A record-breaking Sunday led to huge tournaments yesterday. It all started with FullTilt announcing their attempt to break the world-record for the biggest online poker tournament. The $5 buy-in was capped at 50,000 players, which took little time to fill. FullTilt added $250,000 to the prize-pool, meaning the winner was going to receive $45,000 on just a $5 entry!
This tournament was part of FullTilt’s “FIVE” promotion, which also included a $500,000 Sunday Brawl (up from the normal $350k Guarantee), a $250,000 Sunday Mulligan (normally $200k) and a $500+$35 $1.5M Guarantee (instead of the $200+$16, $750k Guarantee). Unfortunately FullTilt’s recent updates have made grabbing hand histories much more difficult, therefore the STR will be with out them until a certain writer can determine how to make them more viewer friendly.
PokerStars, who held the previous record, decided to steal FullTilt’s thunder by creating a $1 buy-in tournament which was capped at 65,000 players. Just like FullTilt, PokerStars doubled the prize pool, creating a $130,000 pool with $13,000 going to the winner. PokerStars also seemed to benefit from this attempt, as all five of their majors reached their guarantee for the first time in a while.
The day started with the appropriately named “Warm-Up” on PokerStars. This tournament has been crushing lately. This past Sunday was no exception as over 4,200 players created a massive $841,800 prize pool. Looking to take full advantage at the final table were some big names in online poker including Phil “USCphildo” Collins. Unfortunately for the railbirds Collins was the first player to bust at the final table, going out in 9th place for just over $6,700. While he was unable to close this major out, he hasn’t had trouble in past. With 18 $10,000+ scores to his name, including a win in the $109r, USCPhildo is considered a top-100 online tournament professional.
Heads-up play came down to “Scarer” and “leclash”, and it was quite the battle. Both players exchanged bad beats before a quite interesting final hand took place, giving leclash a winning full-house and over $132,000 in first-place money. This was by far and away both players biggest scores, as they seem to be more mid-stakes grinders. Hopefully these big cashes propel them to playing more majors!
Table ‘178354353 422’ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 5: leclash (34594566 in chips)
Seat 7: Scarer (7495434 in chips)
leclash: posts small blind 300000
Scarer: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
leclash: calls 300000
Scarer: raises 6835434 to 7435434 and is all-in
leclash: calls 6835434
*** FLOP *** [Qs 4h Jd]
*** TURN *** [Qs 4h Jd] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 4h Jd 9s] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Scarer: shows [Kh Td] (a straight, Nine to King)
leclash: shows [9d 9h] (a full house, Nines full of Fours)
leclash collected 14990868 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4209 Entrants; $841,800 prize pool
1. leclash $132,062
2. Scarer $98,070
3. starchiebear $69,449
4. bigboybunk $47,562
5. Mr.Ingenious $35,777
6. gummmmi $27,359
7. ole6 $18,941
8. Purr Of Aces $10,523
9. USCphildo $6,734
The Sunday Million continued its recent success as over 8,000 players entered in online poker’s biggest weekly event. One player at the final table, “Hanamichi23” has tasted Sunday Million success in the past, as he won the event just two months ago, taking home over $227,000. This trip to the final table would prove much more difficult, as he busted in 7th place for just over $32,000. After hanamichi busted, the final table was left wide open, with many relatively unknown players vying for the $240,810 first place check. In the end it was “danilov153” who outlasted “aprilsfool” for the championship.
PokerStars Sunday Million
8,027 Entrants; $1,605,400 prize pool
1. danilov153 $240,810
2. aprilsfool $176,594
3 .morbo1 $120,405
4 .kartalli $80,912
5. Dusnumbri $64,216
6. cardlo69 $48,162
7. Hanamichi23 $32,108
8. demistocles $18,462
9. Lenny_1964 $12,442
Flopturnriver.com’s very own Mike “mcatdog” Catlin held the chip-lead of the Sunday500 for quite some time. Catlin’s road to the title was going to be a tough one as Chris “Moorman1” Moorman was hot on his heels the entire way, as the two passed the chip lead back and forth with 2-3 tables left. Moorman, the third-ranked player in the world, has won the $109r numerous times as well as the Sunday500 last year. Heading into this final table Mike’s best score was a victory in the $109r for over $31,000. Both players withstood a few bust-outs but eventually got low on chips and were eliminated in the middle of the pack with Moorman taking 6th and Catlin taking 4th. Another great tournament player, Shannon “basebal1b” Shorr took 8th place.
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,087 Entrants; $543,500 prize pool
1. vishnu24 $92,395
2. Dardan0s $67,938
3. Schildy1984 $51,578
4. mcatdog $36,958
5. Jonesie03 $26,903
6. Moorman1 $21,468
7. SiVTEC $16,033
8. basebal1b $10,598
9. Pechorin $5,870
The Sunday Second Chance closed out a nice day of big buy-in tournaments on PokerStars. PokerStars professional Gavin Griffin made a deep run, nearly reaching the final table before busting in 13th place, earning a little over $2,000. Luke “LukeFromB13” Staudenmaier, also known as “IWEARGOGGLES”, nearly shipped another major score, coming up one spot short in second place. The $36,601.40 he earned for his runner-up finish was only the 3rd biggest score of his career, way behind a $120,000 score on FullTilt last year. Coming in first was “Dana Gordon”, a player with a lot less experience in big tournaments. Before last night his/her biggest cash on PokerStars came in a $55 re-buy for just over $12,000.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $200k Guaranteed
1,397 Entrants; $279,400 prize pool
1. Dana Gordon $50,515.52
2. LukeFromB13 $36,601.40
3. fredy-si $27,940
4. jampiriki $20,955
5. ANIMAL5050 $14,668.50
6. canplaypoker $11,874.50
7. arodss3 $9,080.50
8. loucap916 $6,286.50
9. schnizeltoe $3,911.60
With bigger guarantees due to the FIVE Promotion, FullTilt looked to finally be able to compete with PokerStars this past Sunday. The Brawl, a “knock-out” event, pays $40 to a player every time he/she eliminates a fellow competitor. This week 31 of FullTilt’s sponsored professionals played in the event including world-class players such as Allen Cunningham, Erick Lindgren, and WSOP ME Champion Huck Seed. Eric Froehlich made the deepest run of the professionals, finishing in 32nd place, earning $1,562 for his efforts.
The final table failed to produce any huge names, as heads-up play came down to “JPhil007”, an unknown player on FullTilt, and “robert07”, who seemed to have much more experience in bigger events. For once, the more seasoned player withstood the heads-up variance and took down the title and $122,520.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $500k Guaranteed
3,063 Entrants; $612,600 prize pool
1. robert07 $122,520
2. JPhil007 $78,413
3. kvikvi $58,197
4. GotURead $43,495
5. MclovinLovin $30,630
6. KingKongBH $20,216
7. fjtfro $13,477
8. Mr Blankey $9,189
9. Shorty81 $6,739
FullTilt bumped up both the buy-in and guarantee for the $750k. The $500+$35 entry fee attracted 3,315 entries, creating a $1,657,500 prize pool, the biggest of the day. 50 of FullTilt’s Red Pros played in the tournament, including some online greats like Isaac “Menlo” Baron, Andrew “Muddywater” Wiggins, and Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby. Paul Wasicka, best known for finishing 2nd to Jamie Gold in the WSOP Main Event made the deepest run, busting in 51st for just over $3,000.
A few well-known players made the final table including “TheMasterJ33” and “ags104”, two players with multiple $20,000+ scores to their names. Unfortunately neither player was able to mount a final table rush and they both busted early. Heads-up came down to two players who, before yesterday, did not have a registered $10,000 score to their name. That was all about to change as 2nd place in this week’s event guaranteed a player over $180,000. Taking full advantage of this opportunity was “PahrRK” who took down “blarkin” for the title and over $296,000.
FullTilt Sunday $1.5M Guaranteed
3,315 Entrants; $1,657,500 prize pool
1. PAhrRK $296,775
2. blarkin $180,668
3. HellaStacks_ $117,683
4. sweepybreedy $91,991
5. philbort $68,786
6. TheMasterJ33 $50,885
7. uRuGwa1 $38,123
8. ags104 $29,835
9. BiGiTaLDeMoN $22,211
The final event of the day was the robusto Sunday Mulligan, its guarantee being raised $50,000 for the FIVE Promo. The tournament easily crushed the bigger guarantee, with 1,731 entrants creating a prize pool of nearly $350,000. This Sunday was a great day for FullTilt and hopefully a sign of things to come as online tournaments look to rebound from the WSOP. Only 16 FullTilt Pros played the Mulligan, including Jeff Madsen, Kelly Kim, and Scott Fischman.
Top-50 ranked “imhidonks” made the final table, eventually busting in 4th place for over $28,000. This score happened to be the biggest of his career, which is surprising for such a highly ranked professional. It seems he is quite the grinder with 12 other $10,000+ scores including multiple wins in $100+ buy-in events on PokerStars and FullTilt. Taking home the title was “taliban2”, a player who had very little success on FullTilt before last night. In fact, his biggest registered score was just under $3,000! Needless to say this win should catapult him to bigger and better things on FullTilt.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $250k Guaranteed
1,731 Entrants; $346,200 prize pool
1. taliban2 $74,433
2. Mezosius $48,468
3. jackson18249 $35,053
4. inhidonks $28,129
5. B1indGranny $21,222
6. Xenomystus $15,579
7. bigjuicy1 $10,040
8. bonafidefonkey $7,270
9. Harald68 $5,148
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