The 2010 World Series of Poker is winding down and with that online tournaments have finally seen some improvement in attendance. With just 9 players left in the Main Event most of the poker community has already headed home for the summer where they were comforted by the Sunday majors yesterday. Despite 6-8 weeks of low attendance and overlay online tournaments were able to bounce back in a big way yesterday with nearly all the majors reaching their guarantees.
Getting a good day off on the right foot was the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up which attracted just under 4,000 players making it the 2nd biggest tournament of the day. The were a few seasoned professionals at the final table vying for the $125,000 first place check. Runner-up “jackmeplz69″ was no stranger to major final tables having reached the Million FT just a few months ago. His 2nd place finish here earned him $93,530. The biggest name at the final table was Mickey”mement_mori” Petersen who finished in 7th place. The top-10 ranked tournament professional has a more than a dozen $20,000+ cashes to his name including a 2nd place in the $2,100 SCOOP NLHE Event #19 earlier this year for $161,660 and a win in FTOPS Event #22 in April for $86,716. In the end though it was Mazzze who took down the title and a big payday. This was by far and away the biggest score of his career, easily besting a few $4,000 cashes 4+ years ago. In fact, this score came pretty much out of nowhere for a player who does not play too many event on Stars anymore. Perhaps this is a sign of the WSOP bringing some players back to the world’s biggest poker site.
Seat 1: Mazzze (35222848 in chips)
Seat 5: jackmeplz69 (4747152 in chips)
jackmeplz69: posts small blind 250000
Mazzze: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jackmeplz69: raises 500000 to 1000000
Mazzze: raises 500000 to 1500000
jackmeplz69: raises 3197152 to 4697152 and is all-in
Mazzze: calls 3197152
*** FLOP *** [9h Tc 6s]
*** TURN *** [9h Tc 6s] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [9h Tc 6s 3d] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Mazzze: shows [8h 8d] (a straight, Six to Ten)
jackmeplz69: shows [Qs As] (high card Ace)
Mazzze collected 9494304 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
3,997 Entrants; $799,400 prize pool
1. Mazzze $125,507
2. jackmeplz69 $93,530
3. marcuscha $69,951
4. tollgate $45,966
5. SPAZdos304 $33,975
6. MrNebula $25,981
7. mement_mori $17,987
8. danger0us $9,993
9. Bulat09 $6,395
For once the Sunday Million final table was graced with one of the best poker players in the world. Frank “gator93” Hernandez found himself heads-up late last night with “romdom” for the title and over $220,000. The two decided to chop but there was still plenty to play for including $30,000 and Tournament Leaderboard points. This wasn’t the top-ranked Hernandez’s first brush with greatness. In fact, he already had three $120k+ scores on his resume but still lacked a huge win. The biggest victory of his career came in the Sunday Mulligan earlier this year for $57,904. Once again he was left scratching his head as he failed to ship a major event. Still, the $192,000 2nd place check more than likely softened the blow a bit. Below are the final table stacks, bust-out hands, and chop-adjusted pay outs:
Seat 1: Cherniysv (6173234 in chips)
Seat 2: gator93 (12930596 in chips)
Seat 3: Dk4884 (15427370 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (10375940 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (13206594 in chips)
Seat 6: ROPUSZKA (3327986 in chips)
Seat 7: aiglix (6547667 in chips)
Seat 8: Dantes_11 (8117631 in chips)
Seat 9: vinifenomeno (4162982 in chips)
Seat 1: Cherniysv (4638234 in chips)
Seat 2: gator93 (10713096 in chips)
Seat 3: Dk4884 (17337370 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (15625940 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (12646594 in chips)
Seat 6: ROPUSZKA (3247986 in chips)
Seat 7: aiglix (9262667 in chips)
Seat 8: Dantes_11 (3782631 in chips)
Seat 9: vinifenomeno (3015482 in chips)
gator93: posts small blind 125000
Dk4884: posts big blind 250000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
bigbadbandit: folds
ROMDOM: folds
ROPUSZKA: raises 500000 to 750000
aiglix: folds
Dantes_11: folds
vinifenomeno: folds
Cherniysv: raises 3863234 to 4613234 and is all-in
gator93: raises 6074862 to 10688096 and is all-in
Dk4884: folds
ROPUSZKA: folds
Uncalled bet (6074862) returned to gator93
*** FLOP *** [Ks 6h 6s]
*** TURN *** [Ks 6h 6s] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 6h 6s 8h] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gator93: shows [Qh Qs] (two pair, Queens and Sixes)
Cherniysv: shows [Ah Qc] (a pair of Sixes)
gator93 collected 10451468 from pot
Seat 2: gator93 (16526330 in chips)
Seat 3: Dk4884 (17062370 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (15600940 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (12621594 in chips)
Seat 6: ROPUSZKA (2472986 in chips)
Seat 7: aiglix (9237667 in chips)
Seat 8: Dantes_11 (3757631 in chips)
Seat 9: vinifenomeno (2990482 in chips)
Dk4884: posts small blind 125000
bigbadbandit: posts big blind 250000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
ROMDOM: raises 265000 to 515000
ROPUSZKA: raises 1932986 to 2447986 and is all-in
aiglix: folds
Dantes_11: folds
vinifenomeno: folds
gator93: folds
Dk4884: calls 2322986
bigbadbandit: folds
ROMDOM: calls 1932986
*** FLOP *** [8h 4d 3h]
Dk4884: checks
ROMDOM: checks
*** TURN *** [8h 4d 3h] [Jh]
Dk4884: checks
ROMDOM: checks
*** RIVER *** [8h 4d 3h Jh] [9c]
Dk4884: checks
ROMDOM: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dk4884: shows [Ad Td] (high card Ace)
ROMDOM: shows [Qd Qc] (a pair of Queens)
ROPUSZKA: mucks hand
ROMDOM collected 7793958 from pot
Seat 2: gator93 (16126330 in chips)
Seat 3: Dk4884 (17439384 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (11700940 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (19492566 in chips)
Seat 7: aiglix (9262667 in chips)
Seat 8: Dantes_11 (3782631 in chips)
Seat 9: vinifenomeno (2465482 in chips)
gator93: posts small blind 125000
Dk4884: posts big blind 250000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
bigbadbandit: raises 500000 to 750000
ROMDOM: folds
aiglix: folds
Dantes_11: folds
vinifenomeno: raises 1690482 to 2440482 and is all-in
gator93: folds
Dk4884: folds
bigbadbandit: calls 1690482
*** FLOP *** [Td Kh Ad]
*** TURN *** [Td Kh Ad] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Td Kh Ad Tc] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bigbadbandit: shows [Qh Kd] (a full house, Kings full of Tens)
vinifenomeno: shows [Qs Ac] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
bigbadbandit collected 5430964 from pot
Seat 2: gator93 (26832660 in chips)
Seat 3: Dk4884 (88054 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (17321422 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (19042566 in chips)
Seat 7: aiglix (13197667 in chips)
Seat 8: Dantes_11 (3787631 in chips)
gator93: posts small blind 150000
Dk4884: posts big blind 58054 and is all-in
*** HOLE CARDS ***
bigbadbandit: folds
ROMDOM: folds
aiglix: raises 495000 to 645000
Dantes_11: folds
gator93: raises 1455000 to 2100000
aiglix: folds
Uncalled bet (1455000) returned to gator93
*** FLOP *** [Kh Ad 8h]
*** TURN *** [Kh Ad 8h] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [Kh Ad 8h 3h] [8c]
bigbadbandit said, “nh gator”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gator93: shows [Ks Jh] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
gator93 collected 1173892 from side pot
Dk4884: shows [Js Qh] (a pair of Eights)
gator93 collected 354162 from main pot
Seat 2: gator93 (33746428 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (10575708 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (23827566 in chips)
Seat 7: aiglix (7645036 in chips)
Seat 8: Dantes_11 (4475262 in chips)
bigbadbandit: posts small blind 200000
ROMDOM: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
aiglix: folds
Dantes_11: raises 4035262 to 4435262 and is all-in
gator93: raises 4035262 to 8470524
bigbadbandit: folds
ROMDOM: folds
Uncalled bet (4035262) returned to gator93
*** FLOP *** [Qc 2s As]
*** TURN *** [Qc 2s As] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [Qc 2s As 6d] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dantes_11: shows [Ts Kc] (a pair of Tens)
gator93: shows [Qs Ks] (a pair of Queens)
gator93 collected 9670524 from pot
Seat 2: gator93 (34386690 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (15675708 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (20522566 in chips)
Seat 7: aiglix (9685036 in chips)
aiglix: posts small blind 200000
gator93: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
bigbadbandit: folds
ROMDOM: raises 425000 to 825000
aiglix: raises 8820036 to 9645036 and is all-in
gator93: raises 24701654 to 34346690 and is all-in
ROMDOM: folds
Uncalled bet (24701654) returned to gator93
*** FLOP *** [3d 6c Ks]
*** TURN *** [3d 6c Ks] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [3d 6c Ks 7s] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
aiglix: shows [Ah 5d] (a pair of Fives)
gator93: shows [Td Tc] (a pair of Tens)
gator93 collected 20275072 from pot
Seat 2: gator93 (21416904 in chips)
Seat 4: bigbadbandit (8171416 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (50681680 in chips)
gator93: posts small blind 250000
bigbadbandit: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
ROMDOM: folds
gator93: raises 800000 to 1300000
bigbadbandit: raises 6821416 to 8121416 and is all-in
gator93: calls 6821416
*** FLOP *** [7d Qs 5h]
*** TURN *** [7d Qs 5h] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [7d Qs 5h 6h] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gator93: shows [Th Ah] (a pair of Tens)
bigbadbandit: shows [Js Ad] (high card Ace)
gator93 collected 16392832 from pot
Seat 2: gator93 (7733320 in chips)
Seat 5: ROMDOM (72536680 in chips)
gator93: posts small blind 400000
ROMDOM: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
gator93: raises 6853320 to 7653320 and is all-in
ROMDOM: calls 6853320
*** FLOP *** [8d 5h Jd]
*** TURN *** [8d 5h Jd] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [8d 5h Jd 3c] [Ks]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ROMDOM: shows [Tc Kd] (a pair of Kings)
gator93: shows [As 8s] (a pair of Eights)
ROMDOM collected 15466640 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,027 Entrants; $1,605,400 prize pool
*2-way chop
1. ROMDOM $225,408
2. gator93 $192,000
3. bigbadbandit $120,405
4. aiglix $80,912
5. Dantes_11 $64,216
6. Dk4884 $48,162
7. vinifenomeno $32,108
8. ROPUSZKA $18,462
9. Cherniysv $12,44
Riding the attendance wave from the day’s first two events was the $500,000 guaranteed Sunday500. Typically one of the stronger fields of the day, the 500k had one of the better paydays as well, handing out more than $88,000 to eventual winner “Schildy1984”. Heading a strong final table was “gray31” who has a handful of major final tables to his name including a 3rd place in this very event last year. He also has had some close calls in the $200k and shipped the nightly $100k on Stars for $25,171. His 4th place finish last night was one of the bigger scores of his career as he took home $35,496 for a hard day’s work. Taking 3rd place this week was “munson1049” who shipped a big win in the $109r earlier this year for $82,075. He also nearly won the Sunday Million last year before falling in 6th place for $68,320. The tournament eventually came down to Schildy1984 and DalconOpeaN with Schildy coming out on top when his A8o won a standard race against pocket fives.
Seat 1: DalconOpeaN (2530585 in chips)
Seat 5: Schildy1984 (7669415 in chips)
DalconOpeaN: posts small blind 50000
Schildy1984: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
DalconOpeaN: raises 100000 to 200000
Schildy1984: raises 7459415 to 7659415 and is all-in
DalconOpeaN: calls 2320585 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (5138830) returned to Schildy1984
*** FLOP *** [8s Td Jd]
*** TURN *** [8s Td Jd] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [8s Td Jd Js] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Schildy1984: shows [Ac 8d] (a full house, Eights full of Jacks)
DalconOpeaN: shows [5c 5h] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
Schildy1984 collected 5061170 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,020 Entrants; $510,000 prize pool
1. Schildy1984 $88,026
2. DalconOpeaN $63,750
3. munson1049 $48,450
4. gray31 $35,496
5. simon1471 $25,245
6. phounderAA $20,145
7. Bushman $15,045
8. Paolo69 $9,945
9. wonderdog78 $5,61
The $215r saw a boost in attendance and prize pool yesterday as well as some strong players making the final table. A few of the more recognizable names on hand included Jovial Gent, SCTrojans, and ryanghall. All three are well known tournament professionals with big scores to their names. Hall had the worst finish of the trio busting in 7th place. The former FTOPS winner is no stranger to success on PokerStars having finished 2nd in the Warm-Up just two months ago for $94,278. Yevgeniy “Joival Gent” Timoshenko has seen tremendous success both live and online. He has more than $3,500,000 in cashes on PokerStars alone including a $1,715,200 score for shipping the WCOOP Main Event. On the live circuit Timoshenko shipped the World Poker Tour Championship for $2,100,000 last April. Timoshenko is clearly one of the best tournament players in the world and ranks up there with the likes of Gboro, Menlo, and other online greats. Finally, Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman has been an absolute beast online for some time now. With a handful of $50k+ scores including a $254,150 cash in the $10k WCOOP High Roller Championship last year, Freeman has pretty much done it all online. His 2nd place finish in the Sunday Million last April was just one of many close calls in majors over the years. With all the talent at the $215r final table it was a lesser known player who took down the title and $37,105. “jjbrut” was able to beat Timoshenko heads-up for the title and earn only the 3rd five-figure score of his career on PokerStars when his flush draw + straight draw outran Gent’s TPTK:
Seat 2: Jovial Gent (612134 in chips)
Seat 5: jjbrut (849866 in chips)
Jovial Gent: posts the ante 1000
jjbrut: posts the ante 1000
jjbrut: posts small blind 5000
Jovial Gent: posts big blind 10000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jjbrut: raises 14000 to 24000
Jovial Gent: raises 46000 to 70000
jjbrut: calls 46000
*** FLOP *** [Th 7s Js]
Jovial Gent: bets 75000
jjbrut: raises 703866 to 778866 and is all-in
Jovial Gent: calls 466134 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (237732) returned to jjbrut
*** TURN *** [Th 7s Js] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Th 7s Js 2s] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Jovial Gent: shows [Ac Jd] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
jjbrut: shows [Qs 8s] (a flush, Queen high)
jjbrut collected 1224268 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
262 Entrants; $181,000 prize pool
1. jjbrut $37,105
2. Jovial Gent $27,150
3. SCTrojans $20,453
4. yayaya $15,385
5. thechips55 $10,679
6. Stev0L_ $8,145
7. ryanghall $6,335
8. supfoolio $4,525
9. Ericb09 $3,168
Finishing off the first good day at PokerStars in some time was the Second Chance which easily bested its $250k Guarantee when over 1,400 players entered the latest starting tournament of the day. Taking the most of his second chance was punisher03 who took home more than $51,000 for the first big win of his career. The former Sunday500 final tablist has done quite well for himself in the midstakes scene, but this was truly the big breakthrough every poker player hopes for. The biggest name at the final table was “nordlending” who has done well in big rebuy events including a win in the $109r for $22,464 last July.
Seat 2: punisher03 (2859419 in chips)
Seat 7: sören432 (1388581 in chips)
sören432: posts small blind 25000
punisher03: posts big blind 50000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
sören432: raises 50000 to 100000
punisher03: raises 150000 to 250000
sören432: raises 1133581 to 1383581 and is all-in
punisher03: calls 1133581
*** FLOP *** [Kc 9h 5h]
*** TURN *** [Kc 9h 5h] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9h 5h Kd] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
punisher03: shows [Jc Qc] (a pair of Kings)
sören432: shows [8h Qs] (a pair of Kings – lower kicker)
punisher03 collected 2777162 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1,416 Entrants; $283,200 prize pool
1. punisher03 $51,202
2. soren432 $37,099
3. spyo78 $28,320
4. anybodybut17 $21,240
5. Civell $14,868
6. EZz_GAME $12,036
7. jumping79 $9,204
8. nordlending $6,372
9. LEOMAUR01 $3,964
With Rush Week going on at FullTilt the world’s 2nd largest poker site decided to mix things up a bit and turn the Brawl and $750k into “rush” tournaments. This means instead of your basic structure players had to follow rush rules which means switching tables after each hand is over. This certainly leads to some interesting dynamics which can make tournaments even more exciting. Unfortunately for FullTilt the response to these events was probably not what they would have liked as the Brawl barely matched its guarantee and the amped up $1,000,000 guarantee (with a $600+$40 buy-in) came about $50,000 short.
With the WSOP coming to an end there certainly were more FullTilt sponsored professionals on hand than in the past weeks. Not only were more professionals playing but the quality of pros was better as well. The brawl had some big names including Brandon Adams, Allen Cunningham, David Pham, Isaac Baron, Nordberg, and Scott Fischman. Even with nearly 30 FullTilt sponsored professionals in the event there wasn’t a red pro in the money. The biggest name at the final table was Steve “thorladen” Weinstein who won the Sunday500 in 2008 for $91,250 and has shipped the $215r twice for more than $50,000 each time. This final table was not as kind to Weinstein who busted in 8th place earning just $6,730.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,103 Entrants; $420,600 prize pool
1. cmdnst $85,781
2. MOCA CHOCA $55,519
3. demonseed14 $41,219
4. m_hawk_1 $31,124
5. RoccoGe $21,871
6. balekhablizz $14,300
7. bankfishbank $9,674
8. thorladen $6,730
9. Mrsgardener $5,047
The $750k was beefed up into the $1,000,000 guaranteed yesterday but that included the entry fee being tripled. Still, with the new rush format in play it was anyone’s game including the 30 FullTilt professionals on hand. The pros fared much better in the $1M than the Brawl as a handful made the money including Michael Craig (26th), Micael Tureniec (107th), Steve Brecher (145th), Jeff Madsen (169th), and Jon Turner (236th). A familiar face from earlier in our report made the final table. Scott Freeman, who finished 3rd in the $215r was the first to go as he busted in 9th place for $14,400. The tournament was won by Ben “kidcardiff” Warrington who has shipped the $200k in the past. The $185,000 score was the biggest of a solid career that includes more than a dozen five-figure scores.
FullTilt Sunday $1,000,000 Guaranteed
1,584 Entrants; $1,000,000 prize pool
1. kidcardiff $185,000
2. zestfulyclean $114,000
3. nickossy $75,000
4. Ralf Furley $60,000
5. Born2Winn $46,000
6. SIR_Breaker $33,000
7. Mattc1972 $24,000
8. Lie Conspiracy $18,700
9. SCTrojans08 $14,400
For one reason or another the Mulligan was not a Rush tournament but it did do quite well yesterday. In fact, with 1,388 entrants the tournament was nearly bigger than the $1M guarantee. Three professionals made it into the top-100 including Christian Kruel (82nd), Mandy B (92nd), and Scott Fischmann who busted in 73rd place. The big draw at the final table was certainly Steve “gboro780” Gross who is widely considered one of the best tournament players in the world. Gross has nearly $5,000,000 in cashes between PokerStars and FullTilt including a $275,601 win in last year’s FTOPS Event #10 and a few other deep runs in major tournaments. Eventual winner “MastaP89” took home the biggest cash of his career on a resume that includes a bunch of wins in midstakes events like the $60k guarantee.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,388 Entrants; $277,600 prize pool
1. MastaP89 $61,072
2. Big Tuna JKo $38,864
3. GjayjayG $28,107
4. gboro780 $22,555
5. donksomeoff $17,017
6. GoLeafsGoEh $12,492
7. crum23 $8,050
8. slurry55 $5,830
9. vEMSBas $4,164