The recent success of the MicroMillions tournament series is another way that PokerStars gives low stakes players a shot at the spotlight usually reserved here at the PokerStarsBlog for the big Sunday Majors and the live poker tours like the LAPT and EPT. Tonight's $50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout freeroll is another such event that even the microstakes players can get their names in the lights and make some cash on the way.

Not one but two Team Online members would make the money today be defeating their first tables in very different manners. George "Jorj95" Lind III would need to take down a table of six before he was heads-up against RAMON800 holding a 6,109 to 2,891 chip lead. With the blinds at 75/150 Lind would min-raise from the button and get a call from RAMON800 to see the [8s] [Tc] [8c] flop. Check from RAMON800 and a follow-through bet of 300 from Lind got RAMON800 to check-raise all-in. Holding the nut flush draw [Ac] [Jc] Lind made the call and was behind the flopped top pair of RAMON800 [7c][Th]. [Kh] on the turn was blank, but the [Qd] on the river was not as Lind moved on to the second round.

Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez took a safer route after eliminating two players in five minutes the other two did not pick up their tickets for the freeroll and blinded off their chips to the Spain Online Pro as Dominguez also moved on to the second round after SSSSorry apologetically dismissed nextsunday from the tournament in 82nd place.

Javier's second table proved to be a little tougher as the Online Pro was dwindled down to 1,013 chips from the starting 1,500 as the blinds moved up to 25/50. Dominguez would come in for a raise to 125 from UTG + 1 as tigran63 made the call from the big blind. No action after the [Jd] [5d] [9h] flop but when the [Qd] hit the turn tigran63 would min-check raise Javier to 402 total. El_Cañonero held just 888 chips left and tossed those in having turned top pair top kicker [Qc] [Ad]. Unlucky for him, tigran63 also improved his hand to the nut straight or a flush if you must [Kd][Td] either way Javier would see his chips move over to tigran63's stack and picked up $195.00 for finishing in 66th place.

George however would claim a second victory after taking down perst777. With the blinds at 75/150 perst777 limped in from the button as Lind checked to see a couple of fives on the flop [Js][5h][5s]. Check from George as perst777 bet 150 and Lind min-check raised as perst777 made the call. [4s] on the turn and "Jorj95" would lead out for 600 as perst777 was not giving up and shoved for 1,902 as George quickly called with the flopped trips [5c][8s]. Slow play, no pay for perst777 flipping up the cracked kings [Ks][Kc] as the [Jc] river shipped the table to the Team Online pro.

tigran63 would make good use of El_Cañonero's chips by claiming the second to last seat at the final table as all eyes moved over to Table 9 for the final seat contested by FolishFish and escobarQQ. FolishFish's massive 11,680 to 1,820 chip lead would be too much for escobarQQ as the short-stack would shove from the button with the blinds at 200/400 ante 50 holding [6s][Kd] as FolishFish made the call with [Th][Jd]. A ten on the flop [Qc] [Ts] [4s] [5d] [Qs] was all FolishFish needed to start up round three below:

Seat 1: Team Online George "Jorj95" Lind (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: B4d3m3!st3r (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: Alex.i1off (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: A_PIRAT (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Jackal69 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: tigran63 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Paulharvey3 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Maluski-9 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: FolishFish (1500 in chips)

Right away an attempt for an even of nearly $4K was derailed by silence as the nine-handed play of the final table would continue on as all nine would make it through the 10/20 and 15/30 set of blinds.

Blademaster sliced

Towards the end of the 25/50 blind level B4d3m3!st3r started off the hand with an innocent min-raise as Maluski-9 called in the big blind to see a [As][Ts][4c] flop. Maluski-9 check as B4d3m3!st3r led out for 100. Check-raise was the response to 298 total as B4d3m3!st3r was not giving up and shoved for 866 more. Holding [Qs][Ah] Maluski-9 covered and made the call as he out kicked B4d3m3!st3r's [9h][Ac]. [7d] turn and [8s] river helped neither player as B4d3m3!st3r was cut from the final table in ninth place ($775.00).

You have one but I have two

Two is usually better than one, especially when playing poker and referring to aces. Blinds up to 50/100 and A_PIRAT would lead out for a min-raise as tigran63 shoved for 1,328 as it folded back around to A_PIRAT who covered and made the call with aces [Ac][Ah]. Normally the big slick [Ad][Kd] held by tigran63 would be on top and a flopped king would be the cause for celebration. Instead the aces would hold [Ks] [9h] [5c] [7d] [Tc] and tigran63 would be knocked down to 48 which ended up in Jackal69's hand five hands later.

Two for the price of one

tigran63's eventual elimination came from getting in the middle of this three-way all-in below:

Paulharvey3: [Qc] [Qh]
Jackal69: [Kc] [Th]
tigran63: [Ad] [Kd]

If you were to just see the hand which one do you think won? Well, it's not the queens nor the big slick of tigran63 (second time was NOT a charm) as the king-ten of Jackal69 notched a straight [Jh] [9d] [7s] [3h] [Qs] taking out tigran63 in eighth place ($1,200.00) and Paulharvey3 in seventh place ($1,700.00).

Biting through the competition

Jackal69 was not done by a long shot as six hands later Alex.i1off would shove in a short stack of 1,080 and Jackal69 was right there to re-raise to 2,725 in case anyone wanted to join in. They did not as Alex.i1off showed [Td][Kh] and Jackal69 with the slightly better [Js][Ad]. Ace on the flop [Ac] [7h] [3s] [6d] [Jd] was all that was needed as Jackal69 added the 2,310 chips to the tournament total and Alex.i1off was done in sixth place ($2,200.00).

Team Online George Lind III finishes in fifth place

Down to 995 chips in the 50/100 blind level, Lind would open shove from the button as A_PIRAT reshoved from the small blind showing pocket eights after Jackal69 did not call. George would open up tonight's tournament death hand of big slick and sure enough [Ts] [3c] [8c] [9d] [Jh] no aces or kings as slick fell to 0 for 3 tonight and Lind picked up $2,735.00 in fifth place.

Too far to swim upstream

FolishFish held on to his stack long enough to see half table fall to Jackal69 and tried to get something going with a shove from the big blind for 1,055 over the top of Jackal69's raise. The unstoppable Jackal69 held just [7s][6s] against FolishFish's [Js][Qh] but a six on the flop said otherwise as no card over a nine would hit the [9h] [6c] [9d] [5c] [2d] board and FolishFish was fried in fourth place ($3,350.00).

More Jackal action

This is what "run good" looks like. Watch below as Jackal69 takes down another foe:

What started as close to a coin flip between A_PIRAT's [Qc][Kh] and Jackal69's [Ad][Jc] ended quickly with two aces on the flop [Kc] [Ac] [As] [5d] [8h] and A_PIRAT would not be part of the very quick chop discussions after losing in third place ($4,500.00).

Thanks to an immediate double up on the next hand to 3,852 chips, Jackal69 warmed to a chop of $1,000 to Maluski-9 who agreed to end the tournament right there declaring Jackal69 the March Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout champion!

March Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout results (03-25-12)
(* denotes part of two-way chop)
1. Jackal69 (United Kingdom) *$11,000.00
2. Maluski-9 (Canada) *$8,500.00
3. A_PIRAT (Russia) $4,500.00
4. FolishFish (Ukraine) $3,350.00
5. Team Online George "Jorj95" Lind (Canada) $2,735.00
6. Alex.i1off (Russia) $2,200.00
7. Paulharvey3 (Canada) $1,700.00
8. tigran63 (Russia) $1,200.00
9. B4d3m3!st3r (Germany) $775.00

The Red Spade open would invade our usual action packed line up of Sunday Majors. With a $1 million guaranteed for just a $55 buy-in which over 20,000 players (24,736 to be exact) would pile into the ring looking for a $200,000 pay day along with $100 bounties on anyone holding a Red Spade next to their names. During today's $50,000 Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll our Team Online members in the tournament were not worth $100 but the $12,000.00 sitting at the final table for first place would require eliminating both of them.

519 SnG grinders and two Team Online members would earn cash their tickets to today's tournament. Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez earn his ticket here again today and left his starting stack of 1,500 chips without much struggle. With the blinds at 15/30 Dominguez would make a small raise from the small blind to 75 as Eye Candy X did not even blink before making the call to see the [3d] [Jd] [5h] flop. Javier followed through with another 75 chip bet as Eye Candy X raised to 234. The Spanish online pro shoved over the top as Eye Candy X made the call holding top pair top kicker [Js][Ad]. Dominguez however held one better with top and bottom pair [3s][Jh] for the lead. [2s] on the turn would open up some straight outs, and the [Ah] on the river gave Eye Candy X a higher two pair sending the Team Online member home early in 448th place and shifting his attention to a deep run in the Sunday Warm-up where he would finish in 127th place ($806.96).

Unfortunately for Team Online today, Diego "vgreen22" Brunelli would not have much more luck. Three-handed, and the blinds moved up to 75/150 Brunelli would try to apply pressure after a min raise by juliabarnaul and shoved from the big blind holding 2,791 chips. juliabarnaul was not just stealing the blinds and called with [Tc][Ad]. Dominated, Diego needed some help holding [7d][Ah] and got it with seven on the flop [2h][6s][7h]. 5,732 chips in the middle looked like Brunelli would get back into this tournament, until the ten on the turn [Ts] would shift the chips back to juliabarnaul. The shift was complete after the [8c] river as Team Online was officially finished after Brunelli's exit in 179th place.

On to the only the heads up match between Smit007 and Addict|36 kept the in-the-money field of 81 from starting up the second round. Deep into the 150/300 ante 25 level, Smit007 clinging for life by shoving on the button and taking down the blinds several times with just 2,680 chips against Addict|36's 7,820 chips. This time Smit007 found a bit of an opening when Addict|36 shoved from the button holding [Qs][9s] and Smit007 called with a medium ace [Ac][8d]. The British superspy could not find his way around the queen on the flop [7c] [4d] [Qh] [6d] [Jd] as Addict|36 scooped up the final pot of the first round ending Smit007's day in 82nd place.

At the third hour break only two tables remained with bakyka and magic8008 on Table six and Axel_Stone1 and tekidis12 on Table four looked to fill the last two seat at the final table. magic8008 would cast bakyka off after ace-high held up again bakyka queen-jack as tekidis12 and Axel_Stone1 continued to battle through the 150/300 ante 25 level nearly even in chips.

tekidis12 would open up a 8,982 to 4,518 chip lead and applied the pressure with a shove from the button holding [Jd][Qd]. But, Axel_Stone1 would be waiting in the big blind with [Ad][Js] snap-calling with a prime opportunity to flip the chip deficit. And both players would pair their jacks on the flop, but tekidis12 found a lady to go with the jack on the [Jh] [Qs] [4d] [Ts] [9d] board in what would be become a four-thousand dollar bad beat for Axle_Stone1 finishing in tenth place ($195.00).

Seat 1: sabioazul (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: ariejan1988 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: Sosun752 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: tekidis12 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Valenciano87 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: magic8008 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Martynas (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: mystical_ps (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: VissiHaus (1500 in chips)

Well, sometimes we get a fight for the $12,000.00 first prize, and others the players are happy walking away with a lesser, but very significant amount. Today was the latter, as all nine players were on board for an expedited handing out of the final table funds. $3,995.56 to be exact (minus four pennies to VissiHaus who wrote off the deduction as a business expense) for all the remaining players to enjoy as a bonus of their hard work at the SnG tables from PokerStars. Only Martynas had final table experience from this tournament, as the Irish player chopped up this freeroll back in December of 2010 for over $8K.

After the administrator chopped up the cash the players were a little stunned by how quickly they all just won $4K as it took a few hands before they realized the tournament chips were worth about as much as an empty carton of milk.

mystical_ps would go down to Valenciano87's pair of kings on the first hand of the shove fest. Finally the other players caught on to what was up as Sosun752, magic8008, and tekidis12 were cast into the rail by ariejan1988's pair of jacks.

Valenciano87 would lose two straight shoves as ariejan1988 and sabioazul collected the German's chips in fifth place. Two more hands of arieljan1988 shoving and the table still folding would pass until sabioazul tossed in his chips and fell to arieljan1988's pair of aces in fourth place.

VissiHaus and Martynas continued to be patient with nothing but pride on the line as a few hands later arieljan1988's [9s][Ad] scooped up VissiHaus' chips after the Icelander's suited connector [6h][5h] failed to hit the [Jh] [7c] [Qs] [Kh] [3c] board, ending the freeroll formally in third place.

The very next hand the lone holdout Martynas finally decided to join the shove fest pitching in 1,410 chips with [8s][Kd] up against the pocket fours [4c][4d] of ariejan1988. No eights and kings on the [Td] [5d] [9s] [5c] [Qh] board meant everyone could start enjoying their prize as ariejan1988 took home the official February Battle of the Planets $50,000 freeroll title as Matrynas scored a second runner-up finish.

$50,000 Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll results (02-26-12):
(* all players were part of a nine-way chop for an equal amount)
1. ariejan1988 (Netherlands) *$3,995.56
2. Martynas (Ireland) *$3,995.56
3. VissiHaus (Iceland) *$3,995.52
4. sabioazul (Chile) *$3,995.56
5. Valenciano87 (Germany) *$3,995.56
6. magic8008 (Russia) *$3,995.56
7. Sosun752 (Russia) *$3,995.56
8. tekidis12 (Greece) *$3,995.56
9. mystical_ps (Germany) *$3,995.56

We will call this the Battle of Planets: Holiday Edition. Nothing different about awarding $50,000 to our SnG champions from the various "planets" buy-in levels except the timing. Usually the big freeroll happens during the last Sunday of each month but since PokerStars recognized that the players might want to enjoy New Year's Eve, we came back today to crown the last Battle of the Planets champion from 2011 (in 2012). An extra week allowed for extra players to qualify as 612 players cashed their tickets for a shot at the $12,000.00 first place prize.

Team PokerStars took the afternoon off as none registered or perhaps they wanted to watch Team Online's Randy "nanonoko" Lew out at the PCA attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most poker hands played in an eight hour period and get a headache from trying to keep up with the 40 tables he has up.

As for these players who may or may not be multi-tabling with some big cash on the line, the first round got down to 1nnetka and IVAN987654 heads up on Table 56 with 1nnetka holding a 7,957 to 2,543 chip lead and 150/300 ante 25 blinds. 1nnetka led out for a min raise as IVAN987654 shoved holding a medium ace [As][8h]. 1nnetka looked down at [Kc][8s] and felt it was good enough to make the call. The suckout king would wait until the river to appear [9h] [8c] [Qd] [9s] [Kd], shutting IVAN987654 from the money today in 82nd place as our remaining 81 players were now assured $195.00
derdex ran through his table like someone with plans for the evening finishing off the table quickly. SixthSenSe19 got a ticket to the final table and was holding the chip lead in the Sunday Warm-Up with under 50 players remaining, nothing like a shot at two five-figure paydays.

Down to two tables remaining taxistu would fall to chaser395 and on Table 4 jusTTsmile held a big 10,125 chips to 3,375 chips lead over Dr_ALBATR0S and with the blinds at 150/300 both would throw it in preflop. [7d][Ad] for jusTTsmile and Dr_ALBATR0S showed [Jc][Ks]. Unfortunately for the doctor the wing span was not long enough to catch jusTTsmile's trip sevens on the [Qh] [2s] [7s] [7c] [6h] starting up the final table below:

The only news from the first 10/20 blind level was SixthSenSe19 getting knocked down to just 445 chips from the starting 1,500 chip stack after losing a 690 chip pot to derdex and a 974 chip pot to Noisy_pl who found a club flush on the river.

Flying away

Not sure if Greek mythology included a Flying Zebra, but there was a live one trying to eek out a decent payday from this freeroll. FlyingZebraa, sitting in the small blind, would shove 1,235 chips over the top of a small raise by chaser395 on the button. This was not a standard button opening raise as chaser395 snap called with pocket queens [Qc][Qs]. [9c][Ad] for FlyingZebraa needed the power of Tyche to stay alive, but the goddess did not hear the call as the board [Kc] [8h] [8d] [2d] [Th] ended FlyingZebraa's tournament in ninth place ($775.00).

Sensing the end

SixthSenSe19 could be excused for being a bit distracted with a possible $113,637.77 first prize and top five stack with 34 players left in the Sunday Warm-Up. After grinding back up to a 1,055 chip stack and blinds at 50/100, SixthSenSe19 would open shove with big slick [Ah][Ks] getting called by the pocket eights [8d][8s] of jusTTsmile in the big blind. After the eight hit the river [7c] [2c] [Qd] [9d] [8c] SixthSenSe19 could devote all the attention to the Sunday Warm-Up finishing in eighth place ($1,200.00).

Haste makes waste

High blinds however can force the hand a bit as derdex sitting on just 1,199 chips and blinds of 50/100 open shoved from the button holding [9h][Js] as Noisy_pl had enough chips to cover in the big blind making the call with [Ts][Ah]. An all-low [5s] [7d] [8d] [4s] [2h] board handed the 2,448 chip pot to Nosiy_pl as the first player seated at the final table, derdex, took home $1,700.00 in seventh place.

No straight flush today

Seven hands later strflushtome would shove over the top of a small raise to 277 chips by chaser395 as the blinds held at 50/100. Holding pocket tens [Th][Td] chaser395 made the call and would be racing against the [Ad][Qs] of strflushtome. Just a queen or an ace or even some broadway cards would help, but the [6d] [Ks] [8h] [6h] [5s] board failed to connect for strflushtome ending the tournament in sixth place ($2,200.00).

In like a lion, out like a lamb

No, it's not March yet but noisy_pl on the downslide to just 659 chips after losing a big hand against jusTTsmile would be all-in again as the blinds moved up to 75/150. Holding [6d][Qc] noisy_pl needed some boom against the small ace [Ac][4s] of tiburonbig. A rumble came out on the [8c] [6h] [3d] but it was quickly silenced by the [As] on the turn. After the [9s] river fell softly noisy_pl collected $2,735.00 in fifth place.

Smile getting wider

And it should after jusTTsmile collected this 2,580 chip pot. Watch below:

jusTTsmile would take out mularczykPVC who tried suggesting a deal just before the hand was dealt would be on the wrong side of a river card as jusTTsmile found an eight [5s] [9h] [4s] [3s] [8h] to match his [8d][Tc] and overcome mularczykPVC's [6h][As] ending Polish player's night in fourth place ($3,350.00).

Grinning from ear to ear

jusTTsmile can't stop just winning. As the blinds moved up to 100/200 jusTTsmile would min raise from the button holding a sizable chip lead over tiburonbig and chaser395. tiburonbig would fold the small blind but chaser395 shoved for 2,087 chips. Holding a pocket pair of eights [8c][8h] jusTTsmile made the call. chaser395 produced a couple of hearts [Kh][5h] but the board only flipped up one [9s] [4d] [7c] [6c] [9h] ending chaser395's night in third place ($4,500.00).

Winning smile

We do not know if jusTTsmile uses Crest or Colgate for that winning smile, but we do know the Russian just took down $12,000.00 and the belated December Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll. Watch the final hand play out below:

Very little drama on this flip between jusTTsmile's pocket sixes [6c][6h] against tiburonbig's [As][Qc] after a six in the turn [3s] [8d] [5d] [6d] [4d] handing jusTTsmile the Battle of the Planets title!

$50,000 Battle of the Planets freeroll results (01-08-12)
1. jusTTsmile (Russia) $12,000.00
2. tiburonbig (Peru) $7,500.00
3. chaser395 (Russia) $4,500.00
4. mularczykPVC (Poland) $3,350.00
5. Noisy_pl (Poland) $2,735.00
6. strflushtome (Netherlands) $2,200.00
7. derdex (Finland) $1,700.00
8. SixthSenSe19 (Uruguay) $1,200.00
9. FlyingZebraa (Canada) $775.00

While it used to mean long, hard fought hours on the real felt at a local casino or the basement home games using a table that needed exactly two chips under one leg so it would not wobble, the online games at PokerStars give players an express poker education by being able to play several tables at once. Many players who qualified for today's $50,000 Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll did just that. Four, eight, twelve, or play like recent APPT Macau Main Event champ Team Online's Randy "nanonoko" Lew and splash pots on twenty-four tables at once. More tables mean more chances to snag weekly leaderboard points for the eight planetary buy-in levels. It does not matter whether you scored that ticket playing $1 SnGs or $5,000 games; all those with entries get an equal shot at today's $12,000.00 first prize.

No Red Spades in this tournament. Maybe it was the party winding down in Macau, or tough competition for those tickets this month, but Team PokerStars pros and Team Online were not able to join the 534 player freeroll today.

While every other table had one player moving on to the second round, Table 15 sported three-way action going into the 125/250 ante 25 blind level. LD182 tried shoving any two live cards twice, and was denied both times. The second attempt came with holding 855 chips in the big blind and defending all-in against Jayzens' [Qh][As]. LD182's [4d][7h] did not connect enough with the [Ah] [8c] [9d] [4c] [9h] board finishing in 83rd place.

Supernova Jayzens and Pokerger1337 would battle up till the 150/300 ante 25 level when a huge cooler struck. Down 7,190 to 3,310 Jayzens eyes went wide holding pocket aces [As][Ad] and seeing Pokerger1337's shove from the button. But, the [Kh] [Qc] [9s] fit Pokerger1337's [Th][Jc] perfectly as the cracked aces could not recover on the [2c] turn and [Ts] river sending Jayzens out on the bubble in 82nd place earning our final 81 players at least $195.00

daymom put Table 2 down everyone for naps early, acquiring the first final table seat while there was still seven players over on Table 3. daymom was joined closely by RomeoRoche3 and fellow Russian WallterBish.

Down to two tables left, markentosh had everything go right in two hands near each other. All-in after a [2h] [9s] [Jd] flop holding [Th][Qh] against Runninggreat's pocket aces [As][Ac], an [8c] on the turn had a 10,708 chip pot shipped to markentosh. Three hands later Runninggreat shoved for 2,492 chips preflop as markentosh made the call holding a small ace [3h][Ad]. Runninggreat's [5h][9h] looked good with a turned two pair [2h] [9c] [Td] [5s] but could not fade the four-outer as the [4h] river gave Runninggreat a reason to rethink that name.

AB_Poker_12 and Mister Nanso would face-off until the 150/300 ante 25 level when a river card would send one player to the final table. Check out the video below:

With the rivered higher two pair AB_Poker_12's [Jd][Ac] outkicked Mister Nanso's [2s][As] on the [Ad] [3c] [6s] [2d] [Jc] board shipping Mister Nanso $195.00 in 10th place and starting the final table below:

Seat 1: bigstealer (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: daymom (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: markentosh (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: RomeoRoche43 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: vlad11122007 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: WallterBish (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: AB_Poker_12 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: pasha31085 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: TH32NDCOMING (1500 in chips)

bigstealer mentioned being a ginger as the excuse for not going along with the nine-way chop as the players enjoyed a five minute break before the final table. But, then after a few hands bigstealer extended an olive branch with a proposed chop that would send $3,000.00 to all nine players leaving the remainder for the top three finishers.

TH32NDCOMING and bigstealer however pulled out the "I'm better than you" card demanding a higher chunk between the two, the table decllined and the deal talks came to a screeching halt as play resumed.

RomeoRoche43 would fall in ninth place ($775.00) to daymom but spent most of the first two levels trying to challenge TH32NDCOMING to a heads-up match for $500. TH32NDCOMING politely declined but RomeoRoche43 at least earned one buy-in for that level.

Graceful in exit

"gg" appeared in the chat box after bigstealer tried to shove over the top of a raise by pasha31085, re-raise by TH32NDCOMING while on the button. But, it would be daymom in the small blind cushioned by a double stack already making the second shove which pasha31085 tossed their dead money quickly into the pot. Pocket aces for daymom [Ad][As] as bigstealer needed the board to help his [Tc][Th]. No tens on the [Jc] [6s] [5d] [8s] [8d] board and a polite "gg" exit for bigstealer in eighth place ($1,200.00).

No coaching needed here

TH32NDCOMING's avatar states "ask about 18 man training" and just as the blinds moved up to 25/50 the coach would send another player to the bench. pasha31085 staying aggressive despite holding under a starting stack would min-raise from middle position as TH32NDCOMING three bet on the immediate left to 250. Folded back to pash31085 making the call to see the [9d] [Js] [4s] flop pasha31085 checked as TH32NDCOMING led out for 150. Sensing two overcards, pasha31085 would check-raise shove for 963 getting an insta-call from TH32NDCOMING holding top set [Jd][Jh]. After the turned [6c] pasha31085's pocket threes [3d][3h] took the free lesson home in seventh place ($1,700.00).

vlad impaled

vlad11122007 found a spot to open shove a very short stack of 859 chips from the small blind with the blinds at 50/100. But, instead of the easy blinds, vlad11122007 got a quick call from the big slick [Kh][Ac] of WallterBish in the big blind. At least the [Qd][4s] was live but nothing appeared on the five board cards to change the preflop favorite [2h] [Js] [3h] [3c] [Ah] as vlad11122007 flew off with $2,200.00 in sixth place.

Taking out the pros

daymom caught bigstealer, then the blinds up to 50/100 the poker coach would follow in a similar manner. Holding 1,148 chips on the button, TH32NDCOMING shoved holding [7d][Jh] as daymom found [Jc][As] quickly making the call. Both players would pair their non-similar cards on the flop [Ac] [7s] [4s] but a second seven failed to hit the [9h] turn and [Ah] river as TH32NDCOMING had to settle for only a little less than the proposed chop in fifth place ($2,735.00).

Missing the mark

With the blinds still at 50/100 and the five minute hourly break about to begin, daymom with a sizable lead on the field tried to get some easy blinds with a raise to 250. markentosh with 1,775 chips and a big ace [Ad][Tc] shoved hoping to get some free money. Instead WallterBish made the call in the big blind with pocket nines [9s][9d] for a race as daymom quickly folded. WallterBish found an extra step quickly in this flip as the nine on the door [9h] [6d] [5c] [Qs] [6s] was more than enough to take out markentosh in fourth place ($3,350.00).

Breaking up the field

Immediate after the break there was a potential final hand as WallterBish made a raise to 250 and AB_Poker_12 shoved for 1,470. daymom made the call but WallterBish wanted no part of a three-way and re-shoved. You will need to watch the video for the results:

daymom folded and AB_Poker_12's pocket nines [9h][9h] faced off against WallterBish's big slick [Ah][Kc]. Another river delivered the killing blow as the ace of clubs spiked on the [8h] [Tc] [2h] [Td] [Ac] river to end AB_Poker_12's tournament in third place ($4,500.00).

Russia, Russia, Russia!

Three of the top four places tonight claimed by Russia and after Canada's AB_Poker_12 was eliminated, the winner was assured to be flying the white, blue, and red flag.

Four out of five daymoms prefer deuces

After a long heads-up battle between Wallter Bish and daymom it would come down to a leap of faith with a pair of twos [2s][2d] as daymom called the push by Wallter Bish. Holding just 2,986 to daymom's 10,514, Wallter Bish's got a big relief to see a flip with [8d][Qd]. The chance to get back into the tournament never happen as the only thing to match Wallter Bish's hand was a lone diamond on the [5h] [4d] [9c] [Jc] [4h] board and daymom claimed the Battle of the Planets triple shootout $12,000.00 first prize!

Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout freeroll result (11-27-11):
1. daymom (Russia) $12,000.00
2. WallterBish (Russia) $7,500.00
3. AB_Poker_12 (Canada) $4,500.00
4. markentosh (Russia) $3,350.00
5. TH32NDCOMING (Canada) $2,735.00
6. vlad11122007 (Russia) $2,200.00
7. pasha31085 (Germany) $1,700.00
8. bigstealer (United Kingdom) $1,200.00
9. RomeoRoche43 (Greece) $775.00

Pumpkin carving, mounds of candy, and of course the guy from accounting dressed as Elvis. No, it's not another night in Las Vegas but Halloween sitting right around the corner and 527 players tonight were looking to pad their recent SnG dominance with the PokerStars Battle of the Planets $50,000.00 triple shootout freeroll. Open to all SnG players, the only requirement for this freeroll is obtaining a ticket through the weekly points accumulation of your respective planet (or buy-in level, check out the rules though the link above). An average of nearly $4,000.00 is on the table for those who win their first two tables awaits them at the final leg of the tournament. And tonight those final nine would grab the money and run. Here's how they got there:

Only one Red Spade was found on the Battle of the Planets tables today, belonging to Spanish Team Online member Javier El_Cañonero Dominguez. Despite being here nearly every month from crushing the SnGs at his level, Javier would go home early tonight. With the blinds at 25/50 tried to apply some pressure to a min raise from HellRazor_KK by shoving for 1,130 chips. While HellRazor_KK would fold the initial raise, Yilmaz11 had no intentions of laying down big slick [Ah][Kh] and made the call to face off against the Spaniard's pocket sixes [6d][6c]. Javier's fate would come early as an ace was laid down on the flop and held through the [Qh] [Ts] [Ac] [9d] [Tc] board to send Dominguez home in 355th place.

Hailikisat and psychodave29 went all sorts of crazy over their tables finishing with a final table seat in hand before the three hour mark of the tournament assuring them of $775.00 regardless of finish. The final seven seats would be filled in short order as it only took 20 more minutes for our the table to be set. All eyes settled over to Table eight where santi820 was about to put away Piwonka and after the river card left Piwonka's pair of tens looking up at santi820's pair of aces our final table was set below:

Seat 1: xibatao (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: kuzich (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: Sea_Eagle83 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: psychodave29 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: nanyacoB (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: mm@ximumm (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Hailikisat (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: santi820 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: GoldPavlin (1500 in chips)

Maybe they needed money for candy

Three hours and thirty-five minutes later everyone was $3,955.96 richer as the table played out a few hands but after some minor pots were pushed around they decided on taking home between third and fourth place money a piece for their hard work throughout the month while qualifying for this tournament. That amount should be enough to grab a few cases of Mini-Snickers and Reese's peanut butter cups without having to endure a bad costume selection.

After the pushfest erupted, it would still take seven hands before Sea_Eagle83 soared above the final table for a victory lap and take the official title of October Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout champion! Watch the winning hand against kuzich below:

Thus ends this month's Battle of the Planets final table in a shocking 15 minutes with deal time included. Be sure to check out all the goodies PokerStars has lined up for the Halloween weekend including the 70 Billionth hand promotion that is dropping $750,000 into the pillow cases of PokerStars players throughout the week.

$50,000 guarantee October Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout freeroll results (10-30-11):
(* all players chopped the final table money evenly)
1. Sea_Eagle83 (Australia) *$3,995,56
2. kuzich (Russia) *$3,995,56
3. Hailikisat (Estonia) *$3,995,56
4. mm@ximumm (Russia) *$3,995,56
5. santi820 (Argentina) *$3,995,56
6. psychodave29 (Netherlands) *$3,995,56
7. GoldPavlin (Latvia) *$3,995,56
8. nanyacoB (Ukraine) *$3,995,56
9. xibatao (Portugal) *$3,995,52

As the World Championship of Online Poker winds down with the $5 million guarantee Main Event (with a final prize pool of $8,135,000.00) some folks not in the Main Event choose to do so even if they had the bankroll to pony up the $5,200 buy-in. Tonight those players will play for 23 30-minute levels, add in 23 times five minutes for breaks, carry the one, subtract the hypotenuse, solve for x, and you have around fifteen hours of play. Now, if you HAVE fifteen hours of time to sit down at your laptop then going after that WCOOP bracelet and one of two seven-figure paydays makes sense.

This is not for everyone.

Some players need the compact sized tournaments to fit their schedules, and that's where we find the field of 474 players playing in today's Battle of the Planets $50,000.00 triple shootout freeroll. SnG's are made for those who excel in the tournament setting but don't have from sunrise to sunset to play. These players wedged in enough SnGs wins to qualify for today's tournament and stand to win $12,500.00 if they can survive three tables.

At the end of the first round and two tables remaining a familiar face was battling for a second round seat and locking up $195.00 in profit. Alex "allingomes" Gomes who narrowly missed a final table in WCOOP 2011 Event #54 (finishing 8th for $18,392.00) would wrap up the second-to-last second round seat after taking down LmLn123 (xixikoko knocked off matbestar for the final seat). But, the victory dance did not last long as Gomes would bust quickly in the second round finishing in 78th place ($195.00).
nineallday00, premo321, and FISHCAKECITY would wrap up their seats early on and joined by jorjorreal and Germany's Fohle140586 as tables two and three still had four players apiece looking to lock up at least $775.00 for a final table seat.

At the three hour point only btoast21 and I..nobody..l stood to grab the last seat to the final table as the WCOOP Main Event prize pool pushed past eight million dollars. They would cut a small deal to ship a little bit to the loser of their heads-up match, and for some reason, wanted to play all night despite the riches waiting on the next table. Their heads-up battle would last over 30 minutes as I..nobody..l stood with the chip advantage for the majority of the time. Then with the blinds at 200/400 ante 50 btoast21 with just 995 chips behind after paying the big blind would call the raise from I..nobody..l holding [2h][Jc]. Pocket nines [9c][9h] would pave the road to the final table for I..nobody..l as the board failed to improve either hand starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: 1heanswerrr (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: cmonk33 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: I..nobody..l (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: FISHCAKECITY (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: nineallday00 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Cha444 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: jorjorreal (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Fohle140586 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: premo321 (1500 in chips)

Immediately as the final table began half the table went into deal-making mode, looking to chop up a little under $4K per player locking up nearly third place money without having to turn over a card. However, the deal was veto'd by a few of the higher stakes grinders and play would continue.

Fohle falls

Normally a quiet level on the Battle of the Planets final leg of the shootout, the starting 10/20 blinds usually nets a few small pots being pushed but nothing more. Unfortunately for Fohle140586 the demise would come with big preflop advantage after shoving for 1,030 chips over the top of 1heanswerrr's raise to 60 and ending with big postflop disadvantage. Having the bet covered, 1heanswerrr would make the call holding [Ad][Qd] up against the big slick [Ks][As] of Fohle140586. Two diamonds on the flop and one on the river equaled a 2,070 chip pot for 1heanswerrr and $775.00 for Fohle140586 in ninth place.

Silent killer

The 15/30 level would pass with no more causalities as would the 25/50 blind level. But, at the start of level four's 50/100 premo321 would open shove for 1,195 chips as cmonk33 in the cutoff also pushed all-in for a little more. The button and blinds folded as cmonk33 flipped up [Ah][Qd] and premo321 a suited big slick [Ks][As]. And just like Fohle's elimination, the lady would the night as a queen would spike on the river sending our second straight player home with a nasty bad beat as premo321 finished in eighth place ($1,200.00). Which is exactly where premo321 finished in June's edition of the Triple Shootout, but free money is free money.

Cha Cha Cha!

Bad beats are the theme tonight, and this one tops the first two. Watch the video below as FISHCAKECITY and Cha444 getting it in preflop with another fortunate river card:

And with a second nine on the river [7c] [9s] [Qs] [5d] [9c], Cha444's [9h][Ah] side-stepped FISHCAKECITY's [Qh][As] off the main stage in seventh place ($1,700.00).

Bad time to make your hand

The 50/100 level continued to be a wrecking ball to our player's list as jorjorreal would limp in from UTG as it folded around to Cha444 who checked in the big blind. The rainbow [6h] [3s] [7d] low flop got Cha444 to check-raise the min bet by jorjorreal as the Spaniard made the call for 190 chips more. Cha444 would lead out 298 chips on the [Kd] turn as jorjorreal made the call again. [Jd] river gave Cha444 two pair [Kh][Js] and he would push all-in for 1,287 chips. jorjorreal covered and could not call quickly enough with the nut flush [Ad][6d] as another river card sunk a player, this time Cha444 in sixth place ($2,200.00).

Nobody knows the trouble I have seen

Two face cards, only 632 chips. I..nobody..l needed a start somewhere as the blinds moved up to 75/150 I..nobody..l would shove that shortstack with [Qh][Ks] over the 450 chip raise of jorjorreal. Easy call for the chip leader holding [9s][Ad], and the board would favor the rich with a turned ace and a missed gutshot straight on the river [7h] [8c] [Jd] [As] [5h] marking the first time the river did not decide our player's fate as I..nobody..l will have $2,735.00 to ease those troubles.

Play turns into hard cash

Our final four would play tough as the blinds became increasingly tough on people not named jorjorreal who enjoyed a fat stack of 6,553 chips while the remaining three was led by cmonk33's 2,777. With the blinds still at 75/150 nineallday00 would min raise from the button as jorjorreal put in enough from the small blind to force nineallday00 all-in. Holding big slick [As][Kh] nineallday00 made the call. nineallday00 did not get the memo about holding a dominate hand to jorjorreal's [Ah][9h] as a nine was promptly spread on the door [9d] [2s] [3d] [8s] [6s] bringing nineallday00's tournament to a close in fourth place ($3,350.00) as jorjorreal raked in the 3,910 chip pot.

Yes, the better hand DOES win once in a while

And yes we have video proof of this phenomenon, check it out below:

jorjorreal showed he could win while ahead as well, as 1heanswerrr shoved over the chip leader's button raise holding [Jc][Kh]. jorjorreal snap called with [Js][As] and for once this final table the dominate hand held as [7c] [Qs] [5s] [6c] [4h] spread neatly on the table for jorjorreal as 1heanswerrr collected $4,500.00 in third place.

Wrap up the dollars and no cents

Shortly after 1heanswerrr left the table cmonk33 broached the idea of a slight chop going into heads-up play down 2,672 to jorjorreal's 10,828 chips. After exactly no rebuttals and a change in payouts by the PokerStars staff, we had the following deal:

jorjorreal: $11,000.00
cmonk33: $8,500.00

And with the deal, all the monies were passed out so the final hand with no cahs behind it was won by jorjorreal's flopped straight as jorjorreal officially became the September Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll champion!

$50,000 Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll results (09-25-11)
(* denotes part of two-way deal)
1. jorjorreal (Spain) *$11,000.00
2. cmonk33 (Canada) *$8,500.00
3. 1heanswerrr (Russia) $4,500.00
4. nineallday00 (Canada) $3,350.00
5. I..nobody..l (Germany) $2,735.00
6. Cha444 (Indonesia) $2,200.00
7. FISHCAKECITY (United Kingdom) $1,700.00
8. premo321 (Croatia) $1,200.00
9. Fohle140586 (Germany) $775.00

While most of the recent tournament talk for the next month at PokerStars is going to contain the letters W.C.O.O.P. for the next month, today's $50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout freeroll is a reminder that SnG players need some love as well. No bracelets would be awarded to the player who manages a three-game winning streak today, but with the $12,000.00 first place prize the champ could just buy his or her own wrist bling. 470 players stood at the starting five or six player tables, all of them accomplished SnG players from winning their freeroll tickets through a series of weekly point races.

Defending champ Spackn would qualify again this month, but would not add a third Battle of the Planets title this month finishing in 394th place.

A couple of Team PokerStars players meandered into today's triple shootout perhaps a tune-up for Event #30 of the 2011 WCOOP on September 14th. But, those are 10-max tables and today the two PokerStars representatives started off with a six-player table. Diego "vgreen22" Brunelli cashed in his usual freeroll ticket as he earned yet another one this month. But, the ticket would only last into the 25/50 blind level after getting chopped down to just 930 chips from a starting stack of 1500, Brunelli got a little aggressive in the small blind by open shoving [7h][Qh]. cempb0ss sat patiently in the big blind calling with [Qs][As] and enough chips to cover the Brazilian's bet. An ace on the flop and no flush sweat on the turn [Js] [2h] [Ad] [2c] [8h] sunk Diego's day in 333rd place.

Team Online's Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez had a little more success, getting to heads up play against TigerFM and a minimum $195.00 for the winner. Dominguez would come from behind to overtake the German TigerFM and advance to a fresh nine-player table and one step closer to that $12,000.00 first place prize.

Lucky Indeed

Fairly early into the second round Dominguez would get his money in good, but lucky_ace82 found something better. The blinds at just 15/30 but both players would find all their chips in the middle for a 2,925 chip pot and lucky_ace82 covering the Spanish pro's bet by just 65 chips. Pair of ladies [Qh][Qd] for Javier and big slick [Kh][Ad] for lucky_ace82. No lucky ace needed as two kings hit the flop [Ks] [Kc] [8h] [4s] [5s] and Dominguez was collecting $195.00 in 78th place.

While Javier's departure as quick, the rest of the field rolled on determine who would walk away with $195.00 and who would be playing for several thousand dollars waiting at the final table.

Down to three tables left edison35 found the right wattage to extinguish theharrisonl, kamanchero01 shot down abaron68 in 11th place leaving bigshow17 and Alex Borb on table eight to square away the final seat. Alex Borb would battle from a 10 to 1 deficit heads-up stretching the last table to the third hourly break while behind 4,240 to 9,260. Just a few minutes after the cards were back in the air however, Alex Borb would be all-in for 3,640 chips preflop holding pocket sevens [7c][7d] against the suited connectors [8h][9h] of bigshow17. The flop [3d] [Kc] [Qh] was clean for the sevens, but the turn [8s] was not giving bigshow17 the lead. After the two-outer did not hit the river [4s], all players reconvened on table one for the final table.

Seat 1: AK-deluxe (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: chris777444 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: mularczykPVC (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: edison35 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: kamanchero01 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: toycomite (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: d5quared2 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: bigshow17 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: K.T.A.-1985 (1500 in chips)

The players immediately went to deal making mode as starting 10/20 blind level rolled on through as the players looked to the PokerStars Host for a nine-split and a little money on the side for the top three spots. However edison35 took the right to remain silent seriously and quashed the initial round of talks without a stoppage in play. Part of the silence may have been due to edison35 taking the early chip lead as the first player to over 2,000 chips.

Talks of a deal became no more of a whisper after all nine survived the 15/30 and 25/50 blind levels and even after losing the chip lead, edison35 stayed quiet on the chatting front.

Deluxe reduction

In what might have been the longest final table until the first elimination, AK-deluxe holding just 1,040 chips and the blinds at 50/100 tried to nab the free money with a shove from the button holding [6s][Ac]. chris777444 however was sitting in the right spot at the right time, making the call from the small blind with [Qc][Ad]. No sixes on the [Jc] [9s] [7h] [Kh] [2d] board had AK-deluxe looking for new game in ninth place ($775.00).

K. T. A. goes M. I. A.

Fast pace play got even faster with mostly short stacks around the table. With the blinds at 75/150 K.T.A.-1985 with just 529 chips would shove over a small raise from d5quared2. edison35 called both bets as d5quared2 called the extra 214. After a [Th] [Qc] [Tc] flop, edison35 immediate shoved all-in and got d5quared2 out of the way. Pocket kings for edison35 [Kh][Kd] put a damper on K.T.A.-1985's top pair-top kicker [Qh][As]. No ace or a second queen found the rest of the [9h] [9d] board and K.T.A.-1985 took home $1,200.00 in eighth place.

Sea of eliminations

As mentioned the 75/150 level brought the short stacks an urgent message to double up quickly or hit the road. Just three hands later we would have back-to-back eliminations. 710 chips went in the middle preflop for kamanchero01, trying the snag the blinds from the button holding just [2d][8h]. It would have worked too if d5quared2 did not have an ace to make the call [Ad][3s]. Ace on the flop ended kamanchero01's night in seventh place ($1,700.00). On the next chris777444 would snag one of the biggest pots of the tourney, check it out below:

It not something you ever want to be on the wrong end of, but amazing when it happens as a railbird. Despite flopping top two with [Ad][Td] on the [As][6c][Ts] board and all-in after the flop, toycomite would watch a miracle drop for chris777444's [Ah][8s] as two eights hit the turn [8d] and river [8c] handing over sixth place cash ($2,200.00) to toycomite instead of the 3,895 chip pot.

Cracked pipe

PVC piping may be pretty solid and so is a pocket pair of nines [9c][9s]when you only have 1,035 chips and blinds at 100/200. But, your opponent flips up pocket kings [Kd][Kc] you sigh and hope for the best. chris777444 did not need to come from behind this time as the kings ruled on the [6s] [Js] [3h] [Ah] [Th] board giving mularczykPVC $2,735.00 in fifth place money.

Rolling a critical hit

Hoping the name d5quared2 is a slight homage to gamer dice, he would roll a critical hit just three hands after PVC took a seat on the rail. With the blinds still at 100/200, d5quared2 would open shove from UTG holding pocket tens [Td][Ts] as bigshow17 on the immediate left did the same for a little less holding just 925 chips and pocket queens [Qs][Qc]. Keeping the theme of suckouts going, a ten would hit the flop [Js] [Tc] [9s] but so would an open-ended straight draw for bigshow17. Neither the queen nor the eight straight outs hit the [7h] turn and [5c] river as bigshow17 caught a big payday $3,350.00 for fourth place.

Light turned off

While we thank Edison for inventing the light bulb which is allowing this author to find the keys after every miskey, edison35 was hoping to invent a new chipstack holding just 1,613 chips and blinds at 100/200. Unfortunately, the attempt to take a few chips off the chip leader chris777444 proved to be futile. edison35's [Ks][9d] looked good against a ragged [3h][Qs] shown by chris777444 until a tiny three found its way wedged into the [Js] [3c] [4c] [6c] [8c] board to end the chop abstainer's night in third place ($4,500.00).

Fighting to no avail

d5quared2 had an uphill battle with a big 3,861 to 9,639 chip deficit going into heads-up play against chris777444 and he would scrap for several dozen hands before the hand below came about:

It least it's a flip. All in preflop with pocket fives [5c][5h], chris777444 would call from the big blind holding just [7d][Kd] despite creating a sizable 6,572 chip pot. chris777444 would catch a seven on the [6s] [8c] [7c] flop but would have to fade ten outs twice. Luckily, pocket aces [Ah] [Ad] would show up to fill in the rest of the board as chris777444 successfully faded the big draw to collect the entire $12,000.00 as this month's Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout champion!

$50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout freeroll results (08-28-11)
1. chris777444 (Canada) $12,000.00
2. d5quared2 (Russia) $7,500.00
3. edison35 (Germany) $4,500.00
4. bigshow17 (Canada) $3,350.00
5. mularczykPVC (Poland) $2,735.00
6. toycomite (Spain) $2,200.00
7. kamanchero01 (Russia) $1,700.00
8. K.T.A.-1985 (Spain) $1,200.00
9. AK-deluxe (Austria) $775.00

Players on PokerStars who perform consistently receive regular awards in the way of points, status, and opportunities. One such award is the chance to participate in the monthly $50,000 Battle of the Planets, a freeroll that seats the top ten players from each weekly Sit & Go leaderboard.

The fight for top position on that board is a contentious one due to the prizes at stake, as the Battle of the Planets is a $50,000 triple shootout freeroll. Qualifying players compete to turn that opportunity into a $12,000 first place prize, though the top 81 players walk away with a minimum of $195 for simply making it to the second round of the shootout.

Round 1

This week, there were 456 players with those freeroll seats, and it took quite a long time to whittle that field down to 81. In the midst of that first round of action, a number of players departed with only poker memories, and among them was Team Online's Andre "acoimbra" Brito Coimbra of Portugal, who exited in 357th place.

With an hour and a half passed, the only two players left at a table were 7even 11even and Radoom with fairly even chip stacks. Finally, though, Radoom was ready to battle with [Ac][5h] against the [5c][5d] of 7even 11even, who was all-in. The board of [2s][8h][3h][Jh][2h] brought a flush for Radoom and eliminated 7even 11even on the money bubble.

Round 2

Players could breathe a little easier knowing they were guaranteed a minimum $195 payout for today's efforts, but quite a bit more money awaited those who won their second tables and made the last round. The nine tables of 81 players played out with that in mind.

The last Team Online member in the field for this round was Anders "Donald" Berg, and though he led his table for much of the way through the action, he ultimately lost ground and pushed all-in with a short stack and [Qs][2s]. Weerab76 woke up with [Qd][Qh], and that pair took it down after the [5s][2h][Ts][Jc][3d] board was revealed. Berg (pictured here) departed in 49th place.

(Insert Donald pic)

In Level 6, the first three seats were locked at the final table as luckynikNN, Marrakesz, and CJSaunders won their tables, and Garotta followed soon after. Coka1985 won another table, leaving four more to be decided. Cristoff1 took the next seat, followed by seytomessi.

With one table left in action, jaghuar and 12ziz12 battled it out in Level 7 for the last seat at the final table. Finally, short-stacked jaghuar pushed with [Qc][7c], and 12ziz12 called with [Ah][4h]. The board brought [9d][9h][6d][2d][9c], and the ace kicker played with the three nines. 12ziz12 secured a seat and jaghuar was gone in tenth place with $195.00.

Round 3 - Final Table

The final table was set as follows, each player with 1,500 chips in Level 1, with blinds at 15/20.

Play started predictably slow but picked up in Level 2. It was then that 12ziz12 got into a battle with seytomessi through the [8s][Js][Kd] flop and [6d] turn. Seytomessi bet all-in, and 12ziz12 called all-in with [Ad][Td] for the draw, but seytomessi had [Ks][Qs] for top pair. The [7c] on the river ended it for 12ziz12, who left in ninth place with $775.00.

Just into the third level and after a call from seytomessi and raise from Cristoff1, Garotta and seytomessi also went to see the [Ks][Tc][9c] flop. A bet from Cristoff1 prompted an all-in raise from Garotta, and seytomessi got out of the way. Cristoff1 called all-in with [As][Ac], but that wasn't good enough for the flopped set of Garotta holding [9s][9d]. The [Kc] turn and [2s] river finished the hand and left Cristoff1 out in eighth place with $1,200.00.

It didn't take long for CJSaunders to risk it all as well. It happened when tangling with seytomessi to see a [5h][4h][3s] flop. A bet from CJSaunders prompted a check-raise all-in from seytomessi. CJSaunders called all-in for 680 more chips with [Jd][Js], which bested the [7c][7d] of seytomessi. But the [7s] on the turn gave seytomessi the set of sevens, and the [2h] on the river sent CJSaunders packing in seventh place with $1,700.00.

Let the double-ups begin!

A big double-up for luckynikNN through coka1985 left the latter in a dire short position, but a triple-up through luckynikNN and Garotta was a life-saver. And the following hand showed what a real comeback looks like:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Marrakesz then doubled through seytomessi, and luckynikNN did the same.

Seytomessi couldn't recover and pushed 108 chips all-in. Coka1985, Garotta, and Marrakesz called, checking down the [3h][Qd][Js] flop and [6h] turn. After the [9h] on the river, they checked again, and Garotta showed [9d][2d] for the pair of nines, which won the pot. Seytomessi simply mucked and left in sixth place with $2,200.00.

Shortly thereafter, edvin08 pushed all-in preflop with [Ah][3h], and luckynikNN called from the big blind with [2h][2c]. the board of [4d][9c][Td][Tc][Jh] gave luckynikNN two pair and the pot, and edvin08 departed in fifth place with $2,735.00.

Despite coka1985's comeback of earlier and more recent double through luckynikNN, the stack was again short, and coka1985 moved all-in preflop with [Ac][7d]. Marrakesz called from the small blind with [Jd][Jc], which held up (and improved to two pair) on the [8c][5c][3d][6s][6c] presented by the virtual dealer. Coka1985 left in fourth place with $3,350.00.

LuckynikNN doubled through Marrakesz and continued to climb, soon taking over the chip lead by a slim margin. But Marrakesz wasn't having it, and the following double-up put luckynikNN back in trouble again:

RSS readers click through to see replay

LuckynikNN was able to double up to stay alive, and Garotta did the same through Marrakesz. But then Garotta doubled through luckynikNN to leave the latter with a very short stack. A double through Marrakesz was of some help, but with blinds at 125/250, players were in all-in mode.

Garotta then moved all-in with [Kc][Jc], and luckynikNN called with [Ks][4h] from the big blind. LuckynikNN was at risk and couldn't improve enough on the [5c][Js][Qc][4d][6h] board. That left luckynikNN out in third place with $4,500.00.

Nothing is certain

The final two players headed into their match as follows:

Seat 2: Marrakesz (8,034 in chips)
Seat 3: Garotta (5,466 in chips)

But Garotta put the pressure on Marrakesz and took a number of significant pots in order to climb right into the lead. and Garotta had no intention of backing down.

Marrakesz finally pushed all-in for 3,514 chips holding [Td][8d] after Garotta limped in the small blind, but Garotta called with [9d][9s]. The board came [7c][Ks][7d][4d][6h], and Marrakesz had to accept $7,500.00 for second place.

Garotta won the May Battle of the Planets, and the freeroll brought a $12,000 first place prize. Congrats!

May Battle of the Planets Results for 05/29/11:

1st place: Garotta ($12,000.00)
2nd place: Marrakesz ($7,500.00)
3rd place: luckynikNN ($4,500.00)
4th place: coka1985 ($3,350.00)
5th place: edvin08 ($2,735.00)
6th place: seytomessi ($2,200.00)
7th place: CJSaunders ($1,700.00)
8th place: Cristoff1 ($1,200.00)
9th place: 12ziz12 ($775.00)

Spring is here even in the normally frozen landscape of my backyard. The buds popping from the trees, woodland creature quickly gathering up winter's spoils, and PokerStars coming out with yet another round of the Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout freeroll. 330 players would try to turn their freeroll ticket into $12,000.00 sitting on the third table for our champion. And despite a little twist in plans by our final nine, the players all went home happy.

Shortly after the hourly break about an hour and half into the first round, just exe.ton.nous and Ivanesz remained both fighting for the last seat into round two and assurances of $195.00 for winning the table. With the blinds holding at 100/200 and exe.ton.nous holding a 3,965 to 2,035 chip lead both would get their chips in the middle preflop. Ivansez with a couple of suited paint cards [Qc][Jc] as exe.ton.nous held a medium ace [As][7h]. Flopped pair of jacks for Ivansez [6s] [7c] [Jd] put him the lead for the 4,070 chip pot. [Kc] on the turn eliminated a few outs for exe.ton.nous, but the [Ah] was not a club and gave exe.ton.nous the winning two pair and started up nine fresh tables and the round of 81.

Someone who seems to enjoy Omaha Eight or Better, AsAh2d3c, managed to find enough scoops on the hold em' tables as the player from Russia took home the first seat at the final table.

Down to two tables PlatinumStar Casper132999 would sneak [5d][9d] past the [Jc][Ad] of Mar4eto555 and claim the second to last seat as Maucgg and tomitza sat on Table Seven looking to lock up a minimum of $775.00 and a potential $12,000.00 going to today's winner. tomitza777 had a huge uphill battle with only 2,302 chips to Maucgg 's 11,198 and the blinds at 150/300 ante 25but managed to get pocket sixes to hold preflop and quick double-up. A few hands later tomiza777 looked ripe to turn this game in his direction getting it all-in preflop with pocket threes [3d][3s] as Maucgg called with a small ace [As][2c]. Not a perfect flop for tomiza777 as [Qd] [9d] [Qc] gave Maucgg outs to a counterfeit. A nine was not needed as an ace [Ah] dropped down from the dealer giving Maucgg the lead for the 9,758 chip pot and it would dodge the two remaining treys and start up the final table below:

Seat 1: deTorkwemada (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: abrahamoum (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: AsAh2d3c (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: Casper132999 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: whuuui (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: redhot0007 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Maucgg (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Phily88 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: swatt1e (1500 in chips)

Immediately after the final table started the entire table spoke of a chop agreement as abrahamoum had a bit of a language barrier with the other players only speaking English. Enter Host Kevin who busted out some impressive Spanish to ease abrahamoum into the conversation. Five minutes later nine players found $3,995.55 in their bankroll and different from other nine-way deals, the players appeared to be ready to play it out for Tournament Leaderboard points. (ed. note TLB points are not awarded for the Battle of the Planets shootout, read rules here)

Mostly play chips

With all of the money off the table two players decided the leaderboard points did not matter and decided to shove with less than premium cards preflop. Phily68 would shove for 1,570 chips with the blinds at 15/30 holding [Qc][7d] as swatt1e who claimed to be on a card heater while the chop discussions were taking place, called with [Kc][4s]. The king would play on the [9s] [3c] [Jc] [8d] [As] board and Phily68 finished in ninth place.

That's more like it

The video below shows a three-way hand most people would expect to see when there's no money on the line:

After losing the previous hand to abrahamoum, swatt1e would be left with 705 chips and taking a seat on the rail in eighth place as his [9s][Ad], fell to deTorkwemada's big slick [Ah][Kd], and abrahamoum had to muck [Kh][Qh] thus failing to complete a double knockout.

Another chip leader bites the dust

Blinds moved up to 25/50 as abrahamoum, who held the chip lead after taking it from swatt1e, would find his short stack in the middle. Down to just 250 chips after losing a 2,375 chip pot to redhot0007, the rest of them would ship over to the nemesis on the very next hand. abrahamoum would open shove [6s][2s] and failed to overcome the pocket fours [4h][4c] of abrahamoum as a four dropped on the turn [9h] [9d] [Ah] [4d] [Ac] just to rub it in ending abrahamoum's night in seventh place.

Maucgg is happy to be here. After stating "last week I didn't even know what Battle of the Planets was" in the chat box. And now there are $3,995.55 reasons in that bankroll to try for another ticket next month.

Pride hurts

Maucgg got the call he was looking for after crafting a four-bet preflop against deTorkwemada. Pocket kings [Kc][Ks] looking good to knock out deToorkwemada's tiny ace [5h][Ad] but that tiny ace grew to be a giant on the [Ah] [6s] [6c] [Jd] [As] and the 5,300 chip pot slid to deTorkwemada as Maucgg typed "gg" in the chat on the out to collecting $3,995.55 from the chop agreement in sixth place.

whuuui goes whee whee whee all the way home

After losing everything but 466 chips, then doubling up, whuuui's roller coaster ride would end in fifth place. With the blinds at 75/150 whuuui shoved all in with [Qs][Ts] as deTorkwemada looked it up with pocket jacks [Js][Jc]. The hooks would survive a river flush draw [8d] [9c] [3s] [5s] [5c] sending whuuui out in fifth place.

No high, no low, no chips

Since the author enjoys a game of O8 the majority of the time, looking down at AsAh2d3c is normally a reason for excitement. Unfortunately for AsAh2d3c the excitement would end with two less cards tonight as redhot0007 would take the rest of the Omaha player's chips as redhot0007's [4d][Ad] managed to steer clear of AsAh2d3c's [9c][Kc] on the all low [2s] [8s] [7c] [2d] [3h] board to scoop the high and the low and end AsAh2d3c's night in fourth place.

Speeding things up

Now after an hour of play in the basically free chip SnG, we would reach heads up play. Just three hands after AsAh2d3c left, Casper132999 tried to scare redhot0007 off the big blind with a shove for 2,161 chips. Determined to win, redhot0007 would make the call holding [8d][Kh] as Casper132999 was not bullying around with pocket sixes [6h][6d]. An eight on the flop [2c] [Th] [8s] [7s] [Qc] was all redhot0007 would need to eliminate the friendliest ghost you know, Casper132999, in third place.

Russia versus Estonia for glory

No money on the table, just the right to call themselves the April Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout champion. Watch below as deTorkwemada enjoying a 8,556 to 4,944 chip lead getting it all-in preflop:

Dominated and needing some help, redhot0007's [Th][Kc] was looking down the barrel of deTorkwemada's big slick [Kd][Ah]. Ace on the flop [2s] [4d] [As] [7s] [9c] would put things away for deTorkwemada who fought the table for the win when the money did not matter, and won the pride of being this month's Battle of the Planets champion!

April Battle of the Planets $50,000 Triple Shootout freeroll results (04-24-11)

(*part of nine-way equal deal)

1. deTorkwemada (Russia) *$3,995.55
2. redhot0007 (Estonia) *$3,995.55
3. Casper132999 (Belarus) *$3,995.55
4. AsAh2d3c (Russia) *$3,995.55
5. whuuui (Germany) *$3,995.55
6. Maucgg (United Kingdom) *$3,995.55
7. abrahamoum (Spain) *$3,995.55
8. swatt1e (Australia) *$3,995.55
9. Phily88 (Germany) *$3,995.55

After several months of delays, the space shuttle Discovery took to flight earlier this week on its last mission. A blast out of the earth's atmosphere to deliver supplies to the International Space Station over the next eight days bringing needs to those in space. Our flight into the cosmos keeps people well-ground here on Earth and no need to strap-up as an Astronaut. The monthly $50,000 Battle of the Planets freeroll ends the month-long competition for weekly prizes and tickets to this triple shootout.

Team PokerStars members managed to snag five of those freeroll tickets while playing their favorite SnGs. Unfortunately those with red spades aside from their names were not able to advance into the money today. Alexandre "allingomes" Gomes, Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominquez, Andre Coimbra, Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc, and Henrique Pinho all failed to climb out of the 81 starting tables.

Down to two tables left before the remaining 81 players would be assured $195.00 for their efforts, Grzybouch's [Kc][5c] failed to catch up to ops7490's [As][4c] on the [7d][2s][7c][Jh][8h] board and finished in 83rd place. All eyes moved over quickly to Table 37 where Gobbblin enjoyed a big lead over shenk.by. With blinds at 150/300 ante 25, shenk.by would toss his remaining 909 chips in the middle preflop from the button holding [Qs][4d] as Gobbblin with 9,266 behind made the easy call with pocket tens [Th][Tc]. A flopped opened ended straight draw for shenk.by [6c][5d][3c] provided a little excitement, but the board would kill hopes of a comeback lay out [Ad] and [4c] on the river to ship the remaining 1,818 chips to Gobbblin and start up the race to the final table where a $12,000.00 first place prize is waiting.

Cappla011 and Spackn both punched their tickets in under 45 minutes as they awaited the final table while the other seven tables still had five or six players left. Soon wayne91321, scoobs213, Waaaghbozz, PAW717, Alfa79, and AAPocketaces would trickle in as Table 8 would announce our ninth final table player. Man raining and EunyTheSwa would battle each other until the 125/250 ante 25 level after the third total hour of play. With Man raining in the lead 10,235 to 3,265 EunyTheSwa made a move from the button and shoved all-in holding [8c][Ac], a very decent heads-up hand. Man raining however had a premium hand as well turning over big slick [Kh][Ah]. The door card was a club for EunyTheSwa but it was also a king giving Man raining a big lead that would hold on the [Kc] [Qs] [3s] [Qh] [7h] board for the win and the last seat to tonight's third table of the triple shootout.

Seat 1: scoobs213 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: PAW717 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: Alfa79 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: AAPocketaces (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: waynep1321 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Waaaghbozz (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: cappla011 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Man raining (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: Spackn (1500 in chips)

PAW717 is no stranger to big-time tournament tables having made it to the final 8 in the 2008 WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up tournament, banking $100,000 in the process. Waaaghbozz, cappla011, scoobs213 certainly have some SnG experience while attaining the Supernova VIP level chopping up the pot was never mentioned.

After a non-confrontational starting blind level of 10/20 with 1,500 starting chips, Waaaghbozz and waynep1321 were looking up at the field. In waynep1321's case, pocket aces failed to hold after Spackn found a set of nines on a [8s][9c][2s] flop and the two traded bets until Spackn was all-in and the set held for a 2,721 chip pot leaving the waynep1321 with 822 chips with the blinds 15/30.

Man down!

Generally the eliminations wait a few more blinds, but cappla011 and Man raining managed to get their stacks in the middle preflop early in the 25/50 blind level. Watch the results below:

It would take two big hands like pocket jacks and pocket aces to shove preflop this early and cappla011 was looking desperate holding the jacks [Jd][Jc] to Man raining's aces [Ah][Ad]. Only covering by 450 chips, cappla011's stack was going to take a big hit until a jack appeared on the door and flopped a boat [Jh] [8c] [8s]. No re-suck on the [Ks] turn and [Qc] river and Man raining trickled from the final table in ninth place ($775.00).

cappla011 finds another fortuitous flop

As the blinds moved up to 50/100 and the short stacks start to make their moves preflop, we found two limpers in Spackn and scoobs213, as Waaaghbozz completed the small blind and cappla011 checked the option in the big. A coordinated [6s] [Js] [8d] flop came out as the blinds checked and scoobs213 tried to pick up the pot with a 300 chip bet. cappla011 liked his hand again and shoved for 1,880 chips. scoobs213 only had 761 left but was sitting with top pair, top kicker [Jc][As] and made the call. Once again cappla011 found some love on the flop holding bottom two pair [6c][8h]. No Scooby Snacks on the turn [2s] or river [Kh] and cappla011 took down the 2,522 chip pot while scoobs213 peeled away in the Mystery Machine in eighth place ($1,200.00).

Aces not needed, nor wanted

The short stack of waynep1321 lasted this long but was being pressured by AApocketaces. In a blind versus blind confrontation just five hands after scoobs213 was eliminated, AApocketaces bet enough to put waynep1321 all-in. Holding [Qh][Ah] and 715 chips behind, waynep1321 was happy to make the call and was up against the pocket fives [5c][5h] of AApocketaces. Good thing clubs made their way on the board for AApocketaces as a queen would hit the river but it was also the fourth club [Jd] [6c] [8c] [2c] [Qc] matching the suit in AApocketaces' hand for the winning flush. waynep1321 outlasted two other players with the shortest stack and managed a seventh place finish ($1,700.00).

Not pocket aces but close enough

As the blinds moved up to 75/150 Alfa79 was reduced to just 866 chips and in need of a chip infusion. Shoving from early position holding [Ts][Jc] Alfa79 found a caller with a slightly better hand as AApocketaces found a suited big slick [Kc][Ac]. A king on the flop gave AApocketaces a big advantage reducing Alfa79's outs to four as the short stack picked up an inside straight draw [4d] [9s] [Kh]. The queens had better things to do and failed to show up on the [9d] turn and [5s] river sending Alfa79 home in sixth place ($2,200.00).

The tides turn

cappla011's wild ride would end in the 75/150 blind level. After losing the chip lead, cappla011 would double up off Waaaghbozz with pocket fours, then hand those chips back to Waaaghbozz when pocket fours failed to hold against Waaaghbozz's [Ad][9d]. Three hands later cappla011 would get it in preflop one more time holding 1,148 chips and [4d][Ah] as AApocketaces looked to make his third straight elimination flipping up the dominate [7s][As]. Despite a possibility of a split the board not only gave AApocketaces a pair of sevens, he would turn the nut flush [7c] [6s] [4s] [Ks] [5c] collecting 2,371 chips and showing cappla011 the door in fifth place ($2,735.00).

Spackled

Just before the foursome of our remaining players was going to the fourth hourly break, Waaaghbozz was trying to climb out of the chip cellar holding just 1,623 chips as the blinds moved up to 100/200. Watch the unsuccessful attempt to steal the blinds below:

Shoving [7s][8c] got the desired race with Spackn's [2h][As] for a 3,246 chip pot. But, neither player's hand touched the [Tc] [Qd] [3h] [4c] [9h] board and Spackn's ace high took down the pot and the number of entries left in the tournament was three. Waaaghbozz would pick up $3,350.00 in fourth place.

The word "chop" did not find its way into the screen even after Spackn dished out double ups with AApocketaces and PAW717 as three-handed play continued and the $12,000.00 first place prize still remained on the table.

Spackn Steamroller

In a span of four hands, Spackn would go from third place looking at $4,500.00 to this month's champion. First, Spackn needed the chip lead which was acquired by doubling up off PAW717 when both players got it in preflop with Spackn holding [As][8d] to PAW717's [Kh][Qd]. Queen on the flop [Qh] [4c] [8s] knocked Spackn off the lead, but the [Ad] on the turn righted the ship and sealed the 6,701 chips pot after the [Td] fell on the river. Very next hand Spackn would try to bully by opening for 5,500 from the button with blinds at 125/250 ante 25. PAW717 folded quickly but AApocketaces found a suited ace [8s][As] and made the call for 3,717 chips. Spackn also held an ace with a couple extra pips for a kicker [Tc][Ah]. The pips played on the [Jc] [6s] [5d] [3c] [5c] board and AApocketaces received $4,500.00 in third place.

PAW717 vs. Spackn

Two hands and done, no masterful four bets with air, no check-raises on the turn, just shove it and forget it. After taking down the blinds on the first hand, Spackn would limp in on the second hand as PAW717 wasted no time shoving for 2,357 chips. Holding 11,118 chips before the blinds and antes, Spackn had the bet well covered and the suited ace [9d][Ad] made the call even easier. PAW717's [5d][7s] was live however until a nine hit the flop [2c] [Td] [9c]. [8d] on the turn gave PAW717 a ray of hope with a straight draw, the curtains were drawn on PAW717's tournament life as the [8h] hit the river shipping the $12,000.00 first prize to the February Battle of the Planets champion Spackn!

February $50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout freeroll results (02-27-11)
1. Spackn (Germany) $12,000.00
2. PAW717 (United States) $7,500.00
3. AAPocketaces (United States) $4,500.00
4. Waaaghbozz (Germany) $3,350.00
5. cappla011 (United States) $2,735.00
6. Alfa79 (Sweden) $2,200.00
7. waynep1321 (United States) $1,700.00
8. scoobs213 (South Korea) $1,200.00
9. Man raining (Ukraine) $775.00