The Memorial Day weekend made for calm waters on the online poker front, as far as tournament fields were concerned, at least. Most of the Sunday majors, including all four in this recap, saw significant drops in attendance last night versus the previous weekend, and three of the events required overlays.
PokerStars Sunday Million
The PokerStars Sunday Million had 6,745 entrants last night, the lowest attendance it has had since Feb. 3 of this year, and much lower than the 7,112 entrants of last Sunday. The prize pool last night came to $1,349,000. The first-place finisher could count on a $194,000 payday if no deal was made at the final table.
Nevertheless, the final three players — KtheKing, rythman, and tapatapa — came up with a deal based on chip counts, with tapatapa the chip leader at the time. KtheKing bowed out in third ($90,758), and it came down to tapatapa and rythman for the extra $30,000 on the line for the winner (per the PokerStars chopping rules). Rythman came back to win the event to pocket the extra $30,000, putting his total winnings at $137,254. Tapatapa was the leading money-winner in the event, earning $139,736.
The final results were:
- rythman — $137,254*
- tapatapa — $139,726*
- KtheKing — $90,758*
- Hasuwisp — $56,658
- EvilLondon. — $43,303
- jojo1983 — $31,027
- deepak1 — $22,259
- jorgeezy — $13,490
- browsef — $8,364
* Payout reflects a three-way deal made at the final table.
Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee
Full Tilt’s $750,000-guaranteed event had 3,580 entrants last night, the lowest it’s had since April 6 (3,551). Full Tilt put down $34,000 out of pocket to match the guarantee in the event. The last man standing would snag almost $133,000.
When it came down to the final fight for that top prize, it was Matt “mattyv” Vengrin versus msmatrix, both of whom had outlasted 3,578 entrants and were looking to outlast just one more. Ultimately, it was msmatrix who outlasted the entire field to land the biggest payday. Mattyv had to “settle” for $80,250.
Brian “SN8WMAN” Hawkins made the final table of the event before finishing in eighth place. His finish netted him 200 Online Player of the Year points, which vaulted him back above Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron and into second on the OPOY leader board.
The final results were:
- msmatrix — $132,788
- Matt “mattyv” Vengrin — $80,250
- stogyman — $52,500
- SkyHammer85 — $41,400
- Jess “JohnyCashOut” Newman — $31,050
- Skalpell — $23,025
- Markus OwnH — $17,250
- Brian “SN8WMAN” Hawkins — $13,500
- Babooyah — $10,050
UltimateBet $200,000 Guarantee
The UltimateBet $200,000-guaranteed tournament lured 775 entrants on Sunday, meaning UltimateBet had to fork over $45,000, for the biggest overlay of the weekend. This was down from last week’s 856 entrants, but barely higher than the 772 entrants of two weeks previous. The man with all of the chips at the end would take home $46,000 for his troubles.
The quest for that prize was eventually between T.J. “whatarunaa” Slifka and frozencanuck. Whatarunaa eliminated his final opponent to earn the $46,000 first-place prize
The final results were:
- T.J. “whatarunaa” Slifka — $46,000
- frozencanuck — $28,000
- gptbigguy33 — $18,500
- EMO_BOYFRIEND — $13,000
- cheryl7760 — $11,000
- David “Davidp18” Peters — $9,000
- MONDO FREAK — $7,000
- sideshowbobbb — $5,000
- BigBlueBin23 — $3,500
- Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis — $2,000
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
Like its three counterparts in this recap, the Bodog $100,000-guaranteed event had a lower-than-normal field of entrants at 618, the lowest attendance it has had since March 23 (603). The overlay on Bodog’s part came to $38,200, or more than 38 percent of the total prize pool.
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin made the final table of the event once again, making for his sixth Bodog $100,000-guaranteed tournament final table. He won the event less than a month ago on May 4. Basebaldy went for his second win when he got heads up versus fin2win. He completed that accomplishment when he took out his final foe to take down the tournament for the second time in less than a month. He earned $23,600 for his feat.
The final results were:
- Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin — $23,600
- fin2win — $13,600
- favre4prez — $9,100
- rmobley65 — $7,000
- SirBarSpin — $5,700
- UppyTime — $4,500
- gregums1 — $3,300
- boulder ace — $2,200
- PhillyGG — $1,300
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