Online tournaments are rebounding nicely after a three-week WSOP lull. With only a few hundred players remaining in the Main Event, plenty of the world’s best tournament players focused their efforts on major online events hosted by PokerStars and FullTilt Poker. As always, the Sunday Million led the way yesterday, with over 7,700 entrants creating a massive $1,542,400 prize pool.
Getting the day going was the Sunday Million on PokerStars. The earliest event each Sunday, the Warm-Up, has been able to weather the WSOP, easily passing its guarantee of $750,000. This week was no different, as 3,884 entrants created a $776,800 prize pool. A few well known players made the final table, including the eventual winner, Carter “devinr12” Gil. The $121,957 first-place check was the largest of his career, besting a win in the $80k Gtd. on FullTilt last September. All in all Gil now has 11 five-figure scores to his name. Another final table notable was Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll, another high-stakes regular who took down the $320 $120k Gtd. in May for over $32,000. Finishing in 9th was “xthesteinx”, who has won the $215r twice and has nearly $2,000,000 in cashes on PokerStars alone.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
3,884 Entrants; $776,800 prize pool
1. devinr12 $121,957.61
2. portokali29 $90,885.61
3. Polo Mint $64,086.01
4. Metatron1 $44,666.01
5. clems105 $33,014.01
6. UGOTPZD $25,246.01
7. wineguytx $17,478.01
8. mannefredo $9,710.01
9. xthesteinx $6,214.41
The Sunday Million made up for a lackluster first week of July by easily passing its guarantee yesterday. Taking home the title and over $231,000 was “Zimmer4141”, who until yesterday did not have a $5,000+ score on PokerStars. One of the more experienced players at the final table was “arsenal46” who finished in 6th place for over $46,000, a career best score. While this was his best cash he has won a few big tournaments on FullTilt as well as the 50/50/50 on PokerStars for over $12,000.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
7,712 Entrants; $1,542,400 prize pool
1. Zimmy41 $231,360.01
2. labbedorval $169,664.01
3. NoMercy $115,680.01
4. DrunkkkYoda $77,736.97
5. awkward_clam $61,696.01
6. arsenal46 $46,272.01
7. oncecajun $30,848.01
8. SLYEYES35 $17,737.61
9. kenydalglish $11,953.61
A few big names made it to the final table of the Sunday 500, including jcamby33, LukefromB13 (also known as IWEARGOGGLES), TheMasterJ33, and FatalError. With so many big name professionals making the final table it seemed a forgone conclusion one would ship the title. Taking one down for the pros was Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, whose $87,400 cash was the biggest of his career. While he has a nice tournament resume, Aguiar had been lacking a big win to his name, and the Sunday500 is certainly one of the biggest. James “jcamby33” Campbell was the first casualty at the final table, and you can rest assured his opponent did not mind seeing him go quickly. The top-20 ranked professional finished 2nd in this very event last month, earning $63,500. Campbell has two huge scores to his name, a first-place chop of the Million in 2007 and a 2nd place finish in FTOPS Event #10 last year, both for over $150,000.
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
992 Entrants; $500,000 prize pool
1. FatalError $87,400
2. badbeatman06 $63,500
3. LukeFromB13 $47,500
4. Spiny777 $35,500
5. OkTime4PlanB $25,000
6. TheMasterJ33 $20,000
7. Pipedream17 $15,000
8. Hasn82 $10,000
9. jcamby33 $5,750
The $215 re-buy bounced back a bit this past Sunday, with 282 players re-buying 407 times and and 190 electing to take the add-on. The $175,800 prize pool was a vast improvement over last week, as the tournament failed to reach its new $150,000 guarantee. Three big names, Roothlus, aakkari, and thorladen got close to the final table, but busted near the bubble. While most players making the final table of the $215r are generally well-known, this week’s winner did not quite have the resume of previous champions. “kbza08, a player with only one other five-figure score to his name, outlasted a final table that included “TheCronic420”, “garompon” and “USCphildo”. Coming up one spot short was “caecilius”, who recorded his 12th $10,000+ score of his career. The $26,370 cash failed to match his career best, a $44,500 cash for winning the $109r last August.
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
282 Entrants; $175,800 prize pool
1. kbza08 $36,039
2. caecilius $26,370
3. brendon1717 $19,865.40
4. gipsy74 $14,943
5. TheCronic420 $10,372.20
6. Pokerl)Evil $7,911
7. garompon $6,153
8. USCphildo $4,395
9. Bushman $3,076.50
The final event of the day on PokerStars was the Sunday Second Chance, a $200,000 guarantee event. While aakkari failed to make the final table of the $215r, another PokerStars sponsored pro made a deep run in the Second Chance. Steve-Paul Ambrose, known as “stevejpa” was able to get past over 1,200 players on his way to the final table, but busted early, falling in 8th place for just over $5,800. His early exit left a big hole at the final table, and “Blue Knight1”, a tournament grinder, was able to take advantage of a relatively soft field. The $47,304 first-place check was the biggest of his career, easily besting his previous career high, a $18,225 win in a $50 buy-in event.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,296 Entrants; $259,200 prize pool
1. Blue Knight1 $47,304
2. buttonsAAAA $34,447.68
3. JT3013 $25,920
4. Funghie $19,440
5. Norin22 $13,608
6. Reyna PKD $11,016
7. rounder13 $8,424
8. stevejpa $5,832
9. Focus43 $3,628.80
FullTilt continued to run its big-3, the Brawl, $750k, and Mulligan. Yesterday was quite an interesting day on the site as some new updates caused a slew of problems with their software. Some players found themselves with out cards, betting options, or even a log-in screen in the lobby. All of those issues were still not enough to keep the Brawl from one of its biggest days in sometime as over 2,100 played the event. Only 12 FullTilt Sponsored Professionals played in the Brawl, including Scott Fischman, Chip Jett, and Aaron Bartley, who made the deepest run finishing in 127th place, just in the middle of the money. Heads-up play came down to two known players, Sadan “the_snail03” Turker and Ross “zestfulyclean” Myers. Both players seem to be solid grinders who were looking for their first huge score. Turker took full advantage of the opportunity, outlasting Myers for the win and over $87,000.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $350k Guaranteed
2,136 Entrants; $427,200 prize pool
1. the_snail03 $87,127
2. zestfulyclean $56,390
3. domador1 $41,866
4. a_zuzolo $31,613
5. FTOPSaments $22,214
6. Xenomystus $14,525
7. chuck2001 $9,826
8. Fairenoughsir $6,835
9. Grazza No1 $5,126
Just like the Brawl, the $750k Guarantee seemed to remain unaffected by the software glitch, as the tournament saw its highest number of entries in some time yesterday. Nearly 4,200 players ponied up the $200+$16 entry fee as the prize pool swelled to over $833,000. In a battle for the 2nd spot each week, the $750k seems to be taking over the Warm-Up on PokerStars. Some of FullTilt’s best pros played in the event including Erick Lindgren, Brandon Adams, and Brad Booth, all of whom have been featured on GSN’s High Stakes Poker cash game. Only Stuart Paterson was able to make it inside the top-200 this week, as he finished in 193rd.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
4,166 Entrants; $833,200 prize pool
1. SturmUndDrang84 $147,135
2. the grey wolf $89,069
3. brayza21 $58,324
4. bigt439 $45,826
5. FireFox89 $34,411
6. lamsmartSMRT $25,496
7. 01Fred07 $19,164
8. hitthehole $14,998
9. inhidonks $11,165
The final event this past Sunday was the $200k Mulligan on FullTilt. The $200+$16 buy-in tournament gives every tournament grinder one final shot at a big Sunday score. Taking full advantage was “UHaveNoOutz” who outlasted “imweird” for the title and nearly $53,000. Entering the final table neither player had a $15,000+ score to their name. Well-known pros Jeff Madsen, Eric Froelich, and Phil Gordon all played, although none made the money. A few of FullTilt’s Red Pros were able to cash, including Svetlana Grmoenkova and Martin Klaeser who finished in 44th and 109th respectively.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,204 Entrants; $240,800 prize pool
1. UHaveNoOutz $52,976
2. imweird $33,712
3. SHiP THAT $24,802
4. Roxx Box $19,565
5. njw11 $15,050
6. Markus OwnH $10,836
7. legourou $7,224
8. Tmay420 $5,418
9. StraitSkillz $3,853