A special Sunday Report this week as the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker is in full swing.  The WCOOP is a Series of events rivaling FullTilt’s FTOPS.  Because of two large buy-in events, the Sunday Million and Warm-up got a much needed week off.

The two biggest tournaments of the weekend were the PokerStars $10,000 buy-in event ($617k to the winner) and TitanPoker’s $2,500,000 guaranteed, with $500,000 going to the winner.

“Axp15”, winner of the $2.5 million guaranteed, was rumored to have won his seat through a freeroll.  That’s quite a return on an investment.  TitanPoker almost met their guarantee, falling short by just over $100,000.

 Titan $2,500,000 guaranteed
 1,596 entrants

1. axp15 – $500,000
2. JohnnyU – $260,000
3. cont454 – $185,000
4. madonnalover – $150,000
5. kingjackson1986 – $125,000
6. DrJes – $100,000
7. drrungood – $75,000
8. iamtehseer – $50,000
9. Futjul – $32,500

FullTilt’s Tournament scene was not too affected by PokerStars two huge tournaments.   The $750k Brawl and Sunday Mulligan all ran and had plenty of action.  The Brawl  saw a very familiar face at the FinalTable, red pro, Allen Cunningham.  Cunningham was the 2005 WSOP Player of the Year and owns five WSOP bracelets.  Red pros Jordan Morgain and Michael Craig also made the money. In the end, “aceboxx” was able to outlast “browndog19” for the title and over $71,000 in prize money.

FullTilt $250,000 Guaranteed “Sunday Brawl”
1,742 entrants 

1. aceboxx – $71,770
2. Browndog19 – $47,382
3. miroz – $35,188
4. bukithepro – $27,524
5. welij – $20,556
6. AllenCunningham – $14,284
7. Scarypooper5 – $8,710
8. zooongg – $5,923
9. tinpot – $4,181

The $750,000 guaranteed event had a nice shoving, surpassing it’s guarantee.  Over 3800 players vied at the chance to win the title and nearly $136,000 in prize money.  Player “UFman2” was able to “outlast” the field and take home the crown.  Saying he outlasted the field is like saying the USA “snuck by” their opponents in this year’s Olympics Basketball Tournament.  UFman2 eliminated the last five players at the final table in dominating fashion.

FullTilt $750,000 Guaranteed
3,838 entrants

1. UFman2 – $135,904
2. Antoshka – $82,133
3. yan09 – $53,732
4. blizair – $42,372
5. UtahTom – $31,779
6. smitty2217 – $23,565
7. HaCeKoMoE666 – $17,655
8. pretzychulo – $13,817
9. RAMALHO – $10,286

1,098 players looking for one last big cash participated in FullTilt’s “Sunday Mulligan”.  The $200+$16 buy-in event easily surpassed it’s $150,000 guarantee.  Taking home first and nearly $50,000 in cash was “pokerarg”.  This cash dwarfs his previous best, a $13,600 cash in Bodog’s $100k Guarantee.

FullTilt $150,000 Guaranteed “Sunday Mulligan”
1,098 entrants

1. pokerarg – $49,410
2. ckhim82 – $31,842
3. JohnyCashOut2 – $23,607
4. pattimac – $18,117
5. Frymealiver – $13,725
6. Browndog19 – $9,882
7. blizair – $6,589
8. AnotherJackAce – $4,941
9. mordan – $3,514

Before we get to PokerStars tournaments we must once again discuss Bodog’s Sunday Overlay, I mean, Sunday $100,000 guarantee tournament.   This week only 627 entrants paid the $100+$9 buy in leaving over $37,000 in overlay for the field.  Taking home first and $23,600 was “Remih”.  The most notable player at the final table was Eric “Rizen” Lynch.  Rizen has been kind enough to give FTR an interview in the past and is one of the most likable tournament players on the circuit.  He made waves earlier in the year after signing an endorsement deal with UltimateBet; however, he quickly canceled his deal after the site came under fire for an internal cheating scandal.

Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
627 entrants

1. Remih – $23,600
2. baseline21 – $13,600
3. etbf23 – $9,100
4. Xallis – $7,000
5. StickyJAHNson – $5,700 (JAHN)
6. sirnose – $4,500
7. m2y – $3,300
8. Yetti Man – $2,200 (Yetti Man)
9. Rizen – $1,300 (Rizen)

There were two big events held on Sunday on PokerStars, both WCOOP events.   Event 6, a $500+$30, 2-day event, is still being conducted today.  With 7351 entrants, the prize pool swelled to $3,675,000.  Notable online MTTPro “AJKHoosier1” and PokerStars Pro Andre “aakkari” Akkari were still in the hunt heading into day 2.  FTR regular, Mcatdog, finished 430th, taking home $1,470.  The $3,000,000 guarantee tournament pays over $450,000 to the winner while everyone making the Final Table is guaranteed at least $25,000.

It would be difficult to upstage a $3,000,000 guarantee tournament, however, leave it to PokerStars to do that to itself.  Event 7, a $10,000 buy-in tournament attracted 321 of the world’s best poker players.  In the end, high stakes MTT Pro Scott “dorinvandy” Dorin won the Championship and $617,925.  There were many big names making the final table, including legendary Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser.  Hershiser busted onto the poker scene during last year’s NBC Heads-Up Championship.  Notable high-stakes HU afficiando “Krantz” (purplEUROS on PokerStars) finished one spot ahead of Orel, in 8th.  The biggest surprise of this Sunday had to be the re-emergence of 2003 WSOP Main Event Winner Chris Moneymaker.  Playing under “Money800” on PokerStars, he placed 6th for over $139,000 in prize money.

PokerStars WCOOP Event #7, $10,000 buy-in $2,000,000 guaranteed
321 entrants

1. dorinvandy – $617,925
2. DuckU – $459,030
3. #1PEN – $337,050
4. Choron – $256,800
5. gbmantis – $179,760
6. Money800 – $139,635
7. Jcardshark – $107,535
8. purplEUROS – $75,435
9. O. Hershiser – $54,570

The PokerStars $250,000 $200+15 rebuy event was star-studded as usual at the final table.  Taking second was Phil “USCphildo” Collins.  Nearly $39,000 in winnings would typically impress most, but not Collins.  The cash was only his 6th biggest all-time online for the player ranked 6th in this years online MTT rankings.  Collins has a victory in the FullTilt Monday $1k and 3rd place finish earlier this year in an FTOPS event.  “Phwap”, a high-stakes MTT regular, finished 4th for over $22,000.  He had won the $55k and $33k guarantees on Full Tilt within the past year.  In the end, “koolkeith13”, a high-stake regular, took home first and just over $51,000.  This was his biggest online cash by over $20,000.  He has won the AbsolutePoker $100k and finished in the top-5 in a handful of big buy-in rebuy events.

PokerStars $250,000 Guarantee $200rebuy
 386 entrants

1, koolkeith13 – $51,246
2. USCphildo – $38,763
3. sketchy1 – $28,908
4. Phwap – $22,075
5. Fred_Brink – $15,111
6. DaMurdera3 – $11,826
7. thechemist83 – $9,198
8. mahoney3 – $6,570
9. GRinDer444 – $4,599