2009 December | TourneyDollars.com Pokerstars Exchange

Checkout the Official PokerStars Blog for the latest Pokerstars news.

Archive for December, 2009

Trapping with a big hand pre-flop, by Alex Kravchenko

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

by Alex Kravchenko

One of the most important strategies in MTTs is varying your game. That means that in similar situations with similar hands you must occasionally play a different way. For example, when you have a big hand pre-flop and there's a raise in front of you, sometimes you re-raise and sometimes you just call.

I think there are two major factors that affect your decision. First is your opinion about a raiser - you must be more willing to call against a loose aggressive player who is bluffing a lot after the flop. Also this kind of player is raising with a lot of hands pre-flop, so it's harder for him to outdraw you. And after all, if your image is solid, he will fold almost always when you three-bet (things are different if you are re-raising a lot - in this case may be three-bet is the better option, because you can expect a four-bet re-steal attempt).

The second factor is: Who is sitting behind you? If there are a couple aggressive players there then you can try to provoke them to squeeze after you call. This is one of the most profitable situations in tournament NL Hold'em, when somebody puts a big three-bet raise on a bluff, then you move all in, forcing your opponent to fold. It means you can win a huge amount of chips without showdown and with no chance of losing.

I would like to illustrate this concept with the examples of two hands which I played in the Bellagio Cup 15k Main Event in July, 2009. This tournament had a perfect slow structure, so even in the late stages the play was deep enough. These two hands happened on day three. In the first one the blinds were 2,000-4,000 (500 ante). Before the hand I had 155,000 chips, which was about 2/3 of the average stack. We were nine-handed. The UTG player opened with 10,500 and I picked up K-K in second position. The reason why I just called is that my table image is usually solid - and that applied to this particular table as well. I thought that if I re-raised in this position it would kill all the possible action behind. So I called - and then the cut-off player put a big re-raise of 60,000. Everybody folded, including the original raiser, and I went all in for 155,000 and my opponent was priced to call with his A-Q suited. Nothing bad happened and I doubled up.

The second hand was played at the end of the same day. With 27 in the money, there were 37 left in the tournament. We were playing seven-handed, with blinds at 4,000-8,000 (1,000 ante). My stack was about 420,000, which was slightly above average. Jeff Madsen (250,000 chips) was sitting to my left, so in this hand I was on the small blind and he was the big blind. The second position player raised up to 20,000, everybody else folded to me in the small blind where I had A-K suited. The way the raiser put his chips in gave me a feeling that he was not strong, and I thought that maybe Jeff noticed it also. So I decided to call, hoping he would try to steal this pot with a re-raise. My plan was that he would raise about 75,000, then I would move all in and easily pick up about 100,000 in chips.

To my surprise he moved in with all his 250,000 chips, and the original raiser folded. Now I knew that he had a hand, but the question was how strong? I was thinking for about two minutes and made a call. I wasn't really expecting myself to fold, but I believe that if I'm taking my time to think in situations like this I'm not losing anything and am preventing myself from making bad instant decisions.

In this case the very important question was whether your opponent could have A-Q or not. If yes (and that I believed that was the case here), it's absolutely a call. If no, then it's very border line, especially when you are close to the money spots. For the showdown Jeff showed A-Q, and I won a 500,000 pot and finished the day with a comfortable 700,000 stack.

So there are two good examples of playing big hands well. Unfortunately, the next day was unlucky for me - I made two wrong decisions and finished in 19th place.

Posted in Alex Kravchenko, Pokerstars | Comments Off

2009 PokerStars Year in Review

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

As the calendar trips from one year to the next, folks tend to find moments of introspection. We look at ourselves and wonder what we might have done better, what we could've done worse, and what we hope to achieve in the coming 365 days.

We here at the PokerStars Blog are no less reflective. Each December since 2005, we have taken a look back at the previous 12 months at PokerStars. Each year we revel in how much the world's biggest online poker site has accomplished and how exciting it continues to make our favorite game.

With more than 28 million players signed up, PokerStars is still the biggest poker site around, and there is little question why. Over the past 52 weeks, PokerStars has done no less than stun us all with its improvements and reach. It has broken all the major records in online poker. It has introduced new poker tours. It has set up Euro currency accounts, instituted synchronized tournament breaks, improved the T$, and introduced heads-up SNG rematches. It, quite simply, has been awesome.

With that, we'd like to take a brief look back at some of the highlights from the past year on the PokerStars Blog. We hope you have enjoyed it all as much as we have enjoyed writing about it. We look forward to what PokerStars has to offer over the next 12 months and we hope you'll stick with us in 2010.

Previous years: 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Click the headlines to read the whole story

JANUARY

Poorya Nazari wins 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure--The sixth annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was bigger than it had ever been and featured some of the world's top competition. The first prize clocked in at $3 million. The final table featured Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes, an appearance that featured one of the world's most brutal final table exits (see it on PokerStars.tv). When it was all said and done, Canada's Poorya Nazari finished with the trophy.

Poorya Nazari claims his PCA championship trophy

Bahbak "bigredAK" Oboodi Wins 2009 World Championship of Battleship Poker--In a field that saw Sorel Mizzi and Justin Bonomo make it to the quarterfinals, the best-of-three showdown put Jared "Harrington10" Bleznick up against Bahbak "bigredAK" Oboodi. First place went to Oboodi.

Germany crowned World Cup of Poker champions--Led by Team PokerStars Pro from Germany Jan Heitmann, Team Germany made its way through a worldwide field and bested the ten-hour final to take poker's biggest worldwide trophy and $100,000.

Team Germany celebrates its win

Peter Eastgate wins...AGAIN--Just a couple months removed from winning the World Series of Poker Main Event (and doing so as the youngest ever), Peter Eastgate went to the PCA and won a $5,000 side event for $343,000.

Fabian Ortiz stages LAPT's greatest comeback in Chile--At one point during the final table of the first LAPT event in Chile, you could've gotten 1000-1 on Argentina's Fabian Ortiz winning the tournament. He was down to one small blind and looked to have no chance. By now, everybody knows Ortiz came back for the win and the greatest story to come out of the LAPT all year long.

Fabian Ortiz, the LAPT comeback king

Moritz Kranich wins at EPT Deauville--After a one-year layoff in France, the EPT returned to Deauville and saw Germany's Moritz Kranich take down €851,400 and the EPT trophy.

Moritz Kranich in Deauville, France

FEBRUARY

Oleg Suntsov wins first Russian Poker Tour event--After starting a final table with barely enough chips to stack, Oleg Sunstov came back from the brink to win the first-ever Russian Poker Tour tournament in St. Petersburg.

ANZPT crowns first champions--In what would prove to be the biggest poker tour in the region, the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour kicked off in Adelaide and crowned Karl Krautschneider as its first-ever champion.

PokerStars deals its 25 billionth hand--After a countdown that lasted through a couple weeks in February, PokerStars dealt out its 25 billionth hand and gave the winners some pretty serious prizes. What started out as $100,000 in prizes got bigger after the hand ended in a split pot at an Omaha-8 table.

Jens Kyllönen wins EPT Copenhagen--In one of the quickest EPT Copenhagen final tables to date, Jens Kyllönen won the title in less than five hours. He walked away with €878,057 for his quick work.

Jens Kyllönen, EPT Copenhagen champion

J.C. Alvarado joins Team PokerStars Pro Mexico--After leading Team Mexico to the live finals of the World Cup of Poker, J.C. Alvarado found a much-deserved place among the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro.

MARCH

PokerStars 8-game goes high-stakes--Initially, Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu wanted to play some high-stakes games. PokerStars accommodated them. Then, next thing everybody knew, PokerStars had a high stakes 8-game mix going on.

Rousso makes history in Heads-Up Championships--At the NBC Heads-Up Championships, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso beat Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and ElkY and went deeper in the event than any woman ever has.

Vanessa Rousso at the NBC Heads-Up Championships

Sandra Naujoks wins EPT Dortmund--Sandra Naujoks went to Dortmund as a 27-year-old poker beauty and came out as only the second-ever woman to win a European Poker Tour event. You will now find her on Team PokerStars Pro Germany.

Sandra Naujoks

PokerStars opens China's first live poker room--After some rousing APPT success in Macau, PokerStars opened PokerStars Macau at the Gran Lisboa hotel. The room on the second floor of the famous hotel in Macau is the biggest poker room in continental Asia.

LAPT Mexico?--After a very, very long story not worth telling again, the protracted, disrupted, and ultimately relocated LAPT Mexico event crowned Rory Cox as its champion.

Houdini Hevroy earns his nickname, LAPT title--Norway's Karl Hevroy is a poker player with a knack for getting out of tight spots. In Punta del Este, Uruguay, that knack also managed to earn him $283,500, and an LAPT title.

PokerStars Blog gets a facelift--After years of appearing with the same design, the PokerStars blog introduced a brand new look.

Johnny Lodden joins Team PokerStars Pro--In a long-awaited marriage of talents, one of Europe's greatest players finally joined hands with Team PokerStars Pro. He was the first-ever Norwegian to get a spot on the elite team.

Johnny Lodden

Boku87 turns nothing into something big--Thomas "Boku87" Boekhof decided to do something few people can do, and do it in record time. He took $100 and turned it into $10,000 and he did it in two weeks.

Fernnadez, Mayrinck join Team PokerStars Pro--It what would eventually prove to be a run on the best South American players, PokerStars snapped up Argentina's Leo Fernandez and Brazil's Maria "maridu" Mayrinck.

Team PokerStars Pro wins first All Star Week--In March, PokerStars started up its first competition between its team PokerStars Pro and a team of some of the best online players. When it was all said and done, Team PokerStars Pro won in a squeaker.

APRIL

2009 finds its first Supernova Elite--The past couple of years have introduced us to a new level of distinction. The Supernova Elite level of the VIP Club is the most difficult and profitable level to reach. This year, skilled_sox became the first Supernova Elite of 2009.

PokerStars Blog joins Twitter--At long last, the PokerStars Blog team joined the Twitter revolution. You can find our latest updates at www.twitter.com/pokerstarsblog.

Ante Up for Africa goes to Europe--After a couple of successful years in the U.S., the Ante Up For Africa charity event headed to Monte Carlo and joined the EPT. In all, the event raised 250,000 euros for relief efforts in war-torn Darfur, Sudan.vThe smiling face you see below won the whole tournament.

ElkY wins WPT player of the year--After a spectacular season on the World Poker Tour, Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier took third in the $25,000 championship event and won the WPT Player of the Year award.

Constant Rijkenberg wins EPT San Remo--In what has become one of the EPT's best new events, EPT San Remo crowned Constant Rijkenberg as its newest champion after he beat Finland's Kalle Niemi heads-up to claim a check for €1,508,000.

Eastgate, Demidov join Team PokerStars Pro--From the files of "Well, Duh!" PokerStars grabbed the top two finishers of the 2008 WSOP, Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov, and signed them to Team PokerStars Pro.

j.thaddeus wins big one in first ever SCOOP main event--2009 saw PokerStars introduce the Spring Championship of Online Poker. Each event featured three buy-in levels and attracted bankrolls of all sizes. The event had a ton of big stories, including Terrence "Unassigned" Chan winning two buy-in levels of the same in event in one night. New Team PokerStars Pro J.C. Tran also impressed with his medium buy-in main event win. The biggest story of the series, however, was j.thaddeus taking down the big buy-in main event for nearly a million bucks.

Dominik Nitsche wins LAPT Grand Final--To close out the second season of the LAPT, 18-year-old German qualifier Dominik Nitsche traveled to Mar Del Plata, Argentina and won $387,030 for his first place finish.

Dominik Nitsche

MAY

Paren Arzoomanian wins ANZPT Sydney--In the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour's first season, cancer survivor Paren Arzoomanian finished a round of chemotherapy and conquered the tournament field for a first prize of AUD $246,500.

Pieter de Korver wins EPT Grand Final--After clocking in 13,000 miles to eleven different cities, the EPT once again held its Grand Final in Monte Carlo and crowned Pieter de Korver as its champion. The Team PokerStars Pro from the Netherlands won €2,300,000.

Pieter de Korver

Vanessa Rousso wins EPT High Roller--Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso had nothing to prove going into the EPT High Roller event in Monte Carlo. Still, she beat a field of 79 players and walked away with the high roller title.

Vitaly Lunkin wins PokerStars RPT Moscow--2009 saw PokerStars introduce Russia's first poker tour. When the series went to Moscow, rising star Vitaly Lunkin won the title.

Monkey man wins 100,000 FPPs--In May, PokerStars held a contest to see who could take the best photo of the PokerStars plush monkey. No question why the photo below won the grand prize.

JUNE

Greg Raymer takes third place in WSOP $40,000--To celebrate the 40 years of the World Series of Poker, Harrahs threw a special $40,000 no-limit hold'em event that drew some of the top names in poker. No big surprise then when WSOP champ Greg Raymer made the final table and placed third for $774,927.

PokerStars' Tom McEvoy wins WSOP Champions Invitational--This was quite a year for Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy. He was nominated for the poker Hall of Fame (didn't quite get there, but it's only a matter of time). He also sat down for the WSOP Champions Invitational and beat out a field made up of nothing but former WSOP winners. For his win, he got a Corvette and the continued respect of his peers.

Italian Poker Tour kicks off in San Remo--It was certainly a year for new poker tours, and PokerStars led the way in Italy. In June, the IPT opened with its first stop in San Remo. The first event title went to banker Stefano Puccilli.

LAPT mourns passing of Chiquitita--In June, the Latin American Poker tour lost one of its most beloved players, Jyries Saba. He will be missed when Season 3 returns the LAPT to Chile in March.

Angel Guillen wins bracelet and $530,548--Just a couple weeks after finishing runner-up for a WSOP bracelet, Team PokerStars Pro Mexico Angel Guillen did himself one better and won more than half a million bucks in a WSOP $2,000 event. It was his first World Series bracelet.

JULY

Alex Gomes wins on World Poker Tour--Alex Gomes had threatened to win a major title earlier in the year. Most folks knew it was only a matter of time before Gomes did something big. How big? How about the $1,187,670 first prize he won for taking down the Bellagio Cup?

PokerStars breaks World Record--In what would prove to be a bit of a trend in 2009, PokerStars broke the record for the biggest-ever poker tournament. Sixty-five thousand people showed up. This seemed pretty significant until December. Standby for that.

Danny Chevalier wins ANZPT Queenstown--The ANZPT continued its run across Oceania and crowned its newest champion, a hometown hero.

PokerStars players make WSOP final table--For the second year in a row, the WSOP delayed its final table until November. Once again, PokerStars was ready to represent. Three players headed to November flying the PokerStars flag, including qualifier Kevin Schaffel. Check out the November section of this report for how it turned out.

AUGUST

Matt Perrins wins PokerStars IPT Venice--The Italian Poker Tour continued its trek across the country. The Venice stop saw a man from Britain win the title.

Scott Kerr wins ANZPT Queensland--The ANZPT closed out its first season in Queensland and crowned Scott Kerr as its final champion of the year.

Maxim Lykov wins EPT Kyiv--For the first time ever, the European Poker Tour traveled to the Ukraine. Maxim Lykov was the first Russian player to claim an EPT title.

Dermot Blain wins APPT Macau--For the first time, the APPT event in Macau was held at the stunning Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino, and in the largest poker room in continental Asia, PokerStars Macau. Dermot Blain walked away with the title.

SEPTEMBER

Sweden takes over Italy--22-year-old poker pro Ramzi Jelassi flew down from Sweden specifically to play in IPT San Remo and ended up as the only non-Italian at the final table. The prize for taking the title out of Italy and back home to Sweden? A sweet €170,000.

Brazil wins first Americas Cup of Poker--PokerStars traveled to Patagonia to host the first-ever Americas Cup of Poker. In a battle between counties from all over the Americas, Brazil took the title and the $100,000 first prize.

Carter Phillips wins EPT Barcelona--In a battle between the UK and the US, the western side of the Atlantic emerged with the victory and the EPT title. Carter Phillips won €850,000 for his victory.

Team PokerStars Pro scores WCOOP bracelet--George Danzer, the Team PokerStars Pro from Germany, stepped up to score the Team's first 2009 WCOOP bracelet. He won $109,545.00 in Event 19, $320+R PLO.

Chad Brown wins Gulf Coast Championship--Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown traveled with wife Vanessa Rousso to the American Gulf Coast. While there he managed to take down the Gulf Coast Poker Championships.

WCOOP raises the bar--Not only did the World Championship of Online Poker break all money and participant records from previous years, but it also welcomed three brand new double WCOOP bracelet winners. Ryan "g0lfa" D'Angelo won Event 18 ($320 8-Game) and Event 29 ($320 Mixed Event). Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier took down Event 38 ($530 No Limit Hold'em 1R1A) and Event 43 ($215 No Limit Hold'em).

Daniel "djk123" Kelly, however, was the breakout player of the year. He first won two bracelets in Event 2 ($215 Razz) and Event 44 ($10,300 HORSE High Roller). Then he went on to play the $5,200 Main Event, made it all the way to the final table, and placed fourth for $643,200. That incredible performance earned him the Player of the Series trophy and a premium package to this year's PCA.

The event that put Kelly over the top was the same that saw Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko outlast a field of 2,144 of the world's best online players to claim the coveted WCOOP Main Event title and $1,715,200. Timoshenko had already proven himself on the world stage with a title in Asia and a first place finish on the World Poker Tour. The WCOOP win sealed his spot as one of the top tournament pros around.

World Cup of Poker sets live finals--Once again, the live finals of the World Cup of Poker will be played out at the PCA (stay tuned for live coverage). Once again, the final field is a true worldwide battle. The United States, Germany, Canada, Italy, Finland, Norway, Croatia, Taiwan and Chile will all be fighting for the World Cup of Poker title.

PokerStars breaks its own record--Once again, PokerStars went after a record: its own. In late September, 307,016 people logged on to play PokerStars at the exact same time. They filled more than 42,800 tables and destroyed the old record for most players at a poker site by more than 100,000 players.

OCTOBER

Negreanu becomes all-time tournament money winner--Daniel Negreanu came very close to winning the World Series of Poker Europe main event. He missed it by just one place. In the meantime, he won enough money to become poker's biggest tournament money winner.

Hachem wins EPT London 8-game event--Joe Hachem may have made his name playing no-limit Hold'em, but he's apparently got game. Eight off them, in fact. He traveled to EPT London and managed to take down the 8-game tournament there.

Jason Mercier wins another pile of money--Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier is known to win just about everything he plays. So, when he went to EPT London and played in a side event there, well, you know what he did.

William Thorson joins Hachem and Mercier in side event winners' lounge--EPT London's side events was where the Team PokerStars Pro shined. Just a day or so after Hachem and Mercier won a bunch of money, William Thorson took down the PLO side event for his own title.

Gustavson defeats Eastgate for EPT title--In what was the biggest EPT London ever, American qualifier Aaron Gustavson played WSOP champ Peter Eastgate heads-up for the title and £850,000.

Simon Watt ushers APPT into Auckland--The Asia Pacific Poker Tour headed down to the land of the Kiwis and crowned the newest champion, Simon Watt.

Old timer schools the kids at EPT Warsaw--Christophe Benzimra sat down as the oldest player at the EPT Warsaw final table and managed to outplay and outlast the kids for a €358,644 win.

Baltic Poker Festival goes to Brits-- Two British poker players flew to Tallin for the first PokerStars Baltic Festival and got heads up for the championship. When it was over, Thomas Partridge took the title and €76,750.

NOVEMBER

Joe Cada becomes youngest WSOP champion--In a final table comeback that will be the stuff of legend, PokerStars player Joe Cada won poker's biggest and most prestigious title. He is now the youngest-ever WSOP bracelet winner.

APPT gets first Korean champ--Korea's Dong-bin Han traveled to Cebu to become the winner of the biggest and richest poker tournament ever played in the Philippines. He beat out a field of 319 players for the title.

Local hero wins EPT Vilamoura--For the first time in its history, the EPT went to Portugal. The people there wanted to make sure someone from outside didn't steal the limelight. So hometown hero Antonio Matias took it down.

Canadian takes LAPT title--Season 3 of the LAPT kicked off in Playa Conchal, Costa Rica. The final table was, for some reason, awash with Canadians, including the eventual winner, Amer Sulaiman.

DECEMBER

APPT closes Season 3--After a more than successful third season, the APPT headed to Sydney for its final event of the year. Aaron Benton won that tournament and $594,000.

Jan Skampa wins EPT Prague--Two weeks after becoming the first Czech player to make an EPT final table, Jan Skampa became the first Czech player to win an EPT main event.

Padraig Parkinson wins UKIPT Galway--The very first UKIPT event saw yet another hometown hero take a title. The inaugural event of the the UK & Ireland Poker Tour event in Galway, Ireland went to Irish poker legend Padraig Parkinson.

VIP Club adds Stellar Rewards program--Ready to make money just for playing on PokerStars? Click that link and learn how.

PokerStars breaks record...again--Less than six months after breaking its biggest-ever tournament record, PokerStars did it again at the end of the year when nearly 150,000 players sat down for one tournament.

9/11 hero wins PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge--In the very first season of the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge, 9/11 hero Mike Kosowski beat Daniel Negreanu heads-up for and won $1 million in front of millions of people on FOX television.

Posted in PokerStars news, Pokerstars | Comments Off

Watch Mike Kosowski win a million

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

By now you know that the first first season of the PokerStars Million Dollar challenge ended with one of the contestants beating Daniel Negreanu for $1 million.

If you somehow missed the covers of the New York newspapers and all the poker industry web sites, the winner, Mike Kosowski, was a 9/11 hero who not only triumphed over the injuries he suffered that day, but went on to become a poker champion.

This past Sunday, millions of people saw Kosowski sit down on the Million Dollar Challenge, stage an amazing comeback, and beat Negreanu for the million.

If you happened to be watching football on Sunday or don't live in a place that gets the FOX network, we've got you covered.

The final episode is now live on PokerStars.tv. If you don't have the energy to click on over there, we are on top of that, too.

Below is the final episode. You can keep your browser right here on this page and watch all 42 minutes from the comfort of the PokerStars Blog.

Watch Million Dollar Challenge, Episode 5 - Challenge of Champions on PokerStars.tv

The PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge was such a hit during the first season, it has been renewed for another.

PokerStars players are already qualifying and auditioning for the show.

To see how you can get your shot on poker's hottest new show, head on over to the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge homepage.

Posted in PokerStars.tv, Pokerstars | Comments Off

Resting before the PCA, by Chad Brown

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

by Chad Brown

I really enjoy Christmas. It is the time of the year I get to spend with my family, and after traveling all over the world, it's great to have a couple of weeks to just chill. Now, after having two weeks of relaxing, I'm really looking forward to going to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

This year they have many more side events, more then ever before. If you're playing poker day in day out, it can burn you out - it can take away the winning edge. These two weeks help to rest up and re-energize.

The PCA is a great way to start of the New Year on the right foot. And if i get knocked out of the main event, I can jump right into another tournament the next day.

I wish all of you a happy and prosperous New Year - and hope to see you all in the Bahamas.

Posted in Chad Brown, Pokerstars | Comments Off

PCA preps for parties, Kelly Rowland

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

If there is one thing PokerStars does almost as well as it runs a poker site, it's throw parties.

It's hard to say exactly how this came to be. The people behind the scenes are really quite upstanding, thoughtful people who don't cotton to random Bacchanalian adventures. Nevertheless, over lo these many years the PokerStars Blog has been traveling to big PokerStars events, we has noticed a fairly common thread. If it's a PokerStars tournament, there is a better than even money chance of a big party of some sort breaking out. Over the years we've seen fire dancers, painted women, and just about everything you can imagine (and frankly, a couple of things you couldn't).

We've just received word that PokerStars has gotten it in its head that it needs not one, but two parties at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. If you've been to the PCA before, you know all abut the smokin' Welcome Party Pokerstars always throws. You'll get that again this year on January 4 from 7:00PM to 9:00PM at the Royal Deck. It will once again feature free hors d'oeuvres and drink, not to mention some of the best local entertainment on the island.

For a lot of us, that would be enough. But, wait, there's more! We have just learned that there will be a second party on the night of January 9. That Saturday evening from 9pm to 12am at Paradise Harbour, PokerStars will host an invitation-only party with a live performance from R&B singer and former member of Destiny's Child Kelly Rowland.

So, there you have it. PokerStars is once again treating party-throwing like it was its job.

This time next week, we'll be getting ready to kick off the main event. The PokerStars Blog will have full coverage of the tournament.

And, because we strive to provide Accurate, Comprehensive, and Entertaining reports, we'll probably mosey on over to the party.

It's our job, after all.

Posted in PokerStars news, Pokerstars | Comments Off

PokerStars Sunday tournament results (12-27-09)

Monday, December 28th, 2009

If you play at PokerStars, you knew the last Sunday of the year was going to be a big one. With that understood, no one knew exactly how big it was going to be.

Enter, the new Guinness World Record for the biggest ever poker tournament ever held. For the affordable price of one dollar, 149,196 people signed up for the record-breaking tournament on Sunday. PokerStars added more than $150,000 in prize money. In the end, oskar69 beat out the biggest field in poker history for a $50,000 payday.

Of course, it was still a big weekend in all the other big tournaments that happen on the last Sunday of a month.

The Turbo Takedown was back for its last event of the year, and it came down to the wire in the fight for the lion's share of the $1 million prize pool and the brand new car. You can read all about it in our report about ImDaNuts Turbo Takedown win.

Elsewhere, the Battle of the Planets crowned Godfatti as its new champion, NinjasTyle87 walked away with the 12-28-09 Sunday Warm-Up win, and the world's biggest weekly poker tournament gave the final 2009 Sunday Million title to coach6999 after a five-way deal.

To see all of this weekend's big winners, check out our final Sunday tournament results page of 2010 .

Congrats to all the winners this weekend and all in 2009. May 2010 be as prosperous.

Posted in PokerStars news, Pokerstars | Comments Off

5-Way Deal means 6-figure payouts as coach6999 comes from behind to capture Sunday Million glory!

Monday, December 28th, 2009

The PokerStars Sunday Million ended 2009 with the bang of a blown-up guarantee, as 9,344 players built a whopping $1,868,800 prize pool in the last Sunday Major of 2009. The field was huge, the final table was grueling, but in the end it was coach6999 triumphant, locking up over $143,000 after a five-way deal and a quick heads-up triumph over BBOY3110 to pick up the spare change of $30,000 left from the deal.

Among the players making a deep run at the Sunday Million was Team PokerStars Online member Martha "marene" Gonzalez, who made it deep but busted after only getting a 10x return on her money. Gonzalez finished in 70th place, good for a $2,522.88 payday. Another familiar screen name making a cash in this week's Sunday Million was Chris "Money800" Moneymaker, who went out in 133rd place ($1,214.72). But the big money was at the final table, and the last player to miss out on a minimum of a five-figure cash was dehoo, who busted in 10th ($9,717.76) on the final table bubble.

After almost ten hours of poker, the final table was greeted by Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein, and the battle for the championship and the big, big money was on! The final table was a story of the haves and have-nots, as the chip stacks were either huge (schnaggels, BBOY3110, coach6999) or short (plusmillion, Mr Puckey, robvleugel). BBOY3110 wasted no time putting his big stack to use, busting Mr Puckey in 9th place ($13,081.60) soon after the final table kicked off.

After action folded around to Mr Puckey on the button, he went for the steal with [Kd]-[3h]. BBOY3110 defended his small blind with [Ah]-[6d], and held the lead as the board ran down [Qd]-[2d]-[7s]-[5h]-[7h]. BBOY's ace kicker was all he needed, and Mr Puckey was the first casualty of the final table.

The second victim followed shortly after, and this time it was plusmillion who fell, finishing in 8th place for $20,556.80. Plusmillion lost a chunk of chips when his connection failed with two tables left, and he never really got anything going at the final table. In his last hand, he open-shoved from the button with [Qd]-[9s], and tsakalias defended his big blind with [Ks]-[7h]. The flop missed both players, as it came down [4h]-[Js]-[5d]. The [Kd] on the turn left plusmillion drawing dead, and the useless [Qh] on the river was too little, too late as the field shrank to seven survivors.

Sometimes you just have to take a stand. And sometimes, you just don't have enough chips left to not get called. And that's exactly how the tournament of robvleugel came to an end. After waiting patiently at the final table and moving all his chips in preflop with [Ad]-[9h] from the button, he got one call from mega-stacked schnaggels19, who put barely 10% of his stack at risk to call with [Ts]-[2c]. The [Jc]-[7s]-[Td] flop was a heartbreaker for robvleugel, but he picked up some outs on the [9s] turn. None of them included the [Qc], so when that hit the river, robvleugel had to be content with $37,376.00 and a 7th-place finish.

6th-place finisher OBVAMENTS picked up $56,064 for a day's (and night's) work, but in the end it all came down to a big cooler for the GoldStar player. He moved the last of his chips into the middle preflop with [Kh]-[Kc], and when BBOY3110 called from the small blind, OBVAMENTS was facing the only hand he was crushed by - pocket aces. BBOY3110 woke up with [Ad]-[Ac], and made the easy call. The [9h]-[8c]-[Qc] flop gave runner-runner straight hopes to OBVAMENTS, but when the [4d] hit the turn, he had only two outs left. Neither of those outs looked like the [Tc], so when that landed on the river, BBOY had reclaimed his chip lead and OBVAMENTS was done in 6th.

The five remaining players took a few moments to discuss a deal, and after the numbers were run, all five secured more than $100,000! The guaranteed money looked like this, based on a chip count chop with $30,000 left for the eventual winner: Chip leader BBOY3110 - $213,443.78, tsakalias - $190,767.65, schnaggels - $122,287.23, coach6999 - $113,444.13 and mystinen60 - $100,474.88. With those payouts secured, the five survivors settled in to battle for the remaining $30,000.

Mystinen60 was the first to fall once the tournament restarted, losing in brutal fashion at the hands of monster stack BBOY3110. BBOY3110 opened from the button with an all-in steal holding [Kd]-[Ts]. Mystinen60 woke up in the small blind with [As]-[Kc] and insta-called, only to watch the flop come down [9c]-[2d]-[Th]. The turn was the useless [6h], and mystinen60 needed an ace and only an ace on the river to stay alive. The river brought the [9s] instead, and mystinen60 was done in 5th place, but with a very respectable $100,474.88 addition to his bankroll!

Unfortunately for schnaggels, that kind of mojo seemed to only work for BBOY, because when he three-bet BBOY's min-raise a few hands later, then called BBOY's all in move with [As]-[7c], he found himself looking straight down the barrel of BBOY's [Ad]-[Qc]. The flop of [5c]-[9h]-[Th] missed both players, and the [Kc] similarly whiffed on the turn. The [Qs] on the river locked up the win for BBOY3110, and sent schnaggles home with a healthy $122,287.23 payday for 4th place.

With the tournament down to three-handed, tsakalias and coach6999 got into a raising war preflop that eventually saw all the money in the middle and tsakalias at risk of elimination. When the cards were revealed, the news was worse than tsakalias feared, not only was he facing a pair holding [Ad]-[Qd], coach6999 turned over [Ah]-[As]. The flop came down [4c]-[5h]-[4s], no help to anyone, but the [3h] gave tsakalias outs to a chop with a straight. The river paired the five instead, coming down the [5s], and tsakalias was done in 3rd place, with a $190,767.65 for his troubles. Coach6999 had come from one of the short stacks the heads up chip leader, and it was time to battle it out for $30,000!

Coach6999 played a patient final table, and he got hot right when he needed to, taking over the chip lead with three players left. He took a 2:1 chip lead into heads up play, and it didn't take him long to lock up the win and the extra $30,000. In the final hand, coach raised from the button with [Ad]-[Th]. BBOY3110 re-raised with [Ks]-[Ts]. Coach moved all in over the top, and BBOY called, disappointed to see that he was in deep trouble. The flop was no help to BBOY, putting a rainbow out with an ace in the middle as it came down [9d]-[Ac]-[5s]. The [8c] on the turn meant that BBOY was drawing dead, and the [2s] on the river was a mere formality as coach6999 took down the Sunday Million and a total prize of $143,444.13. The deal made with five players left still put BBOY as the big winner, locking up over $213,000 for his runner-up finish!

Congratulations to coach6999, our champion, all our final table players, and everyone who cashed big in the Sunday Million in 2009. We're looking forward to another year of shattered guarantees and six-figure payouts, so we'll see you next week!

Posted in Pokerstars, Sunday Million | Comments Off

Turbo Takedown: Wire to wire spells victory and an Audi for ImDaNuts

Monday, December 28th, 2009

The $1 Million Turbo Takedown went out of 2009 with a bang and some vrooom this evening. The field was relatively small having just 17,755 entries as compared to the 149,196 players in the just finished Guinness Book of World Records $1 tourney. But the good part was the buy-in was less than those record breakers had to pay! Just 3,000 FPPs attained thru the many satellites or earned via play got you a chance at the $60,000.00 first prize and the lovely Audi TT RS shown below. Even if you did not negotiate the minefield like the final nine shown in a few paragraphs, 5,000 players would take home at least $78.00 for their FPPs tonight.

New ride for tonight's champion

The newest class of the Team PokerStars pros won the unofficial last longer tonight. As Team PokerStars Pro Online Martha "marene" Gonzalez finished in 197th place good for $400.00 as the final table crept within reaching distance.

Down to two tables with blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K airdale05 ran into a big cooler one off the bubble after four-bet shoving magicmeni for for 4.1 million chips holding [Kd][Ah] figuring to be ahead it was very far from the truth as magicmeni snap called the push with pocket aces [As][Ad]. Aside from a small scare as a king hit the flop, the board ran out [6s] [Js] [Kc] [7c] [5s] to ship the 8.8 million chip pot to magicmeni's pocket aces and eliminate airedale05 in 11th place.

Only two hands after the warnings of hand-for-hand play in effect came through the chat boxes the bubble was burst in quick fashion on the adjacent table where chip leader ImDaNuts reigned. With the same blinds as airedale05's elimination, Dolerho would lead out UTG for 345K and folded around two places over to ImDaNuts who would three-bet to 802,955. Dolerho made it known that he wasn't scared of the chip leader's bullying by pushing 4.2 million with [Kh][9s]. ImDaNuts simply let the pocket aces [Ad][As] do the talking after snap calling for the 8.8 million chip pot. K9o never barked loudly at the [Tc] [3s] [2s] [2d] [Qh] board as Dolerho went down meekly as the bubble boy in tenth place ($8,000.00) setting up the final table below:

(click on image for larger picture)

Seat 1: Uzinio (2609983 in chips)
Seat 2: crueleagle (4287269 in chips)
Seat 3: NeNe_MaD (1980433 in chips)
Seat 4: ImDaNuts (14849841 in chips)
Seat 5: happypick (2789491 in chips)
Seat 6: magicmeni (9031275 in chips)
Seat 7: Simonator (10782473 in chips)
Seat 8: magoo25at (4431180 in chips)
Seat 9: NRG52 (2503055 in chips)

ImDaNuts and Simonator started off with the big stacks this evening as the race for that Audi TT RS draws to its final nine players who are assured five figures this evening. A rocky start for the chip leader as the blinds led off at 90K/180K ante 18K as ImDaNuts would double up Uzinio and Crueleagle within two hands of each other but still retain nearly nine million in chips.

Eight hands after the crueleagle double up, the rich got richer as Simonator and magoo25at traded preflop raises until magoo25at's stack of 5.5 million reached the middle. Pocket queens for magoo25at looked good compared to the [Js][Ad] of Simonator even after the [5c] [3s] [6c] flop. But the [As] hit the turn as magoo25at was down to two queens on the river to survive; instead the [2d] dropped from the virtual sky and Simonator raked in the 11.4 million chip pot. magoo25at couldn't adjust his glasses enough for the turned ace but will clearly see the $10,000.00 in ninth place.

In the reversal of fortune category we find ImDaNuts who seemed little down on luck after giving two players double ups in the early going of the final table. But, times changed as ImDaNuts called a small push from NeNe_MaD who was down to 1.7 million chips and made a move from UTG. ImDaNuts would turn over [Ah][Qd] as NeNe_MaD was rooting for little cards to supplement pocket treys [3c][3d]. The little cards hit the flop but there was also an ace which would hold up for ImDaNuts on the [2s] [4h] [Ad] [Qs] [Js] board eliminating NeNe_MaD in eighth place ($12,500.00).

As the blinds rose to 125K/250K ante 25K the two chips leaders butted heads preflop for a massive 17.1 million chip pot. After the two traded two preflop raises, ImDaNuts' tournament was on the line holding pocket jacks [Js][Jd] versus the pocket fours [4s][4h] of Simonator. Both players would play two pair but only ImDaNuts' hand would count on the [As] [5h] [7s] [7d] [5s] board as the power would shift across the felt to ImDaNuts.

With deep stacks the blinds would reach 150K/300K ante 30K until we would see our next elimination. Simonator who was reeling after giving up all those chips to ImDaNuts gained a few back at the expense of NRG52 who just couldn't find a hand to go with at the final table. After Simonator open raised enough from the button to put the blinds all-in holding just [Jc][7c], it would be the short stacked NRG52 who would call with clubs as well. [Ac][6c] looked to be good for a badly needed double up but the board said otherwise as the other three jacks in the deck made their presence known on the [6s] [Js] [Jd] [Qc] [Jh] board giving Simonator quads and $15,000.00 to NRG52 for the seventh place finish.

Simonator would double up shortstacked happypick just two later in a race between the pocket nines of happypick and [Ac][Jc] of Simonator. happypick would haul down 5.6 million chips after the [2h] [Qh] [4c] [9s] [5d] board came out as six handed play continued on to the 175K/350K ante 35K level.

Shortly after another happypick double up (this time against ImDaNuts who could afford the loss while sitting on over 20 million in chips), Simonator was back mixing it up with the shortstacks preflop. This time it was Uzinio who came over the top of Simonator's UTG raise, shoving for 3.2 million. Pocket sixes [6s][6c] for Simonator were plenty to make the call against Uzinio's [Ks][Jh] for a 7.2 million chip pot. Simonator would come out ahead in the race after the [4c] [Tc] [Ah] [9c] [9h] board to connect with Uzinio's hand earning the sixth place finisher $17,500.00

Six hands later, happypicks string of double up against the two chip kings would come to a sudden end. The blinds stayed the same at 175K/350K ante 35K as ImDaNuts would raise to 798,855 from the cutoff as happypicks shoved from the button for 5.1 million holding [Qs][As]. Leaving over 13 million behind, ImDaNuts made the call with pocket treys [3d][3c] and those mighty threes would march right thru the [Kd] [6d] [8d] [Ts] [Th] minefield and come out on the other side with 11 million more chips. happypicks despite the multiple double ups wasn't able to overcome the odds and left tonight with a wide smile hopefully in fifth place ($20,000.00).

Two hands later as the blinds held the same, crueleagle would find a not-so-cruel ending to the tournament. Instead of a massive suckout or some win-lose-win rollercoaster, the pocket fives [5c][5h] of crueleagle just failed to soar past the [As][8c] of magicmeni. With 9.7 million in the middle preflop, the race ended early as magicmeni would flop an ace and have it hold thru the [Ac] [7d] [3c] [6s] [3h] board. crueleagle flew off with an extra $25,000.00 sitting in that PokerStars bankroll all for the low low price of just 3,000 FPPs after finishing in fourth place.

As the blinds rose to 225K/450K ante 45K, ImDaNuts and magicmeni were still very deep while Simonator slipped to only a little over 16 big blinds, there was a lot of button pushing by Simonator to try to stay ahead of the increasing blind pressure. For awhile it worked but as its known in NLHE, it only takes one mistake to be your last. For Simonator that mistake came after shoving [Ks][7d] from the small blind into ImDaNuts in the big blind who couldn't find the call button quickly enough holding pocket rockets [Ac][Ad]. Simonator would pair the seven, but no more on the [8h] [7h] [6s] [2h] [Qh] board and was finished in third place ($30,000.00).

Now on to the main event, the final two battling for the $60,000.00 first prize and that equally shinny Audi TT RS. Here's how our final two started out with blinds at 225K/450K ante 45K (but quickly moving to the final blind level of 250K/500K ante 50K):

Seat 4: ImDaNuts (34994402 in chips)
Seat 6: magicmeni (18270598 in chips)

After ImDaNuts opened up a 40 million to 12 million chip lead, comeback would enter in the form of pocket aces [Ah][As] for magicmeni. After allowing ImDaNuts to catch up on the flop of [9d] [8h] [2s] and check calling a 1.5 million chip bet, the two would get their stacks in the middle on the [2h] turn with ImDaNuts turning over [Tc][9c] for top pair that just lost three outs. The two outer did not hit the [5h] river and 25 million chips were shipped to magicmeni.

ImDaNuts would grind magicmeni down to a 38 million to 14 million deficit again as the two would shove preflop this time for a race. Suited [Jd][Kd] for magicmeni and pocket tens [Td][Th] for ImDaNuts for a 28 million chip pot and again magicmeni would come out the victor snagging trips on the [Kh] [4h] [Ks] [7c] [6h] board and the big pot to take over the chip lead.

But, things would swing ImDaNuts' way in the biggest hand of the tournament. The blinds locked in at 205K/500K ante 50K the players would trade a few preflop bets until there was 9.6 million in the middle to see the coordinated [5h][6h][7c] flop. magicmeni led out for 4.5 million as ImDaNuts came roaring over the top, shoving for 20 million chip total. magicmeni made the call to see [As][6d] ahead of the open ended straight draw of ImDaNuts' [4h][Ac]. But the [3d] filled that draw on the turn as magicmeni was left with hoping for a four to chop it up. Missed by one pip, the [5s] sent the massive 51 million chip pot to ImDaNuts, leaving magicmeni with just under two million chips.

magicmeni would double up on the very next hand but not twice as pocket fours [4c][4h] for ImDaNuts held up over the [Jc][6d] of magicmeni on [Kh] [3c] [Kd] [5s] [Ts] board and ImDaNuts was seen driving away from the virtual felt in the new Audi TT RS with $60,000.00 in the trunk for the last 2009 Turbo Takedown victory!

magicmeni started out third in chips and was just two cards away from making that drive, but will need to settle for the $40,000.00 received as the runner-up.

Congratulations to all 5,000 players who cashed this evening, several of whom will be enjoying the extra bonuses for cashing in consecutive Turbo Takedowns. And to those who were lucky enough to best the Team PokerStars Pros and snag the $100 that was attached to them for relieving them of their chips.

December $1,000,000 Turbo Takedown Results (12-27-09)
1. ImDaNuts (orlando) $60,000.00 + Audi TT RS
2. magicmeni (St. Augustin) $40,000.00
3. Simonator (Lewisville) $30,000.00
4. crueleagle (Szeged) $25,000.00
5. happypick (warburg) $20,000.00
6. Uzinio (Kronach) $17,500.00
7. NRG52 (Sárospatak) $15,000.00
8. NeNe_MaD (madrid) $12,500.00
9. magoo25at (Irving) $10,000.00

Posted in Pokerstars, Turbo Takedown | Comments Off

NinjasTyle87 chops down competition on the way to a Sunday Warm-Up win!

Monday, December 28th, 2009

PokerStars definitely brought out the holiday spirit in this week's edition of the Sunday Warm-Up, as 4,605 players took to the field to trim the tree with a $921,000 prize pool. With the top 675 players taking home a little something extra in their stocking, the big money was reserved for the final table. After a tough final table performance, NinjasTyle87 bested .dmmarquez heads-up to take down the $119,864.18 that he picked up as part of a two-way deal, the $10,000 that was reserved for the winner, and the title of the last Sunday Warm-Up Champion of 2009.

Haneferd amped up the aggression once play reached the final two tables, and came into the final table with a slight chip lead over NinjasTyle87. When the final table kicked off, Team PokerStars Pro Gualter "stockcar99" greeted the nine survivors. ReadOnYou was the short stack going into the final table, but it was pokerville who was the first to fall, busting on one of the first hands of the final table at the hands of JBlaze20. Pokerville raised from the cutoff with [Th]-[Tc], and JBlaze moved all in over the top from the button with [Ad]-[Qs]. The flop was good for pokerville, coming down [2h]-[5c]-[7h], and the turn was an innocuous [Kc]. The [Qd] on the river was nuts enough for JBlaze, giving him a pair of queens to pokerville's tens, and sending pokerville home in 9th place ($7,368).

ReadOnYou remained the short stack, and after a few orbits of back-and-forth play, he moved all in preflop with [3h]-[4h] from the cutoff. Big stack NinjasTyle87 called with [3s]-[3c], and when no four hit the [7h]-[8c]-[Qc]-[8s]-[6s] board, ReadOnYou was done in 8th place ($11,512.50). Haneferd came into the final table as one of the big stacks, but no cards and one final cooler conspired to send him packing in 7th place ($20,722.5). Check out the action in his final hand -

Steinapride was the next to fall when he ran afoul of big stack .dmmarquez in a huge pot. Dmmarquez raised preflop with [Qc]-[Jd] from the button, and Steinapride made the call from the big blind with [Kh]-[Jh]. The flop came down pretty good for both players, [Td]-[Qh]-[6h]. Steinapride opened with his open-ended straight draw and flush draw, and .dmmarquez moved all in over the top with his top pair. Steinapride called on his draw, and when the turn and river blanked out [7s]-[Qd], his tournament was over in 6th place ($29,932.50).

With the blinds and antes rising, the pace of eliminations picked up as the big stacks took out their shorter opponents. SuperNova player Comeback2008's comeback at the final table ended in 5th place ($39,142.50) when NinjasTyle87 took him out and reclaimed the chip lead. Comeback2008 open-shoved from the button with [Ac]-[9c], and NinjasTyle87 defended his big blind with [Kh]-[Js]. The flop was safe for Comeback2008, coming down [6s]-[8d]-[5d] and giving him a gutshot straight draw to go with his ace. NinjasTyle87 hit the [Kd] on the turn to take the lead, and Comeback needed an ace or a seven on the river to live up to his screen name. Unfortunately for him, the [8s] on the river gave NinjasTyle kings up, and sent Comeback2008 to the rail in 5th place.

Montjeu8 played the role of short-stack ninja all the way to a 4th-place finish and a $52,036.50 payday. From one of the shortest stacks all the way back at the final table bubble, montjeu8 ducked and weaved until finally he busted at the hands of .dmmarquez. Montjeu8 open-shoved from the small blind with [Qc]-[5s], and .dmmarquez made the call with [Kd]-[8d]. The flop looked good for montjeu8, as the [9c]-[Js]-[Th] board gave him an up and down straight draw. The [Qd] on the turn added top pair to his arsenal, but the [As] on the river made the Broadway straight for .dmmarquez, and then there were three.

The three survivors paused for a moment to discuss a deal once the shortest stack was eliminated. After a brief discussion, no deal was reached and the tournament resumed three-handed. Joseph "JBlaze20" Chaplin capped a killer run in 2009 with a 3rd-place finish in one of the last major tournaments of the year. He picked up $75,982.50 for his finish, a good way to end a year that included a WSOP final table and literally dozens of online cashes, including a win in the August 25th edition of the PokerStars Daily $100 with rebuys. His last hand saw him move all-in over the top of NinjasTyle87's opening raise with [Kd]-[Qc]. NinjasTyle87 thought for a moment before making the call with [Ac]-[8s], but he eventually called and was ahead by a slim margin. That slim margin was all he needed, as the board ran out [6c]-[Js]-[5h]-[4d]-[Ts]. The board missed both players, and NinjasTyle87's ace-high was enough to send Chaplin packing and kick off heads-up play.

After one hand of heads-up play, the NinjasTyle87 and .dmmarquez paused to discuss a deal once more, and with the stacks virtually even, they quickly came to an agreement. Dmmarquez held a slight edge in chips, and locked up a guaranteed $121,918.80 payday, while NinjasTyle87 was happy to take $119,864.18 for his slightly smaller stack. With the deal in place, the players settled in for the $10,000 heads-up match. A few hands into the match, this massive hand swung the momentum firmly in NinjasTyle87's favor, and it was a short affair after that.

The final hand saw all the money go in preflop, as NinjasTyle87 raised from the big blind with [5d]-[5c]. Dmmarquez limp-raised all in with [Ah]-[Qc], and the two were flipping a coin for $10,000! The flop of [2h]-[4s]-[6d] was as pretty a thing as NinjasTyle87 could have asked for, all low cards that gave him a gutshot as well as missed .dmmarquez' hand. The [Jc] on the turn was no help, and when the [6c] landed on the river, NinjasTyle87 had come from (ever-so-slightly) behind to pick up the extra $10K and become the final Sunday Warm-Up Champion of 2009!

Congratulations to our champion, NinjasTyle87, our final table competitors, and everyone who played and cashed in the Sunday Warm-Up this year! It's been a great year of crushed guarantees and massive prize pools, to let's do it all again next year!

Posted in Pokerstars, Sunday Warm-Up | Comments Off

The World Record ceiling has been raised to 149,196

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

We have a new record:

In total, 149,196 people lined up their one dollar bills this evening to be a part of history.

To put this massive Guinness Book of World Records breaking tournament into perspective here's how many people played tonight:

That number represents three times the population of my suburb.

It would fill the Rose Bowl or Wembley stadiums and still have another 60,000 people with tickets waiting outside in the tailgating parking lot.

There were approximately 23 times as many players tonight than in the WSOP Main Event won by Team PokerStars Pro Joe Cada

Over twice as many players as the previous record for the largest online tournament. Held by... PokerStars with 65,000 players back in July

Slightly less than the amount of dollars currently on my Visa card thanks to being a spoiling parent during the holiday season.

The players would have filled up the hotel rooms in the Las Vegas MGM Grand 30 times

944 times the amount of players at the recently finished Macau Poker Cup Championship won by Devan Tang

Well you get the idea.

The kicker is that the tournament was finished in under six hours as the $300,000 guarantee from PokerStars created a $50,000 first prize thanks to the massive overlay.

We're sure oskar69 is happy about the ROI from the win today, as no deal was reached and the entire $50,000.00 was awarded for besting this massive field shown below:

(click on image for larger picture)

Congratulations to oskar69 and all of the 30,000 players who cashed this evening and thank you for setting yet another Guinness Book of Records record here at PokerStars!

$300,000 Guarantee World Record Tournament Results (12-27-09)
1. oskar69 (garbsen) $50,000.00
2. Bommel222 (Steirer) $30,000.00
3. TLWPB (Kiel) $20,000.00
4. willis59 (billingham) $10,000.00
5. kruglay (Samara) $8,000.00
6. madmick62 (Basingstoke) $6,500.00
7. DS1982 (Lier) $5,250.00
8. denmil53 (mpls) $4,000.00
9. bigsnapper7 (brisbane) $3,000.00

Posted in PokerStars news, Pokerstars | Comments Off

Archives

Categories

Archive for December, 2009

Trapping with a big hand pre-flop, by Alex Kravchenko

2009 PokerStars Year in Review

Watch Mike Kosowski win a million

Resting before the PCA, by Chad Brown

PCA preps for parties, Kelly Rowland

PokerStars Sunday tournament results (12-27-09)

5-Way Deal means 6-figure payouts as coach6999 comes from behind to capture Sunday Million glory!

Turbo Takedown: Wire to wire spells victory and an Audi for ImDaNuts

NinjasTyle87 chops down competition on the way to a Sunday Warm-Up win!

The World Record ceiling has been raised to 149,196