The Super Tuesday, the weekly $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament that has routinely drawn huge fields over recent weeks, brought out another big group this week with 462 players joining in. That meant a prize pool of $462,000, easily besting the event's $300K guarantee. The top 54 would divide the cash, with $88,657.80 of it due the winner barring any late night deals.

There were a few Team PokerStars members among the field this week, including Team Pro Pius Heinz, Shane "shaniac" Schleger of Team Online, and Team Pro Ana Marquez, although none could do better than Marquez' 146th-place finish.

As they crossed the five-hour mark the field had shrunk to less than 60 as the money bubble approached. By then Jerrage06 was the lone player in six figures, sitting atop the counts with better than 113,000, with Tarjei82, MORTIIIIIIII, and turataika all hovering between 90k and 100k.

Soon it was scott96dl becoming the unfortunate 55th-place finisher and last eliminated before the cash.

Players continued to fall over the next hour and 45 minutes, among them AceSpades11 (52nd, $2,310), Ansgar2000 (49th, $2,310), C. Darwin2 (43rd, $2,541), danloulou (38th, $2,541), aleks1917 (35th, $2,772), turataika (33rd, $2,772), Zackattak13 (29th, $2,772), simon1471 (26th, $3,234), julianherold (23rd, $3,234), StatusUp (20th, $3,234), and 00psiedaisy (19th, $3,234).

They were approaching the seven-hour mark and 18 remained, at which point Halfrek had moved in front with better than 273,000, arnon shraga was next with just over 247,000, and robinho third with almost 217,000.

It would take another hour-and-a-half for nine more to fall, over which stretch Halfrek saw his stack shrink while robinho grabbed the top spot, pushing up over the 500,000-chip mark.

During that stretch alexandrapau (18th), tigbitties56 (17th), and Akademnuk (16th) all earned $4,158; REIPOKERXX (15th), Riz Tarde (14th), and Halfrek (13th) each took away $5,082; and Tarjei82 (12th), zoraleonas (11th), and Jerrage06 (10th) each saw $6,006 added to their PokerStars accounts.

After Jerrage06 was knocked out on one five-handed table in 10th, the remaining players waited for the hand to complete on the other where bearsfan75 had opened with a min-raise to 11,200 from the button, then MORTIIIIIIII reraised to 20,275 from the small blind, forcing a fold from robinho in the BB. bearsfan75 then shoved with the 163,354 he had left and MORTIIIIIIII quickly called.

bears75 showed [As][Kc], better than MORTIIIIIIII's [Ah][Jh]. But when the board came [Qh][Th][9d][3h][6c], MORTIIIIIIII had made a flush and bears75 was out in ninth.

The final table -- with one seat already empty -- was underway.

Seat 1: mypokerf -- 272,872
Seat 2: MaxFury20 -- 31,926
Seat 3: empty
Seat 4: ns600 -- 184,148
Seat 5: arnon shraga -- 324,675
Seat 6: MORTIIIIIIII -- 416,002
Seat 7: mmmaikk -- 130,738
Seat 8: robinho -- 601,410
Seat 9: gottama -- 348,229

It would take a little over two orbits for the first elimination of the final table to come. After arnon shraga opened with a min-raise to 12,800 from UTG, it folded around to the table's short stack MaxFury20 in the small blind who shoved for 42,352. ns600 stepped aside, and arnon shraga called, tabling [Ac][3h] to MaxFury20's [Ah][Qc].

The flop came [3s][Th][8h], pairing arnon shraga's kicker and leaving MaxFury20 seeking a queen. The turn was the [8c] and river the [5d], and MaxFury20 was out in eighth.

Meanwhile, gottama had seen his stack slide under 200,000, then he would lose most of that after three-bet shoving over a robinho raise with [9c][8c] only to run into ns600's [Ac][As]. The board brought no help for gottama and he was down to less than 3,000 -- not even a small blind.

gottama was all in on the next hand against both arnon shraga and mmmaikk. The remaining two checked the [8s][Ac][8h] flop, then when the turn brought the [5h] arnon shraga bet 16,371, a little less than half the pot, and mmmaikk called.

The river was the [3h], and this time arnon shraga bet 31,105. mmmaikk raised to 70,400, and arnon shraga gave up. mmmaikk showed [Ah][Kh] for the nut flush, and gottama flashed his [6h][2c] before leaving in seventh.

The final six then had the tourney paused to discuss a possible deal, although after some discussion no agreement could be reached and play soon resumed.

They played on for another 20 minutes, then came a hand in which MORTIIIIIIII opened for the minimum to 16,000 from early position, then mmmaikk reraised all in for 212,533 from a seat over. It folded back to MORTIIIIIIII who called with the 156,037 he had left.

MORTIIIIIIII had [Ts][Tc] while mmmaikk showed [Ac][Kh], and after the community cards came [As][5d][9c][6h][Qs], mmmaikk had the better pair and MORTIIIIIIII was out in sixth.

The tourney was paused once more with the final five now talking about a possible deal. At that point robinho still lead with almost 590,000, mypokerf was second with a little over 511,000, arnon shrago third with about 492,000, mmmaikk fourth with almost 393,000, and ns600 last with about 324,000.

ICM numbers -- saving $6,000 to play for -- were produced and after a little tweaking the five agreed to terms.

After play resumed, robinho slid back to short-stacked status while mypokerf and ns600 pushed to the top of the counts. The blinds had moved to 4,500/9,000 when ns600 raised to 27,000 from the cutoff, then arnon shraga called from the button. It folded to robinho in the big blind who shoved for 242,833. ns600 folded, but arnon shraga made the call.

robinho: [Ks][Qc]
arnon shraga: [9d][9h]

The board ran out [Ac][Ts][6s][8d][6h], meaning robinho hadn't improved and was out in fifth.

Shortly after it was ns600 opening for 28,000 from UTG and arnon shraga calling from next position. Then mmmaikk pushed all in for 275,192 from the small blind. It folded all of the way back to arnon shraga who called, showing [Jd][Td] to mmmaikk's [7c][7s]. All was fine for mmmaikk through the turn as the board had come [5d][4c][5s][8d], but the river brought the [Js] to pair arnon shraga and send mmmaikk railward in fourth.

With three left arnon shraga had the big lead with more than 1.3 million while both ns600 and mypokerf hovered just under 500,000. They crossed the ten-hour break, then the dynamic shifted after mypokerf won a preflop all-in with [Qd][Qs] against arnon shraga's [As][7s] to claim the chip lead.

Then, with the blinds 5,000/10,000, ns600 opened for 20,000 from the button and arnon shraga made it 60,000 from the small blind. mypokerf folded, then ns600 pushed all in for 385,527 and arnon shraga called.

ns600 had [Ad][Jh] and arnon shraga [Th][Ts]. The flop brought a jack, but a ten as well, coming [Jd][2s][Tc] to put arnon shraga way ahead. The turn was the [2d], giving arnon shraga a full house. ns600 was looking for a saving jack on the river, but the fifth community card was an unhelpful [Ac] and ns600 was out in third.

Heads-up play began with arnon shraga in the lead with 1,276,167 to mypokerf's 1,033,833. The pair would play about 20 hands after which mypokerf had pulled even, then over then next few edged out ahead of arnon shraga, building up to more than 1.38 million to arnon shraga's 926,897. Then the final hand took place.

The blinds were 6,000/12,000. mypokerf opened to 24,000 from the small blind/button, arnon shraga reraised to 72,000, and mypokerf called. The flop came [7h][Ks][As], and arnon shraga bet 66,150. mypokerf called. The turn was the [Ts], and both players checked.

The river brought the [3c] and an all-in shove from arnon shraga which mypokerf quickly called. arnon shraga was bluffing as he tabled [8c][5d], meaning mypokerf's [Kd][Th] for two pair was more than enough to win.

Congratulations to mypokerf for topping a tough field of 462 to claim this week's Super Tuesday and more than $60K! And kudos as well to robinho and arnon shraga who both managed $50K-plus scores thanks to the five-way chop.

Super Tuesday results for 4/10/12 (*reflects five-way deal):
1st: mypokerf ($60,039.61)*
2nd: arnon shraga ($53,371.28)*
3rd: ns600 ($46,396.90)*
4th: mmmaikk ($49,521.57)*
5th: robinho ($56,505.44)*
6th: MORTIIIIIIII ($19,635)
7th: gottama ($15,015)
8th: MaxFury20 ($10,395)
9th: bearsfan775 ($7,669.20)

Hear the story of Team Pro Victoria Coren buying a UKIPT Nottingham entry for a player turning in stellar showings in a couple of her PokerStars Home Games recently? Check it out.

Time once again for another rousing edition of the PokerStars Super Tuesday. Tonight's tilt featured a field of 495 runners generating a prize pool of $495,000 split among the final 63 players. When four players remained, they arranged a deal to carve up most of the remaining money. In the end, it was wizowizo earning the glory, along with just over $73,000.

Team PokerStars and notable cashers

Plenty members of Team PokerStars made their $1,050 contribution for tonight's Super Tuesday, but bragging rights would go to two members of Team PokerStars Online who made the money. George "Jorj95" Lind III (below) and Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez
made it into the top 63, but both players settled for a min-cash of $2,178. Their performance was better than Ana Marquez, Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen, Toni Judet, Pius Heinz, Liv Boeree, Jude "J.thaddeus" Ainsworth, Matthias "mattidm" De Meulder as they went busto in early action.

Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad "earned" the honour of being bubble girl, finishing 64th. Players who collected some cash included Luke "LukeFromB13" Staudenmaier (13th), Aaron Been (22nd), Thiago "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima (29th), Mike "Gags30" Gagliano (42nd) and Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (62nd).

Final table bubble

The average stack was over 60 big blinds, but the shortest stack of the ten players remaining held less than six as hand-for-hand play commenced. The blinds were at 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante as claudioney18 moved all in from the button for their remaining 22,000 chips with [qs][th]. In the big blind, nenita02 found [Ah][2c] worthy of a call. The board ran out [kd][8d][6h][2d][4s] to bring the field to one table. Here's how the stacks were situated:

Seat 1: gernas10 (391,991 in chips)
Seat 2: Joep "Pappe_Ruk" Van Den Bijgaart (119,500 in chips)
Seat 3: David "dave798111" Allan (175,987 in chips)
Seat 4: wizowizo (181,321 in chips)
Seat 5: Julian Herold (322,954 in chips)
Seat 6: arsen013 (289,090 in chips)
Seat 7: Adam "squee451" Sherman (444,819 in chips)
Seat 8: Alemao1973 (201,918 in chips)
Seat 9: nenita02 (347,420 in chips)

No magic for dave79811 (9th - $8,217.00)

Less than two months ago, David "dave79811" Allan claimed a Super Tuesday title, but knew he'd have his work cut out for him if he wanted another victory. However, their stay at this week's Super Tuesday lasted all of two hands. The hand started with gernas10 min-raising to 8,000 as Allan re-raised to 18,548 with [ac][kc]. Julian Herold four-bet to 43,250 with [qh][qc]. Gernas10 got out of the way but Allen shipped their stack into the middle as Herold called. This time the coinflip sided with the player in front as no help arrived on the [js][ts][7s][2d][5d].

Alemao1973 turned out (8th - $11,137.50)

Less than ten hands later the final table field dropped to seven with the elimination of Brazil's Alemao1973. Gernas10 attempted to get involved in the first knockout, but this time it was a turn card that moved them from way behind to way ahead:

Arsen013 out of ammunition (7th - $16,087.50)

After two quick eliminations, play settled down as the next player sent to the rail wouldn't happen for over 40 minutes. Once again, gernas10 would take the lead on the turn to dispatch a player. The blinds were up to 3,200/6,400 with an ante of 800 as arsen013 shoved for just over 109,000 chips with [kh][js]. Gernas10 re-raised to isolate with [ad][qh], as Pappe_Ruk folded, showing a king. Losing one of their outs didn't give arsen013 a good feeling on how this hand played out, but that changed when the flop came [jc][Tc][7s] to take control of the hand. The turn brought the [ks] to give arsen013 two pair. Unfortunately for the Russian player, that meant gernas10 held a straight. The [6c] on the river leaves half a dozen contending.

Squee451 squeezes gernas10, flushes Pappe_Ruk (6th - $21,037.50)

Back-to-back eliminations gave gernas10 plenty of chips, but Adam "squee451" Sherman would take a large portion of them in what turns out to be the biggest pot of the tournament, nearly 1,200,000 chips. Julian Herold led the action with a min-raise as squee451 3-bet min-raised to 25,600. From the big blind, gernas10 4-bet to 60,800, causing Herold to fold as squee451 once again made a small re-raise, this time for 112,000 total. Gernas10 shoved for nearly 880,000 chips as squee451 called. Squee451 rolled over [kh][ks] as gernas10 revealed [ac][kc]. The flop came [kd][4d][2c] to give Sherman a set of kings. No help for gernas10 as the turn and river bring the [7d][6d] as Sherman holds a commanding chip lead.

Putting the newly acquired chips into action, squee451 sent Dutch grinder Joep "Pappe_Ruk" Van Den Bijgaart to the rail several hands later. Blinds are not at 3,600/7,200 with an ante of 900 as squee451 min-raises and Bijgaart shoves from the small blind for 87,721 chips with [4][4d]. Squee451 called with [ah][qh], hoping to come out on the right end of the flip. The [th][7h][3h] flop greatly reduced those worries as squee451 held the nut flush. Bijgaart needing the [6h] and [5h] to win, instead it was the [9d] [8h], leaving five alive.

Wizowizo master of flips, makes nenita02 go nite-nite (5th - $27,225.00)

Germany's wizowizo was a strong second to squee451 at this point of the final table. Eventually, they got into the act of collecting all of a defeated foe's chips to narrow the deficit to first. Blinds are up yet again, now at 4,000/8,000 with an ante of 1,000 as nenita02 minraised with [qs][qd] with about 123,000 chips behind. Wizowizo held [ad][jd] and set nenito02 all in, deciding to call. Another all-in situation where the lead changed on the turn as the board runs out [8s][7h][4d][As] [Kd], leaving four players.

Four squared away after agreeing to a deal

It was the short-stacked gernas10 who started discussion of a deal as Adam "squee451" decided to look at the numbers. A host eventually arrived, giving the players an ICM deal instead of the usual chip chop option, a new feature for PokerStars. After some discussion on playing for more than the $6,000 that would be set aside in any deal talk, it was agreed that the two short stacks give back $250, meaning the winner would pocket an additional $6,500.00. All parties agreed to that arrangement, leaving the final numbers as follows:

squee451: 1,154,495 - $73,507.02
wizowizo: 726,964 - $66,527.66
julianherold: 314,211 - $54,100.15
gernas10: 279,330 - $52,562.27

Julian Herold unceremoniously eliminated (4th - $54,100.15)

Play resumed with players enjoying their scores, each locking up better than 3rd place money, as squee451 guaranteed a cash better than 2nd place would have paid. Julian Herold fell to the bottom of the pack with just over 183,000 chips as the blinds were now at 4,500/9,000 with an ante of 1,125.

A min-raise with [as][7s] was met by a re-raise from squee451 to 40,500. Herold shipped their remaining chips, but wasn't happy to see squee451 show [ac][jh]. It didn't get better when the flop came [js][td][9h]. The turn brought the [qc], leaving a king for a chop or an eight for a come-from-behind double-up. The river brought the [7d], meaning just three remain.

Wizowizo retakes lead for good, closes out gernas10 (3rd - $52,312.67)

A series of three hands would move wizowizo from third to first, an advantage they would not relinquish. The biggest hands were against squee451, played out below:

Wizowizo was now running away with the lead as gernas10 held a slight lead over squee451. Blinds are now at 5,000/10,000 with a 1,250 ante as gernas10 min-raises with [as][th], wizowizo re-raises to 50,000 holding [qh][qc]. Gernas10 bumps it up to 115,000 as wizowizo sets gernas10 all in, prompting a call.

The flop came [kh][kd][8d], but it was the [qd[ on the turn that ended any doubt on who was winning this hand. The [4d] on the river made the hand complete, giving wizowizo a nearly 5-1 edge over squee451.

Squee451 squeezed (2nd - $73,507.02)

Heads-up lasted about 25 hands, but the winner was hardly in doubt. Adam "squee451" Sherman tried hard, but could only get as close the gap to about 3-1 before wizowizo widened the lead once again.

On the final hand, wizowizo possessed over 2.1m of the nearly 2.5m chips in play. Action started with Sherman min-raising to 20,000 as wizowizo 3-bet to 50,000. Sherman re-raised to just over 313,000 chips with [kd][9h] as wizowizo called with [as][tc]. Wizowizo improved on the [ad][4c][2s] flop. Sherman picked up some outs when the [kc] hit the turn, but the river was the [qc], concluding another Super Tuesday tournament.

Wizowizo earned about $500 less than squee451, but a win is likely to satisfy missing out on a few dollars.

April 3, 2012 Super Tuesday Final Table Results:

*Payouts reflect a deal made four-handed:

*1st: wizowizo - $73,027.66
*2nd: Adam "squee451" - $73,507.02
*3rd: gernas10 - $52,312.67
*4th: Julian Herold - $53,850.15
5th: nenita02 - $27,225.00
6th: Joep "Pappe_Ruk" Van Den Bijgaart - $21,037.50
7th: arsen013 - $16,087.50
8th: Alemao1973 - $11,137.50
9th: David "dave798111" Allan - $8,217.00

The 1st anniversary of the popular Sunday Storm takes place April 15th with a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool for a buyin of just $11. Even better, if you deposit $50 you get a free ticket! Details available here.

The Super Tuesday, the weekly $1,050 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament that routinely brings out online poker's best, was back on tonight with another big field coming out to do battle. A total of 480 players bought in this week, creating a $480,000 prize pool and easily besting the event's $300K guarantee.

The top 54 finishers would divide up that money, with $92,112 due the winner barring any final-table deals.

After four hours and 15 minutes the field had shrunk to 100 players, at which point Ami "UhhMee" Barer was leading everyone with almost 83,000, Jamil11 was closest with nearly 69,000, and GoToCa$hier third with about 64,000.

An hour-and-a-half later the money bubble had burst, with Team PokerStars Pro Pat Pezzin among those making the money while nursing a short stack. He'd continue to survive as others began to hit the virtual rail over the next half-hour, including Leonard "Gerritss" Gerritss (51st, $2,400), WhEADa (47th, $2,400), katya03 (42nd, $2,640), magic 1717 (39th, $2,640), seymouraces (31st, $2,880), and GoToCa$hier (28th, $2,880).

With 27 left it was NoaTheArk leading all with almost 327,000, rportaleoni next with about 234,000, and bobivey third with just over 226,000. Pezzin was still there, too, sitting with less than 10 big blinds in 26th of 27.

A half-hour later just 18 were still with chips and gathered around two tables, with stauso (27th), MrBarret82 (25th), and Assani "jwvdcw" Fisher (19th) among the group going out with $3,360 cashes. Pezzin was still hanging on, then 18th of 18.

Greenback215 would be the next out in 18th ($4,320). Then Pezzin would jam his short stack of 14,328 (about five big blinds) with [Ac][4s] and get a caller in LFmagic with [Ah][3c]. The flop brought a trey to pair LFmagic, and two cards later Pezzin's run had finally ended in 17th ($4,320).

OCC480 would take away $4,320 as well for a 16th-place finish. The next three to go -- bobivey (15th), claudioney18 (14th), and IMFICKLE (13th) -- would all earn $5,280. And MrKlout (12th), LFmagic (11th), and danceofddead (10th) saw $6,240 added to their PokerStars accounts.

After about seven-and-a-half hours of poker, the final table was set.

Seat 1: KAROyal -- 73,210
Seat 2: rportaleoni -- 338,088
Seat 3: LetsFlipIt -- 174,560
Seat 4: NoaTheArk -- 645,737
Seat 5: o_omx -- 84,026
Seat 6: 10IsTheYear -- 329,786
Seat 7: RLOG -- 457,979
Seat 8: enrique tech -- 17,074
Seat 9: Jamil11 -- 279,540

The final table's super-short stack enrique tech started out folding hands for nearly an orbit, then doubled through rportaleoni after picking up [As][Qc] versus rportaleoni's [Ac][2s]. enrique tech then folded for another orbit before being dealt pocket nines and tripling up to more than 35,000.

Then came a hand in which NoaTheArk opened with a minimum-raise to 11,200 from early position, and it folded around to KAROyal in the small blind who pushed all in from 74,510. rportaleoni folded the BB, and NoaTheArk made the call, showing [Qc][Js] to KAROyal's [Ah][Ks].

The flop came [Qd][6s][Jh] to pair NoaTheArk twice while giving KAROyal a chance at Broadway. The turn was the [7h] and river the [4h], and KAROyal was out in ninth.

enrique tech would then get pocket sevens to double-up yet again to nearly 60,000, then slide back before doubling one more time. Finally, however, enrique tech's run would come to an end after open-shoving from UTG with 29,628 with [Qh][Qs] and getting a call from RLOG who held [Kc][5d]. The flop came an eye-popping [Kd][Kh][5c] to give RLOG a full house, and after the [9d] turn and [Ad] river enrique tech was out in eighth.

They were just about at the nine-hour break when RLOG raised for the minimum (14,400) from UTG, then LetsFlipIt reraised to 46,800 from the cutoff, leaving but 2,732 behind. It folded back to RLOG who pushed all in and LetsFlipIt called.

RLOG: [Kc][Kh]
LetsFlipIt: [7s][7d]

The board ran out [Qh][2h][Ac][8c][4s] and LetsFlipIt was gone in seventh.

Shortly after they returned from the break, o_omx raised all in from the cutoff for 71,408 and Jamil11 called from the big blind. o_omx had [Kh][6h] and Jamil11 [As][8s], and after the five community cards came [5s][2d][7c][4d][Ah] Jamil11 had a pair and o_omx was out in sixth.

About 15 minutes later the blinds were up to 4,500/9,000 when Jamil11 raised to 18,000 from UTG+1/the cutoff and NoaTheArk called from the small blind. 10IsTheYear then reraised all in for 250,878 from the big blind, prompting another all-in shove from Jamil11 for about 886,000 total. NoaTheArk stepped aside, 10IsTheYear showed [As][Jd], and Jamil11 turned over [Ah][Kc]. The board ran out [5h][7h][Ts][Qh][Th], and fifth was the finish for 10IsTheYear.

With four left Jamil11 was the leader with about 1.16 million, NoaTheArk second with almost 658,000, RLOG third with just under 297,000, and rportaleoni last with a little more than 284,000.

Soon Jamil11 was raising to 18,000 from the button, then rportaleoni reraised all in from the small blind for 236,073. NoaTheArk then came over the top with another all-in push from the big blind for 554,169, and Jamil11 folded. rportaleoni had [2s][2s] and needed help against NoaTheArk's [Js][Jd]. But the board came [3h][7d][Ts][4s][Ac], and they were down to three.

Shortly after that it appeared as though Jamil11 was about to send NoaTheArk out in third after the latter went all in with [Kc][Jc] against Jamil11's [Js][Jd] and the community cards came nine-high through the turn. But the river brought a saving king for NoaTheArk and the three players pressed on.

The tide then turned in a big way after another preflop all-in confrontation between Jamil11 and NoaTheArk in which Jamil11 held [Ac][Kd] and NoaTheArk [7c][7h]. The sevens held, catapulting NoaTheArk to more than 1.24 million and the lead and leaving Jamil11 with just a little over 100,000. Take a look:

Jamil11 would survive to double up once through RLOG, but the end soon came in a hand in which RLOG opened with a min-raise of 24,000 from the button, then Jamil11 reraised all in for 190,946 from the small blind. NoaTheArk called the reraise, and after thinking for a bit RLOG did as well.

The flop came [2h][Ad][6h], and when NoaTheArk checked RLOG bet 156,889, forcing a fold from NoaTheArk. RLOG had [As][Kh] for aces, while Jamil11 was drawing thin with [Kc][7s]. The [8c] on the turn meant the [7c] was no matter, and Jamil11 was out in third.

Heads-up play began with RLOG ahead in chips with 1,336,250 to NoaTheArk's 1,063,750. NoaTheArk quickly grabbed the advantage, however, in a huge hand in which he got all of his chips in the middle on the river with the board showing [6s][7d][Kd][2c][Jc] and got a call from RLOG. RLOG had [Kh][7s] for two pair, but NoaTheArk had [6c][6d] for a set of sixes and suddenly had a commanding lead with more than 2.15 million to RLOG's 245,000.

The stacks were roughly the same a few hands later when they'd reached the ten-hour break, during which the pair chatted a little.

NoaTheArk: are you tired?
RLOG: yes
RLOG: even chop?
NoaTheArk: lol

On the fifth hand back it looked like the end was near as RLOG was all in with [Ad][6h] against NoaTheArk's [9s][8s], then the flop came [4h][6s][8d] to put NoaTheArk ahead. The turn was the [Ts], but the river brought the [Ac] to save RLOG with a double up to almost 475,000.

RLOG's good fortune was short-lived, though, as about a half-dozen hands after that he'd min-raise to 24,000 from the button, NoaTheArk would reraise to 72,000, RLOG pushed all in for 290,615 total, and NoaTheArk called.

NoaTheArk: [Kd][Jd]
RLOG: [Ad][8h]

The flop came [5c][2d][4h] and RLOG was still best, but the [Kh] on the turn put him in need of an ace or trey to survive. The river then brought the [6c], and NoaTheArk had won.

Congratulations to NoaTheArk for surviving a huge field of 480 to win this week's Super Tuesday and a handsome $92K-plus score!

Super Tuesday results for 3/27/12:
1st: NoaTheArk ($92,112)
2nd: RLOG ($68,400)
3rd: Jamil11 ($50,400)
4th: rportaleoni ($38,400)
5th: 10IsTheYear ($26,880)
6th: o_omx ($20,400)
7th: LetsFlipIt ($15,600)
8th: enrique tech ($10,800)
9th: KAROyal ($7,968)

The European Poker Tour is making its first ever stop this week in Campione, a small Italian municipality located just within Switzerland. Check the PokerStars blog for start-to-finish coverage of the main event at EPT Campione.

This week's Super Tuesday drew a stunning 540 entrants for a prize pool of $540,000, meaning the winner could become the first to earn a six-figure score in the $1,000 buy-in tournament. Although there was talk of a deal, calvinv7 bested Bryn Kenney heads-up, going from 9th of 9 at the final table to winner of over $102,000.

Team PokerStars and notables

The large field meant several members of Team PokerStars Pro and Team PokerStars Online took their shot at the record prize pool. Only one player would cash as Ana Marquez (below) finished 37th, earning $2,700. Team PokerStars Pros who fell short: Andre "aakkari" Akkari, Pat Pezzin, Vanessa Selbst, Maxim Lykov, Liv Boeree, Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth and Toni Judet. The highest placed member of Team PokerStars Online was Kevin "WizardofAhhs" Thurman. Team PokerStars Online players Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez, Shane "Shaniac" Schleger and Björn "Bjoerni89" Schneider also participated.

Notables making the money, but falling short of the final table included Paul "padjes" Berende (19th), James "Andy MCLEOD" Obst (39th) and Casey "bigdogpckt5s" Jarzabek (49th),

Scott96dl 86'd on final table bubble ($6,480)

Marquez may have wanted to finish a bit higher, but she still had a reason to watch the action as her boyfriend Bryn Kenney was among the final ten players in the field as they played hand-for-hand. The final hand didn't take place at Kenney's table as Mr Brizza, a Sunday Million winner March 21, 2010 , would handle the honors. Blinds were at 3,600/7,200 with an ante of 900 as Mr Brizza opened the action with a raise to 17,280 with [ad][qd]. Scott96dl moved all in for their remaining 134,524 chips with [kh][ts] as Mr Brizza called. Scott96dl's chances of making the final table were quickly dashed, left drawing dead on the flop of [ah][as][jc] as Mr Brizza flopped trips. For the record, the [td] and [5s] finished the hand, leaving nine players remaining.

Here's how the final table stacked up when play resumed on table 24:

Seat 1: VicksMyDawg (503,960 in chips)
Seat 2: BrynKenney (196,594 in chips)
Seat 3: backtwoblack (123,528 in chips)
Seat 4: Yann "yadio" Dion (267,214 in chips)
Seat 5: Mr Brizza (587,408 in chips)
Seat 6: Mounty15 (111,133 in chips)
Seat 7: B2Bullets (292,158 in chips)
Seat 8: gmcrafter (508,503 in chips)
Seat 9: calvin7v (109,502 in chips)

B2Bullets runs out of ammo in 9th ($8,964)

B2Bullets started third in chips, an unfortunate river card meant doom for B2Bullets, the first player out at the final table. Blinds quickly moved to 4,000/8,000 with the ante at 1,000 as 2012 Aussie Millions final tablist Yann "yadio" Dion min-raised with [Ac][qh]. B2Bullets three-bet to 36,000 with the dominating [ah][kh]. Yadio four-bet shoved for 295,814, barely covering B2Bullets stack as they called. B2Bullets remained in front on the [Jh] [8s][5s] flop and [jc] turn. Yadio would only need to be in front on the final card, which obliged when the [qs] hit the river, leaving B2Bullets as the only player at the final table earning a four-figure score.

Mounty15 dismounted in 8th ($12,150)

Bryn Kenney would chip up into contention by winning a coinflip against a short-stacked Mounty15. Mr Brizza opened with a raise to 19,200 as Mounty15 shoved for 92,133 with [ts][th]. Bryn Kenney then re-raised all in for their stack with [ac][kh] as Mr Brizza gave up their hand. This time, the flop gave the player behind in the hand the lead: [Ah][Jh][Js], as Kenney held on when the turn and river came [5d][2d] leaving seven in contention.

Backtwoblack gets stacked in 7th ($17,550)

Bryn Kenney was really liking A-K as he doubled through Mr Brizza's pocket tens to move into second place. Blinds were now 5,000/10,000 as each player anted 1,250 when Kenney min-raised with [ac][kc]. Backtwoblack put their tournament life on the line for 98,956 chips, holding [js][jh]. Kenney moved ahead once again on the [Kh][9h][7c] flop. Backtwoblack was down to two outs, which didn't happen as the board runs out [Tc] [2h], sending backtwoblack packing.

Calvin7v makes his move

Calvin7v had doubled up early at the final table to move off the bottom, but fell back to last with six remaining as he started to make his charge towards the top. Bryn Kenney ruled the field as blinds jumped to 7,000/14,000 with an ante of 1,750 as Kenney attempted to win another flip and knock out Calvin7v:

That river card kept calvin7v alive, but he would once again fall back to sixth place before doubling once again, this time with pocket sevens against gmcrafter's pocket fives.

VicksMyDawg loses bite in 6th ($22,950)

The tournament progressed with another jump in the blinds to 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante as VicksMyDawg now fell to sixth, attempting to follow in calvin7v's footsteps and double up. Once again Bryn Kenney was involved in the hand as he opened from UTG with a min-raise as VicksMyDawg moved all in for 117,729 from the big blind with [ks][qd]. Kenney held the dominating hand again with [ad][qh] and was well ahead on the [Ah][9s][2h] flop. VicksMyDawg had some life when the [jh] hit the turn, but the three-outer wasn't in the cards as the [7c] on the river takes the field down to five with Kenney in front.

Yadio turned off in 5th ($29,700)

Yann "yadio" Dion was second in chips, but in two hands he was without chips as calvin7v moved into the lead in the first seven-figure pot at the final table. Here's how that hand played out with the blinds now 9,000/18,000 with an ante of 2,250:

On the next hand, Mr Brizza collected the rest of Yadio's chips, calling with [kc][6c] against Yadio's [ah][jh]. The board ran out [Qd][8s][2h][6h] [2s], sending the 7th place finisher in this year's Aussie Millions Main Event to the rail.

Gmcrafter dismantled in 4th ($42,120)

Mr Brizza disposed with gmcrafter a few hands later to leave three players standing. Mr Brizza min-raised as gmcrafter shoved 341,190 chips with [kc][8d] as Mr Brizza quickly called with [ad][9c]. Mr Brizza then crushed the flop, making two pair as it came down [Ac][9d][2s]. The [7h] on the turn left gmcrafter drawing dead, as the [8c] on the river had the remaining players talking deal figures.

Kenney negotiates as deal falls apart

Play was paused to get a host, with initial discussion by the chip leader to make it winner-take-all for over $233,000. Bryn Kenney commented "I like ur style" before the real discussion began on doing a deal via chip chop. Here's how the deal would have worked, with $6,000 set aside for the eventual winner:

calvin7v:- 1,164,147 - $81,866.68
BrynKenney: 813,859 - $73,887.90
Mr Brizza: 721,994 - $71,795.42

Mr Brizza liked this deal, but Kenney decided to ask for $2,000 more from calvin7v, who declined the deal and play continued.

Mr Brizza bluff backfired, bounced in 3rd ($55,350)

As the tournament was now officially taking place on March 21, two years after winning the Sunday Million, Mr Brizza hoped for some magic as he attempted to move calvinv7 off the best hand on the river. The blinds were now at 10,000/20,000 with the ante 2,500 as the hand played out below:

A great call from calvin7v means he'll start heads up play against Bryn Kenney with an over 3-1 chip lead.

Calvin7v collects victory ($102,600)

The heads-up battle between calvin7v and Bryn Kenney wasn't really much of one, as Kenney held less than 500,000 chips when the final hand played out. Kenney min-raised from the small blind as calvin7v re-raised to 92,000. Kenney four-bet shoves with [ac][5d], which puts calvin7v in the tank for well over a minute before eventually calling with [qs][9c]. That decision would turn out well for calvin7v as the flop gave him trip nines: [9h][9d][3h]. Kenney still had a chance when the [2d] came on the turn to give him a gutshot straight draw, but it was calvin7v who would improve, making a full house when the [qc[ came on the river, giving him the victory. Bryn Kenney settles for 2nd place, good for $75,600. All in all, not that bad a tournament in the Kenney/Marquez home.

March 20,2012 Super Tuesday final table results:

1st: calvin7v - $102,600
2nd: Bryn Kenney - $75,600
3rd: Mr Brizza - $55,350
4th: gmcrafter - $42,120
5th: Yann "yadio" Dion - $29,700
6th: VickysMyDawg - $22,950
7th: backtwoblack - $17,550
8th: Mounty15 - $12,150
9th: B2Bullets - $8,964

The MicroMillions series is still going strong with over 40 tournaments remaining with the $22, $1,000,000 Main Event this Sunday. Plenty of other great prizes available for the best all-around player, visit the MicroMillions site for the latest updates.

Time again for the weekly $1,050 buy-in no-limit hold'em tourney that routinely draws the best of the best, the Super Tuesday. This week's tourney drew 440 players, the same number as last week's tourney won by alexandr18ru for a $80,136 score.

That meant another $440,000 prize pool -- easily eclipsing the $300K guarantee -- with the top 54 finishers dividing up the loot and $84,436 due the winner absent any late night deals at the final table.

After just over four hours of play there were 100 players remaining, with patronemesmo, caecilius, and gmcrafter leading the counts. At that point Team Online member George "Jorj95" Lind III -- back on the team and the grind just this week after a relocation -- had just been eliminated in 113rd, joining Team PokerStars Pros Pius Heinz (244th) and Ana Marquez (260th) on the rail.

A little over an hour later they were down to 55 and one elimination away from the cash. patronemesmo still led with more than 153,000, with BriDge2PaiN next with about 132,000 and touchmynuts1 and caipsa both hovering just above 100,000. The bubble would last another 20 minutes until finally a short-stacked BIZZY42 was the unfortunate 55th-place finisher after his [9s][9h] failed to hold against Kortess85's [Jd][9d].

It would take another three hours for the field to be reduced down to just 11, and at the eight-hour break it was Tobias "PokerNoob999" Reinkemeier leading the way with almost 313,000, followed by pampa27 with about 294,000 and faithless in third with just over 283,000.

Those 11 would battle for another 20 minutes, during which time both WhEADa and Dowgh-Santos experienced good fortune to survive all-ins. In WhEADa's case, he was all in before the flop with [9d][9s] against Hustlaaaaaa's [As][Ac], but a nine flopped and WhEADa's hand held. Meanwhile Dowgh-Santos used pocket sixes to survive against patronemesmo's [Ad][5s].

Finally touchmynuts1 was knocked out by Hustlaaaaaa in 11th ($5,720) when his [Kd][Qs] failed to hold against the latter's [Ks][Js] after a jack fell on the river. Several minutes later it was utreg going out in 10th ($5,720) when his [As][8s] couldn't catch up to PokerNoob999's [Ac][Qh], and the final table was set.

Seat 1: patronemesmo -- 137,593
Seat 2: Hustlaaaaaa -- 116,073
Seat 3: vbjishfij -- 370,693
Seat 4: pampa27 -- 261,671
Seat 5: WhEADa -- 285,420
Seat 6: PokerNoob999 -- 504,323
Seat 7: Dowgh-Santos -- 146,366
Seat 8: faithless -- 226,762
Seat 9: gmcrafter -- 151,099

The final nine played on for another 15 minutes and were approaching the nine-hour break when the first elimination of the final table took place.

With the blinds 3,600/7,200, patronemesmo open-pushed all in from UTG for 115,976 and got a single caller in Tobias "PokerNoob999" Reinkemeier from late position. patronemesmo had [Kd][4d] and PokerNoob999 [Ac][Qd], and after the board came [5h][6d][Qs][7h][Ad] Reinkemeier had two pair and patronemesmo was out in ninth.

It was shortly after the break that PokerNoob999 was getting involved again, min-raising to 16,000 from early position. gmcrafter then reraised all in for 107,949 from a couple of seats over, and when it folded back around Reinkemeier called.

gmcrafter held [Ad][7c] and PokerNoob999 [Ac][Tc]. The five community cards came [Qd][2d][Kh][8s][5d], and gmcrafter was eliminated in eighth.

Just moments later vbjishfij opened for the minimum from the hijack seat, then it folded around to Dowgh-Santos in the big blind who pushed all in for 86,166 and vbjishfij called. Dowgh-Santos had [4h][4s], but had run into a better pocket pair in vbjishfij's [Jh][Js]. The board came [3h][3c][Td][Qd][Kc], and Dowgh-Santos finished in seventh.

The blinds were still 4,000/8,000 when WhEADa opened for 16,525 from the button, then faithless reraised to 48,000 from the big blind. WhEADa responded with an all-in push for 213,620, and faithless called.

WhEADa had [Jc][Js] and appeared to have found a good spot versus faithless' [Td][Th]. All remained well for WhEADa through the [7c][6c][Qh] flop and [7d] turn, but the [Tc] arrived on fifth street to give faithless tens full and wipe WhEADa out in sixth.

The blinds had moved to 4,500/9,000 when a preflop raising war broke out between PokerNoob999 and faithless resulting in the latter committing all of his chips before the flop. First Reinkemeier min-raised from the cutoff, then faithless made it 144,000 from the button, leaving himself but 29,800 behind. The blinds got out, and when PokerNoob999 reraised again faithless called with the rest.

faithless: [Js][Ts]
PokerNoob999: [Ac][9c]

The board ran out [3s][7c][6h][4c][Qs], and ace-high was good enough for Reinkemeier, thereby knocking faithless out in fifth.

The remaining four played on through the nine-and-a-half-hour mark with Reinkemeier now leading with more than 1.07 million, followed by vbjishfij (607,899), Hustlaaaaaa (362,746), and pampa27 (151,441).

Then, with the blinds 5,000/10,000, vbjishfij raised to 20,000 from UTG and pampa27 reraised all in for just over 15 big blinds from the button. The blinds got out, and vbjishfij called with [As][4s], well behind pampa27's [Ad][Ks].

The flop came [7d][8s][5h] and pampa27 was still best. The turn was the [Js], however, giving vbjishfij a flush draw to go along with the gutshot draw. The river then brought the [6h], filling vbjishfij's straight and knocking pampa27 out in fourth.

The final trio made it to the ten-hour break, over which stretch vbjishfij pushed out ahead of Reinkemeier to claim the chip lead. The players then came back to blinds of 6,000/12,000 and soon vbjishfij was opening for 24,000 from UTG/the button. PokerNoob999 folded the small blind, but Hustlaaaaaa pushed all in from the BB for 215,292 and vbjishfij made the call.

Hustlaaaaaa had [Ac][4c] and was ahead to start versus vbjishfij's [Kh][9c]. But the community cards rolled out [Ts][Qd][4d][8d][Jd], that river jack giving vbjishfij a straight and knocking out Hustlaaaaaa in third.

The final two began with vbjishfij enjoying nearly a 2-to-1 chip lead with 1,405,886 to PokerNoob999's 794,114. vbjishfij maintained the lead for the first few hands, and had increased it a bit when a big hand developed in which PokerNoob999 called vbjishfij's bets before the flop and on the first two post-flop streets, then pushed all in after vbjishfij checked the river with the board showing [9c][Kc][2s][4h][6s].

vbjishfij thought a long while before calling with [Ac][9h] for nines, but PokerNoob999 had [Ks][Th] for kings and claimed the 1.25 million-plus pot and the lead with his better pair. Take a look:

vbjishfij fought back, however, soon retaking the advantage and then gradually whittling Reinkemeier down. The pair had played more than 50 hands and half an hour, with vbjishfij pushing up over 1.7 million and Reinkemeier slipping just under 500,000. Then came a hand in which vbjishfij rivered two pair to knock PokerNoob999 down under 100,000, and just a few hands later came the tourney's final hand.

In the last one, vbjishfij open-pushed from the button and Reinkemeier called with the 71,078 had had left after committing the big blind. vbjishfij had [Qh][9d] and PokerNoob999 [4s][4h], but the [Kc][8s][Qs] flop quickly gave vbjishfij the better pair. The turn was the [Ah] and river the [3c], and vbjishfij had won.

Congratulations to vbjishfij for outlasting an always-tough Super Tuesday field, plus a challenging heads-up opponent in Tobias Reinkemeier to grab this week's first prize of better than $84K!

Super Tuesday results for 3/13/12:
1st: vbjishfij ($84,436)
2nd: PokerNoob999 ($62,700)
3rd: Hustlaaaaaa ($46,200)
4th: pampa27 ($35,200)
5th: faithless ($24,640)
6th: WhEADa ($18,700)
7th: Dowgh-Santos ($14,300)
8th: gmcrafter ($9,900)
9th: patronemesmo ($7,304)

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This week's Super Tuesday featured 440 players turning out, creating a $440,000 prize pool for the final 54 players standings. Tonight's winner was expected to cash in for over $84,000, but it was another win for Russia as alexandr18ru claimed the title, defeating Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky for just over $80,000.

Several Team PokerStars Pros made up this week's lineup, but all fell well short of making the money. EPT Copenhagen winner and Team Online player Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen was the highest placed finisher. The other Team Pros and Online players in this week's field were Ana Marquez, Toni Judet, Team Online player Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez, Martin Staszko and Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth.

The final table fell out of reach for 430 players, but one more needed to drop out of contention before we had an official final table. Marty "TheLipoFund" Mathis looked the most likely suspect as he had less than four BB's with the blinds at 2,800/5,600 and a running ante of 700. However it was Sphinx87 nominated as bubble boy tonight. Five-handed, Sphinx87 open-shoved for 110,788 with [5s][5d] only to have alexandr18ru snap-call from the big blind with [qc][qd]. The flop was [qh][9s][7s] to give alexandr18ru top set. The [5h] on the turn gave Sphinx87 a chance at being the comeback kid, but the door was slammed shut when the [ah] hit the river to set up the final table.

While you usually find a share of notable names at a Super Tuesday final table, it is a rare sight to see an EPT winner. Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky, champion of EPT Berlin last season, starts the final table as chip leader but there's a few other notables electing to claim a major title tonight:

Final table chip counts:

Seat 1: fcaler185 (227,346 in chips)
Seat 2: MrKlout (50,348 in chips)
Seat 3: jackellwood (189,407 in chips)
Seat 4: alexandr18ru (496,743 in chips)
Seat 5: Jon "LUFCBas" Spinks (140,791 in chips)
Seat 6: Marty "TheLipoFund" Mathis (21,100 in chips)
Seat 7: RLOG (302,294 in chips)
Seat 8: Gregory41 (89,512 in chips)
Seat 9: Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky (682,459 in chips)

One hand into the final table and Marty "TheLipoFund" Mathis was eliminated in 9th place, earning $7,304. Mathis opened the action with a raise to 14,920 as fcaler185 and alexandr18ru both called. The first three cards were [Tc][5c][4h] as Mathis put in his remaining 5,380 chips. Fcaler185 re-raised to 28,000 to get alexandr18ru out of the way. Mathis held [Kh][Qs] but fcaler185 was well out in front with [ad][ac]. The [9d] on the turn left Mathis drawing dead, and the unnecessary [as] on the river brings the field down to eight.

That would be the highlight of fcaler185's Super Tuesday final table as they were the 8th place finisher, pocketing $9,990. After losing several hands, fcaler185 was down to 69,556 chips while sitting in the big blind. After RLOG made a min-raise, fcaler185 moved all-in with [ks][9s] as RLOG called with [ad][2c]. RLOG hit the flop hard: [Ac][7h][2d] and any chance for a come-from-behind win were dashed on the [ts] turn. The [4d] closed the action, leaving seven players in the hunt.

The next final table victim was British pro Jack Ellwood as he picks up $14,300 for his 7th place finish. The blinds were now at 3,200/6,400 with players anteing 800 as Ellwood opened with a min-raise to 12,800 as Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky called from the big blind. The flop was the [Ks][Tc][5d] as Wilinofsky check-called Ellwood's bet of 13,450. Wilinofsky would check-call once again when the [jh] appeared on the turn, this time the bet was 22,650. The river was the [4d] as Wilinofsky checked for a third time, this time Ellwood moved all in for 70,757 chips. Wilinofsky, holding [kd][td] for a flopped two pair, called as Ellwood showed [ah][kh] for top-top, leaving six players.

Next to follow Ellwood was another UK player, Jon "LUFCBas" Spinks, finishing 6th for $18,700.Blinds jumped to 4,000/8,000 with an ante of 1,000 as Spinks min-raised and Wilinofsky 3-bet to 38,275. Spinks then moved in for their remaining stack of 205,074 chips with [ah][qh] and Wilinofsky called with the dominating [ac][kd]. Neither player hit their kicker on the [6h][5d][4h][Ad] [2d] board as the long road to Super Tuesday victory leaves five players doing battle.

MrKlout hung around as the short stack for most of the final table, eventually succumbing 5th for $24,640. MrKlout open-shoved for their remaining 63,211 stack with [ac][tc] as alexandrr18ru called with [5h][5s]. Alexandr18ru wins the flip as the five cards revealed to all were [9d][3c][4h][7s][2s] leaving a quartet of contenders debating the top prize with alexandr18ru the leader in all polls.

The next player offer their support to the chip leader by losing all their chips was RLOG, the 4th place finisher, cashing for $35,200. Another jump in the blinds meant players were now at 4,500/9,000 with an ante of 1,125. A min-raise from alexandr18ru lead RLOG to shove for 159,442 with [4s][4c]. Alexandr18ru called with [tc][td], improving their hand to a set on the [th][8d][7h] flop. RLOG was drawing to a miracle that wasn't going to happen as the turn and river came [as][kd], leaving a trio on the ticket.

Gregory41 had suffered a bad beat when he ran his A-A into A-J with two tables left. He was able to get back into contention, but everyone's tournament has to end at some point, finishing 3rd for $46,200. The blinds were now at 6,000/12,000 with an ante of 1,500. Here's how the hand played out:

Alexandr18ru held nearly a 3-1 chip lead as heads-up play began, so it may have been odd that he request a deal. Wilinofsky agreed to look at the numbers and this is what those numbers were, setting aside $6,000 for the winner:

alexandr18ru - 1,603,214 - $74,167.35
NeverScaredB - 596,786 $66,968.65

Stating his OCD and liking round numbers, Wilinofsky asked for an additional $31.35 to get to $67,000 and alexandr18ru agreed.

That was the last break Wilinofsky would catch in tonight's tournament as his opponent was able to scoop up his remaining chips in just a few hands. The final hand has players at 7,000/14,000 with an ante of 1,750 as alexandr18ru min-raised to 28,000. Living up to his username, Wilinofsky wasn't scared to ship his remaining 324,948 chips with [ks][7c]. The problem was that alexandr18ru held [ac][[kh] and quickly called. The flop of [ad][9s][5d] had Wilinofsky conceding defeat with his "nh gg" comment. The remaining cards were the [qh] and [th] as the Russian rungood continued for its players.

Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky didn't like the end result, but the $67,000 should cushion the blow a bit. Meanwhile, alexandr18ru earns $80,136 for his Super Tuesday triumph.

March 6 Super Tuesday final table results:

*1st:alexandr18ru - $80,136.00
*2nd: Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky - $67,000.00
3rd: Gregory41 - $46,200.00
4th: RLOG - $35,200.00
5th: MrKlout - $24,640.00
6th: Jon "LUFCBas" Spinks - $18,700.00
7th: jackellwood - $14,300.00
8th: fcaler185- $9,900.00
9th: Marty "TheLipoFund" Mathis - $7,304.00

*Reflects deal made heads-up

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It was a most super Super Tuesday this week, with an enormous turnout that not only smashed the event's $300K guarantee, but may well have established a new record for the weekly $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament.

PokerStars first introduced the Super Tuesday in late May 2007, with Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin winning the inaugural tourney by defeating a field of 356 players for a $89,000 first prize. Here on the blog we began recapping the Super Tuesdays a couple of years ago, and since then the largest field to play was in mid-February 2010 when 487 players competed. Jemmert1983 won that one, earning an eye-popping $92,530 payday for doing so.

It's reasonably safe to assume, then, that tonight's Super Tuesday field of 498 certainly represents the largest in the last couple of years, and very likely the most players ever to participate. That huge group came close to creating a prize pool of half a million dollars, with a total of $498,000 scheduled to be divided among the top 63 finishers.

And for the player coming out on top, a first prize of $94,620 awaited barring any final table deals -- likely the biggest Super Tuesday in its almost five years!

It took five hours for the field to be whittled all of the way down to the stone-cold bubble, as 64 remained. By then all representatives of Team PokerStars who'd taken part had been eliminated, with Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth's 93rd-place finish the best among the group.

As players returned from the five-hour break, VicksMyDawg led with 111,694, with Dan "GotURead" Reijmer, Carter "cswidler" Swidler, and Skintz the only other players with 100,000-plus chip stacks. Meanwhile, Louloumia, claudioney18, KaptianKush, and Alexander "Schildy1984" Debus were on the short stacks, all hoping to avoid becoming the last elimination before the money.

Hand-for-hand lasted for more than 40 minutes with all of the short stacks continuing to hang on. Then came a wild hand in which hook2120 and Scarypooper5 raised back and forth until Scarypooper5 finally five-bet all in for 53,369 total and hook2120 instacalled for just a little less. hook2120 had [Ac][Ah] while Scarypooper5 had made a move with [8h][6c], and five cards later Scarypooper5 was 64th of 64 with less than 2,000 chips -- just over one big blind.

On the very next hand there were two all-ins -- KaptianKush on one table with [Kd][Kh] against WushuTM's [Ac][4d], and Scarypooper5 with [6s][6d] against hook2120's [Jc][4c].

In KaptianKush's hand his kings remained best until the river, but the [Ah] from space fell to give the hand to WushuTM. He'd still cash, though, if Scarypooper5's sixes didn't hold as the latter had fewer chips to start the hand. But the board failed to improve hook2120 and Scarypooper5 survived, making KaptianKush the unfortunate player to bubble.

Once they were in the money, a flurry of eliminations swiftly followed, with more than 25 players busting before the six-hour break arrived, among them Louloumia (64th, $2,191.20), Scarypooper5 (56th, $2,191.20), utreg (53rd, $2,340.60), turataika (51st, $2,340.60), danceofddead (49th, $2,340.60), AJSuited16 (47th, $2,340.60), and KingGr (42nd, $2,490).

Over the next hour the field was reduced to 18 players gathered around two nine-handed tables. Fatzie had pushed out in front with 335,159, followed by shakalas (257,423), and Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis (229,064). Among those eliminated during the seventh hour of play were WushuTM (36th, $2,739), Schildy1984 (33rd, $2,739), Stefan "I'am_Sound" Huber (31st, $2,739), THEDUTCH4141 (26th, $2,988), VicksMyDawg (25th, $2,988), and mikki696 (20th, $2,988).

It would take just over one more hour for the group to be halved to the final nine, during which period shakalas, Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis, and BoskoRock rose to the top of the counts. Those coming up one table shy of the last one included caaaamel (18th), VL-Hannibal (17th), and Princesblade (16th), each of whom earned $3,984; jandrin2 (15th), hook2120 (14th), and flavioreis88 (13th) who took away $4,980; and Chris "d0r1t0s" McClung (12th), Pendos90 (11th), and andrekos0095 (10th), each earning $5,976.

The final table was set.

Seat 1: joeyspanne88 -- 90,674
Seat 2: jeff710 -- 113,179
Seat 3: MONSTER_DONG -- 419,487
Seat 4: BoskoRock -- 415,640
Seat 5: Ramux -- 218,224
Seat 6: cswidler -- 408,499
Seat 7: Fatzie -- 226,719
Seat 8: NigDawG -- 84,583
Seat 9: shakalas -- 512,995

On the sixth hand of the final table, the blinds were 2,800/5,600 when BoskoRock opened with a raise to 12,320 from the hijack seat, then it folded to Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer in the big blind who shoved for 81,383 total. BoskoRock called, turning over [Ts][Th] to NigDawG's [Kd][Qd]. The board ran out [Ad][As][8s][Jh][Ah], giving BoskoRock a full house and sending Brammer out in ninth.

It was a little over an orbit later that the table folded to jeff710 in the small blind who open-shoved for 88,079 with [Ac][4h], but MONSTER_DONG was waiting in the big blind with [Ks][Kd]. Karamalikis quickly called, and after the five community cards came [5s][7s][Th][Tc][5d] jeff710's run had ended in eighth.

The remaining seven would battle for a while as the blinds increased to 3,200/6,400. Then MONSTER_DONG opened for 12,800 from middle position and it folded around to Fatzie in the big blind who reraised to 25,999. Karamalikis responded with a four-bet to 44,444, and Fatzie pushed all in for 148,170, getting a call from MONSTER_DONG.

Fatzie: [Ah][8c]
MONSTER_DONG: [Ac][Kh]

The board would come [7c][8h][Jc][9c][5c], giving both players flushes but Karamalikis the better one, sending Fatzie out in seventh.

They'd push on for another half-hour, reaching the nine-hour break with BoskoRock out in front and shakalas and MONSTER_DONG not far behind. Soon after play resumed, Bolivar "Ramux" Palacios opened with a minimum-raise to 16,000 from the button, then shakalas reraised to 40,000 from the big blind. Ramux called, and the flop came [5h][Ts][6c].

shakalas continued for 40,000, and Palacios responded by shoving all in for 220,080. shakalas called, showing [Ad][Tc] for top pair, while Ramux had [7h][6h] for a middle pair of sixes. The turn and river came [Jc][Js], and Ramux was eliminated in sixth.

About five minutes later it was MONSTER_DONG opening for 16,000 from UTG and joeyspanne88 reraising to 32,177 from the big blind. Karamalikis then shoved and joeyspanne88 called with the 143,772 he had left.

joeyspanne88 showed [9c][9d] but had run into MONSTER_DONG's [Qc][Qh]. The board brought a bunch of clubs again -- [Tc][4c][2c][7c][6s] -- and once more Karamalikis was the one with the better flush, sending joeyspanne88 railward in fifth.

Play continued, with Carter "cswidler" Swidler becoming the short stack among the remaining four. Then, with the blinds 4,500/9,000, Swidler pushed all in from the button for 101,379 and got one caller in shakalas from the small blind. cswidler had [Ad][Js] and was in good shape versus shakalas' [Ac][2c]. But the board came [8c][7d][6d][5c][3c] to bring yet another club flush to the final table and knock out Swidler in fourth.

There was no talk of deals as the remaining three pushed ahead, with MONSTER_DONG out in front with nearly 1.26 million, BoskoRock next with almost 740,000, and shakalas third with just over 492,000.

Then, with the blinds 5,000/10,000, BoskoRock opened for 20,000 from the small blind, then shakalas shoved all in for 470,929 and BoskoRock quickly called. shakalas had [Ac][Jh], but needed to improve against BoskoRock's [Qc][Qs]. The board came [5d][4d][5h][7d][Qh], giving BoskoRock a full house and the 985,000-plus chip pot and knocking shakalas out in third.

That hand meant heads-up play would begin with the final two players nearly even in chips, with Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis starting with 1,256,801 and BoskoRock 1,233,199. The blinds were still 5,000/10,000, meaning both players were especially deep. And thus, perhaps unsurprisingly, they settled in for a lengthy duel.

Over the first half-hour between them BoskoRock momentarily grabbed the lead but Karamalikis soon took it back, then gradually increased his edge to almost 1.6 million to BoskoRock's just under 895,000. They played through the tourney's ten-hour mark, with MONSTER_DONG chipping up further to as much as a 3-to-1 advantage while maintaining the lead through most of the next half-hour.

Then came a big hand in which BoskoRock seized the lead, earning a 1 million-plus chip pot in a hand in which he'd turn trip aces. Take a look:

MONSTER_DONG would battle back again to nearly even the match, but BoskoRock pushed back out into the lead once more. As the two approached the 70-minute mark of their battle BoskoRock had chipped up to 1,539,748 to Karamalikis' 950,252 when the final hand -- the 233rd of heads-up play (!) -- took place.

The blinds were 9,000/18,000, and BoskoRock opened from the button with a raise to 36,000 which MONSTER_DONG called. The flop came [Td][9d][2s] and Karamalikis checked. BoskoRock bet 33,660, and MONSTER_DONG called. The turn was the [8s] and MONSTER_DONG checked again. This time BoskoRock bet 93,483, and once again Karamalikis called.

The river was the [9s]. This time MONSTER_DONG bet out for 178,555, and BoskoRock responded with an all-in shove. Karamalikis called with his remaining chips, showing [Qh][9c] for trip nines. But BoskoRock had [Th][9h] for a full house, and the super-duper Super Tuesday had been decided.

Congratulations to BoskoRock for besting a likely-record field for the Super Tuesday of 498 to claim a whopping $94K-plus payday!

Super Tuesday results for 2/28/12:
1st: BoskoRock ($94,620)
2nd: MONSTER_DONG ($69,720)
3rd: shakalas ($51,045)
4th: cswilder ($38,844)
5th: joeyspanne88 ($27,390)
6th: Ramux ($21,165)
7th: Fatzie ($16,185)
8th: jeff710 ($11,205)
9th: NigDawG ($8,266.80)

There are still a few days left in PokerStars' 2012 World Blogger Championship of Online Poker. Check out the remaining schedule here.

Time for another session of the popular Super Tuesday tournament on PokerStars, as a field of 433 players easily smashed the recently raised $300,000 guaranteed prize pool. The final 54 players earned a piece of the $433,000 prize pool. This week's winner would come from Australia, as a five-way deal was negotiated at the final table as Dave "Dave798111" Allan earned all the chips to walk away the champion.

Only one member of Team PokerStars was able to share in the Super Tuesday spoils as Ana Marquez (below) finished in 44th place, earning $2,381.50. Lex Veldhuis, Liv Boeree, Pius Heinz, Pat Pezzin and Team PokerStars Online player Shane "Shaniac" Schleger were not as fortunate to make the money this week.

The final table bubble loomed in the eighth hour of the tournament with the blinds at 2,000/4,000 with an ante of 500. All in 2526 opened from the button with a raise to 8,800 chips with [9d][9h] as danidindani re-raised all-in with [as][kd]. All in 2526 decided to call all-in for just under 100,000 chips. The first three cards were the [Jc][Td][6s], giving danidindani ten outs twice to bust all in 2526. The turn brought the [3c], but the [qs] on the river was like a gutshot to all in 2526's plan to make the final table, likely unhappy to finish tenth for $5,629.00 setting up this final table lineup:

Seat 1: danidindani (280,772 in chips)
Seat 2: yosef12 (226,452 in chips)
Seat 3: Tudlenudle (404,121 in chips)
Seat 4: Ami "UhhMee" Barer (41,612 in chips)
Seat 5: Peter "twirlpro" Turmezey (244,430 in chips)
Seat 6: PiS.ToTo (73,358 in chips)
Seat 7: Renato "leguito" Almeida (503,135 in chips)
Seat 8: Se7enTr3y (93,194 in chips)
Seat 9: Dave "dave798111" Allan (297,926 in chips)

The final table started with blinds at 2,400/4,8000 with an ante of 600. During the first ten hands not much happened, but that changed as a pair of eliminations happened in just four hands. PiS.Toto was the first to fall, earning $7,187.80. Tudlenudle opened the action with a min-raise to 9,600. PiS.ToTo re-raised from the small blind all in for 54,758 as Tudlenudle called. PiS.ToTo turned over [Jc][jh] as Tudlenudle was behind with [ac][th]. PiS.ToTo stayed in front on the [Kd][4s][2h] flop. The turn brought the [3s], giving Tudlenudle seven outs to win the hand, and it was the [5h] to make a straight, sending PiS.Toto straight to the rail.

Ari "UhhMee" Barer has won millions online, and was looking to add another five-figure score to their long list of results. Unfortunately, Barer was short-stacked coming into the final table, eliminated just after PiS.ToTo in eighth place, cashing for $9,742.50. Left with 26,012 chips, Barer shoved from UTG with [kh][9d]. Peter "twirlpro" Turmezey quickly called with [ad][9s] as the other players folded. The board ran out [qc][5h][2s][4h][6s], leaving seven players in contention.

Play slowed down for a few minutes with no extreme short stacks remaining as the blinds increased to 3,200/6,400 with each player anteing 800. Tudlenudle started the final table second in chips, but a decision to get into a raising battle with yosef12 came at an inopportune time for the biggest pot of the final table:

Two hands later, yosef12 picked up the rest of Tudlenudle's chips. The hand started with danidindani min-raising to 12,800 as yosef12 called. Tudlenudle jammed for 154,466 chips as danidindani folded as yosef12 called. Once again yosef12 was ahead, this time they held [th][ts] as Tudlenudle held a smaller pair: [9c][9s]. The board runs out [Ah][8c][6h][7d][Ad], giving yosef12 the checkmark, sending Tudlenudle out in seventh. The player from the Czech Republic earned a payday of $14,072.50, much smaller than they expected when the final table commenced.

Another player likely disappointed in their finishing position was yosef12, earning $18,402.50 in sixth place. It becomes even more discouraging for the player from Israel when you realize they were chip leader with six players left. The first blow was when danidindani doubled through with A-K against pocket eights to double up. Next to receive a double-up was twirlpro when their A-K dominated yosef12's A-Q. Se7enTr3y scooped up the last of the former chip leader's stack. The blinds were now at 4,500/9,000 with an ante of 1,125. Yosef12 shoved for 55,384 as Se7enTr3y called from the big blind. Yosef12 was flipping for their tournament life with [ac][8c] as Se7enTr3y held [2d][2s]. Chances of doubling up greatly decreased on the [qs][qd][2h] flop, giving Se7enTr3y a full house. The [3h] on the turn meant yosef12 was drawing dead as the [6c] completing the hand, leaving a field of five.

A lengthy discussion of a deal followed, with the PokerStars host-provided deal figures turned down. However, some players decided to move around some money and all players would agree to the following figures with $6,000 going to the eventual winner:

Se7enTr3y: 652,111 - $58,467.48
dave79811: 505,745 - $50,686.81
danidindani: 457,221 - $47,993.49
leguito: 313,790 - $45,000.00
twirlpro: 236,133 - $41,000.42

Peter "twirlpro" Turmezey was dispatched in fifth place on the first hand after agreeing to a deal. Dave798111 opened with a raise to 18,000 as twirlpro moved in for 235,008 chips with [7d][7s]. Dave79811 called with [as][kd] and the race was on. Turmezey was still ahead on the [qh][4h][3s] flop. The lead was short-lived as the [kc] on the turn and [ah] on the river left twirlpro spinning, pocketing a $41,000.42 score.

Renato "leguito" Almeida finished in fourth for $45,000.00 as dave798111 came out on top of another coinflip. Blinds are now at 5,000/10,000 with an ante of 1,250 as dave798111 raised to 20,000. Leguito moved in for 271,145 chips with [kc][qs] as dave798111 called with [8c][8s]. The board ran out [6h][4c][2s][2h] [Td], leaving a trio of hopefuls.

Over thirty minutes of three-handed play moved dave798111 further in front, putting Se7enTr3y and danidindani under pressure to catch up, and it was Se7enTr3y running out of chips as danidindani was the beneficiary. The blinds moved up to 7,000/14,000 with an ante of 1,850 as Se7enTr3y raised to 28,000 with [9s][9h]. Danidindani re-raised to 70,000 with [kd][kh] and Se7enTr3y shipped their remaining 259,086 chips into the center as Se7enTr3y called. The two-outer needed by Se7enTr3y wasn't coming as the virtual dealer dealt the following five cards: [Ac][Jc][2c][8h] [3s], placing Se7enTr3y the biggest payday - $58,467.48 for their third place finish.

Heads-up play started with Dave798111 holding a nearly two to one edge over danidindani that was never threatened over the twenty minutes the duel lasted. The only hand featuring an all-in and call was the final hand as the blinds now stood at 8,000/16,000 with an ante of 2,000. Here's how that hand played out:

Dave "dave798111" Allan's straight on the river gives him the win for this week's Super Tuesday, earning $56,686.11. Danidindani sees a boost to their bankroll on PokerStars by $47,993.49.

2/21/12 Super Tuesday Final Table Results:

* Payouts reflect a deal made five-handed:

*1st: Dave "dave798111" Allan - $56,686.81
*2nd: danidindani - $47,993.49
*3rd: Se7enTr3y - $58,467.48
*4th: Renato "leguito" Almeida $45,000.00
*5th: Peter "twirlpro" Turmezey - $41,000.42
6th: yosef12 - $18,402.50
7th: Tudlenudle - $14,072.50
8th: Ami "UhhMee" Barer - $9,742.50
9th: PiS.ToTo - $7,187.80

If you're in the UK, be sure to check out the brand new PokerStars mobile app and discover all the places you can get your poker fix. Elsewhere, catch the action of EPT Copenhagen on the PokerStars blog.

The Valentine's Day version of the Super Tuesday, the weekly $1,050 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament that routinely attracts online poker's best and brightest, brought out a field of 441, thus creating a total prize pool of $441,000 -- still way above the tourney's newly-bolstered $300K guarantee. The top 54 finishers cashed in this one, with $84,627.90 due the winner barring any late-night deal-making.

After about four hours the field had been trimmed to 100 players, with mmbittencour, Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis, and Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer leading the way as the only players to have accumulated more than 50,000 chips. By then the only three representatives of Team PokerStars had all been eliminated -- Shane "shaniac" Schleger of Team Online (191st), Ana Marquez of Team Spaid (165th), and Javier "El_Cañonero" Dominguez of Team Online (144th).

By the time the five-hour break came they had reached the stone cold bubble. Just 55 players remained, all but one of whom would be making the money. By then rizih led with 141,993 as the only player in six figures. FiatEruditio was his closest competitor with 94,432, with Ignacio "menin77" Menéndez in third with 79,099.

Meanwhile, Nicholas "niccc" Chouity, MO G Kush, Zandre6108X, and Kyle "knecht_poker" Knecht all sat the bottom of the counts with stacks of 12 big blinds and below. They'd last several more hands once play resumed until finally MO G Kush reraised all in for 9,489 with [Ad][Qc] and was called by arturitooo who held [Ks][Kd]. The board came nine-high, and MO G Kush was the unfortunate player to finish in 55th.

Over the next hour-and-a-half the field was cut down to 18 players, with menin77 rising to the top with more than 255,000, FiatEruditio remaining in second with about 231,000, and Pendos90 third with almost 216,000.

It would take another hour for the field to be cut to 10. Those hitting the rail included FOZINHO (18th, $3,969), greezhool (17th, $3,969), arturitooo (16th, $3,969), talatias (15th, $4,851), KLUM_smoking (14th, $4,851), Pokerfan89Gr (13th, $4,851), Pendos90 (12th, $5,733), and lasagnaaammm (11th, $5,733).

Then came a big three-way all-in involving Ignacio "menin77" Menéndez with [As][Ad], Pokerger1337 with [Qs][Qd], and SUNDAYKING with [Tc][Td]. An ace flopped, giving menin77 the huge pot, crippling Pokerger1337, and eliminating SUNDAYKING in 10th ($5,733).

The final table was set.

Seat 1: BIGMICKG -- 110,183
Seat 2: ocrowe -- 203,323
Seat 3: menin77 -- 314,679
Seat 4: Leqenden -- 159,593
Seat 5: bob43155 -- 427,560
Seat 6: THAY3R -- 77,058
Seat 7: Lucass85 -- 115,047
Seat 8: FiatEruditio -- 769,988
Seat 9: Pokerger1337 -- 27,569

They didn't quite play an entire orbit at the final table before a hand arose in which FiatEruditio raised to 8,400 from middle position, then Pokerger1337 pushed his short stack of 18,069 in behind him. It folded back and FiatEruditio called, showing [Kd][Qs] to Pokerger1337's [2s][2d]. The flop came [9h][Qh][6d] to pair FiatEruditio once, then the [Kh] gave him a second pair. The river was the [3d], and Pokerger1337 was out in ninth.

Then it was Owen "ocrowe" Crowe making a just-over-2x raise to 8,010 from UTG. It folded around and FiatEruditio called from the small blind, but Mick "BIGMICKG" Graydon reraised to 26,789 from the big blind. Crowe then made it 52,550 to go, prompting a fold from FiatEruditio. Graydon responded by pushing all in for 135,916, and Crowe called.

BIGMICKG had [Qh][Qd], but had run into ocrowe's [Ac][Ad]. The board came [8s][9d][8c][2c][6h], and Graydon was eliminated in eighth.

They played through the eight-hour break, and shortly after it was Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen raising to 10,320 from early position and FiatEruditio calling from a couple of seats over. The flop came [Ts][Qh][Ks], and Rasmussen continued for 18,450. FiatEruditio made a big raise to 211,200 -- way more than the 67,788 that THAY3R had left -- and Rasmussen made the call.

FiatEruditio showed [Jh][Jc] for an open-ended straight draw while Rasmussen turned over [Kh][Kd] for top set. The turn brought the [Ah], giving FiatEruditio Broadway, and after the [2c] arrived on the river Rasmussen had been knocked out in seventh.

The remaining six played on, with the blinds increasing to 3,200/6,400 (Level 31). That's when bob43155 opened with a minimum-raise to 12,800 from the cutoff which Lucass85 called from the button. Then FiatEruditio reraised to 42,323 from the small blind, prompting folds back to button-caller Lucass85 who called again, leaving himself just over 95,000 with which to play.

The flop came all babies -- [3s][6c][2d] -- and FiatEruditio pushed all in. Lucass85 called, showing [7s][7c], but FiatEruditio had the better pocket pair with [9c][9h]. The [9d] then fell on the turn, giving FiatEruditio a set and making the river no matter as Lucass85 was drawing dead. They were down to five.

That hand gave FiatEruditio the lead with more than 755,000, better than Owen Crowe's 662,000-plus and bob43155's nearly 540,000. Meanwhile, the other two were well behind, with menin77 sitting just over 144,000 and Leqenden hovering just above the 100,000-chip mark.

Just before nine-hour break, Leqenden opened with a raise to 16,000 from UTG, then bob43155 pushed all in from a seat over for 138,750. It folded back to Leqenden who quickly called with [Kc][Ks]. bob43155 showed [Ah][Td]. The flop came [3c][Ts][Jc], giving bob43155 one pair, but neither the [2s] turn or [Qc] river improved his hand and bob43155 was out in fifth.

It wasn't long after that when Crowe quickly pushed out over 1 million chips after claiming two large pots from FiatEruditio to take a commanding lead. Over the next several minutes Crowe continued to pressure his opponents as he collected more chips, soon gathering more than 1.5 million.

Soon FiatEruditio was open-shoving all in for 198,935 from the button, then Crowe reraised to isolate from the small blind, forcing a fold from menin77. FiatEruditio had [Qs][Jd] and ocrowe [9c][9h]. The board brought FiatEruditio two pair, but four hearts as well, coming [Jh][7h][8c][2h][Qh] to give Crowe a flush and send FiatEruditio out in fourth.

Crowe now had better than 1.76 million -- about 80% of the remaining chips in play -- while Leqenden and Ignacio "menin77" Menéndez both sat in the 205,000-230,000 chip range.

The blinds had climed to 4,500/9,000 (Level 34) when Leqenden, by then having pushed up over 420,000, opened for 18,000 from the button, then ocrowe reraised to 38,880 from the small blind. menin77 folded, Leqenden called, and the flop came [2d][7c][Kc]. Crowe continued for 42,888, and Leqenden called again. The turn then brought the [3c]. This time Crowe bet small -- 13,888 -- and Leqenden raised to 67,776. Crowe promptly pushed all in, sending Leqenden deep into the tank.

After about two minutes, Leqenden finally called with the 270,134 he had left, showing [Ac][7h] for sevens. Crowe had [Kd][2h] for kings and deuces, and after the [3h] came on the river Leqenden was out in third.

Heads-up play began with Crowe sitting at 1,938,602 to Menéndez' 266,398. Menéndez just finished runner-up in the Super Tuesday last month, but he'd have a steep hill to climb in order to improve on that finish versus Crowe.

menin77 soon doubled up with a flush versus Crowe's top pair of aces, then after adding some more chips he'd double up again in a hand in which he rivered a straight and got paid. Menéndez increased his advantage further, but the tide turned back in Crowe's direction as he claimed a sequence of pots, including one significant one in which he rivered trip kings for a nice payoff.

The battle continued, with Crowe increasing his lead, then Menéndez pushing back to nearly even the match. They reached the ten-hour break, with Crowe enjoying a small lead with 1.14 million to Menéndez' 1.05 million.

The pair shared a bit of conversation during the five-minute interval.

menin77: WANT TO DISCUSS A DEAL SIR ??
ocrowe: No thx
menin77: OK
ocrowe: gl.. fun match
menin77: lets play for 22k
ocrowe: sounds great
menin77: for me is a free roll
menin77: was dead an hour ago

It had been quite a comeback for Menéndez -- down to less than 150,000 with four left, and similarly down in the desperation zone when heads-up play had begun. But he was back in contention, and shortly after play resumed he'd seize the lead once again after flopping two pair then getting three streets of value to claim a 984,000-chip pot.

The see-sawing proceeded on, with Crowe nudging in front again. Then came a key hand in which menin77 opened with a 2x raise from the button and Crowe called, and the pair saw the flop come [2c][7c][8h]. Crowe checked, Menéndez bet 29,750, Crowe raised to 75,000, and menin77 called.

The turn was the [7h], pairing the board, and Crowe bet 122,000. Menéndez made it 299,999, and ocrowe called. The river was the [8d], putting two pair in the middle, and this time Crowe checked. Menéndez pushed all in for the 590,241 he had left, and Crowe called. Crowe had [As][2h] for two pair with an ace, but menin77 had [7d][5d] for the underfull, and the 1.98 million-plus chip pot slid his way.

Just two hands later, Menéndez was again min-raising from the button and Crowe was once more calling. The flop came [9s][Kd][Th]. Crowe checked, menin77 bet 14,000, Crowe shoved for 176,520, and Menéndez called.

ocrowe: [Qd][9h]
menin77: [Ks][9c]

Two pair for Menéndez versus one for Crowe, although Crowe still had hopes of filling that gutshot. But the turn was the [Ac] and river the [3c], and menin77's hand had held.

Congratulations to Ignacio "menin77" Menéndez for besting a tough field of 441 -- and a fairly epic heads-up match with Owen "ocrowe" Crowe lasting nearly 150 hands and 45 minutes -- to win this Valentine's Day edition of the Super Tuesday!

Super Tuesday results for 2/14/12:
1st: menin77 ($84,627.90)
2nd: ocrowe ($62,842.50)
3rd: Leqenden ($46,305)
4th: FiatEruditio ($35,280)
5th: bob43155 ($24,696)
6th: Lucass85 ($18,742.50)
7th: THAY3R ($14,332.50)
8th: BIGMICKG ($9,922.50)
9th: Pokerger1337 ($7,320.60)

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It's been a busy January on PokerStars with tournaments in the Bahamas and France the past few weeks. Throw in the first TCOOP series and it may make you forget about the regular major events on the schedule. The calendar states that this is the first Super Tuesday in February, and 445 players put down their $1,000 (plus $50) to create a $445,000 prize pool distributed to the final 54 players. Tonight's winner will earn over $85,000, an impressive sum no matter when it happens.

Six members of Team PokerStars participated in the festivities with Team Canada Pro Pat Pezzin once again having the highest finish of the group, the only player to make the money. Team UK and Ireland Pro Liv Boeree finished a few positions short of a min-cash, better than the efforts of Greece Challenger George "gkap13" Kapalas, Team Spain Pro Ana Marquez, Team Nordics Pro Johnny Lodden and Team Romania Pro Toni Judet.

More notables picking up a four-figure score: Rick "ThEcLaiMEer" Trigg (18th), Benjamin "delaney_kid" Delaney (20th), Peter "twirlpro" Turmezey (35th) and Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald (36th).

The field was down to ten players as hand-for-hand play began, none of them wanting to bubble the final table. Eventually, after over 15 minutes of play, with the blinds at 2,400/4,800 and an ante of 600, PhilRoyal888 decided to make a move. Action started with 99NvrLosez opening from UTG to 10,200, then PhilRoyal888 shoved for 108,492 chips with [5d][5c]. 99NvrLosez looked down at [Ac][Qs] and called to set up a race situation. This time, 99NvrLosez could change their username to AQNvrLosez as the flop came [Ad][Jh][7h] to move out in front. The turn and river brought no help for PhilRoyal888, coming [3s][8c] to earn $5,785.00 and set up the final table.

Pezzin is joined by 2010 EPT Barcelona winner Toby "810clubs" Lewis (below). As for the rest of the table, here's how it looked when play resumed:

Seat 1: Scott" scott96dl" Glenn (381,910 in chips)
Seat 2: jalman69 (129,074 in chips)
Seat 3: Toby" 810ofclubs" Lewis (300,591 in chips)
Seat 4: vvirtue (376,484 in chips)
Seat 5: pampa27 (142,213 in chips)
Seat 6: thecornerAA (237,006 in chips)
Seat 7: danskemann (155,683 in chips)
Seat 8: Pat Pezzin (109,092 in chips)
Seat 9: 99NvrLosez (392,947 in chips)

The first hour had its share of all-in moments, but every time it was the short-stacked player doubling up to stay in the tournament.

Lewis noted this shortly after the break going into the 10th hour:

810ofclubs said, "been like an hour since a bust"
810ofclubs said, "sicckkk"

Here's the counts when the second hour of the final table started, blinds now at 4,000/8,000 with an ante of 1,000:

Seat 1: scott96dl (396,810 in chips)
Seat 2: jalman69 (112,550 in chips)
Seat 3: 810ofclubs (239,248 in chips)
Seat 4: vvirtue (391,442 in chips)
Seat 5: pampa27 (133,356 in chips)
Seat 6: thecornerAA (451,862 in chips)
Seat 7: danskemann (92,286 in chips)
Seat 8: Pat Pezzin (125,009 in chips)
Seat 9: 99NvrLosez (282,437 in chips)

An additional 15-minute level was played before we lost the first player, Pat Pezzin from the final table. The blinds are now at 4,500/9,000 with an ante of 1,125 as vvirtue min-raised from early position and Pezzin re-raised all in for 76,884 holding [8c][8s]. Vvirtue called and turned over [kh][qs]. The flop gave vvirtue an open-ended straight draw: [Js][td][3c], but the [qh] on the turn was enough to put them past Pezzin into the lead. Pezzin's hopes for a chop didn't pan out on the [7d] river, giving the Canadian ninth place winnings good for $7,387.00

Eighth place at tonight's final table would go to Norway's danskemann, picking up a payday worth $10,012.50. Pampa27 started the hand with a raise to 18,000 as danskemann moved in for their remaining stack of 44,411 chips. Folded back to pampa27, calling with [ad][th] to dominate danskemann's [js][ts]. Both players flopped a pair on the [kc][tc][6d] board, but danskemann would not hit their kicker on the [9c] turn and [as] river, leaving seven to contend for the title.

Toby "810clubs" Lewis cashed in seventh place, earning $14,462.50. 99NvrLosez lived up to that name, opening to 19,000 with [9h][9c]. Lewis shoved for 205,373 with [as][kd] as 99NvrLosez called. The board ran out [Th][6h][2d][8h] [3c] and the nines held up, leaving half a dozen alive for the first place prize.

Pampa27 was hoping to follow the lead of 99NvrLosez, but their pocket nines were no good when up against thecornerAA. Here's how that hand played out as blinds moved to 5,000/10,000 with an ante of 1,250:

Pampa27 received an email to let them know they'll receive $18,912.50 for their sixth place finish.

The carnage continued a few hands later as 99NvrLosez and vvirtue tangled in a 800,000+ chip pot. Vvirtue min-raised to 20,000 as 99NvrLosez three-bet to 62,225. That bet was met by a four-bet shove from vvirtue to 427,095 as 99NvrLosez called. The cards were turned over and once again 99NvrLosez held the dominating hand, showing [Ac][Kc] to vvirtue's [ad][jd]. Once again, the board ran out all low cards: [9c][7h][4c][4d] [3h] as vvirtue settles for $24,920.00 and a fifth-place result.

The final elimination in the flurry of coinflips and dominated hands had the short-stacked jalman69 finally succumbing in fourth. Their patience was rewarded for $35,600.00. Scott96dl opened with a raise to 21,000 with [ad][9h] as jalman69 put their remaining 98,175 into the middle with [kc][th] as scott96dl called. The flop kept scott96dl in front: [9s][3c][2h] as scott96dl remained the leader after the [6c] turn and [qh] river sending jalman69 earning the Last Canadian Standing declaration.

The three remaining players were relatively close in stacks, so talk of a deal occurred. Here's the chip counts and money breakdown at the time of the chat about dividing the loot ($3,000 was set aside for the eventual winner):

99NvrLosez: 790,670 - $65,330.80
thecornerAA: 716,985 - $63,596.86
scott96dl: 717,345 - $63,605.34

There was an immediate squabble on players wanting just a bit more, and that ended the deal debate.

Three-handed play featured 99NvrLosez and scott96dl distancing themselves from thecornerAA over the ensuing hands. Eventually 99NvrLosez would corner the remaining chips of thecornerAA, receiving third place earnings of $46,725.00. The blinds moved to 6,000/12,000 with a 1,500 ante as the hand played out below:

Heads-up play started with 99NvrLosez holding a nearly 2-1 advantage over scott96dl, expanding that to almost 4-1 after the first heads-up hand. Surprisingly they were still going at it over an hour later. Scott96dl was able to get an early double-up when their A-7 held against K-J, narrowing the gap even further with another huge pot on the next hand. The momentum was clearly in scott96dl's direction when he doubled again on this hand to hold nearly 90 percent of the chips:

All seemed lost for 99NvrLosez at this point, but the duel continued as they clawed their way back into contention, retaking control of the chip lead after this hand:

As the Super Tuesday went into the 12th hour, scott96dl doubled up to nearly even up the chip stacks once again when their 4-3 made a pair on the river against K-10. Alas, the tournament was over four hands later. The blinds had now moved to 10,000/20,000 with a 2,500 ante as scott96dl held [Ad][As] and was trying to trap 99NvrLosez. Unfortunately, the trapper was the trappee when the river proved disastrous:

Scott "scott96dl" Glenn collects $63,412.50 as 99NvrLoses pockets a Super Tuesday victory, good for $85,395.50 and likely a good night's rest after an extended final table and heads-up match.

February 7, 2012 Super Tuesday final table results:

1st: 99NvrLosez - $85,395.50
2nd:Scott "scott96dl" Glenn - $63,412.50
3rd: thecornerAA - $46,725.00
4th: jalman69 - $35,600.00
5th: vvirtue - $24,920.00
6th: pampa27 - $18,912.50
7th: Toby "810clubs" Lewis - $14,462.50
8th: danskemann - $10,012.50
9th: Pat Pezzin - $7,387.00

February 12th on PokerStars you'll be able to fill your eyes and maybe your pockets as Double Vision hits the site. Your favorite Sunday majors (Kickoff, Storm, Warm-Up and Million) will have a second edition starting 30 minutes after their regularly scheduled times.