Another Sunday chalk-full of big buy-in tournaments is in the books, and this week some big names were able to find their way near the top of major online poker events. With FTOPs XI looming (early February) the only special event this weekend was the PokerStars Turbo Takedown.
The Turbo Takedown is a special event in which players can only buy-in with Frequent Player Points, or FPPs. Players accumulate FPPs through earning VPPs. A VPP is earned when a player plays in a raked pot in a cash game or pays a tournament fee. The VPP is then converted into an FPP depending on a players VIP Level at PokerStars. Players with a higher level get more FPPs for their VPPs. The Turbo Takedown costs 5,000 FPPs to enter, which, for a person new to PokerStars, would have meant paying nearly $1,000 in rake over a period of time. The tournament also pays nearly half the field. This Sunday 8866 players entered the tournament, with 4000 players getting paid. First place is always $100,000 and this week “vballbobbi” was able to outlast “mikiatimd” heads-up and take home the title.
PokerStars Turbo Takedown $1M Guaranteed
8866 Entrants; $1,000,000 prize pool
1. vballbobbi $100,000
2. mikiantimd $60,000
3. jockel24 $40,000
4. AR_GTAm $32,500
5. LFISBRTL $25,000
6. dark_check86 $20,000
7. Rugs6969 $20,000
8. jkopp984 $10,000
9. a33bars $5,500
The tournament which typically gets the report going, the Sunday Warm-up, saw another good showing this week as it easily beat it’s guarantee. 4366 players generated a prize pool of over $870,00, besting the guarantee by more than $120,000. This is certainly a good sign for online tournaments, as it seems the Warm-Up is a good barometer for the day. A player who is no stranger to final table success at the Warm-Up, “Snookerfun”, was there again. Snookerfun won the Warm-Up this past November for just under $100,000. This time, he made sure to get his 6-figure score. The final hand found Snookfu’s TT holding against the A8s of “emyjim”. Snookerfun now has two major wins to his name and pretty much nothing else. It seems he’s found his niche in this tournament.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4366 Entrants; $873,200 prize pool
1. Snookerfun $112,642.80
2. emyjim $78,588.00
3. SexSeen $52,392.00
4. J0hnny_Dr@m@ $43,660.00
5. spiderfrank $34,928.00
6. 21aek21 $26,196.00
7. Iteopepe88 $17,464.00
8. ToBeTheMan $10,915.00
9. harima $7,072.92
The Sunday Million continues to build a lot of steam, this week clearing the guarantee of $1,500,000 by $200,000. 8500 players paid the $200+$15 buy-in and 11 hours later a champion was crowned. There were not any big names making the final table this week, a sad theme lately in the Million. Let’s take a look at the final table stacks:
Seat 1: i_lv_beer (14,751,124 in chips)
Seat 2: jnic00 (13,538,955 in chips)
Seat 3: Flamarion (5,232,648 in chips)
Seat 4: Kris Merlot (14,146,860 in chips)
Seat 5: LastChance11 (3,150,250 in chips)
Seat 6: calytry (2,732,379 in chips)
Seat 7: rebel1100 (3,877,560 in chips)
Seat 8: PaperLamp (6,068,750 in chips)
Seat 9: marmotte21 (21,501,474 in chips)
There was quite an interesting dynamic to start the final table. As one can probably tell from looking at the stack sizes there were 5 players at 6,000,000 chips or less, meaning the first minutes of the final table would be full of all-ins and eliminations.
First to go was “rebel1100” when his AQ took a sick beat about “PaperLamp” and his KJ. The board ran out 2s7s7c9cJs, leaving rebel1100 with out chips and out in 9th place for $11,900.
Another tough beat left “Flamarion” out in 8th palce for $19,550. On a flop of 7hTd2d Flamarion shoved over a bet from “LastChance11” who made the call. Flamarion held QQ, way ahead of the 7c6c of LastChance11. The turn/river came 9c-7d and Flamarion was sent to the rail in 8th place.
LastChance11 was still a short-stack and moved all-in from the SB with T7o. Unfortunately his luck ran out when “calytry” woke up with A5cc and once the board out 8c3c4hAd8h LastChance11 was out in 7th, having to settle for $29,750.
Another sick beat sent “PaperLamp” home in 6th place. On a flop oc Qc5c8h PaperLamp and “jnic00” would get over 15,000,000 in chips in the pot, with PaperLamp having the best of it, holding Qs7d against jnic00’s 5h4c. Unfortunately the turn came the 4d and the river the 5d, leaving PaperLamp with out chips and out in 6th place for $42,500 in prize money.
Calytry was the next to go, when he ran A9s into jnic00’s pocket Jacks. The board ran JhKd2s6dTh and caltry was out in 5th place, earning just shy of $60,000 for a long days work.
“Kris Merlot” had been awfully quiet at the final table, folding to a top-4 spot. However, with a short stack, he was forced to jam PF with TT. Unfortunately “marmotte21” woke up with pocket Kings. When the board bricked out Kris Merlot was out in 4th with $76,500 to help console him.
Once again when play became 3-handed players were eager to chop and take some more guaranteed money. Chip-leader jnic00 secured over $148,000 for himself:
jnic00 $148,788.86
marmotte21 $132,696.59
i_lv_beer $127,284.55
There was still plenty to play for, including TLB points and, not to mention, $30,000.
Marmotte21 busted first when his QTo was no match for jnic00’s AQo. The board fell 2c9hJc4h4d leaving Marmotte21 out in 3rd place, earning just over $132,000.
Heads-up play started with jnic00 holding a slight chiplead, eventually winning the title when his A6o held against the K3s of “i_lv_beer”.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8500 Entrants; $1,700,000 prize pool
1. jnic00 $178,788.86
2. i_lv_beer $127,284.55
3. marmotte21 $132,696.59
4. Kris Merlot $76,500.00
5. calytry $59,500.00
6. PaperLamp $42,500.00
7. LastChance11 $29,750.00
8. Flamarion $19,550.00
9. ebel1100 $11,900.00
The Sunday 500 had a familiar face at the final table this week as “Charder30” made a deep run all the way to heads-up play. Charder30 is a well-known online MTT Pro who has had more success on FullTilt than on Stars as of late. He has, however, won the 109r and 215r on Stars and this second place finish is his second biggish cash on the site, behind an 11th place finish in a $5200 buy-in WCOOP event. He has also won a $1000 buy-in event on Full Tilt for over $80,000. Unfortunately for Charder30 this tournament was not meant to be his, as weeminer took home his first ever major win and five-figure score. The Sunday500 continues to gain entrants as 1099 players paid the $500+$30 buy-in this week, creating nearly a $550,000 prize pool.
PokerStars Sunday500 $500k Guaranteed
1099 Entrants; $549,500 prize pool
1. weeminer $99,349.60
2. charder30 $71,984.50
3. FHB24 $54,950
4. OLD_TABLE $41,212.50
5. DeuceBuster $28,848.75
6. StyloAl $23,353.75
7. faithless $17,858.75
8. benza13 $12,363.75
9. Hickboy $7,693.00
The $215 re-buy event also saw a familiar face from last weeks tournaments, as “intervntion” took home the title and over $48,000 in 1st-place money. The $215 rebuy, which had it’s guarantee dropped from $250k to $200k late last year has been picking up the pace as of late. This week 365 players would re-buy 617 times and 255 of them took the optional add-on. Other big names making deep runs were PokerStars Pro Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan, “woltas”, and “Bruno GT”. “JohnnyBax”, widely considered one of the best online MTT Pros made a fun at the final table but fell short, finishing in 11th place.
Aditya “intervntion” Agarwal is a top-100 ranked online MTT Pro who is having quite the start to 2009. Last weekend he placed 2nd in the Sunday Mulligan for over $35,000 and 3rd in the $215r for just over $26,000. This week he took home the crown in the $215r for $48,243. He now has nearly 20 five-figure scores to his name and is climbing Tournament Leaderboards everywhere.
Sunday $215r $200k Guaranteed
365 Entrants; $247,400 prize pool
1. intervntion $48,243
2. Traumatize $36,491.50
3. Kenny Rap $20,781.60
4. RaiNKhAN $20,781.60
5. woltas $14,225.50
6. BobbyFi $11,133
7. NeVeReN0uGH $8,659
8. Phwap $6,185
9. Bruno GT $4,329.50
The final event of the day on PokerStars, the Sunday Second Chance, had arguably on of the best final tables for a Sunday Major in a long time. Notable final-table participants included “ActionDJ”, “PeachyMer”, and “JohnnyBax”. Also, players like “Wachovia” and “pwnasaurus” made deep runs only to fall just short of the Final Table. JohnnBax really needs to introduction; however, for the sake of the report, I’ll give one. Bax has 6 lifetime scores over $30,000 to his name, including a 2nd place in the Super Tuesday on Stars for $59,917 and a win in FTOPs Event #15 for $46,125. He also has a 3rd in the SuperTuesday on Stars for $43,365 and a 2nd place finish in the 215r. ActionDJ is much more well known for his cash-game prowess, beating FR and 6max midstakes games for some time now. This was certainly his deepest run in a major tournament as he has no five-figure scores to his name. PeachyMer is a top-70 ranked online MTT player who has a win in the $1k Monday on FullTilt for $86,000 and has a 3rd place finish in the $109r on PokerStars. In the end ActionDJ would get to heads-up play against “AAqueens22”. AAqueens22 has won the $109r on PokerStars once as well as another $100 buy-in event. This victory was his biggest score by a wide margin.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1538 Entrants; $307,600 prize pool
1. AAqueens22 $55,491.04
2. actionDJ $40,141.80
3. PeachyMer $30,760
4. badbeatninja $23,070
5. ael1979 $16,149
6. JohnnyBax $13,073
7. alarmo16 $9.997
8. ragsonly1 $6,921
9. rckhound $4,306.40
FullTilt ran it’s compliment of Sunday majors including the $350k Brawl, $750k Guaranteed, and $200k Mulligan. First up, as always, is the $240+$16 Sunday Brawl. The $350k Guaranteed event is a knock-out style tournament, paying out $40 to a player every time he/she busts another competitor from the tournament. 21 FullTilt Red Pro’s played in the tournament and only Jon Turner would place in the money finishing in 60th place. There were not many big names making deep runs this week as “Viktor” would take home the title over “philbort”.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $350k Guaranteed
2287 Entrants; $457,400 prize pool
1. Viktor $93,286.73
2. philbort $60,376.80
3. soudara $44,825.20
4. giorango $33,847.60
5. SeijiStar $23,784.80
6. StakAtax $15,551.60
7. Squirrely1 $10,520.20
8. The Omaholic $7,318.40
9. dsindy $4,588.80
For the first time in a while a FullTilt Pro would make the final table of a Sunday Major. This distinction belongs to Jordan Morgan, a young internet pro who made a name for himself in a televised tournament a few years ago. Jordan made a deep run this week in the $750k only to fall just short finishing in 3rd place for just over $54,000 in prize money. Luckily for the railbirds Morgan made the final table as there were not many other big names making deep runs in FullTilt’s biggest weekly event. Eventually “dusnguyen” took down “NeverScaredB” heads-up for the title and over $136,000 in first place money.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guarnteed
3866 Entrants; 773,200 prize pool
1. dusnguyen $136,895
2. NeverScaredB $82,732
3. Jordan Morgan $54,124
4. farid1221x $42,680
5. hattrick8810 $32,010
6. nickdawgg $23,737
7. TigBitties2 $17,783
8. cashqueen88 $13,917
9. Bluedog428 $10,360
The final event of the day also saw another FullTilt Red Pro making the final table. This time it was Christian Kruel who would reach the final 9 of the Sunday Mulligan. He made a nice run, eventually busting in 6th place. Although Kruel is a red pro, he was certainly not the most well-known player at the final table. That distinction goes to the eventual champion, “boykee”. Boykee now has 7 $20,000+ scores to his name, including this win for over $53,000.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,210 Entrants; $242,000 prize pool
1. boykee $53,240
2. Moormanl $33,880
3. CampCommando $24,926
4. jomama7769 $19,662
5. inf3rnal $15,125
6. Christian Kruel $10,890
7. meaneye $7,260
8. carpman42 $5,445
9. th_IN_kB4Urail $3,872