The first week after a major tournament series can go either ways, sometimes tournaments gain popularity and see a nice boost in attendance. Other times, however, tournament entries see a bit of a drop-off with players taking a week off after such a grueling set of events. PokerStars, fresh off a successful SCOOP series, saw a large drop-off in their major events this past weekend. The Sunday Million and $215r failed to reach their guarantees while the Warm-Up, Brawl, and Second Chance barely cleared their minimum necessary entrants.
The earliest starting even of the day, the Sunday Warm-Up saw it’s prize pool drop below the $800,000 mark for the first time in some while. The event had been doing great even since PokerStars World Record Weekend a few months ago. The final table had a few well-known names including “s00tedj0kers”, a player with 15 five-figure scores to his name before this cash. Unfortunately he was unable to gain much momentum and busted in 6th place for just over $23,000. Reaching heads-up play was “shane261966” and “BoyArgentina”, two players with out any huge scores to their name. Shane261966 was able to outlast his opponent and take home the title and a $100,334 first place check.
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
3859 Entrants; $771,800 prize pool
1. shane261966 $100,334
2. BoyArgentina $69,462
3. eom2000 $46,308
4. grasbeer $38,590
5. WildDogo $30,872
6. s00tedj0kers $23,154
7. TranquilMind $15,436
8. ILIOS72 $9,647.50
9. sndk100 $6,637.48
The Sunday500 provided a great final table this week with 2008 TLB Champion Shaundeeb heading the list. Joining him was other well-known tournament pros “Supa4real” and Jcardshark, known as “FieryJustice”. With a lot of major wins and millions of dollars in tournament cashes the final table seemed primed for a big-name winner. However, “pokerATL”, a player whose largest cash to this date was $6,7000, spoiled all the fun. After the major competition fell by the wayside pokerATL outlasted “Oechsle” for the win and $88,198.60 in first place money.
PokerStars Sunday $500k Guaranteed
1022 Entrants; $511,000 prize pool
1. pokerATL $88,198.60
2. Oechsle $63,875
3. Jay Baggs $48,545
4. imashokU $35,565.60
5. Supa4real $25,294.50
6. Jcardshark $20,184.50
7. 7DeLuX7 $15,074.50
8. Shazmeister $9,964.50
9. shaundeeb $5,621
The Sunday Million failed to reach their guarantee by nearly 500 competitors, forcing PokerStars to add nearly $100,000 to the prize pool. There were two huge names making the final table including long-time FlopTurnRiver member/moderator gp333 (known as Gabe). Joining him was one of the best tournament players in the world, SCTrojans who has wins in $1,050, $215r, and $162 buy-in events on PokerStars alone. All in all he has more than $1,166,000 in cashes lifetime on Stars. Unfortunately Gabe lost a few big flips near the final table and could not buil a stack, eventually busting in 9th place for $10,500. Heads-Up play came down to “master zulle” and SCTrojans. While SCTrojans has all the accollades it was once again, the amateur player, master zulle, taking home the title and $184,500.
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
7021 Entrants; $1,500,000 prize pool
1. master zulle $184,500
2. SCTrojans $124,950
3. Germaniac2 $84,000
4. Uninc157 $69,000
5. Der Patient $54,000
6. MissStax $39,000
7. anybody1108 $26,250
8. monk-dogg$17,250
9. gp333 $10,500
The $215r fell well below it’s guarantee, however, the final table more than made up for the lack of entrants. Players such as “apestyles”, “thechemist83”, and “govshark2” headlined the final-nine which week in and week out tends to be the strongest Final Table online. High-stakes tournament professional “slimshaggy” finally booked a win for the pros this Sunday as he was able to defeat “ocrowe” heads-up for a $41,000 cash. This is his 2nd win in the $215r and he also won the $109r for over $57,000 last March.
PokerStars Sunday $215r $200k Guaranteed
279 Entrants, $200,000 prize pool
1. slimshaggy $41,000
2. ocrowe $30,000
3. PreshaDrop $22,600
4. LaurenMarie $17,000
5. YaBoyOneil $11,800
6. apestyles $9,000
7. camerofelix $7,000
8. govshark2 $5,000
9. thechemist83 $3,500
The final event this past Sunday on PokerStars was the appropriately-named Sunday Second Chance. This week 1,269 entrants created a $253,800 prize pool, just barely beating the $250k guarantee. The biggest name making the final table was “basebaldy” who took down the $750k on FullTilt last December. Overall basebaldy had 6 $20,000+ scores to his name before making this final table. Once again, however, experience could not beat luck, as “berenice11” playing in only his 29th tournament on PokerStars, was able to win a heads-up battle vs. basebaldy and take home over $46,000 in first place money.
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1269 Entrants; $253,800 prize pool
1. berenice11 $46,318.50
2. basebaldy $33,730.02
3. Goldenboys $25,380
4. Pipedream17 $19,035
5. last_boss $13,324.50
6. Louis Dubois $10,786.50
7. k/a_spades $8,248.50
8. djk123 $5,710.50
9. TraderJoe1 $3,553.20
FullTilt decided run its monthly $1M Guarantee this past weekend, bumping up the typical $200+$16 $750k Guaranteed to a $500+$35 $1,000,000 Guarantee. Besides the $1M FullTilt also ran their Sunday Brawl and the Sunday Mulligan.
The Sunday Brawl is a $240+$16 buy-in “Knock-Out” Event, paying $40 to a player each time he/she knocks out a fellow competitor. This week 17 FullTilt sponsored professionals including Josh Arieh, Scott Fischman, and Stuart Paterson competed in the Brawl, however, none were able to make it inside the top-100 finishers. Top-100 ranked tournament professional “DurangoDan35”, known as “Patrolman35” won the event, besting his previous high-score of $71,000 for a 3rd place finish in the Sunday Warm-Up in February. He was able to beat a formiddable opponent heads-up in “FlopNutsOnYou” who had 6 $20,000+ scores to his name before finishing second for just over $54,000.
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $350k Guaranteed
2,051 Entrants; $410,200 prize pool
1. DurangoDan35 $83,660.29
2. FlopNutsOnYou $54,146.40
3. eh90tcm $40,199.60
4. pepe11 $30,354.80
5. Turbo Johnson $21,330.40
6. genetodd $13,946.80
7. SuperUsed $9,434
8. debeuker $6,563.20
9. kautabjo $4,922.40
The FullTilt $1M Guaranteed was coming fresh off the heels of the SCOOP which seemed to be a risky move by FullTilt. Unfortunately the gamble did not pay off as the tournament feel short of it’s guarantee by $8,000. 27 FullTilt Red Pros played in the tournament including Mike Matusow, Brandon Adams, and Phil Gordon. None of the pros made a deep run which was the theme at the final table as well. The best-known player at the final table was “The Chosen Wun” who won a $22 SCOOP Event last week for over $62,000. Going into heads-up play was “TheMutters” and “kalterrell”, two players with out much success. The title eventually went to TheMutters who took home $184,000 for the victory.
FullTilt Sunday $1M Guaranteed
1,984 Entrants; $1,000,000 prize pool
1. TheMutters $184,000
2. kalterrell $113,000
3. The Chosen Wun $74,000
4. AceHasslehoff $59,000
5. topper33 $45,000
6. 420-888 $32,200
7. every1luvzneecy $23,500
8. MickT1 $18,500
9. Miguel Santiago $14,000
The final event of the day, the FullTilt Sunday Mulligan, saw only 9 FullTilt Sponsored Pros play including Bruce Buffer, Leandro Brasa, and Scott Fischman. David “Sir Sands” Sands, a to-70 ranked tournament pro was able to take down the title. The $53,020 first place check was his second biggest cash of all time behind a win in the $750k Gaurataneed last November.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,205 Entrants; $241,000 prize pool
1. Doc Sands $53,020
2. mattster24 $33,740
3. OMGlefty $24,823
4. Wildflower51 $19,581.25
5. manderbutt $15,062.50
6. Scott153 $10,845
7. th_IN_kB4Urail $7,230
8. mman_status $5,422.50
9. UFman2 $3,856