed tournament. A total of 895 players bought in, up a bit from last week's total.

Notables to finish in the money included Keven "Stamdogg3" Stammen, Geoff "GeoffRas22" Rasmussen, and Ryan "Ryanbluf" Karp.

In the end, BUSK9 took out JABOIJEROME for the top prize.

Here were the final table results:

1. BUSK9 — $46,000
2. JABOIJEROME — $27,000
3. KINGERIK — $17,600
4. BAXAMENTS15 — $13,000
5. DONROLANDO — $10,600
6. Ryan "Ryanbluf" Karp — $8,600
7. the deft — $6,600
8. _TheTaker_ — $4,600
9. LIL SHAKE — $3,000

Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed

Note: This tournament was not held yesterday for reasons unknown.

Card Player readers should be sure to check out the Card Player-exclusive Pro Bowl in Paradise promotion on Bodog, which will send one lucky player and a friend to watch football’s Pro Bowl live in Hawaii.


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.

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