Online tournaments have been up and down lately but with the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker just a week away there were plenty of players on hand yesterday shaking off the rust in preparation for the biggest series of the year. For daily updates on the biggest WCOOP IX events be sure to check out the FlopTurnRiver News Section. We will be covering the majority of the 60+ events as well as select events from FullTilt’s MiniFTOPS which runs at the same time.
Before WCOOP starts there was one Sunday left with the regular major schedule. A couple tournaments failed to reach their guarantees yesterday including the $750k on FullTilt which has seriously struggled since the 2010 WSOP and FTOPS XVII completed. Other than the $750k on FullTilt and $500k on Stars all other tournaments actually saw a bit of a bump in attendance which is certainly a bit of a head-scratcher. The $750k PokerStars Warm-Up continues to get each and every Sunday off on the right foot as more than 4,200 competitors created a massive $847,200 prize pool. As the 2nd biggest tournament each Sunday the Warm-Up has put to rest the idea that earlier starting events cannot generate big fields.
With more than $132,000 on the line for first place, there was a final table full of hungry competitors looking to make a break-through type of score. The tournament ultimately came down to “Don Pedro07” and Michael “ShiFtYFiNGeR” Guzzardi in a battle of relatively unknown competitors. Guzzardi appeared to have a bit of an experience edge having won a $500 PLO event in 2008 for $13,975. He put that previous win to good use late Sunday afternoon has he was able to get all of his money in way ahead and eventually found himself holding quads and the title of Sunday Warm-Up Champion. Don Perdo07 took home $98,699 for his runner-up finish, easily the best score of his career.
Seat 5: ShiFtYFiNGeR (27482009 in chips)
Seat 6: Don Pedro07 (14877991 in chips)
ShiFtYFiNGeR: posts small blind 250000
Don Pedro07: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
ShiFtYFiNGeR: raises 500000 to 1000000
Don Pedro07: calls 500000
*** FLOP *** [4d 3h 4s]
Don Pedro07: bets 13827991 and is all-in
ShiFtYFiNGeR: calls 13827991
*** TURN *** [4d 3h 4s] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [4d 3h 4s 4h] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Don Pedro07: shows [3d 5h] (a full house, Fours full of Threes)
ShiFtYFiNGeR: shows [5s 4c] (four of a kind, Fours)
ShiFtYFiNGeR collected 29755982 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,236 Entrants; $847,200 prize pool
1. ShiFtYFiNGeR $132,911
2. Don Pedro07 $98,699
3. citrusjim $69,894
4. Mexitexi $47,867
5. sabbsezero $36,006
6. melous $27,534
7. badgergav $19,062
8. Erasmus $10,590
9. lausfloh $6,778
The Sunday Million had a few familiar faces reach its final table yesterday including a former WCOOP Champion, “Randers”, who ultimately fell in 5th place for $65,520. The high-stakes MTT professional took home $73,603 for that WCOOP win and has also shipped the $109r multiple times throughout his career. Matt “smsuwrestler” Williams fared a bit worse than Randers as he was busted in 7th place for nearly $33,000. The solid tournament professional has a bunch of nice scores on his resume including a near miss in FTOPS XVII Event #26 just two weeks ago where he took home $60,705 for a second place finish. The final table went by rather quickly before “Peetoon” and “FightnIrishh” decided to chop leaving $30,000 on the table for a winner-take-all heads-up SNG. Peetoon would quickly finish off his foe earning himself more than $232,00 in the process. Below are the final-table stacks, bust-out hands, and chop-adjusted pay-outs:
Seat 1: CON28 (2559272 in chips)
Seat 2: Randers (9333528 in chips)
Seat 3: Bad Habbitz (2879881 in chips)
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (21578690 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (7058750 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (22316649 in chips)
Seat 7: jsonelin (2333773 in chips)
Seat 8: trionojnika (9267777 in chips)
Seat 9: smsuwrestler (4571680 in chips)
Seat 1: CON28 (2444272 in chips)
Seat 2: Randers (9218528 in chips)
Seat 3: Bad Habbitz (2664881 in chips)
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (25688690 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (6618750 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (14790537 in chips)
Seat 7: jsonelin (1843773 in chips)
Seat 8: trionojnika (14173889 in chips)
Seat 9: smsuwrestler (4456680 in chips)
trionojnika: posts small blind 125000
smsuwrestler: posts big blind 250000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
CON28: raises 2169272 to 2419272 and is all-in
Randers: folds
Bad Habbitz: folds
FightnIrishh: folds
RedIceRap: folds
Peetoon: folds
jsonelin: folds
trionojnika: raises 2330728 to 4750000
smsuwrestler: folds
Uncalled bet (2330728) returned to trionojnika
*** FLOP *** [Tc 8d 8h]
*** TURN *** [Tc 8d 8h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 8d 8h Ts] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
trionojnika: shows [Ah Ac] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
CON28: shows [4h 4s] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
trionojnika collected 5313544 from pot
Seat 2: Randers (8343528 in chips)
Seat 3: Bad Habbitz (4529762 in chips)
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (23783135 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (8124305 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (19498870 in chips)
Seat 7: jsonelin (1218773 in chips)
Seat 8: trionojnika (13184828 in chips)
Seat 9: smsuwrestler (3216799 in chips)
Randers: posts small blind 125000
Bad Habbitz: posts big blind 250000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
FightnIrishh: folds
RedIceRap: folds
Peetoon: folds
jsonelin: raises 943773 to 1193773 and is all-in
trionojnika: folds
smsuwrestler: folds
Randers: raises 5000000 to 6193773
Bad Habbitz: folds
Uncalled bet (5000000) returned to Randers
*** FLOP *** [2s 7d 9h]
*** TURN *** [2s 7d 9h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [2s 7d 9h 6s] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Randers: shows [Ah 4c] (a pair of Aces)
jsonelin: shows [Kd 2c] (a pair of Deuces)
Randers collected 2837546 from pot
Seat 2: Randers (7957302 in chips)
Seat 3: Bad Habbitz (2774762 in chips)
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (26148133 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (7529305 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (14918871 in chips)
Seat 8: trionojnika (20049828 in chips)
Seat 9: smsuwrestler (2521799 in chips)
trionojnika: posts small blind 150000
smsuwrestler: posts big blind 300000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Randers: folds
Bad Habbitz: raises 2444762 to 2744762 and is all-in
FightnIrishh: folds
RedIceRap: folds
Peetoon: folds
trionojnika: folds
smsuwrestler: calls 2191799 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (252963) returned to Bad Habbitz
*** FLOP *** [9c 9d 4h]
*** TURN *** [9c 9d 4h] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [9c 9d 4h 8s] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
smsuwrestler: shows [Js Ad] (a pair of Nines)
Bad Habbitz: shows [Qh Qd] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
Bad Habbitz collected 5343598 from pot
Seat 2: Randers (8377302 in chips)
Seat 3: Bad Habbitz (4696561 in chips)
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (22488134 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (13496959 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (19561216 in chips)
Seat 8: trionojnika (13279828 in chips)
RedIceRap: posts small blind 200000
Peetoon: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
trionojnika: folds
Randers: raises 469999 to 869999
Bad Habbitz: raises 3786562 to 4656561 and is all-in
FightnIrishh: folds
RedIceRap: folds
Peetoon: folds
Randers: calls 3786562
*** FLOP *** [7h Kc 6h]
*** TURN *** [7h Kc 6h] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [7h Kc 6h Qh] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Randers: shows [Ad Kh] (a flush, King high)
Bad Habbitz: shows [Kd Qd] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
Randers collected 10153122 from pot
Seat 2: Randers (13113863 in chips)
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (23828134 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (13136959 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (20901216 in chips)
Seat 8: trionojnika (10919828 in chips)
FightnIrishh: posts small blind 200000
RedIceRap: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Peetoon: folds
trionojnika: raises 400000 to 800000
Randers: raises 1249999 to 2049999
FightnIrishh: folds
RedIceRap: raises 2739790 to 4789789
trionojnika: folds
Randers: raises 8284074 to 13073863 and is all-in
RedIceRap: calls 8284074
*** FLOP *** [2s 2h 3s]
*** TURN *** [2s 2h 3s] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [2s 2h 3s Ac] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RedIceRap: shows [Ad Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Deuces)
Randers: shows [Kc As] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
Randers is sitting out
RedIceRap collected 27347726 from pot
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (16353928 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (16528361 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (39557883 in chips)
Seat 8: trionojnika (9459828 in chips)
trionojnika: posts small blind 200000
FightnIrishh: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
RedIceRap: folds
Peetoon: raises 500000 to 900000
trionojnika: raises 8519828 to 9419828 and is all-in
FightnIrishh: calls 9019828
Peetoon: folds
*** FLOP *** [6d 2s 2d]
*** TURN *** [6d 2s 2d] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [6d 2s 2d Tc] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
trionojnika: shows [Ah 4s] (a pair of Deuces)
FightnIrishh: shows [Ad Jh] (a pair of Deuces – Ace+Jack kicker)
FightnIrishh collected 19899656 from pot
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (31353756 in chips)
Seat 5: RedIceRap (6742116 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (43804128 in chips)
FightnIrishh: posts small blind 250000
RedIceRap: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Peetoon: raises 1000000 to 1500000
FightnIrishh: folds
RedIceRap: raises 5192116 to 6692116 and is all-in
Peetoon: calls 5192116
*** FLOP *** [8d Js 5d]
*** TURN *** [8d Js 5d] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [8d Js 5d 6s] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RedIceRap: shows [Qh Ac] (high card Ace)
Peetoon: shows [Ks 7s] (a pair of Kings)
Peetoon collected 13784232 from pot
Seat 4: FightnIrishh (14453756 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (67446244 in chips)
Peetoon: posts small blind 250000
FightnIrishh: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Peetoon: raises 1000000 to 1500000
FightnIrishh: calls 1000000
*** FLOP *** [Js Ad 3h]
FightnIrishh: bets 12903756 and is all-in
Peetoon: calls 12903756
*** TURN *** [Js Ad 3h] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Js Ad 3h Kh] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FightnIrishh: shows [4h 3s] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)
Peetoon: shows [Ah 9s] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
Peetoon collected 28907512 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,190 Entrants; $1,638,000 prize pool
*2-way chop
1. Peetoon $232,362
2. FightnIrishh $193,518
3. RedIceRap $122,850
4. trionojnika $82,555
5. Randers $65,520
6. Bad Habbitz $49,140
7. smsuwrestler $32,760
8. jsonelin $18,837
9. CON28 $12,695
The Sunday500 on PokerStars barely missed reaching its $500,000 guarantee yesterday as just 991 players entered the $500+$30 event. Even with the smaller field there were plenty of world-class players on hand vying for an $87,400 first-place prize and the prestige of battling through such a tough group of competitors. Well known poker professional Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka was at the final table yesterday but busted relatively early in 7th place. The uber-aggressive tournament pro has seen great success in both live and online poker having made a name for himself earlier this year on ESPN poker broadcasts. Online he has a few nice wins to his name including victories in the Monday $1k, Super Tuesday, Second Chance, and the $109 re-buy. Joining Jaka at the final table was “brianm15” who is both a tournament and cash game professional and is best known for shipping the Warm-Up last year for $138,431.
The tournament title was claimed by Dylan “Pokerl)evil” Hortin, a highly-ranked MTT pro who has made many big final tables in the past but had yet to breakthrough. That all changed late last night as he took down “degord2” for the title and a nice payday. The $87,400 cash eclipsed his previous biggest score, a $68,434 pay-out for his runner-up finish in the $109r earlier this year. He also nearly won the Sunday Brawl this May taking 3rd for $49,062 and shipped a UBOC HORSE event in January for $16,714.
Seat 2: degord2 (950342 in chips)
Seat 5: Pokerl)eviL (8959658 in chips)
Pokerl)eviL: posts small blind 30000
degord2: posts big blind 60000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Pokerl)eviL: raises 60000 to 120000
degord2: raises 824342 to 944342 and is all-in
Pokerl)eviL: calls 824342
*** FLOP *** [5s Ah 5h]
*** TURN *** [5s Ah 5h] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [5s Ah 5h 3d] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
degord2: shows [Jd Jh] (two pair, Jacks and Fives)
Pokerl)eviL: shows [6s As] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
Pokerl)eviL collected 1900684 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
991 Entrants; $500,000 prize pool
1. Pokerl)eviL $87,400
2. degord2 $63,500
3. brianm15 $47,500
4. jeff710 $35,500
5. Cairns1987 $25,000
6. VerySexual $20,000
7. The-Toilet 0 $15,000
8. magom1968 $10,000
9. tkl3888 $5,750
A PokerStars professional made an appearance at the final table of the Sunday $215r yesterday. While PokerStars has more than 50 pros, this one was special – 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Joe “jcada99” Cada. While he will never be able to surpass his live winnings, his online resume is quite strong in its own right. He won the $750k Guarantee on FullTilt in 2008 for $147,487 and just 8 months later shipped the Sunday Mulligan for $49,590. Cada also won the WCOOP 2nd Chance $1,050 NL Hold’em for $128,872 last September before winning the ME just two months later. Cada found himself at a final table with a few other well known poker professionals including Adam “Roothlus” Levy and David “WhooooKidd” Baker. Both players gave it a good run but where eliminated in 5th and 4th place respectively.
Heads-up play came down to Cada and “aaajack”, a competitor who found his name was on our report for finishing 2nd in this very event in May. Unfortunately for aaajack history would actually repeat itself as he was unable to take down the PokerStars professional and had to settle for 2nd place and a nice $27,404 payday. Cada shipped another major poker tournament and walked away with $38,012 for a hard day’s work.
Seat 1: jcada99 (1123653 in chips)
Seat 8: aaajack (303847 in chips)
jcada99: posts small blind 8000
aaajack: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jcada99: raises 16000 to 32000
aaajack: raises 270247 to 302247 and is all-in
jcada99: calls 270247
*** FLOP *** [6d Ah 4s]
*** TURN *** [6d Ah 4s] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [6d Ah 4s Qc] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
aaajack: shows [Qh Js] (a pair of Queens)
jcada99: shows [As 3d] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
jcada99 collected 607694 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
236 Entrants; $176,800 prize pool
1. jcada99 $38,012
2. aaajack $27,404
3. paulgees81 $20,774
4. WhooooKidd $15,470
5. Roothlus $10,608
6. ahmadi15 $8,840
7. dpeters17 $7,072
8. cal42688 $5,304
9. EZz_GAME $3,536
The last major of the day on PokerStars ended a bit early yesterday as the final three players decided to chop the remaining prize pool. A player not in the chip-chop mix was 7th place finisher Matt “mlagoo” LaGarde who is no stranger to the STR having won the Sunday $500k in the past as well as making numerous major final tables. The well known poker professional’s biggest claim is a 2007 Sunday Million win for $315,517 in a souped-up $1,050 version of the weekend’s biggest event. With the air let out of the final table after the chop the tournament took just two hands to finish. The title would go to “Mateywin” but the biggest piece of the chip-chop pie went to “runner-up” Duffman08 who earned himself $43,053 in what was the 2nd time he has finished as the big winner in the Sunday Second Chance. He also has a Sunday Million final appearance on his resume that includes a handful of $20,000+ scores.
Seat 6: Mateywin (2791000 in chips)
Seat 7: Duffman08 (1724000 in chips)
Mateywin: posts small blind 20000
Duffman08: posts big blind 40000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Mateywin: raises 2747000 to 2787000 and is all-in
Duffman08: calls 1680000 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1067000) returned to Mateywin
*** FLOP *** [2c 5d Tc]
*** TURN *** [2c 5d Tc] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [2c 5d Tc 3d] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Duffman08: shows [Ad 8h] (high card Ace)
Mateywin: shows [Ac As] (a pair of Aces)
Mateywin collected 3448000 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1,505 Entrants; $301,000 prize pool
*3-way chop
1. Mateywin $40,537
2. Duffman08 $43,053
3. bluechip2000 $40,090
4. N1lmar $22,575
5. jersey716 $15,802
6. PkerThun $12,792
7. mlagoo $9,782
8. Pyjamarse $6,772
9. hg18l7 $4,214
While the most interesting action on FullTilt lately has been the Durrrr Challenge, the Sunday tournaments caused everyone to flip over to the tournament tab for big guaranteed events and the chance to play with FullTilt professionals. There were plenty of red pros on hand in the Sunday Brawl including a former WSOP player of the year in Allen Cunningham and high-stakes cash game pro Brandon Adams. All in all nearly 25 of FullTilt’s finest ponied up the $240+$16 buy-in fee and just one, David “the Dragon” Pham was able to make the money. Without any FullTilt pros at the final table it was smooth sailing for “planetearf” who already had won the Sunday500 on PokerStars as well as the $200k Guaranteed on FullTilt in the past two years. His $105,302 win in the Brawl ranks as the biggest score of his career to this point.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,587 Entrants; $517,400 prize pool
1. planetearf $105,032
2. psfishfat $67,779
3. HighLikeMike $50,188
4. matyr3al $37,770
5. elitewrestla $26,387
6. hunyuk65 $17,592
7. blanks plz $11,900
8. cod meharly $8,278
9. ash4simone $6,209
The biggest event of the day on FullTilt continues to get smaller. For some reason the $750,000 guaranteed cannot reach the necessary 3,750 players to meet its guarantee which forces FullTilt to pay-out “overlay”. This week only 3,443 players entered the $200+$16 event causing FullTilt to take $61,400 out of their own pockets to boost the prize pool. An already smaller first-place check got even smaller yesterday once the final three players decided top chop guaranteeing no one would walk away with a six-figure score in the biggest event of the week on FullTilt. Steve “McNallyville” McNally earned just over $98,000 after chopping which was the biggest piece of the pie despite earning the 2nd place nod. This big score surpasses his previous best, a win in the Super Tuesday on PokerStars for $57,150 back in 2008.
A few FullTilt professionals made deep runs in the $750k yet none were able to crack the top-100 as David Pham finished in 154th and Deigo Cordovez took 129th. Other well known players on hand included Isaac “Menlo” Baron, Jeff Madsen, and Chip Jett.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
3,443 Entrants; $750,000 prize pool
*3-way chop
1. pojai $90,811
2. McNallyville $98,471
3. Capped1 $76,255
4. RealJobs_LOL $41,400
5. 1EyedPegLeg $31,050
6. Shorty81 $23,025
7. AnalFetto $17,250
8. Mawrich $13,500
9. Gbdank $10,050
Rounding out the trio of Sunday majors on FullTilt was the appropriately named Sunday Mulligan which carries a $200,000 guarantee. With nearly 1,300 players on hand in the day’s final, even the prize pool swelled to over $258,000! Peter “Nordberg” Feldman was the only FullTilt professional of the day to crack the top-100 in a major as he squeaked in at 98th place. Feldman was joined by more than a dozen FullTilt pros in the Mulligan including Leandro Brasa, Aaron Bartley, and Damian Salas. The tournament came down to “TheBrain” and “SavePlut09” as the two battled it out for more than a $20,000 difference between first and second place. Both players are highly-ranked tournament professionals who have each won big events in the past. SavePlut09 seems to crush the high-stakes weekly events on Stars having won the Nightly $100k for $23,479 this past April. However, TheBrain seems to have had a big edge in majors having won the $1k Monday, FTOPS Event #23 in 2008, and finished 3rd in the Brawl last year. All of his Sunday experience finally paid off late last night as he took down the Mulligan and earned himself $56,936 for his efforts.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,294 Entrants; $258,800 prize pool
1. TheBrain $56,936
2. SavePluto9 $36,232
3. ICALL4EVER $26,204
4. ALEE24 $21,028
5. SLYEYES35 $15,864
6. AmplifiedSample $11,646
7. ReaverMicro $7,505
8. LucyWhyte $5,435
9. Endomatic $3,882