Online tournament action has been quite strong lately as the 2011 Spring Championship rolls towards its final week.  With PokerStars running the SCOOP it seems all over sites have benefited from extra players being online.   Those looking for SCOOP results should check out the FlopTurnRiver News Section for in-depth reports on all the big events and their winners.

The Tournament Report continues to focus on a wider range of online poker rooms since the April 15th crackdown of American Online Poker. Sites like Titan and Party Poker that left the US market back in 2006 are seeing a nice boost in action lately. Each room has a weekly event with at least a $200,000 guarantee and a handful of other tournaments with $50,000 or even $100,000+ prize pools. Those looking to branch out from PokerStars and FullTilt should look into the iPoker and Party Poker networks.

The iPoker Network is home to many of the top sites in the world including it’s flagship room Titan Poker. Other well known rooms include Bet365, Mansion Poker, and Noble Poker. There are nearly 50 different skins on the iPoker Network which help make the tournament schedule one of the biggest and best around. Each week Titan, along with the iPoker Network, join forces to run a $200,000 guaranteed Sunday major tournament. The $200+$15 buy-in event expects at least 1,000 entrants to hit its guarantee; however, this past weekend the tournament feel 56 players short. The lack of entries caused Titan to shell out more than $11,000 in overlay giving each player an extra $12 in value.

The final table was book-ended by two strong professionals, 10th place finisher Aleh “oleg12345″ Plauski and winner “Kevish47″. Plauski is quickly approaching the $2,000,000 mark in career cashes online. He won the European Championship of Online Poker IV Event #7 back in 2009 for $114,975 and nearly won the $1k Monday Million on FullTilt earlier this year for $118,793. Being the strongest player at the final table, it was a bit of a shock to the rest when he busted in 10th place for just $2,000. From there Kevish47 took control and cruised to victory and a $42,000 payday. The five-figure score was the biggest of his career and backed up a strong start to 2011 that includes a $9,072 cash in the FullTilt $35k and a $8,912 in the $45k. It seems he is hitting his stride this year so be on the look out for Kevish47 in future majors.

Titan Poker Sunday $200k Guaranteed
944 Entrants; $200,000 prize pool

1. Kevish47 $42,000
2. HonkHonkUrADonk $22,000
3. deadprez22 $16,000
4. bratPARTYPANA $12,000
5. SUPERMz135 $10,000
6. tecracy $8,000
7. peillemoi $6,000
8. nilean $4,000
9. AndrzejusPL $2,800
10. oleg12345 $2,000

Much like the $200k at Titan the $250,000 Guaranteed on Party had a small amount of overlay. With just 1,192 entrants Party had to pay out $11,600 in overlay giving everyone involved an additional $10 in tournament value. Once the final table was set the last 10 entrants were all guaranteed at least $2,500. Fourth-place finisher “gnatik” was one of the more experienced players at the the final table having won the $109 cubed for $38,808 on PokerStars earlier this year. This $14,375 cash he earned on Sunday was the biggest score of his career on Party Poker. After gnatik busted, the final three players wasted little time before settling on a chip-chop. Based on chip counts the most money went to “MisTiPok58″ who earned $44,161 for the victory. Third place finisher “Aceive” took home $22,864 after the deal, easily besting an $11,000 win in the $40k last year as his biggest career cash on Party Poker.

Party Poker Sunday $250k Guaranteed
1,192 Entrants; $250,000 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. MisTiPok58 $44,161
2. Wi11yWonka $33,599
3. Aceive $22,865
4. gnatik $14,375
5. rhinobrehlo $11,875
6. VariousRus $9,375
7. semaj1111 $7,125
8. buckorow $4,750
9. MutlizRbusto $3,625
10. LECHANCEUX88 $2,500

Another tournament picking up some steam lately is the $100,000 Guarantee on the Merge Poker Network. Highlighted by Lock and Carbon Poker, the Merge Network is one of the few rooms still accepting American poker players. The $100,000 has been closing in on its guarantee the past few weeks and this Sunday the $100+$9 event came oh so close to getting there. With 965 players the tournament ended up only 35 entries shy of its $100,000 prize pool. The $100k Sunday surpassing its guarantee could come as quickly as next week. Over the past month the Merge Network has picked up traffic in both its tournament and cash games, leapfrogging a few other rooms including 888Poker into the top-10 in visited rooms each day. The increase in players will eventually lead to bigger guarantees, higher-stakes, and many other perks only the biggest online poker rooms can offer.

Eventual winner “WSGORDONSTR” appears to play a lot of tournaments on the Merge Network. Over the first few weeks in May he/she has already played nearly 200 events ranging from the $3 re-buy to the $109 $100k Guarantee. WSGORDONSTR’s win here comes on the heels of a win in the $3r just three days earlier for $672.

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

1. WSGORDONSTR $25,000
2. hallpass $14,000
3. ChooseYourDelusion $7,500
4. JoeMcguire $5,000
5. BigBookas $4,250
6. kiddhartha $3,500
7. FARTGOBLIN $2,750
8. ADED420 $2,250
9. diedel $1,750
10. SexiKari $1,500

FullTilt and PokerStars are still going on strong even with future litigation looming overhead. FullTilt has sent out many press releases lately detailing their intentions to repay Americans who were forced off their site on Black Friday. This past weekend FTP decided to run a $1,000,000 guarantee with a $600+$40 entry fee. On top of this players could enter the tournament up to six times via the new multi-entry format. With the higher buy-in there were more professionals and less amateurs than normal in the tournament creating a strong field. Many FullTilt professionals were on hand including Mike “Timex” McDonald, Peter “Apathy” Jetten, Ram Vaswani, and Soren Kongsgaard who had the best finish in 41st place.

The final table was full of big name players including Russell “rdcrsn” Carson and Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton who finished in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Both players are ranked in the top-100 in the tournament world based off of big cashes and consistency in high-stakes events. Houghton has won many big tournaments online including an FTOPS major, UBOC $250k, Sunday Second Chance, and the Sunday500 on PokerStars. He has more than $4,000,000 in career cashes and shows no signs of slowing down. Carson, along with eventual winner “PreshaDroppa”, decided to chop the remaining $460,000 in the middle based on chip counts. The deal guaranteed each player more than $220,000 in prize money, easily the biggest scores of their careers. For Carson, a player who has made a living crushing mid and high-stakes events, this marks the first six-figure score of his career. He previously won the Sunday500, $200k on FullTilt, $215r, and $150k on UB. All in all he has more than $5,500,000 in career cashes online. His opponent at the final table was no slouch himself, having finished 2nd in major events such as the Sunday Brawl, $1k Monday, $200k, and FTOPS Event #13 last year.

FullTilt $1,000,000 Guaranteed
2,587 Entrants; $1,552,200 prize pool
*2-way chop

1. PreshaDroppa $236,340
2. rdcrsn $223,189
3. whatariver1 $114,397
4. dante-sp $91,269
5. sozsozsoz $69,073
6. damnhomie0 $49,670
7. noirduck $36,477
8. Tenkamusou $28,560
9. WhatsUpDoc91 $21,731

Even with the 2011 SCOOP running in full force PokerStars still ran two Sunday majors, the $250k Guaranteed and Second Chance. The $250k, formerly the Sunday500, is a $500+$30 event that typically attracts a strong field of online tournament professionals. The higher buy-in and later start times tends to weed out a lot of amateur players leaving a lot of skilled pros battling one another for a big Sunday score. The final table had plenty of big names including highly-ranked “steve3331″ who earned $35,894 for finishing 2nd in the $250k. This was the second biggest score of his career on PokerStars, just behind a $49,019 cash for finishing 4th in the Warm-Up last year. He has many five-figure scores to his name and is quickly approaching the $1,000,000 mark in career cashes. Eventual winner “itzlingerass” actually broke the mold of the typical $250k champion. The relatively unknown player had not recorded a big cash on PokerStars in the past yet was able to win the event when his A5 suited outlasted his opponent’s K9 offsuit:

Seat 4: itzlingerass (4453795 in chips)
Seat 7: steve3331 (786205 in chips)
steve3331: posts small blind 15000
itzlingerass: posts big blind 30000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
steve3331: raises 30000 to 60000
itzlingerass: raises 4390795 to 4450795 and is all-in
steve3331: calls 723205 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (3667590) returned to itzlingerass
*** FLOP *** [6d 9s Kh]
*** TURN *** [6d 9s Kh] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [6d 9s Kh 6s] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
itzlingerass: shows [As 5s] (a flush, Ace high)
steve3331: shows [9h Kd] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
itzlingerass collected 1572410 from pot

PokerStars Sunday $250k Guaranteed
524 Entrants; $262,000 prize pool

1. itzlingerass $49,256
2. steve3331 $35,894
3. B4d3m3!st3r $26,462
4. vilela2255 $19,912
5. schNITzzzel $13,990
6. schihulud $11,135
7. jampiriki $8,515
8. MiniiPop $5,895
9. TheMagican $3,930

Is seemed because SCOOP was running strong into the late afternoon that a lot of players forgot about the Sunday Second Chance. The $125,000 guaranteed event fell 10 entrants short of reaching its guarantee. While most my feel this is a cause for concern they should at least wait until after SCOOP is over to see if attendance pops back up. With so many players entering 2, or even all 3 of each SCOOP major there just isn’t enough room on their monitors for another tournament. Those playing in the Second Chance were looking to take advantage of the smaller field by winning their first major. Making the most of this opportunity was the eventual winner “bennybunny18″ who earned $23,625 for the victory. This was just the second five-figure cash of his career on PokerStars and blew past his previous best, a $10,507 score for finishing 2nd in the $11 re-buy. Runner-up “conslice” is a high-stakes grinder who plays in many $1k+ events. However, his experience against the world’s best did not pay off as he could not win a flip at the final table to draw the chip-stacks closer to even:

Seat 1: bennybunny18 (1531000 in chips)
Seat 8: conslice (314000 in chips)
conslice: posts small blind 12500
bennybunny18: posts big blind 25000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
conslice: raises 25000 to 50000
bennybunny18: raises 1478500 to 1528500 and is all-in
conslice: calls 261500 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1217000) returned to bennybunny18
*** FLOP *** [2d 5c 6d]
*** TURN *** [2d 5c 6d] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [2d 5c 6d 5s] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bennybunny18: shows [7s 7c] (two pair, Sevens and Fives)
conslice: shows [9s Ac] (a pair of Fives)
bennybunny18 collected 628000 from pot

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $125k Guaranteed
615 Entrants; $125,000 prize pool

1. bennybunny18 $23,625
2. conslice $17,312
3. JeankeNissan $12,750
4. GDStyle $9,625
5. gnetaren $6,750
6. ze_caicara $5,312
7. Anjeyyy $4,062
8. dvash9 $2,812
9. max1210dj $1,912