Without a major tournament series on the horizon, online poker events are back to their standard tricks. Coming of a strong 2011 Poker Fest, Party Poker was looking to have a big weekend of online MTTs. Their biggest major, the Sunday $200,000 guaranteed, certainly did not disappoint. With more than 1,300 players paying the $200+$15 entry fee, the prize pool swelled to over $260,000. First place was slotted to be well above $50,000; however, a chop at the final table left two players with just over $40,000.
Before the heads-up match was set, the final two players had to navigate their way through a solid final table that included 7th place finisher “ullstilldie”, known to the online poker world as “SEABEAST”. The high-stakes professional is no stranger to success online having won multiple major championships including a SCOOP High buy-in last year as well as the $750k on FullTilt back in 2009. His 7th place finish only earned him $7,415, well down the list of his career scores. Once the dust settled just “RheumaKaiser” and “wale44” remained. With more than $85,000 left in the prize pool the two players decided to chop it up, with each taking home right around $43,000. This was actually the second time RheumaKaiser had taken down the biggest Sunday major on Party Poker, having won the event back in 2010 when it was still a $300k guarantee. It also marked his 3rd five-figure score on Party Poker, combining with his $300k win and a victory in the $40k Super Wednesday earlier this year.
Party Poker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,301 Entrants; $260,200 prize pool
*2-way chop
1. RheumaKaiser $43,211
2. wale44 $42,654
3. JANKA2012 $18,864
4. LikeABuuuus $14,961
5. CrazdCanuck $12,359
6. MarieValerie $9,757
7. ullstilldie $7,415
8. jumalpaska $4,943
9. capuer $3,772
10. Stunnaf00 $2,602
While the iPoker $200k is still struggling to keep pace with both Party and Bwin’s Sunday majors, it has rebounded a bit lately. The tournament may never be a huge Sunday event, but as long as it is able to surpass its guarantee, those hosting the event should be happy. This past weekend just enough players entered the $200+$15 event to squeak past the $200k mark. With over 1,000 players in the field there were plenty big names with a chance to hit an even bigger score. One of the biggest names at the final table was Dan “Inspectoru” Marariua, a highly-ranked MTT professional from Romania. While his 6th place score for just $8,240 was a bit disappointing, he is coming off a strong 2011 that saw him finish 2nd in the Sunday Million for $146,812, as well as a final table appearance in the WCOOP Main Event for $81,350.
Making it all the way to heads-up play was Ben “HonkHonkUrADonk” Richards and “takis48”. The two battled it out for a more than $20,000 difference between first and second place. Richards, a solid player hailing from the UK, once again finished 2nd in the $200k. This was his second runner-up finish in the $200k this year, having earned $20k back in May for once again coming up just short. His opponent, takis48, was not nearly as experienced as Richards, but was still able to take down the title and a nice $43,260 payday.
iPoker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,030 Entrants; $206,000 prize pool
1. takis48 $43,260
2. HonkHonkUrADonk $22,660
3. LegendKing1 $16,480
4. IComEBacK83 $12,360
5. lnKoGn1to $10,300
6. Inspectoru $8,240
7. merge39 $6,180
8. gherkins $4,120
9. r4st4f4ri $2,884
10. JVS321 $2,060
The newest event on our Sunday Tournament Report, the Bwin $200k, is also one of the biggest. The tournament carries a slightly smaller buy-in than its European counterparts and as such attracts more players each weekend. This past Sunday more than 1,400 players entered the $200k creating a nice $269,990 prize pool. While we still do not know a lot about the players at Bwin, we can tell you that “BBSpecial27” walked away with a nice $41,478 payday. It was the biggest score of his career at OnGame, besting a $12,000 cash in the GSOP Event #2 just a few months ago.
BWin Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,421 Entrants; $269,990 prize pool
1. BBSpecial27 $41,478
2. IllFightUm8 $28,365
3. moffo46 $20,551
4. meteze $15,172
5. thierry555 $11,185
6. MORRISWEED $8,268
7. hetfield z $6,676
8. DingDonk87 $5,175
9. 15A18M $4,014
10. ditaker61 $3,157
With the European sites kicking off their majors at times that best suit their customer base, it tends to leave a lot of the later risers looking to PokerStars for their high-stakes MTT needs. One event which starts quite early, the $500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up, continues to be the 2nd biggest daily event in all of online poker. This past Sunday was no exception as more than 3,700 players entered the $215 event, creating a nice three-quarter million dollar prize pool. The Warm-Up used to carry a $750k guarantee, but since Black Friday hit it has been moved down to $500,000. Still, the tournament has been closing back in on its past numbers and it appears to be only a matter of time before it is back to its pre-April days.
The tournament itself came down to “heißtercamp” and “Macstribe” as they were competing for nearly $40,000 in difference between first and second place. There was not a lot known about either player, especially the winner heißtercamp who appears to value privacy over notoriety in the online poker world. However, there is no hiding behind a $117,279 score, making him quite well known after Sunday.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $500k Guaranteed
3,735 Entrants; $747,000 prize pool
1. heißtercamp $117,279
2. Macstribe $87,399
3. vovkawow $61,627
4. theRIBBER83 $42,952
5. kangis $31,747
6. BACIC $24,277
7. kinamon8 $16,807
8. KKoverhere $9,337
9. vladmit777 $5,976
Much like the Warm-Up, the Sunday Million is slowly but surely creeping back to its pre-Black Friday numbers. This past Sunday, just over 7,000 players entered online poker’s biggest weekly event, building the prize pool past the $1,400,000 mark. Back in 2010 the Sunday Million carried a $1,500,000 guarantee, hitting $2,000,000 every now and then. It will be tough to get all the way back there consistently, but this writer sees no reason why the guarantee can’t be bumped up past the $1,250,000 mark. The final table of this week’s Sunday Million had a lot of excitement, up until the final three players decided to chop the prize pool. All three players guaranteed themselves at least $130,000, including “LaurisL91”, who earned the most cash despite finishing in 2nd place. Eventual winner “tost89” took home the extra $20,000 for winning to go along with his/her $150,000 guaranteed from the chop deal.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1M Guaranteed
7,030 Entrants; $1,406,000 prize pool
*3-way chop
1. tost89 $170,000
2. LaurisL91 $178,560
3. flpro157 $130,000
4. true v story $74,518
5. jkfrankfurt $57,646
6. XueNanqing $43,586
7. PetjeXL $30,229
8. super_proper $16,872
9. gedhanna $10,896
The final event of the day tends to be one of the more hotly contested. The $500+$30 buy-in Sunday500 always attract a strong field due to its later start and higher entry fee. This week’s event was no different, as a strong field of more than 750 players were on hand to compete for the $68,508 first-place prize. Taking home the prize was Mexican poker pro “jdtjpoker” who earned the 3rd major score of his career. Earlier this year he won WCOOP Event #48 for $182,340 and last year took down FTOPS Event #8 for $85,163. The high-stakes professional is quickly approaching $3,000,000 in career cashes, quite the feat for the top-10 ranked pro.
PokerStars Sunday500 $250k Guaranteed
757 Entrants; $378,500 prize pool
1. jdtjpoker $68,508
2. nameless55 $49,205
3. RuiNF $36,903
4. e4electro1 $27,630
5. REDDYBABY902 $19,492
6. Bananazoo $15,707
7. cheezees $11,922
8. Sghango $8,364
9. Pumpingpoker $4,844