Both major US Sites looked to build on the momentum from the new year and carry it into their major tournaments this past Sunday.  With FTOPs looming around the corner there were no “special” events from the two sites; however, that did not stop tens of thousands of players from participating in the Sunday majors.

PokerStars ran it’s “big 5”, the Million, Warm-Up, Second Chance, 500, and $215re-buy.  Lately the last two events on the list have had trouble reaching their guarantees, leaving some nice overlay for all the big buy-in tournament players.  This week only 926 players entered the 500, forcing PokerStars to pay out $37,000 in overlay.

The Sunday 500 is an event  full of very good players with an even better structure.  It typically has the deepest final table on Sunday, both player-wise and starting-stack wise as well.  The starting blinds at the final table were t15000/t30000 leaving even the shortest stacks more than 20BB’s deep:

Seat 1: effumoney (1207139 in chips)
Seat 2: GosuDiac (725010 in chips)
Seat 3: ih8pp (738289 in chips)
Seat 4: Boykee (1013682 in chips)
Seat 5: trainwrecks (1765468 in chips)
Seat 6: receptor (1147665 in chips)
Seat 7: mcstuntz (629278 in chips)
Seat 8: hazards21 (1316602 in chips)
Seat 9: hwtd1 (716867 in chips)

Heads-Up play came down to “ih8pp” and “hazards21”. Both players are successful tournament players, with hazards21 having a slight edge having now made well over $100,000 just on PokerStars.  However, that experience did not pay off, as ih8pp would take down the title and the $91,000 first place prize:

Seat 3: ih8pp (7541138 in chips)
Seat 8: hazards21 (1718862 in chips)
ih8pp: posts the ante 10000
hazards21: posts the ante 10000
hazards21: posts small blind 50000
ih8pp: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
hazards21: raises 175000 to 275000
ih8pp: raises 7256138 to 7531138 and is all-in
hazards21: calls 1433862 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (5822276) returned to ih8pp
*** FLOP *** [As 5c Ts]
*** TURN *** [As 5c Ts] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [As 5c Ts 8c] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ih8pp: shows [Qh Th] (a pair of Tens)
hazards21: shows [Qd Kc] (high card Ace)
ih8pp collected 3437724 from pot

PokerStars Sunday 500 $500k Guaranteed
926 Entrants; $500,000 prize pool

1. ih8pp – $91,500
2. hazards21 – $66,500
3. GosuDiac – $50,000
4. receptor – $37,500
5. hwtd1 – $26,250
6. mcstuntz – $21,250
7. Boykee – $16,250
8. effumoney – $11,250
9. trainwrecks – $7,000

Another final table which never disappoints in the $215 re-buy tournament.  The $200,000 guaranteed event fell just short of it’s guarantee this week, forcing PokerStars to add $3000 out of it’s very deep pockets to the prize pool.  A few big names made the final table including “Stammdogg” who seems to make this report every Sunday.  Also, Adam “AJunglen7” Junglen came into the final table in decent shape.  He became one of the more well known tournament pro’s around in July 2007 after winning the Sunday Million for nearly $200,000.

Seat 1: Stammdogg (282938 in chips)
Seat 2: jpapola (153503 in chips)
Seat 3: Comandr_Cool (305088 in chips)
Seat 4: AJunglen7 (184257 in chips)
Seat 5: BrasaPoker (220322 in chips)
Seat 6: Halfprice (58329 in chips)
Seat 7: xthesteinx (174461 in chips)
Seat 8: jokkee_apart (60220 in chips)
Seat 9: bdybldngpkr (145882 in chips)

Stammdogg made it to heads-up player; however, he was unable to secure the title and had to settle for second place when he failed to connect on his flush draw:

Seat 1: Stammdogg (461878 in chips)
Seat 3: Comandr_Cool (1123122 in chips)
Stammdogg: posts the ante 1200
Comandr_Cool: posts the ante 1200
Stammdogg: posts small blind 6000
Comandr_Cool: posts big blind 12000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Stammdogg: raises 24000 to 36000
Comandr_Cool: raises 57000 to 93000
Stammdogg: calls 57000
*** FLOP *** [As 5d 9s]
Comandr_Cool: bets 108000
Stammdogg: raises 259678 to 367678 and is all-in
Comandr_Cool: calls 259678
*** TURN *** [As 5d 9s] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [As 5d 9s 7c] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Comandr_Cool: shows [Jh Ac] (a pair of Aces)
Stammdogg: shows [7s Ts] (a pair of Sevens)
Comandr_Cool collected 923756 from pot

PokerStars $215r $200k Guaranteed
322 Entrants; $200,000 prize pool

1. Comandr_Cool $41,000
2. Stammdogg $30,000
3. bdybldngpkr $22,600
4. BrasaPoker $17,000
5. jpapola $11,800
6. xthesteinx $9,000
7. jokee_apart $7,000
8. AJunglen7 $5,000
9. Halfprice $3,500

The smallest of the three majors on PokerStars is the $250,000 guaranteed Sunday Second Chance.  One of the latest starting tournaments around always tends to finish before a lot of the other majors because of it’s smaller field and faster blind structure.   This week 1361 players generated a prize pool of just over $272,000, easily beating the guarantee.  There were plenty of solid players making the final table; however, there were no “big” names making an appearance.  Second place finisher “VerySexual” notched his 5th five-figure score of his career.  This was his second biggest score behind his win in the Super Tuesday this past September for over $59,000.  Here’s the final hand and payouts:

Seat 1: BigOG (2369596 in chips)
Seat 2: VerySexual (1713404 in chips)
BigOG: posts the ante 10000
VerySexual: posts the ante 10000
BigOG: posts small blind 50000
VerySexual: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
BigOG: raises 157000 to 257000
VerySexual: raises 1446404 to 1703404 and is all-in
BigOG: calls 1446404
*** FLOP *** [4s 7s 8c]
*** TURN *** [4s 7s 8c] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [4s 7s 8c Kc] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
VerySexual: shows [Td Qs] (a pair of Sevens)
BigOG: shows [9d 9s] (two pair, Nines and Sevens)
BigOG collected 3426808 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1361 prize pool, $272,200 prize pool

1. BigOG – $49,432
2. VerySexual – $35,930
3. xxjondxx – $27,220
4. TrollAwaken – $20,415
5. SageSimon – $14,291
6. shiptosails – $11,569
7. arsenalfca – $8,847
8. BARON PRUSSE – $6,125
9. Darth Maul – $3,811

The Sunday Warm-Up typically has the second biggest field each weekend, just behind the Sunday Million.  This week the $750,000 guaranteed tournament attracted 4032 players creating a $806,400 prize pool.  Second-place finisher “tmmy2win” recorded his 3rd five-figure score of his career and easily bested his previous high-score of $22,000 in a $200 heads-up tournament.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4032 Entrants; $806,400 prize pool

1. aligator67 – $104,832
2. tmmy2win – $72,576
3. davrow – $48,384
4. JPette333 – $40,320
5. BigRed0000 – $32,256
6. ramon123456 – $24,192
7. killbillyboy – $16,128
8. Vienna Bundy – $10,080
9. throwinphins – $6,935

The biggest even each Sunday is the $1,500,000 Guaranteed Sunday Million on PokerStars.  The tournament has been easily eclipsing it’s guarantee as of late and this week was no exception.   8268 players generated a $1,653,600 prize pool with over $200,000 going to first.  It is certainly good to see a Sunday major with a $200,000 first prize again.  Let’s take a look at the final table stacks and bust out hands:

Seat 1: dxu05 (11409512 in chips)
Seat 2: Tophandler (4759696 in chips)
Seat 3: chicokim (17721353 in chips)
Seat 4: U_TILT_ME (19185352 in chips)
Seat 5: Kappe85 (6087080 in chips)
Seat 6: g0lfa (6811907 in chips)
Seat 7: Sir_winalot9 (5570202 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (3078872 in chips)
Seat 9: Mexxximum1 (8056026 in chips)

Seat 1: dxu05 (10031735 in chips)
Seat 2: Tophandler (4879696 in chips)
Seat 3: chicokim (16492481 in chips)
Seat 4: U_TILT_ME (19513129 in chips)
Seat 5: Kappe85 (4617080 in chips)
Seat 6: g0lfa (6281907 in chips)
Seat 7: Sir_winalot9 (6140202 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (6547744 in chips)
Seat 9: Mexxximum1 (8176026 in chips)
U_TILT_ME: posts small blind 150000
Kappe85: posts big blind 300000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
g0lfa: folds
Sir_winalot9: folds
livelikunger: folds
Mexxximum1: raises 500000 to 800000
dxu05: folds
Tophandler: folds
chicokim: raises 1600000 to 2400000
U_TILT_ME: folds
Kappe85: folds
Mexxximum1: raises 5746026 to 8146026 and is all-in
chicokim: calls 5746026
*** FLOP *** [Qh Ts 4h]
*** TURN *** [Qh Ts 4h] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Ts 4h Ac] [5h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Mexxximum1: shows [As Kh] (a pair of Aces)
chicokim: shows [Ah Qs] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
chicokim collected 17012052 from pot

Seat 2: Tophandler (4699696 in chips)
Seat 3: chicokim (21374347 in chips)
Seat 4: U_TILT_ME (17156049 in chips)
Seat 5: Kappe85 (9828320 in chips)
Seat 6: g0lfa (4681907 in chips)
Seat 7: Sir_winalot9 (5360202 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (11016632 in chips)
dxu05: posts small blind 200000
Tophandler: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
chicokim: raises 589898 to 989898
U_TILT_ME: folds
Kappe85: folds
g0lfa: folds
Sir_winalot9: folds
livelikunger: folds
dxu05: folds
Tophandler: raises 3669798 to 4659696 and is all-in
chicokim: calls 3669798
*** FLOP *** [Ks 8s 3h]
*** TURN *** [Ks 8s 3h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 8s 3h 6s] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tophandler: shows [9d Ad] (a pair of Sixes)
chicokim: shows [Ah Tc] (a pair of Sixes – Ace+King+Ten kicker)
chicokim collected 9839392 from pot

Seat 1: dxu05 (8050347 in chips)
Seat 3: chicokim (22714145 in chips)
Seat 4: U_TILT_ME (23816048 in chips)
Seat 5: Kappe85 (5656642 in chips)
Seat 6: g0lfa (6331805 in chips)
Seat 7: Sir_winalot9 (1294381 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (14816632 in chips)
Sir_winalot9: posts small blind 250000
livelikunger: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
dxu05: folds
chicokim: folds
U_TILT_ME: folds
Kappe85: folds
g0lfa: folds
Sir_winalot9: raises 744381 to 1244381 and is all-in
livelikunger: calls 744381
*** FLOP *** [7c 6h 8d]
*** TURN *** [7c 6h 8d] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [7c 6h 8d 2s] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Sir_winalot9: shows [4d Th] (a pair of Sevens)
livelikunger: shows [7h Ah] (three of a kind, Sevens)
livelikunger collected 2838762 from pot

Seat 1: dxu05 (16600694 in chips)
Seat 3: chicokim (9657156 in chips)
Seat 4: U_TILT_ME (23766048 in chips)
Seat 5: Kappe85 (10063284 in chips)
Seat 6: g0lfa (7281805 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (15311013 in chips)
dxu05: posts small blind 250000
chicokim: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
U_TILT_ME: folds
Kappe85: folds
g0lfa: raises 6731805 to 7231805 and is all-in
livelikunger: folds
dxu05: folds
chicokim: calls 6731805
*** FLOP *** [Ah 3d Tc]
*** TURN *** [Ah 3d Tc] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 3d Tc 9c] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chicokim: shows [Qs Ac] (three of a kind, Aces)
g0lfa: shows [Ts 9d] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
chicokim collected 15013610 from pot

Seat 1: dxu05 (29745200 in chips)
Seat 4: U_TILT_ME (12915590 in chips)
Seat 5: Kappe85 (3010320 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (37008890 in chips)
dxu05: posts small blind 500000
U_TILT_ME: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Kappe85: folds
livelikunger: raises 3000000 to 4000000
dxu05: folds
U_TILT_ME: raises 8815590 to 12815590 and is all-in
livelikunger: calls 8815590
*** FLOP *** [6h Ad 5c]
*** TURN *** [6h Ad 5c] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [6h Ad 5c 9s] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
U_TILT_ME: shows [Jh Jd] (a pair of Jacks)
livelikunger: shows [3h As] (a pair of Aces)
livelikunger collected 26531180 from pot

Seat 1: dxu05 (29145200 in chips)
Seat 5: Kappe85 (2910320 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (50624480 in chips)
Kappe85: posts small blind 500000
livelikunger: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
dxu05: folds
Kappe85: raises 1810320 to 2810320 and is all-in
livelikunger: calls 1810320
*** FLOP *** [Jc 9c 2d]
*** TURN *** [Jc 9c 2d] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 9c 2d Kc] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Kappe85: shows [5h Ts] (high card Ace)
livelikunger: shows [6s 9s] (a pair of Nines)
livelikunger collected 5920640 from pot
After Kappe85 busted the two players rather quickly decided on a chop leaving $30,000 in the middle:

$147490.79–livelikunger
$157528.57–dxu05

Heads-Up play did not take long as livelikunger would win a big pot and then eventually finish off dxu05:

Seat 1: dxu05 (7645200 in chips)
Seat 8: livelikunger (75034800 in chips)
dxu05: posts small blind 500000
livelikunger: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
dxu05: raises 6545200 to 7545200 and is all-in
livelikunger: calls 6545200
*** FLOP *** [2s 8d 2c]
*** TURN *** [2s 8d 2c] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [2s 8d 2c 5c] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
livelikunger: shows [3h Ac] (a pair of Deuces)
dxu05: shows [Tc 9d] (a pair of Deuces – lower kicker)
livelikunger collected 15290400 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8268 Entrants; $1,653,600 prize pool

1. livelikunger – $177,490.79
2. dxu05 – $157,528.57
3. Kappe85 – $91,775
4. U_TILT_ME – $74,412
5. chicokim – $57,876
6. g0lfa – $41,340
7. Sir_winalot9 – $28,938
8. Tophandler – $19,016
9. Mexxximum1 – $11,575

Full Tilt’s 3 Sunday majors saw a bit of a drop in entrants this week.  First up is the Sunday Brawl, a $350,000 guaranteed knock-out event which pays a player $40 every time he/she busts another player.  A near $400,000 prize pool was generated when 1985 players, including 18 Full Tilt Red Pros, entered the event.  Three pros made the money including Roland Specht, Soraya Homam, and Leandro Brasa. Here are the final table stacks and payouts:

Seat 1: bob2bob (1,712,246)
Seat 2: LTBGGTBL (907,517)
Seat 3: moronicus (532,809)
Seat 4: MichaelBpzpz (380,554)
Seat 5: Mammola (235,000)
Seat 6: runondiesel (1,079,818)
Seat 7: PLUSizeHoneY (154,640)
Seat 8: JohnnyM77 (613,842)
Seat 9: Dahladino (338,574)

FullTilt Sunday Brawl $350k Guaranteed
1,985 Entrants; $397,000 prize pool 

1. runondiesel – $81,782
2. bob2bob – $53,992
3. JohnnyM77 – $40,097
4. LTBGGTBL – $31,363
5. moronicus – $23,423
6. Mammola – $16,277
7. Dahladino – $9,925
8. MichaelBpzpz – $6,749
9. PLUSizeHoneY – $4,764

The biggest event on FullTilt each Sunday is the $750k Guarantee.  This week 3736 players entered in the event forcing FullTilt to pay out a slight overlay. Steve Wong, a FullTilt Red Pro, made a deep run, finishing in 14th place for $5,325.  Here are the final table stacks and pay outs:

Seat 1: WSOP Legend (1,203,490)
Seat 2: Joeyv1234 (1,154,917)
Seat 3: timhorr (2,199,265)
Seat 4: dedhedaap (402,572)
Seat 5: highlandfox (656,025)
Seat 6: frickafricka (493,094)
Seat 7: K7MA (1,725,197)
Seat 8: 45 ACP Fanatic (3,113,640)
Seat 9: spady 007 (259,800)

FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
3736 Entrants; $750,000 prize pool

1. 45 ACP Fanatic – $132,788
2. dedhedaap – $80,250
3. timhorr – $52,500
4. WSOP Legend – $41,400
5. Joeyv1234 – $31,050
6. frickafricka – $23,025
7. spady 007 – $17,250
8. highlandfox – $13,500
9. K7MA – $10,050

The final tournament of the day is the appropriately-named Sunday Mulligan.  The $200,000 guaranteed event attracted 1085 entrants, including 14 Red Pros. Only one of the pros “dmmikkel” was fortunate enough to make the money, finishing in 54th place.  Well-known poker player ShannonShorr known as “BLUFFforRENT” took down the title and nearly $49,000.  He is more known for his live tournament success, having won a WPT event at the Bellagio Cup.  Here are th final table stacks, last hand, and pay outs:

Seat 1: MasterSkillz1 (156,645)
Seat 2: BLUFFforRENT (987,590)
Seat 3: kice32 (190,358)
Seat 4: mman_status (431,408)
Seat 5: qjuice14 (419,216)
Seat 6: Quassi (303,511)
Seat 8: stpauli111 (567,866)
Seat 9: the wanted (198,406)

Seat 2: BLUFFforRENT (2,703,886)
Seat 8: stpauli111 (551,114)
stpauli111 posts the small blind of 20,000
BLUFFforRENT posts the big blind of 40,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
stpauli111 raises to 546,114, and is all in
BLUFFforRENT calls 506,114
stpauli111 shows [Qs 8s]
BLUFFforRENT shows [Kd Kc]
*** FLOP *** [9h 7h 5c]
*** TURN *** [9h 7h 5c] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [9h 7h 5c 5d] [Kh]
stpauli111 shows a pair of Fives
BLUFFforRENT shows a full house, Kings full of Fives
BLUFFforRENT wins the pot (1,102,228) with a full house, Kings full of Fives

FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1085 Entrants; $217,000 prize pool

1. BLUFFforRENT – $48,825
2. stpauli111 – $31,465
3. qjuice14 – $23,328
4. mman_status – $17,903
5. kice32 – $13,563
6. Quassi– $9,765
7. the wanted – $6,510
8. MasterSkillz1 – $4,883
9. gusavo – $3,4723

That’s all for this weekend, be sure to stay tuned for more updates as FTOPs XI stars in February.