With multiple online tournaments series on the horizon there seemed to be a slight boost in attendance this week as players are sharpening their games for both FTOPS XVI in April and SCOOP in May. Each series looks to build off of previous successes from 2009.  The FullTilt Online Poker Series begins this week and runs through the end of the month. The Spring Championship of Online Poker, run by PokerStars, will begin in May and features 3-sub tournaments in each event with a low, medium, and high buy-in.

Yesterday was kicked off by the Sunday Warm-Up which once again took the 2nd spot on the weekly tournament list, just behind the Sunday Million on Stars. Last week saw a bit of a lull in attendance which could be contributed to Easter weekend, but this week once again saw the Warm-Up surpass the $900,000 prize pool mark. All in all 4,588 players created a $917,600 pool with more than $143,000 going to the winner.

The final table had a few recognizable faces include 6th place finisher Hafiz “hafizzle” Khan who took home $29,822 for a hard days work. Khan’s biggest score on Stars came in the $530 WCOOP Event last September for $93,092. He also won the $50k on FullTilt for $48,774 and shipped the WCOOP 2nd Chance 200-200-200 for $38,950.  Eventual winner Jose Guti took down “jcgoheels” heads-up for a $143,955 pay day. This was the biggest score of his career and one of just a handful of five-figure cashes on his resume. His previous biggest victory came in the $109r on PokerStars last October for just under $20k.

Seat 2: JoseGuti (41727100 in chips)
Seat 6: jcgoheels (4152900 in chips)
JoseGuti: posts small blind 250000
jcgoheels: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
JoseGuti: raises 500000 to 1000000
jcgoheels: raises 3102900 to 4102900 and is all-in
JoseGuti: calls 3102900
*** FLOP *** [Ts Ks 2s]
*** TURN *** [Ts Ks 2s] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Ts Ks 2s 2h] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jcgoheels: shows [9h Ah] (a pair of Deuces)
JoseGuti: shows [Kc 5s] (two pair, Kings and Deuces)
JoseGuti collected 8305800 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,588 Entrants; $917,600 prize pool

1. JoseGuti $143,955
2. jcgoheels $106,900
3. Rigboz $75,702
4. Xenor30 $51,844
5. chino285 $38,998
6. hafizzle $29,822
7. ginofluit $20,646
8. ague007 $11,470
9. thebirdman84 $7,340

The Sunday Million took a slight step back this week in terms of overall attendance and prize pool, but it still continues to be head and shoulders above every other online poker tournament. While it failed to double the Warm-Up this week, the Million still had more than $1.7M in the prize pool. Unfortunately for the railbirds the tournament ended rather abruptly as the final FIVE players decided to a chip chop! Of course it is always a bit disappointing when there is no longer a quarter-million first place prize, but the chop did leave five players with more than $120,000. The final $30,000 came down to “kixelsyd” and “xxndavisxx” who had quite a short battle. After just a few hands kixelsyd was able to ship the $30k Freeze-out and earn over $160,215. Runner-up xxndavisxx actually made the most money, as he had by far the largest stack at the time of the chip-chop.

Below are the final table stacks, bust-out hands, and chop-adjusted pay-outs:

Seat 1: Wu2kayY18 (2394891 in chips)
Seat 2: Machiavilian (25890362 in chips)
Seat 3: Dusnumbri (6102112 in chips)
Seat 4: xxndavisxx (4296890 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (8507106 in chips)
Seat 6: PrinceAndrew (12905062 in chips)
Seat 7: Methos_ST (6421966 in chips)
Seat 8: keckboss (8359925 in chips)
Seat 9: just_two_ace (11151686 in chips)

Seat 1: Wu2kayY18 (4474891 in chips)
Seat 2: Machiavilian (24215362 in chips)
Seat 3: Dusnumbri (4347112 in chips)
Seat 4: xxndavisxx (3696890 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (14004212 in chips)
Seat 6: PrinceAndrew (4317956 in chips)
Seat 7: Methos_ST (5261966 in chips)
Seat 8: keckboss (11619925 in chips)
Seat 9: just_two_ace (14091686 in chips)
xxndavisxx: posts small blind 200000
kixelsyd: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
PrinceAndrew: folds
Methos_ST: folds
keckboss: folds
just_two_ace: folds
Wu2kayY18: raises 4034891 to 4434891 and is all-in
Machiavilian: folds
Dusnumbri: folds
xxndavisxx: folds
kixelsyd: calls 4034891
*** FLOP *** [4d Tc 3h]
*** TURN *** [4d Tc 3h] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [4d Tc 3h Kh] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kixelsyd: shows [Kc Js] (a pair of Kings)
Wu2kayY18: shows [9c 9h] (a pair of Nines)
kixelsyd collected 9429782 from pot

Seat 2: Machiavilian (15163993 in chips)
Seat 3: Dusnumbri (7024224 in chips)
Seat 4: xxndavisxx (25672684 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (13485536 in chips)
Seat 7: Methos_ST (9307864 in chips)
Seat 8: keckboss (8459925 in chips)
Seat 9: just_two_ace (6915774 in chips)
xxndavisxx: posts small blind 300000
kixelsyd: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Methos_ST: folds
keckboss: folds
just_two_ace: raises 6255774 to 6855774 and is all-in
Machiavilian: folds
Dusnumbri: folds
xxndavisxx: folds
kixelsyd: calls 6255774
*** FLOP *** [5c Ks 3s]
*** TURN *** [5c Ks 3s] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [5c Ks 3s Ts] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kixelsyd: shows [Kc Js] (a pair of Kings)
just_two_ace: shows [8s 8d] (a pair of Eights)
kixelsyd collected 14431548 from pot

Seat 2: Machiavilian (19183993 in chips)
Seat 3: Dusnumbri (5764224 in chips)
Seat 4: xxndavisxx (25672684 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (18901310 in chips)
Seat 7: Methos_ST (8047864 in chips)
Seat 8: keckboss (8459925 in chips)
xxndavisxx: posts small blind 300000
kixelsyd: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Methos_ST: folds
keckboss: raises 1200000 to 1800000
Machiavilian: folds
Dusnumbri: raises 3904224 to 5704224 and is all-in
xxndavisxx: folds
kixelsyd: folds
keckboss: calls 3904224
*** FLOP *** [Ad 2c 8d]
*** TURN *** [Ad 2c 8d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [Ad 2c 8d 2d] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
keckboss: shows [Th Tc] (two pair, Tens and Deuces)
Dusnumbri: shows [6s 6h] (two pair, Sixes and Deuces)
keckboss collected 12668448 from pot

Seat 2: Machiavilian (20163993 in chips)
Seat 4: xxndavisxx (20352684 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (32363446 in chips)
Seat 7: Methos_ST (4295728 in chips)
Seat 8: keckboss (8854149 in chips)
keckboss: posts small blind 400000
Machiavilian: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
xxndavisxx: folds
kixelsyd: folds
Methos_ST: raises 3415728 to 4215728 and is all-in
keckboss: calls 3815728
Machiavilian: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qc Ac 9c]
*** TURN *** [Qc Ac 9c] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Qc Ac 9c Kh] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
keckboss: shows [7c As] (a pair of Aces)
Methos_ST: shows [6s 6c] (a pair of Sixes)
keckboss collected 9631456 from pot

Seat 2: Machiavilian (19283993 in chips)
Seat 4: xxndavisxx (20272684 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (32283446 in chips)
Seat 8: keckboss (14189877 in chips)
Machiavilian: posts small blind 400000
xxndavisxx: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
kixelsyd: folds
keckboss: raises 13309877 to 14109877 and is all-in
Machiavilian: folds
xxndavisxx: calls 13309877
*** FLOP *** [Jc 3h 3c]
*** TURN *** [Jc 3h 3c] [As]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 3h 3c As] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
xxndavisxx: shows [Ah Js] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
keckboss: shows [Ad 8s] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
xxndavisxx collected 28939754 from pot

Seat 2: Machiavilian (7755425 in chips)
Seat 4: xxndavisxx (50595122 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (27679453 in chips)
xxndavisxx: posts small blind 500000
kixelsyd: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Machiavilian: raises 6655425 to 7655425 and is all-in
xxndavisxx: calls 7155425
kixelsyd: raises 19924028 to 27579453 and is all-in
xxndavisxx: folds
Uncalled bet (19924028) returned to kixelsyd
*** FLOP *** [Kd Ks 7c]
*** TURN *** [Kd Ks 7c] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Kd Ks 7c Tc] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kixelsyd: shows [9s 9h] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
Machiavilian: shows [7d Jd] (two pair, Kings and Sevens)
kixelsyd collected 23266275 from pot

Seat 4: xxndavisxx (11619697 in chips)
Seat 5: kixelsyd (74410303 in chips)
xxndavisxx: posts small blind 600000
kixelsyd: posts big blind 1200000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
xxndavisxx: raises 10299697 to 11499697 and is all-in
kixelsyd: calls 10299697
*** FLOP *** [4h 3s Kd]
*** TURN *** [4h 3s Kd] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [4h 3s Kd 5d] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kixelsyd: shows [8h Kh] (a pair of Kings)
xxndavisxx: shows [6h Ks] (a pair of Kings – lower kicker)
kixelsyd collected 23239394 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,603 Entrants; $1,720,600 prize pool
*5-way chop

1. kixelsyd $160,215
2. xxndavisxx $167,775
3. Machiavillan $145,380
4. keckboss $127,550
5. Methos_ST $121,046
6. Dusnumbri $51,618
7. just_two_ace $34,412
8. PrinceAndrew $18,927
9. Wu2kayY18 $13,335

Another Sunday, another major final table for Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis who seems to make our report just about every week. The top-100 ranked poker professional was joined by other online greats at the final table including “Skämmes” and eventual winner Adam “Squee451” Sherman.  Karamalikis now has more than $1.5M in scores between FullTilt and PokerStars including multiple runner-up finishes in FTOPS and other major events. His biggest win came in the $109r in 2008 where he shipped $66,125 for first. This appears to have been his 3rd biggest cash on Stars behind that $109r win and another 2nd in this very event 18 months ago.

Sherman took down another big title on a resume that already included wins in the Quarter Million, $109r, and Nightly $100k on PokerStars.  The $89,493 score appears to be the biggest of his career.

Seat 5: MONSTER_DONG (2534647 in chips)
Seat 8: squee451 (7835353 in chips)
squee451: posts small blind 40000
MONSTER_DONG: posts big blind 80000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
squee451: raises 80000 to 160000
MONSTER_DONG: raises 206666 to 366666
squee451: raises 7460687 to 7827353 and is all-in
MONSTER_DONG: calls 2159981 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (5300706) returned to squee451
*** FLOP *** [Js 2h 9h]
*** TURN *** [Js 2h 9h] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [Js 2h 9h 8c] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MONSTER_DONG: shows [Ad Td] (a pair of Tens)
squee451: shows [2d 2c] (three of a kind, Deuces)
squee451 collected 5069294 from pot

PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,037 Entrants; $518,500 prize pool

1. squee451 $89,493
2. MONSTER_DONG $64,813
3. Skämmes $49,258
4. roi kin23 $36,088
5. sil_eye_hand $25,666
6. roo_400 $20,481
7. moneytaker85 $15,296
8. WiLDmAn75 $10,111
9. smerks $5,704

While the Sunday500 had a few big names at the final table, it was outdone by the final table showing in the $215r. A handful of well-known poker professionals made appearances including “xthesteinx”, Joe “hoodini10” Udine, “JasonGray”, and “Dr.Action”.  Udine is a top-25 ranked professional with more than $2.3M in cashes on PokerStars alone. He has major victories in the $109r, $215r (twice), and the Wednesday Quarter Million. All told, Udine has more than 50 $10k+ scores to his name on PokerStars. Despite all of his success on PokerStars, Udine is best known for his win in FTOPS Event #12 last August for $304,793.

Dr.Action made our report last week for his win in this very event. This week, he was not as fortunate as he had to settle for 3rd place and $24,656. Another player from last week’s report, JasonGray, finished 7th in the $215r for $7,637. Last week, Gray was fortunate enough to final table the Second Chance where he finished 3rd for $30,320.  Runner-up Michael “luckylady519” Banducci is a WSOP bracelet winner who earned $1.66M for shipping the $1k NL Hold’em Event in 2008. Online, Banducci has more than $700,000 in cashes on PokerStars including multiple major final tables, but has yet to win an event bigger than the nightly $100k or $109r.

Seat 4: LuckyLady519 (671686 in chips)
Seat 8: OLD_TABLE (1092314 in chips)
LuckyLady519: posts small blind 10000
OLD_TABLE: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
LuckyLady519: raises 649686 to 669686 and is all-in
OLD_TABLE: calls 649686
*** FLOP *** [8h 6d Jc]
*** TURN *** [8h 6d Jc] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 6d Jc 7s] [Ks]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OLD_TABLE: shows [Js Kh] (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
LuckyLady519: shows [Qd 3c] (high card King)
OLD_TABLE collected 1343372 from pot

PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
300 Entrants; $218,200 prize pool

1. OLD_TABLE $44,731
2. LuckyLady519 $32,730
3. Dr.Action $24,656
4. Bazeman11 $18,547
5. xthesteinx $12,873
6. highland $9,819
7. JasonGray $7,637
8. hoodini10 $5,455
9. LUHMAN $3,818

Seat 5: jeanphidh74 (2274538 in chips)
Seat 6: I’am_Sound (2291462 in chips)
jeanphidh74: posts small blind 20000
I’am_Sound: posts big blind 40000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jeanphidh74: raises 40000 to 80000
I’am_Sound: raises 116969 to 196969
jeanphidh74: raises 2073569 to 2270538 and is all-in
I’am_Sound: calls 2073569
*** FLOP *** [Jd 7h 5s]
*** TURN *** [Jd 7h 5s] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 7h 5s 5c] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
I’am_Sound: shows [Qc Qd] (two pair, Queens and Fives)
jeanphidh74: shows [9h 9d] (two pair, Nines and Fives)
I’am_Sound collected 4549076 from pot

The final event of the day on PokerStars, the Sunday Second Chance, continues to skirt past the $300,000 prize pool mark. What’s interesting is the tournament still continues to just have a $200,000 guarantee. Perhaps with SCOOP coming up and more players being online, PokerStars might just bump the guarantee of the Second Chance for the next few weeks. The Second Chance has made a major comeback over the past year, despite its guarantee being lowered twice over that time.

Michael “I’am_Sound” Huber, who shipped the Super Tuesday this week, took down another big tournament as he outlasted “jeanphidh74” for the Second Chance title and nearly $55,000.  He now has nearly $700k in cashes on Stars and has won the Super Tuesday, Second Chance, and $109r with in the past 12 months. Third-place finisher “DeuceBuster” was another solid professional at the final table. His resume includes a 4th in the Million and a 2nd in the warm-Up. Overall he has nearly $1,000,000 in cashes on Stars over the past few years.

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,522 Entrants; $304,400 prize pool

1. I’am_Sound $54,913
2. jeanphidh74 $39,724
3. DeuceBuster $30,440
4. Antoshka $22,830
5. kimokh $15,981
6. uncledrkmeat $12,937
7. GtC[13]FFVII $9,893
8. LockdownTex $6,849
9. SOXFAN83 $4,261.60

FullTilt’s Sunday majors continue to roll along as FTOPS XVI looms just a week away.  For a look at the upcoming series check out this write-up on both FTOPS XVI and SCOOP.  For those unfamiliar with FTOPS it is a series of online tournaments hosted by FullTilt. In fact, each event has a specific FullTilt sponsored professional hosting the tournament. In the past, players like Tom Dwan, Howard Lederer, and Gus Hansen have hosted events.

While none of those big names played in the Brawl there were still more than 25 FullTilt “red pros” on hand including WSOP bracelet winner Erick Lindgren who, along with Marco Saner, were the only two professionals who made the money in the Brawl. Other big names on hand were Isaac “Menlo” baron, Erica Schoenberg, and Josh Arieh. The final three players decided to chop the remaining prize pool which left Danny “THE__D__RY” Ryan with the biggest piece of the pie.  Ryan nearly shipped the $300r FTOPS Event in 2008, taking 2nd place for $169,924. He also has wins in the $1K Monday and a 4th in the $750k.

FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,818 Entrants; $563,600 prize pool

*3-way chop

1. THE__D__RY $85,166
2. pinchame $75,236
3. Thalai $82,510
4. STJEAN81 $41,143
5. dogsballs $28,744
6. ThatsFrushedUp $19,162
7. da_professional $12,963
8. -GROMOV DMITRY- $9,018
9. Xnu $6,763

The $750k remains the flagship event each week on FullTilt yet it continues to fall even further behind the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars for the #2 slot in online tournaments. It is interesting that two events with the same buy-in and nearly the same guarantee can average more than 1,000 different players each week. Add to that the fact that the Warm-Up starts quite early, before a lot of American grinders are ready to play, and you have to wonder if FullTilt is doing a good enough job with their satellites and VIP program.

A handful of FullTilt professionals made the money in the $750k this week including Stefan Rapp (353rd), S Gromenkova (145th), Niklas Heinecker (476th), Bruno Stefanell (143rd), and Berry Johnston (414th). Other notable professionals on hand were Eric “peachykeen” Liu, Eli Elezra of High Stakes Poker fame, and sports betting savant Alan Boston. The tournament was won by “at0247” who easily shipped the biggest score of his career. In fact, this was a win that dreams are made of, as he did not have a score over $650 to his name before he won $135,549 yesterday. While some players might use this as fuel to the “donkaments are all luck” discussion, others will use it as great PR for poker. It just goes to show you, on any given day, you could walk away with a six-figure score.

FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
3,828 Entrants; $765,600 prize pool

1. at0247 $135,549
2. omgfml2 $81,919
3. DingDongAllDay $53,592
4. hustla16 $42,261
5. TheIBanker $31,696
6. LederJoe $23,504
7. losebigpots $17,609
8. Agrella $13,781
9. rob131986 $10,259

Rounding out another day of big buy-in, huge guarantee tournaments was the appropriately-named Sunday Mulligan on FullTilt. The Mulligan is the smallest of the major events outside of the $215r, but still breaks the quarter-million prize pool mark from time to time. This week PLO extraordinaire “iggymcfly” was on hand at the final table looking for a big score. While he is known for his heads-up play he was unable to make it to the final two busting in 3rd for $25,515. This was nowhere near the biggest score of his career which came in the Million last year as he took second place for $143,440. He also nearly won a $1k PLO WCOOP event in 2008, taking 3rd place for $74,200.

A few FullTilt professionals played in the late-starting event including Eric Froehlich, Jeff Madsen, and Mike “Timex” McDonald who hasn’t quit poker just yet. Making the money were Joao Barbosa, Yongsuk Chang, and Mandy B in 48th, 108th and 44th respectively.

FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,260 Entrants; $252,000 prize pool

1. mralan2950 $55,440
2. Drrng $35,280
3. iggymcfly $25,515
4. Kocherov $20,475
5. MihayM $15,448
6. czGLoRy $11,340
7. chaz_man_chaz $7,308
8. ALLinwithdaBEST $5,292
9. atlantidecity $3,780