With the WSOP in full swing some might assume that online tournaments would see a big drop in attendance. However, that was not the case as May came to an end with a big bang. Not only did the majority of big tournaments reach their guarantees this past Sunday, but it also marked a special Turbo Takedown on PokerStars which awarded $40,000 AND a Porsche to the winner.
The day started off with the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars. After a few troubling weeks the Warm-Up re-instated itself as the second biggest event of the day with over 4,000 entrants creating a prize pool in excess of $800,000. The heads-up battle came down to “justif1ed” and “Blodpudding”, two players who have had little success on PokerStars in the past. Between the two, their best score was merely $5,000, but that was all about to change as a 2nd place finish guaranteed a $95,000 payday. In the end justif1ed took home the title on a tough beat, his A8o beating AKo:
Seat 2: justif1ed (26596504 in chips)
Seat 7: Blodpudding (14353496 in chips)
justif1ed: posts small blind 250000
Blodpudding: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
justif1ed: calls 250000
Blodpudding: raises 1300000 to 1800000
justif1ed: raises 24746504 to 26546504 and is all-in
Blodpudding: calls 12503496 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (12243008) returned to justif1ed
*** FLOP *** [6s Qh 8d]
*** TURN *** [6s Qh 8d] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [6s Qh 8d 7h] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Blodpudding: shows [Kh Ac] (high card Ace)
justif1ed: shows [As 8h] (a pair of Eights)
justif1ed collected 28706992 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up $750k Guaranteed
4095 Entrants; $819,000 prize pool
1. justif1ed $128,583
2. Boldpudding $95,823
3. basebal1b $67,567.50
4. KidPokerJD $47,092.50
5. Forceps $34,807.50
6. $hip$hark $26,617.50
7. zmeyer $18,427.50
8. legenden $10,237.50
9. winone123 $6,552
The Million, just like the Warm-Up, saw a large group of unknowns make the final table. This weekend brought one of the biggest Sunday Million fields in some time, with over 8,700 entrants. What’s interesting is 15 minutes prior to the tournament start only a mere 5,000 people had signed up! Once again the heads-up battle came down to two unknowns with no $10,000+ score to their names. With over $440,000 left to be played for, the heads-up battle was a good one, eventually won by “Rock & Fold”:
Seat 2: Rock & Fold (74382162 in chips)
Seat 8: scottuga44 (13277838 in chips)
Rock & Fold: posts small blind 700000
scottuga44: posts big blind 1400000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Rock & Fold: raises 1400000 to 2800000
scottuga44: raises 10337838 to 13137838 and is all-in
Rock & Fold: calls 10337838
*** FLOP *** [Ac Kd Jc]
*** TURN *** [Ac Kd Jc] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Ac Kd Jc 6s] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
scottuga44: shows [Qs 9s] (high card Ace)
Rock & Fold: shows [Kc 4c] (a pair of Kings)
Rock & Fold collected 26555676 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Million $1.5M Guaranteed
8766 Entrants; $1,753,200 prize pool
1. Rock & Fold $257,895.73
2. scottuga44 $188,469.01
3. peterpatat $131,490.01
4. papaya66 $87,660.01
5. Chipwreaked $70,128.01
6. ExaMeter $52,596.01
7. Abcabc4 $35,064.01
8. Royal Lacky $19,285.21
9. Synercard $13,587.31
There were a few twists thrown into the monthly $1,000,000 Turbo Takedown on PokerStars. First, the entry fee was lowered from 5,000 Frequent Player Points (FPPs) to 2,000 FPPs. Secondly, the winner was to be awarded a Porsche Cayman as well as $40,000. Finally the pay-out structure went even deeper, paying 10,000 players, exactly one-third of the field. The first place pay-out is usually $100,000, but I doubt “bigjbecker” minds this time as he walked away with $40,000 in cash and a Porsche.
PokerStars Turbo Takedown $1M Guaranteed
1. bigjbecker $40,000
2. jabariwoki $24,000
3. Luckyb555 $20,000
4. 1 REALDEAL 1 $16,000
5. mas_da_masta $12,000
6. Aegis877 $8,000
7. tason1101 $6,020
8. pairsetboat $5,000
9. rageniv $4,000
The Sunday500 might have felt the effect of a few big WSOP Events running Sunday as the final table was not as packed with big names as it usually is. However, for the first time in a while the tournament reached 1,000 entrants, good enough to reach the $500,000 guarantee. “Javel”, a tournament grinder, took home the title and nearly $89,000 in first place money. This was the biggest score in his career by a wide margin and his second Sunday major since a victory back in 2006 for just over $50,000.
Seat 5: javel (6742305 in chips)
Seat 9: caio_pimenta (3537695 in chips)
caio_pimenta: posts small blind 30000
javel: posts big blind 60000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
caio_pimenta: raises 60000 to 120000
javel: raises 240000 to 360000
caio_pimenta: raises 1000000 to 1360000
javel: raises 5376305 to 6736305 and is all-in
caio_pimenta: calls 2171695 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (3204610) returned to javel
*** FLOP *** [8d Tc Js]
*** TURN *** [8d Tc Js] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [8d Tc Js Ts] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
javel: shows [As Kc] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
caio_pimenta: shows [Kh Qd] (two pair, Tens and Eights – lower kicker)
javel collected 7075390 from pot
PokerStars Sunday500 $500k Guaranteed
1028 Entrants; $514,000 prize pool
1. javel $88,716.40
2. caio_pimenta $64,250
3. All-In or? $48,830
4. reef2287 $35,774.40
5. CPT CRUX $25,443.00
6. Aftret $20,303
7. THE_ALPACA $15,163
8. smnrgg81 $10,023
9. hitthehole $5,654
Although the Sunday500 might have lacked some final table fire-power, the $215r more than made up for it. A bevy of big names including “rivermanl”, “rusostreet”, and “ZEMBALOUIE” all made nice runs, including the latter two. In fact, heads-up play came down to ZEMBALOUIE who finished second in the Sunday500 last Sunday and rusostreet, who has a 2nd in the Sunday500 and a win in the Sunday Second Chance and the $215r.
Seat 1: ZEMBALOUIE (1393840 in chips)
Seat 4: rusostreet (145660 in chips)
rusostreet: posts small blind 8000
ZEMBALOUIE: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
rusostreet: raises 128060 to 144060 and is all-in
ZEMBALOUIE: calls 128060
*** FLOP *** [8d 4d 8h]
*** TURN *** [8d 4d 8h] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [8d 4d 8h 7d] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ZEMBALOUIE: shows [9c 9d] (a flush, Nine high)
rusostreet: shows [Kc 2h] (a pair of Eights)
ZEMBALOUIE collected 291320 from pot
PokerStars $215r $200k Guaranteed
297 Entrants; $200,000 prize pool
1. ZEMBALOUIE $41,000
2. rusostreet $30,000
3. VuXi To $22,600
4. Sabrina1986 $17,000
5. Luigi da BP $11,800
6. frenchsnake $9,000
7. sms9231 $7,000
8. rivermanl $5,000
9. Phoenician88 $3,500
The final event of the day on PokerStars was, as always, the Sunday Second Chance. With the day winding down, the tournament squeaked over its guarantee by three entrants. Once again it was a relatively unknown player who walked away with the title and over $54,000. “GreatDavid”, whose biggest score to this date was a $20,700 cash in a $1,050 event, proved to be too much for “raotime”, another player who had yet to record any big scores on PokerStars. The final hand was a bit of a cooler, as both players flopped top pair, and raotime was barely out-kicked:
Seat 2: GreatDavid (3347902 in chips)
Seat 7: raotime (1161098 in chips)
GreatDavid: posts small blind 25000
raotime: posts big blind 50000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
GreatDavid: calls 25000
raotime: checks
*** FLOP *** [6c 8h 9d]
raotime: checks
GreatDavid: bets 67565
raotime: raises 132435 to 200000
GreatDavid: raises 3092902 to 3292902 and is all-in
raotime: calls 906098 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2186804) returned to GreatDavid
*** TURN *** [6c 8h 9d] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [6c 8h 9d 2h] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
raotime: shows [Th 9c] (a pair of Nines)
GreatDavid: shows [Jh 9h] (a pair of Nines – King+Jack kicker)
GreatDavid collected 2322196 from pot
PokerStars Sunday Second Chance $250k Guaranteed
1503 Entrants; $300,600 prize pool
1. GreatDavid $54,228.24
2. raotime $39,228.30
3. skater3598 $30,060
4. theaElise $22,545
5. IceyBSimpson $15,781.50
6. nofingclue11 $12,775.50
7. Kiba52 $9,769.50
8. LuckyBoxxi $6,763.50
9. Ericb09 $4,208.40
FullTilt finally had a day of full tournaments, as the struggling $750k was able to reach its guarantee for the first time in some while. The WSOP must be getting players excited for poker again. The first tournament of the day was the $350,000 guaranteed Brawl, a Knock-Out event. While most of their professionals were playing in WSOP Events, 13 Red Pros including Scott Fischman, Ram Vaswani, and Mike McDonald managed to play in the tournament. Unfortunately none of the professionals made a run inside the top-100, leaving a field full of amateurs fighting over the $400,000+ prize pool. In the end a nice PF trap by “Coach9118” earned him the title and over $85,000 in first-place money:
Seat 4: orajel (1,970,352)
Seat 6: Coach9118 (4,296,648)
Coach9118 posts the small blind of 25,000
orajel posts the big blind of 50,000
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Coach9118 calls 25,000
orajel raises to 1,964,352, and is all in
Coach9118 calls 1,914,352
orajel shows [Jd Kd]
Coach9118 shows [Ah Ac]
*** FLOP *** [Ks As 2d]
*** TURN *** [Ks As 2d] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Ks As 2d Th] [5h]
orajel shows a pair of Kings
Coach9118 shows three of a kind, Aces
Coach9118 wins the pot (3,940,704) with three of a kind, Aces
FullTilt Sunday Brawl $350k Guaranteed
2,089 Entrants; $417,800 prize pool
1. Coach9118 $85,210.31
2. orajel $55,149.60
3. SYRACUSE CHRIS $40,944.40
4. Dantes_11 $30,917.20
5. mcpalermo $21,725.60
6. scatterbrain123 $14,205.20
7. Claudius2 $9,609.40
8. masp797 $6,684.80
9. Ramon_W $5,013.60
The $750k saw a nice boost in attendance. 4,002 entrants was a sight for sore-eyes for a tournament which had been averaging around 3,500 entrants lately. Twenty-seven FullTilt sponsored professionals played in the event, including Brian “stinger” Hastings, Beth Shak, and the always funny Adam Schoenfeld. Once again none of the professionals made it inside the top-100. One pro did make the final table, “gator93”, who finished in 5th place. The $33,000 score came nowhere close to his biggest score, a $123,000 cash for finishing 2nd in the $1M Guaranteed last December. While he was unable to close the deal, “phounder” certainly found no trouble in beating “gregior” heads-up for the title and over $141,000.
FullTilt Sunday $750k Guaranteed
4,002 Entrants; $800,400 prize pool
1. phounder $141,342.64
2. gregior $85,562.76
3. mob6kid $56,028
4. BIGFLOPPER01 $44,022
5. Gator93 $33,056.52
6. NotLikeley $24,492.24
7. Tarsis $18,409.20
8. bearbuck $14,407.20
9. mapletrees22 $10,725.36
The final event of the day was won by “Donnieslasko”, the $51,300 score easily bested his previous best, a $14,033 score for finishing 4th in a $163 event. The Mulligan completed a clean sweep for FullTilt on their guarantees, which had to be welcomed after less than stellar attendance in last month’s FTOPS.
FullTilt Sunday Mulligan $200k Guaranteed
1,140 Entrants; $228,000 prize pool
1. Donnieslasko $51,300
2. miserd00d $32,490
3. DOOMS4Y3R $24,054
4. skaterson734 $18,810
5. Jack4339 $14,250
6. IAmSoSo $10,260
7. eatschips $6,840
8. helst66 $5,130
9. toilet22 $3,648