With most of the focus on the World Series of Poker Main Event finishing in Las Vegas this week it would have been acceptable to see a lack of interest in online tournaments. However, it seems the publicity of the November Nine provided at least a temporary boost to online attendance as events were up across the board on Sunday.  There were signs of a big day when the Sunday Warm-Up flirted with a million dollar prize pool before falling just short early Sunday afternoon.  Over 4,800 players competed in the day’s 2nd biggest major creating a massive $970,600 prize pool with more than $151,000 slotted for the winner.

Ultimately the railbirds were left a bit disappointed as the final three players decided to chop the remaining prize pool leaving just $10,000 on the table in a winner-take-all format.  One of the three finalists, “Unicum next”, fell just short of the title and settled for 2nd place and $110,000. The six-figure score was the first of his career and bolstered a resume that included a victory in the Mulligan on FullTilt in 2008 for $41,313.  Eventual winner “LeComptedeMC” was actually 3rd in chips when the chop took place but quickly took over and earned himself nearly $121,000 when his King high was good enough unimproved to best Unicum next’s J3 suited.

Seat 1: Unicum next (3059328 in chips)
Seat 6: LeComptedeMC (45470672 in chips)
Unicum next: posts small blind 250000
LeComptedeMC: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Unicum next: raises 2509328 to 3009328 and is all-in
LeComptedeMC: calls 2509328
*** FLOP *** [8s Ah 9s]
*** TURN *** [8s Ah 9s] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [8s Ah 9s 6c] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LeComptedeMC: shows [Ks 7h] (high card Ace)
Unicum next: shows [Jd 3d] (high card Ace – lower kicker)
LeComptedeMC collected 6118656 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,853 Entrants; $970,600 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. LeComptedeMC $120,983
2. Unicum next $110,000
3. Bremers $114,000
4. Lamberjack12 $54,839
5. OMGinmarsat8 $41,251
6. 9superpoker $31,545
7. Shinken73 $21,839
8. Cairns1987 $12,133
9. Bumbulbee_G $7,765

The Sunday Million continues to operate well above its $1,500,000 guarantee and has firmly planted itself as the week’s biggest tournament.  The final table was marked by one of the more intriguing figures in online poker history — Jason “strass2” Strasser, who left the online poker world a few years ago to pursue a career in the finance industry.  Before leaving poker he was widely considered one of the best young guns in the game and made a name for himself by live and online cash games and tournaments.  Even though he might have been a bit rusty Strasser was able to work his way down to three-handed play and ultimately a chop worth more than $185,000.  This gigantic score might seem fairly small to a trader like Strasser and it also pales in comparison to a $442,440 win back in 2006 on a $1k PokerStars major.  Below are the final table stacks, bust-out hands, and chop-adjusted pay-outs:

Seat 1: stacksanchez (3250991 in chips)
Seat 2: toco (6044882 in chips)
Seat 3: merzavets65 (11513926 in chips)
Seat 4: mcst0002 (22217219 in chips)
Seat 5: stuckndatrap (5973879 in chips)
Seat 6: izzy83 (10179375 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (8561998 in chips)
Seat 8: reraiser89 (2307973 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (12549757 in chips)

Seat 1: stacksanchez (1790975 in chips)
Seat 2: toco (5964882 in chips)
Seat 3: merzavets65 (11433926 in chips)
Seat 4: mcst0002 (21227219 in chips)
Seat 5: stuckndatrap (4733879 in chips)
Seat 6: izzy83 (9499375 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (11372014 in chips)
Seat 8: reraiser89 (2227973 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (14349757 in chips)
NickDandolos: posts small blind 200000
reraiser89: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
strassa2: folds
stacksanchez: folds
toco: folds
merzavets65: folds
mcst0002: raises 550000 to 950000
stuckndatrap: raises 3743879 to 4693879 and is all-in
izzy83: folds
NickDandolos: folds
reraiser89: folds
mcst0002: calls 3743879
*** FLOP *** [5d Th 7d]
*** TURN *** [5d Th 7d] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [5d Th 7d 9s] [2s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mcst0002: shows [Jc Js] (a pair of Jacks)
stuckndatrap: shows [Ah Kh] (high card Ace)
mcst0002 collected 10347758 from pot

Seat 1: stacksanchez (1750975 in chips)
Seat 2: toco (5924882 in chips)
Seat 3: merzavets65 (11393926 in chips)
Seat 4: mcst0002 (26841098 in chips)
Seat 6: izzy83 (9459375 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (11132014 in chips)
Seat 8: reraiser89 (1787973 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (14309757 in chips)
reraiser89: posts small blind 200000
strassa2: posts big blind 400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
stacksanchez: raises 1310975 to 1710975 and is all-in
toco: folds
merzavets65: folds
mcst0002: folds
izzy83: folds
NickDandolos: folds
reraiser89: raises 36998 to 1747973 and is all-in
strassa2: calls 1347973
*** FLOP *** [3c 2c 3s]
*** TURN *** [3c 2c 3s] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [3c 2c 3s Kh] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
reraiser89: shows [Qc Ad] (two pair, Threes and Deuces)
strassa2: shows [As 4h] (two pair, Threes and Deuces)
reraiser89 collected 36998 from side pot
strassa2 collected 36998 from side pot
stacksanchez: shows [Qd Jd] (two pair, Threes and Deuces – lower kicker)
reraiser89 collected 2726463 from main pot
strassa2 collected 2726462 from main pot

Seat 2: toco (5214882 in chips)
Seat 3: merzavets65 (8283926 in chips)
Seat 4: mcst0002 (30501098 in chips)
Seat 6: izzy83 (5449375 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (13102014 in chips)
Seat 8: reraiser89 (3403461 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (16645244 in chips)
NickDandolos: posts small blind 250000
reraiser89: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
strassa2: folds
toco: folds
merzavets65: folds
mcst0002: folds
izzy83: folds
NickDandolos: raises 500000 to 1000000
reraiser89: raises 2353461 to 3353461 and is all-in
NickDandolos: calls 2353461
*** FLOP *** [6s Ks Jd]
*** TURN *** [6s Ks Jd] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [6s Ks Jd 9d] [Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
NickDandolos: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
reraiser89: shows [Qc Qh] (two pair, Queens and Jacks)
NickDandolos collected 7056922 from pot

Seat 2: toco (3264882 in chips)
Seat 3: merzavets65 (6633926 in chips)
Seat 4: mcst0002 (26751723 in chips)
Seat 6: izzy83 (12048750 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (18705475 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (15195244 in chips)
merzavets65: posts small blind 250000
mcst0002: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
izzy83: folds
NickDandolos: folds
strassa2: raises 600000 to 1100000
toco: folds
merzavets65: raises 5483926 to 6583926 and is all-in
mcst0002: folds
strassa2: calls 5483926
*** FLOP *** [2c 9d Ks]
*** TURN *** [2c 9d Ks] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [2c 9d Ks 3d] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
merzavets65: shows [Qh As] (high card Ace)
strassa2: shows [Qc Kh] (a pair of Kings)
strassa2 collected 13967852 from pot

Seat 2: toco (3114882 in chips)
Seat 4: mcst0002 (27101723 in chips)
Seat 6: izzy83 (12648750 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (17805475 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (21929170 in chips)
strassa2: posts small blind 250000
toco: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
mcst0002: folds
izzy83: folds
NickDandolos: folds
strassa2: raises 21379170 to 21879170 and is all-in
toco: calls 2564882 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (18814288) returned to strassa2
*** FLOP *** [Kh Qh 9d]
*** TURN *** [Kh Qh 9d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [Kh Qh 9d Td] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
strassa2: shows [As Jh] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
toco: shows [Tc Ad] (three of a kind, Tens)
strassa2 collected 6379764 from pot

Seat 4: mcst0002 (32941723 in chips)
Seat 6: izzy83 (1638750 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (12725475 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (35294052 in chips)
mcst0002: posts small blind 300000
izzy83: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
NickDandolos: raises 1200000 to 1800000
strassa2: folds
mcst0002: folds
izzy83: calls 978750 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (221250) returned to NickDandolos
*** FLOP *** [7c Kh Ks]
*** TURN *** [7c Kh Ks] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [7c Kh Ks 7d] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
izzy83: shows [2s 5d] (two pair, Kings and Sevens)
NickDandolos: shows [Kc Ts] (a full house, Kings full of Sevens)
NickDandolos collected 3697500 from pot

Seat 4: mcst0002 (16994996 in chips)
Seat 7: NickDandolos (48296900 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (17308104 in chips)
strassa2: posts small blind 400000
mcst0002: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
NickDandolos: folds
strassa2: raises 1000000 to 1800000
mcst0002: raises 15114996 to 16914996 and is all-in
strassa2: calls 15114996
*** FLOP *** [Kd 9d Th]
*** TURN *** [Kd 9d Th] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 9d Th 3s] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
strassa2: shows [Ks Ac] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
mcst0002: shows [6s 6h] (a pair of Sixes)
mcst0002 said, “gl boys”
strassa2 collected 34069992 from pot

Seat 7: NickDandolos (62356900 in chips)
Seat 9: strassa2 (20243100 in chips)
NickDandolos: posts small blind 500000
strassa2: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
NickDandolos: raises 1000000 to 2000000
strassa2: raises 18143100 to 20143100 and is all-in
NickDandolos: calls 18143100
*** FLOP *** [Ac 5h 7s]
*** TURN *** [Ac 5h 7s] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 5h 7s Qh] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
strassa2: shows [8d Jh] (high card Ace)
NickDandolos: shows [9h Qs] (a pair of Queens)
strassa2 said, “gg”
NickDandolos collected 40486200 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,260 Entrants; $1,652,000 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. NickDandolos $195,648
2. strassa2 $185,267
3. mcst0002 $163,585
4. izzy83 $82,600
5. toco $66,080
6. merzavets65 $49,560
7. reraiser89 $33,040
8. stacksanchez $18,172
9. stuckndatrap $12,803

You know online poker had a big day when the Sunday500 passes its guarantee. A tournament which always seems to teeter on the overlay edge cleared the mark by nearly 40 competitors this past weekend as a $519,500 prize pool was amassed.  Just as the Million final table had a famous player in Strasser, the 500k had a bit of an infamous player in “gambler2k4” who has been in the center of controversy in the past. The player who first busted onto the scene with an interesting hand against FTR’s very own “Lukie” has now been making a name for himself in online tournaments and high-stakes cash games.  His 5th place finish here was good for $25,715 which rates as the biggest score of his career on PokerStars.

Fourth place finisher Leandro “AmarulaBr” Balotin earned more than $36,000 for a hard day’s work. The big score ranks near the top of his resume that includes a 3rd place finish in the Warm-Up earlier this year for $81,955. Finishing one spot better was “crzysavage” who earned the biggest cash of his career taking home nearly $50,000 last Sunday night. The winner of the $40k Guaranteed in 2009 and the $109r in 2008 had seen some success at the midstakes level but finally made a splash in high stakes games.  Eventual winner “pdrsn8” won just short of $90,000 after taking down “AmazingErvin” heads-up with a pretty gross bad beat:

Seat 2: pdrsn8 (7432520 in chips)
Seat 6: AmazingErvin (2957480 in chips)
AmazingErvin: posts small blind 50000
pdrsn8: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
AmazingErvin: raises 100000 to 200000
pdrsn8: calls 100000
*** FLOP *** [Ts 2c Jc]
pdrsn8: checks
AmazingErvin: bets 234765
pdrsn8: raises 234765 to 469530
AmazingErvin: raises 2277950 to 2747480 and is all-in
pdrsn8: calls 2277950
*** TURN *** [Ts 2c Jc] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 2c Jc 9c] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pdrsn8: shows [Jd 7d] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
AmazingErvin: shows [Js Ks] (a pair of Jacks)
pdrsn8 collected 5914960 from pot

PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,039 Entrants; $519,500 prize pool

1. pdrsn8 $89,666
2. AmazingErvin $64,938
3. crzysavage $49,353
4. AmarulaBr $36,157
5. gamber2k4 $25,715
6. EZz_GAME $20,520
7. AndrewBoccia $15,325
8. GoodTimesJS $10,130
9. jektiss $5,715

The Sunday $215 re-buy continues to produce great final tables full of big name professionals. Making his 2nd appearance at the $215r final table in just a few weeks  was Randy “nanonoko” Lew who actually won this very event two weeks ago.  As many things are in poker, his two results were quite polarized as he busted in 9th this past Sunday for $3,248. Other big names on hand included “ImaLuckSac” who finished in 7th for $6,496 and “antesvante” who earned $9,744 for his 5th place bust-out. One of the best players at the final table, Fabrizio “SixthSenSe19” Gonzalez ended up taking down the title.  The high-stakes tournament professional has seen great success on PokerStars taking home $120,000 for a WCOOP HU championship and also has wins in the Wednesday Quarter Million, $109r, and $40k Guaranteed. His victory in the $215r barely cracked the top-10 on his resume and earned him just under $35,000 after he busted “theNorfman” heads-up.

Seat 2: theNorfman (669379 in chips)
Seat 7: SixthSenSe19 (1154621 in chips)
theNorfman: posts small blind 10000
SixthSenSe19: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
theNorfman: raises 20000 to 40000
SixthSenSe19: raises 69119 to 109119
theNorfman: raises 558260 to 667379 and is all-in
SixthSenSe19: calls 558260
*** FLOP *** [7h 2s Ah]
*** TURN *** [7h 2s Ah] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [7h 2s Ah 9c] [Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SixthSenSe19: shows [Qs As] (a pair of Aces)
theNorfman: shows [Th Qh] (high card Ace)
SixthSenSe19 collected 1338758 from pot

PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
237 Entrants; $162,400 prize pool

1. SixthSenSe19 $34,916
2. theNorfman $25,172
3. Turko_man $19,082
4. YsoC-rious?! $14,210
5. antesvante $9,744
6. DareYou2Call $8,120
7. ImaLuckSac $6,496
8. 107tiger $4,872
9. nanonoko $3,248

A big day at PokerStars ended with quite a bang as the Sunday Second Chance nearly hit the $275,000 prize pool mark. With more than 1,300 players on hand the latest starting major of the day was also one of the biggest.  Much like the Million and Warm-Up to final table came to an abrupt end with a chip-chop.  The heads-up battle between “maxxmeister” and “SkillVille” was cut short and both players were awarded $42,931 in a dead even chop. SkillVille ended up earning more TLB points due to his “victory” but the tournament was basically over once the chop was finalized.  SkillVille’s big score was the biggest of his career on PokerStars, easily supplanting a win in the $109r for the honor. maxxmeister is a solid midstakes cash game grinder who also plays big online events.

Seat 1: SkillVille (3520812 in chips)
Seat 7: maxxmeister (586188 in chips)
SkillVille: posts small blind 30000
maxxmeister: posts big blind 60000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
SkillVille: raises 3454812 to 3514812 and is all-in
maxxmeister: calls 520188 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2934624) returned to SkillVille
*** FLOP *** [8h 9d Th]
*** TURN *** [8h 9d Th] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [8h 9d Th Js] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
maxxmeister: shows [Tc Ac] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
SkillVille: shows [Qs 9s] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
SkillVille collected 1172376 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1,369 Entrants; $273,800 prize pool
*2-way hop

1. SkillVille $42,931
2. maxxmeister $42,931
3. Squirrely1 $27,380
4. Jacks_h21 $20,535
5. gnetaren $14,374
6. GAKingChaser $11,636
7. tollgate $8,898
8. pokerpimps81 $6,160
9. cbs9888 $3,833

With PokerStars enjoying a big day in online events one could safely assume FullTilt might see some carryover. All three of the FullTilt majors saw a nice boost in attendance with the Brawl, $750k, and Mulligan easily surpassing their guarantees. The $400,000 guaranteed Brawl saw the biggest jump as nearly 2,900 players created a $576,200 prize pool. The FullTilt contingent did their part as more than 30 “red pros” were on hand vying for the $116,969 first place prize. One of the more recognizable names, Ram Vaswani, made a deep run before busting in 24th place. S Gromenkova and Andrea Benelli also joined Vaswani in the money, but took home min-cashes.

Heads-up came down to Daniel “dDeoxyribo” Strelitz and Andras “AverageHoe” Kovacs in a battle for more than $40,000 in prize money. Both players had seen great success online including Strelitz who finished 2nd in the Sunday Million last October for $177,203 and was the runner-up in the Second Chance earlier this year.  The six-figure score for his win in the Brawl was just the 2nd six-figure score of his career.  Kovacs had plenty of major final table experience but was unable to outlast Strelitz and had to settle for 2nd place and a $75,482 payday.

FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,881 Entrants; $576,200 prize pool

1. dDeoxyribo $116,969
2. AverageHoe $75,482
3. uRuGwa1 $55,891
4. Timberhill0 $42,063
5. PolarKoen $29,386
6. torowe $19,591
7. croll103 $13,253
8. theDING $9,219
9. kriznastee $6,914

The week’s biggest event on FullTilt, the $750k Guaranteed, has seen a bit of a resurgence as of late.  For much of the Fall the $200+$16 buy-in major had a lot of trouble coming close to its guarantee but lately the $750k has had little trouble garnering enough attention. This week more than 4,000 players entered creating a $817,000 prize pool. Nearly 40 FullTilt sponsored professionals were on hand including Vitaly Lunkin, Jeff Madsen, and Isaac “Menlo” Baron. Just like the Brawl, a FullTilt professional made a deep run but was unable to crack the final table as Martin Kabrhel finished in 25th place for $3,022.  Steve Brecher also had a solid tournament but fell in 188th place for a small cash.  The final table came and went without much in terms of big names. David “DumbHick” Hickman put his screen name to shame by finishing in 5th place for $33,742. The high-stakes tournament professional won this very event back in 2008 for $142,119 and has also won a handful of other $200 buy-in events.  Eventual winner “salue” earned $144,274 for his victory. The high-stakes tournament player had yet to break through with a big score and earned only the 3rd five-figure plus score of his career on FullTilt.

FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
4,085 Entrants; $817,000 prize pool

1. salue $144,274
2. Artistic82 $87,337
3. A1THINKTWICE $57,190
4. snapcount $44,935
5. DumbHick $33,742
6. manhai $25,000
7. aviator0925 $18,791
8. 6NACHO6 $14,706
9. skostov $10,948

The day at FullTilt would not be complete with out the weekly Sunday Mulligan giving players a final shot at a big score. Taking full advantage of this chance was FullTilt professional Annette “Annette_15” Oberstad and “augie00” who were competing heads-up for a $52,668 payday. Oberstad,  along with PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst, is widely considered one of the best two female players in the world. She became famous for allegedly winning a 180-man tournament on PokerStars without ever looking at her hole cards. It came out later to be a bit of a hoax in that she peaked once or twice through out the tournament but the feat is still quite impressive. Her opponent, augie00, did not seemed to be phased by his high profile opponent. In fact, augie is quite the accomplished professional himself having won the Super Tuesday and the Wednesday Quarter Million on PokerStars.  The day’s best battle ended up going his way as not only did he take home more than $52,000 for the win but he’ll assuredly get an “I busted a FullTilt” t-shirt in the mail soon.

FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,197 Entrants; $239,400 prize pool

1. augie00 $52,668
2. Annette_15 $33,516
3. littlebigfat $24,239
4. foldforfood $19,451
5. robomow $14,675
6. Stubblefield $10,773
7. CalBandGreat $6,943
8. leojleoj $5,027
9. aussierover $3,591

A final note, FTOPS XVIII starts this week on FullTilt and spans 34 events over 11 days. Be sure to stay tuned to FlopTurnRiver for updates on all the big events.