Online tournaments took a bit of a hit yesterday, as a bunch of the major events failed to hit their guarantee. Coming off of two Major series (FTOPS and WCOOP) FullTilt and PokerStars had to be hoping for a better showing in October. Perhaps the start of the NFL season is keeping players glued to their TVs instead of their monitors.
The Sunday Warm-Up kicked off a long day of tournament grinding. The $215 event attracted more than 4,300 participants, easily besting its guarantee and taking over the $750k on FullTilt for the day’s 2nd biggest donkament. The tournament title went to “lbkslim”, a relatively unknown who before yesterday did not have a registered $10,000+ score to his name on PokerStars. Second-place finisher “pleasepick” had fared a bit better in the past, having won a $109 tournament a few years ago for $10,098. One of the more experienced players reaching the final table, “exposabre”, finished in 4th place for nearly $49,000. The score was barely the biggest of his career, besting a victory in the $215r last February for $42,345.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,329 Entrants; $865,800 prize pool
1. lbkslim $135,826.71
2. pleasepick $100,865.71
3. ugritaly $71,428.51
4. exposabre $48,917.71
5. DM the best $36,796.51
6. Shhh00kem $28,138.51
7. slyfox151 $19,480.51
8. Poiser $10,822.51
9. thegwtg $6,926.41
The Sunday Million took a huge hit this past weekend, as the tournament failed to reach 7,000 entrants for the first time in a while. The $1,500,000 guarantee was missed by a mile, forcing PokerStars to pony up $112,000 out of their own pockets. As always, don’t feel too bad for them, they do run the world’s largest poker site. Much like the Warm-Up winner, the Million champion, “Fraram”, had seen very little success prior to his big win. The $228,150 first place check dwarfed any previous cash, his best of which was for $4,596 in the $11r this past July. Runner-up “zakooza” nearly shipped the second chance in July, taking 4th for $21,600. This cash was also by far and away the biggest score of his career.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
6,940 Entrants; $1,500,000 prize pool
1. Fraram $228,150
2. zakooza $168,750
3. YEBOBOZ $120,000
4. Volanthn $82,500
5. More4Mor $63,000
6. PizzaBoyBob $48,000
7. Round42 $33,000
8. rjmgrace $18,000
9. shane261966 $11,625
Much like the million, the $500k Guaranteed did not come close to the 1,000 entrants necessary to reach its guarantee. 85 players shy meant PokerStars had to pay out $42,500 more this past Sunday. All in all the site had to dig deep in its pockets for more than $150,000 yesterday. Hopefully things turn around, as it’d be a shame if Stars had to lower the guarantee on two of their more marquee events. While the Million and Warm-Up were full of unknown players, the $500k had more than enough high-profile names at the final table. Finishing in 2nd was “Bill Ivey”, a notable cash and tournament grinder. The $64,150 check was the third biggest of his career, besting a 3rd place finish in this very event earlier in the year. He has had quite a large amount of success in rebuy events on Stars, having won the $109r and $109 cubed (twice) in the past. Eventual winner “nipe1955” appears to enjoy rebuys and major satellites, as most of his previous cashes were in $11, $33, and $55 rebuy events. Joining these two at the final table was Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick, a tournament professional who final-tabled two FTOPS Events in May, including a $142,155 cash in Event #17. Chidwick made the report last month for his victory in the $215r 2nd Chance WCOOP. Alex “Assassinato” Fitzgerald finished 4th in the $500k. The $36,000 cash was nearly his biggest score, just behind the $47,000 he took home for winning the Second Chance in June.
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
915 Entrants; $500,000 prize pool
1. nipe1955 $90,000
2. Bill Ivey $64,150
3. deamon10 $48,000
4. Assassinato $36,000
5. stevie444 $25,000
6. TheChosenWun $20,000
7. Pkaiser $15,000
8. Evilduke11 $10,000
9. DrCaligula $6,000
The $215r also had a star-studded final table, highlighted by Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, who took 6th place for $7,731. This score was only a “mere” $330,000 shy of his 3rd place finish in last month’s WCOOP High-Roller Event. He does have a few major wins to his name, including an FTOPS victory and a win in the Second Chance this March. Joining Saul was a collection of tournament professionals, including “shaihulud”, “joiso”, and “eatyourstac”. Eventual winner “matt1269” took home $35,219 for his efforts, doubling his previous best cash, a $17,597 check for finishing 8th in the Million in March.
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
253 Entrants; $171,800 prize pool
1. matt1269 $35,219
2. joiso $25,770
3. shaihulud $19,413
4. Tarjei82 $14,603
5. graybone $10,136.20
6. BeL0WaB0Ve $7,731
7. ffguitarguy $6,013
8. eatyourstac $4,295
9. JBlaze20 $3,006.50
The Second Chance finished off a big day of tournaments on Stars. Another final table full of lesser-known players came down to “SquintNGo” and “MixGamer”. Squint had a slight experience edge, having won a few big-field events on PokerStars in the past. His competitor, MixGamer, did not have a $1,000+ score to his name before yesterday. For once, experience paid off, as SquintNGo took down the title and nearly $43,000, the biggest cash of his career.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,172 Entrants; $234,400 prize pool
1. SquintNGo $42,895.20
2. MixGamer $31,175.20
3. Dapalma150 $23,440
4. Sure_Shot-TP $17,580
5. luke1403 $12,306
6. spassewr $9,962
7. flmodesq21 $7,618
8. ocrowe $5,274
9. knecht_poker $3,281.60
While PokerStars struggled a bit yesterday, FullTilt seemed unfazed, as all three of their Sunday Majors easily bested their guarantees. The day started with the Sunday Brawl. The $240+$16 Knock-Out event pays $40 to a player every time he/she eliminates a fellow competitor. Only 15 FullTilt Professionals played in the event, including Mike “Timex” Mcdonald, David Pham, and Lee Watkinson. Four of the pros made the money; however, not a single one was able to crack the top-100. The final-table dodged a bit of a bullet when highly-ranked pro Dan Wretchy Martin bubbled, finishing in 10th place. Heads-up came down to “Ahh Deezee” and “Gastone K”, two players who have achieved mild success on FullTilt. Taking home the title and $94,306 was Ahh Deezee, his 2nd biggest score on FullTilt alone. Just three months ago he won the $109 MSOP Main Event for $100,703.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $350k Guaranteed
2,312 Entrants; $462,400 prize pool
1. Ahh Deezee $94,306.48
2. Gastone K $61,036.80
3. tahlberg $45,315.20
4. werpennstate23 $34,217.60
5. SkinnyRick $24,044.80
6. acap11 $15,721.60
7. sintik222 $10,635.20
8. THEPUSHER1186 $7,398.480
9. shadyJ10 $5,548.80
The $750k continues to break the 4,000 player barrier, although it now ranks 3rd behind the Million and Warm-Up on PokerStars as online poker’s biggest weekly majors. Twenty of FullTilt’s very own played in the event, including Kristy Gazes, Ram Vaswani, and recently-single Beth Shak. Lee Watkinson took low-pro honors, finishing inside the money in 201st place. Heads-up play came down to “WhiteRice1” and “mookymcmookstr”. This was mooks biggest score of his career, easily besting a previous high of $7,752 for winning the $20k Guaranteed last June. It was difficult to find much information on WhiteRice1, as it seems he likes to keep his results to himself. One had to guess, however, that this $141,731 cash was the biggest of his career.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
4,013 Entrants; $802,600 prize pool
1. WhiteRice1 $141,731.13
2. mookymcmoookstr $85,797.94
3. H20lga $56,182
4. georche $44,143
5. freedomtc $33,147.38
6. Ph1LLeD1NGUE $24,559.56
7. Oz Doc $18,459.80
8. stroker11 $14,446.80
9. LangnerBR $10,754.84
Capping off a big day of tournament action was the appropriately named Mulligan on FullTilt. For once, a FullTilt Professional made a deep run. Martin Klaeser nearly made the final table before busting in 11th place, earning $2,152. The final table of the Mulligan bucked yesterday’s trend of inexperienced heads-up opponents as “Sonelin” and “Bhanks11”, two well-known players, faced off for the $53,820 first-place check. Sonelin is no stranger to major success on FullTilt, having nearly won the $750k in June, taking 2nd for just under $85,000. Bhanks11 has also made some big scores on FullTilt, including five $20k+ cashes entering this final table. He seems to enjoy rebuy events, having won the $85k and $40k rebuys on FullTilt this year. In the end it was Sonelin breaking through with his 1st major win.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,196 Entrants; $239,200 prize pool
1. Sonelin $53,820
2. Bhanks11 $34,086
3. Uri Benasher $25,235.60
4. pokerarg $19,734
5. HustlerGrune $14,950
6. JBlaze20 $10,764
7. PepperminitHippo $7,176
8. HirMrHong $5,382
9. RealFaithTV $3,827.20