The Sunday Tournament Report took the Labor Day holiday off, but we are back today with a recap of all the major happenings from the past weekend in online poker. The 2011 World Championship of Online Poker kicked off, and with it, a renewed interest in internet tournaments. While most assume just PokerStars benefits from the running of a major series, it is actually all of online poker. With more players depositing funds on Stars, they are also enticed to multi-table, doing so in the $200k on Titan and Party Poker. Both European-based sites saw a small boost in their weekend majors, and more might be around the corner.
Party Poker’s Sunday $200,000 guaranteed was able to surpass the quarter-million prize pool mark as 1,277 players entered the $200+$15 event. The tournament had been slacking the last few weeks, but with more players online due to the 2011 WCOOP, the Sunday $200k was rejuvenated just a bit. Still, the tournament is ways away from its $300,000 guarantee of past days, and while it is solidly Europe’s #1 event each week, it needs a lot more players to keep up with PokerStars’ majors. The $200k was won by “borromias” who took home more than $45,000 for his efforts. This was the biggest win on a resume that included some nice scores such as a $19,541 cash for a 5th place finish in MiniFTOPS Event #23 earlier this year. He also won the $3 re-buy on Stars back in January that paid out more than $16,000! Runner-up “Maharet” had to settle for a $38,572, a remarkable score for a player who appears to have not played on Party Poker at all recently.
Party Poker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,277 Entrants; $255,400 prize pool
1. borromias $45,710
2. Maharet $38,572
3. BetAndLooz $18,517
4. TomasGeorge $14,686
5. mwapemitiob $12,132
6. DinRin $9,578
7. extremistan $7,279
8. Proud2BadOnk $4,853
9. pktsebens $3,703
10. actyper $2,554
The Titan Poker $200k still cannot seem to catch up with the Party $200k. Even though its backed by all of the iPoker skins, the $200,000 guaranteed still struggles to reach 1,000 entrants. This past weekend the tournament found a little more breathing room, as nearly 1,100 players ponied up the $200+$15 buy-in fee. There were some strong players at the final table, as 10 players were left to battle it out for a $45,906 first-place prize. Fifth-place finisher James “pillow100” Marlow didn’t quite hit the big prize, but he did take home nearly $11,000 for his efforts. Eventual winner Aleh “oleg12345” Plauski was more fortunate, although this win just barely cracked his top-10 scores of all time. Plauski, who mainly plays high-stakes MTTs, has won an ECOOP event for $114,975m, the $109r for $61,143, and finished 3rd in the $1k Monday Million earlier this year for $118,793. Overall, he has nearly $2,000,000 in cashes spread across sites like Titan, Absolute, PokerStars, and FullTilt.
Titan iPoker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,093 Entrants; $218,600 prize pool
1. oleg12345 $45,906
2. xxmikzz1 $24,046
3. saab3000 $17,488
4. thxu4p1zz4 $13,116
5. pillow100 $10,930
6. stentaxxiAA $8,744
7. de power $6,558
8. mpetoxeros $4,372
9. zonggg $3,060
10. ainaziz $2,186
One tournament which cannot pick up any steam no matter the circumstances is the Merge Sunday $100k. Home to sites like Carbon, RPM, and Lock Poker, the Merge Network is the largest poker site still accepting American poker players. Unfortunately, amidst all the turmoil with the US government, the Merge Network has not exploded like many thought it would. Their biggest weekly event, the $100+$9 Sunday $100k, is certainly proof of that. This past weekend just 854 players entered the event, down from the 900-915 range of the past few months. With almost $15,000 in overlay, there was plenty of added value for those brave enough to carry the torch for American online poker. One player fully rewarded for his courage under fire was “Jsims3”, an American player who earned $20,000 for taking down the $100k crown. This was the biggest score of his short career on the Merge Network, having won a freeroll satellite to get into the $100k on Saturday. That makes back to back weeks where a player has won a seat in the “100 Seats to the $100k Freeroll” and gone on to win the event. Runner-up “red4novak365” entered the more conventional way, and was right to do so. His $12,000 score was also the biggest cash of his career on the Merge Network, besting a win in the $3k Guaranteed for $941 back in May.
Merge Poker Sunday $100k Guaranteed
854 Entrants; $100,000 prize pool
1. Jsims3 $20,000
2. red4novak365 $12,000
3. neches $6,500
4. s2ckersch1cker $5,000
5. pokercharlie7 $4,250
6. benza139 $3,500
7. JusticeDept $2,750
8. AuntJulie143 $2,250
9. StepnRazor $1,750
The 2011 World Championship of Online Poker kicked off with a bang yesterday. Three events, all with more than $1,250,000 in guarantees, were underway as PokerStars once again announced its presence as the world’s best online poker site. The first event was covered by the FlopTurnRiver news staff, leaving the STR to cover events 2 and 3. Event #2 was a High-Roller tournament. The $10,000+$300 buy-in championship carried a $1,500,000 guarantee that was easily bested as exactly 200 players entered the event. As one might expect from such a lofty buy-in, the tournament was packed with big names from around the online poker world. High-stakes cash game professional Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese made the final table, but was quickly ousted in 9th place. Marchese, who has crushed both cash games and tournaments for some time now, earned $40,000 for his near miss. Finishing a few spots better was Tobias “PokerNoob999″ Reinkemeier who hit a $100k score for his 6th place finish. This was just one of a few six-figure scores for the high-stakes player hailing from the UK. Reinkemeier had already won a SCOOP event in 2009 for $168,750 as well as the Sunday Million for $156,430 earlier this year. Eventual winner Ash DYBYDX” Mason was the biggest winner from this past Sunday, earning $430,000 for his win in the WCOOP Event #2. The enormous sum was the biggest score of his career, besting a 2nd place finish for $178,948 in the Sunday Million this past February. Ash also won the Sunday Mulligan in January and has shipped many other mid-to-high stakes events in the past.
PokerStars 2011 WCOOP Event #2 $1.5M Guaranteed
200 Entrants; $2,000,000 prize pool
1. DYBYDX $430,000
2. xraypies $310,000
3. ImaLuckSac $235,000
4. Skilled G $175,000
5. roi kin23 $120,000
6. PokerNoob999 $100,000
7. MatchBalla $80,000
8. SenorPokes $60,000
9. kingsofcards $40,000
The biggest event of the day, WCOOP Event #3, replaced the Sunday Million. Instead of a $1,000,000 guarantee, PokerStars added another quarter-million to the prize pool in hopes of a bigger tournament. What they got was an event so big it might have even surprised PokerStars management. Over 10,000 players showed up for the final major of the day, creating a $2,021,400 prize pool in the process. Typically the Million has been hitting the $1,200,000 lately, meaning this event gained more then $800,000 over the tournament typically in this time slot. That’s great for all parties, as PokerStars made about $60,000 more in fees, and the winner, “K_0_S_T_Y_A”, took home nearly double what he/she normally would have. This was easily the biggest score for a player who tends to only participate in uber high-stakes events. Runner-up “O-Totoro” earned more than $212,000 for his/her 2nd place finish, besting a previous best of $127,500 in WCOOP Event #22 last year.
This event will repeat itself twice more throughout the series, be sure to check back here for more in-depth write-ups on all the million dollar prize pool tournaments!
PokerStars 2011 WCOOP Event #3 $1.25M Guaranteed
10,107 Entrants; $2,021,400 prize pool
1. K_0_S_T_Y_A $288,661
2. O-Totoro $212,247
3. Yoggi744 $150,493
4. ElB@ndolero $101,070
5. Bhaphom3t $80,856
6. Jukka862 $60,642
7. 4mc4 $40,428
8. pocketsmcgee $22,235
9. dbt777 $14,150