Heading into a holiday weekend it might have been easy for the biggest online tournaments to slip a bit. However, coming off of a major tournament series and a record-breaking day on PokerStars, online tournaments across the board continued to crush their guarantees. Last week, the PokerStars Sunday Million set records in both entrants and prize pool. This week the world’s largest poker site built off of that success, starting with the Sunday Warm-Up.
The $750,000 guaranteed tournament drew over 4,500 entrants again this week. It appears only time is in between the Warm-Up and a $1,000,000 prize pool. The final table was full of solid players including Nate “njw11” Wachtel who finished in 5th place for nearly $39,000. This was merely the 3rd biggest score of his career, well behind a 3rd place finish in the $750k on FullTilt in September for $54,040. Eventual winner “crochepif” took down over $143,000 for his efforts, the first five-figure score of his career. He nearly final-tabled the Sunday Million earlier this year, only to bubble and go out in 10th. Runner-up “RobCurl” has had some solid success in some re-buy events, but this was also the biggest score of his career, as he took down $106,528.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,572 Entrants; $914,400 prize pool
1. crochepif $143,453
2. RobCurl $106,528
3. over.be $75,438
4. marroca5 $51,664
5. njw11 $38,862
6. jstockton#10 $29,718
7. RUIB – $20,574
8. SirRoman $11,430
9. MIB2121 $7,315
The Sunday Million was absolutely enormous last week, as its prize pool swelled to over $3,000,000. Without as much marketing and satellites running through out the week, the Million was back to its old ways. Still, the tournament was easily the biggest of the week as over 8,500 players created a $1,717,400 prize pool. There were plenty of good players on hand for the final table including cash-game grinder “sethsethseth” who is a big winner at midstakes games. For once, the tournament would not be chopped, as Jose “papadelpoker” Guardia was able to outlast a solid field and take down the title and over a quarter million dollars. Guardia’s biggest score before this win came in the Nightly Hundred Grand on PokerStars for $27,225. He has won the $109r in April for just under $27k. Runner-up “jakobsen01” took home $184,621, which was also the biggest cash of his online career.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,587 Entrants; $1,717,400 prize pool
1. papadelpoker $252,634
2. jakobsen01 $184,621
3. IveGotToejam $128,805
4. lookoutdudes $85,870
5. rwesty $68,696
6. CBF430 $51,522
7. sethsethseth $34,348
8. ToroGr $18,891
9. florian_ny $13,310
Despite great success in the Million and Warm-Up, PokerStars’ third major, the Sunday500, was not able to reach its guarantee. The tournament fell 23 players short of the 1,000 necessary, forcing Stars to add $11,500 of its own money to the prize pool. 8th place finisher “tcblade” has had a ton of online success, including a win in May’s FTOPS Event #17 for over $213,000. Michael “LuckyLady519” Banducci took 3rd place for $47,500. Banducci won a WSOP bracelet last year in a $1,000 buy-in NL Hold’em Event. He took home $636,736, the biggest cash of his tournament career. Top-50 ranked “bliiz” finished in 7th place for $15,000. He won this very tournament last month, taking home more than $87,000. Eventual winner “TehdPwneD99” scored $87,400 for his win, besting a few $20k+ scores in the Quarter Million.
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
977 Entrants, $500,000 prize pool
1. TehdPwneD99 $87,400
2. joemac17 $63,500
3. LuckyLady519 $47,500
4. KidCardiff6 $35,500
5. CookieDude90 $25,000
6. nireben $20,000
7. bliiz $15,000
8. tcblade $10,000
9. Aguiar_Bruno $5,750
The $215r saw a bunch of good players make deep runs towards the final table. The biggest names, “apestyles”, “twirlpro”, and “aprilsfool” would all make the final nine, but fail to win. Aprilsfool is a top-ranked tournament professional who nearly won the Sunday Million in July, taking 2nd place and over $176,000 for his efforts. Apestyles is a mainstay of this report, having numerous big scores including a win in this very event in October for over $38,000. 5th place finisher twirlpro is no stranger to success on PokerStars either, having won the Million last November for nearly $200,000. In the end it was “Elektrikas” scoring the biggest cash of his career, $36,859, in taking down the biggest re-buy event of the week.
PokerStars $215r $150k Guaranteed
267 Entrants; $179,800 prize pool
1. Elektrikas $36,859
2. clem2511 $26,970
3. DCJ311 $20,317.40
4. apestyles $15,283
5. twirlpro $10,608.20
6. jullle $8,091
7. melikman $6,293
8. Moosedebator $4,495
9. aprilsfool $3,146.50
The final event of the day on PokerStars, the Second Chance, fell five players short of the quarter-million prize pool mark. One of the bigger names at the final table was “pokerbrat13”, a professional who has made the STR numerous times this year. He has a ton of five-figure scores to his name including a near-miss in the Sunday Million for $92,000 and a 2nd place finish in the Sunday500 in June for $63,688. Taking home the title was “gipsy74”, who final-tabled the $10k HORSE WCOOP Event in September, earning $38,750 for his efforts there. This victory paid slightly more, as the $45,443 appears to be the biggest online cash of his career.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,245 Entrants; $249,000 prize pool
1. gipsy74 $45,442.50
2. werpennst23 $33,092.10
3. bbs99 $24,900
4. ActionGreek $18,675
5. JacobLarsson $13,072.50
6. pokerbrat13 $10,582.50
7. Jaredlngles $8,092.50
8. swifterjet $5,602.50
9. Goldeneye_hd $3,486
FullTilt was coming off of a very successful FTOPS XIV which usually leads to a solid few weeks of tournament participation. This Sunday was no exception as all three major events saw a nice boost in their average participation. The Sunday Brawl was able to eclipse the $500,000 prize pool mark for the first time in a while. Twenty FullTilt sponsored professionals played in the Brawl, including Martin Kalser, Marco Liesy, and David Pham. “Ahvall”, also known as “telefonkiosk”, took 6th place for $18,210. This was merely the 5th biggest score of his online career, and it wasn’t even the biggest cash of his month. Just last week he took 7th in FTOPS Event #22 for $70,350. Eventual winner “pytcheye1111” took down over $108,000, easily the biggest score of his career.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $350k Guaranteed
2,678 Entrants; $535,600 prize pool
1. pytcheye1111 $108,727
2. lllShipitlll $70,164
3. oleg12345 $51,9953
4. All4non $39,099
5. Shrubbery $27,316
6. Ahvall $18,210
7. JR RICHARDS $12,319
8. CooLJohN22222 $8,570
9. jdpc27 $6,427
The $750k has been competing with the Warm-Up on PokerStars for online poker’s #2 tournament spot each week. This Sunday was no different, as the $750k just fell short of the Warm-Up, as 4,440 entrants created a $880,000 prize pool. Nearly 40 FullTilt Red Pros played in the event, including Andrew “muddywater” Wiggins, Huck Seed, and Steve Zolotow. Once play became three handed there was a chip chop between “roddiass’, “zavor4ik”, and “N8SK8S”. All three players guaranteed the biggest scores of their respective career, with roddiass taking home the biggest cash, just under $115,000.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
4,440 Entrants; $888,000 prize pool
1. roddiass $114,743
2. zavor4ik $107,758
3. N8SK8S $91,398
4. sistabossen $48,840
5. ba77yz $36,674
6. guillet76 $27,173
7. Ship_the_dollar $20,424
8. piggee $15,984
9. grotifanto $11,899
Rounding out a big day of online tournaments was the Mulligan on FullTilt. For once the Mulligan was able to build a bigger prize pool than the Second Chance on PokerStars, by $6,000. Twenty-one FullTilt Professionals played in the Mulligan, including Allen Cunningham, Brandon Adams, and Gus Hansen. Just like the $750k, the Mulligan came down to a chip-chop. This time only two players split the remaining prize pool, as both “MichaelBpzpz” and “dOwnosaur” locked up $40,000+ scores. The $44,300 cash for dOwnosaur was the 2nd biggest of his career, behind a 4th place finish in the $750k in 2008 for $48,730. “MichaelBpzpz” final tabled FTOPS Event #10 in May, busting in 8th place for $26,250. Even though he finished 2nd in this event, he took home the bigger check for $47,500.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,275 Entrants; $255,000 prize pool
1. dOwnosaur $44,300
2. Mement_mori $47,500
3. TKROCKET $26,265
4. jonrubs2 $20,719
5. Petie_BigStacks $15,938
6. MichaelBpzpz $11,475
7. dalchan25 $7,650
8. RiverRising $5,738
9. khunglongvoi $4,080