PokerStars $350,000 Guarantee results 5/1/05

PokerStars' Sunday $350,000 Guarantee drew a star-studded final table with a few quickly recognizable screen names. It took just a little more than an hour to winnow the field from nine down to the winner.


Click here for a larger image taken just shortly after the final table began

Chrisnada came to the final table with one of the shortest stacks and needed to double up quickly. When C.K., a successful Brazilian player who did very well at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, raised three times the 40,000 big blind to 120,000, chrisnada moved in the remainder of his 262,349 stack. C.K. called and chrisnada turned up KK to best C.K.'s QJ suited.

MommaGood2 soon fell victim to Springfield's own Mr. Burns' dastardly ways. When Mr. Burns made it 160,000 to go, MommaGood2 pushed in the rest of her 442,476 in chips. Mr. Burns called with A9s. At first it might not have appeared Mr. Burns would send MommaGood2 home. She held AQs. While the board brought an ace and queen, it also brought two nines and sent MommaGood2 home to the children with $6158.40.

Lee's quip: "Momma, that was bad. Good game!"

C.K.'s stack was not looking very good and he needed to pick up a hand. Keeping with his standard three-times the big blind raise, C.K. made it 120,000 to go. Player jaaj pushed in the rest of his stack, a full 950,520 with AJ, and C.K. immediately called, showing two aces. C.K.'s hand held up and he began his run to the bigger money.

Shortly thereafter, C.K. would give up about half his stack in an ill-fated attempt to push Dudley33 off his pair of sixes. C.K. only had jack-high and Dudley scored about half a million chips.

Not long after that, Dudley took a nice pot off Buster Love hitting his king-high flush at just the right time. His good fortune would continue. Under the gun, he put in the minimum raise with JJ and got a call from sharkbite09 who sat in the big blind. The flop came out 5h Tc Qd. Sharkbite09 checked and Dudley33 put out a pot-sized bet. Sharkbite09 raised for the rest of his stack. Dudley33 called for 145,361 more and sharkbite09 showed KQ for top-pair king kicker. What looked like a sure win for sharkbite09 turned into a loss when the turn and river came 8 and 9 for the runner-runner straight.

Sharkbite99 left in eighth place for $9.750.80.

Lee's quip: "Oooh Shark - you just got bit :-( But you get about $10K worth of chum. Good match."

Chrisnada could only hold on for so long. Just a couple of hands later, chrisnada called all-in against a massive raise from ramco. Chrisnada held TT to ramco’s AA. Again, the aces held up and chrisnada left in seventh place with $14,369,60.


Lee's quip: "It's not nada Chris - it's $14K - nice game!"

Jaaj was the next to go, getting all his chips in pre-flop with A6. He ended up facing ramco’s JJ and didn’t improve. Jaaj left in sixth place with $19,501.60.

Lee's quip: "jaaj, you didn't run into aa, but you ran into jj. But you get $19K to enjoy. Congrats!"

C.K. and Mr. Burns soon went to battle with nearly equal chip stacks. In a battle of the blinds, C.K. moved all in from the small blind with a pair of fives. Mr. Burns held A2o and didn’t improve on the board. The battle crippled Mr. Burns. He later pushed in the rest of his chips with K5o. C.K. called with KJ and paired his jack on the turn, sending Mr. Burns back to Springfield in fifth place with $23,607.20, and opening the door to the best quip of the night from Lee Jones.

Lee's quip: "Smithers! Bring my car! And put this $23K in the trunk."

While C.K. had battled his way up to fourth place, it would be as far as he would go. With more than a million in chips, C.K. called a minimum pre-flop raise from Dudley33. The flop came down Jh Ks 3c. Dudley33 bet out 200,000 and C.K. pushed in the rest of his stack, 919,850. As it turned out, C.K. had an open-ended straight draw with QTo. Dudley had a made hand, a pair of tens. C.K. couldn’t get there and left in fourth place for $29,765.60.

Lee's quip "Good match CK - you can go buy some jeans with $30K"

There ensued a three-way battle that was long, sometimes confusing, and occasionally controversial. It was some of the more confusing hands that took ramco from 265,470 in chips (to Dudley33’s 2,985,491 and Buster Love's 3,164,039) up to a point where he could finally make his way into second place.

The final hand before heads up play saw Dudley33, reduced to 651,021 in chips, move all in from the small blind with 82o. Ramco called from the big blind with A4s and sent Dudley33 out on his horse in third place with $37,976.80.

Lee's quip: "Dudley - you and Nell jump on that horse of yours and you can head out with $38K! Great game."

Although ramco was able to battle back to a strong position, he couldn’t hold off the experience and cards held by Buster Love. On the final hand, Buster Love put in a huge raise and ramco came over the top all in for 2,219,961 with A6s. Buster called with AKo. The board contained an ace, but Buster Love had the better kicker.

Ramco finished in second for $61,584. Buster Love took home a cool $102,640.

Final table results

1. Buster Love (Alexandria, CA) $102,640.
2. ramco (Northampton, GB) $61,584
3. Dudley33 (San Diego, CA) $37,976.80
4. C.K. (Rio de Janeiro, BR) $29,765.60
5. Mr Burns (Springfield, CA) $23,607.20
6. jaaj (Boston, MA) $19,501.60
7. chrisnada (Ada, OK) $14,369,60
8. sharkbite09 (West Paterson, NJ) $9.750.80
9. MommaGood2 (Randolph, MA) $6158.40

Congratulations to all the players.