Ever wonder what could slow down online tournaments? Well, keep wondering, as even the Super Bowl could not stop the Sunday Majors from huge fields and big prize pools. Online poker did quite a smart thing last week when both sites managed to run record-breaking events which typically has a large carryover in subsequent weeks. That marketing plan worked out perfectly yesterday as tournaments like the Sunday Million, Warm-Up, and Brawl all saw great attendance numbers while other tournaments were able to creep past their guarantees. The only tournament to see a big hit to their attendance was the $750k on FullTilt which fell nearly 250 players short of their guarantee.
The Sunday Warm-Up started well before Super Bowl parties could kick off. Last week we finally saw the event eclipse the $1,000,000 prize pool mark. Needless to say it was going to be tough to reach such heights this weekend but the tournament did come awfully close. In the end exactly 4,900 players entered the 2nd biggest event of the week creating a $980,000 prize pool. Former FTOPS Main Event Champion crazyzachary who plays under “nofingclue11” on PokerStars made the final table but was the first casualty busting in 9th place for just under $8,000. His FTOPS victory came in the same event that saw former FlopTurnRiver moderator “Chardrian” finish in 3rd place for more than $155,000. On PokerStars Zachary nearly shipped a $3,150 NL Hold’em SCOOP Event last April, taking 2nd place and $393,000.
Former Sunday Million winner “doulas12” finished in 5th place for more than $41,000. His big win came back in October 2008 where he outlasted 7,445 other players for a $184,500 first place check. This was the 2nd biggest score of his career just surpassing another final table appearance at the Million last September where he took 7th place for $32,315.
A common theme for the bigger events started with the Warm-Up yesterday as the final three players decided upon a chip chop which guaranteed at least $100,000 to everyone. Eventual winner “philivey0997” took home an extra $10,000 in what was easily the biggest score of his career. Runner-up “trippkirk” also recorded the first five-figure cash of his tournament career.
Seat 2: philivey0997 (28518167 in chips)
Seat 7: trippkirk (20481833 in chips)
trippkirk: posts small blind 200000
philivey0997: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
trippkirk: raises 488888 to 888888
philivey0997: calls 488888
*** FLOP *** [2d 8s 5d]
philivey0997: checks
trippkirk: bets 999999
philivey0997: raises 2600001 to 3600000
trippkirk: raises 15952945 to 19552945 and is all-in
philivey0997: calls 15952945
*** TURN *** [2d 8s 5d] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [2d 8s 5d Jd] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
philivey0997: shows [7d 6d] (a flush, Jack high)
trippkirk: shows [Qc 8h] (a pair of Eights)
philivey0997 collected 40963666 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,900 entrants; $980,000 prize pool
*3-way deal
1. philivey0997 $133,620
2. trippkirk $104,152
3. vaderGZ $110,548
4. ehcaramba $55,370
5. doulas12 $41,650
6. Vincent466 $31,850
7. gretko $22,050
8. B3st Move $12,250
9. nofingclue11 $7,840
The Sunday Million had a very familiar face at the final table for those who have followed online poker for many years. Originally one of the world’s most feared cash game players, Fredrik “H@££INGGOL” Halling, has taken a step back in recent years and has not been playing as high of stakes as he used to. Halling was one of the first multi-tabling high stakes regulars on PokerStars and was seen sitting on enormous stacks due to a glitch in PokerStars software (since fixed) where you could auto-rebuy at will. He was joined by players such as Prahlad Friedman and Taylor Caby in being part of the younger generation to take over online poker cash games. Another solid player, “GulahPapyrus” joined Halling at the final table. This was his 3rd major final table in the past year including a 2nd place finish in the $500k for $73,875 in August 2009.
Just like the Warm-Up the Million was chopped, this time between the two heads-up players “golferen50” and “palurdo”. The two still had $30,000 left to play for after the chop which eventually went to palurdo. This was by far and away his biggest score, eclipsing a 6th place finish for $13,028 in the Second Chance years ago. golferen50 nearly shipped $200,000 after the chop which was also easily the biggest cash of his short tournament career. Below you will find the final table stacks, bust-out hands, and chop-adjusting pay outs:
Seat 1: blony_tair (9782084 in chips)
Seat 2: pimenta7 (3068902 in chips)
Seat 3: H@££INGGOL (9484227 in chips)
Seat 4: GulahPapyrus (13702078 in chips)
Seat 5: golferen50 (12306752 in chips)
Seat 6: MiguelPiper (15370301 in chips)
Seat 7: jeanphidh74 (11014529 in chips)
Seat 8: Phatigue (9371500 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (6209627 in chips)
Seat 1: blony_tair (9602084 in chips)
Seat 2: pimenta7 (2234002 in chips)
Seat 3: H@££INGGOL (9874227 in chips)
Seat 4: GulahPapyrus (13072078 in chips)
Seat 5: golferen50 (12396752 in chips)
Seat 6: MiguelPiper (14740301 in chips)
Seat 7: jeanphidh74 (11824529 in chips)
Seat 8: Phatigue (8741500 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (7824527 in chips)
palurdo: posts small blind 150000
blony_tair: posts big blind 300000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
pimenta7: raises 1904002 to 2204002 and is all-in
H@££INGGOL: folds
GulahPapyrus: folds
golferen50: raises 10162750 to 12366752 and is all-in
MiguelPiper: folds
jeanphidh74: folds
Phatigue: folds
palurdo: folds
blony_tair: folds
Uncalled bet (10162750) returned to golferen50
*** FLOP *** [2d 6s 8h]
*** TURN *** [2d 6s 8h] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [2d 6s 8h Kc] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pimenta7: shows [Ts Kd] (a pair of Kings)
golferen50: shows [Ks Kh] (three of a kind, Kings)
golferen50 collected 5128004 from pot
Seat 1: blony_tair (8937084 in chips)
Seat 3: H@££INGGOL (10348785 in chips)
Seat 4: GulahPapyrus (11388004 in chips)
Seat 5: golferen50 (13939655 in chips)
Seat 6: MiguelPiper (10630891 in chips)
Seat 7: jeanphidh74 (15511778 in chips)
Seat 8: Phatigue (6761500 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (12792303 in chips)
golferen50: posts small blind 250000
MiguelPiper: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jeanphidh74: folds
Phatigue: folds
palurdo: folds
blony_tair: folds
H@££INGGOL: folds
GulahPapyrus: raises 611111 to 1111111
golferen50: folds
MiguelPiper: raises 9469780 to 10580891 and is all-in
GulahPapyrus: calls 9469780
*** FLOP *** [8c Ah Qd]
*** TURN *** [8c Ah Qd] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [8c Ah Qd Jd] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MiguelPiper: shows [6s 7s] (a pair of Sixes)
GulahPapyrus: shows [Kd Ad] (a pair of Aces)
GulahPapyrus collected 21811782 from pot
Seat 1: blony_tair (7937084 in chips)
Seat 3: H@££INGGOL (8578481 in chips)
Seat 4: GulahPapyrus (23468895 in chips)
Seat 5: golferen50 (13439655 in chips)
Seat 7: jeanphidh74 (16004305 in chips)
Seat 8: Phatigue (6861500 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (14020080 in chips)
H@££INGGOL: posts small blind 250000
GulahPapyrus: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
golferen50: folds
jeanphidh74: folds
Phatigue: raises 6311500 to 6811500 and is all-in
palurdo: folds
blony_tair: raises 1075584 to 7887084 and is all-in
H@££INGGOL: folds
GulahPapyrus: folds
Uncalled bet (1075584) returned to blony_tair
*** FLOP *** [8h As Qd]
*** TURN *** [8h As Qd] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [8h As Qd 3s] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Phatigue: shows [Tc Th] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
blony_tair: shows [Qh Ad] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
blony_tair collected 14723000 from pot
Seat 3: H@££INGGOL (6564884 in chips)
Seat 4: GulahPapyrus (9302334 in chips)
Seat 5: golferen50 (14210176 in chips)
Seat 7: jeanphidh74 (16261482 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (43971124 in chips)
H@££INGGOL: posts small blind 400000
GulahPapyrus: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
golferen50: folds
jeanphidh74: folds
palurdo: folds
H@££INGGOL: raises 5684884 to 6484884 and is all-in
GulahPapyrus: calls 5684884
*** FLOP *** [6d 7s Ad]
*** TURN *** [6d 7s Ad] [4d]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7s Ad 4d] [5h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
H@££INGGOL: shows [Jd 9c] (high card Ace)
GulahPapyrus: shows [Kd Ah] (a pair of Aces)
GulahPapyrus collected 13369768 from pot
Seat 4: GulahPapyrus (9917042 in chips)
Seat 5: golferen50 (9180352 in chips)
Seat 7: jeanphidh74 (20241705 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (50970901 in chips)
GulahPapyrus: posts small blind 500000
golferen50: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jeanphidh74: folds
palurdo: raises 2000000 to 3000000
GulahPapyrus: raises 6817042 to 9817042 and is all-in
golferen50: folds
palurdo: calls 6817042
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9s Jd]
*** TURN *** [Ts 9s Jd] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9s Jd 7s] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GulahPapyrus: shows [As 2d] (high card Ace)
palurdo: shows [Ad Kh] (high card Ace – King kicker)
palurdo collected 21034084 from pot
Seat 5: golferen50 (22160704 in chips)
Seat 7: jeanphidh74 (19441705 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (48707591 in chips)
golferen50: posts small blind 500000
jeanphidh74: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
palurdo: raises 2000000 to 3000000
golferen50: folds
jeanphidh74: calls 2000000
*** FLOP *** [3d 5d 7s]
jeanphidh74: checks
palurdo: bets 4000000
jeanphidh74: raises 12341705 to 16341705 and is all-in
palurdo: calls 12341705
*** TURN *** [3d 5d 7s] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [3d 5d 7s 8c] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jeanphidh74: shows [Js 4s] (a pair of Threes)
palurdo: shows [4h Kh] (a pair of Threes – King kicker)
palurdo collected 39483410 from pot
Seat 5: golferen50 (29760704 in chips)
Seat 9: palurdo (60549296 in chips)
golferen50: posts small blind 500000
palurdo: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
golferen50: raises 1500000 to 2500000
palurdo: raises 33500000 to 36000000
golferen50: calls 27160704 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (6339296) returned to palurdo
*** FLOP *** [3h Jh Ah]
*** TURN *** [3h Jh Ah] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [3h Jh Ah Qs] [Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
palurdo: shows [Jd Ac] (a full house, Jacks full of Aces)
golferen50: shows [8d As] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
palurdo collected 59521408 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 59521408 | Rake 0
Board [3h Jh Ah Qs Jc]
Seat 5: golferen50 (button) (small blind) showed [8d As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 9: palurdo (big blind) showed [Jd Ac] and won (59521408) with a full house, Jacks full of Aces
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
9,031 Entrants; $1,806,200 prize pool
*2-way deal
1. palurdo $248,791
2. golferen50 $198,789
3. jeanphidh74 $134,472
4. GulahPapyrus $90,310
5. H@££INGGOL $72,248
6. blony_tair $54,186
7. Phatigue $36,124
8. MiguelPiper $19,868
9. pimenta7 $12,643
The $500k and $215r both had solid final tables yesterday. There were a bunch of STR regulars on hand including “bigdogpckt5s”, “Skämmes”, and “PureCash25”. All three have had major success in online tournaments on both PokerStars and FullTilt. Skämmes takes the distinction of holding the biggest score, a $179,353 cash for finishing 2nd in the Sunday Million last year. He also nearly shipped this very event in 2008, taking 3rd place and more than $50,000. bigdogpckt5s has had success in all sorts of events including a win in the $109r on Stars for $77,976 and a 3rd place finish in the Brawl last December for $82,408. He also won an FTOPS HORSE Event last year for more than $75,000 as well. His biggest score came in FTOPS Event #9 back in 2008 where he took down the $322 NL Event for $277,930. Between PokerStars and FullTilt he has score nearly $2,500,000 in tournament cashes. PureCash25 is no slouch as well having nearly won the $750k a few months ago as he took home 3rd place and $82,000.
Eventual champion “Illini213” took home only the 3rd five-figure score of his career on PokerStars.
Seat 4: Illini213 (7025681 in chips)
Seat 8: FreeLancerZZ (3104319 in chips)
FreeLancerZZ: posts small blind 40000
Illini213: posts big blind 80000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
FreeLancerZZ: raises 80000 to 160000
Illini213: calls 80000
*** FLOP *** [3c 2s 8d]
Illini213: checks
FreeLancerZZ: checks
*** TURN *** [3c 2s 8d] [Qd]
Illini213: checks
FreeLancerZZ: bets 168565
Illini213: calls 168565
*** RIVER *** [3c 2s 8d Qd] [4c]
Illini213: bets 3120000
FreeLancerZZ: calls 2767754 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (352246) returned to Illini213
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Illini213: shows [Ad 5h] (a straight, Ace to Five)
FreeLancerZZ: shows [Ah Qh] (a pair of Queens)
Illini213 collected 6208638 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,013 Entrants; $506,500 prize pool
1. Illini213 $88,536
2. FreeLancerZZ $64,326
3. bigdogpckt5s $48,118
4. Romariopov $35,962
5. Skämmes $25,325
6. andreyluis $20,260
7. tuan001 $15,195
8. PureCash25 $10,130
9. Aguskb $5,825
While the $500k final table was home to a trio of tournament professionals, the $215r might have had the best final table of the decade!! The final four players were all recognizable faces including PokerStars professional Florian Langmann who won the event. What was even more impressive was the three players who finished immediately behind him: Christian “charder30” Harder, “aprilsfool”, and “FU_15”. This was just another solid finish for Harder who is a top-100 ranked tournament professional. He is a solid tournament grinder who has a 2nd place finish in the $500k and a win in the Quarter Million with in the past year. FU_15 has also won the Quarter Million for more than $47,000 and now has 11 $20,000+ scores to his name. Finally, aprilsfool has found his way onto our STR many times including a runner-up finish in the Million last July for more than $176,000.
Two other players of note at the final table were PokerStars professional JC Alvarado and Scott “gunning4you” Seiver who holds a WSOP bracelet from a win in the 2008 Series for more than $755,000.
Seat 1: FU_15 (246312 in chips)
Seat 7: F. Langmann (1202688 in chips)
F. Langmann: posts small blind 8000
FU_15: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
F. Langmann: raises 48000 to 64000
FU_15: calls 48000
*** FLOP *** [4d 6c Ts]
FU_15: bets 180712 and is all-in
F. Langmann: calls 180712
*** TURN *** [4d 6c Ts] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [4d 6c Ts Ks] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FU_15: shows [2d 2h] (a pair of Deuces)
F. Langmann: shows [4h Kd] (two pair, Kings and Fours)
F. Langmann collected 492624 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
245 Entrants; $179,600 prize pool
1. F. Langmann $36,818
2. FU_15 $26,940
3. aprilsfool $20,294.80
4. charder30 $15,266
5. nicelife $10,596.40
6. bustardo $8,082
7. sprstoner $6,286
8. gunning4you $4,490
9. JC Alvarado $3,143
Top-100 ranked Stian “JohnnyBelow” Stabell was on hand at PokerStars final event of the day, the Sunday Second Chance. While he could only manage 6th place and a little more than $10,000 this weekend try not to feel too bad for a player with nearly 25 $10,000+ scores to his name. Joining Stabell was Tony “DrunkPPlaya” Gargano who has had big time success on a number of sites including wins in big re-buy events on PokerStars and FullTilt.
The biggest name at the final table might have just been the player who won the tournament. “aaaaaaaa” who nearly shipped the $530 WCOOP Two-day event, won the second major of his career. He has had a few near misses in big series including that 4th place finish and a 5th back in 2005 for nearly $200,000 in a $2,600 event. His biggest win came in 2006 where he took home $173,844 in what had to be the Sunday Million.
Seat 7: aaaaaaaa (2723593 in chips)
Seat 9: ikszoorn (996407 in chips)
ikszoorn: posts small blind 25000
aaaaaaaa: posts big blind 50000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
ikszoorn: raises 50000 to 100000
aaaaaaaa: raises 177777 to 277777
ikszoorn: raises 713630 to 991407 and is all-in
aaaaaaaa: calls 713630
*** FLOP *** [Qh 5d Jh]
*** TURN *** [Qh 5d Jh] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 5d Jh Ac] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
aaaaaaaa: shows [Ts As] (a pair of Aces)
ikszoorn: shows [7d 7s] (a pair of Sevens)
aaaaaaaa collected 1992814 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,240 Entrants; $248,000 prize pool
1. aaaaaaaa $45,260
2. ikszoorn $32,959.20
3. UHA GAMBLER $24,800
4. Cairns1987 $13,020
5. krasark $13,020
6. JohnnyBelow $10,540
7. atx_austin $8,060
8. DrunkPPlaya $5,580
9. KingKobeMVP $3,472
FullTilt has been doing its best to keep pace with PokerStars in 2010 but it is certainly an uphill battle. Unfortunately the world’s 2nd biggest poker site cannot seem to attract as many players as PokerStars even after they run special promotions. This weekend was more of the same as PokerStars’ 2nd biggest event, the Warm-Up, had nearly 1,400 more entrants than FullTilt’s biggest event, the $750k Guaranteed. The Sunday Brawl, however, continues to explode as the Knock-Out style event seems to attract a solid player base.
Twenty-four of FullTilt’s finest professionals were on hand for the Brawl this week including 61st place finisher Jon Turner. Other notable players included Isaac “Menlo” Baron, Michael Craig, and David “The Dragon” Pham all of whom were unable to make the money. The biggest name at the final table was 4th place finisher Danny “THE__D__RY” Ryan who has won the $1K Monday on FullTilt as well as finished 2nd in the Second Chance on Stars with in the past year. The final three players took the easy way out and decided to chop the remaining $250,000 in the prize pool. Second-place finisher “losebigpots” banked the fifth $30k+ score of his career and the biggest to boot. He nearly won the $1k Monday last year taking home $51,840 for 2nd and he won a small FTOPS Event in 2008 for $39,967.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,885 Entrants; $577,000 prize pool
*3-way deal
1. DedoDeGorila $83,252
2. losebigpots $88,009
3. possum808 $77,426
4. THE__D__RY $42,121
5. mrcool0710 $29,427
6. Dinhjo $19,618
7. Every1s Problem $13,271
8. kenpro111 $9,232
9. breeth $6,924
The biggest event of the day on FullTilt came woefully shy of reaching its necessary entrants. Being over 200 players short of 3,750 forced FullTilt to pony up more than $41,000 if its own money to match the $750,000 guarantee. There was a strong FullTilt “red pro” showing which including some big names in live poker such as Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, and former WSOP Main Event winner Carlos Mortensen. The best showing from the professional came from Johan Storakers who took 19th place. Storakes is a Swedish poker professional who has more than $2,600,000 in live tournament winnings dating all the way back to 2000.
Another final table, and unfortunately, another chip-chop as Matt “berley11” Berkey and “pokerBIRVana5” each settled for more than $100,000 and called it a day. It’s tough to blame players for wanting to chop as there is just so much money on the table but it is always nice to see these tournaments come to a dramatic finish. Berkey took home $102,000 for his 2nd place finish which is easily the biggest score of his career. He did have a nice cash in the FTOPS “Ante up for Africa” charity event where he took home $31,244 for another runner-up finish but you can bet a lot of that money went to the charity.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
3,542 Entrants; $750,000 prize pool
*2-way deal
1. pokerNIRVana5 $111,038
2. berkey11 $102,000
3. ASUpokerStar $52,500
4. shhhookem $41,400
5. DOOOLfan $31,050
6. mahowny $23,025
7. vspaccloss $17,250
8. miw210 $13,500
9. onefingerortwo $10,050
Finding his way onto our report for a 2nd consecutive week (and in the same event) was “UFman2” who is better known as “PiKappRaider” in the online poker world. Last week he finished in 7th place in this even for just under $10,000. This weekend he improved his standing significantly, taking home 3rd place and $23,794. As we mentioned last week he has had huge success in FTOPS events including 3 significant scores including two victories. In 2009 he won events in February and November for $245,696 and $102,240 respectively. That same year he also finished 4th for $48,277 in an August FTOPS event. Seventh place finisher “darrenelias” is no stranger to success in the FTOPS either having won event #13 last February for $126,544. His $6,815 finish this week was merely the 15th biggest score of his career.
As was the case with the majority of events yesterday the Mulligan did not finish before a chip-chop. “noirduck” and “Try_Tilt_Me” wrapped up the event early with noirduck coming out on top for more than $48,000. This was easily the biggest cash of his career and only the 3rd five-figure score on his resume. “Try_Tilt_Me” was the more decorated player having approximately $650,000 in cashes before entering the final table but was happy to taking home $36,342 and call it a day.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,175 Entrants; $235,000 prize pool
*2-way deal
1. noirduck $48,258
2. Try_Tilt_Me $36,342
3. UFman2 $23,794
4. Yaoling $19,094
5. nirvana2126 $14,406
6. kasapis112 $10,575
7. darrenelias $6,815
8. mbr1121 $4,935
9. igivyaagamble $3,525