Online poker tournaments continue to roll in 2010, as tournament entries have sustained their peak from the end of 2009. Many tournaments yesterday ended rather abruptly, with chip-chops instead of heads-up battles. It’s hard to blame players for guaranteeing themselves such a large pay-day. In fact, during the Sunday Million the final two players decided to chop but before the tournament was paused “EgorkaV” was busted by “vietcong01” which might have cost him $20,000 or more. It is certainly a double-edged sword, on one hand you sew up a huge win, on the other you might always find yourself wondering what could have been, and have much more money you could have made.
The Sunday Warm-Up continues to fall just short of the $1,000,000 prize mark. One of these days it’s going to breakthrough and then I’ll have to find something else to talk about. This week the final three players decided upon a chip-chop, setting aside $10,000 for the winner. Third-place finisher “risiko13” was probably pleased to chop, as his resume did not appear to be as strong as his opponents. In fact, this cash seems to be his first five-figure score on PokerStars, and nearly his first six-figure win. Taking home the most money was second-place finisher “gretko” who has had mild success in midstakes re-buys including a win in the $33r for $15,130 and $55r for $11,468. Eventual winner “R0HR” netted nearly $120,000 after winning the $10,000 sidebet. This was the second big score of his career, well ahead of a $41,080 cash for finishing 3rd in the $109r last November.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,818 Entrants; $963,600 prize pool
*3-way deal
1. R0HR $119,548.05
2. gretko $128,188.59
3. risiko13 $94.758.03
4. donnylon346 $54,443.40
5. delegator $40,953
6. toetagU $31,317
7. Negriin $21,681
8. Joe Hahn $12,045
9. Chaesi $7,708.80
History repeated itself in the Sunday Million yesterday, as “vietcong01” took down the week’s biggest event for the 2nd time in his career. He is believed to be the 2nd person to ever achieve this feat, joining Carlos Mortenson (playing under “Jacques_xxx”) who won in back to back weeks years ago when the tournament had a much smaller player pool. Vietcong01’s other Sunday Million win came in July 2007 when he topped over 6,800 players for a $192,352 first place prize. His success does not stop with the Million, as he has won the Second Chance as well as numerous $109r through out his career. Third-place finisher “gettn deep” nearly won the Sunday Warm-Up last May, finishing in 2nd place for $87,750. Well-known tournament professional “benba” made our report again, finishing in 6th place for over $52,000. He has two major victories to his name, including an FTOPS win as well as a win in the Sunday500 in 2008. Finally, “ShiP ThA $$$”, also known as GREEAR10, took home 7th place and $34,800.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,700 Entrants; $1,740,000 prize pool
1. vietcong01 $255,954.00
2. EgorkaV $187,050.00
3. gettn deep$130,500.00
4. Luigi da BP $87,000.00
5. shumeilove $69,600.00
6. Benba $52,200.00
7. ShiP ThA $$$ $34,800.00
8. GodsTeacher $19,140.00
9. LeftyStacks $13,485.00
The $500k Guaranteed on Stars continues to produce great final tables and this time two of the more well-known players actually made it to heads-up play. Unfortunately for the rail birds, they quickly decided to chop the prize pool. Russell “rdcrsn” Carson and “MaltLiquor40” who is also known as “Snoop Todd” split up the remaining $152,000 prize pool after disposing of “emily4”. Carson is a top-30 ranked tournament professional who has won the $215r three times in the past and now has over $2,000,000 in earnings on PokerStars alone. MaltLiquor40 is a high-stakes cash game pro who has made plenty of money in tournaments as well. He has won the $109r twice and in 2006 shipped over $129,000 for a 4th place finish in a $1,050 buy-in event. Sunday Warm-Up Champion (Aug 09) “plz be live” made the final table but was the first to go, busting in 9th place for $5,621. Finally, Joey “Joey Capp” Cappuccio took 4th place and $35,565. Cappuccio is a solid tournament player, having won this very event last March for $91,250.
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,022 Entrants; $511,000 prize pool
*2-way deal
1. rdcrsn $79,073.60
2. MaltLiquor40 $73,000
3. emily4 $48,545
4. Joey Capp $35,565.50
5. muratfb $25,294.50
6. $teveyMoney $20,184.50
7. hanitz $15,074.50
8. celofyz33 $9,964.50
9. plz be live $5,621
The best final table of the day went to the $215r on PokerStars. There were plenty of professionals on hand including two PokerStars sponsored pros, Hevad “RaiNKhAN” and JC Alvarado. Third-place finisher “Bill Ivey” is a well-known tournament and cash game professional who has nearly $1.5M in scores on PokerStars. This $19,082 cash was merely the 19th biggest score of his career. He has five scores in excess of $43,000 including a $67,747 win in the $109r in 2008.
The tournament came down to “KillerMendez ” and Khan. While Mendez does not play much, he did finish 2nd in the Sunday Million in November for $190,617. Mendez was probably happy the final table he made with Khan was online, as his opponent is infamous for his actions during the 2007 WSOP Main Event which caused the tournament to rewrite its’ rule book. Khan was so loud and brash during hands the tournament committee decided to ban such actions in 2008 and onwards. Khan finished 6th that year in the Main Event, taking home $956,000. Online Khan was a bit of a pioneer for tournament poker. He was one of the first players to mass multi-table online SNGs, playing way more than 20 at a time before that became commonplace. In fact, PokerStars made Khan submit a video of him playing to confirm it was not a computer program behind the keyboard. He has had big time success in tournaments over the years, having won the Warm-Up in 2008 for nearly $98,000.
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
232 Entrants; $162,400 prize pool
1. RaiNKhAN $34,916
2. KillerMendez $25,172
3. Bill Ivey $19,082
4. eidur888 $14,210
5. IntheRED X2 $9,744
6. JC Alvarado $8,120
7. ramoun $6,496
8. viirusss $4,872
9. tRaMp$d0PrAy $3,248
The final event of the day on PokerStars finished well before the Million, $215r, and $500k. The final three players were all solid tournament players which might have led to their decision to chop after “Teneightcc” was eliminated in 4th place. Eventual winner “PokerNoob999” won the 2009 SCOOP Event #10 for $168,750 and also shipped the Sunday500 in 2008 for $91,706. Finishing in 2nd but taking home the smallest piece of the pie was “WhoGivzABuck” who won this very event last November for just under $57,000. He does not play much, but he does have over $125,000 in scores in under 225 career events on PokerStars. Third-place finisher “PKaiser” added another big score to his solid resume which includes 21 $10,000+ cashes including a win in the $109r for $36,671 in 2008.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,300 Entrants; $260,000 prize pool
*3-way deal
1. PokerNoob999 $37,357.72
2. WhoGivzABuck $34,409.97
3. PKaiser $35,768.31
4. Teneightcc $19,500
5. babybekah $13,650
6. adotlee $11,050
7. SmokingBreak $8,450
8. REMlP07 $5,850
9. deeshen13 $3,640
The Brawl on FullTilt is one of the day’s more interesting events. The $240+$16 “Knock-Out” event pays $40 to a player every time he/she eliminates a fellow competitor. This week more than 20 FullTilt sponsored professionals played in the Brawl including Vitaly Lunkin, Ram Vaswani, and Isaac “Menlo” Baron. Unfortunately none of the pros were able to make the money, as Vaswani just missed a pay-out. One of the world’s best tournament players, Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee found himself deadlocked in three-handed play. MacPhee, whose college roommate is known as “ImaLuckSack” has had plenty of success on both PokerStars and FullTilt where he plays under “Wu_Wizard”. On FullTilt, MacPhee nearly won FTOPS Event #22 last year, a $5,000 buy-in event, taking home 4th place and more than $218,000. His biggest victory came in the Wednesday Quarter Million on Stars in October for nearly $52,000. His two opponents, “bigslick166” and “MarKFSU1”, had not had anywhere near his success online, yet the three decided to chop, handing MacPhee $86,963 while the other two took $80,000 apiece.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,865 Entrants; $573,000 prize pool
*3-way deal
1. Wu_Wizard $86,963
2. bigslick166 $80,000
3. MarkFSU1 $80,000
4. MrTimCaum $41,829
5. 603Lucifer $29,223
6. SteveDunkSr $29,223
7. bonafidedonkey $13,179
8. cityboy8 $9,168
9. Black Pete 30 $6,876
FullTilt’s biggest weekly event continues to come in 3rd after both the Million and Warm-Up on PokerStars. In fact, the only time this tournament has surpassed the Warm-Up is when both the guarantee and buy-in are upped once a month. More than 30 FullTilt “red pros” played and four were fortunate enough to make the money including “Somyung Sim” who finished in 94th place. David Benyamine’s significant other Erica Schoenberg was on hand but was unable to make the money. One of the bigger names at the final table was 6th place finisher “scarer” who nearly won the Warm-Up last year, losing heads-up for $98,069. Besides scarer the final table was devoid of any other professionals, as the top spot went to “The Great Pike” whose best score before yesterday was an $11,697 cash in the $42k Guarantee three weeks ago. Luckily this tournament was played to the end, much like the Million on PokerStars. It seems for once the bigger events of the day managed to go all the way while the side events were being chopped left and right.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
3,911 Entrants; $782,200 prize pool
1. The Great Pike $138,488.51
2. vennerux $83,695.40
3. Paulhan85 $54,754
4. 201241643 $43,177.44
5. Shawguysies $32,383.08
6. Scarer $24,013.54
7. fiepigen $17,990.60
8. MS_JUICE26 $14,079.60
9. DeMaci $10,481.48
The final table of the Sunday Mulligan had a lot of recognizable faces including “sketchy1”, “dartz222”, and “rkruok”. Mike “Dartz222” Dietrich is a top-100 ranked professional who is also known as “Pipedream17” on PokerStars. He has many big scores to his name including a win in the $200k on FullTilt in October for more than $61,000. Sketchy1 won this very event last May for more than $53,000 and has also final tabled numerous Sunday majors including a runner-up finish in the Second Chance last October for $31,467. 3rd place finisher “rkruok” has also won the $200k rebuy on FullTilt for $75,325 and nearly won the Sunday500 last March, taking home another 3rd place and $50,200. Eventual winner “rtkoss” took home the biggest score and first major win of his career. He came close to a big win in 2008 when he finished in 2nd place in FTOPS Event $17 for $28,468. Overall he now has more than $355,000 in cashes on FullTilt alone.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,212 Entrants; $242,400 prize pool
1. rtkoss $43,328
2. greenerbels1 $33,936
3. rkruok $24,967.20
4. sketchy1 $19,695
5. hanitz $15,150
6. Anguz $10,908
7. BillWillRR9 $7,272
8. Grippolio $5,454
9. dartz222 $3,878.40