Online tournaments continue to thrive as 2010 winds down. Coming off a big month which saw the World Series of Poker Main Event culminate live on ESPN and another very successful FullTilt Online Poker Series in the books, it seems online tournaments are back and better than ever. Attendance was up across the board this past Sunday, most notably on FullTilt which saw some of the biggest prize pools of the year in their $750k and Mulligan. As always the day kicked off with the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars. The $750,000 guaranteed major rewards those for not sleeping in Sunday morning with a $200+$15 Freeze-Out and six-figure payday for the winner. The final table had some familiar faces for such a big event including 3rd place finisher “PrinceAndrew” who earned $103,252 after a three-way chip-chop. His six-figure cash comes off the heels of a near miss in the $215r in October where he took 2nd place for $24,180. Eventual champion “lNormaJean” actually earned a few hundred dollars less than “gizzimow” due to stack sizes during the chop. Neither player had seen a ton of success on PokerStars recently so they were more than happy to lock up a massive payday and take some variance out of the final table experience.
A final note, the 4,651 in attendance made the Warm-Up the second biggest event of the day, narrowly edging out the $750k on FullTilt.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4,651 Entrants; $930,200 prize pool
*3-way chop
1. lNormaJean $113,785
2. gizzimow $114,005
3. PrinceAndrew $103,252
4. Dsavo $52,556
5. CR711 $39,534
6. PUICA $30,232
7. BEGEMOT13 $20,930
8. gretko $11,628
9. wiper222 $7,442
For once the Sunday Million final table was host to some of the biggest names in online poker. With a tournament that typically approaches 8,000 participants it can be easy for the professionals to get knocked off on their way to final table. This week was not the case as Shane “shaniac” Shcleger and Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth were both on hand vying for the $254,000 first-place check. Both players are well known in the online poker world and proved to make the final table quite interesting. Schleger was unable to last all that long before falling in 6th place for $51,918 but Ainsworth made it all the way down to three-handed play before a chip-chop was agreed upon. The high-stakes tournament professional guaranteed himself more than $193,000 and left $30,000 on the table to play for in a winner-takes-all format. The huge score was just one of many on a resume that includes a victory in last year’s SCOOP $10,000 buy-in Main Event for $963,338. The near million-dollar score is easily one of the biggest in online poker history and along with his other cashes makes Ainsworth one of the most decorated players in the history of the game. All of his final table experience could not quite help this past Sunday as he failed to gain the extra $30,000 after busting in 3rd place. The final-table chip counts, bust-out hands, and chop adjusted pay-outs can be found below:
Seat 1: wasaberga (14796286 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (17730657 in chips)
Seat 3: patasss (9723008 in chips)
Seat 4: dariusz1979 (5474567 in chips)
Seat 5: shaniac (7586274 in chips)
Seat 6: sontilou (2808708 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (16828700 in chips)
Seat 8: WSOP_143 (4680434 in chips)
Seat 9: joao bauer (6901366 in chips)
Seat 1: wasaberga (13246286 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (20811949 in chips)
Seat 3: patasss (8773008 in chips)
Seat 4: dariusz1979 (6284567 in chips)
Seat 5: shaniac (4769292 in chips)
Seat 6: sontilou (2963964 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (12968700 in chips)
Seat 8: WSOP_143 (7620868 in chips)
Seat 9: joao bauer (9091366 in chips)
joao bauer: posts small blind 250000
wasaberga: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
j.thaddeus: folds
patasss: folds
dariusz1979: folds
shaniac: folds
sontilou: raises 2413964 to 2913964 and is all-in
eman1126: raises 10004736 to 12918700 and is all-in
WSOP_143: folds
joao bauer: folds
wasaberga: folds
Uncalled bet (10004736) returned to eman1126
*** FLOP *** [3h Js Tc]
*** TURN *** [3h Js Tc] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [3h Js Tc Ks] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
sontilou: shows [As Jc] (a pair of Jacks)
eman1126: shows [Jh Jd] (three of a kind, Jacks)
eman1126 collected 7027928 from pot
Seat 1: wasaberga (12396286 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (22612449 in chips)
Seat 3: patasss (8673008 in chips)
Seat 4: dariusz1979 (6184567 in chips)
Seat 5: shaniac (4669292 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (16982664 in chips)
Seat 8: WSOP_143 (6270368 in chips)
Seat 9: joao bauer (8741366 in chips)
j.thaddeus: posts small blind 250000
patasss: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
dariusz1979: folds
shaniac: folds
eman1126: folds
WSOP_143: folds
joao bauer: raises 700000 to 1200000
wasaberga: folds
j.thaddeus: raises 21362449 to 22562449 and is all-in
patasss: folds
joao bauer: calls 7491366 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (13871083) returned to j.thaddeus
*** FLOP *** [8h 6c 8d]
*** TURN *** [8h 6c 8d] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [8h 6c 8d Kc] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
j.thaddeus: shows [Qs Ks] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
joao bauer: shows [Th Ts] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
j.thaddeus collected 18282732 from pot
Seat 1: wasaberga (12346286 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (32153815 in chips)
Seat 3: patasss (8123008 in chips)
Seat 4: dariusz1979 (6134567 in chips)
Seat 5: shaniac (4619292 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (16932664 in chips)
Seat 8: WSOP_143 (6220368 in chips)
patasss: posts small blind 250000
dariusz1979: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
shaniac: folds
eman1126: folds
WSOP_143: folds
wasaberga: folds
j.thaddeus: raises 31603815 to 32103815 and is all-in
patasss: folds
dariusz1979: calls 5584567 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (26019248) returned to j.thaddeus
*** FLOP *** [8h Qs 2h]
*** TURN *** [8h Qs 2h] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [8h Qs 2h 4c] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
dariusz1979: shows [Qd Ks] (a pair of Queens)
j.thaddeus: shows [Ah 2s] (two pair, Aces and Deuces)
j.thaddeus collected 12769134 from pot
Seat 1: wasaberga (15446286 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (37788382 in chips)
Seat 3: patasss (6023008 in chips)
Seat 5: shaniac (5119292 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (14882664 in chips)
Seat 8: WSOP_143 (7270368 in chips)
patasss: posts small blind 250000
shaniac: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
eman1126: raises 500000 to 1000000
WSOP_143: folds
wasaberga: folds
j.thaddeus: folds
patasss: folds
shaniac: raises 4069292 to 5069292 and is all-in
eman1126: calls 4069292
WSOP_143 said, “yes”
*** FLOP *** [Tc 2h 4d]
*** TURN *** [Tc 2h 4d] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 2h 4d Ks] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
shaniac: shows [4c As] (a pair of Fours)
eman1126: shows [5h 5d] (a pair of Fives)
eman1126 collected 10688584 from pot
Seat 1: wasaberga (37901571 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (19670089 in chips)
Seat 3: patasss (5551296 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (18551956 in chips)
Seat 8: WSOP_143 (4855088 in chips)
eman1126: posts small blind 300000
WSOP_143: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
wasaberga: folds
j.thaddeus: raises 825888 to 1425888
patasss: folds
eman1126: folds
WSOP_143: raises 3369200 to 4795088 and is all-in
j.thaddeus: calls 3369200
*** FLOP *** [Kc 3h 4d]
*** TURN *** [Kc 3h 4d] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 3h 4d 7c] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WSOP_143: shows [6d 6c] (two pair, Sixes and Threes)
j.thaddeus: shows [7h 7d] (a full house, Sevens full of Threes)
j.thaddeus collected 10190176 from pot
Seat 1: wasaberga (30461571 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (31305177 in chips)
Seat 3: patasss (4411296 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (20351956 in chips)
eman1126: posts small blind 300000
wasaberga: posts big blind 600000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
j.thaddeus: raises 858999 to 1458999
patasss: raises 2741001 to 4200000
eman1126: folds
wasaberga: folds
j.thaddeus: raises 2741001 to 6941001
patasss: calls 151296 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2589705) returned to j.thaddeus
*** FLOP *** [Jd 2d 8c]
*** TURN *** [Jd 2d 8c] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 2d 8c 3s] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
j.thaddeus: shows [Qd Ad] (a flush, Ace high)
patasss: shows [Qh Kd] (a pair of Threes)
j.thaddeus collected 9842592 from pot
Seat 1: wasaberga (17451117 in chips)
Seat 2: j.thaddeus (16587408 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (52491475 in chips)
eman1126: posts small blind 400000
wasaberga: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
j.thaddeus: raises 800000 to 1600000
eman1126: raises 2400000 to 4000000
wasaberga: folds
j.thaddeus: raises 12507408 to 16507408 and is all-in
eman1126: calls 12507408
*** FLOP *** [Qc Jc Qd]
*** TURN *** [Qc Jc Qd] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Qc Jc Qd Ac] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
eman1126: shows [Jh Jd] (a full house, Jacks full of Queens)
j.thaddeus: shows [Kd Ks] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
eman1126 collected 34054816 from pot
Seat 1: wasaberga (67644468 in chips)
Seat 7: eman1126 (18885532 in chips)
eman1126: posts small blind 500000
wasaberga: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
eman1126: raises 1000000 to 2000000
wasaberga: raises 42000000 to 44000000
eman1126: calls 16785532 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (25214468) returned to wasaberga
*** FLOP *** [9s Qh 4h]
*** TURN *** [9s Qh 4h] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [9s Qh 4h 2h] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wasaberga: shows [7h 7c] (a pair of Sevens)
eman1126: shows [6d Kc] (high card King)
wasaberga collected 37771064 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8,653 Entrants; $1,730,600 prize pool
*3-way deal
1. wasaberga $211,181
2. eman1126 $164,583
3. j.thaddeus $194,646
4. patasss $86,530
5. WSOP_143 $69,224
6. shaniac $51,918
7. dariusz1979 $34,612
8. joao bauer $19,037
9. sontilou $13,412
Providing another great final table was the Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed on PokerStars. The day’s highest buy-in tournament always tends to attract the world’s best players and this week was certainly no exception. Ninth-place finisher “caio_pimenta” is a Brazilian professional with wins in the Sunday Million, Super Tuesday, and $109r to his name. Busting in 7th place was “tcblade” who has a ton of big scores to his name including an FTOPS and SCOOP win as well as victories in the Mulligan, Nightly $100k, and $109 re-buy. Former Sunday500 winner Joey “Joey Capp” Cappucio finished 6th this week for $21,350. His win back in 2009 earned him the biggest score of his career for $91,250. Finishing a few spots better was a regular of this report, Joe “hoodini10” Udine, who fell in 4th place for $36,754. Udine is no stranger to success online having won an FTOPS event in 2009, the $1k Monday in 2008, and the $200k Guaranteed on FullTilt earlier this year.
The $500k was the first major of the day not to be chopped on PokerStars as “OLD TIME GIN” and “ryry-gonemad” went toe to toe for the $91,885 first-place check. Eventually the honor of taking down the day’s toughest field went to OLD TIME GIN who secured the biggest score of his career and the first major win on his resume. The high-stakes grinder has seen a handful of close calls before finally breaking through this past weekend including a 2nd in the $109r, 4th in the Second Chance, and a 6th place finish in FTOPS Event #8 this past August.
Seat 4: ryry-gonemad (1668010 in chips)
Seat 8: OLD TIME GIN (9141990 in chips)
ryry-gonemad: posts the ante 6000
OLD TIME GIN: posts the ante 6000
ryry-gonemad: posts small blind 30000
OLD TIME GIN: posts big blind 60000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
ryry-gonemad: raises 60000 to 120000
OLD TIME GIN: raises 180000 to 300000
ryry-gonemad: raises 1362010 to 1662010 and is all-in
OLD TIME GIN: calls 1362010
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6c 3d]
*** TURN *** [Qh 6c 3d] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6c 3d 9h] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OLD TIME GIN: shows [Qc Qs] (three of a kind, Queens)
ryry-gonemad: shows [Ad 8d] (high card Ace)
OLD TIME GIN collected 3336020 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1,081 Entrants; $540,500 prize pool
1. OLD TIME GIN $91,885
2. ryry-gonemad $67,563
3. jdtjpoker $51,293
4. hoodini10 $36,754
5. Roxx Box $26,755
6. Joey Capp $21,350
7. tcblade $15,945
8. tayballer $10,540
9. caio_pimenta $5,837
Much like the $500k, the $215 re-buy’s higher entry fee tends to lead to a final table full of well known high-stakes poker professionals. This week one of the most popular players in online poker history, Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb, made an appearance at the $215r final table. While his time there was short lived (he busted in 7th place) it is always great to see such a skilled player who was storied to have quit the game last year. Deeb, a former PokerStars Yearly Tournament Leaderboard winner, has seen great success both live and online where he more than likely has earned the greatest amount of cashes in poker history. Heads-up came down to two highly respected tournament players in Ravi “govshark2” Raghavan and “aprilsfool”. Both players are no stranger to success on the world’s largest poker site having both won major events in the past. Govshark2 has won the Sunday Million, the Sunday500, and has now added a victory in the $215r to his name. Aprilsfool nearly won the Million last year before falling in 2nd for $176,594. In fact, it appears he is a bit snake bit in big tournaments having finished in 2nd place numerous times in events like the $55r and $50k Guaranteed. It’s easy to see why he might be a bit frustrated after his turned straight failed to hold up against the pair+straight-draw from govshark2:
Seat 6: govshark2 (1019500 in chips)
Seat 8: aprilsfool (890500 in chips)
govshark2: posts the ante 2000
aprilsfool: posts the ante 2000
aprilsfool: posts small blind 10000
govshark2: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
aprilsfool: raises 20000 to 40000
govshark2: calls 20000
*** FLOP *** [6s Tc Qd]
govshark2: checks
aprilsfool: bets 45555
govshark2: calls 45555
*** TURN *** [6s Tc Qd] [Kc]
govshark2: checks
aprilsfool: bets 123232
govshark2: calls 123232
*** RIVER *** [6s Tc Qd Kc] [Ac]
govshark2: bets 808713 and is all-in
aprilsfool: calls 679713 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (129000) returned to govshark2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
govshark2: shows [6c 7c] (a flush, Ace high)
aprilsfool: shows [9h Jd] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
govshark2 collected 1781000 from pot
PokerStars Sunday $215r $150k Guaranteed
231 Entrants; $170,000 prize pool
1. govshark2 $36,550
2. aprilsfool $26,350
3. Ocall $19,975
4. RandALLin $14,875
5. RAZA14 $10,200
6. SLips713 $8,500
7. shaundeeb $6,800
8. Assassinato $5,100
9. GASSITT $3,400
Finishing off a strong day of online events at PokerStars was the $250,000 guaranteed Sunday Second Chance. The latest starting major of the day on Stars typically finishes well ahead of the $500k, $215r, and Sunday Million due to it’s faster structure and shallow starting stacks. With nearly 1,500 players on hand the Second Chance continued to creep towards the $300,000 prize pool mark. What’s amazing is last year this very event saw its guarantee drop to just $200,000 due to lack of participation but 2010 has seen quite a turnaround in an event all about giving second chances. One of the best online players in the world, Kory “s00tedj0kers” Kilpatrick found himself heads-up at the Second Chance final table against a solid mid-stakes grinder in “rwesty”. With more than $53,000 slotted for the winner, neither player seemed to want to give any ground as the two battled back and forth for the title. Kilpatrick was thought to have the upper hand experience-wise having won multiple FTOPS events, the $109r, and final-tabling many other majors. However, his resume was no concern for rwesty who took down the title when his Pocket Kings held up against AK offsuit:
Seat 5: s00tedj0kers (828981 in chips)
Seat 9: rwesty (3593019 in chips)
s00tedj0kers: posts small blind 20000
rwesty: posts big blind 40000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
s00tedj0kers: raises 40000 to 80000
rwesty: raises 80000 to 160000
s00tedj0kers: raises 664981 to 824981 and is all-in
rwesty: calls 664981
*** FLOP *** [8c 5h 2h]
*** TURN *** [8c 5h 2h] [2d]
s00tedj0kers said, “ha gg”
*** RIVER *** [8c 5h 2h 2d] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rwesty: shows [Kd Kc] (two pair, Kings and Deuces)
s00tedj0kers: shows [Ks Ah] (a pair of Deuces)
rwesty collected 1657962 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1,474 Entrants; $294,800 prize pool
1. rwesty $53,181
2. s00tedj0kers $38,471
3. KaptianKush $29,480
4. Kz_PStar $22,110
5. 4everunknown $15,477
6. Ricky1818 $12,529
7. pkk70 $9,581
8. JShark4 $6,633
9. ToNiSiNz $4,127
FullTilt seems to have benefited tremendously from the exposure of FTOPS XVIII. The highly-successful online tournament series has given FullTilt a bit of a hangover effect in the past but this weekend there was new life bread into all of the major events. For once tournaments such as the $750k did not have to worry about reaching its guarantee. Instead, FullTilt’s biggest weekly event cruised past the $750,000 mark all on the way to the biggest prize pool of the year for the $200+$16 event. The Sunday Brawl, a $400,000 guarantee knock-out event, continued its climb as 2,851 players ponied up the $240+$16 entry fee early Sunday afternoon. The Brawl is a special event which pays $40 to a player every time he/she knocks out a fellow competitor.
On top of the $40 players earn a “I busted a FullTilt Pro” t-shirt if they eliminate one of the FTP sponsored professionals in the field. This week 25 FullTilt pros were on hand including Michael Mizrachi, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, Isaac “Menlo” Baron, and Jordan Morgan who was the low professional after busting in 126th place. The final table came down to “Grippolio” and “ShippItTY” who were battling it out for more than a $40,000 difference between first and second place. Grippolio clearly had a huge edge in experience having nearly a million dollars in cashes on FullTilt before this final table match-up. His track record in the $200k (re-buy) is one of legends having won the event 4 times over the past two years. For once all that experience apparently paid off as he took down the Brawl title and a nice $115,751 payday.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $400k Guaranteed
2,851 Entrants; $570,200 prize pool
1. Grippolio $115,751
2. ShippItTY $74,696
3. virus83 $55,309
4. timkrank $41,625
5. Karen70 $29,080
6. Hoshi2511 $19,387
7. peppone76 $13,115
8. samurai_tony $9,124
9. donnysack $6,842
As mentioned before, the $750k appears to finally be turning the corner attendance-wise as this week more than 4,400 players entered FullTilt’s biggest event of the day. Joining in on the fun were nearly 40 FullTilt professionals all looking to get their hands on the $156,211 first-place check. Only one pro, Lee Watkinson, was able to crack the top-100 where he fell in 47th place. The final table came and went without a lot of fanfare or suspense. The remaining trio made up of “pytcheye111”, “Megaheiner”, and “gaaaaaabie” all decided upon a chip-chop which gave pytcheye111 the biggest piece of the pie. His $127,056 payday barely eclipsed the previous high score of his career on FullTilt a $108,727 win in the Sunday Brawl last November. It seems the 11th month of the year has been more than kind to the high-stakes professional who now has nearly $750,000 in cashes to his name on FullTilt alone.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
4,423 Entrants; $884,600 prize pool
*3-way deal
1. pytcheye1111 $127,056
2. Megaheiner $95,629
3. gaaaaaabie $90,012
4. bravesneverlose $48,653
5. MrMawcus $36,534
6. loscar_brasa $27,069
7. spok1111 $20,346
8. mini bomberr $15,923
9. jiaolong $11,854
Rounding out the resurgence of sorts on FullTilt was the Sunday Mulligan which crushed its $200,000 guarantee after 1,376 players entered the $200+$16 event. Much like the other events of the day, the FullTilt contingent struggled to perform up to their standards as just one pro, John Dolan, was able to make the money. Joining Dolan in the Mulligan was Brandon Adams, David Pham, Jeff Madsen, and Ryan Daut. Much like other events this past Sunday the players at the final table continued to take the easy way out as “worldcuptime” and “KICK4” decided to chop the remaining $97,000 prize pool once heads-up play began. While it can be the right move for those involved it typically leaves the rail wanting more as nothing is more exciting than a heads-up battle for a big wad of dough.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,376 Entrants; $275,200 prize pool
*2-way deal
1. worldcuptime $52,248
2. KICK4 $46,824
3. Signature-Pro $27,864
4. MikeCaroJr $22,360
5. O0Brian0O $16,870
6. rob131986 $12,384
7. SweetGirl99 $7,981
8. exit_route $5,779
9. dadto7 $4,128