While a lot of attention online yesterday was focused on the Daniel Negreanu, Viktor Blom heads-up match, there were still plenty of players entering major tournaments. With MiniFTOPS XIX finishing up there was all kinds of action on both PokerStars and FullTilt. If you want to hear more about the MiniFTOPS XIX Main Event be sure to check out our news section for an in depth write-up on all the major hands and participants. While most low-t0-mid stakes players were competing in three MiniFTOPS majors there were still plenty of events on tap for the high stakes grinders. In fact, FullTilt upped the ante a bit changing their $750k to a $1,000,000 Guarantee by boosting the buy-in from $216 to $640. The bump helped as more than 2,000 players entered giving the event second billing on the day.
The tournament which typically sits in the two hole, the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars, still managed to surpass the $1,000,000 prize pool mark. It took more than 2 times the number of players entering the $1M on FullTilt to do so but the day’s largest major continues to hit the seven figure mark in 2011. The final table had some great players on hand including 5th place finisher Corey “Comandr_cool” Burbick who is one of the regulars on our Tournament Report. His $42,653 score late Sunday doesn’t even crack the top-10 on his career scores list which includes wins in the $500k, $200k, $150k, and a $183,060 score for winning 2010 SCOOP Event #3. Heads-up play was quickly ended by a chop between Vitalijs “zavor” Zavorotnijs and “AntiTop1” who still had to leave $10,000 on the table per Stars rules. That money eventually went to AntiTop1 who earned a nice $148,124 payday for his victory in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
5,018 Entrants; $1,003,600 prize pool
*2-way chop
1. AntiTop1 $148,124
2. zavor $125,791
3. petteytheft $82,797
4. Easy Folding $56,703
5. Comandr_Cool $42,653
6. serb2127 $33,617
7. laibaby64 $22,581
8. thewrongway $12,545
9. Rasdam $8,029
Even with the $1,000,000 on FullTilt, the PokerStars Sunday Million ruled the day. While it was unable to crack the $2,000,000 mark, the week’s largest online event still attracted nearly 9,600 players on its way to a $1,918,800 prize pool. While players participated in hopes of hitting a huge score there were 6 that were more than content to take a big one. For about 30 minutes the six remaining players at the Sunday Million final table discussed a chip chop which eventually happened. It’s always interesting to see how much players saved or cost themselves by chopping. The most obvious hiccup in this case came from 2nd place finisher “BlackMojos” who took a $99,256 check after the chop but could have earned nearly $100,000 more had the tournament played out in the same manner. Sixth place finisher “upstrick77” actually made nearly $60,000 extra from the chop as he would have walked away with just $57,564 for being the first to bust after the deal. The two best players at the final table didn’t even make it to the chop. In fact, Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy and “PureCash25” were the two highest ranked pros at the table but busted in 8th and 9th place respectively.
The chipleader at the time of the chop, “kalmuka”, was also able to win the event and earn an additional $30,000 in the process. His $234,574 score was by far and away the biggest win of his career on PokerStars, besting a 2nd place finish in the $11 rebuy back in 2009.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
9,594 Entrants; $1,918,800 prize pool
*6-way chop
1. kalmuka $234,574
2. BlackMojos $99,256
3. SeraphimV $146,067
4. IkBenEenBaas $108,438
5. dickkemp $109,076
6. upstrick77 $135,354
7. XBraumeister $38,376
8. Mr_BigQueso $19,188
9. PureCash25 $13,048
As it tends to do the Sunday $500k’s largest buy-in resulted in a nice final table with a handful of big names. One of the first players to bust was Brian “AKBigFish” James who has been crushing on Absolute Poker for some time. He has a win and a runner-up finish in the $150k there in the past six months for more than $80,000 combined. He hasn’t had great success on PokerStars but did win the Nightly $90k earlier this year for $19,197. Coming in sixth place was “rkruok” who won the $200k on FullTilt back in 2009 and has won the $109r on Stars in the past. He nearly won the $500k in 2009 but finished 3rd for $50,200. Heads-up play came down to an online great in Michael “Skämmes” Tureniec and “GypsieChris” who is no slouch himself. With more than $25,000 between first and second it was a fight to the finish as Chris came out on top. The $94,945 score was the biggest of his career and bested a win in the $109 cubed as well as a 7th place finished in WCOOP Event 11 back in 2009 for $68,409. Skämmes earned $69,813 for his second place finish. The Swedish poker professional likes to keep his scores under wraps but he has won numerous majors in the past including the Sunday Million back in 2009.
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,117 Entrants; $558,500 prize pool
1. GypsieChris $94,945
2. Skämmes $69,813
3. Monk532 $53,002
4. pablox55 $37,978
5. DangHes_Good $27,646
6. rkruok $22,061
7. faithless $16,476
8.AKBigFish $10,891
9. dragonwarrior $6,032
While the Sunday500 had a solid final table, the $215r had a downright filthy one. All kinds of big name professionals were on hand including a few PokerStars Supernova Elite members. Taking home the crown was Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick who earned $34,572 for his efforts. The highstakes professional has had a lot of deep runs in majors over the years including a 2nd in FTOPS, 3rd in WCOOP, and 4th in the $500k. His biggest victory came in a WCOOP 2nd Chance event back in 2009 where he took home $45,920. Finishing in 2nd in the $215r was “SexSeen” who is no stranger to success on PokerStars either. He has already won this event multiple times and also took down the $500k back in August 2009 for $90,097. Finishing one spot worse was Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp, a top-100 ranked online MTT player. His $18,894 score late last night doesn’t even come close to his top-10 scores which includes an FTOPS victory for over $121,000 back in 2008. To prove the final table wasn’t top heavy, 9th place finisher Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth might just have been the best player on hand but could not muster any momentum before he was the first to go earning just $3,216 in the process.
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
225 Entrants; $160,800 prize pool
1. stevie444 $34,572
2. SexSeen $24,924
3. ryanbluf $18,894
4. muchenHB $14,070
5. HarryTVV $9,648
6. Greenstone25 $8,040
7. 2465979 $6,432
8. xSuPrA $4,824
9. j.thaddeus $3,216
The final event of the day on PokerStars was as always the $250,000 guaranteed Second Chance. The $215 buy-in event is most players last shot at a big Sunday score. Starting late each Sunday afternoon it can be trying on most players to maintain concentration after a full day of online events, but those on hand at the final table had little trouble focusing with a $54,408 prize on the line. A few of those making the final table had seen great success in the past including 4th place finisher “zwuerbs” who won the Sunday Million last May for more than $230,000. Also on hand was “bigpimpin777” whose name was quite ironic considering he busted in 7th place for just $9,802. He too has a major win on his resume having won the $500k last April for more than $88,000. Taking home the title and a nice check was “GCWV” who out-earned his previous high score of $23,216 which came in the $109r in 2009.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1,508 Entrants; $301,600 prize pool
1. GCWV $54,408
2. MILF ISLAND $39,358
3. J. The Greek $30,160
4. zwuerbs $22,620
5. LISTILLO $15,834
6. tuck you up $12,818
7. bigpimpin777 $9,802
8. jalman69 $6,786
9. NestOfSalt $4,222
With MiniFTOPS XIX coming to an end there were plenty of players online to compete in the rest of FullTilt’s Sunday majors. Kicking things off was the $240+$16 Sunday Brawl, a KO event which pays $40 to players every time they bust a fellow competitor. Taking part in the Brawl were more than 30 FullTilt sponsored professionals including big names like Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Allen Cunningham, and Brandon Adams. Former World Series of Poker Main Event Championship Huck Seed made a deep run before falling just short of the final table in 42th place.
A final table full of solid professionals was set to compete for a big $105,235 payday. Among those on hand were “THE_GOLDMINE” (known as SEABEAST), “gaucho2121”, “TMoney209”, and “nickdawgg”. With so many good players on hand it was a bit of a surprise to see a relatively unknown grinder take home the title. Despite not having a five-figure score to his name on FullTilt it was “breastknight” who earned a six-figure sum after he eliminated “Bourbonftw” in 2nd place.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,592 Entrants; $518,400 prize pool
1. breastknight $105,235
2. Bourbonftw $67,910
3. nickdawgg $50,285
4. TMoney209 $37,843
5. paigowpro $26,438
6. gaucho2121 $17,626
7. charis2 $11,923
8. AverageHoe $8,294
9. THE_GOLDMINE $6,221
While the MiniFTOPS Main Event was going on the biggest buy-in event of the day was simultaneously running. The $640 Sunday $1,000,000 Guaranteed attracted more than 2,000 players including over 50 FullTilt Professionals. Some of the more recognizable names included Annette Oberstad, Carlos Mortensen, David “Raptor” Benefield, Peter “Apathy” Jetten, Gavin Smith, and Scott Clements. Jetten made the deepest runs of all the professionals on hand by finishing in 38th place.
The final table did not have any FullTilt professionals but it was full of online greats including “darrenelias”, “Ozzy 87”, and “Zackattak1327”. All three of these players are big names in online tournaments and cash games and made for a great final table experience. Ozzy 87 was one of the first online high stakes young guns. He along with players like Durrrr, Raptor, CTS, and EmpireMaker ushered in a new era of poker in which college students were dominating $25/$50 and above cash games. He has been relatively quiet lately but will pop up with a big score every now and then. Zackattak1327 has won numerous online majors including both the $500k and Second Chance on PokerStars. He has millions in online scores and is considered a top-20 MTT grinder. Finally, Darren Elias has a trio of six-figure scores to his name online including a 6th place finish in the WCOOP Main Event last year for nearly $400,000! All of their experience got them deep in the $1M yesterday but it ultimately failed to pay off as “NuggetMaster420” took home the title and a big $221,241 first place check.
FullTilt $1,000,000 Guaranteed
2,004 Entrants; $1,202,400 prize pool
1. NuggetMaster420 $221,241
2. darrenelias $135,871
3. Ozzy 87 $88,977
4. IHuntltuShipIt $70,941
5. Zackattak1327 $54,108
6. Sircall $38,717
7. matfrankland $28,256
8. Guithome $22,244
9. The_Dean221 $16,833
The day came to an end with the $200,000 guaranteed Sunday Mulligan on FullTilt. A handful of FTP Pros participated in the Mulligan including David Pham, Isaac “Menlo” Baron, and Jeff Madsen. Despite all of the FullTilt Red Pros on hand it was one of the best online professionals around who made a splash at the final table. Steve “gboro780” Gross made it all the way to heads-up play before falling to “young_diamond18” with the title on the line. The one-timed #1 ranked MTT player in the world has won multiple major titles as well as the $109r on more than a handful of occasions. His $32,405 score last night fails to crack his top-10 which is highlighted by a $275,601 score on FullTilt back in 2009. Despite Gross’ impressive resume he was unable to outlast young_diamond18 who earned the biggest score of his career on PokerStars and made up for a 3rd place finish in this very event last April for just $26,649.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,137 Entrants; $227,400 prize pool
1. young_diamond18 $51,165
2. gboro780 $32,405
3. P0KERPR0 $23,991
4. psutennis11 $18,761
5. hocket2319 $14,213
6. TunnanoMoroten $10,233
7. Vinkyy $6,822
8. TerrySunday $5,117
9. MYSTER_WINNER $3,638