PokerStars Sunday Million
PokerStars numbers went down slightly again this weekend at its Sunday Million guaranteed tournament. The 6,628-player field was down from 6,680 last week, making for a $1,325,600 prize pool. The first-place finisher stood to take home almost $185,000.
Jkopp984 came to the final table as the chip leader with $15.4 million. Pokerno was relatively close behind in second with $12.2 million and hafizzle had the smallest stack at $2.4 million. True to the stack order, hafizzle was the first player eliminated when he pushed all in preflop against a raise from luckeeseven. Luckeeseven called and showed A
6
while hafizzle revealed pocket kings for a decent lead. The flop came out 8
8
7 and hafizzle pleaded for his hand to "hold." The turn was the 4 and the river was the A, ignoring hafizzle's pleas and knocking him out in ninth ($10,870).
SL!CK was the next to go, in the very next hand. With the big blind at $160,000, SL!CK raised to $960,000 preflop. Pokerno pushed all in for $16.9 million from the big blind, having SL!CK well covered. SL!CK called and showed A 4 while pokerno revealed pocket queens for the lead. The board came 10 5 5 9 4, pairing SL!CK's four but keeping pokerno in the lead to take down the pot and eliminate SL!CK in eighth ($16,703).
Almost 15 minutes later, koule11 and vinny88 got involved in a big hand with each other. With the big blind at $400,000, vinny88 raised to $1.2 million. Koule11 answered by pushing all in over the top for close to $7 million. Vinny88 called all in for less, with a total of $6.7 million, and showed A K. Koule11 was in the lead with pocket jacks. The board came out Q 6 4 5 K, spiking a king for vinny88 on the river to win the hand and cripple koule11. Koule11 was forced all in three hands later in the big blind. Bonvivant and luckeeseven saw a flop with him and checked it down to the river. Bonvivant bet on the river, with the board showing A 8 7 8 7, and luckeeseven folded. Bonvivant showed Q 7 for a full house, sevens full of eights, and koule11 revealed pocket threes and was playing the board. Koule11 received $22,535 for seventh place.
In the next elimination hand, luckeeseven pushed all in preflop for his remaining $2.5 million. Janwillem111 called and showed 10 7 while luckeeseven turned over pocket nines for the lead. The flop came down Q 10 4, spiking a 10 for janwillem111 to put him in the lead. The turn was the Q and the river the 2, sealing luckeeseven's fate and sending him to the rail in sixth ($28,633).
Four of the five remaining players wanted to discuss a deal, but vinny88 never gave his approval to pause the tournament and see the numbers. However, vinny88 was the short stack, so the other players figured they'd be able to enter discussions soon enough once he was eliminated. They figured right. Vinny88 raised to $1.8 million preflop, with the big blind at $600,000, and janwillem111 called. The flop came 10 4 2 and vinny88 pushed all in for his remaining $2 million. Janwillem111 called and showed 10 7 for top pair while vinny88 revealed A K and would need to improve. The turn and river were the 3 and the 4, leaving vinny88 with the pair on the board and giving janwillem11 two pair. Vinny88 took home $35,526 for fifth.
The remaining four players then paused the tournament to discuss a deal. They looked at the by-the-chips chop numbers and jkopp987 convinced two of the players to chip in an extra $5,000 for him to put him over $70,000. Other than that slight modification, the by-the-chips deal was agreed upon, with $30,000 remaining in the middle to play for, per PokerStars rules. Janwillem111 had the chip lead and thus got the biggest guaranteed payout of the deal at $107,104. Pokerno was right behind and secured $94,276 for himself. Bonvivant and jkopp were assured at least $79,124 and $70,074, respectively.
The first hand after the break was a big one. Jkopp984 raised all in preflop for close to $8 million and bonvivant called and showed pocket tens. Jkopp984 held A 6 and needed help. The flop wasn't much help for him when it came J 4 2. The turn was the 6, still not much help, but it gave jkopp984 a few more outs. The river spiked an ace for jkopp984 to take down the pot and leave bonvivant with just $5.2 million.
In the very next hand, pokerno raised to $1.8 million and bonvivant pushed all in. Pokerno called and showed pocket nines. Bonvivant flipped up A 4 and was hoping for the same kind of luck that just crippled his stack in the previous hand. However, his hopes were dashed when the board ran out 5 2 2 7 6, and he was eliminated in fourth.
Pokerno and janwillem111 were basically neck-and-neck going into three-way play, each holding close to $25 million. Jkopp984 was in third with $16 million. Pokerno forged a $9 million lead over janwillem111 before janwillem111's final hand. Pokerno raised to $3.2 million preflop with the blinds at their maximum level at $400,000-$800,000. Janwillem111 pushed all in over the top for $21.6 million. Pokerno called and showed pocket tens while janwillem111 showed pocket sixes. Neither player's hand further improved and pokerno took down the pot to put janwillem111 out in third.
It was now heads up for the $30,000 remaining in the prize pool. Pokerno had a hefty lead at $52.8 million versus jkopp984's $13.5 million. It took just two minutes for the final hand to take place. Pokerno called from the small blind and jkopp984 raised to $3.2 million. Pokerno reraised to $45 million, more than enough to put jkopp984 all in, and jkopp984 called and showed K Q. Pokerno was in the lead with A J as the flop came 10 5 3. The turn was the 5 and the river the 4 and pokerno won the pot and the tournament with ace high. Pokerno collected the extra $30,000 to put his total winnings up to $124,276.
The final standings were:
* 1) pokerno – $124,276
* 2) jkopp984 – $70,074
* 3) janwillem111 – $107,104
* 4) bonvivant – $79,124
5) vinny88 – $35,526.08
6) luckeeseven – $28,632.96
7) koule11 – $22,535.20
8) SL!CK – $16,702.56
9) hafizzle – $10,869.92
* Payouts reflect a slightly modified by-the-chips chop with $30,000 going to the winner, per PokerStars rules.
FullTilt $500,000 Guarantee
FullTilt held its monthly $500,000 guarantee this weekend and easily surpassed the posted guarantee. The tournament lured 1,237 players to pay the $500 buy-in, pumping the prize pool up to $618,500 and offering a $117,515 first-place prize. Jeff "ActionJeff" Garza finished deep in the tournament, finally getting ousted 27th ($2,907).
A_Junglen came into the table as the chip leader with over $1 million, compared to gusost in second with $$816,000. The next-closest stack was Kool Kyle, with barely more than half of gusost's second-place stack. A_Junglen's chip lead got caught on the wrong end of a few key hands and he left relatively early from the table in sixth ($21,029). Gusost had managed to carry his slightly diminished $652,000 stack to three-way play, but was up against like7 ($1 million) and qwert987 ($2 million). Like7 and qwert987 had been sneaking their way up the ranks throughout the table.
Like7 swapped stacks with qwerty987 relatively soon in three-way play in a big hand where he got all in preflop with kings against qwert987's queens. The kings held up to literally switch their stacks and put like7 in the chip lead. Qwert987 regained the chip lead when he eliminated gusost. Gusost had pushed all in on a 5-high flop with A-10 and qwert987 called with K-5 for a pair of fives. Qwert987 hit runner-runner for an unneeded flush to eliminate gusost in third ($50,099).
Qwert987 had $2.1 million going into heads-up play and like7 had $1.6 million. The two had a marathon heads-up match (for an online tournament) at 50 minutes. Like7 had accumulated a chip lead, mainly from two big hands, before the final hand. Qwert987 pushed all in preflop for his remaining $358,000 and like7 called and showed pocket eights. Qwert987 was behind with K 5 and the board came 10 8 2 Q J. Qwert987 was left with king high against like7's set of eights and was eliminated in second ($72,365). Like7 raked in $117,515 for his first-place finish.
The final standings were:
1) like7 – $117,515
2) qwert987 – $72,364.50
3) gusost – $50,098.50
4) Kool Kyle – $38,656.25
5) lordhutty – $29,378.75
6) A_Junglen – $21,029
7) Sibylline – $15,462.50
8) the flop canada – $12,184.45
9) SuckaFishy – $9,463.05
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
The UltimateBet $200,000 guaranteed tournament picked up pretty much exactly where it left off three weeks ago, before the UltimateBet Online Championship (UBOC). The total number of entries was just three players higher than it was before the UBOC, at 957. As usual, UltimateBet paid out an overlay into the tournament's prize pool, this week's overlay coming $8,600.
Brad JOHNSON came to the final table as the chip leader, with $508,000. He and jjjucifer held the top two spots for much of the final table, even swapping the chip lead once or twice. Tim "Tmay_420" West, a noteworthy Internet pro, also sat at the final table, eventually finishing in fifth ($11,000). By the time it was down to three players, Brad JOHNSON had built up a huge lead with $1.4 million compared to jjjucifer in second with $540,000 and dry_benefit in third at $426,000. In less than five minutes, Brad JOHNSON had eliminated dry_benefit to further his lead. He sat with $1.9 million at the start of heads-up play, while jjjucifer had $461,000. It was just another five minutes before the final hand.
Jjjucifer raised to $50,000 from the small blind, with blinds at $10,000-$20,000. Brad JOHNSON called and the flop came 3 22. Brad JOHNSON checked and jjjucifer bet $90,000. Brad JOHNSON pushed all in over the top, having jjjucifer's remaining $381,000 well covered. Jjjucifer called and showed 5 4 for an open-ended straight draw while Brad JOHNSON turned over 6 3 for two pair, treys and deuces. The turn was the 7 and the river the J, further improving neither player and giving the hand, and the tournament, to Brad JOHNSON. Jjjucifer pocketed $27,000 for second place and Brad JOHNSON took home $45,000 for first.
The final standings were:
1) Brad JOHNSON – $45,000
2) jjjucifer – $27,000
3) dry_benefit – $18,500
4) St_Etienne – $13,000
5) Tmay_420 – $11,000
6) yadio – $9,000
7) shumonytonite – $7,000
8) crabfarm – $5,000
9) bluffenuff4u – $3,500
10) 21maddog – $2,000
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
Bodog's $100,000 guaranteed tournament had 908 players putting up $109 this weekend. That number constituted a sharp drop compared to last week's 981 entrants. The attendance resulted in a $9,200 overlay on Bodog's part.
The Maven and RoboDonk were pretty much tied for the chip lead upon entering the final table, with just over $400,000 apiece. The tide changed for RoboDonk with seven players left, when 3pounder doubled up through him with pocket aces. The hand took a huge chunk out of RoboDonk while catapulting 3pounder into the chip lead. Meanwhile, The Maven's stack was slowly dwindling, hand by hand, at a relatively continuous pace. The Maven eventually took RoboDonk out in sixth ($4,400) before himself busting out shortly thereafter in fifth ($5,400).
3pounder had a huge chip lead with four players left, sitting with $1.5 million compared to warpig40 in second with $370,000. Those two eventually found themselves heads up, and warpig40 had made a lot of progress toward closing the chip gap. Warpig40 had $906,000 while 3pounder still had the chip lead with $1.4 million. The heads-up match lasted close to 30 minutes, relatively long in terms of online poker. 3pounder and warpig40 swapped the chip lead numerous times over the course of the match. 3pounder regained his edge just two minutes before the final hand.
With blinds at $30,000-$60,000, warpig40 pushed all in preflop for $955,000. 3pounder called instantly and showed A 8. Warpig40 revealed A 2 and was in bad shape. The board ran out A 9 7 4 3 and 3pounder's kicker played to win him the pot and the tournament. Warpig40 got $14,000 for second place while 3pounder cashed out for $25,000 for his win.
The final standings were:
1) 3pounder – $25,000
2) warpig40 – $14,000
3) Doc Nol – $9,000
4) SpeedBird – $6,500
5) The Maven – $5,400
6) RoboDonk – $4,400
7) rusostreet – $3,400
8) Dr Beck – $2,400
9) sportsbet4life – $1,550
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