It had the all the drama of a playoff game, the ticking clock of an NCAA Elite Eight match-up, and enough pride on the line to last a team a year. Going into the final five matches of PokerStars All Star Week, Team PokerStars Pro and the All Star Challengers were locked at 15 matches apiece. Day 7's five events would decide it.

It only took four games to crown a champion. After falling back into a deep hole on Day 2, Team PokerStars rallied back to take the lead and the championship in the first-ever PokerStars All-Star Week. The Pros won with a final score of 19 to 16 matches.

Match 31: Vicky Coren vs. VOLCANO360 (NLHE)

The first match of the day could not decide the winner of the whole week, but it would at least give a team one step toward the all-important 18th win. First up was Team PokerStars Pro Victoria Coren vs. VOLCANO360.

Challenger psimalive jumped onto the rail to say, ""Saw it's tied up. Had to show my support. Go, go, go, VOLCANO!"

Coren was nothing if not tenacious. The victim of VOLCANO360's flushes (twice) in the early going of the match, Coren fell below the 2,000 chip mark several times. At one point, she resorted to distraction techniques.

"Isabelle (Mercier) and I take part regularly in mud wrestling spats," she taunted. "Usually it's in Vegas, very hot temperatures, most inconvenient to be fully dressed."

VOLCANO360 must have had his chat turned off, because he didn't blink. More than 320 hands passed before Coren accepted the inevitable.

"How can we still be playing?"' she asked. "I am so doomed not to win this, yet here we still are."

Finally, with fewer than 1,000 chips out of her original 5,000, she found a hand to get it all-in with.

RSS readers click through to see the replay

With one game out of five down, the Challengers went up 16-15 and had victory within their grasp.

Match 32: Isabelle Mercier vs. busto_soon (NLHE)

Going into the second match of the day, Isabelle Mercier was under the gun. If she lost, it would mean Team Pro would have to win out to capture the All Star Week victory.

Mercier and busto_soon traded chips for the first 40 hands. Then Mercier came in for a raise to 90. Busto_soon re-raised to 330. Mercier called and they saw a flop of [9h] [9s] [Jh]. Busto_soon bet out 410 and Mercier called. The turn was the [Jd]. Both players checked. On a river of the [5h], busto_soon check-called Mercier's 900 bet to see her [9c] [Ad] full house.

Down nearly 3-1 in chips, busto_soon had some work to do if he wanted to come back. To his credit, he had almost drawn even by Hand #149. That's when this hand hit.

RSS readers click through to see the replay

With that, Mercier evened the score at 16-17.

Match 33: Lee Nelson Vs 1ofaKind420 (Stud-8)

With all the drama leading up to the moment of victory, it was almost anti-climactic to have a key match play out in Stud-8 game. Almost.

The limit nature of the game offered no huge highlights, save the one that really mattered. That one, the moment Lee Nelson put 1ofaKind420 away for good, came 273 hands and nearly two hours into Match 33.

Nelson's win meant the Challengers had to put up back-to-back wins if they wanted to come out with the first-ever All Star Week Championship.

Match 34: Chad Brown Vs Sumpas (NLHE)

Chad Brown had been on fire during All Star Week. He needed to keep that fire lit for one more match.

Brown spent the first 44 hands simply grinding his way to a 4-1 chip lead. It took just half an hour for things to start looking grim for the Challengers.

VOLCANO360 appeared on the rail with some encouragement. "Rally caps are on, Sumpas," he said.

The rally caps simply weren't enough. Down to 1,000 chips, Sumpas saw a [5h] [Ad] [7s] flop. It was good enough for him. He held [4c] [6c] for the open-ender. Brown called him with [2c] [Ac]. Sumpas missed twice, and just like that it was over.

It took less than one hour for Brown stack every one of Sumpas' chips and take his team across the finish line for the All Star Week victory.

Match 35: Greg Raymer Vs kAmIkAdZeEe (NLHE)

The final match was merely a formality. With Team PokerStars Pro ahead 18-16, there was no way for the Challengers to catch up. Raymer lamented he wasn't getting a chance to play the deciding match. He could've easily just rolled over and let kAmIkAdZeEe have it. Instead, the match turned into one of the longest matches of the entire week.

At one point, it looked as if kAmIkAdZeEe might score a moral victory. He had Raymer 3-1 in chips halfway through the first hour. Then Raymer showed down [Qh] [Qc] on a [2s 5c 7s 8c 7d] board. The queens were good for a 3,500 pot and put Raymer right back in the game.

Before long, Ramyer had opened up a nearly 9-1 chip lead on the Challenger. It would not be that easy. After the one hour mark passed, there came a short break, some tough playing by kAmIkAdZeEe to pick up some chips, and then this key hand.

RSS readers click through to see the replay

In just the blink of an eye, kAmIkAdZeEe had taken over the chip lead. It took another half hour, but finally we saw the last hand of an amazing week.

RSS readers click through to see the replay

It was a sweet moral victory for the Challengers after a long hard week of poker.

Congratulations to the All Star Challengers for a brilliant performance over the last week. The Challengers showed poise when necessary, naked aggression when it counted, and a tenacity no one fully expected. Their close finish is a credit to the deep power of the PokerStars ranks.

Even greater kudos to the elite stable of Team PokerStars Pros who fought back from early struggles and stood firm on the final day of competition. Though every penny they earned will never see their pockets (it all goes to charity) the Pros once again proved their place at the top.

Thanks to all the players for a great show over the past week. For full results of the 35 matches, check out the PokerStars All Star Week results page.

Anyone who expected a blow out in PokerStars All Star Week will have to wait for another promotion. Going into the final day of competition, both Team PokerStars Pro and the All Star Challengers have a chance to win.

Coming into the penultimate day of competition, Team Pro had a 14-11 lead. By the end of Day 6's third match, it was locked at 14 apiece. Two matches later and--you guessed it--the score was deadlocked at 15-15.

Match 26: Victor Ramdin vs. VOLCANO360 (NLHE)

Team Pro Captain Victor Ramdin put up a loss in his first outing and was looking to come back out on Day 6 and prove his worth. After sparring with VOLCANO360 for the first half an hour, Ramdin hit his opponent where it hurt.

RSS readers click through to see hand replay

After that hand, Ramdin had a 7,000 chip advantage. A few hands later, VOLCANO360 doubled up. Within five minutes, the All Star Challenger had taken the lead back. Stunned by the turnaround, Ramdin spent the next half an hour getting beat up. An hour into the match, Ramdin only had 1,000 chips left. He finally picked up [As] [Jc] versus VOLCANO360's [Ks] [Ac]. Ramdin couldn't manage to suck out and the Challengers picked up their first win of the day.

Match 27: Steve Paul-Ambrose vs. Sumpas (NLHE)

Match 27 brought Steve Paul-Ambrose to the table to face off against Sumpas. Sumpas was a few minutes late to the match and missed the first 60 hands. Paul-Ambrose played fair and kept it at even stacks until Sumpas made it to the table. The Challenger apologized for being late at the two men went to work.

"Glad you're here now," Paul-Ambrose said. "I wasn't sure how long I should wait."

It took another 15 minutes before a hand of note developed. With nearly even stacks, Sumpas came in for a min-raise and Paul-Ambrose re-raised. Sumpas called and they saw a flop of [2h] [3c] [Td]. Paul-Ambrose bet out 280 and got called. It was 585 from the Pro and a call from the Challenger on the [4h] turn. The river was a scary [Qh]. This time, Paul-Ambrose bet out 1,650 and Sumpas called to see the Pro's three-barrel bluff: [9c] [Ac]. Sumpas showed [As] [Ts] for the flopped top pair.

A few hands later, the men went racing with Paul-Ambrose's [Ac] [Qh] coming out ahead of Sumpas' pair of nines. Once again, the stacks were even.

Within just a couple of minutes, Sumpas made the wrong move at the wrong time...and still managed to come out ahead. After calling Paul-Ambrose's pre-flop raise and seeing a flop of [5c] [6s] [6d], Sumpas decided to represent the flopped trips. Sumpas checked, Paul-Ambrose bet out, Sumpas raised, Paul-Ambrose re-raised, and Sumpas pushed all-in. Paul-Ambrose called with [Ts] [Tc], way ahead of Sumpas' [4c] [Ac].

No, it wasn't the ace. It was running clubs to give Sumpas the flush. Bemused, Paul-Ambrose said, "Good game."

The overall score for All Star week sat at 14 for the Pros, 13 for the Challengers.

Match 28: Greg Raymer Vs Canuck (Limit O8)

Going into Match 28, Canuck knew what he was getting into. He's played Omaha-8 with Greg "FossilMan" Raymer in the past and expected he'd face an aggressive Pro in the only non-Texas hold'em match of the day.

Canuck, for his part, has been playing Omaha games since the early 1990s and plays nothing but Omaha when he is online. His specialty showed.

Canuck was never in danger of losing the match. It took him an hour and 20 minutes, but he put FossilMan away.

Perhaps more importantly, Canuck brought his team to an even 14-14 tie with the Pros.

Match 29: Humberto Brenes Vs kAmIkAdZeEe (NLHE)

Team Pro's Humberto Brenes had lost his first match. The Shark was hungry to post a win. He started off slowly, but after 100 hands, he and kAmIkAdZeEe were nearly even in chips.

That's when kAmIkAdZeEe started grinding and over tthe course of the next 70 hands ground Brenes down to half his initial chip stack. Brenes would not go away. Forty hands later, Brenes had worked his way back up to even. By that point, the men had been playing for an hour and 20 minutes. For another half hour, they played with kAmIkAdZeEe once again working his way up to a 4-1 chip lead.

Finally, they got it all in on a [As] [Qs] [Jh] flop. Brenes held [4s] [8s] for a flush draw to the Challenger's [9d] [Ad].

Brenes missed and kAmIkAdZeEe won the marathon match for the go-ahead game.

Overall score:

Team PokerStars Pro: 14
All Star Challengers: 15

Match 30: Joe Hachem Vs 666 INRI (NLHE)

If Team PokerStars Pro was going to avoid a sweep, it was going to be up to 2005 World Series champion Joe Hachem to save them. This was Hachem's first game of All Star Week, but one so important, Hachem had to be 100% on his game.

On the rail to remind Hachem of the match's importance was Greg Raymer.

"We need your A game, Joe," Raymer said. "Pros now down by one. This will even us up going into the last five matches tomorrow."

Hachem heard Raymer clearly, and by hand #20 hand jumped out to a big lead after flopping well and getting paid. See the hand play out below.

RSS readers click through to see hand replay

Hachem never let up and kept the chip lead for the next 84 hands. Finally, he picked up [Kc] [Ks] against 666 INRI's [Js] [Jd]. The kings held and Hachem brought his team to even for the week.

Now it all comes down to Sunday. It could all be over in three matches or take all five. Regardless, by this time tomorrow night, we should know the first-ever champions of PokerStars All-Star Week.

Sunday matches:

Vicky Coren Vs VOLCANO360 (NLHE)
Isabelle Mercier Vs busto_soon (NLHE)
Lee Nelson Vs 1ofaKind420 (NLHE)
Chad Brown Vs Sumpas (Stud-8)
Greg Raymer Vs kAmIkAdZeEe (NLHE)

For full results to date, see the All Star Week results page.

Good luck to both teams on the final day.

With only two days and ten matches left in PokerStars All Star Week, the All Star Challengers are down 14-11 to Team PokerStars Pro. They will need a good showing today to have a shot at the title tomorrow.

On Saturday, the Challengers will be without one of their top players, psimalive. Derek "Skates" Anderson, aka psimalive, switched placs with team member VOLCANO360

"I will be recording music with my band this weekend," he said.

Don't take his dedication to music as a lack of dedication to the All Star Challengers. His record in All Star week is 2-1 and and he's keen to see his team pull out the win this weekend.

Skates, as most of his real life poker friends know him, got into All Star Week through the Supernova Elite qualifier.

"The Supernova Elite qualifier tournament was incredibly tough, and the daily selection tournaments were even tougher," he said. "I believe PokerStars did a great job picking a strong and diverse All-Star Team to take on the Pros."

Skates is an online heads up no-limit hold'em specialist. In other words, he is a ringer. He made easy work of Team Pro Alexander Kravchenko in the first round. When his next match came around, Skates met his nemesis.

"ElkY has a history of destroying me in heads-up matches," Skates said. "We've played upwards of 50 games against each other at the $550 +20 and $1100 + 30 HUSNG levels, and he has certainly gotten the best of me."

Afterward Skates couldn't decide if he'd made some bad decisions or ElkY had been smacked with the deck. Either way, the result was the same. ElkY won and Skates had to look forward to his next match with Humberto Brenes.

Before the touurnament, Skates said, "I am looking forward to taking down The Shark himself. I just gotta play my game and not let my match versus ElkY shake my confidence!"

The Challenger did just that. He finished off Brenes and scored the eleventh win for his team. It's the last victory his team has claimed. Now he and the rest of the Challengers have to get to work if they want to have any chance of taking over the lead.

Saturday brings some new Team PokerStars Pro faces to the table and one new game.

Victor Ramdin Vs VOLCANO360 (NLHE)
Steve Paul-Ambrose Vs Sumpas (NLHE)
Greg Raymer Vs Canuck (Limit O8)
Humberto Brenes Vs kAmIkAdZeEe (NLHE)
Joe Hachem Vs 666 INRI (NLHE)

You can catch any of these matches under EVENTS--SPECIAL in the PokerStars tournament lobby.

Good luck to both teams this weekend.

After falling back to a 7-2 deficit after Day 2 of PokerStars All Star Week, Team PokerStars Pro rallied back for big wins on Day 3 and complete sweep on Day 4. The message to the Challengers: don't try that silliness again.

After suffering the Day 4 sweep, one could have expected the Challengers to be chastened such that Friday's matches would look a lot like the previous day's rout. The Challengers had a different idea, taking three of the five Day 5 matches to bring the score to 14-11 in favor of the Pros.

Match 21: Katja Thater Vs GoMukYaSelf (NLHE)

GoMukYaSelf had the unenviable position of stepping into the game on the first post-sweep match. What's more he had to face the always-scary German Team Pro Katja Thater.

In the opening hands, Thater played him hard. For more than 30 deals, Thater whacked on the Challenger and at one point opened up a 1,700-chip lead. That's when the following hand hit.

RSS readers click through to see the replay

After the hand, Thater congratulated her opponent and then wondered if she might have slipped by him if the two pair hadn't come in.

"If no jack, you could lay it down?" she asked.

"For sure," GoMukYaSelf said, "No jack and I likely check back turn, though."

Thater managed one double-up a few hands later and even took a little time to indugle her opponent with a quick interview. GoMukYaSelf had some questions.

"Quick, before it's over," Thater joked.

GoMukYaSelf then asked Thater to name her favorite European tourneys. She was quick with answers, both from the European Poker Tour.

"Barcelona city-wise," she said. "Monte Carlo tourney-wise."

A few hands later, Thater, down nearly 3-1 in chips, came in for a raise and got a call. The flop came down [2c] [Js] [6c]. GoMukYaSelf pulled a check-raise on Thater and got called. The turn was the [6s]. GoMukYaSelf checked and Thater moved all-in. GoMukYaSelf called with his [Jc] [Kc], way ahead of Thater's [7s] [7h]. Thater missed the river and the match was over.

On the first match of the day, GoMukYaSelf scored his team's ninth win to pull within three games of Team PokerStars Pro. More importantly for the All Star Challengers, Team Pro's winning streak was over.

Match 22: Andre Akkari Vs bluffblocker (NLHE)

Near the beginning of of Match 22, bluffblocker suffered an internet outage that left Andre Akkari available to steal blinds with abandon. Instead, he played the role of the good sportsman and simply said, "I'm waiting." He sat out until bluffblocker was able to return 40 hands into the match. Akkari had good karma on his side.

Anyone who has been paying attention knows bluffblocker is a grinder. He played the longest match of All Star Week so far, a marathon two and half hour match where he eventually succumbed to Team Pro Chris Moneymaker.

And grind bluffblocker did. For 30 minutes and more than 100 hands, bluffblocker gradually chipped away at the Brazilian's stack.

Finally, 117 hands into the match, bluffblocker scooped his first big pot.

RSS readers click through to see replay

After that hand, Akkari realized karma wasn't going to carry the day and it was time to do some grinding of his own. Over the course of the next 70 hands, Akkari nearly evened the stacks.

It didn't last long. Akkari called bets from bluffblocker on every street of a [8h] [9d] [4d] [2s] [Jc] board, only to see he was behind the whole way against bluffblocker's [Ks] [Kc].

Akkari managed to hang on for a little while longer, but one hour into the match he got [5d] [5s] all-in against [8d] [8s]. Bluffblocker flopped his set and the game was over.

The score:

Team PokerStars Pro: 12
All Star Challengers: 10

Match 23: Barry Greenstein Vs Canuck (5-Card Draw)

After four days of nothing but Texas and Omaha hold'em, Match 23 brought a welcome change. Barry Greenstein and All Star MVP contender Canuck sat down a little limit five-card draw action.

Canuck really wasn't looking forward to it. "I never play limit five card draw," he said.

Greenstein didn't softplay Canuck. Over the course of the first 40 minutes of the match, Greenstein opened up a better than 2-1 chip lead.

Canuck did the best he could, but over the course of a 199-hand tournament, Greenstein dominated and picked up Team PokerStars Pro's first victory of the day.

Match 24: Humberto Brenes Vs psimalive (NLHE)

Match 24 brought the godfather of Costa Rican poker to the table. His job? To extend the lead of Team PokerStars Pro. Up against psimalive, Brenes came out of the gates with all guns set to annihilate. Fortunately for the All Star Challengers, Brenes' gun sights were a bit off.

Witness: After falling back to a nearly 2-1 deficit, Brenes came in for a raise pre-flop and got the call. On flop of [3d] [Ad [Ks], Brenes took psimalive's check as permission to bet. He did and found a call. The [6s] turn drew another check-call from the Challenger. On the [Kc] river, psimalive bet out 640 and Brenes raised to 1520.

Could Brenes actually have the full house? Quads? Who knew. He was representing something huge. Psimalive didn't buy it, though, and called with [As] [9d]. Brenes was forced to turn up his [Qh] [Jd].

Down 4-1 in chips after just ten minutes, Brenes worked his way all the way back up to take the chip lead over the next 30 minutes. To put Brenes away, it took one fairly ugly hand.

RSS readers click through to see replay

With that hand, the All Star Challengers picked up its 11th win and pulled within two games of Team Pro.

Match 25: Daniel Negreanu Vs lordhuttyx (NLHE)

It was finally time for Kid Poker Daniel Negreanu to make his way into All Star Week. It was clear from the outset that Negreanu was playing it seriously. The only game he had open was his All Star match. For 45 minutes, he and lordhuttyx played it tight. Only a few hundred chips separated them as they entered the fourth 15-minute level.

A few minutes later, the All Star team appeared on the rail to root for their man.

Gunslinger3 said, "Daniel, you are an old friend, but I have to root for my All Star team."

After a break, Negreanu sounded like he might have a date.

"Does anyone know how long the average match has been running in these?" he asked.

When told the average match was running about an hour, Kid Poker wondered, "How?"

Seconds later, Negreanu got a bet in on every street of [Qh] [3d] [Jc] [8d] [6d] board with [Jd] [8c] and took the chip lead.

An hour and 25 minutes into the match, Negreanu had lordhuttyx down to 2110 in chips. They checked a flop and turn of [2s] [5d] [6h] [6c]. On the river, [3c], Negreanu made a small bet and lordhuttyx moved all-in. Negreanu snap-called with his [2d] [6d], well good enough to beat [4s] [Qd] and maintain Team Pro's lead.

Saturday brings some new Team PokerStars Pro faces to the table and one new game.

Victor Ramdin Vs psimalive (NLHE)
Steve Paul-Ambrose Vs Sumpas (NLHE)
Greg Raymer Vs Canuck (Limit O8)
Humberto Brenes Vs kAmIkAdZeEe (NLHE)
Joe Hachem Vs 666 INRI (NLHE)

You can catch any of these matches under EVENTS--SPECIAL in the PokerStars tournament lobby.

Good luck to both teams this weekend.

If you had to choose a stand-out Challenger in PokerStars All Star Week, you wouldn't get in trouble picking the man they call Canuck.

In his first two matches, Canuck has played Pot-Limit Omahas and beaten Team PokerStars Pros Noah Boeken and William Thorson. Canuck's seat in those games was no accident.

"I picked those events because when I play online, I do not play any no-limit hold'em cash games--strictly Omaha in various forms," Canuck said. "I started playing Omaha in the early 90s and am extremely happy to see the resurgence of the game in the last couple of years."

Despite being an Omaha specialist, he knew Boeken and Thorson were no strangers to the game. Hailing from Europe (the Netherlands and Sweden respectively), Boeken and Thorson play a great deal of Omaha.

Canuck said, "I was sure they were going to be aggressive. I kind of sat back and let them win the small pots. Whenever there was a major confrontation I seemed to come out in front.'

Canuck

Canuck is currently in contention for All Star Week's Most Valuable Player. He's happy about that, but not necessarily about his next two matches. He will face Barry Greenstein in a game of five-card draw today and Greg Raymer in limit Omaha high-low on Saturday.

"I never play limit five card draw," Canuck said. "When it comes to Greg on Saturday, I know he will be aggressive, as I have played cash with him on different occasions."

Unlike most of the All-Star Week events, Canuck's next two matches will be limit events. He expects it to be a grind.

"This whole event for the challengers is very long and demanding," he said.

And he's right. Canuck and the others had to qualify as an All-Star, then competed every day last week for a chance to play heads up. Now, they are spending one, two, and almost three hours a night playing against Team PokerStars Pro.

"Not only did we have to beat some of the best online players in the world to qualify, but then we have to beat some of the best Pros in the world," Canuck said. "It makes every win sweet."

The All Star Week matches for Friday begin at Noon ET. You can find them under EVENTS - SPECIAL in the PokerStars tournament lobby.

We should note from the outset that the members of Team PokerStars Pro will make no money from PokerStars All Star Week. Their winnings go to charity. So, how do we account for their massive comeback? One word: Pride.

After starting Day 3 down 7-3, the Pros stormed back to get within one game of the Challengers. By the time Day 4 was finished, the Pros had swept the All Star Challengers and moved out to a 12-8 lead.

Match 16: ElkY vs. PKerBL (NLHE)

Elky was riding high coming into Day 4. On the wave of his win over Heads Up Sit and Go specialist 'psimalive', ElkY came in looking for another W. His opponent, PKerBL, has not been having a good week. He went down to Isabelle Mercier on Day 1 and Vanessa Rousso on Day 3.

Unlike yesterday, ElkY managed to show up on time. His opponent provided the drama for the day. His internet connection was apparently being powered by tired gerbils. ElkY played the nice guy and didn't steal blinds while his opponent was absent. PKerBL eventually woke the gerbils up and the game resumed.

The players went toe to toe for the first 50 hands. That's when ElkY kicked in the afterburners. With a combination of aggression and constant pressure, he worked himself up to a 9-1 chip advantage. By Hand #103, they went racing. ElkY's [4c] [4h] held up against PKerBL's [Kc] [Td]

After 16 matches, Team PokerStars Pro and the All Star Challengers were locked in an 8-8 tie.

Match 17: Vanessa Rousso vs. Sumpas (NLHE)

Match 17 was a battle between two unbeaten players. The game was much like Match 16, although almost twice as long in terms of hands played. The first half was an even contest with neither player able to get the upper hand. Once again, halfway through, the Team Pro started ramping up the pressure on the All Star Challenger.

Rousso began carefully picking her spots and gradually built up a decent lead. With the chip stacks at 7545 to 2455 she played the following key hand.

With that hand, Team Pro took its first lead of All Star Week.

Match 18: Ylon Schwartz vs. Aryamehr (LHE)

Match 18 brought the first limit hold'em contest of All Star Week and the Pros put up one of their best. 2008 WSOP third place finisher Ylon Schwartz knows his limit hold'em. His opponent, Aryamehr, was still reeling from a loss against Victor Ramdin yesterday. This was not a place Aryamehr wanted to be. When the All-Star Challengers drew straws, Aryamehr got the last pick. He openly admitted he wasn't happy about it. The game, he said, wasn't one of his strengths. Nonetheless he stepped up to the challenge.

As expected the limit Hold'em game was a battle of stamina as well as skill. The deep structure meant it wouldn't be over quickly, and Arymehr even suggested sitting out to let the blinds become a bigger factor. Ylon's response showed just how important All Star Week has become to the Pros:

Aryamehr said, "meet u back after break?"
YlonSchwartz said, "na dude this is life or death"

It was clear, the early defeats stung the members Team PokerStars Pro - now they meant business.

Ylon's determination, and to be fair, his superior skill in the game, made this one a long drawn out formality. After 278 hands and nearly two hours, he finally put the challenger away.

That made it five matches in a row for Team Pro and a 10-8 lead.

Match 19: Alexander Kravchenko vs. oblowski512

There is a little known and unwritten rule about Russian Team Pro Alexander Kravchenko: If you beat him once, be happy about it, because you won't enjoy playing him the next time.

Kravchenko lost in his first All Star Week match. Tonight, when he went up against All Star Challenger oblowski512, Kravchenko came out with a roundhouse on the very first hand.

The opening salvo began when oblowski512 raised to 60, Kravchenko re-raised to 240 and oblowski512 made the call. The flop came [3d] [Jc] [5s]. Kravchenko led for 300 and got another call. On the turn, [3c], Kravchenko bet 860 and again got called. The river was an innocuous [9c]. Kravchenko tossed in another 2,200. oblowski512 called and could only say "wow" when he saw Kravchenko's [Ah] [Ad].

That first punch was enough to keep oblowski512 on his heels for the next 30 minutes. Kravchenko finished him off with the following hand.

Make it 11-8 in favor of Team Pro.

Match 20: Chris Moneymaker vs. Gunslinger3 (NLHE)

Once again, Chris Moneymaker had the anchor position on the night. On Day 3, Moneymaker took down a two and half hour marathon for the Pros.

Once Match 20 began, it was clear Moneymaker had no intention of making it an early night. In the early stages, he said he was distracted by his family responsibilities. Whatever it was, he was down by nearly 3,000 chips to Gunslinger3 at the 1:15 mark.

That's when Moneymaker came in for a raise to 150. Gunslinger3 called the 90 additional chips and they saw a flop of [3d] [Ad] [7d]. Gunslinger3 checked, Moneymaker bet out 160, and Gunslinger3 called. The [9s] turn brought another check-call from Gunslinger3. On the [5h] river, Moneymaker bet 960.

"This is a tough decision," Gunslinger3 said.

"I hope you choose incorrectly," Moneymaker quipped.

It wasn't long before Gunslinger3 made the call to see Moneymaker's [Ah] [7h], the two pair good for the win.

Just like that, Moneymaker was back on top.

It took 15 minutes of Moneymaker grinding to build a decent lead. Then, this hand hit an hour and half into the match.

The hand gave Moneymaker the win and an astounding 5-0 sweep for Team Pro on Day 4.

As the All-Star Challengers try to come back, they will have these matches to face on Day 5:

Katja Thater Vs GoMukYaSelf (NLHE)
Andre Akkari Vs bluffblocker (NLHE)
Barry Greenstein Vs Canuck (5-Card Draw)
Humberto Brenes Vs psimalive (NLHE)
Daniel Negreanu Vs lordhuttyx (NLHE)

Good luck to everybody on Day 5.

PokerStars All Star Week was on its way to being a rout. The All-Star Challengers had won the first two days and had done so convincingly. Team PokerStars Pro needed to avoid a third day of losses, if only to shake off the smell of defeat.

That's just what the Pros did--once they showed up. The running score now stands at 8-7 to the Challengers.

Feature Match: Match 11: ElkY vs. psimalive (NLHE)

If there is a heads-up king on Team PokerStars Pro, the title belongs to ElkY. Between his runner-up performance in last year's big WCOOP heads-up event and his deep run at the NBC Heads Up Championship earlier this month, ElkY made his bones a long time ago.

In the first match of the day, ElkY was conspicuously absent. Minutes ticked by. If he hadn't shown up by ten after the hour, he faced disqualification. Team Pro colleague Greg Raymer was waiting in the wings for the team, but with two minutes to spare, ElkY slid in to his virtual seat.

Up against Supernova Elite psimalive, ElkY already knew his opponent. psimalive made Elite playing heads up SNGs. At one point, psimalive admitted he was down to ElkY by $20,000.

psimalive moved out to an early lead, but 58 hands into the match, ElkY's bet his [Tc] [Th] on every street of a [7s] [5s] [3h] [5h] [8d] board and got called down. ElkY's win in that hand took him back to the lead.

ElkY put a hurting on his opponent until Hand 124 when the opponents got it all-in:

ElkY: [Ah] [Kd]
psimalive [5s] [5h]

ElkY blanked and psimalive made it back close to even. It would only last another 34 hands. Pre-flop, psimalive came in for a min-raise and ElkY called. They saw a [4c] [7c] [Th] flop. ElkY checked and let psimalive bet out 100. Then, ElkY raised to 350 and got the call. The turn was the [Qs]. ElkY bet out 750 and psimalive min-raised. ElkY pushed all-in and psimalive made the call.

The hands went on their virtual backs:

ElkY: [4d] [7h]
psimalive [Ts] [Js]

With that, ElkY took down a key match for his team and exactly when they needed it.

Match 12: Victor Ramdin vs. Aryamehr (NLHE)

As team captain for Team PokerStars Pro, Victor Ramdin had yet to step into the ring. This was also the first time his opponent had sat down to play.

Ramdin had some company. Both Isabelle Mercier and Marcin Horecki stopped by to root on their captain. At one point, Greg Raymer stepped and distracted the Challenger with some anagrams (note: one anagram for Victor Ramdin is, no lie, diva corn trim).

The early lead went to Aryamehr, building an early 2-1 advantage. Victor turned the tables in hand 30 when his top pair top kicker held up for a 3240 pot.

The end came not much longer in hand 38 when Victor filled a boat on the river against Aryamehr's turned straight. The action on the river made the hand inescapable for the challenger and the Pros had their second match of the day.

Match 13: William Thorson vs. Canuck (PLO)

William Thorson is no stranger to PLO. That said, as we mentioned last night, Canuck knows his stuff in the Pot Limit Omama arena as well. The players sparred back and forth for 30 hands before Canuck started moving out into the lead. Thorson finally picked up [Ad] [Ac] [7s] [Js]. Canuck ended up rivering a straight. Thorson quipped, "Hard to win a hand versus you. Always nuts."

Thorson never recovered and gave the Challengers their first win of the day.

Match 14: Vanessa Rousso vs. PKerBL (NLHE)

The first time PKerBL went up against a woman in this event, it didn't turn out very well. Isabelle Mercier put him away with all due speed.

Today, PKerBL went up against Vanessa Rousso. The match didn't last 18 minutes and the last hand was...well, odd.

PKerBL raised the 30 chip big blind to 90 and Rousso called. On the flop of [6c] [9h] [7h], Rousso checked and PKerBL bet out. How much into the 180 pot? Well, exactly what you expected: 3120. Russo pushed all-in and typed into the chat box, "lol???"

"My bad," said PKerBL. And then he called.

When the hands were revealed, Rousso was shocked. "This is the weirdest hand ever," she said.

And it was a bit odd.

Rousso: [5h] [6h]
PKerBL: [Ks] [8h]

PKerBL blanked on the turn and river and Rousso picked up a third win on the day for the Pros.

Match 15: Chris Moneymaker vs. bluffblocker (NLHE)

Where the previous match was a sprint, the final match of the night was a marathon. An hour and 40 minutes into the tournament, the players were within a couple big blinds of each other. Then Chris Moneymaker struck. After coming in for a raise to 250 and getting a call, Moneymaker bet out 260 on a [7h] [3d] [Qc] flop. On the [2s] turn, bluffblocker checked again and Moneymaker bet out 655. Again, he got the call. The river was the [Qh]. Now, bluffblocker woke up and bet out 1255. Whatever Moneymaker had, it was good enough for him to push all in for 2,385 more. Bluffblocker folded and asked Moneymaker to tell him later about the hand.

After Moneymaker took the lead, his luck took a turn for the worse. His internet connection went belly-up. He lost a few blinds, but managed to get his home network running again in time to make it back.

"I'm tilting now," Moneymaker said, "but otherwise I'm okay."

Two hours and 15 minutes into the match, Moneymaker rightly pointed out that they were involved in the longest match of All Star Week so far.

Nearly two hours and 30 minutes into the match, Moneymaker ground bluffblocker down to 2120. After Moneymaker raised to 600 and bluffblocker moved all-in, Moneymaker made the call for 1,500. He only had [7d] [Tc] but it was good enough to beat bluffblocker's [5c] [As] on a [3c] [Kh] [Js] [Ks] [7h].

With that, the Pros took four out of the five matches on the day. Here's how tomorrow's matches will play out:

ElkY Vs PKerBL (NLHE)
Vanessa Rousso Vs Sumpas (NLHE)
Ylon Schwartz Vs Aryamehr (LHE)
Alex Kravchenko Vs oblowski512 (NLHE)
Chris Moneymaker Vs Gunslinger3 (NLHE)

Good luck to all the players on Thursday.

If the PokerStars All Star Week taught us anything on Day 1 it was to never count out the underdog. If Day 2 offered a lesson it was this: The Team PokerStars Pros aren't going to just roll over for the All Star Challengers.

No doubt, Day 1 proved to be disappointing for the Pros. Dennis Phillips' three hand loss in Match 5 left them trailing 4-1. Only Isabelle Mercier walked away with a win.

"I really enjoyed my match against PKerBL, especially since I knew he's a Sunday Million winner," Mercier said. "I tried my best to control the game from the start and put maximum pressure, to let him know that I would be the one leading this heads up. I took this challenge very seriously and I am very proud to report the win to my Captain Victor Ramdin."

The Pros could not rest on that one laurel, however. Day 2 loomed. Here's how it broke down.

Match 6: Katja Thater Vs oblowski512 (NLHE)

The opening match of the day began with a hint of caution. To wit: Both players opted to fold their first small blind.The conservative opening would have led some to believe another titanic struggle was getting underway. We wondered whether it would be another match like the 373-hand marathon between Victoria Coren and Sumpas on Day 1.

The thoughts of another slobber-knocker were soon dispelled as a steady trickle of chips made their way to Katja's side of the table. It wasn't the usual ebb and flow that you expect from a heads up match - there was a steady momentum that made you think oblowski512 would be making a stand before the deficit became too large.

That moment came in hand 37 where a succession of five pre-flop raises led to the Challenger being all-in. Katja's AQ wasn't in the best of shape against oblowski512's AK, but the flop favored the Pro with a queen.

With that, the Pros closed the gap to 4-2.

Match 7: Marcin Horecki Vs kAmIkAdZeEe (NLHE)

If you were to pick out some highlight matches prior to the All Star Week, this one would have to be among them. The all-Polish clash came about by special negotiation in the team selection tournaments. kAmIkAdZeEe was determined to step up against his countryman.

The early exchanges had the hallmarks of two players feeling each other out while not wishing to risk a significant portion of thier stacks. The small-ball jousting came to a crashing end in hand 25.

kAmIkAdZeEe called a routine pre-flop raise. The flop was all clubs. Horecki bet out and immediately faced a raise. The Pro opted to put the pressure back on, re-popped it, and got the call.

The turn brought some straight possibilities, but you had the feeling that neither player required much help. The rest of the money found its way into the pot and the trainwreck was revealed - Marcin's [3c] [5c] against kAmIkAdZeEe's [Kc] [4c]. The aftermath was a chip lead for the Challenger of 9880 to 120.

Horecki fought on for twelve more hands, but the handicap was just too big.The Pro finally fell when his pockets nines were outrun by his opponent's suited K- J..

The Challengers took back the three-match lead. It was 5-2.

Match 8: Noah Boeken Vs Canuck (PLO8)

Despite the All Star Challenger's doubtless talent, most bookmakers would favor the Pros on a Vegas line. Match 8 may well have been the exception.

PokerStars player Canuck has emerged as the non-Hold'em specialist of the Challengers team and a little bit of research revealed an impressive pedigree. Most notable: Canuck was the very first WCOOP PLO8 champion in 2002.

As you'd expect in any form of Omaha, it wasn't long into the game before the pots started to build. However, the deep structures provided by the PokerStars Poker Room Management Team meant that neither player would be in any immediate danger.

After half an hour of play, the Challenger's class was apparent. He seldom relinquished control of the match. By hand 62, it was all over. Boeken started the hand with just 25% of the chips in play and he had them all in the middle by the turn with a nut low and nut flush draw. His hand failed to improve against Canuck's solitary pair of kings and the Challengers had locked up another match.

Match 9: Alex Kravchenko vs psimalive (NLHE)

There was no way the Pros were going to catch up on Day 2, but Russian Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenoko was going to do his best to not let the team fall too far behind. He fought hard for the first 20 minutes and got out to an early lead against psimalive. Rather than erupt, psimalive ground his way back to the top. Forty minutes into the match, Kravchenko held a 1,800 chip lead. That's when the big hand hit.

After seeing a flop of [Kc] [4c] [8d], Kravchenko picked a bad time to represent a big hand. After psimalive led into him, Kravchenko pushed all-in. It was an almost obscene overbet with [6c] [8c]. [As] [Kd] was good for psimalive. It held.

Kravchenko never recovered and the Challengers moved up to a 7-2 advantage.

Match 10: J.C. Alvarado Vs 666 INRI (NLHE)

J.C. Alvarado is one of the newest Team PokerStars Pros and tonight he was also one of the most valuable. Last night's final match of the day ended in three hands. Tonight's final tournament went a bit longer, but was no marathon. Alvarado finished off 666 INRI in less than half an hour.

After 67 hands, the stacks were, for all practical purposes, even. Alvarado had 666 INRO out-chipped by abut 900. After 666 INRI limped in, Alvarado came in for a raise. He got the call the opponents saw a [Qc] [4h] [9h] flop. Both players checked to a see the [4s] on the turn. Alvarado bet out and got the call.

The river was the [6s]. The screen exploded with bets, raises, all-ins, and calls. Why? You guessed it.

JC Alvarado: [Ah] [4c]
666 INRI: [3d] [4d]

With that, Team PokerStars Pro finished down for the day, but with heads held high.

Stay tuned for Wednesday's matches.

ElkY Vs VOLCANO360 (NLHE)
Victor Ramdin Vs Aryamehr (NLHE)
William Thorson Vs Canuck (PLO)
Vanessa Rousso Vs PKerBL (NLHE)
Chris Moneymaker Vs bluffblocker (NLHE)

Good luck to all the players and both teams on Wednesday.

PokerStars HostBob contributed to this report.