With the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker in full swing, there has been plenty of action in the online poker world lately.  It seems all of the extra attention on the series has helped bring more players to PokerStars, and there has been a small trickle-down affect at other sites as well.  A lot of the recreational players who only show up for these big events are also playing tournaments on sites like Party and iPoker at the same time. This means more money in prize pools, bigger first-place checks, and an overall added sense of excitement in the online poker community. Major events at Party, iPoker, and Bwin were up across the board, with Party seeing a nice boost from both SCOOP and their recent Poker Fest series.

Even with higher attendance, the majors on the European sites were no competition for Stars. Even the Sunday500, which is now just a $300,000 guarantee, nearly had 1,000 entrants on its way to a $479,000 prize pool.  Event #23, a 4-max tournament, saw a familiar face make a deep run. Rich “Nutinsho” Lyndaker, a member at FlopTurnRiver, was one of a handful of players who decided to chop the $2,100 buy-in event. It seems with a deep structure, PokerStars could have been better off making it a two-day event.  Lyndaker actually finished 3rd, but made the most money out of all the players with a $107,000 cash.  Fourth-place finisher “JRADF79” continued his hot run, as his big cash here came off the heels of a final table appearance in event #21. All in all, he made more than $147,000 between the two tournaments.

Be sure to stay tuned to the FTR News Section for more in-depth write-ups on all the major SCOOP events. Below are the results from the major tournaments of the past weekend:

Party Poker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,158 Entrants; $231,600 prize pool
*4-way chop

1. erihed007 $30,978
2. fivetypes $27,794
3. adrien16111 $25,788
4. gggggg1975 $21,976
5. imgambler $11,001
6. JasonB2007 $8,685
7. FIKLIVES $6,600
8. celtic44444 $4,400
9. hakanbrazili $3,358
10. DaBarbersSon $2,316

iPoker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
1,045 Entrants; $209,000 prize pool

1. HAPPYPIG8888 $35,530
2. JohnnyBux $26,125
3. no1dea $19,834
4. xxsl1ckjackxx $14,212
5. bassdrone $10,345
6. JuonPillilla $8,255
7. 7furlong $6,165
8. VnilaYoda $4,075
9. ItalianStyle101 $2,257
10. createluck $1,839

Bwin Sunday Championship $250k Guaranteed
1,258 Entrants; $250,000 prize pool

1. gruzerz-bg $39,214
2. margo1988 $26,755
3. Bob_Lamonta $19,402
4. Kostenkiso $14,296
5. lukiladi $10,569
6. sammycox1 $7,842
7. dennisen2 $6,331
8. Jonah76 $4,942
9. vanek1987 $3,849
10. JewGold1 $3,022

PokerStars SCOOP Event #21-H $1M Guaranteed
951 Entrants; $1,902,000 prize pool

1. ministerborg $344,262
2. ImDaNuts $247,260
3. JACK-CRACK-R $185,445
4. 10IsTheYear $138,846
5. hook2120 $97,953
6. trontrontron $78,933
7. JRADF79 $59,913
8. I’am_Sound $42,034
9. Exan13 $24,345

PokerStars SCOOP Event #23-H $300k Guaranteed
395 Entrants; $790,000 prize pool
*5-way chop

1. pistons87 $106,336
2. g.karolis $100,308
3. nutsinho $107,054
4. JRADF79 $87,098
5. AaronBeen $76,504

PokerStars Sunday500 $300k Guaranteed
958 Entrants; $479,000 prize pool

1. No Limit NL $83,729
2. Kroko-dill $60,833
3. gunning4you $45,505
4. tpleta $34,009
5. I’am_Sound $23,950
6. dadowiec $19,160
7. Pessagno $14,370
8. AABenjaminAA $9,580
9. mcnallyville $5,508