To some folks, the possibility of ending their Sunday afternoon of poker with a $150,000 profit may not seem like that big of a deal. I'd like to meet those folks. I could use a new set of tires on my car.

For nine PokerStars players, that possibility became a face-slapping reality Sunday night in our monthly $500,000 guarantee. In fact, with a field of nearly 1400 players, the total prize pool jumped to a mind-numbing $695,500.

After several hours of battle, the final table of nine looked like this.


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FM_103 came to the table with a painfully short stack. His prospects for making it to the bigtime money seemed slim. And so it happened that he ended up tangling with muchajka, the chip leader. FM_103 got all in with AK vs. muchajka's A4. With an ace on the flop and no four on the board, FM_103 doubled through and put himself in a position to see some of the bigger money.

It appeared as though muchajka would double up another player when Richfngr called all-in against muchjka's raise. Richfngr held A4o and muchajka held JTs. The flop, 393, looked favorable for Richfngr, but a jack came on the turn and sent Richfngr packing in ninth place for a $10,432.50 payday.

Northerngent found new life shortly thereafter. Muchajka raised preflop from 30,000 to 120,000. -acrusher- called the raise. Northerngent, seeing a lot of money on the pot, offered "here we go lol" and called for the remainder of his chips, 52,332.

The flop came down Js6d8c. Muchjka came in for 150,000 and -acrusher- moved over the top all in for 727,056. Muchjka folded, leaving the pot for northerngent and -acrusher-. When the cards turned up, it looked like -acrusher- would take it all down with his AJ. -acrusher only held JT of clubs, but runner-runner clubs handed northerngent the flush and tripled him up.

That left souspview as the shortest stack at the table. He doubled through muchjka once, but couldn't hold out much longer. He moved in a few hands later with A8s but ran into brainwash's pair of eights. An ace never appeared on the board and soupsview left in eighth place for $15,996.50.

Anyone familiar with PokerStars PokerRoom Manager Lee Jones will know he is famous (perhaps, infamous?) for his very punny final table quips. Soupsview was treated to the first real quip of the night.

Lee's quip: "$16K will buy you a lot of Campbells, you know?"

It's a soup joke, folks.

Mr Swatch was the next to go. With the blinds at 20,000/40,000/2000, Mr Swatch pushed in the remainder of his 354,071 stack wih a pair of fives. Muchajka called with a pair of nines and Mr Swatch never improved.

Lee's quip: "Looks like you're out of time, Mr Swatch. But $22K - that'll get you a Rolex. Good match!"


That was a watch joke, by the way.

Northerngent could only hold on for so long. After posting the 40,000 big blind, northerngent faced a 40,000 raise from FM_103 in the small blind. Northerngent re-raised all-in to a mere 100,996 and FM_103 called. Northerngent showed J6. Bad luck, as it turned out, as FM_103 had Q6. A flop of TT6 offered the possibility of a chopped pot, but the big cards never materialized and northerngent left in sixth place for $29,906.

Next came the hand that turned the tables for the night. The table folded around the brainwash in the small blind who simply called for another 20,000. Muchjka raised and made it 20,000 to go. Brainwash would have none of that and pushed in his remaining chips, a whopping 895,579. Muchajka called. Brainwash showed a surprising K6o. Muchjka showed AJs. The board put out two sixes, though, handing trips and 1.8 million chip pot to brainwash.

Muchjka, the one-time chipleader, was crippled. He battled hard and doubled though three times while holding an ace. Ultimately, though, he couldn't fully recover an ended up ending it all against the man who took most of his chips.

Brainwash raised from the small blind, making it 200,000 to go. Muchjka came over the top, pushing in his entire 604,496 stack. This time, muchjka didn't have the ace. He held KJo. Brainwash, though, had ATo and paired his ace on the flop. Muchjka left in fifth place for $36,861.

At that point, the contest became brainwash's to lose.

-acrusher- was the next unfortunate soul to run up against brainwash. Brainwash raised pre-flop with KQo and -acrusher- moved in with AJ. It looked good for -acrusher- all the way until the river when a queen came down and sent -acrusher- out in fourth place for $45,207.50.

Lee's quip: "Oof - tough river to get crushed on, aj. But $45K - wow! Good game"

Finally, FM_103, who had arrived at the table with one of the shorter stacks, departed. He got his chips in with the best hand, a pair of sevens, but suffered the same fate as -acrusher-, as brainwash called with KQ and flopped a queen. Lasting until third place grossed FM_103 $61,204.

Lee's quip: "Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen! This is FM_103 signing off, to go party with my $61K. Good night."


To deal or not to deal...
(Forgive me, Hamlet is on HBO)

Down to heads-up play, brainwash immediately offered wedlowjones a deal. Brainwash had a sizable chiplead going into heads up play (not quite 3:1)and offered to buy wedlowjones out for $20,000 more than second place money.

There ensued a long debate that often came down to whether brainwash would offer a few more thousand in the chop.

Finally, wedlowjones said, "Let's just play it. Ninety is fine with me."

Lee confirmed, "Okay wedlow - you want me to restart?"

Wedlowjones was sure. "Fire'em up," he typed.

It remained to be seen whether wedlowjones could overcome brainwash's lead. A few times wedlowjones climbed above the one million mark in chips, but he could never find the right nails to close the coffin. As much as that was true, every time it seemed as through brainiwash was about to put wedlowjones away, wedlowjones would battle back. It was a fine heads-up battle.

As always, it came down to one hand. Brainwash held 2.17 million in chips. Wedlowjones had 1.3 million. Brainwash called from the small blind, wedlowjones raised to 160,000, and brainwash called. The flop came down 6h2dAs. Wedlowjones bet out 180,000 and brainwash simply called. The turn brought Kh. Wedlowjones checked and brainwash bet 400,000. Wedlowjones took that opportunity to move all in for 964,448. Brainwash called almost immediately with A4h. Brainwash had top pair with the flush draw. Wedlowjones only had KQs and never improved.

In the end, wedlowjones left in second place for $93,892. That left all of the first place prize to San Clemente, California's brainwash, who cashed for an amazing $159,965.

And that left room for one more quip. It was almost Homer-esque (Homer Simpson, that is).

DOH! King of references, Lee Jones, beat me on this one. Mea culpa. It was "Pinky and the Brain."

Lee's quip: "And, brain, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Congratulations to all the players.

Here are your final results for the evening.

4/24/05 Sunday $500K Final Table Results

1) brainwash (San Clemente, CA) $159,965
2) wedlowjones (Hermosa, CA ) $93,892
3) FM 103 (Morrison, CO) $61,204
4) -acrusher- (Pender, VA) $45,207.50
5) muchakja (Coral Springs, FL) $36,861
6) northerngent (Harrison, NY) $29,906
7) Mr Swatch (Charlottenlund, DK) $22,951.50
8) soupsview (Oldham, GB) $15,996.50
9) Richfngr (Lakewood, CA) $10,432.50