There was a noticeable downturn in attendance throughout the Sunday Majors last week. I speculated the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure had a lot to do with it, and that hypothesis was backed up by a boom this weekend. Seeing the biggest boost in attendance was the Sunday 500 which went from less than 900 players to over 1,100 yesterday. FullTilt bolstered their weekly $750k by upping the ante to $500+$35 and giving the tournament a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Sunday started, as always, with the Warm-Up on PokerStars. With the $750k on FullTilt being bumped up to a $1,000,000 prize pool, the Warm-Up had a lot of work to do to keep its spot as the week’s 2nd biggest event. While the Warm-Up was unable to get there it did not go down without a fight. Yesterday was the closest this event has been to a $1,000,000 prize pool for some time now, falling less than $7,000 (or 33 entrants) short.
With over $155,000 slated for the winner the Warm-Up was set to hand out its biggest first-place check in almost a year. Unfortunately the final three players decided upon a chip chop which guarantee each a six-figure payday. Taking home the biggest piece was “insanocut” who won an additional $10,000 for taking down “Patokaka2007” during heads-up play. This was the 2nd major final table of his career on PokerStars, easily besting a 6th place finish in the Million last year for $39,000. The majority of his success has come on FullTilt where he won both the Brawl and the Mulligan in 2008. Overall he has more than $1,100,000 in earnings on FullTilt alone.
Seat 5: Patokaka2007 (10485338 in chips)
Seat 6: insanocut (39184662 in chips)
insanocut: posts small blind 250000
Patokaka2007: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
insanocut: raises 500000 to 1000000
Patokaka2007: calls 500000
*** FLOP *** [8h Tc 8d]
Patokaka2007: checks
insanocut: checks
*** TURN *** [8h Tc 8d] [4h]
Patokaka2007: bets 1500000
insanocut: calls 1500000
*** RIVER *** [8h Tc 8d 4h] [Jc]
Patokaka2007: bets 1500000
insanocut: raises 17000000 to 18500000
Patokaka2007: calls 6435338 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (10564662) returned to insanocut
*** SHOW DOWN ***
insanocut: shows [Ks Js] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
Patokaka2007: shows [Ts 5s] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
insanocut collected 20970676 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,967 Entrants; $993,400 prize pool
1. insanocut $136,000
2. Patokaka2007 $110,000
3. AmarulaBr $107,086.52
4. jordyporr $56,127
5. polpolpol $42,219
6. Hood_Ace $32,285
7. ramondemon77 $22,351
8. Civell $12,417
9. Lahni86 $7,947
The Sunday Million continues to dominate the Sunday poker scene. It seems the only time it is supplanted as the weekend’s biggest event is when FTOPS or WCOOP tournaments are running. This week was no exception as more than 8,800 players entered the $215 buy-in event, creating a $1,777,000 prize pool. Just like the Warm-Up, the Million was chopped and ended quite abruptly. In fact, it finished before the Sunday $500k which rarely happens.
The final three spots ended up making about the same amount of money, right around the $180k mark. “AceQuad” was able to win the $30,000 set aside for the final four players after the chip-chop by besting “yurabond” during heads-up play. Below are the final table stacks, bust-out hands, and chop-adjusted pay-outs:
Seat 1: jayjayme (5801838 in chips)
Seat 2: bullyon (7603670 in chips)
Seat 3: iChipd (4391307 in chips)
Seat 4: Nezzareth (904384 in chips)
Seat 5: s8kipper (11070084 in chips)
Seat 6: DRKP (8218868 in chips)
Seat 7: AceQuad (17896351 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (15521971 in chips)
Seat 9: yurabond (17441527 in chips)
Seat 1: jayjayme (5721838 in chips)
Seat 2: bullyon (7523670 in chips)
Seat 3: iChipd (4311307 in chips)
Seat 4: Nezzareth (864384 in chips)
Seat 5: s8kipper (11710084 in chips)
Seat 6: DRKP (7538868 in chips)
Seat 7: AceQuad (17416351 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (16401971 in chips)
Seat 9: yurabond (17361527 in chips)
AceQuad: posts small blind 250000
IveGotToejam: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
yurabond: folds
jayjayme: folds
bullyon: folds
iChipd: folds
Nezzareth: raises 314384 to 814384 and is all-in
s8kipper: folds
DRKP: raises 1685616 to 2500000
AceQuad: folds
IveGotToejam: folds
Uncalled bet (1685616) returned to DRKP
*** FLOP *** [2d 2h 4s]
*** TURN *** [2d 2h 4s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [2d 2h 4s 7s] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Nezzareth: shows [Jd Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Deuces)
DRKP: shows [Kd Ac] (two pair, Aces and Deuces)
DRKP collected 2828768 from pot
Seat 1: jayjayme (5721838 in chips)
Seat 2: bullyon (7523670 in chips)
Seat 3: iChipd (4311307 in chips)
Seat 4: Nezzareth (864384 in chips)
Seat 5: s8kipper (11710084 in chips)
Seat 6: DRKP (7538868 in chips)
Seat 7: AceQuad (17416351 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (16401971 in chips)
Seat 9: yurabond (17361527 in chips)
AceQuad: posts small blind 250000
IveGotToejam: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
yurabond: folds
jayjayme: folds
bullyon: folds
iChipd: folds
Nezzareth: raises 314384 to 814384 and is all-in
s8kipper: folds
DRKP: raises 1685616 to 2500000
AceQuad: folds
IveGotToejam: folds
Uncalled bet (1685616) returned to DRKP
*** FLOP *** [2d 2h 4s]
*** TURN *** [2d 2h 4s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [2d 2h 4s 7s] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Nezzareth: shows [Jd Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Deuces)
DRKP: shows [Kd Ac] (two pair, Aces and Deuces)
DRKP collected 2828768 from pot
Seat 2: xFarOutMan (1159056 in chips)
Seat 3: iChipd (4395752 in chips)
Seat 5: s8kipper (5390042 in chips)
Seat 6: DRKP (10096211 in chips)
Seat 7: AceQuad (13549515 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (21016069 in chips)
Seat 9: dylemat5000 (1491936 in chips)
IveGotToejam: posts small blind 125000
dylemat5000: posts big blind 250000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
xFarOutMan: folds
iChipd: folds
s8kipper: folds
DRKP: folds
AceQuad: raises 272222 to 522222
IveGotToejam: folds
dylemat5000: calls 272222
*** FLOP *** [Ac 5c 5d]
dylemat5000: bets 944714 and is all-in
AceQuad: calls 944714
*** TURN *** [Ac 5c 5d] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 5c 5d 6s] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
dylemat5000: shows [4d 4c] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
AceQuad: shows [Qc 8c] (two pair, Aces and Fives – Queen kicker)
AceQuad collected 3233872 from pot
Seat 2: xFarOutMan (2208112 in chips)
Seat 3: iChipd (4489085 in chips)
Seat 5: s8kipper (5965042 in chips)
Seat 6: DRKP (10091211 in chips)
Seat 7: AceQuad (14538118 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (19807013 in chips)
IveGotToejam: posts small blind 150000
xFarOutMan: posts big blind 300000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
iChipd: folds
s8kipper: folds
DRKP: folds
AceQuad: raises 344444 to 644444
IveGotToejam: folds
xFarOutMan: raises 1533668 to 2178112 and is all-in
AceQuad: calls 1533668
*** FLOP *** [Kc 2s 2c]
*** TURN *** [Kc 2s 2c] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 2s 2c 9d] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
xFarOutMan: shows [Ac 9c] (two pair, Nines and Deuces)
AceQuad: shows [7h Ks] (two pair, Kings and Deuces)
AceQuad collected 4686224 from pot
Seat 2: bullyon (8974977 in chips)
Seat 6: DRKP (13346928 in chips)
Seat 7: AceQuad (11866181 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (31331035 in chips)
Seat 9: yurabond (23330879 in chips)
DRKP: posts small blind 400000
AceQuad: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
IveGotToejam: folds
yurabond: folds
bullyon: raises 8094977 to 8894977 and is all-in
DRKP: folds
AceQuad: calls 8094977
*** FLOP *** [8h 3d 2d]
*** TURN *** [8h 3d 2d] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3d 2d 5s] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AceQuad: shows [7h 7s] (a pair of Sevens)
bullyon: shows [6c Jc] (a pair of Sixes)
AceQuad collected 18589954 from pot
Seat 6: DRKP (10306928 in chips)
Seat 7: AceQuad (21704481 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (27991035 in chips)
Seat 9: yurabond (28847556 in chips)
DRKP: posts small blind 400000
AceQuad: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
IveGotToejam: folds
yurabond: raises 1300000 to 2100000
DRKP: raises 4300000 to 6400000
AceQuad: folds
yurabond: raises 22367556 to 28767556 and is all-in
DRKP: calls 3826928 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (18540628) returned to yurabond
*** FLOP *** [8c Qs Jh]
*** TURN *** [8c Qs Jh] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [8c Qs Jh 9s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DRKP: shows [8s Ks] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
yurabond: shows [Qc Ad] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
yurabond collected 21573856 from pot
Seat 7: AceQuad (38564316 in chips)
Seat 8: IveGotToejam (238877 in chips)
Seat 9: yurabond (50046807 in chips)
AceQuad: posts small blind 500000
IveGotToejam: posts big blind 138877 and is all-in
*** HOLE CARDS ***
yurabond: raises 2500000 to 3000000
AceQuad: folds
Uncalled bet (2500000) returned to yurabond
*** FLOP *** [Ks Ad Ac]
*** TURN *** [Ks Ad Ac] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Ks Ad Ac 7s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
yurabond: shows [Qs Td] (a pair of Aces)
yurabond collected 722246 from side pot
IveGotToejam: shows [2d 9s] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
IveGotToejam collected 716631 from main pot
Seat 7: AceQuad (59104392 in chips)
Seat 9: yurabond (29745608 in chips)
yurabond: posts small blind 500000
AceQuad: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
yurabond: raises 1500000 to 2500000
AceQuad: calls 1500000
*** FLOP *** [7s Th Tc]
AceQuad: checks
yurabond: bets 3000000
AceQuad: calls 3000000
*** TURN *** [7s Th Tc] [As]
AceQuad: checks
yurabond: checks
*** RIVER *** [7s Th Tc As] [Qh]
AceQuad: checks
yurabond: bets 24145608 and is all-in
AceQuad: calls 24145608
*** SHOW DOWN ***
yurabond: shows [4s Qs] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
AceQuad: shows [8s Ad] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
AceQuad collected 59491216 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8885 Entrants; $1,777,000 prize pool
1. AceQuad $179,446
2. yurabond $173,166
3. IveGotToeJam $182,291
4. DRKP $126,583
5. bullyon $71,080
6. s8kipper $53,310
7. jayjayme $35,540
8. iChipd $19,547
9. Nezzareth $12,439
As I alluded to earlier, the Sunday $500k saw a huge jump in attendance this week. It seems a lot of the bigger buy-in players were either still competing at the PCA or traveling back home, thus not allowing them to play in last week’s event. The final table was full of solid tournament grinders including “aaaaaaaa” who has more than $1,500,000 in cashes on PokerStars alone. In fact, he is one of just a handful of players to have multiple six-figure scores, including two huge scores back in 2005 and 2006 for $197,955 and $173,844 respectively.
Unfortunately this was just another tournament which was decided well before the tournament ended. The final four players decided to chop up the remaining prize pool and just play for tournament leaderboard points. Unlike the Million and Warm-Up, players do not have to leave any additional money on the side when chopping the Sunday500.
Seat 3: dfunks (4405999 in chips)
Seat 9: AawwNutz (7004001 in chips)
dfunks: posts small blind 50000
AawwNutz: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
dfunks: raises 122222 to 222222
AawwNutz: raises 377778 to 600000
dfunks: raises 3795999 to 4395999 and is all-in
AawwNutz: calls 3795999
*** FLOP *** [Qc 8d 9s]
*** TURN *** [Qc 8d 9s] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [Qc 8d 9s 3h] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AawwNutz: shows [Qh As] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
dfunks: shows [Ad 9d] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
AawwNutz collected 8811998 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,141 Entrants; $570,500 prize pool
1, AawwNutz $71,231.95
2, dfunks $61,000
3, cashryders22 $68,000
4, pescador2409 $61,000
5, AmarulaBr $28,239
6, aaajack $22,534
7, Uninc157 $16,829
8, aaaaaaaa $11,124
9. simonek1323 $6,161
Coming up with the best final table of the weekend was the rejuvenated Sunday $215 re-buy on PokerStars. This event always has a small but robust field and yesterday a number of great tournament players reached the final table. Making his weekly appearance on the STR was “bigdogpckt5s” who fell heads-up to “AJinOK”. This was just another average score for one of the best tournament players around, as the $34,456 second-place check was just the 6th biggest score of his career on PokerStars. Combining his scores on FullTilt and Stars he has more than $2,200,000 in career earnings including a FTOPS win in 2008 for $277,930.
Other big names making the final table included “Randers” who is approaching the $1,000,000 in cashes on PokerStars. Joining Randers was “Sexseen” who won the Sunday $500k for $90,097 and the $215r for $43,952 last year. “Thorladen” who seems to make the $215r final table every other weekend took home just over $8,100 for his 7th place finish. Finally, highly-ranked tournament and cash game professional djk123 finished in 5th place for more than $13,000. While $13,000 means a lot to most people, to djk123 it’s just another one of 50+ five-figure scores. Entering the final table he already had $3,000,000 in cashes on PokerStars including a $643,200 score for finishing 4th in the WCOOP Main Event last year. His biggest victory came in the $10k HORSE WCOOP Event that same day for $252,350.
Seat 6: bigdogpckt5s (769637 in chips)
Seat 8: AJinOK (1114363 in chips)
bigdogpckt5s: posts small blind 5000
AJinOK: posts big blind 10000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
bigdogpckt5s: raises 10000 to 20000
AJinOK: raises 38888 to 58888
bigdogpckt5s: calls 38888
*** FLOP *** [Ac Qh 8h]
AJinOK: bets 59222
bigdogpckt5s: raises 72236 to 131458
AJinOK: calls 72236
*** TURN *** [Ac Qh 8h] [Js]
AJinOK: bets 155555
bigdogpckt5s: raises 422736 to 578291 and is all-in
AJinOK: calls 422736
*** RIVER *** [Ac Qh 8h Js] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AJinOK: shows [Ad Ah] (three of a kind, Aces)
bigdogpckt5s: shows [Jh 6h] (a pair of Jacks)
AJinOK collected 1539274 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
331 Entrants; $233,600 prize pool
1. AJinOK $45,552
2. bigdogpckt5s $34,456
3. delaney_kid $25,696
4. Randers $19,622.40
5. djk123 $13,432
6. rrobmsm3 $10,512
7. thorladen $8,176
8. SexSeen $5,840
9. nicelife $4,088
The Sunday Second Chance nearly reached the $300,000 prize pool mark, easily crushing its $200k guarantee. Ben “Benba” Lamb shipped the 2nd major of his career on PokerStars, having previously won the Sunday $500k in 2008. He has also seen plenty of success on FullTilt as well, having won the $240 re-buy FTOPS Event #8 last May for $146,288. His opponent, “superMikeyGG”, took home the first big score of his career, having never won more than $1,500 in any tournament before.
Seat 3: Benba (3225632 in chips)
Seat 9: superMikeyGG (1088368 in chips)
superMikeyGG: posts small blind 25000
Benba: posts big blind 50000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
superMikeyGG: raises 100000 to 150000
Benba: raises 3070632 to 3220632 and is all-in
superMikeyGG: calls 933368 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2137264) returned to Benba
*** FLOP *** [6s 4h 9c]
*** TURN *** [6s 4h 9c] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [6s 4h 9c Jd] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Benba: shows [Ts As] (high card Ace)
superMikeyGG: shows [7h Ks] (high card King)
Benba collected 2176736 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,438 Entrants; $287,600 prize pool
1. Benba $51,998.08
2. superMikeyGG $37,675.60
3. freakypokerd $28,760
4. reelhugefish $21,570
5. Spartyboy $15,099
6. SonicWEN $12,223
7. anddk $9,347
8. stoutyville $6,471
9. mahowny777 $4,026.40
FullTilt decided to bolster their biggest event of the week up to a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. In order to do so they raised the buy-in from $216 to $535 which caused a much smaller player pool. In fact, the pool dropped so much that the Sunday Brawl was the most populated major of the day on FullTilt.
Thirty-one FullTilt sponsored professionals played in the Brawl yesterday including Mike “Timex” McDonald, Ram Vaswani, and David Pham. Two red pros, Dag Mikkelsen and Hans Vogl were able to make it into the top 100 but neither was fortunate enough to make the final table. The biggest name at the final table was Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis who has more than $1,300,000 in cashes between PokerStars and FullTilt including four $60,000+ scores. Another recognizable name was 9th place finisher “Xaston” who finished 5th in last year’s WCOOP Main Event for $482,400.
Taking home the title and $93,720 was “CuteIsWhatIAim4” who before yesterday had just a handful of five-figure scores to his name. While he was declared the “winner” he actually earned less than 2nd place finisher “vers” due to a two-way chop. Vers is the ultimate grinder, who seems to enjoy playing 45-man SNGs more than multi-table tournaments, as he has won more than 30 $75 45-mans over the past four months.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,900 Entrants; $580,000 prize pool
1. CuteIsWhatIAim4 $93,720
2. vers $100,000
3. Mement_mori $56,260
4. xMONSTERxDONGx $42,340
5. THE_RAZER_82 $29,580
6. El Feffe $19,720
7. MrJackhOFFman $13,340
8. hanitz $9,280
9. Xaston $6,960
FullTilt’s biggest event was able to take the #2 spot away from the Sunday Warm-Up yesterday by upping its buy-in and guarantee to $535 and $1,000,000. For a tournament which generally attracts more than 4,000 players, the increased buy-in certainly turned off a lot of players. All in all only 2,457 players entered the event, generating a $1,228,500 prize pool. More than 30 FullTilt professionals played including five-time WSOP bracelet winner Allen Cunningham who made the final table! Unfortunately for the railbirds Cunningham was the first player to go, taking 9th place for a little more than $17,000.
Eventual winner “JAMA1CA2008” was brave enough not to chip-chop and was rewarded with a $225,368 payday. What is even more amazing is he did not have a lot of major tournament experience entering this final table, having never won more than $2,300 on FullTilt in over 1,300 tournaments. Runner-up “4ortik76” was also fairly new to big events on FullTilt, having not recorded a four-figure score before yesterday’s $138,329 cash.
FullTilt Sunday $1,000,000 Guaranteed
2,457 Entrants; $1,228,500 prize pool
1. JAMA1CA2008 $225,368
2. 4ortik76 $138,329
3. the_snail03 $90,540
4. IamUrBigTrouble $72,235
5. kice32 $54,668 (kice32)
6. IamsmartSMRT $39,312
7. Son-in-Law $28,869
8. kudos1017 $22,604
9. AllenCunningham $17,199
The smallest major on FullTilt was also the last to finish. The Mulligan saw a nice increase in entrants as it passed the $250,000 prize pool mark for the first time in a long while. The final table had plenty of solid tournament players including “valasaraptor16” who finished in 2nd place for more than $37,000. This was the 2nd time he has won more than $30,000 on FullTilt including a victory in the $109r last July for $35,354. Eventual champion “MURIBE” had also seen slight success on FullTilt in the past, having taken 3rd in this very event in September for nearly $25,000.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,347 Entrants; $269,400 prize pool
1. MURIBE $56,268
2. valasaraptor16 $37,716
3. kwob20 $27,613
4. Ermolov $21,888
5. nickyluvshu $16,837
6. fitzpatrick23 $12,123
7. iloseflips2424 $7,812
8. discomonkey $5,657
9. ebandit $4,148