A slightly delayed Sunday tournament report comes at you this week with online events from a handful of sites taking center stage.  As the 2011 World Series of Poker has gotten underway online events have slowed a bit with the majority of the professionals in Las Vegas.  However, looking to put an end to a slow start to June, PokerStars decided to move their majors up 2 hours and double their respective guarantees. What followed was a day that blew away what those events were able to accomplish before Black Friday back in April.  Other sites such as FullTilt seemed to also benefit from the PokerStars promotion as their events were up across the board. However, European based sites like Party and Titan Poker are still struggling to hit their guarantees in their weekend’s biggest events.

Titan Poker remains the flagship of the iPoker Network which left the US Market back in 2006 and still provides service to those in Europe and others around the world today. They are one of the five biggest online poker networks and as such are able to run some big guaranteed events each weekend. Their Sunday $250k highlights the weekend schedule, but lately has failed to reach its guarantee. This past Sunday the tournament fell more than 200 players short forcing Titan to take more than $40,000 out of their deep pockets to bolster the prize pool up to a quarter million dollars.  Taking full advantage of the overlay was a solid final table with a few recognizable names including Frederik “Fredewp” Pedersen who finished in 6th place fo $10,000 and “Visionary129″ who finished a few spots better in 3rd place for $20,000.  Visionary129 is one of the most successful online professionals of the past few years having multiple six-figure scores to his name including a win in the Monthly Million on Party Poker last December for $170,000.  He also nearly won the WCOOP 2-day Event back in 2009  for a massive $269,610 score.  His $20,000 cash here does not even crack his top-5 career scores.

Titan Poker Sunday $250k Guaranteed
1,046 Entrants; $250,000 prize pool

1. J0K3RJ4CK $52,500
2. RockyC06 $27,500
3. V1sionary129 $20,000
4. runningfast $15,000
5. RasAAAAAAAAAA $12,500
6. Fredewp $10,000
7. LekenMann $7,500
8. ZockSteffen $5,000
9. BERTONEC $3,500
10. zuozuo1008 $2,500

Much like the Titan $250k, the same event on Party Poker fell well short of the 1,250 players needed to reach its guarantee. With just 1,149 entries, Party Poker paid out $20,200 in overlay giving all of those involved a nice overlay. It’s quite an interesting study, even with the poker legislation seemingly hitting PokerStars and FullTilt the hardest their tournament continue to thrive while those at Party and Titan have not quite yet picked up.  It’s easy to imagine these sites must have been tickled pink to hear the news on April 15th but overall they have not been able to capitalize on their own good fortune.  This week’s final table had a few well known players make deep runs including 3rd place finisher Andras “Andras_fbg” Kovacs who earned $18,125 for a hard day’s work.  The five-figure score paled in comparison to previous cashes including a 2nd place in this year’s FTOPS 2-day event for $234,300 as well as a 3rd place finish in the Sunday Warm-up for $80,256 this past January.  While he was busy busting in 3rd place it was “HotSake” who was taking control of the final table and going on to take down another $50,000+ score to his name. The high-stakes online professional has finished 3rd in the Warm-Up an astonishing four times and did the same in the Sunday500 last November. His biggest victory came in the $109r on PokerStars back in 2008 for $64,800.   This $52,500 cash was just one of nearly ten $50k cashes on his resume.

Party Poker Sunday $250k Guaranteed
1,149 Entrants; $250,000 prize pool

1. HotSake $52,500
2. Muslims_LOL $30,000
3. Andras_fbg $18,125
4. JakobDon $14,375
5. GetRich_ty $11,875
6. PreJespersen $9,375
7. kabasn $7,125
8. gbpoker9 $4,750
9. bigjoe1941 $3,625
10. Klippehule $2,500

PokerStars, perhaps a bit upset with how their Sunday majors have performed post-Black Friday, decided to double their guarantees of their major tournaments. This, coupled with moving them up an extra two hours to better serve their European contingent, seemed to be just what the doctor ordered this past Sunday.  Things started off with a bang as the $200+$16 Sunday Warm-Up saw more than 5,400 entries allowing the event to cruise past its $1,000,000 guarantee.  A few well known players made deep final table runs including 4th place finisher “rubenrtv” who won a WCOOP event back in 2008 and took down the Warm-Up that same year.  He has also final tabled the Sunday Million in the past and has more than a million dollars to his name in cashes on PokerStars alone.  Heads-up play came down to Stephen “eamsie” Eames and “kojocki” who decided upon a chip chop but left a little cash on the table for the winner.  Eames, whose best score before yesterday was a $22,600 win in the $109r, took second place and a $141,924 payday.  His opponent was even less experienced but nonetheless kojocki took home a massive win and a $155,868 first-place check.  This was by far and away the biggest score of the small stakes grinders career. In fact, before yesterday, he/she had never even hit a four-figure score, let alone a six-figure one.

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $1,000,000 Guaranteed
5,456 Entrants; $1,091,200 prize pool
*2-way chop

1. kojocki $155,868
2. eamsie $141,924
3. zero All-in $89,860
4. rubenrtv $61,653
5. Respect4life $46,376
6. Blimschen $35,464
7. ministerborg $24,552
8. DoubleM610 $13,640
9. Schildy1984 $8,730

The PokerStars Sunday Million is back! Well, at least for one week.  Online poker’s biggest weekly event doubled its guarantee yesterday and Stars players took full advantage. With more than 10,200 players in the field the prize pool swelled to over $2,047,000 with more than $284,000 slated for the winner. With so much money on the line it would be easy to see a final table chop. However, Joakim  “Diogene” Beaupre, along with the rest of the players on hand, never came to an agreement allowing for a winner’s share bigger than nearly every other online poker tournament this past Sunday.  Beaupre, who was not necessarily a successful high-stakes tournament grinder, shipped the biggest score of his career.  The Canadian grinder had only found small success online in the past including a $14,010 score back in 2006 on PokerStars.  That all changed as he took down a solid final table including fourth place finisher “lechuckpoker” and Andrew “Royalize” Stumpf who finished in third place for $143,318. It will be interesting to see if PokerStars continues to run the bigger guaranteed Million and just how big of an impact the earlier start time has on the event’s attendance.

PokerStars Sunday $2,000,000 Guaranteed
10,237 Entrants; $2,047,400 prize pool

1. Diogene $284,799
2. Azazel1980 $204,740
3. Royalize $143,318
4. lechuckpoker $102,370
5. ThoboyJPG $81,896
6. frtk $61,422
7. sirlattelot $40,948
8. cherryking $20,474
9. dietmartime $12,899

Another major event on PokerStars benefiting from the double guarantee Sunday was the $500k, or what was formerly the $500k. The day’s highest staked major had seen its guarantee dropped way down to $250,000 post-Black Friday, but yesterday it was back at its normal half-million dollar mark. The high-stakes grinders on stars responded as more 1,076 of the world’s best online MTT players showed up to compete for a $92,859 first-place prize.  On hand at the final table were a handful of successful tournament grinders including Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky who finished in 6th place for $21,251. The high-stakes pro has won the $109r, Super Tuesday, $100k, and the $85k on PokerStars and FullTilt in the past.  He also nearly won the $750k on FullTilt back in 2009 before falling heads-up for $82,732.  Fellow Canadian “bEatNick”OG”" finished a few spots better than Wilinofsky in 4th place for $37,445.  The highly-ranked professional has worked his way to the top through consistent results including a win in the $1k Monday on FullTilt for $80,000 and a win in the Nightly $100k on PokerStars for $20,643.  Eventual winner “weygang” earned the biggest score of his career when he bested “m.cerqueira” heads-up for the title. The $92,858 score bested a previous high of $71,225 for finishing 4th in the million just two months ago.

PokerStars Sunday500 $500k Guaranteed
1,076 Entrants; $538,000 prize pool

1. weygang $92,859
2. m.cerqueira $67,250
3. jalman69 $51,110
4. bEatNick”OG” $37,445
5. insfran $26,631
6. NeverScaredB $21,251
7. shaman627 $15,871
8. Ramux $10,491
9. Gorrioncillo $5,918

There still is not a lot to report in terms of the big names making the Merge $100k final table.  The up and coming site has seen quite an influx of players since Black Friday as it remains one of a few networks willing to accept American poker players.  However, at this point it appears the Merge Network will no longer be accepting new American players, but will be allowing those already on their site to continue to play.  Much like Bodog and Cake, the Merge Network games have become quite a bit more difficult as more and more US-based grinders look for new places to play. However, with limited choices it appears beggars have certainly not been choosers, heading for Merge skins such as RPM, Carbon, and Lock Poker. All of the skins have different promotions and bonuses so be sure to check out the in-depth reviews on FlopTurnRiver to find the best room for you.  As far as their biggest weekly event goes, the $10ok continues to fail to reach its guarantee. This past Sunday the tournament fell 139 players short forcing the Merge Network to pay out $13,900 in overlay.  The tournament has grown from $50,000 to $100,000 and it will only be a matter of time before their satellite system improves enough to allow for 1,000+ entrants.

Merge Poker Sunday $100k Guaranteed
861 Entrants; $100,000 prize pool

1. PyroTechnics $20,000
2. AlMusolino $12,000
3. Funky12aces $6,500
4. jtrippinballz $5,000
5. akashm12370 $4,250
6. TrueB84 $3,500
7. Yojikk $2,750
8. trevorj414 $2,250
9. BullitA $1,750
10. IzDaNutZ $1,500

The multi-entry format again allowed for the $750k on FullTilt to race past its guarantee. With players being allowed to enter the tournament up to six times it makes it much easier for more than 3,750 competitors to enter FullTilt’s biggest weekly event.  While there was plenty of action on the felt a lot of the action at FullTilt was taking place off of it. With Phil Ivey’s lawsuit, FullTilt’s rebuttal, and everything in between, it seems the world’s 2nd biggest poker site has been mired in controversy lately.  A lot of FullTilt professionals are not wearing their company’s patch at the 2011 WSOP which has fueled speculators fires when it comes to Americans receiving their funds.   For all updates on both American online poker legislation as well as the 2011 World Series of Poker be sure to check out the FlopTurnRiver News Section found at the top of the page.

The final table of the $750k came and went with much less controversy.  The final four players all decided to chop the remaining $365,000 in the prize pool giving “el_klonkador” the biggest piece of the pie.  The $124,415 cash was the biggest of his career on FullTilt, easily besting a $34,986 win in the $150k Guaranteed last year.  Runner-up Gavin “gavb31″ Ball also took home a resume topping score for $87,457 after the chop.

FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
3,992 Entrants; $798,400 prize pool
*4-way chop

1. el_klonkador $124,415
2. gavb31 $87,457
3. KungKroon $79,121
4. B1oshock $74,514
5. Belabacsi $39,122
6. Thibavol $27,146
7. TheMagicSeven $18,363
8. Voltax $12,774
9. Laff2er $8,782