PokerStars has long been recognized as the place to go for well-run, well-structured tournaments. The reputation has made WCOOP, SCOOP, and the Sunday Million appointment poker for the world's online players. And so this morning we were left with a "Huh?" look on our face for a while.
Something is screwy in the PokerStars tournament lobby. I mean, who is deploying a tournament with a structure that looks like this?
"Structure" of T288888888
Blinds start at 88/88? And then they go to 888/888? And then they eventually move up to 88,888/88,888 and never change?
We immediately dispatched a team of white coats to the PokerStars tournament office. Our scientists determined it was a legit tournament, a $2.20 tourney with 8-cent rebuys for an additional 888 chips. The time bank is 8 seconds...
What the Sam Hill is going on here?
And then we checked out the date of the tournament: April 1, 2010.
Oh, yes, the PokerStars Tournaments Team has got their silly on today. The people behind the scenes have deployed a bunch of tournaments with all kinds of different ways of...well, playing some really odd poker. Some highlights:
Blinds entirely made up of the number 8
Blinds that start 1,500/3,000 and go down until they hit 100/200
A PLH/PLO mix with no discernible structure at all
It seems the tournament organizers are running their own little private contest to see who can create the most ridiculous tournament and then get the most people to play it.
So, while tomorrow is April 1, the tourneys are for real.
If you'd like to be a little foolish tomorrow, just do a searching for "Foolishness" in the PokerStars Tournament-All lobby and look for the pretty pink tournaments.
Tuesday is probably the least talked about day of the week. Monday is frowned upon for being the start of the work week for many people, but Wednesday has a better reputation for indicating that the week is half over. Thursday is the day that people can begin thinking of the weekend, and Friday is the last day of a typical work week and sometimes the first day of a long weekend. And the weekend itself? It needs no description. But Tuesday, well, doesn't get much credit - good or bad.
The Super Tuesday on PokerStars has changed all that. Players with higher bankrolls now anticipate the high stakes online poker tournament action of the Super Tuesday as much as they do the Sunday tournaments. And players who long to compete above their bankrolls can now satellite in to Super Tuesday action for a fraction of the cost. Tuesdays have come into their own, courtesy of PokerStars.
This Super Tuesday extravaganza brought 429 players to the table for the $1,000 + $50 buy-in tournament, and the $300K guarantee was surpassed by the creation of a $429,000 prize pool. And for the 54 players who made it into the money, their efforts were rewarded. But of course, those aiming for the final table were looking at the possibility of five-figure payouts and tournament fame. Thus, play slowed as usual with the last few tables in play.
And right there in the mix was a player who seems to be a staple in the big tournaments these days. Veronica "Princesa" Dabul" has been soaring in online events of late, and she is frequently the last Team PokerStars Pro standing. This week was no different, as she came back from numerous short-stacked episodes to stay alive and fight for a seat at the final table. Eventually, though, she pushed her ultra-short stack all-in with Q-J, which beat A-4 with help from the board. That double-up was followed by a second one on the next hand when her pocket aces held up. She was suddenly in sixth place on the leaderboard; her patience paid off.
Just past the eight hour mark of the tournament after a somewhat lengthy hand-for-hand session, two players left at the same time. First, it was ComeGetThese, who called all-in for his tournament life to a raise by AmarulaBr. ComeGetThese had pocket fours, and AmarulaBr showed [As][Tc]. The board came [5c][3h][3c][2s][Td], and the river gave AmarulaBr top two pair and eliminated ComeGetThese in tenth place with $5,577.00.
At the other table, another hand was playing out that found siola all-in preflop from the big blind with pocket sixes, and original raiser ImDaNuts calling with pocket nines. The board blanked with [Kh][Js][7s][5h][8h], and Sam "siola" Iola was ousted in ninth place. After taking down a Sunday Million in late 2009 and taking fifth place in the Super Tuesday only two weeks ago, siola had to settle for $7,121.40 in tonight's event.
ImDaNuts leads 8-player final table
The final eight players were seated at Table 22 to play the remainder of the tournament, which began only moments into Level 30, with blinds at 2,800/5,600 and a 700-chip ante. The starting chip counts were as follows:
Seat 2: Princesa (59,152 in chips)
Seat 3: ImDaNuts (546,224 in chips)
Seat 4: makavelyces (423,153 in chips)
Seat 5: Comandr_Cool (360,595 in chips)
Seat 6: AmarulaBr (370,927 in chips)
Seat 7: LoneHixx (197,466 in chips)
Seat 8: jdtjpoker (120,149 in chips)
Seat 9: TeamWispy (67,334 in chips)
It didn't take long for a player to be eliminated from the final table. Short-stacked TeamWispy looked down at pocket nines from the small blind and made the push, but original raiser AmarulaBr decided to make the call for 38,914 more with [7c][5c]. The flop hit AmarulaBr perfectly with [6h][3c][4h] to make the straight, and the [Jd] turn and [8d] river only gave AmarulaBr an even higher straight. TeamWispy was gone in eighth place with $9,652.50.
Princesa was attempting a comeback from a short stack, and she doubled through ImDaNuts on the fourth hand of the final table. But she was ready to attempt it again soon after with [Ad][Td]. She made that move from the big blind, and her 124,704-chip all-in move was met by a call from LoneHixx holding [As][Ts]. The flop came [4d][3h][3s], which changed nothing, but the [8s] on the turn brought LoneHixx closer to the flush, which ended up hitting when the [5s] came on the river. It was a tough way to exit, but Veronica "Princesa" Dabul made a serious run without a lot of chips for the last several hours of her tournament. Improving on her 18th place finish in the March 3rd Super Tuesday, Princesa finished tonight in seventh place and took home $13,942.50 for it.
Big-pot poker takes AmarulaBr into top spot
Big pots were brewing at the table. One example was when makavelyces and ImDaNuts battled in a pot worth 357K that ultimately went to makavelyces. Another example was a big double-up for AmarulaBr through makavelyces, which took the former into the chip lead:
RSS readers click through to see replay
But it was ImDaNuts who seemed to lose momentum after holding steady near the top of the leaderboard for many levels. When makavelyces took a pot worth 205K from ImDaNuts, the latter was still holding more than 300K in chips but decided to get involved with chip leader AmarulaBr. The two went to see a [7c][4h][9s] flop, and a bet from AmarulaBr and call from ImDaNuts took them to the [Jh] on the turn. When ImDaNuts led out for 70,000, AmarulaBr check-raised all-in. ImDaNuts called with [Jc][Tc] for top pair and straight draw, and AmarulaBr showed pocket nines for the flopped set. An [Ah] on the river finished things off, and recent Turbo Takedown winner ImDaNuts left the tournament in sixth place with $18,232.50 for the effort.
The shortest stack at the table was jdtjpoker, who looked down at [Kc][Qc] and pushed the stack all-in. When makavelyces called, original raiser LoneHixx got out of the way. Makavelyces showed [Ac][Qh], which dominated his opponent, and the board produced [8c][Jd][5h][4c][Qs] to let the hands stand. And that sent jdtjpoker out in fifth place with $24,024.00.
Four-handed play began with AmarulaBr in a commanding lead with 857,252 chips, but makavelyces was sitting strong in second place with 541,319. Comandr_Cool and LoneHixx each had just over 350K. And dozens of hands were played going forward without much changing in the standings except that LoneHixx climbed a bit to hold a solid third place on the leaderboard.
LoneHixx lunges into lead
It was a big hand. AmarulaBr challenged with an all-in move, and LoneHixx called for his tournament life holding [Ad][Ks]. AmarulaBr showed pocket sevens, and the board of [Ts][Kh][6h][8c][Tc] gave LoneHixx the double-up and catapulted him into the chip lead, as AmarulaBr then struggled with third place out of the four remaining players.
Two battles between Comandr_Cool and AmarulaBr saw the exit of a chip leader. First, Comandr_Cool doubled through AmarulaBr with pocket tens over nines. That left AmarulaBr with less than 100K in chips, and it took only four hands for a move to be made. Comandr_Cool was the one who raised all-in preflop, and AmarulaBr called for 85,386 chips for his tournament life from the big blind with [Ah][2c]. Comandr_Cool showed [Th][9h] and found a pair on the [4h][Jd][Td] flop. The [Qc] on the turn and [9d] on the river finished the hand with two pair for Comandr_Cool and a fourth place finish for Leandro "AmarulaBr" Balotin, for which he was awarded $34,320.00.
Cool and in command...for a moment
Three-handed play saw Comandr_Cool jump ahead of LoneHixx to take the lead in the final stages of the tournament. Some significant pots taken from his opponents soon pushed him over the million-chip mark.
And as can happen in a tournament of this nature, everything changed. The following hand was a monstrous one, and the double-up of LoneHixx gave him a three-to-one chip lead over both of his competitors.
RSS readers click through to see replay
LoneHixx and makavelyces got involved to see a [6d][Jd][2s] flop, at which point the raising war began. LoneHixx started it, but a raise and reraise led to makavelyces calling all-in for his tournament life with [Jh][9h] and top pair. LoneHixx showed [8d][5d] for the flush draw, which never got there, but the [5h] turn and [5s] river did make trips. That eliminated Cesar "makavelyces" Fuentes in third place with $45,045.00.
A valiant effort
Heads-up play began with LoneHixx holding what could only be called a dominating lead over Comandr_Cool.
Seat 5: Comandr_Cool (209,103 in chips)
Seat 7: LoneHixx (1,935,897 in chips)
The short-stack didn't give up or push all-in too easily. A solid effort was made to be patient and pick a spot. Finally, with less than 150K in chips remaining and [Ad][5d] in the big blind, Comandr_Cool pushed all-in. But it just so happened that LoneHixx was able to make the call with [As][Js]. The board came [6d][4c][Jh][8c][6c], and LoneHixx improved to two pair. Corey "Comandr_Cool" Burbick just missed a victory, as happened only days before in the March 28 Sunday Warm-up where he finished in third place. The second place tonight was worth $61,132.50.
Kenny "LoneHixx" Hicks became the Super Tuesday champion, for which he received $82,325.10 and the prestigious weekly online tournament title.
Imagine rolling over in bed one morning and finding a woman who knew everything your wife knew...she just looked 100% better than she had the night before. You might be a little freaked out at first, but I bet you'd get used to it.
Well, we had something similar happen recently when we clicked on PokerStars.tv. It had all the same great content, but it looked different. In fact, it looked pretty darn good.
It still has all the content you've come to expect--tournament coverage, player profiles, and quirky behind-the-scenes stuff--but now it's sleak, easier to navigate, and I dare say, a little sexier than it used to be.
Click on image for full version
If you're just joining the internet revolution (Viva WWW!), you might be just getting around to seeing PokerStars' internet TV portal for the first time. You should take some time to look around. You'll find it all simply by clicking on PokerStars.tv.
Here are a few fun samples from the archives to whet your appetite"
Sundays are always fun around these parts, but some Sundays are more interesting than others. This weekend was no exception. As the last Sunday of the month, it featured all the regular big action, plus a few other exciting pieces of news from the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro.
First up, how about that Andre Akkari? The Brazilian Team PokerStars Pro pulled one of his frequent Run-Good Sunday maneuvers yesterday. He once again made two final tables in the Sunday events. He took fifth place in the weekly $20,000 HORSE event, and then finished runner-up in the $215 rebuy for $32,070.
Meanwhile, Team Online Pro Anders "Donald" Berg was winning the Weekly Omaha H/L event for $6,750 and Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin was finishing the $109 rebuy tournament for $37,498.
As you might have already read, the Sunday Million was another monster. Nearly 9,400 players stepped up to play the Million yesterday. As Jen Newell reported, more than $267,000 went to Tony6733 for the win.
Here's how the final table went down...
Meanwhile, writer David Aydt pulled triple duty last night and brought us three stories of winners, including an epic battle in the Sunday Warm-Up that saw Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis make it to 29th place, Dan "djk123" Kelly make it all the way to 2nd place, and FIGARO10 take it down for $147,187.
The last weekend of each month brings a great deal of excitement to the PokerStars tables. Not only is there a Battle of the Planets $50,000 freeroll tournament for the top sit-n-go players of the month, but anyone who has accumulated 3,000 Frequent Player Points (or satellited into the event for a fraction of that amount) is welcome to join in the $1 million Turbo Takedown freeroll. Players walked away from these events with free money, a few even took home five-figure winnings, and one player won an attractive Audi TT.
Yes, even cars are given away on PokerStars. Nothing is too extravagant for loyal players.
And then there was the Sunday Million, one of the tournaments that comes along each and every Sunday and offers a whopping $1.5 million guarantee. That brings the players out by the thousands, and this week was no different, as there were 9,371 players in virtual attendance, which pushed the prize pool to $1,874,200. And out of that number, the last 1,350 players standing were paid and the top three players were guaranteed six-figure financial awards.
As the action brought the field from its sizable starting point to only two tables, players were anxious to work their way through to the Sunday Million final table for the world to see. And it came to be rather quickly at the hands of tony6733. After eliminating SCARFACE_AK5 in 11th place, the very next hand saw more action as I as qui pic pushed all-in with [Ad][8d]. Tony6733 was there with [As][Jd] and hit the flop hard on the [6c][Js][Ah][Kd][3s] board. I as qui pic was out in tenth place with $9,745.84 to show for it.
Top spot for Tony6733 going to the final table
Before the ten-hour mark even hit and in the midst of Level 35, with blinds at 150,000/300,000 and a 30,000-chip ante, the final table was set with chip counts and seating assignments as follows:
Seat 1: Peetoon (5,511,321 in chips)
Seat 2: goldfing (8,992,128 in chips)
Seat 3: He1en ke11er (4,179,431 in chips)
Seat 4: kvnok88 (17,764,191 in chips)
Seat 5: VTA09 (9,873,209 in chips)
Seat 6: tinyeyez (4,421,555 in chips)
Seat 7: Galgeberg (7,758,630 in chips)
Seat 8: cwp394 (9,963,871 in chips)
Seat 9: tony6733 (25,245,664 in chips)
Only ten hands into the action, a battle of the blinds ensued when cwp394 raised from the small blind and tony6733 called from the big blind to see a [Jd][7d][5d] flop. A bet from cwp394 brought a raise from tony6733, and cwp394 pushed all-in with [Jh][Tc] for the pair of jacks. But tony6733 called with [Ks][Jc] for the same pair but a better kicker. The turn brought the [Ac] and the river the [9s], and that was all we wrote for Matthew "cwp394" Ross, who is no stranger to final tables or victories (a WCOOP victory in 2008 was one of those), took home $13,119.40 for tonight's ninth place finish.
The only player within striking distance - if 10 million chips behind qualifies for that - of the chip leader was kvnok88, but when He1en ke11er doubled through kvnok88, it left the latter in second place on the leaderboard but more than 20 million chips behind tony6733.
Blindly pursuing the leader
One of the original short stacks at the table, tinyeyez, climbed a bit from that starting position, but finally decided it would be all or nothing. After coming in for a raise, He1en ke11er reraised all-in, and tinyeyez called for 5,324,330 chips holding pocket nines. But He1en ke11er showed [As][Qs] and immediately took the lead in the hand on the [Jd][Qd][5c] flop. The [Ts] turn changed nothing, and the [3d] ended the hand and sent tinyeyez out in eighth place with $20,616.20.
Next to put tournament life at risk was Peetoon, who had been short on chips for awhile. Afterlooking down at [As][8h], Peetoon pushed all-in for 2,161,321, and He1en ke11er called with [Kc][8c]. The [4d][Kh][Qh] flop gave the advantage to He1en ke11er, and the [3s] turn and [9h] river allowed that pair of kings to stand. Peetoon was eliminated in seventh place with $37,484.00.
Not only had He1en ke11er taken a solid hold on second place, but there was a force to be reckoned with at the table in addition to tony6733.
Then other players stepped into the mix. It was kvnok88 who looked to take a stand from the small blind and moved all-in with [Ah][Js], but VTA09 called all-in from the big blind and was at risk with pocket deuces. The board produced [9h][4s][4c][Qc][9c], and kvnok88 had the higher kicker and won the pot, leaving VTA09 out in sixth place with $56,226.00.
Several hands later, short-stacked goldfing pushed all-in with [Ks][7c], and Galgeberg called from the big blind with a dominating [Kc][Jd]. The board brought flush possibilities for goldfing with the flop but blanked as it completed with [3s][Ac][2c][6d][2d]. With that, goldfing was gone in fifth place with $74,968.00.
Let's (not) make a deal!
Going into four-handed action and a break, the remaining players decided to pause the tournament beyond the break to look at some chip-chop numbers. But tony6733's lead garnered a good deal of the money to be divvied up, and though there was some room to move with the players, the group wasn't willing to move enough to make the deal happen. After nearly 30 minutes of discussions, kvnok88 finally admitted, "this will never work," and they gave up.
A few hands after the restart, it was kvnok88 who made a move that may or may not have been tilt-induced, but it paid off with a double-up through Galgeberg as seen here:
RSS readers click through to see replay
Play then slowed a bit, but it was finally Galgeberg who decided to make that move, going into it with [Ad][5d] from the small blind. The caller from the big blind was tony6733 holding pocket nines. The flop improved that hand when it came [9c][2s][Ts], and though the [3c] on the turn changed nothing, the [2h] on the river gave tony6733 the full house. Galgeberg had to leave in fourth place with $93,710.00.
The very next hand found action between the two shorter stacks. He1en ke11er pushed all-in for 15,300,338 from the small blind, and kvnok88 called from the big blind, only having He1en ke11er covered by a small margin. The advantage went to kvnok88 with the pocket fours, but He1en ke11er had outs with [Ah][3h]. The board came [8s][Jh][5c][5h][Qh], and He1en ke11er doubled up, leaving kvnok88 with only slightly more than 800K. All of those chips went in on the next hand preflop, and the other two players came along and checked down the board of [8h][Jd][6c][Kh][2d]. When tony6733 showed [Jh][3s] for the pair of jacks, the other two hands were mucked, and kvnok88 was gone in third place with $139,534.19.
Eyeing the finish line
Heads-up play then began as follows:
Seat 3: He1en ke11er (29960676 in chips)
Seat 9: tony6733 (63749324 in chips)
The two players almost immediately agreed to take a look at new chip-chop numbers, but it was again - but more quickly this time - decided one player wasn't happy with the breakdown. Thus, they played on.
The battle consisted of mostly small pots that didn't go far, but with the following hand, tony6733 put his opponent in a position to move sooner than anticipated:
RSS readers click through to see replay
Some patience allowed He1en ke11er to wait for the right spot, but with only slightly more than 10 million chips, it seemed that [Ts][8d] was it, though that hand was up against the pocket threes of tony6733. But the board of [Ah][Jh][5d][8c][6h] gave He1en ke11er the pair of eights and the double-up.
It took only one more hand for He1en ke11er to make another attempt, that time with [As][3s]. But tony6733 called with a dominating [Ah][Tc], and the board produced [Jh][5d][8c][Kc][Qs] to turn that already-winning hand into a straight. He1en ke11er finished the tournament in second place, which was worth a payout of $196,791.00.
Tony6733 took an initial chip lead at the final table and plowed through some tough opponents to end it on top, which resulted in a Sunday Million title and massive $267,640.62 payout for the accomplishment.
If you have PokerStars on your Twitter feed, then you know that PokerStars sends out tweet contests regularly and by answering correctly can earn you some free FPPs. If you are not following PokerStars and PokerStarsBlog, we suggest getting with the program and take advantage of information and contests flowing thru there. Today's trivia question for FPPs on Twitter was: "How many players will start tonight's $1Million Turbo Takedown?".
Answer: 18,485
And tonight 5,000 of those players who paid the 3,000 FPPs to enter will grab a piece of the mentioned $1 million prize pool. The majority of the prizes will be waiting for our final nine at the final table as $60,000.00 plus the Audi TT is set aside for the person who stands tall after defeating this massive field.
Down to the final two tables, HarryO44 was left with just 463,979 chips with blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K and after a five minute break shoved those chips in the middle getting Munken_28, equinespy, and tmb_bluevar to call. [4c] [Qs] [4d] [Ah] [6d] was laid out and checked all the way down as tmb_bulevar showed pocket sevens [7s][7h], equinespy and HarryO44 were forced to muck before the winning hand [7c][As] of Munken_28 was turned over. HarryO44 earned the bubble boy title but took away $8,000.00 for tenth place setting up the final table below:
(click picture for larger image)
Seat 1: DareYou2Call (6623656 in chips)
Seat 2: Econ Adager (8819199 in chips)
Seat 3: equinespy (8183380 in chips)
Seat 4: Jroszkow (11603192 in chips)
Seat 5: Munken_28 (7468391 in chips)
Seat 6: Poker Drum (1499760 in chips)
Seat 7: analena85 (5215463 in chips)
Seat 8: tmb_bulevar (1484273 in chips)
Seat 9: pokerfun4321 (4557686 in chips)
Two hands into the final table, short-stacked Poker Drum wasted no time trying to find a double up. After open shoving from the cutoff for 1.3 million, Poker Drum watched pokerfun4321 in the big blind make the call creating a 2.9 million chip pot. [Ts][Ks] for pokerfun4321 and pocket fives [5s][5c] for Poker Drum. Two spades on the [6s] [Js] [7d] opened up a plethora of outs for pokerfun4321 and one of those hit the turn [7s] and the river [8c] stayed five free. Poker Drum was beaten but will play on to the tune of $10,000.00 earned in ninth place.
As the blinds rose to 125K/250K ante 25K, pokerfun4321 was on the flip side of the coin finding himself all-in against big stacked Econ Adager for a 6.9 million chip pot. After pokerfun4321 pushed [6h][Ah] all-in from the button, Econ Adager made the call in the big blind holding [Qd][As]. The other two aces would hit the [Ad] [5c] [Ts] [3d] [Ac] board but Econ Adager's queen kicker still played and pokerfun4321's chips were 4-3-2-1-gone in eighth place ($12,500.00). pokerfun4321 just last week took third in the Sunday Mixed Hold Em' tourney for $1,000.
Three hands later another short-stack made an attempt to rise from the basement. tmb_bulevar shoved all-in preflop for 1.4 from UTG+1 as it folded around to Jroszkow who would min raise to dissuade Munken_28 from calling. It did as Jroszkow turned over pocket kings [Kc][Kh] to tmb_bulevar's [8h][Jh]. The cold, heartless [Ac] [2c] [6s] [As] [5c] board rolled out to Jroszkow's favor as tmb_bulevar would not be driving away in that Audi TT tonight, finishing in seventh place ($15,000.00).
Much like the rather nasty beat that set up the just finished Sunday Warm-up, watch Munken_28 and equinespy tangle for a tournament changing 17.9 million chip pot below:
RSS readers click through to see replay
After the [9c] [4c] [5d] flop both players would get their considerable sized stacks into the middle. Munken_28 holding [Kc][Tc] for two overcards and the flush draw while equinespy had the pocket rockets [As][Ac]. The [Th] on the turn opened up even more outs for Munken_28 and the [8c] got the underdog there as Munken_28 raked in the big pot and equinespy got a nasty bad beat story in sixth place ($17,500.00). Add this to the $141K equinespy won at the 2009 WCOOP Event # 26 and equinespy could buy his own Audi TT.
The very next hand we had ANOTHER all-in pre-flop. This time analena85 and DareYou2Call knotted up to create a 8.8 million chip pot. With the blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K, analena85 made a raise to 750K and DareYou2Call shoved all in for 5.8 million. Just like the name says "dare you to call" as analena85 took that literally and made the call holding big slick [Kh][Ad], which was a big favorite against the suited [9h][Ah] of DareYou2Call. analena85 would hit an unnecessary full boat on the [Kc] [Qs] [As] [Ks] [Jc] board leaving DareYou2Call to consider a name change after busting out in fifth place ($20,000.00). DareYou2Call has been hot lately, taking down the $215 NLHE Heads-up tourney for in February for a $14K score.
With the loss of DareYou2Call, faint pings of chop talks filtered through the chat box, and finally got loud enough to summon the moderator to the table. After Econ objected to the straight chip chop, Jroszkow and Munken_28 trimmed a little off their figures to reach the deal below:
All of the money was now locked up; the keys to the Audi TT were still up for grabs for tonight's champion. Econ Adager would be the first to take leave after the chop. With blinds at 175K/350K ante 35K and a shove over the top of Jroszkow's cutoff raise. Econ Adager watched Jroszkow call the shove, creating a 13.5 million chip pot, and turn over pocket queens [Qs][Qd] which looked much prettier than the [As][7s] in his hand. [8s] [Th] [Tc] [Kd] [9d] was laid out as Econ Adager's supply side was down to zero earning $32,802.74 from the chop in fourth place.
Several hands later after the blinds bumped up to 200K/400K ante 40K the two big stacks would clash for a huge 42.9 million chip pot. Watch the carnage below:
RSS readers click through to see replay
Again Munken_28 shoved after flopping a flush draw while up against a huge pocket pair. This time it was pocket kings [Kd][Kc] for Jroszkow and the nut flush draw holding [7h][Ah] for Munken_28 on the [2h] [Tc] [8h] flop. The [5s] was safe on the turn, as Munken_28's tournament life was on the line. Rivered [3d] sealed up the largest pot of the tournament for Jroszkow as Munken_28 took away the chopped $41,028.15 in third place.
Because of that pot, Jroszkow held a huge 48.3 million to 7 million chip lead on analena85 going into heads-up play. But, analena85 wasn't conceding the car just yet and managed to stay even keel through several hands and finally caught a double-up with [As][Qh] when Jroszkow called the all-in holding [As][Ts]. A queen on the flop sealed it up thru the [Qc] [5c] [3d] [5s] [Th] board and 9.9 million chips made their way to analena85.
analena85 had new life with the blinds at 200K/400K ante 40K and near 10 million in chips. However, that life would take a turn for the worse just three hands later. After Jroszkow min raised from the button, analena85 seized the opportunity to shove in with a decent [Ah][9c] hand. Jroszkow holding [Td][Ad] snap called and nailed the nut flush on the [9d] [3d] [6d] flop sealing up the win...
... not so fast said the turn. The [Ac] on the turn gave analena85 three outs to a boat, but the excitement was short lived as the [Qs] fell and analena85's well fought battle was at an end in second place ($35,169.11).
The keys to the Audi TT belonged to Jroszkow who also got $46,000.00 in gas money from the chop as this month's Turbo Takedown champion!
March Madness. With Duke taking out Baylor this afternoon there are only four left from the original 64 teams which become one of the most wagered on sporting events in the United States. Personally, my bracket took a beating early as my bets became recyclable trash, similar to the 4,016 players that did not cash in this evening's Sunday Warm-up, as 675 did take a slice of the $938,200.00 prize pool which broke the $750,00 guarantee once again. While the $5 office pool pales in comparison to the $215 price tag for the tournament, so does the $147,187.03 first place prize with slightly beats out the $80 I could have won for correctly picking Butler, Michigan State, Duke, and West Virginia in the Final Four.
We'll call them Final Nine, as that's where the big cash lies, and getting close to those big payouts was Team PokerStars Pro Lex "RaSZi" Veldhuis. Down to four tables remaining Veldhuis would take a hit on his stack after a blind steal went wrong with A7o and the big blind woke up with ATo which held for the majority of the pro's chips. Four hands later with blinds at 30K/60K ante 6K Lex would raise to 135K from UTG and Yankees31 would push the pro all-in from middle postion. 1/3 of Veldhuis' chips were in the middle as he made the call holding [3d][Ac]. Yankees31 rolled over [Qd][As] for the dominate hand and it held on the [2d] [Qc] [Th] [Jd] [Js] board to knock out RaSZi in 29th place ($2,064.04).
Lex "RaSZi" Veldhuis 29th place
Gross. There are no other words for the double elimination that occurred to set up tonight's final table. Watch below as FIGARO10 throws a double knockout punch.
RSS readers click through to see replay
And with FIGARO10's quad queens, we were down to the Final Nine as shown below starting off with 80K/160K ante 16K blinds:
(click on image for larger picture)
Seat 1: Firaldo87 (4375491 in chips)
Seat 2: Radioheads (4420415 in chips)
Seat 3: Comandr_Cool (3549448 in chips)
Seat 4: FIGARO10 (7068924 in chips)
Seat 5: Coltaine (6500265 in chips)
Seat 6: DNA2RNA (3660271 in chips)
Seat 7: LuckyTC (5240038 in chips)
Seat 8: djk123 (5466992 in chips)
Seat 9: SNo0oWMAN (6628156 in chips)
All eyes were on Dan "djk123" Kelly the 2009 WCOOP "Player of the Series" after taking down two bracelets and adding a 4th place performance in the Main Event for $643,200. At the first final table break, he was the first to jump into an eight figure stack.
Dan "djk123" Kelly
With the first hand after the break, the blinds rose 100K/200K ante 20K and the final table shrunk from nine to eight. Comandr_Cool with Conan O'Brien in his corner (or at least as an avatar), made a min rise to 400K as Coltaine two seats over shoved to the tune of 2.28 million chips. Folded back around to Comandr_Cool who would make the call with [Kh][Qc], facing the [Js][Ts] of Coltaine. Comandr_Cool would flop top pair [3d] [Kc] [5s] and would need to fade a flush draw after the turned [7s]. But the [3c] gave Coltaine some walking papers in ninth place ($7,505.60).
After an uneventful first round of blinds at the final table things heated up quickly as six hands later we had our second elimination. djk123 led off the betting with the popular min raise as Firaldo87 shoved over-the-top for 3.4 million. Folded around to FIGARO10 in the big blind who would make the call as djk123 sat this one out. Pocket jacks [Jd] [Js] for FIGARO10 was well ahead of the [Ad][Tc] held by Firaldo87. The jacks were never threatened on the [4s] [8h] [6d] [Ks] [8d] board as FIGARO10 won the 7.6 million chip pot and Firaldo87 flamed out in eighth place ($11,727.50).
Still in the 100K/200K ante 20K blind level, FIGARO10 went back to work, this time tangling with Radioheads. Watch the hand play out below:
RSS readers click through to see replay
Pocket jacks for the win and 7.3 million chips! Once again FIGARO10 found jacks [Jd][Js] and found them in an even more dominate position over the pocket tens [Td][Ts] of Radioheads. No suckout on the [Kd] [Ah] [4d] [Kc] [5d] board as Radioheads' tournament was turned off in seventh place ($21,109.50).
As the blinds rose to 125K/250K ante 25K, FIGARO10 once again found a high pocket pair this time passing jacks and moving up to pocket kings [Kh][Ks] and after trading four-bets with SNo0oWMAN preflop, all of the SNo0oWMAN's chips were in the middle holding [Ad][Jc]. Our first eight figure pot (10.3 million) was formed as the favorite held once again [5d] [5c] [9h] [Qc] [8d]. As spring is here bringing the sunshine and warmth, the SNo0oWMAN also melted in sixth place ($30,491.50). SNo0oWMAN is a regular to the big Sunday Tournaments and cashes often, including a $20K score in the $215 with Rebuys tourney back in July of 2008.
Three hands later with the blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K the fairly quiet DNA2RNA decided to break the silence and maybe some chromosomes with a shove from UTG for 1.5 million. djk123 on the button would make the call holding [9c][Ad] and found himself ahead of the [Ts][Jd] of DNA2RNA. The ace would play on the all low board [4s] [4c] [3d] [8d] [3h] as Kelly scooped up the 3.6 million chip pot and DNA2RNA would disappear in fifth place ($39,873.50). DNA2RNA is a regular SnG player who managed a fourth place finish in the monthly Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout.
Continuing with the rapid eliminations, five hands later LuckyTC tried to push Comandr_Cool off his hand with a three-bet shove for 3.8 million. Barring a misclick, Comandr_Cool wasn't folding pocket aces [Ac][Ah] and managed to click the call button. [2h][Jd] for LuckyTC who found a little luck on the flop but drawing dead after the ace hit the turn on the [2d] [8d] [9s] [As] [Kc] board. LuckyTC, a VIP Supernova, also found his way to the Battle of the Planets final table for a seventh place finish, has several big Sunday tournament scores and adds a fourth place finish here ($53,008.30).
The hand of the tournament, much like the one that broke down the penultimate table involved a major cooler. Watch below as all three of our players are all-in after the flop:
RSS readers click through to see replay
Dan "djk123" Kelly: [As][Ah]
Comandr_Cool: [Kd][Qd]
FIGARO10: [Kc][Ks]
With blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K after the flop of [Tc] [2d] [Qc] both djk123 and Comandr_Cool would check to FIGARO10 who would bet 1.5 million. djk123, after taking a few hits to his stack would push all-in for 5.4 million. After a few ticks on the time box, Comandr_Cool shoved for 12.7 million as FIGARO10 covered both players and called. [9s] on the turn and [6h] meant Kelly would take the main pot worth 18.5 million while FIGARO10's pocket kings hauled in 14.6 from the side pot with Comandr_Cool eliminating the Coco fan in third place ($77,401.50). Comandr_Cool added this win to a chopped victory in the $215 NLHE Heads-up tourney in January as our final two moved on to heads-up play.
Chop talks never entered the surface of the chat box, so the final two would hammer at each other for that $147,187.03 first place prize.
Seat 4: FIGARO10 (28330364 in chips)
Seat 8: djk123 (18579636 in chips)
FIGARO10 held a 10 million chip advantage as djk123 was eyeing to add another title to his already very impressive collection of wins. But, this one was over before it started as heads-up play lasted just five hands. FIGARO would take down three of the four hands, opening up a 33.6 million to 13.2 million chip lead on the 2009 WCOOP Players of the Series. Then with blinds moving up to 150K/300K ante 30K after a min raise by Kelly, a three-bet to 1.8 million by FIGARO10, both players got their chips in the middle with pairs. Pocket sixes for FIGARO10 [6h][6c] and pocket fours [4d][4c] for djk123. The [2s] [Ac] [Qd] [Ts] [6d] board once again allowed the favorite to win as the champ was taken down by FIGARO10 but earned another six-figure score in second place ($109,300.30).
FIGARO10 held the right cards at the right times turning those quad queens before the final table into $147,187.03 by winning tonight's Sunday Warm-up.
With springtime here, SnG players in the north are happily knocking off the ice and snow from their laptops to earn their ways into today's Battle of the Planet $50,000 Triple Shootout Freeroll. 493 cashed in their tickets earned weekly for a shot at winning three consecutive SnGs and the hefty sum of $12,000.00 supplied by PokerStars.
Team PokerStars Pro Joep van den "Pappe_Ruk" Bijgaart would crack the money line today by winning his first table. But, in the early goings of the second table with blinds at 50/100 and only holding 868 chips, Bijgaart would open push [Kh][Qh] and get called by UPGRAYEDD420's pocket jacks [Jh][Jc] in the cutoff. No hearts and nary royalty for Joep on the [6s][8c][3c][8d][Ac] board and the Team Holland respresentative was out in 54th place ($195.00).
Joep van den "Pappe_Ruk" Bijgaart
Bumbleman from the UK rattled the hive by taking the first final table seat and sat back for some poker theater as the other seats were filled. Down to the last heads-up match between Ota_SolGryn and eatyourstac on Table 6 both were evenly matched until the 125/250 ante 25 blind level when both would get their stacks in the middle preflop with Ota_SolGryn covering. Pocket ladies [Qc][Qh] for Ota_SolGryn and [Kc][Jh] for eatyourstac with five cards to come for the final seat. [Ac] [5s] [Ts] [4d] [4s] was laid out and eatyourstac was left hungry as the bubble boy earning $195.00 in tenth place.
The triumphant queens set up the final table below:
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Seat 1: slick_20_vic (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: RiverBard$ (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: Kedrila (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: 123ME321 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: JMX29 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Ota_SolGryn (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Carloss86 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Bumbleman (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: xxxxBomba (1500 in chips)
"Chop?" asked Kedrila
Barely after the new stacks of 1,500 tournament chips were laid out and blinds rolled back to 10/20, discussions of a 9-way chop were being thrown around the table with hopes of everyone taking home a few thousand a piece. A few of the players would chime in with interest, but without a consensus we were playing out a poker tournament the old-fashioned way, until one has all the chips.
No blood drawn during the first blind level, as the largest pot of 270 chips was won by xxxxBomba. VIP SilverStar Carloss86 would be the first to break the 2,000 chip mark as the players still had plenty of game ahead of them moving into the 15/30 blind level.
Similar conservative play was found during the 15/30 level as all nine would move on to the 25/50 level with the following tight chip counts and no commanding leader:
Seat 1: slick_20_vic (1100 in chips)
Seat 2: RiverBard$ (1395 in chips)
Seat 3: Kedrila (1615 in chips)
Seat 4: 123ME321 (1755 in chips)
Seat 5: JMX29 (1350 in chips)
Seat 6: Ota_SolGryn (1125 in chips)
Seat 7: Carloss86 (1900 in chips)
Seat 8: Bumbleman (1820 in chips)
Seat 9: xxxxBomba (1440 in chips)
Near the end of the 25/50 blinds level we had our first all-in and a call preflop also resulting in the first elimation. Ota_SolGryn would start the betting with a raise to 150 from middle position as it folded around to xxxxBomba in the big blind. Holding pocket tens [Td][Th] xxxxBomba would push the short-stacked Ota_SolGryn all-in. With only 712 chips left, Ota_SolGryn made the call with [As][Jd] for the coin flip. [3h] [Qd] [9d] [7d] after the turn gave Ota_SolGryn some additional flush outs, but the board would pair with the [3s] and Ota_SolGryn's tournament sunset was complete in ninth place ($775.00).
Carloss86 would get knocked down to just 135 chips after a rough bad beat at the hands of 123ME321 in the same blind level. On an all-diamond flop, the chips went into the middle with 123ME321 holding [Ad][Kh] for the nut flush draw and a slow-played pair of aces [As][Ah] for Carloss86. The flush would hit on the [3d] turn and Carloss86 was left with scraps. Those scraps would make their way back into the game with a few double ups, reaching 1,040 chips in the 50/100 blind level.
Just as the comeback for Carloss86 happened quickly so was the demise. Down to 890 chips, Carloss86 would shove from early position with [Th][As] as Kedrila was more than happy to call and covered from the big blind holding [Qs][Ad]. No short-stack love this time for Carloss86 as the [Js] [Qc] [Qd] flop gave Kedrila trips leaving Carloss86 four outs for a straight. Nary a king was found on the turn [2h] or river [8d] and potential comeback story Carloss86 was gone in eighth place ($1,200.00).
Six hands later with the blinds up to 75/150 slick_20_vic held just 690 in the small blind holding pocket threes [3s][3h] and facing a raise to put him all-in from very aggressive Bumbleman. The call was made and off to the race the two competitors went as Bumbleman showed [8s][Ad]. The board would wait till the turn to give 1,530 chip pot to Bumbleman as an eight hit on the [Td] [Jc] [Kc] [8c] [Jd] board was enough to ship slick_20_vic home in seventh place ($1,700.00).
Bumbleman went on the prowl for even more chips as shown below after facing an all-in raise from RiverBard$. Check out the action below:
RSS readers click through to see replay
No flip this time as pocket queens [Qc][Qh] dominated RiverBard$ [As][6d] and would hold on the [Th] [4c] [3d] [Jc] [9c] board. Alas, poor RiverBard$ perished in sixth position ($2,200.00).
As the smoke rose from my fingers with the quick timings of the recent bust-outs, another final table player was let go. Early chip leader xxxxBomba was whittled down to 1,415 chips and blinds still at 75/150, tried to nab the blinds with a shove from UTG holding [Qs][Jd]. But, Kedrila on the immediate left snap called with big slick [Kc][As]. Neither player would connect with the [2c] [Ts] [8c] [5d] [6s] board and we were down to four after xxxxBomba imploded in fifth place ($2,735.00).
JMX29 would start to make some moves to get to the top of the chip pile just eight hands after xxxxBomba's smoke cleared as JMX29 would take on a similarly short-stacked 123ME321 all-in preflop. Watch JMX29's rise and 123ME321's demise below:
RSS readers click through to see replay
[Qd][Js] was gold for JMX29 against the pocket fives [5c][5h] of 123ME321 for the 2,435 chip pot as the jack on the flop [6s] [Jd] [3d] [7d] [2c] was enough to send 123ME321 out in fourth place ($3,350.00).
As stated, JMX29 went on a tear, winning the very next 1,430 chip pot and a huge 7,270 chip pot off the chip leader Bumbleman when both of them got it in preflop and JMX's [Ac][Th] would hold against the [Qs][Kh] of Bumbleman on the [3d] [7h] [5d] [Ts] [4s] board as blinds moved up to 75/150.
Bumbleman would go all-in several times without getting looked up, until the blinds rose to 100/200 and another push came from the aggressive button. This time JMX29 holding [Ac][Qh] in the big blind would make the call creating a 3,420 chip pot. Bumbleman turned over two live cards [Jc][6h] and found some more outs after the [8h] [4c] [5d] flop. [Qs] on the turn and those straight out were the only ones left. The [5c] on the river stung Bumbleman for the rest of his chips, sending the poker bee flying off in third place ($4,500.00).
JMX29 would take a decent chip into heads-up play (as shown below) but Kedrila was still looking to make a deal. Those requests was denied for the final time as the two would play for the entire $12,000.00 first place prize.
Seat 3: Kedrila (3270 in chips)
Seat 5: JMX29 (10230 in chips)
On the third hand of heads-up play Kedrila would strike for a double up after flopping a set of a jacks and slowly luring JMX29 into paying off with a pair of fives and a flush draw. No flush came on the river and the 6,540 chip pot evened up the chips and still did not sway JMX29 into making a deal.
The two would spar for a bit with no major pots but JMX29 opened up a 7,825 to 5,675 chip lead. Watch the final hand below as both players get their stacks in the middle preflop:
RSS readers click through to see replay
Kedrila would shout for a nine many many times but the nine would not hit the [Ac] [4d] [Kh] [Qs] [3h] board as JMX29's [Ah][Qc] would hold against the [Ad][9d] of Kedrila. The final 11,350 chips slid to JMX29 along with the first place prize of $12,000 for this month's Battle of the Planets $50,000 Triple Shootout freeroll champion!
The runner-up actually made quite a bit more by not dealing at the beginning, walking away today with $7,500.00 in second place.
Congrats to all our cashers today, the clock starts now to win tickets for April's shootout!
Whenever you try anything new, even under the auspices of something so well-established as the European Poker Tour, there's always some element of risk. But rather like in poker itself, where the most skilled players reduce the influence of chance to its bare minimum, the wily operators of the EPT can sense when they're holding all the aces.
Snowfest - a poker tournament in an Alpine paradise of winter sports, warm hospitality, snowball fights and goats - was a brilliant idea all the way from drawing board to final execution. And after six days of intense competition over the poker tables at the Alpine Palace in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, we have just named our first king of the mountains. And this was as deserved a success as we've ever seen.
Allan Baekke, from Copenhagen, Denmark, took over the chip lead on day three and he barely relinquished it for a moment before he etched his name on the winner's trophy and on a cheque for €445,000 tonight. "I feel awesome," said Baekke. "It's so big. It's every poker player's dream."
Allan Baekke: Champion
The final stretch of that slaloming journey was today's final table, and seven opponents who were no mere moguls to be casually overrun. This was actually a gruelling battle today - more than 11 hours from start to finish - and for a while it seemed as though it really could have gone any which way.
A three-handed battle between Baekke, Russell Carson and Johannes Strassmann was the fitting end. There were big hands and major outdraws; there was relentless aggression and hero calls; there was terrific poker from start to finish. Both Strassmann and Carson wounded Baekke, but he would not lie down. Strassmann was sent to the rail and then Carson followed after another lengthy heads-up battle.
"I feel pretty good, considering," said Carson, who took €296,000 for second place. "I've had worse days."
Russell Carson: second, but happy
We reconvened at 2pm today, with our final challengers looking rather like this:
EPT Snowfest final table (from l-r): Alain Medesan, Daniel Van Kalkeren, Jonathan Schroer, Johannes Strassmann, Allan Baekke, Lukas Baumann, Brent Wheeler, Russell Carson.
Our first man to depart was Daniel Van Kalkeren, who arrived to the final table with a short stack and knew he had to move it. He got it all in with pocket fives, but ran into an ace-king and a king on the flop. We were off and playing, but playing without our final Dutchman.
Daniel Van Kalkeren: a brief stay at the final table
Home hopes this morning were all on the young shoulders of Lukas Baumann, an engineering student who had manufactured himself a final table spot, against the odds. Humble but clearly no slouch, and having won his seat here for nothing in a Frequent Player Point satellite, Baumann had considered himself the underdog coming into today. But pretty much any player would have shoved a short stack over the top of Strassmann's opening raise with [ah][jc]. This time it couldn't win the race against Strassmann's eights, however, and we were down to six.
Lukas Baumann: pride of Austria
Jonathan Schroer is more accustomed to life over the chequered chess board, where he is an international master. But having played online for ten years, and having also taken the FPP satellite route to Snowfest, he also knows his way around the poker tables. And he explored pretty much every inch of today's final table too, eyes darting around at his opponents and their stacks ... until he decided to enter a pot himself. Then, Schroer pulled a hoodie tightly over his face, laid his forehead flat on the table, and shoved all his chips over the line.
The game-face of Jonathan Schroer
The routine confounded all his opponents time and again, and he steadily chipped up into contention. But eventually Schroer tried it one time too many, and shoved his messy stacks into the impeccably ordered skyscrapers of Strassmann, who also happened to have pocket kings. Schroer was slain.
The Jonathan Schroer shove
Brent Wheeler was the next to go. Having been forced to play it pretty tight by the dominant Baekke to his left, Wheeler eventually seized his opportunity to chip up through the Romanian Alain Medesan. Wheeler flopped two pair and wasn't getting much resistance from Medesan. But little did Wheeler know, he was walking into a trap. Medesan had flopped a set of fives and there was no way back for the American, Baekke applying the final blow on the next hand.
Brent Wheeler: Rolled out in fifth
Medesan emerged from the skirmish with Wheeler as the chip leader, but he wound up following him out the door. The three more experienced campaigners around him began to target the Romanian's huge stack, and it was Carson who managed to snaffle the lion's share when Medesan was on the wrong end of another cooler.
Carson and Medesan went at it pre-flop and it was Carson's kings that were decisive against Medesan's jacks. That put Medesan barely above the felt and his attempt at a heroic comeback foundered on the third time he was all in. Baekke again snapped him off - and the EPT still searches for its first Romanian champion.
Alain Medesan: done in fourth
That left us with that epic three-handed battle, which stretched from the dinner break long into the Alpine night. Even the floodlights went out on Mount Zwölferkogel as those three titans - Baekke, Carson and Strassmann - did battle, with any of them a worthy winner, and any of them possibly the next out.
Baekke hit the ropes after he ran fours into Carson's queens, but he mounted such a comeback that by the time he had rivered a flush against Strassmann's top two, and all the chips went in, it was the Team PokerStars Pro who was looking for the cash table.
Johannes Strassmann: once a PokerStar always a PokerStar
Strassmann, yet again, has shown class in bundles here at Snowfest, leading on day two and cruising ruthlessly to the last eight. But there was no budging Baekke and Strassmann remains in search of his first EPT title even after his fourth visit to a final table.
The two players left were two of the very best, and they each had a vocal rooting section in the bleachers. Carson was down to his last few chips and staring at elimination with his [ah][js] versus Baekke's [ac][qd] all in pre-flop. The poker gods left it until the river to throw the lifeline, and when the jack popped out, the comeback was on.
Russell Carson's cheering section
Heads up play
Carson hauled himself all but level after another big double up, but heads-up play is Baekke's speciality. And he also has patience in abundance. He picked his spots perfectly, moved the chips in at all the right times. Eventually he managed to get pocket sevens to stand up against Carson's [kc][js] and we finally had the champion we'd known about since Tuesday.
On the whole, then, this was another EPT that over-delivered on even the most lofty promises. Snow? Check. Skiing? Check? Parties? Check. Thrilling, top-quality poker? Check, check, check. Next season's schedule has not yet been confirmed, but I'll wear lederhosen for a week if Snowfest is not a fixture. And you wouldn't want to see me in lederhosen.
The next stop on the European Poker Tour is San Remo next month, followed swiftly by the Grand Final in Monte Carlo. But before even that, the PokerStars Blog will be in action to cover the second stop on the North American Poker Tour, at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, USA. Join us there.
Take a look back at the final day's play in Saalbach-Himmelglemm with any of the following links:
And, as ever, remember PokerStars.tv for video-blogging, and pick from our international sister blogs for coverage in Italian, Dutch or German. Neil Stoddart takes all the credit for the snaps.
Meanwhile, back to the top. Was it really Allan Baekke's dream to win an EPT? "No," he said. "Actually I always wanted to win two."
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PokerStars has long been recognized as the place to go for well-run, well-structured tournaments. The reputation has made WCOOP, SCOOP, and the Sunday Million appointment poker for the world's online players. And so this morning we were left with a "Huh?" look on our face for a while.
