It was another strong weekend for online poker tournaments as Sunday major attendance was up across the board. Sites like Party Poker, Titan, and the Merge Network continue to grow as more and more players return to online poker.   The past month has been a strong one for online poker as players have returned from the 2011 WSOP ready and rearing to go.  With the 2011 World Championship of Online Poker just a few weeks away, it seems nothing can really slow down internet poker at this point.

The first events of the day tend to start on the European-based sites.  Lately, the two biggest events outside of PokerStars have been the $200k guarantees on Party Poker and the iPoker Network. Both tournaments have been able to streak past their guarantees recently, a great sign going forward for the overall health of internet poker.  The Party Poker $200k saw a big boost last month from their “no-fee” promotion that boosted both attendance and the prize pool of their biggest weekly event.  However, things are back to normal fee-wise, but the tournament has still been able to maintain its momentum.  This past weekend more than 1,200 players showed up creating a nice $248,800 prize pool.  The $200k has been hovering around the quarter-million mark for some time now. It will be interesting to see if Party decides to bump the guarantee and steal some publicity from the iPoker $200k.

The tournament itself had a strong final table with a few big names making an appearance.  Rhys “floppinhel” Jones made a deep run before falling in 5th place for a $11,818 score.  The five-figure cash was the third of his career and fell just short of his best, a $12,171 win in the $40k on PokerStars last January.  Kevin “parksy1066” Parkes finished a few spots worse in 7th place for $7,091.  The four-figure cash does not even come close to cracking his top-10 scores on a resume that includes a 3rd in the Sunday500, 4th in the $1K Monday, and 2nd in this very event back when it was the $300k.  Eventual winner “untaktik” is no slouch himself.  The high-stakes grinder took home $52,248 for his victory, the biggest score of his career.  Previously, he nearly won the $150k on FullTilt and has taken down the Nightly $100k as well as the $109r on PokerStars.  He has more than a handful of five-figure scores to his name.

Party Poker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,244 Entrants; $248,800 prize pool

1. untaktik $52,248
2. JoelDodds -$29,856
3. larseda$18,038
4. PROSpain $14,306
5. floppinhel $11,818
6. gp18089 $9,330
7. parksy1066 $7,091
8. Priitb $4,727
9. Marc4444888 $3,608
10. mrdamse $2,488

For one reason or another, the iPoker’s Sunday $200k cannot seem to catch up to the Party Poker $200k.  It is an interesting study as iPoker tends to have as much, if not more traffic, than Party Poker on a daily basis.  However, perhaps a promotion, more satellites, or a better VIP system could lead to more Sunday attendance. More than 200 more players entered the Party $200k than the same event on the iPoker Network yesterday. While that may not seem like a lot, it is nearly a 20% difference in both attendance and prize pool.  The different in first place prizes is also apparent as the winner of the Party $200k took home $9,000 more than “SSD888” who won the iPoker $200k yesterday.  He was able to take down a relatively weak final table that was devoid of any big names really.

Titan Poker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,026 Entrants; $205,200 prize pool

1. SSD888 $43,092
2. tl9o0 $22,572
3. heellloooooo $16,416
4. c0eus $12,312
5. nomoredj $10,260
6. FinchyPinchy $8,208
7. FoxSh $6,156
8. seven7777777s $4,104
9. DOLLYDROP1 $2,873
10. pocketquad $2,052

One tournament that cannot seem to gain enough traction to surpass its guarantee is the $109, $100,000 guaranteed on the Merge Network. This “new” Sunday major was bolstered from a $50,000 guarantee back in April when American players were forced away from PokerStars, FullTilt, and the CEREUS Network.  However, the boost in traffic has not necessarily led to great tournament attendance.  The event has yet to surpass its guarantee and each week forces the Merge Network to fork out anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 to cover the lack of entries.  Yesterday was no exception as Merge had to dig deep into its own pockets and payout $7,600 in overlay. This added value was welcomed by those in the event including the winner “a4typer”.  This was the second by win for a4typer lately, as last month he took down the $44 cubed $12,500 guaranteed for a nice $3,750 payday.  Coming in second place was “1GreedyGremlin” who took down $12,000, easily the biggest score of his short career on the Merge Network.

Merge Poker Sunday $100k Guaranteed
924 Entrants; $100,000 prize pool

1. a4typer $20,000
2. 1GreedyGremlin $12,000
3. DADuhWEEwah $6,500
4. caps323 $5,000
5. Scrantos $4,250
6. PeanutButterAndJAM $3,500
7. LAZ3RTURK3N $2,750
8. MuckFaster $2,250
9. kvyll111 $1,750

While the three events above continue to grow, they are still miles away from the tournament schedule PokerStars puts out each and every weekend.  On top of that, PokerStars does not seem satisfied one bit with their recent success. The world’s largest online poker site has been looking for ways to get more players and their Women’s League seems to have done the trick. Their weekly Women’s Sunday event was actually won by PokerStars pro Liv Boeree this past weekend for nearly $2,000. The event places a $50 bounty on female PokerStars Pros heads, but with Boeree winning only one bounty was paid out this week!

While the Women’s Sunday is in its infancy, the other PokerStars majors are stalwarts of the online poker tournament scene.  Kicking things off is the $500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up. What has now become the second biggest weekly event in all of internet poker, the Warm-Up is a $200+$15 event that starts bright and early each Sunday. More than 3,300 players got up, had their coffee, and ponied up the $215 entry fee for their chance at a six-figure payday.  In in end, the title went to “marcotorino”, a player who had not seen this success in the past.  Before yesterday, he had managed dto win just two other “big” events, a $55 buy-in for $12,600 and the $109r for $8,200.  Runner-up “Astor626” had to settle for a $78,413 payday, also the biggest score of his career. Much like his opponent, Astor626 had seen some success in midstakes events but this was truly the first big score of his career as well.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $500k Guaranteed
3,351 Entrants; $670,200 prize pool

1. marcotorino $105,222
2. Astor626 $78,413
3. RoyalSalute $55,292
4. TheZQ $38,537
5. treezer $28,484
6. PedroKL $21,782
7. pokerwille $15,080
8. John_Fishboy $8,378
9. extasyman $5,362

The big daddy of them all, the PokerStars Sunday Million, continues to grow towards its pre-Black Friday status. The world’s biggest weekly online event attracted more than 6,500 players yesterday, creating a $1,305,000 prize pool in the process.  With a $200,000 first place prize on the line, the battle at the final table was a spirited one.  However, with just three players left, the final trio balked and decided upon a chip-chop.  The deal, which left $20,000 on the table, guaranteed all three players at least $129,397.  Taking that amount was third-place finisher “Robban_F” who earned a career-best score.  Previously, the mid-stakes grinder had only managed one other five-figure score, a $16,706 cash for finishing second in a $109 back in 2008.  Runner-up Dan “dan82mur” Murariu actually had the chiplead at the time of the chop but ended up losing the battle and had to “settle” for a $156,429 score.  The well-known high-stakes professional has nearly a million dollars in lifetime cashes including a win in the $120k on FullTilt earlier this year.   Murariu’s loss was “DaGoddfather’s” gain, as he earned himself $163,878 for winning the PokerStars Sunday Million. This life-changing score was easily the biggest of his career, besting a paltry by comparison cash of $7,099 all the way back in 2007 in a $162 event.

PokerStars Sunday Million $1M Guaranteed
6,525 Entrants; $1,305,000 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. DaGoddfather $163,878
2. dan82mur $156,429
3. Robban_F $129,397
4. Runninggreat $71,775
5. ziNgZang10 $54,810
6. DonPiPo88 $41,760
7. miguel18 $28,710
8. mezzajm123 $15,660
9. ilbewaiting $10,114

Finishing things off on Sunday was the $250,000 Sunday500 on PokerStars. The $500+$30 buy-in event tends to attract the best tournament players in the world.  Before Black Friday, the Sunday500 had a half-million dollar guarantee and typically hosted 1,000-1,000 players. Lately, the tournament has been creeping back to that point, and should come close to hitting it during the running of the 2011 WCOOP.  As more American grinders move to Canada, allowing them to play on PokerStars, events like the Sudnay500 will grow back to previous levels. It is only a matter of time until PokerStars is back operating at levels much similar to their pre-April 15th numbers. This week’s Sunday500 was a bit anti-climatic as the final three players decided to chop up the remaining $166,000 in the prize pool based on chip counts. Taking home the biggest piece of the pie was David “davidv1213” Vamplew who earned $62,144 for his win. This was Vamplew’s biggest win, besting a $42,562 cash in MiniFTOPS #40 earlier this year. Runner-up Mike “Pipedream17” Dietrich is a Canadian-based professional who has won the Sunday Mulligan, Sunday500, and FTP $200k in the past. His $54,047 cash yesterday ranks as the 4th biggest score of his illustrious online career.

PokerStars Sunday500 $250k Guaranteed
816 Entrants; $408,000 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. davidv1213 $62,144
2. Pipedream17 $54,047
3. RonaldKosh $49,865
4. PaccMR28 $29,580
5. GuitosBR $20,563
6. BetrThanPhil $16,483
7. MVPAT $12,403
8. donkmeh $8,364
9. camikater $5,100

Be sure to stay tuned to FlopTurnRiver next month as week bring you full three-week coverage of the 2011 World Championship of Online Poker.