Quick. Speedy. Fast.

Turbo.

Today's MicroMillions Event #6: $4.40 NLHE Turbo, sure lived up to its name. Players registered quickly, made the money in a flash, reached the final table swiftly and played down to a winner at once.

That winner was JDRBaptista, and for his victory, he'll take home $7,983.31 and a MicroMillions winner's hat.

Despite winning it quickly, JDRBatista faced a difficult field.

When the tournament kicked off, around 9,900 players had registered for their shot at MicroMillions glory.

But late registration remained open for 60 minutes, and in that time, the floodgates opened. When the dust of early eliminations and late registration settled, the number of players nearly doubled to 18,474.

Much to JDRBaptista's - and everyone else who cashed - delight, the near-doubling of the field also drastically increased the prize pool to $73,896.

This, according to science, was more than three and a half times the initial guarantee of $20,000. This followed today's craze of micro-stakes players shattering every guarantee thus far, a trend that seems likely to keep up throughout the whole series.

Star-Studded Field

Micro-stakes players weren't the only ones battling it out in Even #6 today. Several GoldStar, PlatinumStar and some Supernovas couldn't pass on the value of the MicroMillions tournaments were offering today.

Even two PokerStars Team Pro players decided to take a shot at the $73,896 prize pool.
Victor Ramdin and Martin Hruby both registered and faced elimination early on today. Ramdin survived for about 30 minutes before he was eliminated in a very un-Ramdin way.

Early on, tokes77 raised from the cutoff and Ramdin decided to go all-in for 3,300. tokes77 made the call and showed [As][Kc], it was safe to say he was ahead of Ramdin's [3d][4d].

The flop came [ad][2d][8s], making things fairly interesting for Ramdin, but the turn was a [6h], and a [10c] on the river ruined Ramdin's hope of a MicroMillions championship.

Hruby managed to hold on around 10 minutes longer. When Hruby went all-in, his chances at a double-up seemed good until...well... you might as well see for yourself.

RSS readers click through to see replay

The Ever-Dwindling Field

As the turbo-charged blinds continued to increase, players continued to fall faster than any human - or low-quality computer - could count.

Only 2,475 out of the 18,474 players would make the money, and it took 2 hours and 7 minutes to make it to 2,476. The bubble lasted a total of three minutes while hands across the hundreds of tables wrapped up.

The unlucky bubble boy for this tournament was Chiro1982, a Croatian who missed out on a mincash of $6.65.

Players then continued to fall at a staggering rate, and within 4 hours, we were down to our last 100 players.

Soon after that, we found ourselves with 50 players and a few tournament millionaires. Our eventual champion, JDRBaptista, and a few other of our soon-to-be final table-ists also found themselves in the top 10 chip counts at this point.

When we got down to our final two tables, a few players began to win hand after hand and pulled away from the rest of the field.

Big Shots

One of these players was jason jiang. With 18 players left, jason jiang already found himself above average with 6 million chips, but a well-timed pair of kings against an opponent's [Ad][Qh] pushed him past the 12 million mark.

After winning a few more hands, jason jiang then called an opponent's 5.5 million chip all in with [10d][10h]. jason jiang's pocket 10s were up against [ad][kd], and a coin flip ensued, a flip that jason jiang would win. With more than 20 million chips, jason jiang held a comfortable chip lead.

He continued to dominate his table until the final table bubble hit. jason jiang tried to keep his aggression going by continuously pushing all in, but one opponent was not intimidated.
PlatinumStar player Kubera007 called one of jason jiang's all ins with a pair of sevens and won a flip against his [ks][qh].

Kubera007 doubled his average stack to an above-average 10M. Then, the very next hand jason jiang pushed all in again...

RSS readers click through to see replay

At the other table, sutely seemed to be dominating while a short-stacked JDRBaptista was struggling to stay in the game.

With 400,000/800,000 blinds and a 100,000 ante, sutely, with 11 million in chips, moved all in from the small blind. The only player left to act was JDRBaptista in the big blind, he decided to make the call.

sutely showed [4s][8d] and JDRBaptista showed a fairly stronger hand, [ad][qd]. The board came [10h][6d][6s][3c][3d] and JDRBaptista doubled to 11.8M.

JDRBaptista would then go on to knock out two players in a row, bringing his stack past the 20 million mark.

While JDRBaptista was busy making millions in order to win thousands, Kubera007 burst the bubble on the other table.

bloodlust07, who was near the top of the leader board for a while, found himself slowly getting chipped down by the massive blinds. At one point, he decided to move all in from under-the-gun with a pair of 8s. Kubera007 called from the big blind and showed a pair of aces.

There was no luck for bloodlust07 and he became the final table bubble, a finish worth $277.11.

The Final Table
With bloodlust07 out of the picture and only nine players remaining, the tournament was down to its final table. It looked something like this:

Seat 1: Kubera007 - 29,603,618
Seat 2: eeeemmmmm - 1,849,454
Seat 3: jason jiang - 6,160,472
Seat 4: Darenex - 5,750,728
Seat 5: sutely - 2,273,593
Seat 6: JDRBaptista - 24,600,416
Seat 7: Bastlgaan - 9,523,247
Seat 8: Tomstra - 5,964,656
Seat 9: brhhr - 3,493,826

Lightning Round

These players weren't shy to put all their chips in the middle when they reached the final table. In the first 10 hands of play, there were five eliminations.

The first to go was the once-chipleader, sutely. In hand #2, the table shortstack, eeeemmmmm, moved all in from early position for about 1.7 million. sutely then re-shoved for 2.1 million and Tomstra called from the big blind.

The showdown looked a little something (read: exactly) like this:

eeeemmmmm: [qd][10d]
sutely: [ad][qs]
Tomstra: [10h][9c]

The board came [8h][js][6h][jd][9h] and eeeemmmmm was awarded the main pot while Tomstra took whatever was left of sutely's chips.

sutely became our first final table elimination and took home $443.37 for his 9th place finish.

Two hands later, Tomstra would be the one to find his tournament life at risk.
Bastlgaan raised to 2,550,000 from the cutoff and Tomstra move all in for his remaining 3,639,341. When Tomstra made his move, Bastlgaan immediately said, "thank you good luck all."

When action folded back around to him, Bastlgaan made the call and showed [kh][qh].

Tomstra seemed to be in good shape with [ah][jc], but the flop fell [10h][9c][jd] and Bastlgaan won with a straight.

Tomstra was eliminated in 8th place and won $665.06.

Just like clockwork, another player was eliminated two hands later. Again, it was eeeemmmmm who moved all in, but this time he did it from the small blind. jason jiang called from the big blind and showed [ah][8c], dominating eeeemmmmm's [ad][3c].

The board was tame, devoid of any excitement or surprises and eeeemmmmm was knocked out in 7th place for $1,108.44.

If you guessed that the next elimination came two hand's after eeeemmmmm's, then you're absolutely correct. Congratulations, you win the instant replay:

RSS readers click through to see replay

brhhr was out in 6th place and won $1,847.40 to prove it. JDRBaptista, on the other hand, edged closer to Kubera007's chip lead.

With so many players gone, Darenex found himself as the table short stack with only 3,725,718. Not wanting to wait any longer, he moved all in from under the gun only two hands after brhhr's knockout.

Kubera007 called his all in with [ac][3d] and Darenenx's [jd][9d] found no help on the [5d][6c][4s][2c][10s] board.

Darenex's 5th place finish was worth $2,586.36 and a fair amount of bragging rights.

Slowing it Down

The next elimination took forever. A full FIVE hands passed until someone finally kicked the bucket in 4th place. You read that correctly, FIVE HANDS, it's crazy, I know.

In those five hands, Kubera007 took a bite out of both Bastlgaan and jason jiang's stack, putting him past the 40 million mark.

But while Kubera007 was nibbling away, JDRBaptista dealt jason jiang the finishing blow.

jason jiang moved all in from the small blind for 8.2M and JDRBaptista made the call.
jason jiang showed [5h][2h] and was dominated by JDRBaptista's [ac][5s]. Things looked bleak for jason jiang until...

RSS readers click through to see replay

But then they went back to being bleak as jason jiang was eliminated in 4th place, earning $3,325.32.

After jason jiang's elimination, JDRBaptista and Kubera007 traded a few blows. JDRBaptista managed to chip Kubera007 down to around 20M while his own stack grew close to 60M.

This made Bastlgaan the short stack with around 13M, but he wouldn't be the one to shove.

Kubera007 moved all in from the button for 20,655,748 and Bastlgaan called from the big blind with his remaining 12M. Kubera007 showed [ad][jd] and seemed to be in good shape against Bastlgaan's [qh][8c].

But the flop would change all that.

The [7d][qd][9s] gave Bastlgaan top pair, but Kubera007 now had the flush draw. The turn and the river brought spades and Kubera007 missed his flush.

Kubera007 was now the short stack and needed to make a move. He decided to wait three hands to make it.

The next time he had the button, Kubera007 moved all in yet again, this time he showed [qh][7d]. It wasn't as good as his ace-jack, but it was still ahead of JDRBaptista, who called with [js][10c].

The flop fell [9d][kh][6s], giving JDRBaptista the straight draw. The turn was a humble [3d], while the river was a taunting [qd].

Kubera007 made his pair but JDRBaptista hit his straight.

Kubera007 would leave the table in 3rd, adding $4,803.24 to the PlatinumStar Player's already impressive online resume.

Ten for Five, Six for One

In the spirit of turbo-ness, JDRBaptista and Bastlgaan played a very quick heads-up match.

Six hands.

That's all it took for JDRBaptista to knock out Bastlgaan and win the MicroMillions Event #6.

The first three hands only involved the passing around of blinds, but then Bastlgaan got frisky.

With 1M/2M blinds and a 250,000 ante, Bastlgaan called from the small blind. The flop fell [4c][7h][9s] and JDRBaptista checked. Bastlgaan bet 2M and JDRBaptista made the call, bringing a [Qc] on the turn.

Both players checked that street and a [5d] came floating on the river. JDRBaptista decided to lead out for 4.675M and Bastlgaan made the call, showing [6s][7s].

While not much, Bastlgaan's middle pair was good enough to beat JDRBaptista's [6h][2s].

This hand pushed Bastlgaan up to 33M, while JDRBaptista dropped just under 60M.

Bastlgaan would continue to gain ground on JDRBaptista the very next hand, but this time, without a showdown.

From the button, JDRBaptista raised to 4.48M and Bastlgaan made the call. When the flop came [5s][as][6c], JDRBaptista decided to bet again, this time for 5.203M. But Bastlgaan wasn't about to call again, this time he moved all in.

Faced with a 23M raise, JDRBaptista opted to fold.

The players now seemed set for a good heads-up battle. JDRBaptista held 49,290,352 and Bastlgaan worked his way up to 43,290,352.

But after folding from the small blind the next hand, Bastlgaan would find himself losing the last hand of the tournament.

This is it

JDRBaptista raised to 4.48M and Bastlgaan decided to raise to 12M. JDRBaptista had no problem sending a re-raise straight back and moved all in for 50,079,648.

Bastlgaan made the call and showed [As][Kh], a great starting hand that's even greater heads up. But JDRBaptista also had a decent set of cards, he had a pair of jacks.

The [4d][10c][7d][2d][10d] board was devoid of any aces or kings and Bastlgaan was eliminated in 2nd place, earning $6,281.16.

This made JDRBaptista the MicroMillions Event #6 Champion, a title worth $7,983.31, a MicroMillions winner's hat and a few player of the series points.

Six events are done, but there's still 94 to go.

Check out the MicroMillions page for more information and see if there's an event that fits your bankroll and schedule.

It might be your screen name decorating our next tournament headline.

Double the fun this month for SnG grinders as the monthly Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout kicked off twice. jusTTsmile took home the $12,000.00 first place prize at the beginning of the month but failed to become the first player to win the tournament twice in the same month after earning another ticket to come back but falling in 441st place. 549 other players also cashed their shortened monthly tickets to this freeroll thanks to placing high enough on the eight planetary leaderboards

Team PokerStars failed to qualify this month or were busying gearing up for the last day of the 2012 Turbo Championship of Online Poker with the $2,100 buy-in high roller (that awarded four players a six-figure score in just over four hours) and the $700 Main Event.

After an hour and 45 minutes Planokyrkin would score the final seat to the second round after taking out Bouling. With the blinds at 150/300 ante 25, Bouling holding 2,820 chips and pocket sixes [6s][6h] decided to shove over the min-raise of Planokyrkin. The Russian paused for a moment and called with [Kd][Th] and was rewarded with two pair on the flop [Qh] [Kh] [Td] [4h] [Jd] which held to lock up at least $195.00 for the remaining 81 players.

Planokyrkin almost skipped to the final table as well despite being the last to sit down for the round of 81, coming up just short in 18th place. Havoc14, KyleC182, Sbyla, beyessa, brpoker_pr0, cynicalfish, and entim waited for a threesome of players on tables four and eight to finish up before the final table.

In short order sippin_criss would take care of SteelNervee and fish&chips on table eight as Paffchen and T.Chanin would settle the last final table seat on table four. With the blinds at 125/250 ante 25 both players would find satisfactory cards to shove all-in prelfop. Holding a 7,375 to 6,125 edge, T.Chanin flipped up the dominated [Tc][As] as Päffchen found big slick [Kh][Ad] at the right time. At least until the ten hit the turn [4s] [4c] [2c] [Td] [8d] shipping the last pot before the final table to T.Chanin and starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: beyessa (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Sbyla (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: KyleC182 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: T.Chanin (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Havoc14 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: brpoker_pr0 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: entim (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: sippin_criss (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: cynicalfish (1500 in chips)

T.Chanin would immediately start lobbying for a nine-split of the cash but a few players at the table expressed they were down a bit on the day and wanted a shot at the full $12,000 first prize.

The only excitement from the 10/20 and 15/30 blinds levels would come from the watching the survival of cynicalfish who was knocked down to under 100 chips for the majority of the early levels yet clung on to those chips and rolled them up to 845 by the middle of the 25/50 level.

Hanging on means more cash

Every extra dollar earned by cynicalfish from here until busto is a lesson about staying positive despite holding a microstack. With the blinds at 25/50 and fresh off doubling up beyessa, KyleC182 would shove 280 chips over a min-raise by entim who made the call. Pocket tens [Th][Ts] for KyleC182 never stood a chance against the [Kh] [Jh] held by entim hitting a flopped flush [7h] [6h] [3h] [Kc] [4d]. As KyleC182 exited in ninth place ($775.00), cynicalfish picked up an extra $425.00.

beyessa says yes to the queens

Still in the 25/50 blind level, beyessa laid out a 150 chip raise as brpoker_pr0 sitting on 1,080 chips shoved holding pocket nines [9h][9c] from the small blind. entim folded the big blind and beyessa snap called with queens [Qd][Qc]. Four diamonds appeared on the board [7d] [4d] [2d] [5s] [6d] to match the queen of diamonds in beyessa's hand to win the 2,210 chip pot as brpoker_pr0 earned $1,200.00 in eighth place and cynicalfish took in another $500.00

sippin on gin and seventh place cash

The blind moving up to 50/100 and sippin_criss with just 235 put in 210 of that preflop as beyessa and Sbyla called out of the blinds. [Jh] [9c] [Ks] flop got sippin_criss to shove that 25 chip into the pot as both the blinds called again. [2c] got Sbyla to bet 200 and beyessa to fold as Sbyla showed a pair of nines [5h][9d] beating out sippin_criss' pocket treys [3c][3s]. [5d] on the river and sippin_criss got to lay back with $1,700.00 earned in seventh place as cynicalfish was assured another $500.00

Finally hooked

cynicalfish would finally be caught in sixth place, watch entim reel in the elusive shortstack below:

[Jc][Ks] for cynicalfish failed to overcome the ace [Tc][Ah] held by entim but he would be taking home an extra $1,425.00 for toughing out a shortstack in sixth place ($2,200.00).

Right on time again

entim would make short work of cutting out 1/3rd of the remaining players. Just three hands after filleting cynicalfish, entim would call the short all-in by Havoc14 who held 770 chips. Showing pocket nines [9h][9c] to Havoc14's pocket fours [4c][4s] the board would comply for entim once again [Ts] [Qc] [2c] [7h] [Qd] as Havoc14 was sent off with $2,735.00 in fifth place.

yes yes yessa!

After doubling up off entim as the blinds remained at 50/100, beyessa would call a 250 chip raise from T.Chanin out of the small blind. A coordinated [9d] [Jc] [Ad] flop got beyessa to lead out for 300 as T.Chanin shoved for 1,960. Thanks to the double up from entim, beyessa easily covered and called with straight and flush draws [Td][Qd]. T.Chanin needed dodge a metric ton of outs with big slick [Ac][Kh]. [Jh] was clean on the turn but the [8d] hit a straight and/or a flush, it does not matter, as both beat the two pair of T.Chanin who earned $3,350.00 in fourth place.

Trapped by a trap

Watch below as entim tries to lure Sbyla in only to realize he was the one getting trapped.

After a min-raise from entim and call by Sbyla as the blinds held at 50/100 Sbyla would check the [Qh] [Ks] [Ad] flop. entim would bet 255 with top pair [As][8c] as Sbyla check-raised immediately to 2,215 chips. Holding 1,240 chips left entim made the call and was drawing to chop against Sbyla's aces [Ac][Ah]. [7h] on the turn meant no broadway and third place ($4,500.00) cash for entim.

Almost as fast as a TCOOP heads-up match

After reporting on the TCOOP for the past week heads-up matches have lasted under a minute up to five minutes at the most. With the blinds only at 50/100 both players had room to maneuver despite beyessa bringing in a 9,340 to 4,160 chip lead. Seven minutes into the heads-up match and Sbyla watching the tournament slide away after losing four straight hands would not be able to mount a comeback. Blinds moving up to 75/150, Sbyla would shove from the button holding 1,978 chips and [Th][Js]. But, beyessa was sitting pretty with a suited big slick [Ks][As] to quickly make the call. No card over an eight would show on the [6d] [5d] [8d] [2c] [2h] board as beyessa claimed the official January Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout win earning $12,000.00!

$50,000 Battle of the Planets triple shootout results (01-29-12):
1. beyessa (Argentina) $12,000.00
2. Sbyla (Denmark) $7,500.00
3. entim (United Kingdom) $4,500.00
4. T.Chanin (Thailand) $3,350.00
5. Havoc14 (Monaco) $2,735.00
6. cynicalfish (Croatia) $2,200.00
7. sippin_criss (Canada) $1,700.00
8. brpoker_pr0 (Brazil) $1,200.00
9. KyleC182 (United Kingdom) $775.00

"Any way that suited the other man would suit him - any way just so's he got a bet, he was satisfied". A quote from tavern regular Simon Wheeler talking about the gambling man Jim Smiley in the Mark Twain short story "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". Mr. Smiley's jumping frog did not win despite all of the preparations put into his champion (the other side of the bet pumped the frog full of lead pellets). Tonight at PokerStars there were 3,670 gamblers looking for a bet not with leaping amphibians but rather with deck of virtual cards, and we gave it to them in the $500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up. Many prepared for tonight's tournament with coaching, poker books, and maybe just good old-fashioned liquid courage. Regardless of their pre-game workout, all eyed the $115,238.00 first place prize.

540 players would gain at least a little money for their efforts tonight taking a slice of the $734,000.00 prize pool. Team PokerStars was shaking off their paradise fun and making a run at the big cash tonight. Spanish pro Ana Marquez http://www.pokerstars.com/team-pokerstars/ana-marquez/ would lock up $315.62 in 460th place making her one of two Team Pros to finish in the money.

A ways up the payscale was Martin "AABenjaminAA" Hruby holding on to a short stack for a while during hour seven and with 121,105 chips and blinds at 7.5K/15K ante 1.5K it was double up or go home time. Pocket sevens [7d][7s] looked good enough from UTG to shove with, as the deceptive "iwonthurtyou" re-shoved for more holding big slick [As][Kd]. A king on the door [Kc] [4h] [2h] [4c] [3c] would end the pro from the Czech Republic's night in 87th place ($1,101.00).

Through nine and half hours of play eleven players remained. The blinds sitting at 65K/130K ante 13K, a short-stacked 1BLACKCAT1 was looking to use one of his nine lives for much needed double up holding just 426,817 chips after shoving all-in from the cutoff with [Jd][Th]. DelarPNZ to the immediate left was not giving up his deuces [2s][2c]. The [4h][Ah][Ks] flop offered four more outs, but the [9d] turn and [6c] gave only 11th place cash ($4,404.00).

Dick Fosbury, an American Olympic high jumper, and inventor of the Fosbury Flop used by nearly all high jump specialists likely was not the player bursting the bubble but that probably matters very little to nixx23 whose last 392,240 chips went in preflop against Dick_Fosbury and MikiOpasniy who both called. Both Miki and Dick would check the flop and turn, but on the river [5d] [Ac] [Th] [Jh] [5c] with 1.7 million chip already in the middle Dick_Fosbury tried a 520,000 value bet that MikiOpasniy wanted nothing to do with as Dick_Fosbury flipped up the flopped set and rivered boat [Tc][Ts] to knockout nixx23's deuces [2h][2d] in tenth place ($4,404.00).

Seat 1: KVB59 (1323381 in chips)
Seat 2: FinancialPOK (6354276 in chips)
Seat 3: Dick_Fosbury (7472084 in chips)
Seat 4: PatrickCs (3728490 in chips)
Seat 5: MikiOpasniy (8557962 in chips)
Seat 6: ZISIMO7 (1969916 in chips)
Seat 7: LiroLa (2997536 in chips)
Seat 8: PIUlimeira (1239958 in chips)
Seat 9: DelarPNZ (3056397 in chips)

Miki, Miki, you so fine

Despite the high blinds, no one was eliminated at the final table during the opening 65K/130K ante 13K blind level. But, MikiOpasniy was looking to extend the final table chip lead calling ZISIMO7's 1.04 million three-bet shove in a blind versus blind battle. Big slick [Ah][Kd] for the chip leader as ZISIMO7 needed help with [5s][Ac]. The flop [Ts] [2s] [Js] gave ZISIMO7 flush outs, the [3h] added straight outs but the [Td] river knocked him out, in ninth place ($5,872.00). And MikiOpasniy's stack became the first to breach eight figures at 11.4 million.

By the tenth hourly break we still had eight players remaining it was sure to be a sprint for the title as MikiOpasniy held on to the chip lead with 11.8 million, followed by FinancialPOK with eight million, then the divide widened to DelarPNZ in third holding 4.5 million chips and blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K.

The bully takes the lunch money

Eight minutes after the break, FinancialPOK would open shove from the button covering both of the blinds. PatrickCs holding 1.6 million woke up with [Ad][Td] and made the call. FinancialPOK had a suited connector [8s][7s] that would connect with the [3s] [5d] [Js] [8c] [3d] board sending PatrickCs home with $9,175.00 in eighth place.

Out-flopped

Dick_Fosbury lept back into the action by doubling up off FinancialPOK, then with the blinds still at 100K/200K ante 20K he would knock out a limping KVB59. Holding only 230,440 chips after doubling up LiroLa, KVB59 was at the mercy of the board holding a not-so-shabby [Js][Ts] as Dick_Fosbury's min-raise got the rest of the table to fold. Neither player would hit the [5c] [Ks] [2c] [4d] [Kh] board, but Dick_Fosbury's [As][Jh] better kicker sent KVB59 off in seventh place ($16,525.00).

Adding to the income statement

FinancialPOK was not satisfied with just knocking out PatrickCs and a dozen hands later was looking for more. Blinds moving up to 125K/250K ante 25K, PIUlimeira tried to squeeze in a button shove with [Tc][Qs] with just over a million chips. However, FinancialPOK took a look at her profit for the evening of over 10 million in tournament chips making the call with just [3h][2c]. "Just" was still in trouble after the [Th][2s][4s] flop and [6s] turn. But, "just" became "trips" on the rivered deuce [2d] taking down the small 2.3 million chip pot and ending PIUlimeira's night in sixth place ($23,855.00).

Don't mess with the Miki

Exhibit A shown below:

Dick_Fosbury was not able to hold on to chips tonight, slipping to 3.9 million before getting into this preflop war with MikiOpasniy. Dick_Fosbury's [Kh][Jh] needing to jump over the pocket pair of nines [9h][9d] held by MikiOpasniy. One more bar to clear for Dick_Fosbury and he couldn't do it as the board [Qh] [8d] [4c] [Qc] [2s] was set too high and Dick_Fosbury ran away with $31,195.00 in fifth place.

Doing better than OK

FinanacialPOK kept chipping up, hoping to keep pace with chip leader MikiOpasniy. Winning big pots is one way to do that. With the blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K, FinancialPOK would call the min-raise from DelarPNZ both checking out the coordinated [9h][8d][Td] flop. 500K bet from DelarPNZ was called. Turned [3s] and DelarPNZ led out for a million which was called again. [5s] on the river and DelarPNZ tried shoving for 2.05 million and was insta-called by the flopped straight [7s][Jc] of FinancialPOK as DelarPNZ could only shake his head holding top pair [Jh][Tc]. $42,205.00 will cure a lot of blues in fourth place for DelarPNZ.

Race for the finish

Just five hands later as the final table seemed to bunch all of its action into this blind level, MikiOpasniy and LiroLa would create this 7.8 million chip pot preflop below:

A flopped queen [Qd] [Ts] [7d] for LiroLa's [Qh][Kd] was sorely needed to get back into this tournament. [3c] turn was also in LiroLa's favor, however the [Kh] was not, giving MikiOpasniy a broadway straight holding [As][Js] ending LiroLa's night in third place ($60,555.00).

Twenty to remember

There would be twenty hands of heads-up play between MikiOpasniy and FinancialPOK. MikiOpasniy would win 17 of them. Starting off with a 23.5 million to 13.1 million chip lead, MikiOpasniy would dominate heads-up play. Going into the final hand of the tournament holding a 31.6 million to five million chip lead, FinancialPOK would get it in good preflop with his [Ac][Td] dominating MikiOpasniy's [9h][Ad]. However, the board [5c] [5h] [9d] [6h] [3s] thought differently, as Women's Sunday regular final tablist FinancialPOK took home $85,878.00 and MikiOpasniy became the Sunday Warm-Up champion with two pair and a winner's check worth $115,238.00!

We'll see you back here in a few weeks as the Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) kicks off this week!

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up results (01-15-12):
1. MikiOpasniy (Russia) $115,238.00
2. FinancialPOK (Spain) $85,878.00
3. LiroLa (Brazil) $60,555.00
4. DelarPNZ (Russia) $42,205.00
5. Dick_Fosbury (Canada) $31,195.00
6. PIUlimeira (Brazil) $23,855.00
7. KVB59 (Russia) $16,515.00
8. PatrickCs (Romania) $9,175.00
9. ZISIMO7 (Greece) $5,872.00

The final Sunday Warm-Up to conclude 2011 had a hammer-rific 2,700 entries as the crowd from last week's near million-dollar prize pool were off celebrating the holidays. But, for those diehards looking to take home a Christmas or Hanukkah gift in the form of a Sunday Major win, the depleted field meant a better shot at the goods. $85,050.00 for first place would be enough to pamper the child of your choice with five BabyWit Diamond Pacficiers at a mere $17,000 a piece, they are made of 14-karat gold and diamond studs for the soon-to-be rap star toddler in your life.

Not kidding around was Team PokerStars today as 2011 WSOP Main Event runner-up Martin Stasko and Alex Kravchenko were both near the top of the leaderboard when the 396 remaining claimed a part of the $540,000.00 prize pool. Martin would drop out in 288th place ($405.00) and Alex caught a couple more holiday bucks in 152nd place ($648.00). After their departure, three Team PokerStars players remained in the hunt for a final table berth.

Pierre "Zoutechamp" Neuville would be stopped in 84th place ($837.00) as would Greece's Alexios "J0hnny_Dr@m@" Zervos 61st place ($972.00), both just out of reach to close out 2011 on a high note for Team PokerStars.
Then, along came a lady. Vicky Coren outpacing nearly the whole field as the tables shrunk from six to five. But, with the blinds at 12.5K/25K ante 2.5K her evening would come to a close. Holding 383,745 chips from UTG, Vicky would shove with a suited [8h][Ah] getting looked up by ukulule in the small blind with a slightly better [Ac][Qd]. A lady on the flop came with two hearts [Qh] [9d] [Jh] giving Coren flush and straight draws. But, no Christmas miracle today as the [7s] turn and [8c] river ended the Team PokerStars Pro's night in 40th place ($1,134.00).

We would reach the final table bubble before the nine hour mark after Iceland's okemp's pocket nines [9d][9c] were outrun by crossthervr who found a king on the door [Kh][4d] [Tc][2h][8d] to go with big slick [Ad][Kc]. Then just ten minutes prior to the ninth hourly break our final nine 2011 would be set. With the blinds at just 40K/80K ante 8K as opposed to a normal final table that starts after nine hours with higher blinds, elik567 tried to apply the big pressure from the small blind on posten in the big blind. Holding just 777,855 chips posten would make the call holding [Ah][5c]. That small ace was dominating elik567's [Ks][5h] until a king showed up on the flop, and held on the diamond-laden [Kd] [Th] [3d] [Td] [4d] board to end posten's night in tenth place ($3,375.00).

Seat 1: modulindo (1261536 in chips)
Seat 2: crossthervr (6136247 in chips)
Seat 3: Who's da Pro (3135342 in chips)
Seat 4: liiteri (1271411 in chips)
Seat 5: tomitomsen22 (3457748 in chips)
Seat 6: elik567 (6481604 in chips)
Seat 7: Jeanbob123 (1982644 in chips)
Seat 8: s-botnang (1569329 in chips)
Seat 9: mrAndreeew (1704139 in chips)

A diverse final table tonight as all nine players hailed from different countries: Azerbaijan, Russia, Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Finland, and Singapore but all were looking for the same thing, a Sunday Warm-Up win.

elik567 starts off final table with a bang

Fresh off eliminating posten to start the final table, elik567 wasted no time running up the chip leading stack to eight figures. First, on the final table's second hand, elik would call a 525,000 three-bet of his raise from Who's da Pro as the two saw a [8d][Ah][Ad] flop. Who's da Pro would slow down and check as elik567 tried a 640,000 chip bet. Holding pocket jacks [Js][Jd] and not believing elik567's flop bet, Who's da Pro would check-raise shove for 2.59 million. elik567's trip aces [Ac][7c] needed no further hesitation to make the call. A jack-less turn [Th] and [5c] river would sent da Pro to da Rail in ninth place ($4,590.00).

During the first hand back from the ninth hour break, elik567 was back in action again, this time against liiteri with no post-flop decisions. liiteri's shove for 1.1 million holding [Ad][Ts] got elik567's attention as he too would shove for nearly nine million more with big slick [Ac][Ks]. King on the flop was nice but liiteri's outs expanded to a flush draw on the all diamond flop [Kd] [4d] [9d]. [Qc] on the turn added jacks into the mix, but the [As] river literally ended liiteri's night in eighth place ($7,300.80). The 2.5 million chip pot pushed elik567 over the ten million chip mark with only crossthervr holding a stack over three million.

A repeat of last week?

harif1988 dominated the final table last week eliminating nearly the entire table before succumbing to RedRad01. Tonight elik567 would start off in a similar manner. Watch knockout number three below:

elik567 had everything running right and winning flips is a part of taking down a Sunday Major. A small all-in pot (1.6 million) was added to elik567's stack after his [6d][6s] took out modulindo's suited big slick [Kh][Ah] on the [2s] [Td] [9s] [Jd] [2d] board. modulindo would take away $12,690.00 in seventh place.

Calling Mr Andrew to the dressing room

Soon after the blinds moved up to 80K/160K ante 16K s-botnang and mrAndreeew would face off preflop for a 2.3 million chip pot hoping to combine stacks and challenge elik567 for the title. s-botnang's [Qh][Kd] would try to overtake mrAndreeew's [Js][Ad]. All clear until the river [4c] [Td] [5c] [9c] [Kh] as s-botnang's rivered pair of kings made mrAndreeew exit stage right in sixth place ($18,090.00).

Not a bot

Moving up to the 100K/200K ante 20K level and even more pressure for someone to catch elik567 who expanded the chip leading stack to over 13 million, Jeanbob123 tried to open shove from the small blind for 1.4 million but s-botnang was there with enough to make the call holding [5d][Ad]. The raggedy [8d][Js] for Jeanbob123 was live until the queen hit the [2c] [Kd] [9s] [3d] [Qh] river. $23,490.00 extra in Jeanbob123's stocking for fifth place.

Hunter becomes the hunted

No, not elik567 as the chip leader continued to punish the table with constant raises. But, rather s-botnang who was responsible for the last two eliminations and would soon find a seat on the rail as well. In two consecutive all-ins preflop against tomitomsen22 holding the same hand (King-Queen) s-botnang had $31,050.00 of the prize pool with the fourth place finish. First [Qd][Kh] lost to tomitomsen22's pocket eights [8c][8s] for a 4.8 million chip pot, then [Qc][Kd] failed to connect on the [Td] [5s] [Ts] [Ah] [4h] board for a 5.8 million chip pot that went to tomitomsen22's [Ac][7s].

Going to heads-up tied up

The tournament's biggest pot to this point would come down to crossthervr and tomitomsen22 getting it in preflop for 11.9 million chips. Watch the outcome below:

crossthervr covering slightly and holding [4s][As] to tomitomsen22's pocket threes [3d][3c]. The ace wasted no time in showing up on the [Js] [Ad] [Qc] [6h] [5s] board ending tomitomsen22's night in third place ($45,360.00) and knotting things up with the runaway chip leader elik567.

Crossing the river safely

In similar fashion to last week where the chip leader looked like they would go wire-to-wire, a dominating performance by their opponent steals the victory. This time heads-up would start nearly even (13.6 million to 13.3 million) in favor of elik567. But, it would only take crossthervr five hands to take the lead and accelerate to the finish. At one point crossthervr would take down nine straight hands, then the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K and crossthervr holding a 21.3 million to 5.6 million chiplead the match would finish just as swiftly. Domination before the flop with crossthervr holding [Th][Ah] and elik567 shaking his head with [5s][Ac] and 11.2 million chips in the middle. Domination through the [6c] [Qh] [7d] [Kc] [Ts] board ending with a $85,050.00 Sudnay Warm-Up win for crossthervr!

Thank you for a great 2011 Sunday Warm-Up season and we'll see you next year!

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up results (12-25-11):
1. crossthervr (Russia) $85,050.00
2. elik567 (Azerbaijan) $63,450.00
3. tomitomsen22 (Austria) $45,360.00
4. s-botnang (Germany) $31,050.00
5. Jeanbob123 (Netherlands) $23,490.00
6. mrAndreeew (Sweden) $18,090.00
7. modulindo (Spain) $12,690.00
8. liiteri (Finland) $7,300.80
9. Who's da Pro (Singapore) $4,590.00

Big, very big, bigger, and biggest. Everything about this final weekend of the PokerStars' 10th Anniversary celebration has grown in size. Big: tonight's Sunday Warm-up setting the tone for the night of huge prizepools and player fields. After averaging just under 3,600 players a week for the past four weeks, tonight's $500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-up nearly featured a one million dollar prizepool after 4,937 runners found 10,000 starting chips in front of them. Very big: 37 more players were punching their tickets to this year's PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Very Big $700 Mega Qualifier for a PCA package. Bigger: outside of WCOOP and SCOOP not many $10,000 buy-ins find their way to the Sunday Majors weekend, and the 10th Anniversary $10,300 buy-in High Roller tourney was hoping to pull in 50 players to meet the $500,000 guarantee. Instead 187 players found themselves playing for a $402,050.00 first prize with a very deep structure, to go with the very deep talent pool. Biggest: four days ago, Brad Willis reported on the $10 million guarantee Sunday Million looming near 5,000 players at the time. After the extended registration, 62,116 players packed into the Sunday Million with two million dollars for first place.

That's a lot of cash and thanks to those 4,937 entrants, the Sunday Warm-up we will be awarding $154,461.34 to one lucky player that will have a little extra to spend on Christmas gifts next week.

A quiet night for the Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online as they were shutout at the cashier's window tonight as 720 places paid. In what was a killer level for Team PokerStars Pros, Pierre "Zoutechamp" Neuville (804th place), George Danzer (806th place), Bryan Huang (810th place), and Matthias de Meulder (813th place) all were eliminated within ten spots of each other and just short of the money.

Near the final table Germany's -DrawingDad- was looking for a third major title of 2011. After collecting two SCOOP watches in Event #9 and Event # 21 he made it through 4,900 players in this tourney but fell short of the final table in 26th place ($2,419.13).

Norway's Bresnjev was looking for a second Sunday Warm-up in 2011 (finishing 4th in June) but [Jd]Qd] came up short against badgergav's big slick [Kc][Ac]. With just 131,262 chips and 50K/100K ante 10K blinds, Bresnjev's scraps went to harif1988 on the next hand to finish in 15th place ($4,393.93).

No lengthy bubble tonight as the final table would start up just 15 minutes later after pulgask8 tried to bully MarkECOOP in a blind versus blind battle. pulgask8 would open raise enough from the small blind to force shortstacked MarkECOOP all-in. Holding [Ac][Js] MarkECOOP called quickly for a little over one million chips as pulgask8 held "just" [8d][5s]. "Just" became trips on the [Th] [8h] [7c] [8c] [Jd] board as MarkECOOP took home $5,875.03 in tenth place.

Seat 1: NoMorePoka (6025202 in chips)
Seat 2: Bluffcracker (5235586 in chips)
Seat 3: RenRad 01 (2383358 in chips)
Seat 4: badgergav (3227715 in chips)
Seat 5: pulgask8 (4036068 in chips)
Seat 6: josbassen (6306567 in chips)
Seat 7: FU_15 (3788078 in chips)
Seat 8: harif1988 (15872930 in chips)
Seat 9: KKremate (2494496 in chips)

harif1988 would start out the final table with a massive chip lead and add three more million to that stack after just five minutes as the blinds would start out at 65K/130K ante 13K for final nine.

RenRad 01 had Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen in his rail corner on Twitter (@mickeydp) which must have done some good as RenRad 01 would double up off harif1988 just after the blinds moved up to 80K/160K ante 16K for a 6.7 million chip pot.

23 million reasons to be happy

Going into the first hourly break of the Sunday Warm-up final table harif1988 would enjoy only 23 million chips in the tournament leading stack partly thanks to badgergav. With the blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K harif1988 would open to 480,000 as badgergav in the big blind shoved for 2.35 million holding [Ah][Qc]. harif1988's big stack made the call with pocket nines [9d][9s] a little easier. And after an all low [2c] [7c] [3h] [7h] [5s] board ran out, harif1988 had an extra 4.9 million chips whie badgergav took $7,899.20 in ninth place money.

Ok, that's not very nice

Holding three times as many chips as second place allows the player to apply plenty of pressure on the rest of the table. Just after the blinds moved up to 100K/200K ante 20K harif1988 did just that, pushing KKremate all-in after a series of raises in the blinds. Not pocket kings but a decent [Qc][As] for KKremate as harif1988 showed [5s][Kd]. A five on the door was plenty [5c] [9c] [8s] [3s] [7h] as KKremate was creamed in eighth place ($12,342.50).

More hair raising play, or just harif raising again

Watch below as pulgask8 tries to topple the chip leader preflop:

The [Jh][Ac] for harif1988 and [Kd][Qd] for pulgask8 started as a close race but the ace on the flop closed out yet another elimination for the chip leader as pulgask8 fell in seventh place ($22,216.50).

What harif wants, harif gets

harif1988 had the grip of a good movie you can't stop watching while flicking through the channels. You have seen Toy Story or a Harry Potter sequel several times but once Woody tries to find his way back to Andy's house, you're in for the rest of the movie. harif1988 has already eliminated nearly half the table and two hands after pulgask8 took off, NoMorePolka's shortstack found pocket tens [Tc][Td] and called harif1988's 1.6 million chip three-bet of josbassen's raise. josbassen would call, but fold after the [Kc][Js][9h] flop bet by the chip leader. Once again harif1988 found a winner, this time holding [6s][Ks] as he faded the turn [8d] and [5h] to knockout NoMorePoka in sixth place ($32,090.50).

Too bad this is not a Knockout tourney

If there were bounties on the player's heads, harif1988 would be collecting bounty number five after the blinds moved up to 125K/250K ante 25K Bluffcracker tried his luck again harif1988 all-in preflop for a 4.9 million chip pot. The only thing getting cracked was Bluffcracker's stack after his [Ac][Qc] would fail to hit the [3h] [5s] [Kc] [8h] [Tc] board as harif1988's pocket fours [4h][4d] sailed to victory, dropping Bluffcracker off at the dock in fifth place ($41,964.50).

News Alert: someone besides harif1988 involved in an elimination

It finally happened. harif1988 was either getting a quick snack or the dog pulled the plug on his PC, but FU_15 and josebassen were allowed to push preflop and play out a hand without the chip leader looming over them. Watch it play out below:

Not a huge hand as FU_15 did not have many chips to push into the 3.7 million chip pot with the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K but [9d][As] can look big during four-handed play. [Kd]8h] was enough for josbassen make the call as both players paired the flop [8d][2s][Ad]. But, an unlikely two pair [Kh] would hit the turn for josbassen overcoming the aces of FU_15 as the [Qs] safely hit the river ending FU_15's night in fourth place ($55,788.10).

At least they tried

A quick attempt at a deal was thwarted as josbassen wanted $115K despite holding a very short stack of around 4.5 million and new blinds of 150K/300K ante 30K. That shortstack would not last much longer after the attempted deal after raising to 3.6 million and holding 558,238 back, the raise would be called by the stack destroying harif1988. [Ac][9c][8h] on the flop and harif1988 slyly checked as josbassen shoved pocket fours [4s][4h] into the middle. Snap call. [As][9d] for the chip leader as the turned aces full [Ad] gave harif1988 another 8.7 million chips as josbassen became victim number six in third place ($81,460.50).

Endorsements by Team Online players is a good thing for bankrolls

RenRad 01 had Mickey Petersen rooting for him on the rail, and with a nine million to 40.3 million chip deficit RenRad 01 would need all the support the Team Online player could muster. The very first hand of heads-up play, RenRad 01 showed he was not going down easy doubling up to 18 million after [Ah][Qh] edged out harif1988's [7h][Ac] after fading a gut-twisting all club flop.

Back from the 11th hour break RenRad 01 got a "good luck" from Team Online's Shane "shaniac" Schleger and boom a quick double up to over 20 million chips for RenRad 01. Despite being dominated [7c][8h] to harif1988's [7h][Ac], RenRad 01 found an eight on the flop for the win cutting harif1988's lead to 28.5 million to 20.8 million.

Seven hands later after taking down five of six, RenRad 01 would complete the improbable comeback. With the blinds at 200K/400K ante 40K and now in the lead by about a million chips, RenRad 01 min-raised from the button, as harif1988 three-bet to two million. RenRad 01 four-bet to 4.01 million as harif1988 made the call to see the [4d][8d][Ks] flop. Undeterred by RenRad 01's four-bet, harif1988 led out for 4.4 million as RenRad 01's eight key got stuck and bet 8,888,888. harif1988 answered the raise with a shove for 20 million as RenRad 01 snap called with aces [Ah][As]. RenRad 01 would need to fade another draw as harif1988 showed [Qd][Jd] for a flush draw. [9c] on the turn opened up three more outs, but the black [5c] on the river hauled in the remaining 48 million tournament chips turning those into $154,461.34 in real cash as RenRad 01 became this week's Sunday Warm-Up champion!

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up results(12-18-11)
1. RenRad 01 (Mexico) $154,461.34
2. harif1988 (Israel) $115,032.10
3. josbassen (Denmark) $81,460.50
4. FU_15 (Honduras) $55,788.10
5. Bluffcracker (Germany) $41,964.50
6. NoMorePoka (Russia) $32,090.50
7. pulgask8 (Spain) $22,216.50
8. KKremate (Brazil) $12,342.50
9. badgergav (United Kingdom) $7,899.20

A few hours ago a PokerStars player named Kozlicek_x snagged over $24,000 at the micro-stakes six-max table as part of the PokerStars 10th Anniversary celebration. 72,000,000,000th hand, if each hand was a mile long (and some tales of these hands could tell would make them seem a mile long) laid end-to-end they would be able to make the trip around the sun approximately 387 times. A much shorter distance would be traveled by the 3,680 players entered in tonight's $500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up. $115,552.00 of the $736,000.00 prize pool sits at the final table waiting to be claimed by our champion tonight as players who have contributed towards that large hand number sitting on the upper left hand corner of every table look to get something back.

While 540 players would burst the money bubble, only three Team PokerStars Pro players found themselves in the final 200 today. Romanian Toni Judet (172nd place, $625.60) would be followed closely by Canada's Pat Pezzin when Pezzin shoved all-in with 96,675 chips with the blinds at 4K/8K ante 800 holding [Ac][Qs] and was looked up by Maksimus1978 finding big slick at the right time [Kd][Ah]. An unnecessary king on the river [5c] [5s] [2s] [3h] [Kc] sealed the Team Pro's fate in 165th place ($662.40).

That left Sebastian Ruthenberg to try to bring it home for the Team Pros this evening. He would stick around 100K in chips until the 7.5K/15K ante 1.5K level and found a spot to open shove for 87,308 getting a caller in Bear4rms. Sebastian was live holding [Kh][8h] to Bear4rms [Ah][Jc] and even more alive when an eight hit the [2c] [3s] [8h] flop. 210,616 chips would come in handy for the German pro but the river had other ideas, [9d] on the turn and a tournament-ending [Jh] on the river ended the Team Pro's Sunday Warm-Up in 79th place ($1,177.60).

This may be the Czech Republic's night at the tables as with eleven left: dsnka, Niorm, and lubos1980cz all representing the Czech Republic would hold the top three chip positions going into the ninth hourly break and looking to make a bigger score than their fellow countryman Kozlicek_x did with the 72nd billionth hand promotion a few hours ago. dsnka would be looking to better the ninth place finish from this tournament last year.

While this scribe's eyes were on dsnka and Niorm at Table 56, perhaps my sight should have been on Table 145 where a three-way all-in would result in a final table being started immediately. With the blinds at 50K/100K ante 10K truesyalose would shove a little over a million preflop and found callers in dirkdiggler9 and Zimmy86 in the blinds. Zimmy86 covered both players showing pocket jacks [Jd][Js] for the lead over truesyalose's nines [9c][9h] and dirkdiggler9's [Ad][7d]. A jack on the flop for a set was needed to take the 2.9 million chip pot as a lame duck ace appeared on the turn [2s] [6d] [Jh] [Ah] [3c] still shipped the big pot to Zimmy86 for the win starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: syvers007 (3585323 in chips)
Seat 2: mitdadu (2324790 in chips)
Seat 3: lubos1980cz (4301229 in chips)
Seat 4: BBlackkk (2741576 in chips)
Seat 5: Zimmy86 (5612435 in chips)
Seat 6: Niorm (6349411 in chips)
Seat 7: dsnka (2546009 in chips)
Seat 8: dannsy89 (6126715 in chips)
Seat 9: Miksta (3212512 in chips)

Slow start ended by kings

Far from the norm, due to the evened out stacks play would roll through the rest of the 50K/100K and 65K/130K levels without elimination. It would take nearly 20 minutes to name our ninth place finisher. With the blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K Zimmy86 would start the betting with a raise to 325,000 as dannsy89 made the call. syvers007 tried to squeeze with a shove to 3.1 million but found Zimmy86 quickly calling with pocket kings [Ks][Kc]. dannsy89 folded as syvers007 showed a bit of a cooler with big slick [Ah][Kd]. No aces on the [7d] [5s] [Qs] [3d] [Ts] board and syvers007 was handed $5,888.00 in ninth place.

Kings for a day

Just three hands later Miksta would open shove from UTG + 1 for a little less than two million as two seats down lubos1980cz was more than happy to make the call with pocket kings [Kh][Kc]. Needing a five to match the [5d][5s] in his hand, Miksta watched the heart heavy [Jh] [7h] [3h] [9h] [Jc] come down in lubos1980cz's favor for the win. Miksta would take away $9,200.00 in eighth place.

Kings, kings, and more kings

First two players were eliminated by pocket kings, why not make it three? Watch the video below for the game-changing 9.8 million chip pot between Zimmy86 and BBlackkk:

This time the pair of ladies [Qd][Qs] of BBlackkk would attempt to dethrone in the kings [Kd][Kc] of Zimmy86. The kings however would hold once again on the [3h] [5c] [3c] [2c] [9h] board for the third elimination of the 80K/160K ante 16K level ending BBlackkk's night in seventh place ($16,560.00).

Too much Czech

The 100K/200K ante 20K level went by without any change in the number of players, but as the 125K/250K ante 25K level started up two players would find the end of the their tournament very quickly. First, dannsy89 would shove from UTG for 2.3 million chips finding only Niorm in the small blind to call. [7s][Qh] for dannsy89 would need some help against Niorm's [9d][As]. Neither player would hit the [2s] [Jh] [6d] [3s] [Jc] board and dannsy89 became the sixth place finisher ($23,920.00). Two hands later dsnka would deal mitdadu a huge setback taking big slick [Ac][Kh] to victory over mitdadu's pocket threes on the [Qh] [8d] [2h] [4s] [Kc] board spiking the king on the river for a 7.7 million chip pot. With mitdadu's stack smashed down to less than one million Zimmy86's [Ts][9c] would spike a straight on the river against mitdadu's [3s][Ad] which flopped top pair [7d] [8c] [As] [2d] [6c]. Chop talks immediately began after mitdadu collected $31,280.00 in fifth place.

Tri-Czech powers

Three of the four remaining players hail from the Czech Republic and only the chip leader Zimmy86 from the U.K. was a part of the four-way deal below:

Zimmy86 $77,721.71
Niorm $74,873.40
lubos1980cz $73,485.04
dsnka $68,623.85

Czech down

Zimmy86 is trying to take out the three Czech Republic players and take that extra $10,000 reserved for tonight's champion got a good start with a little luck from the hand below:

With the blinds at 150K/300K ante 30K and 18 million chips in the middle, Zimmy86 needed some help holding [Qd][Ad] against Niorm's pocket queens [Qh][Qc]. Help came early as the second card on the flop showed an ace and held through the [8c] [Ah] [5h] [Jc] [4d] board taking out Niorm in fourth place ($74,873.40).

dsnka sighs

Zimmy86 now holding 21.2 million chips towered over dsnka and lubos1980cz who combined for 15 million chips. lubos1980cz would try to steal from the button with a min-raise as the blinds held at 150K/300K ante 30K. dsnka was not about to let go and three-bet to 1.5 million. Trying to outflex dsnka, lubos1980cz shoved for 6.8 million total holding just [6s][7c]. dsnka found the right call holding [Ts][Ac] and looked like he was going to be rewarded with the 13.9 million chip pot until the [8s] [Qh] [4c] [Kh] [6h] six on the river spiked knocking dsnka's stack to 1.7 million. Zimmy86 would scoop those chips up on the next hand giving dsnka third place ($68,623.85) setting up the heads-up battle with lubos1980cz.

U.K. versus Czech Republic

Zimmy86 looked like he would knock down all three players involved in the chop holding a 23.1 million to 13.6 million chip lead going into heads-up play against lubos1980cz. But, the VIP Supernova lubos1980cz had other plans as this heads-up battle would blow through an entire 15 minute level as neither player was willing to part with the $10,000.00 set aside for tonight's champ as lubos1980cz took down a big double up 15 minutes into play finding a couple of jacks to match the [Ks][Jd] sitting in his hand for a 20.2 million chip pot and would carry that lead into the 11th hourly break.

Shortly after their return to the table however both players would get it all in after a [3s] [Tc] [7h] flop. lubos1980cz holding a strong preflop [Qd][Ad] hand, but after the flop trailed the top pair [Qh][Td] of Zimmy86. No help on the turn [9d] or [5s] river and Zimmy86 collected the 35.1 million chip pot leaving lubos1980cz with just 1.6 million and blinds at 250K/500K ante 50K. lubos1980cz would double once and looked to be doubling again to six million but Zimmy86's [5s][7c] found a runner-runner straight on the [Ac] [Qs] [8h] [4h] [6s] board to claim the extra $10,000.00 and this week's Sunday Warm-Up title!

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up results (12-11-11):
(* denotes part of a four-way deal)
1. Zimmy86 (United Kingdom) *$87,721.71
2. lubos1980cz (Czech Republic) *$73,485.04
3. dsnka (Czech Republic) *$68,623.85
4. Niorm (Czech Republic) *$74,873.40
5. mitdadu (Russia) $31,280.00
6. dannsy89 (United Kingdom) $23,920.00
7. BBlackkk (Ukraine) $16,560.00
8. Miksta (Australia) $9,200.00
9. syvers007 (Norway) $5,888.00

May Day May Day! While your humble author woke up to snow this morning, May Day traditionally is the celebration of the coming of spring with things like warm sun and flowers blooming, not snow. At PokerStars the coming of spring means the start of the two week long Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) with $25 million in guarantees being spread across three buy-in levels and 114 tournaments to suit everyone's bankroll. The $215 spent by 3,393 players to enter tonight's $500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up would get you into most of the medium buy-in levels for a shot at becoming a SCOOP champion and claiming a little bling for your wrist as well as your pocket. Tonight's victor will not go away with a SCOOP champion's watch, but we are sure the winner's check of $106,541.19 will satisfy even the high rollers.

Team PokerStars was not to be found among the 495 players that cashed tonight. Juan Macieras (584th place) Ivan Demidov (645th place) Marcel Luske (703rd place) Richard "Tzen1" Veenman (833rd place) Anders "Donald" Berg (856th place) Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez (862nd place) all tried to earn some much needed steam going into next week, but came up empty.

The players below not only cashed but managed to make it through eight hours of intense tournament play with the biggest prizes yet to be awarded. robinho (15th place), bloodytiger (14th place) and sera_alex (13th place) would all walk away with $3,053.70 as the next three would take $4,071.60 as a consolation prize for missing the final table. jospemaria ran AQo into pocket queens to finish 12th and Halfprice's pocket fours [4d][4h] could not dodge PizzicatoXev's [Jc][Ac] as the turn and river [8c] [5s] [8d] [As] [Jh] did in the Canadian's stack in 11th place. Then with the blinds at 50K/100K ante 10K on the very next hand, zelya888 was battling with a short stack, at one point holding just over two big blinds, managed to grind along for 15 minutes and was in the small blind holding pocket fours [4s][4h] and 1.09 million in chips facing an UTG min-raise by o23oSyD. All-in was the strategy, but o23oSyD was comfortable making the call with pocket kings [Kd][Kh]. Much like Halfprice's fours, they could not turn the tide on the [Js] [6s] [Qh] [3h] [3c] board and zelya888 would have to sit out the final table in tenth place ($4,071.60).

Seat 1: Alex21reg (4727370 in chips)
Seat 2: eShaMeister (3889994 in chips)
Seat 3: dean23price (2621725 in chips)
Seat 4: hellator (3967462 in chips)
Seat 5: o23oSyD (6569066 in chips)
Seat 6: PizzicatoXev (4918946 in chips)
Seat 7: Punkfloyd (1845137 in chips)
Seat 8: Norrda (1007676 in chips)
Seat 9: paranoik333 (4382624 in chips)

No time to waste

Just three hands into the final table a 5.1 million chip pot broke out. With the blinds still at 50K/100K ante 10K the action folded to eShaMeister on the button who bumped it up to 256,000. dean23price would make it 2.45 million from the small blind leaving just 41,275 chips behind. eShaMeister holding [As][Qc] covered all of it making the final raise to put dean23price all in. [Ks][9s] of dean23price would need some help quickly as a queen was put on the flop [7h] [Qs] [4d]. Sadly, the hour seven chip leader could not continue as dean23price blanked on the turn [7d] and river [Td] to finish in ninth place ($5,428.80). Not quite the performance dean23price gave just a few weeks ago finishing third in the Sunday Warm-up for $76K.

He hit The Wall

All in all Punkfloyd just wanted to see five bricks on the wall. Instead he got the hand below:

"Daddy what else did you leave for me?" Norrda answered "nothing". Punkfloyd's pocket jacks [Jh][Js] that dominated the [Jd][Ad] of Norrda preflop got a rude three diamond flop and two more for a board full of diamonds [2d] [8d] [Kd] [9d] [6d] shipping the 3.1 million chip pot to Norrda's nut flush and Punkfloyd out in eighth place ($8,482.50).

Pocket jacks find redemption

With plenty of chips spread along our final seven we would skip to the 80K/160K ante 16K blind level before our next elimination. eShaMeister would open from the cutoff for 409,600 as PizzicatoXev made it 1,234,567 from the big blind. Back to eShaMeister who took a ticks off the clock before shoving for 4.5 million total, PizzicatoXev did not need any time to cover and call with pocket jacks [Jd][Jc]. eShaMeister flipped up big slick [Ks][Ad] and needed to find a piece of the board for the huge 9.2 million chip pot. Nothing big, nothing small came down on the [6c] [8h] [8d] [7c] [Td] board and eShaMeister took home $15,268.50 in seventh place.

Going into the ninth hourly break o23oSyD skimmed some chips off PizzicatoXev to be the first to eight figures (11,775,096) with PizzicatoXev (6,703,765) and hellator (5,306,572) just behind.

Winning dirty

Several times around the track and no one wanted to leave just yet as the blinds moved up to 125K/250K ante 25K when Alex21reg tried to put the squeeze on hellator's big blind by pushing from the small blind holding just [7h][Jc]. hellator however was not letting go of pocket fours [4d][4h] and made the call all-in. [Ad] [Tc] [Td] flop was clean as was the [5s] turn, but the [As] landed on the river to counterfeit hellator's fours as the aces and tens with a jack kicker took it down for Alex21reg, and hellator claimed sixth place cash ($22,054.50).

Starting to speed things up

While most of the eliminations tonight have been spaced out, just four hands after hellator left for the night we would name our fifth place finisher. Watch it play out below:

Blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K o23oSyD would open for a min-raise UTG as PizzicatoXev wasted no time shoving for 5.2 million from the cutoff. Folded back around to o23oSyD holding [Jc][As] and tournament life on the line, o23oSyD made the call. PizzicatoXev covered and dominated holding [Ac][Qh] and did not need the aces full boat [Qd ][8s] [Ad] [6h] [Ah] to take down the 9.01 million chip pot, but it was effective enough to kick o23oSyD out of the tourney in fifth place ($28,840.50).

Immediately after a couple of quick inquiries came out about a possible four-way chop, but PizzicatoXev wanted $100,000 despite not even holding the chip lead. A quick chuckle by the remaining three and it was back to the action with the blinds moving up to 150K/300K ante 30K.

JACKPOT!

Coin flips are always exciting. It is the moment that all poker skill goes out the window and you leave your tournament fate to the next five cards on the board. paranoik333 who has quietly stayed out of the spotlight yet effectively held a 7.1 million chip stack while four-handed, made a min-raise from the cutoff as Alex21reg three-bet from the button to 1.5 million. Back to paranoik333 who would shove for that 7.1 million holding [Jd][Kd] found a caller in Alex21reg with pocket sevens [7s][7d]. Sevens were good on the [Ts] [2c] [3d] flop but a king [Kc] would spike on the turn as paranoik333 took the lead. One card to come, two outs and the [7c] was one of them. 14.7 million chips to Alex21reg and $39,019.50 to paranoik333 in fourth place.

Sending out the bait

The blinds would hold steady for our next all-in as PizzicatoXev took the hand off and folded the button as Norrda made a raise to 695,500 and Alex21reg called. [3s] [5h] [3d] flopped and Norrda followed through with a 1.2 million chip bet and Alex21reg called again. Norrda would shove 6.3 million chips on the [4h] turn as Alex21reg covered and snap called with pocket aces [Ac][Ac]. Norrda's overpair of sevens [7s][7c] had six outs but the [Js] was not one of them as the 16.4 million chip pot went to Alex21reg and Norrda found $55,984.50 in his PokerStars bankroll for third place.

One-two punch for the title (including one in the gut)

Alex21reg would bring a huge 25 million to 8.8 million chip lead into heads-up play against PizzicatoXev who wanted that six figure payday and now was just one person away from it. Just 13 hands into the final two PizzicatoXev would make the first big move. With the blinds still at 150K/300K ante 30K both players would raise until 19.5 million chips were in the middle preflop with PizzicatoXev's tournament life on the line. Alex21reg would need some help however holding [Ah][9s] to PizzicatoXev's [Ad][Td]. By the turn, hopes of a split pot entered [7h] [3d] [3h] [Ac] as any jack, queen, or king would allow Alex21reg to keep his big lead. But the [4c] fell and PizzicatoXev took the lead 19.5 million to Alex21reg's 14.3 million.

Two hands later watch below as Alex21reg took the lead back 18 million to 15.9 million and needed to fade one more card for the title and....

... ace on the river

Alex21reg set it up after flatting a 4.5 million chip four-bet preflop and after the [9d] [7h] [2c] flop checked as PizzicatoXev shoved for 11.3 million holding top pair top kicker [9s][Ac] and Alex21reg snap called with pocket kings [Ks][Kh]. Dodged the [4h] turn, but not the [Ah] river as PizzicatoXev scooped up the 31.8 million chips and finished Alex21reg's decimated stack on the next hand to take down this week's Sunday Warm-up for $106,541.19!

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up results (05-01-11)
1. PizzicatoXev (United Kingdom) $106,541.19
2. Alex21reg (Russia) $79,396.20
3. Norrda (Sweden) $55,984.50
4. paranoik333 (Russia) $39,019.50
5. o23oSyD (Germany) $28,840.50
6. hellator (Germany) $22,054.50
7. eShaMeister (Russia) $15,268.50
8. Punkfloyd (United Kingdom) $8,482.50
9. dean23price (United Kingdom) $5,428.80