Online tournaments have hit a bit of a wall lately. After a huge start to 2011, events on both PokerStars and FullTilt have seen their player pools dwindle quite a bit over the past few weeks as promotions and various tournaments serious have come to an end. Hopefully online poker MTTs will kick up a notch with FTOPS XX starting shortly and the 2011 Spring Championship of Online Poker slated for next month. Be sure to check out the FlopTurnRiver News Section for write-ups on all the major events from both tournament series.
One event which seems unfazed by the recent downturn in attendance in the $215 Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars. The day’s first major benefits from players around the globe entering the $750,000 guaranteed event. The diverse field typically results in an interesting final table with a mix of well known professionals and unknown amateurs. One of those well known professionals came in the form of Andrew “RunThisTable” Lichtenberger, a high-stakes cash game professional known by most as “Luckychewy”. Lichtenberger is actually a FullTilt sponsored professional but he is allowed to play on other sites as evidenced by his 2nd place finish in the Warm-Up last night. Chewy was fresh off a solid showing in this past week’s Poker After Dark on NBC where he fell just short in a field including Tom Dwan and Annette Oberstad. Lichtenberger’s run was stopped short by “narbe86”, a mid-stakes player who took down what was easily the biggest score of his career, $145,398, by taking down Luckychewy for the title.
PokerStars Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,634 Entrants; $926,800 prize pool
1. narbe86 $145,398
2. RunThisTable $107,972
3. dean23price $76,461
4. mikki696 $52,364
5. d0r1t0s $39,389
6. SLOligarh $30,121
7. Pr0fiteer $20,853
8. _Chapa_26 $11,585
9. Nels316 $7,414
The Sunday Million continues to be the #1 online tournament each and every week and yesterday was no exception. With more than 8,200 players ponying up the $215 buy-in the prize pool grew to more than $1,650,000 with nearly a quarter million dollars slated for the champion. The final table had some solid players including Jim “jimbo1420069” Casement, a top-ranked online tournament player who has won a large number of events in the $20-$109 range. His fifth place finish early Monday morning earned him the biggest score of his online career, a $66,184 payday. The final table had an interesting dynamic as long-time chip leader “tonho32”, hailing for Brazil, seemed unable to discuss chip chops due to a language barrier. Short-stack “diegoaiz” was pushing for a deal once three-handed play began but nothing seemed to materialize. Little did the Argentinian know he was about to go on quite the rush and take down the Sunday Million along with a $243,396 check.
Below are the final table stacks, bust-out hands, and pay-outs:
Seat 1: diegoaiz (11134068 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (4214118 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (8127015 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (16491358 in chips)
Seat 5: JCSeelbach (10467886 in chips)
Seat 6: Dercampb (3571100 in chips)
Seat 7: fishvirus (15792643 in chips)
Seat 8: jimbo1420069 (5456818 in chips)
Seat 9: kam3047 (7474994 in chips)
Seat 1: diegoaiz (11134068 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (4519873 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (12297015 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (16491358 in chips)
Seat 5: JCSeelbach (20815772 in chips)
Seat 6: Dercampb (3571100 in chips)
Seat 7: fishvirus (3019002 in chips)
Seat 8: jimbo1420069 (4736818 in chips)
Seat 9: kam3047 (6144994 in chips)
Dercampb: posts small blind 150000
fishvirus: posts big blind 300000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jimbo1420069: folds
kam3047: folds
diegoaiz: folds
LennanAlm: folds
BOKPOWER: folds
tonho32: raises 385000 to 685000
JCSeelbach: folds
Dercampb: folds
fishvirus: calls 385000
*** FLOP *** [Kd Jc Jd]
fishvirus: checks
tonho32: checks
*** TURN *** [Kd Jc Jd] [Qc]
fishvirus: bets 900000
tonho32: calls 900000
*** RIVER *** [Kd Jc Jd Qc] [Ah]
fishvirus: bets 1404002 and is all-in
tonho32: calls 1404002
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fishvirus: shows [Ks 6h] (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
tonho32: shows [As 2c] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
tonho32 collected 6398004 from pot
Seat 1: diegoaiz (10304068 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (8979746 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (11467015 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (19270360 in chips)
Seat 5: JCSeelbach (20585772 in chips)
Seat 6: Dercampb (4111100 in chips)
Seat 8: jimbo1420069 (6146818 in chips)
Seat 9: kam3047 (1865121 in chips)
tonho32: posts small blind 200000
JCSeelbach: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dercampb: folds
jimbo1420069: folds
kam3047: raises 1425121 to 1825121 and is all-in
diegoaiz: folds
LennanAlm: calls 1825121
BOKPOWER: folds
tonho32: folds
JCSeelbach: folds
*** FLOP *** [8c Qd 8s]
*** TURN *** [8c Qd 8s] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [8c Qd 8s 9d] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kam3047: shows [Td Qs] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
LennanAlm: shows [Kd Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Eights)
LennanAlm collected 4570242 from pot
Seat 1: diegoaiz (11989068 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (11124867 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (11267015 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (18870360 in chips)
Seat 5: JCSeelbach (14638954 in chips)
Seat 6: Dercampb (3311100 in chips)
Seat 8: jimbo1420069 (11528636 in chips)
LennanAlm: posts small blind 200000
BOKPOWER: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
tonho32: folds
JCSeelbach: folds
Dercampb: raises 2871100 to 3271100 and is all-in
jimbo1420069: folds
diegoaiz: folds
LennanAlm: raises 7813767 to 11084867 and is all-in
BOKPOWER: folds
Uncalled bet (7813767) returned to LennanAlm
*** FLOP *** [9c 3h Kh]
*** TURN *** [9c 3h Kh] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [9c 3h Kh Jd] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LennanAlm: shows [8d 8s] (a pair of Eights)
Dercampb: shows [4h Ah] (high card Ace)
LennanAlm collected 7222200 from pot
Seat 1: diegoaiz (26748136 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (12935967 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (9057015 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (20040474 in chips)
Seat 5: JCSeelbach (4649772 in chips)
Seat 8: jimbo1420069 (9298636 in chips)
BOKPOWER: posts small blind 250000
tonho32: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
JCSeelbach: raises 4099772 to 4599772 and is all-in
jimbo1420069: folds
diegoaiz: folds
LennanAlm: folds
BOKPOWER: raises 4407243 to 9007015 and is all-in
tonho32: folds
Uncalled bet (4407243) returned to BOKPOWER
*** FLOP *** [Jc 6c 4d]
*** TURN *** [Jc 6c 4d] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 6c 4d Ts] [2s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BOKPOWER: shows [Ad Ac] (a pair of Aces)
JCSeelbach: shows [Ah Td] (a pair of Tens)
BOKPOWER collected 9999544 from pot
Seat 1: diegoaiz (18590136 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (10669412 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (11566787 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (33995029 in chips)
Seat 8: jimbo1420069 (7908636 in chips)
BOKPOWER: posts small blind 300000
tonho32: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jimbo1420069: raises 600000 to 1200000
diegoaiz: folds
LennanAlm: raises 9409412 to 10609412 and is all-in
BOKPOWER: folds
tonho32: folds
jimbo1420069: calls 6648636 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2760776) returned to LennanAlm
*** FLOP *** [5s 6d 6c]
*** TURN *** [5s 6d 6c] [4d]
*** RIVER *** [5s 6d 6c 4d] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jimbo1420069: shows [Qs Qd] (two pair, Queens and Sixes)
LennanAlm: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
LennanAlm collected 16897272 from pot
Seat 1: diegoaiz (10674582 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (23792603 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (9526787 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (38736028 in chips)
BOKPOWER: posts small blind 300000
tonho32: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
diegoaiz: folds
LennanAlm: folds
BOKPOWER: raises 8866787 to 9466787 and is all-in
tonho32: calls 8866787
*** FLOP *** [4d Jc Td]
*** TURN *** [4d Jc Td] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [4d Jc Td Qc] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BOKPOWER: shows [Ac 3c] (high card Ace)
tonho32: shows [Ah 8c] (high card Ace – Queen+Jack+Ten+Eight kicker)
tonho32 collected 19173574 from pot
Seat 1: diegoaiz (23242946 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (14205711 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (45281343 in chips)
tonho32: posts small blind 500000
diegoaiz: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
LennanAlm: raises 13105711 to 14105711 and is all-in
tonho32: calls 13605711
diegoaiz: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ah Ac 7c]
*** TURN *** [Ah Ac 7c] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [Ah Ac 7c Js] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
tonho32: shows [8h 8s] (two pair, Aces and Eights)
LennanAlm: shows [Kd Tc] (a pair of Aces)
tonho32 collected 29511422 from pot
Seat 1: diegoaiz (62422939 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (20307061 in chips)
tonho32: posts small blind 600000
diegoaiz: posts big blind 1200000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
tonho32: raises 2400000 to 3600000
diegoaiz: raises 4177777 to 7777777
tonho32: raises 12409284 to 20187061 and is all-in
diegoaiz: calls 12409284
*** FLOP *** [Js 6d 6c]
*** TURN *** [Js 6d 6c] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [Js 6d 6c 8c] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
diegoaiz: shows [Ah Ad] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
tonho32: shows [Qc Kd] (a pair of Sixes)
diegoaiz collected 40614122 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,273 Entrants; $1,654,600 prize pool
1. diegoaiz $243,396
2. tonho32 $177,890
3. LennanAlm $124,095
4. BOKPOWER $82,730
5. jimbo1420069 $66,184
6. JCSeelbach $49,638
7. Dercampb $33,092
8. kam3047 $18,200
9. fishvirus $12,823
The Sunday $500k failed to reach its guarantee in what cannot be considered a good sign of things to come leading up to SCOOP 2011. The highest buy-in event of the day garnered just 962 entrants forcing PokerStars to pay $19,000 out of their own pockets to reach the guarantee. Heads-up play came down to Jordan “jymaster11” Young and “Willy Banaan” in a battle for a difference of nearly $25,000 between first and second place. Both players are considered seasoned veterans online, especially Young who won the Sunday Brawl and the $750k on FullTilt last year…on the same day! That’s right, last August Young made online history by winning two major events on the same Sunday, taking home more than $235,000 in the process. Lady luck was not on his side yesterday however, as Banaan was able to make a good call heads-up with King-Seven suited which proved to be the best hand. Banaan earned $87,400 for the win.
Seat 3: Willy Banaan (5906803 in chips)
Seat 4: Jymaster11 (3713197 in chips)
Willy Banaan: posts small blind 50000
Jymaster11: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Willy Banaan: raises 120000 to 220000
Jymaster11: raises 292795 to 512795
Willy Banaan: calls 292795
*** FLOP *** [5c Qc 6s]
Jymaster11: bets 368795
Willy Banaan: raises 428795 to 797590
Jymaster11: raises 2392812 to 3190402 and is all-in
Willy Banaan: calls 2392812
*** TURN *** [5c Qc 6s] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [5c Qc 6s 6c] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Jymaster11: shows [9c 6d] (three of a kind, Sixes)
Willy Banaan: shows [7c Kc] (a flush, King high)
Willy Banaan collected 7426394 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
962 Entrants; $500,000 prize pool
1. Willy Banaan $87,400
2. Jymaster11 $63,500
3. munchenHB $47,500
4. MindFeeling $35,500
5. LSgambler $25,000
6. Mr. C. Brown $20,000
7. Skipaway99 $15,000
8. JBlaze20 $10,000
9. Monk532 $5,750
While Young was busy playing the $500k final table, another high-stakes online professional was heads-up in another major, the $215 re-buy. Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, widely considered a top-10 online MTT pro, found himself heads-up vs. JBT449 for the $215r title. JBT449 is no slouch himself, having won the $500k, Super Tuesday, MiniFTOPs Event #12, and Nightly $100k over the course of his online career. Even with those epic scores his resume paled in comparison to Moorman’s which includes four six-figure scores along with wins in the $1k Monday, $109 re-buy, $250k on PartyPoker, and the PokerStars Second Chance. Other big names at the final table included high-stakes cash game professional and resident trash talker Matt “ADZ124” Marafioti and Anthony “wwwBTHEREcom” Gregg who finished in 4th and 6th place respectively.
JBT449 was able to finish off Moorman heads-up when he was able to bink an Ace of the flop, putting quite a bad beat on Chris’ Pocket Kings.
Seat 1: JBT449 (1110984 in chips)
Seat 7: Moorman1 (736016 in chips)
Moorman1: posts small blind 12500
JBT449: posts big blind 25000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Moorman1: raises 25000 to 50000
JBT449: raises 1058484 to 1108484 and is all-in
Moorman1: calls 683516 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (374968) returned to JBT449
*** FLOP *** [Ad Js 8h]
*** TURN *** [Ad Js 8h] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [Ad Js 8h 3d] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JBT449: shows [Ac 4d] (a pair of Aces)
Moorman1: shows [Kh Ks] (a pair of Kings)
JBT449 collected 1472032 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
233 Entrants; $164,400 prize pool
1. JBT449 $32,054
2. Moorman1 $28,774
3. Flush_Entity $19,317
4. ADZ124 $14,385
5. JakeCombs $9,864
6. wwwBTHEREcom $8,220
7. 26071985 $6,576
8. krzyeyeskila $4,932
9. yuyupoker $3,288
Capping a bit of a disappointing day on PokerStars was the $250,000 guaranteed Second Chance. The latest starting major of the day wrapped things up before the Million, $215r, or $500k were even close to finishing. A smaller field plus shallower structure tends to allow the Second Chance to end much sooner than events which started hours before it. With just under 1,400 players in the Second Chance the prize pool grew to $279,000 with $50,443 on the line of the winner.
A few familiar faces were on hand as the final table including FullTilt pro Jordan “iMsoLucky0” Morgan and Jason “JP OSU” Potter who finished in 8th and 4th place respectively. Both players are highly regarded tournament professionals who have seen major success both live and online. Taking home the title was “88k” who earned the biggest score of his career, beating out a $47,295 cash earlier this year in the Turbo Multi-Hundo on FullTilt. The $50k+ score was all his once all the money went in pre-flop with his King-Nine suited dominating his opponent’s King-Six offsuit.
Seat 2: “88k” (3346858 in chips)
Seat 9: Castor (838142 in chips)
Castor: posts small blind 40000
“88k”: posts big blind 80000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Castor: calls 40000
“88k”: raises 3258858 to 3338858 and is all-in
Castor: calls 750142 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2508716) returned to “88k”
*** FLOP *** [8s Ks Th]
*** TURN *** [8s Ks Th] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [8s Ks Th 2h] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
“88k”: shows [9d Kd] (a pair of Kings)
Castor: shows [6h Kc] (a pair of Kings – lower kicker)
“88k” collected 1676284 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1,395 Entrants; $279,000 prize pool
1. “88k” $50,443
2. Castor $36,549
3. Vinkyy $27,900
4. JP OSU $20,925
5. Gualter S. $14,648
6. westy14 $11,858
7. kinheim $9,068
8. iMsoLucky0 $6,278
9. Browntown19 $3,906
The Sunday Brawl was back to its old tricks yesterday. Instead of the multi-entry structure which saw the guaranteed tripled to $1,200,000 last weekend the $256 Brawl came back down to earth with 2,676 entrants and a $535,200 prize pool. For those unfamiliar with how the Brawl works it is a Knock-Out style event which pays $40 to a player every time he/she eliminates a fellow opponent. Trying to get in on the knock out action were more than 35 FullTilt sponsored professionals including Scott Clements, Mike McDonald, and Svetlana Gromenkova who finished in 66th place. Jordan Morgan, who was busy at the Second Chance final table on PokerStars, also made a deep run here before busting in 28th place.
The final table ended rather abruptly as the remaining three players decided to chop the prize pool guaranteeing everyone at least $73,000. Eventual 3rd place finisher “lindah3” actually earned the most money as he/she had the largest chip-stack at the time of the chop. The title and $75,982 went to “Exan13” who earned the 2nd biggest score of his career, well behind a $87,400 victory in the Sunday500 on PokerStars just two months ago. He also has a Sunday Million final table to his name this year, finishing 7th in the Million two weekends ago for $37,152.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,676 Entrants; $535,200 prize pool
*3-way chop
1. Exan13 $75,982
2. mimatadero $73,389
3. lindah3 $81,300
4. aviator0925 $39,070
5. Dk4884 $27,295
6. BustedWadZ $18,197
7. fly44 $12,310
8. MrSwain666 $8,563
9. Nakkehai $6,422
The $1.5M guarantee continues to be a multi-entry event which allows players to buy-in up to six times. For those new to multi-entry MTTs this means you can play up to six entries at once. If you happen to get to the point where you have more entries than number of table remaining (i.e. two of your entrants make the final table) your stacks will be combined and you will receive two pay-outs, one immediate and another for where you combined entry finishes. Some of the FTP pros on hand included Andy Bloch, Erick Lindgren, Isaac Baron, and Jordan Morgan who again had the best finish of the professionals coming in 69th place. The final table was highlighted by Alex “Assassinato” Fitzgerald who busted early in 8th place. The high-stakes online professional has seen great success on FullTilt in the past having finished 3rd in both FTOPS Event #10 earlier this year and in the $750k last year for more than $178,000 combined. His biggest win came on PokerStars back in 2009 where he won the Second Chance for nearly $47,000. With Fitzgerald being eliminated early the door was wide open for an unknown to hit a huge score. Taking full advantage was “Mr Boogerz” who earned just the third five-figure plus score of his career on FullTilt by winning the $1.5M. The $307,584 cash dwarfed his previous best score, an 8th place finish in FTOPS Event #40 for $43,512 just two months ago. While Mr Boogerz does not play much online, it seems he does enjoy high-stakes events, having focused most of his attention on tournaments with at least a $200 buy-in. Runner-up “Caio Brites” also earned a career best score of $211,464.
FullTilt Sunday $1.5M Guaranteed
9,612 Entrants; $1,922,400 prize pool
1. Mr Boogerz $307,584
2. Caio Brites $211,464
3. Toty0611 $149,947
4. BeckReloaded $109,577
5. TheBrain $80,741
6. PIPERSTARK $57,672
7. bz833 $40,370
8. TheAssassinato $27,875
9. jambrose55 $19,608
The day came to a close with the $200,000 guaranteed Sunday Mulligan on FullTilt. The appropriately named major gave all the grinders a final shot at a big weekend score with more than $45,000 on tap for the champion. More than 20 FTP Red Pros were on hand looking for a piece of the action including Peter “Apathy” Jetten, David Pham, and John Racener who nearly made the final table before being eliminated in 17th place. Taking home the title was Yorane “viirusss” Kerignard who earned $45,045 for the win. The high-stakes MTT grinder from France earned another big score on a resume which already includes wins in the Super Tuesday and $109 re-buy. His biggest cash came via a runner-up finish in the $1k Monday on FullTilt last year for $121,738. Runner-up “-StAr3K-” earned $28,529 which was a career best on FullTilt, surpassing a win in the $60k Guaranteed last October for $17,100.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,001 Entrants; $200,200 prize pool
1. viirusss $45,045
2. -StAr3K- $28,529
3. SteFior73 $21,121
4. dfunks222 $16,517
5. cod meharly $12,513
6. Wu_Wizard $9,009
7. ThrillCory90 $6,006
8. Simonvk $4,505
9. WHOPPWHOPP $3,203