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Accueil > Poker Stars News
: Marrakech Poker Tour : PokerStars News
PokerStarsBlog.com :: News 2012's second Sunday Million saw a better than 5% uptick in entries this week over last, with 7,710 players in the fray. 1,170 of them earned a chunk of the $1,542,000 prize pool with first place set to earn $231,300. Although most of the Red Spade Army was busy with PCA events, a dozen of them found time on their calendars for the Million including Victor Ramdin, Angel Guillen, Chad Brown, Theo Jorgensen and Team Online's Shane "shaniac" Schleger, who tweeted this photo of his enviable Sunday setup. Regular Sunday Million denizens will tell you that this tournament typically reaches the final table around Level 37, when the blinds are at 125,000/250,000 and the average stack around 30 big blinds. Tonight was a different story, with the blinds climbing all the way up to 200,000/400,000 before the final table bubble burst. At this point akzack was hanging on with 945,000 in chips and decided to throw his lot in with [Ac][7c], moving all-in behind TheFish9999's 888,000 opening raise. TheFish9999 called the small balance and turned up [Kh][8h]. Although akzack kept the lead on the [Qh][Ts][3c] flop, a king on the turn dashed his hopes for a double-up. The [9h] on the river sealed the deal and akzack ended his run in tenth place, at long last leaving us with our final nine. Final table chip counts: Seat 1: dave798111 (4,001,353 in chips) Short stacks survive, TheFish9999 and 26071985 fall The blinds moved up to 250,000/500,000 after only a few more hands, reducing the average stack to 17 big blinds. The two shortest stacks didn't waste any time getting their chips in the middle and both saw favorable results. First, dave798111's [6s][8s] turned two pair against blablonae's [Ks][5c] to take him up to more than 8 million in chips. Only a few hands later, TheFish9999 open-shoved for 4.58 million with [9d][Td] only to run straight into @RXIDI@'s pocket queens in the big blind. The ladies held, leaving TheFish9999 with only 732,000 while @RXIDI@ enjoyed a crucial double-up. The last of TheFish9999's chips went in the middle on the next deal. TheFish9999 had to be delighted to pick up [Ad][9s] in a must-shove situation, but A.A.KATALO was lying in wait with a dominating [Ac][Qs]. TheFish9999 did not improve and exited in ninth place, earning $11,950.50. One orbit later it was moving day for 26071985, who three-bet shoved for his remaining 3.4 million with pocket deuces in the small blind. Original raiser blabonae called with [Kc][Qs] and they were off to the races for our numerically named friend's tournament life. This one was a sweat to the end, the deuces holding through the turn on the [As][9s][6h][8s] board. The [Qd] on the river, however, sent him to the rail with an eighth-place finish and $17,733 in earnings. Shallow-stacked shenanigans With 16.7 million in chips and the blinds up to 400,000/800,000 blablonae had only a bit more than 20 big blinds, but it was still good for the chip lead. He switched gears and started pounding the short stacks, who seemed more concerned with moving up the pay ladder than acquiring more chips. After A.A.KATALO opened for 1.65 million and Mackkapackka three-bet to 3.2 million, blablonae cold four-bet all-in, eliciting folds from both his opponents. We won't know his cards until the replay, but the move earned him a 9.8 million pot, one of the largest thus far at the final table. Unfortunately, blablonae's aggression got the best of him in a hand against @RXIDI@. With the action folded to him on the button, blablonae open-shoved for 21.4 million holding [Kd][5d] and @RXIDI@ called all-in for 3.8 million from the big blind with [Ah][Kh]. Blablonae caught lucky on the flop, pairing his kicker as it came down [Qh][Th][5c], but @RXIDI@ spiked the [Jc] on the turn to make Broadway and double to 10.2 million. Play was still seven-handed when the blinds rose to 500,000/1,000,000 and the average stack fell to 11 BB. With only 4 million left, shamandez open-shoved from under-the-gun, hoefi73 called all-in for 2.6 million and A.A.KATALO re-shoved for 9.5 million on the button. Both blinds folded and the cards went on their backs: shamandez [As][Js] Hoefi73 was in deep trouble when the flop came down [Qs][Jd][2h], pairing shamandez's jack. The [2c] on the turn was no help and the [5d] on the river sealed his seventh-place elimination. Hoefi73 collected $30,840 for his efforts while shamandez found new life, moving up to 13 million in chips. A.A.KATALO was left with 5.4 million and moved in a few hands later with [Qs][9d]. Dave798111 called with [Ac][Jc], the board running out [6d][4c][3h][Ts][5d] to send A.A.KATALO to the rail in sixth place ($46,260). Blablonae coolered, @RXIDI@ rivered Two minutes later, Mackkapackka opened for 3 million from the small blind and blablonae found pocket sevens in the big. Naturally, blablonae shoved for his last 11.8 million but to his horror, Mackkapackka called and turned over two eights, a nasty cooler if there ever was one. Blablonae couldn't find a miracle set on the [Qs][2s][2h][Td][9c] board and departed in fifth place, $61,680 richer. @RXIDI@ was next to put his tournament life on the line, three-bet shoving for 8.7 million with [Ah][Kc] and earning a call from Mackkapackka with [Ad][7h]. But as we all know too well, getting it in good doesn't guarantee anything. Check it out: Done deal With only 77 big blinds were left in play, the final three agreed to look at chip count chop numbers. When the action was paused, Mackkapackka held 32.2 million, dave798111 had 23 million and shamandez had 21.9 million. Although dave798111 balked at the numbers at first, they quickly came to terms and struck a deal, leaving $20,000 on the table for the champion. Shamandez picked up pocket queens at the perfect time and doubled through dave798111, who three-bet shoved for 29.5 million with [Ac][Td]. Shamandez rocketed up to 45 million while dave798111 was left with 7.2 million. Six hands later, dave798111 went for it again, three-bet shoving with [Ah][3d]. This time, shamandez called with pocket sevens and hit top set when the flop fell [7d][5h][2h]. The [3h] on the turn gave dave798111 more outs with a flush draw, but the river safely fell the [Ts]. Shamandez moved into the chip lead while dave798111 bowed out in third, collecting $160,298.47. Heads-up chip counts Seat 3: Mackkapackka (23,495,558 in chips) Heads-up play lasted all of two hands. Mackkapackka stole the blinds on the first one and on the second, shamandez opened for a min-raise to 2.4 million holding [Ac][4s]. Mackkapackka three-bet to 6 million with [Ah][Tc] and shamandez called. Both players hit top pair when the flop fell [As][8h][7h]. The money was going in, it was just a matter of how. Mackkapackka led out for 2.4 million, shamandez raised to 19.4 million and Mackkapackka made the call. The [Kd] on the turn brought Mackkapackka one step closer to a crucial double-up; all he needed to fade was a four on the river. And the river was... the [4d]. After being down to only four big blinds, shamandez had all the chips in front of him and earned his first Sunday Million title along with $178,192.36. For his runner-up finish, Mackkapackka took home $178,079.17-- only $113.19 less. Sunday Million results for January 8, 2012 1. shamandez (Russia) $178,192.36* *= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left an additional $20,000 to the winner Are you ready to take a shot at six figures? Head over to the Sunday Million page for more information. If PokerStars' 10th Anniversary Celebration was a fireworks display, tonight marked its thunderous finale, every last lick of flame left in the chamber taking to the sky in a deafening, exhaustive release. Anyone with $215, an internet connection, and a working knowledge of what beats what would have been wise to play today's $10 Million Guaranteed Sunday Million, a tournament that ended up posting the largest-ever prize pool in PokerStars' history. Until today, the high-water mark for Sunday Million participants was 59,128 players-- a record set this past March on the Million's fifth birthday. Today, that number topped out at 62,116, creating a prize pool of $12,423,200. Previously, the 2010 WCOOP Main Event held the top spot when it came to PokerStars prize pools, ($12,215,000) and that event carried a $5,200 buyin. And while today's first-place finisher wouldn't top POTTERPOKER's $2,278,097.50 haul in that event, there was a $2 million guarantee on the #1 spot. Five hours and fifty minutes into play, the money bubble burst, guaranteeing the remaining 7,682 players at least two and a half times their $215 buyin. Four minutes later, 1,000 players had busted and in the seven minutes that followed, another 1,000 joined them on the rail. The Red Spade Army was out in force with dozens of members of Team Pro, Team Online, and Team Sports Stars all vying for a seat at the final table. Ten of them finished in the money including Sigge "ClarkKent89" Reichard (7,166th), Gualter Salles (5,916th), Pius Heinz (4,338th), Johnny Lodden (4,202nd), Rino Mathis (4,081st), Matthias De Muelder (3,149th), Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen (2,377th), George Danzer (1,654th), and Andre Akkari (798th). However, it was everyone's favorite Flying Dutchman, Marcel Luske, who claimed Team Pro last-longer honors with his 129th-place finish. One hundred players remained as the touranament moved into its eleventh hour and by the middle of the thirteenth, we sat on the final table bubble with blinds of 1,000,000/2,000,000/200,000. As the long grind of ten-handed play wore on, the stack sizes polarized into two distinct groups-- those with 90 million or more, and those with 30 million or less. People g was in the latter group, surrounded by big stacks at his table. When he picked up [Ah][Jc] he decided to committ his last 13 big blinds, moving all-in from UTG for 26.1 million. Unfortunately, he ran into a dominating hand when fellow short stack tunafish919 called with [Ac][Qs], having him covered by only a little more than a million. People g did not improve and exited in tenth place while the other nine punched their tickets to the final table.
Final table chip counts: Seat 1: Unstoffable (88,211,413 in chips) If you took the UNDER on three minutes before a deal was discussed, you have a collection to make. Unstoffable was the first player to broach the subject, but was greeted with little more than the sound of crickets. Blood would have to be shed before any prize money was divvied up. However, while the rest of the field was no doubt fixated on the giant pay jumps that were coming into play, one player simply couldn't hide his excitement. Australia's tunafish919 was so delighted to be at the final table, he turned up his stereo and began typing song lyrics in the chat box. "Tunafish is so happy he can hardly contain himself. :)" wrote Team Online's Kevin "WizardOfAhhs" Thurman. Chip leaders clash, short stacks succumb The first monsterpotten of note at this final table was settled without a flop. Chip leader First-Eagle was the initial raiser, opening for 5 million from early position. The action folded around to Dimedroll, who three-bet to 13.1 million from the small blind. Kaalen folded his big blind and First-Eagle settled on a four-bet to 28.5 million. Dimedroll shoved for 115.3 million and First-Eagle gave it up, the 61.8 million pot moving Dimedroll into the top spot. Meanwhile, the short stacks were fighting for traction. Yokouno1980 in particular couldn't seem to find a toehold, blinding down to 3.78 million before putting the rest of his chips in the middle preflop against tunafish919 and First-Eagle. The flop fell [6c][6d][2h] and First-Eagle check-folded to tunafish919's 5 million bet, leaving him heads-up with yokouno1980. Yokouno1980 turned over [Ah][4h], but tunafish919 had him with [Th][Td]. Tunafish919's overpair turned into the nut boat when the [Ts] hit the turn and yokouno1980 departed in ninth place as the final table's first casualty. He earned $86,512.56 for his finish. Two hands later, kaalen moved in for his last 12.8 million from middle position and First-Eagle looked him up from the cutoff. Although both players made trip queens on the [Qd][9d][3d][Qc][Jh] board, it ended up being a battle of the kickers, First-Eagle's [Kc][Qh] holding against kaalen's [Qs][8d] to send him home in eighth place. Less than an orbit passed before the last remaining short stack moved in. Fireballdio committed his last six big blinds with [Jc][Td], but could not outrun First-Eagle's [Ah][Qh]. For seventh place, he collected $182,406-- a typical first-place Sunday Million prize on a "normal" night. Deal or no deal? Seconds after fireballdio's bust, Dimedroll broached the subject of a six-way deal. Everyone was amenable to looking at numbers and the action was paused. Dimedroll held the chip lead at the time, closely trailed by First-Eagle, while tunafish919 was the short stack. Still giddy over his good fortune to make it this far, tunafish919 entertained his opponents and the rail in the chat box, discussing everything from the instant rice his mate had just fixed for him to the virtues of his local curry house. However, as the initial numbers rolled off, tunafish919 turned savvy negotiator. The only one of the six willing to walk away from a deal that would give everyone better than fourth-place money, tunafish919 told everyone he wanted to gamble. tunafish919: i know i just wanna let it ride sorta guys In order to prevent the deal from falling apart right then and there, First-Eagle and Dimedroll agreed to give tunafish919 an additional $30,000 apiece from their shares. Still flying high from the apparent magic of Australian instant rice, tunafish919 needed a bit more coaxing before finally agreeing to a six-way chop. After more than 35 minutes of negotiations, cards went back on the screen with $200,000 still at stake for the eventual winner. Double, double, toil and trouble Almost immediately, tunafish919 picked up pocket aces, doubling through SkunkDen who called with [Ad][Kc]. Tunafish moved up to 130 million while SkunkDen fell below 40 million. A key coinflip, however, brought SkunkDen back up to 84 million when his pocket sixes held up against BLAABAR's [Ac][Kd]. BLAABAR recovered those lost chips only a few hands later when he open-shoved for 54.6 million with [6h][7h] and SkunkDen called with [Ac][4s]. Although SkunkDen flopped a four, a six hit the turn and another came on the river to take BLAABAR up to 111 million. Left with 53.7 million, SkunkDen three-bet shoved over tunafish919's opening raise holding [Qc][8h], but Dimedroll woke up with [As][Ad] in the small blind and snap-called. Tunafish919 got out of the way and let the board run out [Ks][3d][7h][9c][Qd], Dimedroll's aces holding up to eliminate SkunkDen in sixth place. The deal earned him a $758,986.42 payday. With five players remaining, Dimedroll held the chip lead with 175 million and put himself in a great position to take out tunafish919. After opening for 8 million with [Ad][Qh] and being three-bet to 20 million by tunafish919, Dimedroll pulled the trigger and four-bet shoved, having tunafish919 covered by more than 70 million. Tunafish919 tanked for more than a minute before calling for his tournament life with [Ah][Td]. The flop, however, fell, [Th][9c][3d], pairing tunafish919's kicker. Dimedroll could not manage the re-suck and fell to 50.3 million (12.5 big blinds) while tunafish919 took a commanding chip lead with 254.7 million. Dimedroll immediately went to work trying to recover his lost stack, shoving from the button with [Jd][7c] in the hopes of picking up the blinds and antes. Unfortunately, he ran straight into First-Eagle's [Ad][Ah] and could not pull off a miracle, the board running out [6d][6c][8c][Kh][Jh] to send Dimedroll to the rail in fifth place. He earned just shy of a million dollars--$995,996.85 to be exact-- for a tremendous effort. Final four With the blinds up to 2M/4M, tunafish919 led the way with 253 million, First-Eagle was in second with 180 million, and BLAABAR and Unstoffable brought up the rear with 102 and 85 million respectively. Tunafish919 was in a position to control the table from here on out, but a preflop raising war ended with him five-bet shoving his pocket tens right into First-Eagle's pocket queens. This time, there was no ten on the flop for tunafish919 and First-Eagle scored a game-changing double-up. With 364 million in his stack, First-Eagle held 58% of the chips in play. Tunafish919 enjoyed a temporary reprieve, doubling through BLAABAR with [Qc][Qd] vs. [2d][2h]. However, his hopes for a comeback were dashed when First-Eagle picked up another big pocket pair at a most opportune time. Holding [Ks][Kh], First-Eagle opened for 10 million and snap-called when tunafish919 shoved for 76.5 million with [Ah][7h]. The cowboys held on the jack-high board and after a hard-fought battle, tunafish919 departed in fourth place, earning $627,317.26. That's a helluva lot of instant rice. Four hands later, First-Eagle had BLAABAR in his crosshairs, his pocket fours up against [Ah][Td]. First-Eagle's heater continued, the flop falling [8h][4c][2d] to make him middle set. BLAABAR was drawing dead on the turn and First-Eagle notched another KO. BLAABAR's third-place finish earned him $709,896.78. The Eagle has landed First-Eagle held an 8 to 1 chip lead over Unstoffable as heads-up play commenced: Seat 1: Unstoffable (69,361,413 in chips) Although by this point Unstoffable may have been kicking himself for accepting the smallest share of the six-way deal, he still had the opportunity to add another $200,000 to that number. And after the first hand of heads-up play earned him a double-up to 139 million, that possibility looked far less remote. However, it was all over two hands later. All the marbles went in on a [Ts][8s][5d] flop, Unstoffable check-shoving with a flush draw and First-Eagle making the call with [As][3s]... the nut flush draw. Neither player improved, First-Eagle's ace-high holding up to earn him the title, the extra $200k, and over $1.14 million in total prize money. For his runner-up finish, Unstoffable banked $580,724.34. PokerStars Sunday Million 10th Anniversary $10M Guaranteed Results 1. First-Eagle (Canada) $1,146,574.65* *= reflects a six-way deal that left an additional $200,000 for the winner Next Sunday is Christmas and the Million is back, albeit at its regular guarantee. Give yourself a little something and stop by the Sunday Million page for more information on how you can win your way in. 12/13/11 Super Tuesday: Gurbe1 grooves a victory for $71,654 13/12/11 -
Here's the results from last week's Super Tuesday: 12/6/11 Super Tuesday final table: 1st: joeyspanne88 ($72,175.50) Notables: guillet76 (11th, $5,595), WhEADa (13th, $4,662.50), Richard "nutsinho" Lyndaker (17th, $3,730), Athanasios "Athanasios 9" Polychronopoulos (20th, $2,797.50), Jordan "Jymaster11" Young (22nd, $2,797.50), zwacke (25th, $2,797.50), Fabrizio "SixthSenSe19" Gonzalez (36th, $2,424.50), and Dan "Danny98765" Smith (40th, $2,238). Now back to your regularly scheduled Super Tuesday recap. Three Team PokerStars players entered this week's event, but none made the money as Team Canada Pro Pat Pezzin was the highest placed finisher in 110th place. Pezzin finished well ahead of Team Online player Kevin "WizardOfAhhs" Thurman (139th) and Team Russia Pro Maxim Lykov (265th). Notables to make the money included Nick "FU_15" Maimone (18th) and Caio Pimenta (53rd). Two notables would make the final table: Mario "Pokerccini" Puccini and J.C. "PrtyPSux" Alvarado (below).
This week's Super Tuesday field was larger than previous weeks, but still got down to the final table in the eighth hour of play. UK player Se7enTr3y helped move along the action by having more than twice the chips as the second place stack of Alvarado. The chip leader went on a tear would take care of the hand for hand bubble with ten players remaining. The blinds were at 1,600/3,200 with a running ante of 400 as badboypony opened with a raise to 7,100. The short-stacked tupacmn moved in for 58,674 chips with [ac][8c] in the small blind as Se7enTr3y called with [Ad][Td] in the big blind as badboypony stepped asided. Although they were dominated, tupacmn was hoping for a resurrection worthy of Tupac Shakur. However, the flop of [tc][ts]3h] left tupacmn fighting for their tournament life. When the [9h] hit the turn, tupacmn was no longer bulletproof as the [6s] made their 10th place finish official, good for $5,369.00 and set up the final table.
The first player ousted from the final table was tunnny. The Canadian open-shoved for 46,070 chips with [Ad][Kc] as badboypony called from the small blind with [Ah][Td]. The board ran out [8s][7s][6h][7d][9d] as badboypony made a straight on the river. That wasn't very funny for tunnny, earning $6,855.80 for their 9th place finish. RLOG was the next player ejected from their seat, earning $9,292.50. Facing a min-raise from gurbe1, RLOG chucked in their 43,252 chips from the small blind with [Kh][qs]. Since gurbe1 held [ac][qc], they quickly called and no help came to RLOG as the board came down [qd] [tc][8h][4s][9s], as seven remained. Play would continue seven-handed for a while as the blinds moved up to 1,800/3,600 with an ante of 450. It was during this level that gurbe1 doubled up twice to move from 6th place into the chip lead. The first hand featured gurbe1 getting dealt [as][ad] as danger0us moved in on the short stack with [7d][7s]. One snapcall and a flopped ace later, gurbe1 had a comfortable stack. Three hands later, gurbe1 would find good fortune against the chip leader:
Swedish player The_child2 started the final table with barely 10 big blinds, climbed into 6th place for a $17,552.50 payday. From the cutoff, The_child2 shoved for 57,684 with [jd][td], Mario "Pokerccini" Puccini re-raised all-in with [as][th] to isolate and get the blinds to fold. The_child2 picked up an open-ended straight draw on the [qh][9s][5h] flop, but the [ts] turn and [9c] river could not get them over the hump, leaving a quintet of contenders going into the break at the end of hour eight. Nearly an hour after the elimination of The_child2, the next player dropped out of contention as the stacks started to tighten up. The blinds had now increased to 3,200/6,400 with an ante of 800 when badboypony earned 5th place, good for $23,128.00. The hand started with gurbe1 min-raising from UTG with [8s][8c]. Pokerccini flatted from the button as badboypony shipped it for 174,121 from the small blind with [ac][jc] as gurbe1 called and Pokerccini laid it down. Unfortunately for badboypony, the coinflip wouldn't go their way as the five cards on the board were the [ks][3h][2d][7c][4c] leaving a gang of four.
Puccini and gurbe1 were well out in front of Se7enTr3y, desperate to double up. Holding [6h][6s], Se7enTr3y min-raised to 14,400 as gurbe1 clicked it back to 28,800. Se7enTr3y four-bet to 59,425 as gurbe1 five-bet to 90,050. A six-bet all-in to 344,960 by Se7enTr3y was followed by a call from gurbe1 with [jh][jd]. No help came on the board of [ks][qs][8d][5h][8c] as just two remained. Both players quickly agreed to take a look at the numbers and make a chip chop deal. Here's how the numbers looked and the adjusted payouts, with $3,000.00 going to the eventual winner: gurbe1 - 1,163,085 ($68,654.07) Both players agreed to those figures as play continued. Pokerccini grabbed the lead in the early hands of the heads-up battle but that would quickly change as gurbe1 would take the lead for good after this hand. Gurbe1 was dominated, but the flop was gin: Pokerccini was able to double up to take the deficit down to 3-1, but that was as close as he would get to victory. The final hand of the tournament featured Pokerccini min-raising with [kd][3d] as gurbe1 reraised to 36,000 with [2h][2s] as Pokerccini called. Both players caught a huge piece of the board on the [tc][6d][2d] flop. Pokerccini held a flush draw as gurbe1 flopped a set of deuces, hoping they wouldn't get cracked by another diamond. Gurbe1 led out with a bet to 38,376 as Pokerccini min-raised to 76,752. Gurbe1 clicked back to 115,128 and Pokerccini decided to pounce, going all in for all of their chips as gurbe1 called. The turn was the [8c] as Pokerccini needed a diamond that didn't pair the board to win. The river was the [4s], not good enough for Pokerccini as gurbe1 earned the victory and over $71,000. Pokerccini settles for over $66,000 in a hard fought Super Tuesday. Dec. 13, 2011 Super Tuesday final table results: *1st: gurbe1 - $71,654.07 *Reflects a deal made heads-up
Looking to play some live poker? Plenty of time to play in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a list of satellites taking place this week found here on the PokerStars blog. SCOOP: Winning indeed Sir_winalot9 denies Kostritsyn SCOOP title and banks $76K 13/05/11 -
Opening round We would quickly say good bye to Team PokerStars Pros George Danzer (126th place) and Pat Pezzin (119th place). World Series of Poker Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel (86th place) failed to slide past Israel's zivziv and JP Kelly got caught on a semi-bluff by ButchTimothy to finish in 68th place. However, Team PokerStars pros Jose "nachobarbero" Barbero, Noah "Exclusive" Boeken, and Team Online's Alexios "J0hnny_Dr@m@" Zervos were there to carry the red spades into the next round. As the last table stood, The Liar told enough fibs while battling Germany's kabutze to knock him out after the two battled long after the rest of the second round awaited their next opponents. It would take a flush over flush scenario for The Liar to finally finish off kabutze as the remaining 63 players were graceful to begin their next match after a two and half hour battle.
Boeken got set up with Ami "UhhMee" Barer who already has a 3rd place finish in Event #9-High for $28K 5th place in Event #10-Medium AND runner-up in Event #3-Medium for $54K most of us would call that a fair job done thus far in this tournament series. Barer would continue on in this tournament getting the best of Noah after grinding the PokerStars pro down to a 7,690 chip to 2,310 chip difference with blinds at 40/80. Their final hand came after a min-raise by UhhMee and three-bet to 480 by Boeken, Barer made the call to see a [Td] [3d] [Jh] flop. Boeken lead out for a pot bet and Barer put The Netherlands native all-in with a raise. Boeken called to show pocket aces [Ad] [Ac] [4c] [9h] but no draw against UhhMee's [4d] [Kc] [2d] [Tc] flush draw and a pair. [7h] was safe for the Team PokerStars pro but the second seven [7d] was not making a flush for Barer and Boeken was out in 36th place. 
Noah Boeken
Shortly after the last red spade holder fell, Keano was holding thaaj2004 in a corner for the last seat to the money round. With blinds at 80/160 and Keano holding a 9,122 to 878 chip lead, thaaj2004 would get the meager stack in the middle preflop holding a coordinated [Jd] [Th] [8d] [9c] facing a monster [Kh] [Js] [Ks] [Qs] held by Keano. The turn [5c] [5h] [Td] [8s] would provide a few more outs but thaaj2004 could not find a seven or ten on the river [6d] and finished in 33rd place. Round of 32 (Money Time!) For our 32 remaining players it was the do-or-die round, making the last five hours worthwhile by cashing for at least $5,080.00 or hop into Event #12's NLHE Knockout tournament with empty pockets. Going into the sixth hour dinner break only seven matches remained to break the money bubble as we said goodbye to (in order of finish 24th to 32nd): NABYOTI, goodfellKO, Patonius2000, KaIIIIIe, KamelAudun, Ben "milkybarkid" Grundy, tracyer, le kork, and freekick71. Down to the last two tables before the money, once again UhhMee is in the mix for another large SCOOP cash facing a continuous uphill battle against kardioloq, as 810ofclubs was left trying to sort through the misdirections of The Liar. UhhMee would finally tie up the match on a key double up with aces that had to dodge a fair amount of the deck. With the blinds at 40/80 UhhMee would four bet from the button to 1440 leaving 1344 behind as kardioloq made the call to see a [7s] [5h] [Th] flop. Immediately kardioloq shoved enough to put UhhMee all-in holding [Kc] [8h] [9c] [Kh]. UhhMee showed the aces [Ac] [Ad] [Ks] [Qh] with nearly no draw. kardioloq was a 57% favorite with straight and flush draws and UhhMee may have know he was behind but too much in the pot to fold. The favorite would not hold here as the [3d] and [As] safely fell on the board to push the 5,568 chip pot to UhhMee keeping the drive alive for yet another 2011 SCOOP cash. Ami "UhhMee" Barer's roller coaster ride would finally end in the 60/120 blind level as Barer tried to force kardioloq off his hand holding nothing but king high as kardioloq flopped top pair with a flush draw, knocking off the hot Barer in 18th place. Shortly after 810ofclubs holding a small 5,410 to 4,590 chip lead over The Liar, would find the truth behind The Liar's big bets on the [2d] [Ks] [5c] [8d] board as 810ofclubs held a set of fives plus a diamond flush draw [5h] [3d] [3c] [5d] to the The Liar's straight draw with a pair [6s] [Tc] [8c] [7d]. The ace on the river [Ac], usually a dagger, but harmless in this case shoved the 9,180 chip pot to 810ofclubs and started up the round of 16 with everyone assured $5,080.00
BongBob would take care of zivziv (12th place, $5,080.00) and josio knocked out smellmuth (11th place, $5,080.00) leaving 810ofclubs taking on Tulkaz and e1mdopp versus zwacke to fill out our final eight. 810ofclubs: wont say sorry 810ofclubs' non-apology after he spiked a flush on the river cracking Tulkaz's flopped straight and crippled Tulkaz to take a 9100 to 900 chip lead with blinds at 40/80. Tulkaz would not recover and 10 minutes later 810ofclubs finished the deal sending our 10th place finisher off with $5,080.00, leaving only the e1mdopp/zwacke match left before our final eight. e1mdopp applied the pressure for most of the late stages of the match and finally with the blinds at 60/120 with zwacke holding 2,270 chips to e1mdopp's 7,730 zwacke would three-bet to 720 as e1mdopp made the call to see a [8d] [4c] [Td] flop. zwacke tried to take it down with a pot bet from the big blind but e1mdopp was going nowhere and min-raised to set zwacke all-in. With only 110 chips left zwacke made the call holding pocket queens [Qc] [Ks] [Qh] [2h] and was looking uphill at e1mdopp's two pair [8s] [2c] [4s] [9s]. No help on the turn [3s] nor river [5s] and zwacke was zwacked in 9th place ($5,080.00). Quarterfinals BongBob vs. Sir_winalot9 Blinds still early at 20/40 and Sir_winalot9 sitting on a small lead 5,454 to BongBob's 4,546 chips. BongBob would lead out for a raise to 120 as Sir_winalot9 made the call to see a [2h] [4d] [9s] flop. Sir_winalot9 led out for 160 as BongBob did not further the aggression and made the call. Something about the [8s] on the turn got both of them excited as Sir_winalot9 led out again this time for 400. BongBob kicked passiveness to the curb and raised to 1,760 as Sir_winalot9 was not backing down and shoved to set BongBob all-in. After a few ticks BongBob liked his [6s] [Qs] [7h] [Th] wrap straight and flush draw to call. Sir_winalot9 turned over a bigger flush draw [5d] [Ts] [Ks] [6d] also with straight possibilities but neither player had even a pair to this point. The third spade on the river [2s] changed that as Sir_winalot9 scooped the remaining chips off the table to advance to the next round as BongBob (who made last year's SCOOP Main Event-High cashing for $261K in sixth place) picked up $10,160.00 in eighth place.
Russia vs. Croatia
Alexander Kostritsyn
Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn is looking for the SCOOP watch he was so close in capturing last night during Event #10-high Stud tourney and he would make quick work of Krumpir in the first semi-final. In just the third blind level (20/40) Kostritsyn would get maximum value off this hand below to cripple Krumpir:
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Flopped full house for the Russian pro left the mucking Krumpir with just 396 chips and two hands later joiso would finish the deal with another full house, this time kings full of queens and earn a second chance at heads-up play for a SCOOP championship watch! Krumpir was not going home empty-handed, unless your call $25,400.00 empty in fourth place.
joiso vs. Sir_winalot9
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Kostritsyn had not only the nut flush draw but a set of fives [5d] [5c] [2d] [Ac] when the money went in on the turn with the board showing [8c] [Kd] [5h] [9c] against Sir_winalot9's [Tc] [Qh] [Kc] [Jc] wrap draw and second nut flush draw. River [Js] completing Sir_winalot9's straight and ending Kostritsyn's chances for a SCOOP watch. But, the Russian pro does pick up $45,720.00 as the runner-up as our champion Sir_winalot9 takes home $76,200.00 as tonight's SCOOP Event #11-High champion! Be sure to check out the daily Inside SCOOP webcast for all the details of today's tournaments. SCOOP Event #11-High $150,000 Guaranteed PLO Heads-up Matches Super Tuesday 5/10/11: Kovalski1 Banks $35,475 in Late Night Performance 11/05/11 -
The PokerStars Super Tuesday was part of a crowded major tournament calendar Tuesday as a field of 165 players created a prize pool of $165,000, distributed to the final 27 players. Tournament action at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid and several SCOOP tournaments left a single member of Team PokerStars Pro in this week's Super Tuesday field as Lex Veldhuis finished out of the money in 69th place.
Here's how the final table looked with nine players remaining:
Seat 1: Kovalski1 (142,740 in chips) Python817 slithered from the table in 9th place in early final table action, cashing for $3,300.00. From the hijack, Python817 opened with a bet to 4,000 with [kh][qh] as EeeTee2008 re-raised to 9,000 holding [as][qc] . After the blinds folded, Python817 re-raised all-in for 73,793 as EeeTee2008 quickly called. The virtual dealer dealt out a board of [3s] [7s] [9h] [Qd] [Td] leaving an octet of players at the final table. The first elimination at the final table was a boon to harddecision, with under 19,000 in chips with the blinds at 1,200/2,400 with an ante of 150. Action folded to harddecision in the small blind, shoving with [ad][6d] for 18,330 in chips as tupacmn called from the big blind with [ah][8d]. The board runs out [8c] [2d] [5c] [4d] [6s] giving harddecision a choice on what to do with the $4,950.00 earned for 8th place. It would be three eliminations in three hands as poker_lord76 ran into tupacmn, receiving an email notifying them of the $6,600.00 earned for 7th place. Tupacmn min-raised to 4,800 from the small blind with [ad][jd] as poker_lord76 shipped it for 37,002 from the big blind with [ah][3s] as tupacmn easily called. The flop came down [th][9c][3c] as poker_lord76 moved into the lead. That lead lasted one card when the [js] on the turn gave the lead back to tupacmn. The river was the [qs] leaving a six-pack of contenders. Kovalski1 set a trap, laying down the branches and twigs to send TranquilMind out in a bad mood to pick up winnings of $8,250.00 in 6th place. TranquilMind raised to 4,950 with with [ah][9d] as Kovalski1 smooth-called with [ac][as]. The [ad][qd][9c] flop hit both players hard as TranquilMind led out for 6,750 as Kovalski1 smooth-called once again. The [5h] on the turn had TranquilMind firing another barrel, this time for 10,111 as Kovalski1 just called. A third barrel on the river for TranquilMind, this time moving in for their remaining 34,715 as Kovalski1 snap-called turning over their flopped set of aces as TranquilMind surely wasn't after that hand as five players remained. The flurry of eliminations ground to a halt with nearly an hour before the next player was sent packing. As the short stack, markux looked to end the drought of eliminated players, but the poker gods were smiling on this hand against tupacmn with blinds at 1,800/3,600 with an ante of 450: Markux would take the rest of tupacmn's chips on the next hand, shoving with [kc][3c] from the small blind as tupacmn called with [ad][7d] in the big blind. Tupacmn was drawing dead after the flop when came down [jc][qc][5c]. The unnecessary turn and river cards were the [kd][4d] to leave a quartet of players as tupacmn earned $9,900.00 EeeTee2008 held the lead through most of the final table, until relinquishing command of the table after running their A-Q into Kovalski1's A-K. The blinds were now increased to 2,000/4,000 with an ante of 500 as Mitch leb was knocked out in 4th for $14,437.50. From UTG, Mitch leb raised to 9,000 with [ac][kc] as markux re-raised all-in for 235,468 holding [ad][9c] as Mitch leb called for 73,817 total. Markux takes the lead when the flop comes down [6s][5c][9d] as Mitch leb is drawing to three outs. The [2s] turn and [7h] river changed nothing as three players remain. The next elimination would come at the 2,400/4,800 level with an ante of 600 as Kovalski1 crushed this flop to knock out EeeTee2008 in 3rd, taking home $19,387.50:
1st: Kovalski1 - $35,475.00 PokerStars Women's Poker League: April Points Bring May Bonuses 04/05/11 -
The two leagues provide avenues for women to make their mark at PokerStars and strive not only to achieve status and monthly cash prizes, but each month's points accumulate for the yearly totals. More cash - and more importantly PokerStars Women Live prize packages for the winner of each league - await those who have the best annual results. It's a process that requires consistency, dedication, and tenacity, not to mention a little "run good" along the way. $.10 League The range of women in the $.10 league required an atlas to locate them all, as they ranged from Europe to various parts of the Americas and beyond. And a rather large spreadsheet was maintained to track the 4,165 players who found themselves in contention with April points. But atop the leaderboard when the points were tallied were two Canadians with more points than any others in the league. Auntyrae took on 27 tournaments in the month of April and accumulated an impressive 141 points, and that performance was worth an extra $100 in her PokerStars account. Not a bad boost to the bankroll to help with the next month's worth of poker, along with the title of monthly points leader. She achieved first place on the leaderboard well before the month was over and continued to maintain that lead. Past months found her much lower in the standings of the $1.10 league, but she found her stride in this league in April. Mogadu played 30 tournaments and accumulated 121 points for the month, which was good enough for a solid second place and $90 in cash. Gathering those points with 30 events in 30 days is not an easy task. A solid player in the $.10 league for the last two months, she was determined to make the money on this month's leaderboard and stepped up her game, pushing from third place to second within the last week of the month. Polish player Jachna came in third this month, and it was her first showing on the leaderboard in 2011. After 30 tournaments, her total came to 110 points for a third place prize of $80. Two players tied for the next spot, as butterflysh of Spain and Ethyn J. of Canada each finished with 105 points, the former in 29 tournaments and the latter in 27. Brazilian hctiwdliw played only 22 tournaments to accumulate 103 points for the month, which tied with Spain's SARITA15350. Germany's oida-baaaam came close with 102 points for eighth place, followed by lvaw31 of Columbia with 99 points and lstina7 of Russia with 97. All of the top ten players made their first appearances in that part of the leaderboard in April and will receive extra cash for their efforts. $1.10 League Women competing in the $1.10 league were similar to those in the other as they hailed from various parts of the globe, though Canada dominated with six of the top spots. Even so, Poland took the first prize of the month. A total of 2,073 poker players earned points in April through tournament endeavors dedicated to the Women's Poker League. And many of them jumped to this league from the other and learned that they could compete well - even better in some cases - in the higher buy-in events. The undisputed top earner for the month was 1bollywood1 of Poland, who accumulated 151 points over the course of 28 tournaments. That first place position was locked up earlier in the month, though the last 30 points came in the final week of competition. For the effort, an extra $250 goes to 1bollywood1 for the superb performance in the first month she participated in the league action. A very healthy start to a player we expect to see in the league standings going forward. Bertie867 of Canada took second place when April wrapped its numbers, and the 137 points earned over 26 tournaments warranted a prize of $170. With one week to go in the month, she worked well under pressure and improved from fifth place on the leaderboard to second. she was another player who hadn't placed on the February or March leagues but came on strong this month. Third place went to another first-timer in the league, rositabb, who brought in 132 points for 27 tournaments, good for a $140 prize. The Peruvian added 26 of those points in the last week of the competition in order to solidify third place. Two players tied for the next spot, as crzcanuck2 of Canada and danico7777 of Peru both ended April with 122 points out of 26 and 27 tournaments respectively. Crzcanuck2 proved consistent over the last several months, even having scored fourth in the $.10 league in February. Next on the board was LadyBug ONT, who had 114 points and greatly improved on her March performance. Pointful92 was just behind with 113 in seventh place, followed by joy7108 with 106. Three women then tied for last place, with cristi0602, sapatova91, and The Rose 22 all bringing in 100 points each. Several of April's top finishers played the league for the first time, and others transitioned from the $.10 league to make a splash. For those still interested in taking part, it's never too late! There are many more months left in the year (thank goodness!) and the league has room for everyone. Information about the PokerStars Women's Poker League is provided on the home page, and current league standings are listed on the rankings page. And join us on Facebook for regular updates! Turbo Takedown: turu90 takes the last Audi TT on the lot 25/04/11 -
But, we are not writing an eulogy tonight, rather going out in style as players will be able to use their proceeds from the final table tonight and potentially kick it up to a bigger score when the Spring Championship of Online Poker starts up in two weeks. 11,215 came to say goodbye tonight, and a few Team PokerStars players dropped by to donate their $100 bounties, but also to take away a few dollars from the prize pool. Henriqu Pinho 548th place ($165.00), Liv Boeree 1119th place ($105.00), Martin "AABenjamin" Hruby and Humberto Brenes 1856th place ($82.50) all took away cash tonight. Also taking away cash and possibly a car were our final ten players of the Final Turbo Takedown. Guaranteed $6,000.00 with a possible $45,000.00 plus the last Audi TT to be awarded at this tournament, the bubble boy would have no chance at redemption next month. As the blinds moved up to 90K/180K ante 18K, ProdigyXII would run into two coolers at exactly the wrong time. First, pushing over the top of Ka4n's UTG raise with pocket nines, only to have Ka4n snap call with aces, and after the board ran dry, ProdigyXII was left with just 559,941 chips. After nonentitly took the blinds, ProdigyXII would open-shove on the next hand for 523,941 total holding [Kc][Jd]. LaoZZZZ however had no reservations about calling with pocket aces [As][Ah]. Headfirst into aces twice in three hands but the flop [7s] [5d] [Ks] offered a ray of light as a king peeled off. Unfortunately, the light was shut-out just as quickly as [Ts] [Qh] completed the board ending ProdigyXII's head shaking finish in tenth place ($6,000.00).  Click on image for larger picture
Seat 1: turu90 (4676172 in chips)
Gandalf739 cooked up some bad potions for the final table. He would have a huge lead in a 9.7 million chip pot against turu90 holding pocket kings to turu90's big slick. The case king would hit the flop, but so would an ace. Ace on the river and you have a laptop throwing bad beat. Gandalf739 however shrugged it off and worked the stack back to 1.74 million when the hand below against nonentitly went down:
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Dominated again with pocket tens [Ts][Td] versus nonentitly's pocket fours [4s][4d] this should have been Gandalf739's step back into the tournament. Instead, a four hit the flop and just in case that didn't hurt enough, the case four landed on the turn [Jd] [8d] [4c] [4h] [9s] giving nonentitly quads from behind and sending Gandalf739 back to the shire in seventh place ($11,250.00).
Awesome. Best advice ever given to a final table by reno8. Six players left and all agree quickly to the money but as always, someone tried to chop up the car and sent the deal making into a momentary tailspin. But, Maverick found a way to pull out of the jet wash and here's how the money was divided WITHOUT the car which will remain whole for our champion to enjoy. LaoZZZZ $39,102.91
The blinds would move up to 175K/350K ante 35K before losing a player after the six-way split. turu90 started the action with a raise to 750,000 from the button as Ka4n made a stand from the small blind for a little more, 1.1 million to be exact. turu90 turned up pocket tens [Tc][Th] as Ka4n showed a fairly weak [2c][Kh]. Two on the flop showed some promise but the ten on the turn [2d] [Qd] [7s] [Ts] [8c] sent Ka4n home with the chopped amount in sixth place ($20,927.59).
Maybe LaoZZZZ did not like the sounds Dj Rödel was spinning but when the blinds moved up to 200K/400K ante 40K LaoZZZZ went over the top of Dj Rödel's 2.9 million chip shove to make sure no one else wanted to play as nonentitly folded. Dj Rödel showed [Ks][Tc] as LaoZZZZ turned over the monster pocket kings [Kd][Kh]. Case king on the flop [Qh] [4h] [Kc] [6c] [Qc], good game Dj Rödel by the turn earning $19,107.41 from the chop in fourth place.
Last one in the stockroom for the Turbo Takedown
Watch below as turu90 and reno8 get their chips in preflop for a 14.2 million chip pot:
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With the blinds now capped at 250K/500K ante 50K LaoZZZZ took seat from domination as reno8 put out 1.5 million from the small blind. turu90 did not tinker with the slider bar and shoved for 15.1 million. Back to reno8 holding [Tc][Ac] and 5.5 million more chips he would make the call and racing against turu90's pocket nines [9s][9d]. Despite an ace on the flop, reno8 could do nothing about the nine that accompanied it [9h] [2c] [Ad]. After the [3s] turn, reno8 from the UK not Nevada, was out in third place earning $21,202.80 from the chop.
LaoZZZZ would start with a 22.3 million to 11.3 million disadvantage going into heads-up play. However, after just six minutes of play it was nearly even as LaoZZZZ chopped the lead down to 17.6 million to 16 million. Two minutes later LaoZZZZ opened up a 20.4 million to 13.2 million chip lead when turu90 found himself pondering a call for all his chips with the board reading [3c] [Qd] [Qc] [4c]. Holding big slick [Ks][Ac] turu90 made the call, quickly finding out he was one card away from elimination as LaoZZZZ turned the flush [8c][6c]. Only a rivered club would stop LaoZZZZ from claiming the Audi TT. River [5c] and after collecting the 25 million chip pot, LaoZZZZ did not just roll over, doubling up six hands later to even the chip stacks once again. But the decisive hand would come near 20 minutes after the ninth hour of play, watch below as both players hit the flop and throw their chips in the middle:
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With 3.15 million in the middle, the flop comes out [9c][Kd][10c] as LaoZZZZ checks from the big blind. turu90 bet 1.8 million and covers LaoZZZZ's stack. LaoZZZZ check-raised to 4.2 million as turu90 wasted no time shoving all-in. LaoZZZZ holding [Td][4d] made the call to see he was drawing near dead or potential runner-runner for a chop as turu90 showed the flopped two pair [Ts][9d]. A cruel [4h] hit the turn making giving a sweat for two out. River [Th]. Game over, thanks for coming, hit the lights on your way out. turu90 we hope you enjoy the new set of wheels as the Final Turbo Takedown champion and thank to all the players who made this tournament enjoyable to watch each month even if you tried chopping up that defenseless car. $750,000 Final Turbo Takedown results (04-24-11) SuperStar Showdown: Blom gets the best of "Mastermixus," banks $1,279 25/04/11 -
Eleven minutes into play, Mastermixus claimed the first all-in pot. With the board reading [9h][3s][2c][Td] on the turn, Blom check-raised Mastermixus' $80 bet to $265 and received a call. The river brought the [5s] and Blom shoved for $995 into the $630 pot and Mastermixus made an easy call with [9c][Ts] for top two pair. Blom could only show [Kh][Qs] for king-high. Blom evened up the score when his [Ah][Ad] held up against [Jc][Jh] in a preflop all-in, but lost it again only a few hands later when he called Mastermixus' five-bet shove preflop. Although Blom had the best of it with [Ah][Ks] against [Ad][Js], Mastermixus flopped a jack, turned two pair and rivered a boat to take down the pot. With just under 10% of the hands complete, Mastermixus was out to a $1,140 lead. It didn't take Blom too long to grind his way back to the plus side. By the 400-hand mark, things were entirely reversed, with Blom out to a $1,710 lead. Much of that lost ground was made up on this hand, where both players flopped top pair, but Blom won the battle of the kickers: Mastermixus attempted a bold move a short time later, trying to "out-Blom" Blom with a river overbet-bluff. Holding [Qs][9s], Mastermixus semi-bluffed on the [Ks][Td][8s] flop with his combo draw, check-raising Blom's $50 bet to $170. Blom called and the [7d] hit the turn. Although he missed, Mastermixus continued to represent a big hand, leading out for $240. Again, Blom called. The river was the [3d], and despite having missed a second time, Mastermixus moved all-in for his remaining $735. Blom looked him up, rolling over the [2d][8d] for the rivered diamond flush. Five hands later on the same table, they were all-in again. In a pot that was four-bet pre, Blom check-raised all-in on the [8h][5c][4h] flop and Mastermixus called, turning over [Ah][Ad]. Blom had [7s][8s] for top pair and a gutshot straight draw. The [4d] on the turn was a safe card for Mastermixus, but Blom rivered the [8c] to wrest away the $2,500 pot with trip eights. On the very next deal on the same table, all the marbles went in again. With the board reading [Kc][Qc][4c][9s], Blom check-raised all-in on the turn, having flopped a flush with [2c][3c]. Mastermixus caled with [Ks][Qd] for top two pair, but could not fill up on the river. After those three all-ins (within seven hands on the same table!), Blom was out to a $4,705 lead. Mastermixus wisely called for a five-minute break after that flurry of action and on one of the first hands back, he won a $2,000 flip when his pocket eights held up against Blom's [As][Qd] in a preflop all-in. For the most part, however, Mastermixus turned quite passive, content to let Blom steal blinds with abandon. During a 30-minute period on Table 3, Blom won 51 out of 60 pots, including a stretch where he won 21 straight hands. Mastermixus was content to win the big ones, breaking that streak when he rivered trips against Blom's two pair in a $2,010 pot, then coolering him in a pre-flop all-in with pocket aces against pocket kings. Mastermixus nearly evened the score when he three-bet pocket tens pre, then hit top set when the flop came down [Th][8d][6d]. Mastermixus led out for $120, Blom raised to $285, Mastermixus jammed, and Blom called off his remaining $665 with [Td][9h] for top pair and a gutshot. Mastermixus' set held up and Blom's lead was cut to only $450 with 674 hands in the books. Over the next 325 hands, Mastermixus ground his way into the black, holding a one buy-in lead over Blom by Hand #1,000. Although Blom was down overall, he was still stealing blinds with abandon while Mastermixus folded away, choosing instead to play fewer hands for larger pots. Blom continued to ride long streaks where he picked up pots uncontested-- one on Table 3 saw him win 24 of 30 pots, another on Table 1 saw him take 90 out of 100. Mastermixus was winning when it really counted, however, and as the match approached the three-hour mark, Mastermixus went on a hot streak, winning three consecutive all-ins. The first was a true cooler, the money going in on the river when Mastermixus made the nut flush and Blom the king-high flush. Next, Blom fired three bullets with fourth pair, Mastermixus looking him up with top pair to take down a $3,970 pot. And finally, Mastermixus' pocket jacks held up against Blom's [Ac][Kh] in a pre-flop all-in to give him a $3,705 lead after 1,458 hands. Unfortunately for our valiant qualifier, that would be his high-water mark for the match. Less than 200 hands later, Blom had erased that deficit and then some. Mastermixus was still clinging to a small lead when he felted Blom on Table 4, a lucky river ace yielding him the largest pot thus far at $4,350: Blom needed to split one of his stacks in order to reload and the action was paused, but before all the hands in progress could play out, an even larger pot developed on Table 1. All the money went in on a [5h][4d][2d] flop, Mastermixus with [Ah][3h] for the wheel and Blom on straight and flush draws with [Jd][3d]. The [Qc] on the turn missed Blom but the [9d] on the river filled his flush. The $6,230 pot put him back in the black by $290 with 861 hands to go. Mastermixus managed a small comeback; his pocket aces held up against Blom's nines in a preflop all-in, then he turned the nut flush when Blom's pocket queens flopped a set. To complete the hat trick, Mastermixus check-raised all-in on a [Qs][Jc][5c] flop and Blom called with pocket kings, only to discover that the Pole hit a set of jacks. Mastermixus moved out to a $1,745 lead after 2,018 hands, but ten minutes later, they were back to square one after Blom rivered trip eights against Mastermixus' pocket jacks in a $3,400 pot. At the 2,000-hand mark Mastermixus found a ray of hope when his [Qd][Qh] held against Blom's [Td][Ts] in a preflop all-in, but Blom put an end to that rally when his pocket kings yielded him a 257 big blind pot. Mastermixus opened for a min-raise to $20 with [Qs][Jc], Blom three-bet to $90 and Mastermixus called. Blom led out for $120 on the [Qc][9s][8d] flop and Mastermixus called with top pair and a gutshot straight draw. The turn came the [6h] and Blom fired again, making it $250 to go. Mastermixus called and the [2c] hit the river. Blom went for his signature move, shoving for $825 and Mastermixus looked him up, his top pair no good against Blom's overpair. The $2,570 pot essentially squared things up, and over the final 100 hands, Mastermixus all but shut down, Blom grinding out a little more than a buy-in to finish up a $1,279 winner. Although Blom scored the notch in the "W" column (bringing his overall record to 7-2 and his total Showdown profits to $351,486) not all was lost for Mastermixus. The qualifier did get to keep the $13,721 that remained of his challenge bankroll, certainly nothing to sneeze at for a bit over three hours' work. NAPT Mohegan Sun Final Table: Levels 24-26 updates (25,000-50,000-5,000) 13/04/11 -
Tehan's exit leaves Vanessa Selbst as the only remaining former NAPT champion at the final table. --BW 4.10pm: Shak finds some support 4.05pm: Selbst takes challenge to other champion The flop was all diamonds: [5d][kd][4d]. Selbst bet 115,000, Tehan called and Hoglund folded. The turn was the [10c], and Selbst again fired at it. She bet 170,000 and again Tehan called. This one was getting intriguing. The [9h] rivered, and Selbst wasn't done yet. This time she bet 290,000 and after a couple of minutes' thought, Tehan called again. Selbst showed [ks][5h] for kings up, and Tehan folded.
That gain of about 600,000 put Selbst back up very close to the lead. Tehan is the shortest of short stacks. -- HS 3:56pm: Shak's only fan "I've got a problem here," Shak said. You're my only fan." At issue was the amount of cheering going on for all the players at the table...except Dan Shak. "I didn't think you wanted me to cheer," Binger said. "It's either that or you gotta find some slot players and bring them in here to cheer," Shak begged.
As of this minute, Binger has taken a deep interest in something on his iPhone.--BW 3:49pm: Chop bails Kenney out
As you were. --BW 3:40pm: Yup, that'll do it Shak showed [2h][3h] for the flopped straight and a straight flush redraw, worthy of the raise indeed. --KB 3.30pm: Shak on the rise The flop was [qh][2h][kc] and Shak wasn't so keen. He checked. Rubianes checked back at him. The [qs] turned and now Shak bet 125,000, which Rubianes called. The river was [8c] and Shak again bet 125,000. With a smirk, Rubianes thought through a few of his options. Eventually he decided to call, but was shown [kd][jd] for two pair, which was good. That's the second hand in succession that Shak took with a pair of kings, and he's now approaching the two million mark. -- HS 3:22pm: Kenney exacts his revenge on Rubianes Kenney called a raise to 110,000 from Rubianes and they saw a [2d][ts][jd] flop. Rubianes led for 135,000 and found himself raised to 310,000. Rubianes made the call and then checked the [6s] on the turn. That opened the door to a 435,000 bet from Kenney. Again, Rubianes called. Rubianes checked the [qh] turn. Kenney put out a bet (the amount of which wasn't announced) and Rubianes insta-mucked.
Kenney now has more than 3 million and the chip lead again. --BW 3:09pm: Kenney loses the chip lead, Rubianes tops 3 million Rubianes turned over two black kings and claimed the 1.5 million-chip pot. He's up to about 3.2 million while Kenney slipped to 2.5 million. --KB 2:49pm: First break chip counts Tyler Kenney 3,275,000 2.38pm: Break time 2.35pm: Shak shaken down by Hoglund It came back to Hoglund, who moved all in for about 900,000 and Shak called, with something close to double that in his stack. Hoglund: [as][ks] So Hoglund was ahead at the start, and he only managed to tighten his grip on the hand with the [ad][6h][2d] flop. The [kh] completed it in his favour, and he doubled up. Accurate counts for the six remaining players will be with us momentarily as they go on their first break of the day. -- HS
2:29pm: Selbst ousts Overton in seventh place Overton [Kh][Qd] Selbst hit top pair on the [Ac][Th][6s] flop while Overton found a small ray of hope with a gutshot straight draw. One of his four outs disappeared on the turn when the [3h] fell giving Selbst a flush draw, and the rest vanished when the [5s] hit the river. Overton departed the table to polite handshakes all around, collecting $50,000 for his seventh-place finish. --KB 2.10pm: Steve O'Dwyer out in eighth, winning $32,230 Play was folded all the way to Vincent Rubianes in the small blind. He peeked and moved all in, essentially simply asking O'Dwyer if he wanted to call for his tournament life. O'Dwyer saw an ace and decided that was good enough. The hands: Rubianes: [qd][10s] O'Dwyer will know that the best hand pre-flop does not always stay like that to the end, and so it proved on this occasion. By the time all five cards were out - [2c][jc][qh][qc][10d] - Rubianes had made a boat, which beats ace high most days.
Bye bye to Steve O'Dwyer. Rubianes has about 2.5 million now. -- HS
1:50pm: Hoglund doubles through Tehan
1.30pm: Kenney comes to the party
Kenney was pretty emphatic in his response, raising all in. With dreams of a double NAPT title fading like Marty McFly's family in a tattered photograph, Tehan folded and brought them all back to life. -- HS 1:26pm: O'Dwyer survives second clash with Overton 1.15pm: O'Dwyer dives, Overton doubles
One thing was for sure, Overton had the best hand with [ah][kd] to Overton's [ac][7h]. And once the tournament officials had done the requisite cutting and counting, it was evident that O'Dwyer had the bigger stack. (Something you would have known because you're keeping an eye on our regularly updated chip-count page). So it was Overton under threat and soon it seemed even more perilous. The flop came [7d][3d][10h], to hit O'Dwyer's pair. But this one wasn't over yet. Once the [4d] turned, Overton now had a flush draw too. And he was send bounding to his rail on the [9d] river. "I was all in twice yesterday with the nine of diamonds!" Overton bellowed in delight. He has a new favourite card.
Meanwhile Steve O'Dwyer is now down to fumes, with only about 153,000. Overton returns to the position of authority he has held for the past few days. -- HS LEVEL UP. BLINDS 20,000-40,000-4,0001:06pm: Rubianes won't. be pushed. a. round. 12:55pm: Selbst cuts down O'Dwyer
"You're too good. I couldn't put you on a hand," O'Dwyer said as Selbst raked in just over 40% of his chips. O'Dwyer is down to 585,000 while Selbst is sitting on 2.725 million. --KB
12:41pm: A look at your final table
12:35pm: Cards in the air 12:30pm: Getting closer-er 12:16pm: Getting closer 11:26am: Final table to commence at Noon(ish?) Today's final table will be filmed for broadcast on ESPN and as these things go, we're nearly a lock for a late start this morning. Cameras are being positioned, the felt meticulously cleaned, and the players are trickling in following their pre-game interviews. We'll be here with wall-to-wall coverage until someone lays claim to the shiny silver trophy and the $450,000 grand prize. Here's a look how our final eight stack up: Seat 1: Joe Tehan (1,238,000)
Reporting team: Kristin "change100" Bihr, Howard "Horseradish" Swains, Brad "Otis" Willis NAPT Mohegan Sun: Day 4, levels 19-24 updates (15,000-30,000-3,000) 12/04/11 -
Hochman [Qh][Th] It was over for Hochman on the turn, the board running out [5h][Jd][5s][Ac][Td]. He'll take home $26,000 for his ninth-place finish. The final eight are currently bagging and tagging their chips. We'll have official chip counts and a full wrap shortly. --KB LEVEL UP. BLINDS 15,000-30,000-3,0007:01pm: Final table redraw Seat 1: Corey Hochman
6:38pm: Hoglund doubles, Fernandez departs Meanwhile, one table over, Jacobo Fernandez got the rest of his chips in the middle preflop with [Kh][Qs] and Joe Tehan made the call with pocket jacks Again, the pocket pair was good and Fernandez hit the rail in 11th place. --KB
6:32pm: Selbst doubles Overton, loses chip lead For the first time all day, Selbst has fallen below 2 million in chips and out of the top spot.--KB 6:25pm: Selbst can't bluff Shak "You got it," Selbst said, as Shak turned up [Qs][7c] for two pair. Shak is back up to 1.45 million while Selbst slipped to 2.45 million. --KB 6:13pm: Rubianes doubles through Shak BLINDS UP, PLAYING 12,000-24,000-2,000 IN LEVEL 235:30pm: Kenney climbing A few minutes later, O'Dwyer opened again for 43,000, Kenney flat-called and Thomas Hoglund made it 143,000 to go from the cutoff. O'Dwyer folded and Kenney called. Hoglund led out for 150,000 on the [Kc][7c][2d] flop, earned a call, then made it the same amount when the [4d] came on the turn. Hoglund called again and both players checked the [5d] on the river. Kenney showed [Kd][Th] for the win and vaulted to 1.85 million in chips. Hoglund was left with 350,000. Players are now on a 15-minute break.
5:01pm: Selbst leaves Overton on the short stack Overton elected to save his remaining 260,000 and folded. Selbst is up to 2.7 million.--KB
4:44pm: Plouffe go poof
LEVEL UP. BLINDS 10,000-20,000-2,0004:09pm: The kids might call this a "level" "Seriously, this might take the whole break," Hochman said. O'Dwyer remained stone-faced as his opponent hemmed and hawed. After six and a half minutes ticked off the clock, Hochman finally settled on a raise to 125,000. O'Dwyer snap-folded and headed off for what was left of his break showing no signs of tilt as Hochman continued to mug for the cameras. --KB 4:02pm: Matte's day is done 3:50pm: Updated chip counts 3:29pm: Another scalp for Selbst 3:14pm: Gibbons gutted 3:05pm: Phillipe Plouffe doubles through Joseph Gibbons Gibbons limped in, as he's prone to do, and Plouffe moved all-in for 265,000. After a long tank, Gibbons made the call and turned up the best hand-- pocket nines against Plouffe's [Kc][8c]. The [Qh][6c][2h] flop agreed with Gibbons, as did the [4d] on the turn, but the [Kd] spiked on the river, saving Plouffe's tournament life. "Yes!" Plouffe exclaimed. "F**k!" cried Gibbons, before apologizing for his profanity. Gibbons is down to 300,000 while Plouffe is back up to 555,000. --KB 2:55pm: Redraw Table 1 Table 2 2:54pm: Overton ousts Olivier With 16 players remaining, they're re-drawing for seats on two tables.--KB 2:48pm: Players are back in action LEVEL UP. BLINDS 8,000-16,000,2,0002:12pm: Plouffe busts Von Kriegenbergh in 18th 2:07pm: Plouffe steamy
2:00pm: Selbst invites Busquet to value-town, Busquet declines "I was hoping to get some value there," she said. Busquet confessed to having a suited ace in diamonds for top pair on the flop and a flush draw on the turn. --KB 1:52pm: So long, Sandhu 1:35pm: Adam Geyer out in 20th 1:20pm: Tryba's day ends 1:11pm: Back in action 1:04pm: A few words from our chip leader LEVEL UP. BLINDS NOW 6,000-12,000-1,00012:57pm: Battle of blinds ends Loman 12:55pm: Phillipe Plouffe doubles through Adam Geyer It was a standard race, Plouffe's [Ac][Jh] up against Geyer's [8h][8c]. Plouffe flopped a jack and turned an ace to double his stack to 440,000 while Geyer fell to 385,000. --KB 12:38pm: Eric Froehlich eliminated in 23rd place, Selbst nears 2 million Vanessa Selbst opened for 22,000 from the cutoff and Eric Froehlich made the call from the big blind. Froehlich checked the [Tc][9d][2d] flop over to Selbst, who made it 28,000 to go. Froehlich called, and the [Qc] landed on the turn. Froehlich checked, Selbst bet 62,000, Froehlich moved all-in, and Selbst snap-called, revealing a set of deuces. Froehlich needed serious help with [Js][Th] but he could not fill his straight draw on the river, the [Jh] falling instead to give him a no-good two pair. Froehlich hit the payout desk in 23rd while Selbst's stack crested the 2,000,000 mark. --KB 12:28pm: Jonathan Schroer eliminated in 24th place 12:21pm: Busquet takes it with a four-bet 12:18pm: David Stefanski doubles through Joe Tehan Stefanski: [As][Ks] No disasters for Stefanski on the [Ad][8c][4s][Jd][5d] board and he doubled to 322,000, leaving Tehan on 380,000. --KB
12:15pm: Joseph Gibbons doubles through Jacobo Fernandez 12:10pm: Play underway As we set up our gear this morning, a polite young man approached the media desk, asking where on the PokerStars Blog he could find the post containing the overnight chip counts. "All I can find is last year's, when Vanessa Selbst was the chip leader," he said. We informed him that no, he was not hallucinating, he had indeed found the correct post and that Selbst was once again the overnight chip leader following a Day 3 that saw the field trimmed from 74 to the 24 that will unbag their chips in about thirty minutes' time. Today's mission? To play down to a final table of eight that could very well include defending champion Selbst. Stacked at 1,406,000, she has a 383,000 lead over second-in-chips Vincent Rubianes, the only other player who has crossed the seven-figure mark. For a full look at the chip counts and today's table draw, click over to the NAPT Mohegan Sun Day 4 seating assignments. We'll also be tracking the first day of the $10,000 Bounty Shootout, which is about to start its first flight over on the ESPN set. Stick around, it's going to be a jam-packed day of poker up here in the Connecticut woods. We'll be underway at Noon with 48 minutes remaining in Level 19.
Reporting team (in order of 12-oz. cocktails consumed last night): Kristin "change100" Bihr (2), Brad Willis (0). Photography: Joe Giron NAPT Mohegan Sun: Seeking second title, Selbst vaults to the chip lead 12/04/11 -
74 players returned to the felt for Day 3, 18 of them unfortunately departing without a penny to show for their work. Among them were Todd Terry, Greg Dyer, David Robinson, Ronnie Bardah, last season's 12th-place finisher Alan Sternberg, and Team Online's Andrew Brokos, whose pocket jacks fell to Andrew Weisner's ace-king. The bubble burst only a few minutes into Level 16. Nick Binger had already seen his pocket aces snapped off when four spades appeared on the board, making Adam Junglen the nut flush with [As][Qd]. The two tangoed again in the bubble hand, Binger getting his stack in before the flop with [Qs][Qh] against Junglen's [Ac][Jh]. Everything looked fine for Binger until an ace spiked on the river to crack his queens. "Bubbling builds character," Binger told us after the dust had settled. "I have this reserve of character that just keeps growing and growing." We wish we shared his zen attitude, as at least one of us has the tendency to hurl objects and punch walls in that very situation.
Three Team Pros survived the bubble-- Greg DeBora, Victor Ramdin, and defending champion Selbst. Our blonde Canadian friend was the first of them to depart, DeBora losing a race with pocket sixes against Christopher Kirkwood's ace-queen to go out in 49th place. Ramdin, after a trademark up-and-down day followed him out the door a short time later. Following an 18,000 under-the-gun raise from Joseph Gibbons, Adam Geyer called on the button and Ramdin put the squeeze on from the small blind, moving all-in for his last 53,500. Nenad Medic tanked for an age in the big blind before four-bet shoving for 206,000, a move that folded out both Gibbons and Geyer. Ramdin's [Tc][Td] couldn't catch Medic's [Jd][Js] and he exited in 31st place.
Aside from Vanessa Selbst's remarkable run at back-to-back titles, another one of the day's headlines belonged to Steve O'Dwyer. Down to only 10,000 in chips with an hour left to play on Day 2, O'Dwyer managed to grind his stack back up to the 108,700 he bagged up at the end of the night. Today, nothing could stop him. He started the day by doubling up through mega-stacked Aaron Overton with pocket aces again [Ah][Kc]. He knocked out Jesse Kremer when he flopped a set of sevens against [Ah][Qh] and did the same to Michael Quibble when he picked up pocket aces and Quibble shoved with sevens. With 36 players remaining, O'Dwyer lead the pack with 770,000 and finished Day 3 with a formidable 507,000.
O'Dwyer's reign at the top didn't last long. The bullet train that is Vanessa Selbst vaulted to 833,000 in chips after getting maximum value when she turned a straight with [7d][8d] against Jean-Phillippe Matte's pocket jacks. It wasn't quite the OMG she did WHAT moment like last night's five-bet shove with [4d][8d], but it sure did the job. For a while there, we thought the Day 3 chip lead would certainly belong to Vincent Rubianes, a man with a traffic-stopping head of hair who cashed this event last season in 71st place. Rubianes arrived this morning with an average stack and steadily built it all afternoon, reaching a high-water mark of 1.4 million after eliminating Ruben Costa in a million-chip pot. He'd play another one by night's end, this one a game-changer involving our defending champion. Olivier Busquet led off the action with a raise to 21,000. Rubianes three-bet to 55,000 before Selbst four-bet to 109,000 on the button. Busquet folded and Rubianes called. The flop fell [Tc][5d][2c] and Rubianes checked to Selbst, who bet 129,000. He made the call and they went to the turn which landed the [Jc]. Both players checked. The river was a fourth club, the [3c] and Rubianes checked a third time, leaving the door open for Selbst to bet 296,000. After a long, tortured tank, he made the call. Selbst turned over [Kc][Ks] for the second-nut flush and Rubianes mucked. The pot gave Selbst the chip lead with 1,406,000 while Rubianes slipped to 1,023,000, still good for second place.
We'll be back tomorrow at Noon when our 24 contenders play down to a final table of eight. If you missed any of the action today (or would just like to re-live it), click on either of the links below. Level 15-16 updates For a look at how much everyone bagged up tonight, check out the NAPT Mohegan Sun chip count page. To see where our dearly departed cash finishers ended their tournament, head over to the NAPT Mohegan Sun prizes and winners page. Multimedia nuts, look no further than PokerStars.tv for all your video needs. For a sneak peek of tomorrow's table draw, click over to the Day 4 seating assignments. That's all for now. There's some Chinese food and a karaoke bar waiting for us. All photography © Joe Giron/www.joegironphotography.com NAPT Mohegan Sun: Chris Tryba takes charge at end of day one 10/04/11 -
Players started with 30,000 chips, and by day's close Tryba had multiplied that almost six times. He finished with 173,400, which gives him some breathing room ahead of Jerry Wong, who has 165,000.
Tryba might not be a household name, but the man has form: he has listed tournament scores dating back to 2003 and won six figures in Atlantic City last month. He also took the last of Eugene Katchalov's chips, so he's hardly scared of tangling with the best. However this tournament is due to last four more days, and despite what seems to be happening at Augusta National at the moment, pillar-to-post winners are almost unheard of in this game. Perhaps it would be better to be in the chasing pack, from where portents are more favorable. At this time last year, the Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst was in second spot after day one and went on to win. Tonight, well what do you know? Another Vanessa - this time Vanessa Rousso - is in a similar position. She has 125,800 after a startling late charge vaulted her into the top echelons.
Ms Selbst isn't done yet, however. The defending champion remains in the hunt, with 87,600. And there are also three World Champions--Jonathan Duhamel (23,800), Joe Cada (18,400) and Carlos Mortensen (107,400)--still battling, alongside some of the other biggest names in the game.
Victor Ramdin, who was an early chip leader, has 123,300 at the end of the day's play. Jason Mercier, who won the Bounty Shootout last year, has 30,900. Team Pro Canada's Pat Pezzin (49,700) and Greg De Bora (41,200) are all still alive, as are Team Online's George Lind III (34,100) and Kevin Thurman.
All the overnight counts will be appearing on the chip-count page pretty soon. (They may even be there now.) And the full breakdown of what everyone is playing for is on the prizepool page. Play resumes at noon ET tomorrow, by which point you'll no doubt already be reading everything there is to read about the final table of EPT Berlin. You can revisit all the action from today with a couple of clicks below. Then come back to join us tomorrow. Goodnight. Levels 1-4 updates
All photography from Mohegan Sun is ©Joe Giron/www.joegironphotography.com. SuperStar Showdown: Round one goes to "urnotindangr" with a $5,245 win over Blom 04/04/11 -
The next 150 hands saw Palmer increase that margin to more than $50,000. Over on Table 3, Palmer opened for $300 with [Kd][Qc] and Blom defended his big blind with [Qs][3s]. Both hit the [Ks][Qd][8s] flop hard, Blom with middle pair and a flush draw against Palmer's top two pair. Blom checked, Palmer bet $400, Blom raised to $1,200 and Palmer called. The [2c] on the turn missed Blom, but nevertheless, he kept the pressure on and led out for $2,250. Palmer smooth-called, the [Kh] on the river making him the nut boat. Blom checked, Palmer shoved, and Blom called off the $6,350 he had left in his stack only to watch the $20,200 pot shipped across the table. As quickly as Palmer built his lead, Blom rebounded, reclaiming all his lost chips and then some over the next half-hour. Although in this hand Palmer flopped two pair against Blom's overpair, Blom caught a set on the river to take down this $32,100 pot: Palmer dropped a $23,900 pot when he three-bet shoved a [Ts][3s][2d] flop with [4h][5h], but couldn't fill his open-ended straight draw against Blom's pair of tens. Minutes later, Blom turned a two-outer of his own, his pocket kings making a set on a [Ad][8h][2d][Kh] board. Palmer check-called Blom's $1,400 bet with [Ah][9d], then checked the [5d] on the river. Blom moved all-in for $7,900 into the $4,400 pot and Palmer looked him up only to see the bad news. Blom evened the match when he won $20,800 preflop coinflip with pocket queens against Palmer's [Ad][Kh], then took an $11,025 lead after turning a six-high straight in another $20,000 pot. By the time one hour had ticked off the clock, Blom held a $22,050 advantage, having ground up $72,350 in just under 300 hands.
20 minutes later, Blom had nearly doubled his lead to $41,325. In a $27,550 pot, all the money went in on the river with the board reading [Ts][7s][Qd][Ad][Ks], Palmer rivering a Broadway straight with [Qc][Jc] while Blom made the nut flush with [As][8s]. Then, in a $16,000 pot, Blom got three streets of value with top two pair, Palmer check-calling to the river on a [Jh][6c][3h][Qc][9h] The swings just kept on coming through the middle third of the match. Blom ground his lead back up to $47,900 only to give up a significant chunk of those profits when Palmer flopped a set of eights against his pocket aces and got full value. Blom flopped his own set only a few hands later, but Palmer got there on the turn when he filled his open-ended straight draw. However, once again, Blom stormed back, turning a flush against Palmer's aces up in this $30,800 pot: After 1,507 hands, Blom was holding on to a $50,150 lead, but two simultaneous Palmer double-ups cut that margin in half. On a [Ks][6d][3s] flop, Blom check-called Palmer's $400 bet, then check-raised the turn when the [Ad] fell. Palmer looked him up and they went to the river, which fell the [7s]. Blom moved all-in and Palmer happily called off the $6,625 he had behind, having made the nut flush with [As][Js]. Blom could only show [3d][5d] and Palmer raked in the $22,350 pot. At the very same time, Blom made the very same move on Table 2, shoving the river with the board reading [Jh][Jc][4c][Kc][6d]. Palmer called and both players showed trip jacks, Palmer's [Ah][Js] outkicking Blom's [Jd][7d] for the $25,700 pot. Palmer continued grinding away at Blom, picking up a series of mid-sized pots that erased another $15,000 or so of his deficit. Just before the 1,700-hand mark, he moved back into the lead after getting his money in on a [Qh][6d][2d] flop with [2c][6s] against Blom's [Ad][3d]. Although Blom turned top pair, his flush and two pair outs missed on the river, the $23,000 pot giving Palmer a $10,675 overall lead. In yet another blink-and-you'll-almost-miss-it comeback, Palmer won $60,825 in only 164 hands, but Blom didn't let him sit on his lead for long. Six minutes later, Blom was back in the black to the tune of $18,525, thanks in large part to this 368 big blind pot. Holding $18,400 to Blom's $27,475 to start the hand, Palmer opened for $300. Blom three-bet to $1,100 and Palmer made the call. Blom led out for $1,300 on the [Ac][Qs][8c] flop and Palmer came along. The turn brought the [6d] and Blom fired again, making it $3,250 to go. Palmer called, and the [6h] hit the river. Blom checked, Palmer bet $8,400 of the $12,750 he had behind, Blom set him in and Palmer called off his remaining $4,300, turning over [6c][7c] for trips. They were no good as Blom revealed [8s][8h] in the hole and took down the $36,800 pot with eights full of sixes. Over the next 200 hands, Palmer switched gears and chipped away at Blom's lead via small-pot poker. Both players' stacks had grown quite deep-- there was $80,000 spread between them on Table 2 alone. As they crossed the 2,000-hand mark, Blom's smallest stack was the $16,200 he held on Table 3. Blom doubled that stack when he check-raised all-in on the turn holding [Kd][Qh] on a [Kh][6d][5s][7c] board and Palmer looked him up with [Kc][8c]. Palmer had outs to two pair and a straight, but missed on the river when the [As] fell. Although Palmer picked up a $19,600 pot when Blom made a triple-barrel bluff right into his trip sevens, closing the gap to $2,625, Blom went on another tear, picking up three five-figure pots over the next ten minutes, inlcuding this $29,700 hand: With 100 hands to go, and Blom hanging on to a $24,000 lead, the monsterpotten of the match unfolded. With $45,150 behind, Blom opened for $300 with [Ts][8d] and Palmer smooth-called with pocket fives and $29,425 in his stack. The [5c][2h][2d] flop gave Palmer a full house and he decided to slow-play it, checking over to Blom, who bet $500 with his unimproved ten-high. Palmer called, and the [7d] came on the turn. Palmer checked a second time and Blom decided to bluff another street, making it $1,400 to go. Palmer smooth-called. The river was the [4d] and Palmer decided to let Blom try and stab at the pot again. He checked, Blom bet $2,850, Palmer raised to $8,600, and still with an unimproved ten-high, Blom shoved for $42,950. Palmer snap-called $18,625 more, the $58,850 pot pushing him into the black by $5,075. In the closing hands of the match, the lead changed twice more. Although Blom pulled back out to a $8,025 advantage by hand 2,479, this match came right down to the wire, Palmer snapping off Blom's pocket aces when he turned trips with [Ad][3s] in a $16,000 pot to take an $8,725 lead. Blom managed to shave a few thousand off that total, Palmer finishing with a $5,425 profit after 2,500 hands. The two rivals offered a few parting words before departing to continue their Sunday grind: Isildur1: gg We're pretty sure Blom meant Sunday there, as Round Two of this SuperStar Showdown will commence in one week's time, on April 10 at 3:00pm EDT. If it's anything like this one, it should be a nail-biter to the end. Do join us again. And in the time it took us to compose this post, Scott Palmer won $490,000 playing PLO. That's just how he rolls. SuperStar Showdown: A resurgent Negreanu breaks Blom's streak, banks $26,500 28/03/11 -
Just call him KidComeback. Last week's SuperStar Showdown was nothing less than a disaster for Daniel Negreanu. A terrible run in all-in pots ended with all $150,000 of his challenge bankroll in Viktor "Isildur1" Blom's pockets after only 1,439 hands. What was supposed to be a two-part, 5,000-hand challenge looked to be over after only a few hours. But "KidPoker" wasn't finished with the 20 year-old Swedish wunderkind and was willing to put another $150k on the line for a rematch.
The rules were the same. Four tables of $50/$100 heads-up no-limit hold'em for 2,500 hands. And for a while there, the match unfolded in a shockingly similar fashion to last week's meeting. Blom played a dominating first half, claiming $120,000 of Negreanu's challenge bankroll within 1,300 hands. However, Negreanu turned it around in stunning fashion, mounting a comeback to finish $26,500 to the good and end Blom's five-game winning streak. 
Negreanu opened for his standard raise to $300, Blom three-bet to $1,000 and Negreanu called. Blom led out for $1,200 on the [5h][4h][2h] flop, Negreanu raised to $3,100, Blom shoved and Negreanu called, turning up [Jh][8h] for the flopped flush. Blom showed pocket jacks. The board paired with the [5d] on the turn and in a gut-wrenching three-outer, tripped on the river with the [5s], the $27,700 pot going to Blom with fives full of jacks. One hour into the match, Blom was not only winning the big pots, he was taking more than his fair share of the mid-sized pots as well, especially those that did not end in a showdown. Blom's natural aggression coupled with his signature move, the river overbet, was quite effective. As Blom's winnings crept past the $40,000 mark, Negreanu picked up [Ac][Kh] and called Blom's preflop five-bet shove. A 3 to 1 favorite over Blom's [As][Qs], Negreanu's tilt-meter started pushing into the red zone as a queen hit the flop and his nemesis dragged the $20,100 pot. "This is unreal," Negreanu wrote in the chat window. Negreanu did his best to quell the bleeding, not only by throwing the river overbet right back at Blom, but with some good old-fashioned soul-reading. In a $12,000 pot, Negreanu called Blom's river bet holding an unimproved [Ac][Kc] after correctly deducing that Blom was betting a busted draw. A few minutes later, Negreanu called Blom's opening raise, then check-called his $500 lead bet on a [Ks][3h][2c] flop. Negreanu check-called another $1,400 when the [Jd] hit the turn, and checked a third time when the [As] fell on the river. Blom shoved, setting Negreanu in for his remaining $8,700 and this time KidPoker couldn't call quickly enough, having rivered Broadway with [Qs][Td]. Blom could only show [4d][6s]. Although Negreanu was still down overall, things were starting to look up for the four-time bracelet winner. But as we all know, in no-limit hold'em, everything can turn around on a dime. Fifteen minutes and two preflop coolers later, Negreanu was down over $80,000. After five-bet shoving with pocket tens, he ran into Blom's pocket queens in a $22,500 pot, then made the same move with pocket jacks only to run into aces in a $41,900 pot. Negreanu was more than a little tilted. "You run insane against me," he wrote. "Yep its really insane," Blom replied. Negreanu scarcely had time to recover before another hand sent him reeling. All the money went in on a [Ad][Jc][6d] flop, Blom making the final raise and Negreanu calling all-in. Although Negreanu flopped top two pair with [Ac][Js], Blom's [Kd][3d] turned a flush when the [Qd] hit. The river blanked with the [3s] and another Negreanu buy-in sailed into Blom's stack, the damage now totaling $89,350 after 975 hands. A pretty reckless river call from Blom with bottom pair against a king-high flush yielded Negreanu a $39,500 pot and put a small dent in Blom's lead, but it only took Blom a few minutes to regain that lost ground... and then some. Negreanu dusted off another buy-in when his pocket kings ran into Blom's pocket aces in a preflop all-in, then got the last of his remaining chips on Table 4 in the middle with [As][Qc] against Blom's pocket threes. The board ran out so comically it... well, just see for yourself: Down $119,600 in 1,279 hands, things were looking grim for KidPoker. His remaining $30,000 was spread across three tables, his $10k stacks dwarfed by Blom's virtual towers. Could Negreanu really go broke again? And in even fewer hands than last week's match? The only thing Negreanu could do at this point was hope to double up while he still had enough chips left to do some damage. He did it on Table 2, pulling in a $17,600 pot when he made a better two pair than Blom, then did it again seconds later on Table 5 when his [Ac][8h] caught an ace on the flop against Blom's pocket nines. On Table 1, Blom tried to wrest control preflop, five-bet shoving for $27,550 over Negreanu's $2,400 four-bet. Holding [Jc][Ts], he clearly didn't want a call, but Negreanu happily pushed in $12,800 more with his pocket queens, which held up to win the $30,400 pot. Finally, just past the 1,500-hand mark, the money went in on a [Th][7s][6s] flop, Negreanu with [8d][9h] for the ten-high straight and Blom drawing to the same with [5s][9s]. No disasters on the turn or river and Blom suddenly found his lead cut in half. After a short break, Negreanu returned to the grind and insta-doubled his stack on Table 4. After calling Negreanu's preflop four-bet with [7h][9h], Blom shoved for $55,700 into the $4,400 pot when he hit middle pair on the [Tc][9c][4d] flop. Negreanu called off the $9,550 he had behind with [Kd][Kc] and the overpair held, shrinking Blom's lead to $55,000. Only a few hands later on the same table, Negreanu made another preflop four-bet and Blom came along with [Qd][Jh]. Blom hit top pair on the [Js][6c][5c] flop but just couldn't let it go, even when he encountered some serious resistance. Blom checked, Negreanu bet $3,100, Blom raised to $7,650, Negreanu shoved, and Blom called off his remaining $17,700. Negreanu revealed [Ah][As] and picked up the $56,300 monsterpotten. While that hand played out on Table 4, Negreanu was also busy doubling his stack on Table 5 when he picked off Blom's river bluff: Less than an hour after being down 80% of his buy-in, Negreanu trailed Blom by only $7,800. But with 842 hands to go, this roller-coaster ride was far from over. Blom regained a bit of traction when he took down back-to-back $20k pots on Table 5. In the first one, Negreanu tried to use Blom's own signature move against him, shoving for $23,550 on the river with the board reading [2c][5s][2h][3h][Js]. Although Negreanu had the best hand through the turn with [5h][9h], Blom called off the $5,800 he had behind having rivered top pair with [Qh][Jh]. On the next deal, Blom checked to the preflop raiser on the [Ac][Kh][9c] board. Negreanu bet $500, Blom raised to $1,600 and Negreanu called. The turn came the [2h] and Blom made it $2,650 to go. Negreanu looked him up and they went to the river which fell the [Kd]. Blom checked, Negreanu bet $5,800, and Blom came back over the top, moving all-in for $16,350. Negreanu let it go and Blom took down the $20,700 pot. With Blom back in the lead by $20,000 and 600 hands remaining, the largest pot of the match unfolded. On a [Kc][Kd][3s] flop, Negreanu check-raised Blom's $500 bet to $1,800 and earned a call. The turn came the [8s] and Negreanu decided to fire again, betting $3,100. Blom called and the [Qd] hit the river. Negreanu bet $7,100 and Blom moved all-in for $34,700. With $17,450 behind, Negreanu went into the tank, using almost his entire time bank before deciding to look him up with [Ks][Js]. Negreanu's trips were no good, though, as Blom turned a boat with [Kh][8c]. In a situation where most players would just snap-call, you've got to hand it to Negreanu for actually taking the time to really think over that river bet. Although Blom pulled out to a $46,650 lead after that pot, Negreanu went on another run over the next 20 minutes and closed the gap to $8,400. He even found a bit of "Isildur"-style run-good when he boated on the turn in this hand after Blom flopped a straight: With 350 hands remaining, Negreanu pulled out to his first lead of the match. On a [As][7c][5s][6h] board, Blom moved all-in for $6,400 holding [7d][8d] for second pair and a straight draw and Negreanu called with [Ah][8h] for top pair. The [8c] on the river improved KidPoker to aces up, good for the $20k pot and a $9,150 overall lead. This was truly anybody's match now and like a basketball playoff game, it would all come down to the last few possessions. The lead moved back and forth with nearly every hand until a massive cooler tipped the scales. This time, Blom was on the receiving end, getting his money in with a set of fours on a [Ts][9c][4d] flop only to run into Negreanu's set of tens. The $36,300 pot put Negreanu out front to the tune of $15,350, but Blom quickly caught back up when he flopped the nut flush and got full value on it when Negreanu rivered a straight. Back and forth, back and forth it went until the action was briefly paused on all four tables with only 38 hands to go. Negreanu took the time-out to make a little confession in the chat box. KidPoker: I was stuck like 120k at one point I think Those final hands saw only one all-in confrontation, Blom three-bet shoving on a [Qd][4s][3h] flop with [Ad][2h] and Negreanu making the call with [As][Qh]. There was no miracle wheel on the turn or river, which safely fell the [4d] and the [6d] to give Negreanu the $20,000 pot. As it turned out, KidPoker and Isildur1 played a couple of bonus hands, bringing the evening's total to 2,502 when the tables finally closed. And much to his surprise, the final tally was Negreanu +$26,500. Isildur1: gg, nice comeback! Negreanu scurried off to grab a celebratory cocktail to unwind, but not before offering his opponent quite the compliment. "Isildur is incredible. I hope to do a training lesson with him one day. He's the best." The SuperStar Showdown will return in one week with the first installment of another 5,000-hand, two-part match. Blom's next opponent? None other than nosebleed-stakes cash game fixture Scott 'urnotindangr' Palmer. Join us next Sunday, April 3 for what should be a thrilling, heads-up master class. ***= The doomswitch does not exist. Really. It's not in Negreanu's bathroom, you paranoid sickos. SuperStar Showdown: Blom beats qualifier DodgyFish72 by one big blind 28/02/11 -
You read that right. One big blind. A ten-spot. ?7.29. Dinner for two at Taco Bell. Considering Blom was up more than $10,000 at one point, Gulcsik's final result was nothing short of miraculous.
While the format of the SuperStar Showdown remained the same-- 2,500 hands of heads-up no-limit hold'em played across four tables-- the blinds were set at $5/$10 rather than the usual $50/$100. Gulcsik was staked $15,000 for the match; he'd keep whatever remained of his challenge bankroll at the end of the session plus any profits. There was also a special $10,000 bonus at stake for either player if they managed to win their opponent's entire $15k.  Gulcsik got off to a strong start, doubling up twice within the first twenty minutes. On Table 1, the money went in on a [Ad][4h][2d] flop, both players holding top pair with Gulcsik's [Ac][Qs] outkicking Blom's [Ah][Tc]. Then, on Table 3, Gulcsik check-raised the river on a [Qs][Th][6s][5c][5h] board with queens up, Blom paying him off with tens and fives. As these two felt each other out, it quickly became apparent that Blom was playing this one fast and loose, fearlessly building large pots preflop with holdings like small suited gappers. Here's a prime example, as Blom's aggressive preflop action slowed Gulcsik down despite decent board texture for his pocket tens: Although Gulcsik held a $1,323 lead at the end of the first half-hour, Blom quickly began to assume control over the match and pulled even when he scored a double-up on Table 4. Holding pocket threes, Blom opened for his standard 3x raise to $30 and Gulcsik three-bet to $110 with [8d][9d]. Blom called, hitting bottom set on the [Kd][9s][3d] flop. Gulcsik led out for $125 with middle pair and a flush draw and Blom called. The turn was the [Th] and Gulcsik fired another $250. Blom looked him up. Gulcsik moved in for $515 when the [8c] on the river made him two pair and Blom called, taking down the $2,000 pot. Near the 500-hand mark, Blom caught the first wave of a tsunami of run-good that propelled him to a substantial early-match lead. Following a $20 opening raise from Gulcsik, Blom three-bet to $80 holding [Ah][6d] and Gulcsik made the call with [Jd][9d]. Gulcsik hit top pair on the [Jh][5h][2s] flop, but played it a little coy, smooth-calling Blom's $100 lead bet. Blom got what Tony G would call an "ace from space" on the turn, the [Ac] falling to give him the advantage. Blom bet $220 and Gulcsik called. The [6s] on the river made Blom aces up and he got full value on his hand, setting Gulcsik all-in for $745 and earning a call. Five minutes later, Gulcsik caught the the bad end of a cooler. In a $2,800 pot, Gulcsik flopped top pair with [Qc][Js], but Blom had him outkicked with [Ks][Qs]. Then, Gulcsik got his money in good, three-bet shoving a [Th][7h][4s] flop holding [As][Ts]. Blom called with [Tc][5c] only to receive another blessed turn card, the [5s], to make him two pair. The river blanked with the [9h] and after 634 hands, Blom's lead grew to $5,076. With 25% of the hands complete, Blom had already laid claim to more than a third of Gulcsik's challenge bankroll. In another suckout of epic proportions, Blom hit a runner-runner straight to win a $2,300 pot after getting his money in with a dominated hand: Blom grew his lead to $6,300 over the next 250 hands and padded it even further with this pot. While Blom was deep-stacked on every table, Gulcsik could only say the same about the $3,300 he held to start this hand on Table 1. Holding [Qh][Th], Gulcsik opened for $20 and Blom three-bet to $80 with pocket kings. Gulcsik called and they saw a [Ks][Jd][3c] flop. Blom led out for $100 with top set and Gulcsik called with his open-ended straight draw. The turn brought the [2d] and Blom fired again, making it $220 to go. Gulcsik went for the big ammo and shoved for $3,121 total, Blom calling all-in for $1,095. Gulcsik did not find any of his outs on the river and had his lone deep stack halved. With close to 1,000 hands in the books, Blom was up $8,871. Although Gulcsik caught a whiff of run-good when his nut flush draw came in against Blom's set in a $2,200 pot, he quickly lost it back on Table 4 when his [As][Kd] did not improve against Blom's pocket sixes in a preflop all-in. Following that hand, Gulcsik's stack auto-reloaded to only $573, indicating that his entire challenge bankroll was active. Fortunately, Gulcsik was able to double that short stack relatively quickly when his [As][Qc] held up against Blom's [Kd][Td]. Blom did not let up in the least, however, and in this hand, picked a good spot for a river shove. He might have had the nuts, it might have been a bluff, but whatever it was, it got Gulcsik to give up his hand: Two hours into the match, things went from bad to worse for Gulcsik. Holding [Qh][8h], Gulcsik opened for $20, Blom three-bet to $80 with [Ac][Kc], Gulcsik came back over the top for $230 and Blom called. The flop came down [Tc][3d][2d] and Blom check-called Gulcsik's $240 continuation bet. The turn was the [2c], giving Blom the nut flush draw. He checked it, and rather than firing a second bullet, Gulcsik shut down and checked behind. The [Qc] on the river made things interesting, however; Blom made the nut flush while Gulcsik hit top pair. Blom went for his signature river overbet, moving all-in for $3,115 and Gulcsik called off the $1,385 he had behind. After raking in that pot, Blom was up by $10,768...and they weren't even halfway through. With only $4,232 left in his challenge bankroll, Gulcsik was forced to split one of his stacks to keep the action going on all four tables and the rail began started setting lines on how many more hands it would take for Blom to clean him out. Perhaps that lit the fire Gulcsik needed to get himself out of this hole because in the next 15 minutes he managed to recoup 40% of his losses. It started when Blom opened for a min-raise to $20 and Gulcsik made the call. Gulcsik checked the [Qc][9c][7s] flop over to Blom, who bet $40. Gulcsik raised to $140 and Blom called. The turn came the [6h] and Gulcsik led out for $260. Blom quickly called and they went to the river which fell the [8s]. Gulcsik bet $650, Blom shoved, and Gulcsik called off the $670 he had behind, turning up [Jd][Ts] for a queen-high straight. Blom could only show a ten-high straight with [Ks][Th] and Gulcsik raked in the $3,480 pot. Over on Table 5, Gulcsik four-bet his pocket jacks before the flop and Blom looked him up with [4d][5d]. The flop came down [8s][5h][3d] and Blom tried to blast Gulcsik out of the pot, check-raising his $220 bet to $670. Gulcsik responded with a three-bet shove to $1,800 and Blom tossed in his last $140 to see what he was up against. The jacks held through the [3c] on the turn and the [2s] on the river to cut Blom's overall lead to $6,076 after 1,367 hands. The more Blom's profit shrunk, the more he seemed willing to gamble. After all, these aren't giant stakes for the "King of Swing." Witness this hand, the largest in the match thus far: Only five hands later an even larger pot developed on the same table when Gulcsik picked up [Ac][As] and five-bet preflop. Blom called with [Kc][9s] and hit trips when the flop came [Kh][Ks][3s]. Gulcsik made a cautious play, check-calling Blom's $560 bet. However, Gulcsik got his own ace from space on the turn, the [Ah] falling to give him a full house. Gulcsik checked, Blom moved all-in for $1,435, and Gulcsik snap-called, the river blanking out with the [4s] to give him the $5,550 pot. Blom's overall lead was shaved to only $2,351. Over the next stretch of hands Gulcsik was imbued with a bit more luck than he'd previously enjoyed, at least when it came to all-in confrontations. Gulcsik got his money in on the turn with two pair and was called by Blom with a straight only to boat up on the river. A few minutes later, Gulcsik five-bet shoved preflop with [Ah][Jd] and Blom called with [As][Kd], only to have a jack miraculously appear on the river. Before Gulcsik could really get on a roll, Blom decided to change gears. Translation? Gamboooool. Blom ran well in the ensuing flurry of preflop all-ins. He called a six-bet shove with [8c][9c] against Gulcsik's [Ah][Qs] and rivered a nine to win a $4,720 pot. He called a four-bet shove holding [Ah][7d] against Gulcsik's pocket eights (the eights held for $2,250), and with the almighty [3s][7s], he stacked off against Gulcsik's [As][Jd], rivering a three on the [Kc][Kh][Qc][2c][3d] to felt his opponent. It was so ugly Blom apologized in the chat box. Isildur1: ouch sry Stacks were split. Tables were changed. The rail went beserk. Forum threads erupted. Three-seven suited, really? With 500 hands left to play, Blom was up by nearly $5,000 and Gulcsik's hopes of turning a profit were fading fast. That's when all hell broke loose. Over the next 15 minutes, there were no fewer than 12 all-in pots. Nine were preflop all-ins and Gulcsik turned over the best hand each time. [Ad][Kh] against [Kc][5c]. Pocket nines against [5s][7s]. [Ad][Qc] against [As][7d]. Pocket eights against [Ks][6s]. Blom was unabashedly gambling and got as many chips as he could in the middle as fast as he could. Gulcsik won all but one of those nine preflop all-ins and when things finally settled down, Blom's lead was cut to $2,466. The game tempo slowed down dramatically during the final 200 hands. Since Gulcsik would be able to keep whatever remained of his challenge bankroll at the end of the match, it was in his best interest to tighten up a bit and preserve what he had left. Blom, however, was still in a gambling mood and when he three-bet shoved for $1,065 over a $20 opening raise, Gulcsik made the call with [Ah][Qs]. Blom's pocket fours held up though the turn on a [Td][2c][5c][Jh] board, but the [Kc] spiked on the river to make Gulcsik's Broadway straight. Only moments later on the same table, Blom got another 100 big blinds in the middle. Gulcsik four-bet shoved and Blom called with [Ad][Td] only to run into pocket jacks. The fishhooks held and Gulcsik took it down. In an ending that couldn't have been more perfectly scripted, Blom open-shoved on the final hand and Gulcsik folded. Little did either of them know that the $10 big blind that Blom stole would represent his entire profit for the 2,500-hand match. The fifth edition of the SuperStar Showdown ended in a draw and Gulcsik pocketed the $14,990 that remained in his challenge bankroll. Before departing the tables, Blom had some kind words for his opponent. Isildur1: GG Attila "DodgyFish72" Gulcsik is a recreational poker player who works for a pharmaceutical company. He described Blom as a "very talented player" who adapts well to his opponents' styles and is capable of switching gears quickly. He was realistic about his chances in this match, stating "my main goal is to try and play well without making huge mistakes. It is obvious that I am a huge underdog as Viktor has significantly more experience being one of the best in the field of heads-up cashgames." This time, even though David didn't defeat Goliath, it sure feels like he won. |
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