It was a big day of sports for the Americans and those who follow what the Americans call football. But for the rest of the world, it was poker as usual, and PokerStars was there to provide the schedule of tournaments that would satisfy everyone from the low buy-in players to the high rollers.

The first of the big Sunday majors on the agenda was the weekly Sunday Warm-Up. Though it's considered a warm-up to some of the other later events like the Sunday Million, the Warm-Up has its own prestige and huge prize pool. Let's face it; a $500K guarantee is nothing to sneeze at. And with the inaugural TCOOP series having wrapped up last week, the Warm-Up was a much-anticipated tournament on this first Sunday in February.

The final registration numbers looked like this:

Players: 3,624
Guarantee: $500,000
Actual prize pool: $724,800
Paid finishers: 540

There were few members of Team PokerStars who were able to make it past the money bubble, and Team Pro Martin "AABenjaminAA" Hruby was the first to do so and cash out. He finished in 494th place, and fellow Team Pro Martin Staszko followed soon after in 429th place. Still waving the PokerStars flag, though, was Team Pro Angel Guillen, pictured here.

He made it through to the seventh hour and beyond, working his way to six tables, then only five and even four. But he ended up exiting the tournament in 36th place, which was worth $1,630.80.

The rest of the players moved forward past the eight-hour mark with only four tables remaining, and only two tables remained approximately 30 minutes later. With the eventual eliminations of air-mornel in 12th place and curiplop in 11th, hand-for-hand went into effect but lasted only moments. MarinaBalbes moved with [Ah][Kh], and l3luco called all-in with [8d][8c]. The board came [5h][7h][6d][Kd][6h], and MarinaBalbes hit the heart flush to eliminate l3luxo in tenth place with $4,348.80.

MarinaBalbes moves forward with chip lead

The final table was set in Level 32, with blinds of 40,000/80,000 and a 8,000 ante. Players' starting stacks were as follows:

Seat 1: Salsicha (1,213,751 in chips)
Seat 2: ms.bon-bon (3,685,610 in chips)
Seat 3: jenbizzle (3,128,958 in chips)
Seat 4: Leviathan74 (1,661,903 in chips)
Seat 5: zackmorris99 (6,298,125 in chips)
Seat 6: PokerSavage1 (3,899,420 in chips)
Seat 7: Tomascibak (3,826,220 in chips)
Seat 8: MarinaBalbes (7,868,160 in chips)
Seat 9: bergeroo (4,657,853 in chips)

Action began with an air of caution. Eventually, the shorter stacks started making moves, though, and Leviathan74 doubled through Tomascibak, and ms.bon-bon took a pot worth nearly 6 million chips from MarinaBalbes.

Jenbizzle sought a double-up and moved all-in preflop with [9c][9d]. Leviathan74 reraised all-in to isolate, which worked when original raiser Salsicha folded. Leviathan74 showed [Ah][Ks]. The pocket pair held up to the [3d][5s][Qh] flop, but the [As] on the turn gave Leviathan74 the better pair. The [Js] on the river sent jenbizzle out in ninth place with $5,798.40.

Salsicha and Tomascibak both doubled through bergeroo, but the latter came back to double through zackmorris99.

It wasn't long before Salsicha moved again, though. The all-in push came with [Kd][Js], and original raiser MarinaBalbes called with [7c][7s]. The board came [Qs]p4c][6h][2s][Ah], and Salsicha couldn't beat the pocket pair. Eighth place money of $9,060.00 was awarded to Salsicha.

PokerSavage1 risked it all soon after with [9s][9h], and Tomascibak reraised all-in to isolate, which was successful. Tomascibak showed [8d][8h] and needed help, some of which came immediately on the [8c][Qs][5c] flop. The [3d] and [Qh] completed the board and made a full house for Tomascibak, which sent PokerSavage1 out in seventh place with $16,308.00.

Soon after, Leviathan74 moved all-in preflop from the button, and zackmorris99 called all-in from the big blind with [Js][Jd]. Leviathan74 showed [As][6d] but hit top pair on the [2c][Ac][7c] flop. The [6c] on the turn gave Leviathan74 two pair, and the [Kd] on the river sealed the deal, as zackmorris99 exited in sixth place with $23,556.00.

On the very next hand, Leviathan74 doubled through MarinaBalbes in this massive hand:

MarinaBalbes doubled through bergeroo, which put the latter in a touch spot with a short stack. One double-up attempt worked through Tomascibak, but bergeroo tried it again moments later. Bergeroo moved all-in with [9h][2c], and ms.bon-bon called with [As][2h]. The board came [Qd][7d][Td][7c][Qs], and the ace kicker played to eliminate bergeroo in fifth place with $30,804.00.

Tomascibak and MarinaBalbes engaged in a preflop raising war that led to Tomascibak moving all-in with [As][Kd], and Marina Balbes called with [Qd][Qc]. The board came [2c][4h][9d][4d][6h], and that was enough to eliminate Tomascibak in fourth place with $41,676.00.

Final three + translator = deal

The final three players decided to pause the tournament to pursue a deal. It required the assistance of a Russian translator for MarinaBalbes and ms.bon-bon, but the language barrier was surpassed when the numbers were shown. All three players agreed to set aside $10,000 for the winner and accept these numbers in the meantime:

Seat 2: ms.bon-bon (9,524,438 in chips) = $77,931.43
Seat 4: Leviathan74 (11,934,866 in chips) = $82,521.11
Seat 8: MarinaBalbes (14,780,696 in chips) = $87,939.83

It didn't take long for action to heat up, and it started with a raised and reraised pot preflop between Leviathan74 and MarinaBalbes. After the [Qc][4c][8c] flop, MarinaBalbes bet, Leviathan74 raised to 1.88 million, and MarinaBalbes called. The [Kh] on the turn brought a bet from Leviathan74 and check-raise all-in from MarinaBalbes. Leviathan74 called all-in with [Ks][Jc] for the flush draw and top pair, but MarinaBalbes showed [Kc][3c] for the flopped flush. The [Ac] on the river ensured that MarinaBalbes had the higher flush, and Leviathan74 left in third place with $82,521.11.

Two hands heads-up

The final two players prepared for battle with these stacks:

Seat 2: ms.bon-bon (9,664,438 in chips)
Seat 8: MarinaBalbes (26,575,562 in chips)

And on the second hand, the two fought it out. It started with a raised preflop pot and a [5h][6h][Ah] flop. MarinaBalbes bet 600K, and ms.bon-bon raised to 1.4 million. MarinaBalbes responded by moving all-in with [5s][5c] for the flopped set, and ms.bon-bon called all-in with [Ac][8d] for top pair only. The [Qh] and [3c] finished the board to give ms.bon-bon second place and $77,931.43.

MarinaBalbes of Russia won the tournament, along with $97,939.83 in cash. Congrats!

Sunday Warm-Up Results for 02/05/12 (reflects 3-way deal):

1st place: MarinaBalbes ($97,939.83)*
2nd place: ms.bon-bon ($77,931.43)*
3rd place: Leviathan74 ($82,521.11)*
4th place: Tomascibak ($41,676.00)
5th place: bergeroo ($30,804.00)
6th place: zackmorris99 ($23,556.00)
7th place: PokerSavage1 ($16,308.00)
8th place: Salsicha ($9,060.00)
9th place: jenbizzle ($5,798.40)

*Three players agreed to a chop prior to playing on for an additional $10K.

Information regarding weekly Warm-Up tournaments can be found on its home page.

Every Sunday on PokerStars is a busy one. With the line-up of Sunday majors, players need a strict schedule and several computer monitors to get in on all of the action. Today is one of those days that requires even more attention because of all of the TCOOP action, but it sure makes for quite a bit of excitement!

Speaking of the Sunday majors, the Sunday Warm-Up led things off with its usual $500K guarantee and the promise of a big field of players. It was also a nice break from the turbo action of the current series and a reminder of what makes Sundays so amazing on PokerStars.

This week, the final numbers looked like this:

Players: 3,569
Guarantee: $500,000
Actual prize pool: $713,800
Paid finishers: 540

Just before the five-hour mark of the tournament, the money bubble burst, and players still seated were guaranteed at least $299.79 for their original $215 investment. Just before that time, though, Team PokerStars Pro Martin "AABenjaminAA" Hruby was eliminated in 597th place.

As the payments started being processed, Team Pro Celina Lin was one of the first, exiting in 537th place. Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth followed a bit later in 375th place, and reigning WSOP Main Event world champion Pius Heinz exited in 367th. That left Hungarian Team Pro Richard Toth holding the banner for the team.

Mr. Toth was eventually eliminated in 141st place with $749.49.

As the tournament came close to the nine-hour mark, only two tables remained and the minimum payout was up to $2,141.40. With the final table in sight, caution was the word going from Level 32 to 33. Action slowed dramatically at that point, but that was temporary. Franxic exited in 15th place, followed by PROTENTIALmn, Diogo37, and yargen. The 11th place elimination of smellmuth brought on the hand-for-hand play.

It took a few rounds of play and some double-ups, but eventually, the final table bubble burst. Krutenkie moved all-in from early position, and respect82 reraised from the button to isolate, which worked. Krutenkie showed [As][5h], and respect82 had [8c][8s]. The board of [Ks][2d][Kc][Kd][Qd] gave respect82 the full house and eliminated Krutenkie in tenth place with $4,282.80.

VonBaranow ventures forward with chip lead

At the very end of Level 34, with blinds at 65,000/130,000 and a 13,000 ante, the final table was set as follows:

Seat 1: neckbr4ke (3,753,200 in chips)
Seat 2: RasA86 (2,311,314 in chips)
Seat 3: fabi8913 (2,219,379 in chips)
Seat 4: vonBaranow (13,030,503 in chips)
Seat 5: sevshi (853,908 in chips)
Seat 6: 6Thor6 (1,236,032 in chips)
Seat 7: salaliitto (3,035,404 in chips)
Seat 8: t6naver (6,173,034 in chips)
Seat 9: respect82 (3,077,226 in chips)

(Thanks to final table host, Team Online's Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome for the final table picture!)

It wasn't until Level 36 that a player was at risk, and RasA86 took that opportunity to double through neckbr4ke.

Salaliitto tried the same, pushing all-in preflop, but the plan didn't work out so well. Salaliitto moved all-in with [Jd][8c] from the button, and respect82 called from the big blind with [Ad][Jh]. The ace-high hand held up to the [2d][Kc][3d][Th][5h] board, and salaliitto had to leave in ninth place with $5,710.40.

Neckbr4ke was on the shorter side of the counts and decided to move as well. The all-in was made with [Ah][2s] from the button, but RasA86 reraised all-in from the small blind with [Ac][Kh], which worked. The board of [8d][4d][5h][Js][Ks] couldn't save neckbr4ke, who ended the tournament in eighth place with $8,922.50.

Fabi8913 decided to push all-in preflop with [Ac][Kh], and sevshi called all-in for 851K with [As][Js]. The board of [Qh][Ts][Qc][8s][Jc] gave fabi8913 the ace-high straight, and sevshi had to leave in seventh place with $16,060.50.

After 6Thor6 doubled through fabi8913, the latter pushed a few hands later with [Ks][Th]. VonBaranow called with [Qc][Qs], and that pair improved to two pair on the [6h][5d][7d][5c][Ad] board. Fabi8913 took home $23,198.50 for the sixth place finish.

The rise of RasA86

RasA86 then doubled through 6Thor6, who in turn doubled through vonBaranow.

Speaking of vonBaranow, the player with the substantial chip lead was getting aggressive. VonBaranow moved all-in preflop from the button, and after some thought, t6naver called all-in from the big blind with [Kc][Qc]. VonBaranow had [Qd][Tc], which was the worst hand on the [8h][3d][7d] flop but the best hand with the [Ts] on the turn. The [6h] on the river finished it and left t6naver out in fifth place with $30,336.50.

VonBaranow took a few hits when 6Thor6 and respect82 each doubled through the chip leader on consecutive hands. Then 6Thor6 doubled through respect82.

That led to respect82 pushing all-in on the very next hand with [9s][9h], only to be called by the [Kd][Kh] of RasA86. The kings held up to the [2c][7h][Qc][Ah][6d] board, and respect82 finished the tournament in fourth place with $41,043.50.

Three-handed play went without much incident until RasA86 and 6Thor6 went into battle. The [Ts][Qs][Jc] flop prompted both players to check, and the [4c] on the turn brought a bet from 6Thor6 and call from RasA86. When the [5c] appeared on the river, 6thor6 bet out again, and RasA86 responded with a raise. 6Thor6 called all-in with [9d][8d] and the straight, but RasA86 showed [Ac][Tc] for the flush. 6Thor6 left in third place with $58,888.50.

Denmark vs. Brazil

The last two players were set to play some heads-up poker, with vonBaranow of Brazil holding only a slight lead over RasA86 of Denmark.

Seat 2: RasA86 (16,991,658 in chips)
Seat 4: vonBaranow (18,698,342 in chips)

RasA86 was determined to take the lead and leapt ahead with this hand in particular:

A few rounds later, vonBaranow risked a stack of little less than 14 million chips with [As][7h], and RasA86 called with [Qc][Qs]. The flop of [Kc][Qh][6h] created a set for RasA86, and that hand stayed strong as the [Jc] and [3h] finished the board and the tournament. SCOOP bracelet holder vonBaranow had to take second place in this one but received a nice $83,514.60 payday.

RasA86 of Denmark is this week's Sunday Warm-Up champion. Congrats on the win and the $112,067.77 payday!

Sunday Warm-Up Results for 01/22/12:

1st place: RasA86 ($112,067.77)
2nd place: vonBaranow ($83,514.60)
3rd place: 6Thor6 ($58,888.50)
4th place: respect82 ($41,043.50)
5th place: t6naver ($30,336.50)
6th place: fabi8913 ($23,198.50)
7th place: sevshi ($16,060.50)
8th place: neckbr4ke ($8,922.50)
9th place: salaliitto ($5,710.40)

Information regarding weekly Warm-Up tournaments can be found on its home page.

"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

If you have ever played a sport to a tie that required some form of overtime for the contest to be settled then tonight's heads-up match for the $500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up was poker's equivalent. 3,619 players would drop their $215 buy-ins with a shot at $113,677.77 first prize, but it would take a grueling 13 hours and 40 minutes to get there.

One Team PokerStars Pro managed to put some quality time into the Sunday Warm-Up today. Victor Ramdin found himself deep into the money with the blinds at 4K/8K ante 800 facing a min-raise in the small blind from Improved sitting on the button. With 110,197 chips behind, Ramdin would shove holding [Kd][Jd] as Improved made the call with pocket tens [Td][Ts]. Improved did not improve but neither did the winner of a $1,500 event at the PCA last year as the board [5c] [2s] [4s] [2h] [6d] ran dry for Victor ending his night in 164th place ($651.42).

Down to two tables SixthSenSe19 with a Turbo Takedown victory along with several other big final tables, just finished eighth in the Battle of the Planets $50,000 triple shootout freeroll was trying to notch another Sunday Warm-Up final table but ran into a raising war with Adam "Roothlus" Levy who held the 2nd biggest chip stack at the table. After getting his shove snap called by Levy's pocket aces, SixthSenSe19's [Qh][Ac] watched the huge 7.2 million chip pot go to Levy and after the five minute break the scraps would be passed off to .i. prestige preventing a second big final table tonight for SixthSenSe19 in 13th place ($3,257.10).

Those chips would not last through another level for Levy after doubling up Kedrila and .i. prestige, Levy would be left with 1.2 million chips and 50K/100K ante 10K blinds. Adam would open shove from the button getting snap called by Kedrila in the small blind holding big slick [As][Kc]. Roothlus showed a suited connector [8h][9h] and after an decent flop [7d][4c][5c] Levy failed to connect on the [Ks] turn and [Ah] river to finish in 11th place ($4,342.80).

A 13 minute edition of hand-for-hand would take place before SerAlGog faced with a decision after min-raising with [Jc][As] and facing a shove from crazylandd for all his chips. After a small pause, SerAlGog made the call and faced off against the queens [Qs][Qh] on crazylandd. No ace and one face on the [8c] [Ks] [6d] [2c] [5h] board ended SerAlGog's night in tenth place ($4,342.80) starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: crazylandd (3872084 in chips)
Seat 2: jaaaaaaack (2700938 in chips)
Seat 3: Kedrila (2528332 in chips)
Seat 4: NhFy (8449360 in chips)
Seat 5: scarface2911 (3556100 in chips)
Seat 6: moneyinbag (3921772 in chips)
Seat 7: Gry Dilling (2837810 in chips)
Seat 8: .i. prestige (5698090 in chips)
Seat 9: BAGBAGBAGBAG (2625514 in chips)

Long time coming

It would take nearly 20 minutes for the first Sunday Warm-Up final table elimination. With the blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K jaaaaaaack would open shove from middle position only getting a caller from Gry Dilling sitting on just 835,296 chips after paying the big blind. The small ace [3d][Ad] of Gry Dilling caught a beautiful trey on the flop [2d][Tc][3c]. jaaaaaaack's [Ac][Qs] would blank the turn [2s] but found a lovely lady on the river [Qc] to end Gry Dilling's night in ninth place ($5,790.40).

WINWINWINWIN

Still in the 100K/200K ante 20K level BAGBAGBAGBAG would make a min-raise from UTG+1 as Kedrila holding nearly three million in chips shoved from the cutoff. Holding pocket aces [Ac][Ad] BAGBAGBAGBAG made poker's easiest call hoping to fade Kedrila's big slick [Kh][Ah]. Despite a little scare of a king hitting the turn, BAGBAGBAGBAG faded the river [7s] [5c] [3d] [Ks] [2s] to end Kedrila's night in eighth place ($9,047.50). Like SixthSenSe19, Kedrila has had a taste of the Battle of the Planets freeroll final table, finishing as the runner-up a few years ago for $7,500.00

A four scores more money

In the first hand after the tenth hourly break moneyinbag tried to sneak a min-raise from cutoff but .i. prestige needed some chips after dwindling down to a little more than one million and shoved for that amount from the button. Holding [4d][As] moneyinbag called the small amount more to see help was needed against .i. prestige's [Ac][6h]. Help came swiftly for moneyinbag as a four came off the flop and held on the [7d] [4c] [9c] [Jh] [3d] board to end .i. prestige's night in seventh place ($16,285.50).

Cursed chips?

Both Kedrila and .i. prestige took Adam Levy's chips prior to the final table. Despite both of them making the final table, Kedrila was sent to the rail in eighth place, found closely behind by .i. prestige in seventh. Those resided in moneyinbag's stack for a short while until the 13.5 million chip hand below finished:

moneyinbag would try to apply a little pressure on BAGBAGBAGBAG with a four-bet shove to 6.5 million after BAGBAGBAGBAG three-bet to 988,500. Holding pocket queens [Qc][Qs] BAGBAGBAGBAG was happy to call and even happier to see moneyinbag's [Qd][Jh]. The case queen would appear on the door [Qh] [7d] [6c] [2s] [6d] ending moneyinbag's night in sixth place ($23,523.50).

Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing

The blinds would move up to 125/250K ante 25K and jaaaaaaack's 1.5 million chip stack needed an infusion quickly. After crazylandd made a min-raise from the button, jaaaaaaack would shove that 1.5 million into the middle holding big slick [Ac][Kd] small blind as NhFy folded the big blind. crazylandd would make the call showing pocket tens [Tc][Td] as the all-low [8s] [3h] [3d] [6d] [4c] left jaaaaaaack shouting for a kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing but not getting there finishing in fifth place ($30,761.50).

Out of ammo

scarface2911 needed a double-up holding just 2.7 million chips as the four-handed table continued the 125/250K ante 25K blinds. Trying to grab some easy dead money in the middle, scarface2911 would shove that stack from the button but instead woke up crazylandd showing [Qh][Ks] in the big blind. Only one live card for scarface2911 [Tc][Kd] would need a small favor from the dealer. Instead the board ran out [Ad] [7h] [Kh] [9d] [Ac] shipping 5.6 million chips to crazylandd and $41,618.50 to scarface2911 in fourth place.

No fuss, no mess, just money

Our final three got right down to business split up the remaining prize pool and leaving $10,000.00 for our champion. Check out the player's shares below:

NhFy: $85,219.00
crazylandd: $81,773.00
BAGBAGBAGBAG: $81,043.00

Nice hand for you

NhFy would have liked the extra $10,000 left aside from the deal, but instead will have to be content with the largest share. With the blinds at 150K/300K ante 30K after getting knocked around three-handed down to 4.5 million NhFy would min-raise from the button but BAGBAGBAGBAG would three-bet to 1.66 million from the small blind. crazylandd folded but NhFy did not, shoving that 4.5 million chip stack and getting a call from BAGBAGBAGBAG holding [Ac][6d]. NhFy with a smaller ace [As][3c] was gifted a trey on the flop [8d] [3d] [9d] to take the lead. But, just like Gry Dilling's elimination the pair of treys would go down on the turn. This time it was a turned flush [Kd] as NhFy took leave with the $85,219.50 from the chop agreement in third place.

Switzerland vs. Russia

The blinds would allow for plenty of play at heads-up would start out with BAGBAGBAGBAG in the lead 21 million to crazylandd's 15.1 million at the 150K/300K ante 30K level. 15 minutes into the battle BAGBAGBAGBAG would only lose a little ground to crazylandd as the players were near dead even as the blind moved up to 200K/400K ante 40K, then 250K/500K ante 50K, then 300K/600K ante 60K...

The final time for heads-up play? One hour, three minutes these two would battle exchanging the lead several times along the way. Finally, with the blinds at 400K/800K ante 80K the final hand was dealt below:

crazylandd backed into a corner down 6.7 million to 29.4 million, shoved on the button holding [Ks][3d]. BAGBAGBAGBAG also held a king but with a better kicker [Kh][Jd] making the call. No magical trey on the [8c] [9c] [4d] [Ad] [Qh] board to extend this overtime marathon as BAGBAGBAGBAG took the extra $10,000.00 from the chop agreement and the Sunday Warm-Up title!

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up results (01-08-12):
(* denotes part of three-way deal)
1. BAGBAGBAGBAG (Switzerland) *$91,043.18
2. crazylandd (Russia) *$81,773.19
3. NhFy (Sweden) *$85,219.50
4. scarface2911 (United Kingdom) $41,618.50
5. jaaaaaaack (United Kingdom) $30,761.50
6. moneyinbag (Mexico) $23,523.50
7. .i. prestige (Netherlands) $16,285.50
8. Kedrila (Russia) $9,047.50
9. Gry Dilling (Denmark) $5,790.40

You wake up in a dark room. There is a faint odor of champagne and confusion in the air what is your next move? Well, for 3,100 players the next move was to sign up for the New Year's hangover edition of the $500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up. These players are not called grinders for nothing as they downed water, Pepto, Advil, and maybe even mixed up a Bloody Mary to get over the party last night. However we believe money is the best cure for over-indulgence, and $97,340.00 was sitting at the final table for our champion to celebrate with. Well, maybe in a few days.

Team Online and reigning SCOOP Player of the Year Anders "Donald" Berg would find himself among the 450 players to cash this evening, finishing in 354th place ($347.20). Team Pokerstars Pro Martin Staszko http://www.pokerstars.com/team-pokerstars/martin-staszko/ found himself in a familiar place while making back-to-back cashes in the Sunday Warm-Up. Last week in the Sunday Warm-Up the Czech Republic native and also a 2011 SCOOP champ dropped out in 288th place ($405.00), but tonight he would climb a little bit further up the pay ladder in 138th place ($731.60).

Team PokerStars Pros were not done yet. Like last week's 40th place run by Vicky Coren, tonight it was Johnny Lodden's turn to take the spotlight with hopes of a final table to start the new year. Down to three tables and seated with 2010 SCOOP Event #8 champ BrynKenney http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/scoop/2010/scoop-a-day-in-the-life----brynkenney-wi-069580.html Lodden was looking for another major final table after taking 4th place ($35,360.00) in the Super Tuesday just two weeks ago. With a little over 500K in chips and blinds at 25K/50K ante 5K the Norwegian pro would open shove from the cutoff holding [Th][Jh]. Two seats away BrynKenney saw the Team Pro's easy money for holding pocket kings [Kd][Kd] re-shoving for just a bit more. A jack on the door but Lodden would get no more on the [Js] [2c] [5c] [Ah] [Ks] board finishing the tournament in 23rd place ($1,643.00).

Those chips would not last long for BrynKenney as he would get short-stacked and knocked out in a massive 4.5 million chip four-way pot won by a flopped set of nines for Flying Smile. BrynKenney would finish in 15th place ($2,883.00) and Juan Antonio Maceiras "vietcong01" Barros, who was looking to add a Sunday Warm-Up title to his Sunday Million win last year, instead found his top pair top kicker crushed by that same set of nines finishing in 14th place ($2,883.00).

Less than 15 minutes later (this is including a five minute hourly break) we would have our final nine as the players patience seemed to be a little short, perhaps from ringing in the New Year last night. With the blinds at 40K/80K ante 8K AlexKP on the short stack with 1.2 million would shove from the five-handed table from the button. Spades4Fun held no spades but the [Ah][Jd] in his hand would do nicely making the call. AlexKP's [9s][Qc] was indeed live until the five cards on the board [Tc] [4h] [6h] [2c] [4c] moved the rest of his chips into Spades4Fun's stack starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: AngleZero (949274 in chips)
Seat 2: sevshi (714760 in chips)
Seat 3: jenbizzle (5120768 in chips)
Seat 4: Spades4Fun (3535729 in chips)
Seat 5: MFC_79 (1479442 in chips)
Seat 6: Flying Smile (9894306 in chips)
Seat 7: colomo1 (4221791 in chips)
Seat 8: lehai80 (3788832 in chips)
Seat 9: H3nryy (1295098 in chips)

Rapid pace continues

The difference $97,340.00 for first and $4,960.00 for ninth had no effect on the play as we had two eliminations in the second and third hand of the final table. First, H3nryy with 1.2 million would open shove holding [Js][Ad] in early position as jenbizzle made the call from the cutoff. Pocket nines [9s][9c] would make an eliminating set once again [8h] [4s] [8d] [9d] [Jh] as H3nryy's two pair on the river was not enough collecting $4,960.00 in ninth place.

On the very next hand Flying Smile looking to continue the momentum which saw his stack go from 2.7 million to almost 10 million chip in just 15 minutes. MFC_79 on the button would try to slide 1.3 million chips and [7s][Ac] past Flying Smile's pocket kings [Ks][Kc] in the small blind. But, the United Kingdom's MFC_79 would find little comfort in pairing the seven on the [7h] [4d] [8h] [Td] [8d] board, falling in eighth place ($7,750.00).

AngieNothing

The players would show some mercy for this hungover author as nearly a half-hour would elapse before our seventh place finisher was named in the hand below:

AngieZero's [Jh][Ac] took a bit of a beat against colomo1's [8c][Ad] with a eight on the flop [Qs] [8h] [3s] [3c] [9c] to end the night in seventh place ($13,950.00). No stranger to major final tables, AngieZero claimed fifth place ($15,963.75) in Event #30 at the 2011 WCOOP.

Bizzle sizzles

With the blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K, jenbizzle led out for a min-raise UTG as colomo1, unable to build off taking out AngieZero, would shove from the button for 2.6 million. Folded back to jenbizzle who wasted no time calling with pocket queens [Qh][Qd]. colomo1's sevens [7h][7c] were in deep trouble for the 5.6 million chip pot and stayed that way through the [Ts] [3h] [5d] [Tc] [8c] board as jenbizzle would climb into the chip lead after showing colomo1 to the door in sixth place ($20,150.00) and taking a 9.4 million chip pot off a struggling Flying Smile.

If tonight was a musical instrument it would be an accordion

Expanding out for air then compacting quickly to squeeze out the notes, 24 minutes would elapse until another pair of back-to-back railbirds were named. With jenbizzle dominating the final table holding over half the chips in play the VIP Supernova would claim a small pot off micro-stacked Spades4Fun. With the blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K jenbizzle would put in a bullying push from the button as Spades4Fun had little choice but to call for his remaining 228,256 chips holding a decent [Ah][9d]. The flopped nine [8s] [9c] [Jh] held the lead but the turn [Th] gave jenbizzle's [6h][7c] a straight to knock out Spades4Fun in fifth place ($26,542.20).

Then sevshi who was able to parlay a short-stack at the beginning of the final table into an excellent run, would also run into the power of six-seven offsuit. Flying Smile no longer the chipleader but continued to play aggressively, was able to turn [6d][7s] into a full house defeating sevshi's [Qs][Kc] for a 1.4 million chip pot on the [7h] [3h] [6s] [6c] [Kh] board. sevshi's stubbornness netted $35,650.00 in fourth place.

A flying leap

Watch below as everyone jumped into the pool for a 11.3 million chip pot and jenbizzle with a chance to end the tournament right here:

Pocket kings [Kc][Ks] for lehai80 would rule the day as the [Jh] [3c] [5d] [3d] [Jc] cooperated to claim the huge pot over jenbizzle's [Tc][Ac] and Flying Smile's [Ah][Qc] ending Flying Smile's night in third place ($51,460.00).

A quick attempt of a deal was shot down by both players as jenbizzle went into heads-up play with a 19.6 million to 11.3 million chip lead.

Close but not really

Claiming to be a heads-up specialist, jenbizzle showed those skills in ending this battle fairly quickly. Despite giving up a 7.9 million chip pot jenbizzle would come back with a vengeance taking down four of the five final hands as heads-up play would only last four minutes after a five attempt to deal broke. With the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K lehai80 would try to shove 11.1 million chip over the top of jenbizzle's button min-raise. Holding [Qc][Ac] jenbizzle had no problem making the call as lehai80 was in dire need of a deuce or some spades holding [2s][As]. Instead of spades or deuces the [Th] [Tc] [Jc] [5d] [4d] board ran clean for jenbizzle who claimed $97,340.00 and 2012's first Sunday Warm-Up victory!

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up results (01-01-12)
1. jenbizzle (United Kingdom) $97,340.00
2. lehai80 (Russia) $72,540.00
3. Flying Smile (Russia) $51,460.00
4. sevshi (Chile) $35,650.00
5. Spades4Fun (United Kingdom) $26,542.20
6. colomo1 (Belgium) $20,150.00
7. AngleZero (Finland) $13,950.00
8. MFC_79 (United Kingdom) $7,750.00
9. H3nryy (Portugal) $4,960.00

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

Every week, the Sunday Warm-Up offers players the chance to get in on some early online poker action before events like the Sunday Million require their presence. Warm-Up seems a bit of a misnomer, though, when the $215 buy-in tournament offers a whopping $500K guarantee! Big stakes, prestigious title, more like a main event in itself.

With that said, let's get to some of the action in this so-called Sunday Warm-Up! When registration closed, the guarantee was once again shattered, and it looked something like this:

Players: 3,585
Guarantee: $500,000
Actual prize pool: $717,000
Paid finishers: 540

As the hours passed, so did the opportunity to get in the money. One of those exiting right before the bubble was Team PokerStars Pro Toni Judet, who left the crowd in 550th place. The first player to cash was georges2011, who received $301.14 for making it to 540th place, and the eliminations happened then at a quicker pace.

Some of the members of the PokerStars teams made it further, as Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen departed in 360th place, followed by Team Pro Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth in 266th, Stavros "IDOLLS" Kalfas in 247th, and Team Pro Ana Marquez in 95th.

Still waving the team flag as the field thinned was Jose "nachobarbero" Barbero, who stayed in the middle of the pack as four tables turned to three and then two.

But Barbero couldn't keep up the momentum and finally pushed little more than 1 million chips all-in preflop from the big blind with [As][7h] against the [5s][5h] of original raiser OliverDK. The board of [Ks][8c][Jh][3d][Jd] gave OliverDK two pair, and Team PokerStars Pro Jose "nachobarbero" Barbero exited in 14th place with $3,226.50.

After HTH666 was eliminated in 11th place, hand-for-hand action eventually led to the all-in move by ReD-ClouD777 for less than 225K. Randall37 and 3591omanyd both called and checked down the board of [4c][Js][5c][Jc][3c], at which point Randall37 showed [5s][3h] for the winning two pair. ReD-ClouD777 simply mucked before leaving in tenth place with $4,302.00.

Randall37 roars to final table with chip lead

In Level 33, with blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 10,000 ante, the final table was set as follows:

Seat 1: OliverDK (6,234,868 in chips)
Seat 2: Obär89 (4,398,000 in chips)
Seat 3: Bookie1978 (3,355,202 in chips)
Seat 4: 942003 (5,578,100 in chips)
Seat 5: mi777 (1,761,097 in chips)
Seat 6: pezler06 (1,632,236 in chips)
Seat 7: Randall37 (6,645,395 in chips)
Seat 8: 3591omanyd (3,523,200 in chips)
Seat 9: raulbcn (2,721,902 in chips)

It didn't take long for pezler06 to make a move and double through mi777. Raulbcn also doubled through Obar89.

Mi777 never recovered and pushed all-in soon after for 490,861 with [7c][7h] from early position, and Randall37 and Bookie1978 both called. After the [Th][Ad][4c] flop, Bookie1978 led out with a bet, and Randall37 got out of the way, at which point Bookie1978 showed [Ah][8h] for top pair. The running hearts of [Jh] and [4h] finished a flush, leaving mi777 out in ninth place with $5,736.00.

The next double-up was 3591omanyd courtesy of OliverDK, who soon after doubled through Bookie1978 in a 7.2 million-chip pot.

Bookie1978 then moved all-in with [Ac][Jc], and 3591omanyd called from the button with [3h][3s]. The flop of [9h][Ad][8c] gave Bookie1978 top pair and hope, but the [3c] hit on the turn to give 3591omanyd the set of threes. The [2d] on the river ended the tournament for Bookie1978, who took home $8,962.50 for eighth place.

Raulbcn doubled through OliverDK, and Pezler06 then scored another double, this time through Obar89. Then Randall37 doubled through OliverDK to jump back into the top spot on the leaderboard.

OliverDK waited only a few hands to move and did it preflop from the small blind. Original raiser pezler06 called, as did Obar89. They checked down the board of [6c][4h][5s][8d][9h], and pezler06 showed [Ac][9s] for the pair of nines to collect the main and side pots. OliverDK mucked and left in seventh place with $16,132.50.

On the very next hand, Obar89 pushed preflop, and pezler06 came over the top all-in. Original raiser 3591omanyd folded, and Obar89 showed [9s][9d] for tournament life. Pezler06 turned over [Ks][Kh], though, and took down the pot after the board revealed [Js][4s][7c][Qc][Jc]. Obar89 exited in sixth place with $23,302.50.

Not long after raulbcn doubled through 3591omanyd, the final five paused the tournament to discuss a potential deal, but no agreement was in the cards. Play resumed.

Then 3591omanyd doubled back through raulbcn, but mostly cautionary play ruled the action.

Finally, Randall37 moved all-in with [7s][7c] on the button, and raulbcn called from the big blind with [As][2s]. The board came [Tc][8h][6h][Ac][4d], and raulbcn pulled out a win with the pair of aces. Randall37 left in fifth place with $30,472.50.

More failed deal talks then led to short-stacked pezler06 moving all-in with [9s][8s], and 3591omanyd called with a dominating [Ac][8c]. The board of [3s][Ad][2h][2d][4d] gave 3591omanyd two pair and eliminated pezler06 in fourth place with $41,227.50.

Third time is a charm for a deal

The final three paused the action again in hopes of coming to a financial arrangement, and after some discussion, they did! With $10,000 left over for the eventual winner, they agreed to the following guaranteed payouts:

Seat 4: 942003 (10,089,801 in chips) = $78,926.60
Seat 8: 3591omanyd (18,428,181 in chips) = $93,000.00
Seat 9: raulbcn (7,332,018 in chips) = $73,683.90

Soon after, raulbcn found an opportunity to double through 942003, as shown here:

942003 did double through 3591omanyd to stay in the game, but another push was imminent. It came when 942003 picked up [Ad][7d], and raulbcn called with [As][Qh]. The board came [2d][2h][3c][6s][Th], and the A-Q kickers played to eliminate 942003 in third place with $78,926.60.

Heads-up for the title and $10K

The final two players started as follows:

Seat 8: 3591omanyd (11,980,398 in chips)
Seat 9: raulbcn (23,869,602 in chips)

And it only took three hands. Raulbcn took the reins on the second hand, and when 3591omanyd tried to make an initial raise on the third hand, raulbcn responded by pushing all-in. 3591omanyd called all-in with [Qs][9c], but raulbcn dominated with [Kc][9h]. The board of [7d][6d][Ac][5c][5d] changed nothing, and the king kicker played to eliminate 3591omanyd in second place with $93,000.00.

Raulbcn won the tournament and collected $83,683.90 in cash, along with the Sunday Warm-Up title. Congrats!

Sunday Warm-Up Results for 12/04/11 (reflecting chop):

1st place: raulbcn ($83,683.90)*
2nd place: 3591omanyd ($93,000.00)*
3rd place: 942003 ($78,926.60)*
4th place: pezler06 ($41,227.50)
5th place: Randall37 ($30,472.50)
6th place: Obar89 ($23,302.50)
7th place: OliverDK ($16,132.50)
8th place: Bookie1978 ($8,962.50)
9th place: mi777 ($5,736.00)

*results of a three-way deal

Information regarding weekly Warm-Up tournaments can be found on its home page.