$100,000 and there’s no amount of money that can be spent to enter this tournament. The monthly Turbo Takedown is proof that you can make some serious money with those Frequent Player Points (FPPs). If getting the 5,000 FPPs while playing cash games and SnGs is too much, consider hitting up the many satellites to enter this tournament. The 4,000 people who cashed tonight for at least $90.00 were happy they did. Even happier are the final nine who will play for that $100,000 first prize.
Here’s how they stacked up going into final table play:
Wow, first hand of the final table and blood was already being spilt. R|P(URL raised two off the button with the second biggest stack at the table for 248,000. With blinds at 50,000/100,000 ante 10,000, PanTangTyger shoved from the small blind for 1,143,860 as the chip leader pokerMJ got out of the way in the big blind. R|P(URL made the call leaving 4,758,156 behind and saw his Ah-Jd far behind the Ad-Qc for PanTangTyger. But, a solid heart flop of 4h-Jh-8h not only turned the tide in R|P(URL’s direction it left PanTangTyger with just two outs due to the flush redraw. The Ks and Kh on the turn and river gave R|P(URL the nut flush and bounce PanTangTyger quickly from the final table with $5,500.00 in ninth place.
Twenty hands later the short stack of wellin.171 went into the pot versus tpir90036. After wellin.171 opened the betting UTG for 360,000 with blinds at 50,000/100,000 ante 10,000, tpir90036 repopped from the small blind for 960,000. wellin.171 then shoved his remaining 1,684,798 which prompted a lightning quick call by tpir90036 who covered and left 2,428,896 behind. The suited big slick (Ah-Kh) for wellin.171 looked good, but the pocket kings (Kc-Ks) of tpir90036 outshone the suited slick. The board of Tc-5h-7d-4d-7s did not overcome the huge pre-flop deficit and wellin.171 will have to settle for gellin with the $10,000.00 he received in eighth place.
Three hands later when the blinds rose to 60,000/120,000 ante 12,000 the table folded around to the chip leader pokerMJ and he decided to play some big stack poker and press Pikhouweel all-in preflop. But, Pikhouweel saw thru the chip leader’s guise and made the call with his remaining 1,953,670 chips. The As-Jh for Pikhouweel was ahead of pokerMJ’s 9h-8s for the moment. A flop of Qs-9c-Td hit both players as Pikhouweel fell slightly behind with an open ended straight draw and two overcards versus pokerMJ’s pair of nines. No love came on the 5d turn or the 9d river giving pokerMJ trips and rolling Pikhouweel home in seventh place, good for $15,000.00
It’s not called the Turbo Takedown for nothing, as just four hands later our sixth place finisher was named. As with the last elimination, the hand folded around to R|P(URL still second in chips with 7,119,876 in the small blind as he raised to 360,000 with blinds still at 60,000/120,000 ante 12,000 into Atika. Only having a little over ten big blinds left, Atika shoved his remaining 1,361,184 chips into the middle and was quickly called by R|P(URL holding Ad-Qh. Atika’s attempt to re-steal with Qc-9h was exposed and the board changed nothing, running out: 5s-6s-Kd-As-9c sending Atika home to Budapest with a lot of something for nothing, $20,000 to be exact for sixth place.
For the next twenty hands only two hands saw any cards even put on the board as uh_oh64’s stack was taking hits from the fast play and increasing blinds to 70,000/140,000 ante 14,000. Facing a 320,000 UTG chip raise from mement_mori, uh-oh64 was next to act and shoved his remaining 1,608,726 chips hoping this was another hand to be decided pre-flop with Ad-Ts. pokerMJ had other plans as the chip leader woke up in the big blind and overshoved for over ten million chips. The original raiser, mement_mori didn’t want to dance and bowed out as pokerMJ flipped up pocket nines (9c-9s) for a race. The turn of 3h-3d-4h-5d gave some more life to uh_oh64 who could add any deuce to a ten or an ace as outs on the river. Sadly, the ten outer did not hit, as the 6h fell and the pocket nines of pokerMJ earned him the 3.6 million chip pot while uh_oh64 had to be consoled with the $25,000 he just won in fifth place.
Mostly pre-flop play occurred over the 90,000/180,000 ante 18,000 level and saw mement_mori surge from four million in chips to nine million. Then with four minutes remaining in the blind level he tangled with chip leader pokerMJ. pokerMJ raised from the button for 360,000 and mement_mori responded with a re-raise from the small blind to 1,250,000. tpir90036 found another things to do in the big blind and folded, while pokerMJ four-bet all-in for 9.5 million, mement_mori quickly called all-in while pokerMJ still had 561,592 behind:
pokerMJ Ts-Th
mement_mori Ah-Kd
Two big hands for the biggest pot of the tournament and big slick fell on the flop for mement_mori as the board read Ad-Ks-3s-5d-8s giving mement_mori two pair and the huge 18 million chip pot while leaving the former chip leader with scraps. Those scraps would be shipped to R|P(URL on the very next hand and pokerMJ who lead most of the final table bowed out in fourth place banking $32,500.00
Sitting between the two big stacks, tpir90036, fought valiantly like his avatar Link from the Zelda series of games. Several raises pre-flop bought another around of blinds, but his 3.7 million in chips compared to the 18 million for mement_mori and 11.5 million of R|P(URL was small and getting smaller. Blinds at 90,000/180,000 ante 18,000 tpir90036 raised from the button for 540,000 and was met by an all-in shove by mement_mori. tpir90036 made the call for his remaining 3.2 million showing Ad-9d building a pot of 7.6 million with pocket deuces (2c-2d) for the chip leader who still had 15 million behind. A huge flop of 3s-7d-6d for tpir90036 gave him the nut flush draw and two overcards for the win, but Princess Zelda’s hero did not get there as the Jh and Qc ran out the remainder of the board. tpir90036 will return to Hyrule (or Baltimore) with $40,000 extra to show in his third place effort.
Deals for the remaining prize money did not pass but a few lines of text, as heads-up play started with the bird avatars pecking for the biggest chunk of the $160,000 left:
mement_mori: 22,797,573
R|P(URL: 11,552,427
R|P(URL would pull even with mement_mori after the blinds hit 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000 and R|P(URL sniffed out a 2.5 million chip bluff by mement_mori on the river of a board showing 5s-6d-Kh-7s-4s. R|P(URL showed the eight high straight as mement_mori flashed the Jc-Tc for air and the two were virtually even in chips.
Several hands later R|P(URL took the lead 19 million to 15 million and the knockout blow came with the following hand as R|P(URL opening the betting from the button with a 600,000 chip raise. mement_mori responded with a re-raise to 1.8 million, which was topped by this Jenga building blocks of re-raises by R|P(URL for 5.4 million. A call for time was made by mement_mori who went all in for 15 million and was quickly called by R|P(URL:
R|P(URL Ah-Kd
mement_mori As-Qd
The board of 9d-6h-Th-3s-Kh gave R|P(URL a pair of kings as his preflop advantage was never questioned and R|P(URL became this month’s Turbo Takedown champion! mement_mori’s strong aggressive play bowed out as the runner-up and received $60,000 for his efforts. With no deal in place, R|P(URL received the entire $100,000
467 Sit and Go champions for the past month gathered today for the biggest share of the monthly Battle of the Planets giveaway. The players earned their way to the triple shootout with a $50,000 prizepool by winning a weekly race for points by playing a certain amount of SnG tourneys of ANY amount. No need to be a high roller for the shot at today’s $12,500 top prize, just manage to acquire enough points on your planet for a week and you’re in whether you are playing $3.30 SnGs or $5,000 ones!
Everyone who won their first table received $195.00; the final nine are assured $775.00. roo_400 won his table early on and has some very impressive MTT wins at the $55 level, also taking down a $215 tournament here last year good for $13,824. slip_18_ and Action Wub stretched the search for the final seat out for nearly 20 minutes past the rest of the table, and Action Wub came out on top after several all-ins by both players.
Here’s how the final table started out as all players start with the same amounts on the third leg of the triple shootout:
Just like last month, talks of a $4,000 split between the nine players began as soon as they were congratulated for reaching the final table. This time the talks were shut down before they really gained any ground as we continued to play towards the $12,500 first prize.
The first few blind levels saw some chip poking but true to a formula seen in the past few months for these events, the action simply shipped the smaller chips from side-to-side with no clear cut chip leader heading from 10/20 blinds to 15/30 blind levels.
At the first break tron42 started out to a small chip lead at 2,060 chips with 25/50 blinds coming up 12 minutes after the break, followed by Mell15 at 1,760 and Einoeloclee at 1,550 from the starting chip stack of 1,500.
Mid-way thru the 50/100 blinds level the final nine continue with the gnat bites at each other’s ankles with pre flop raises taking down the blinds or a quick three-bet making the original raiser duck for cover. tron42 has added to his lead chipping up to 3,305 and only Mell15 with 700 in chips felt any pressure from the increasing blinds.
Mell15’s tiny stack was the first to go from our final nine. The SpongeBob avatar could not soak up a win in a race with roo_400 for his last 500 chips. Blinds sitting at 50/100 and only five big blinds, Mell15 shoved from UTG with Ad-Qc and roo_400 got everyone else out of the way from one off the button by over-shoving for 1,775 in chips with 8h 8c. The board on the turn offered some counterfeiting outs while showing Jh-5c-Jd-9d but the 3h on the river gave the pot to roo_400. Mell15 returned to the pineapple under the sea with his newly acquired $775.00 in ninth place.
da ItchY 84 took a big blow while shoving for 1,090 in chips UTG with the blinds at 75/150. The table turbo folded as fast as Action Wub in the big blind called. As-9s for da ItchY 84 and pocket queens Qc-Qh for Action Wub. A flush draw nor an ace came on the board and da ItchY 84 was crippled with just 175 chips and facing the big blind of 150 on the next hand. Jack Straus won the World Series of Poker with his famous chip-and-a-chair and in the following two hands da Itchy 84 managed to climb back into contention by winning back-to-back all-ins and chipping up to 925 chips.
natefive saw an opening for some free chips as the table folded around to his small blind with blinds at 100/200 while holding just 1,080 after paying his blind dues. Open shoving into Einoeloclee who was sitting with 1,425 in chips. The rhino avatar woke up with some big horns and called immediately with pocket queens (Qh-Qd). Meekly natefive turned over his bluff of 8s-2h, the flop showed no love: Ks-Jh-4d but the turn gave natefive some outs with the 8c. But, no trips or deuce on the river meant natefive’s time was up in eighth place, taking home $1,200.00
The next victim of da ItchY 84’s comeback was superbrian5. With the blinds still at 100/200 da ItchY 84 shoved his suddenly relevant chip stack of 1,250 while open shoving from the button. roo_400 left his small blind, but superbrian5 called with only 690 chips after paying the big blind with pocket sevens (7s-7h). da ItchY 84’s Jd-Th was behind for exactly two seconds as the flop showed 8c-6d-Jc to give da ItchY 84 a big lead in the race. The 6h and Kc on the turn and river left the super one with nothing but air and $1,700.00 in seventh place.
Everyone at this final table is probably scratching from the da ItchY 84’s continued comeback as he collected yet another pelt. This time doucheburger found himself in desperate need of chips as the antes kicked in with blinds at 125/250 ante 25 and only holding 345 behind after paying the big blind and ante. da ItchY 84 raised to 545 UTG and folded around to doucheburger who called leaving himself 50 chips behind. On the flop of 7h-7s-4d doucheburger pushed all-in for his remaining 50 chips, and da ItchY 84 getting some decent pot odds, decided to make the call with his overpair pocket eights (8d-8s) versus doucheburger’s Qd-8c. The 5d on the turn gave doucheburger more outs to a split but the Js on the river sent the all-beef patty home in sixth place, banking $2,200.00 for his efforts.
tron42 was not knocked out by da ItchY 84, but took an exit in fifth place nonetheless. The blinds still at 125/250 antes 25, tron42 found Ad-9d UTG and shoved for 1,700 chips. Einoeloclee found a pair of ladies (Qh-Qs) right ahead of him and made the call leaving 510 chips behind. The rhino’s love for the ladies held up once again on a board of Jc-7c-5h-9s-8c and Einoeloclee finally held the chip lead with 4,485 in chips over the long time chip leader roo_400 who amassed his 4,070 in chips from steals and good flop play. The fifth place finisher, tron42, was deleted from the contest but his hard drive now contains an extra $2,735.00
roo_400’s roar was heard again moments later with blinds moving up to 150/300 ante 25 Action Wub made the call of roo_400’s push from the button while holding 1,310 in chips after putting his blinds and ante in to the middle. Action Wub’s pocket sevens (7d-7s) were well ahead of roo_400’s pocket deuces (2h-2s) but the flop of Ad-9c-2d gave roo_400 a set of deuces to put him in the lead. A 5d on the turn opened up some flush possibilities, but the Ah on the river gave the roaring lion roo_400 the chip lead with 6,280 and wubbed Action Wub out of the tourney with $3,350.00 in fourth place.
There would be no new chip-and-a-chair comeback story for da ItchY 84 this evening, as a big hand came down three handed when he open shoved from the button with 3,560 in chips with pocket jacks (Jd-Jh). roo_400 went back to his cave for this round, but Einoeloclee made the call with blinds at 150/300 ante 25 with Ad-Qc while leaving 1,100 behind. The race started poorly for the comeback kid as the flop showed Th-Ah-4c giving Einoeloclee the lead with a pair of aces. The 9s and 3h on the turn and river shipped to da ItchY 84 the $4,500.00 for third place while scratching his way up the pay scale.
The start of heads-up play saw the rhino versus the lion with the following chip counts:
Einoeloclee: 7,570
roo_400: 5,930
Heads up would last just ten hands, as roo_400 was crippled on the following hand: after roo_400 completed the small blind on the button with blinds at 150/300 ante 25, Einoeloclee checked in the big blind to see a monotone flop of 2s-Js-Qs. Check-check said the pair and the turn paired the board with the Jc and a check by Einoeloclee prompted roo_400 to bet 400 and Einoeloclee responded with a min raise to 800 which was called by roo_400. The Ts on the river completed a plethora of draws but didn’t phase Einoeloclee as he lead out for 1,800 into a pot of 4,050 and was called by roo_400 who left 1,905 behind. Jacks full of deuces for the rhino prompted a quick muck from roo_400 as he opted not to show.
The crippled roo_400 was able to survive one all-in, but the second one found himself all-in after a flop of 5s-7c-4d and his pair of fives with a gutshot draw (8c-5h) versus the flopped straight for Einoeloclee holding 8c-6d. Needing runner-runner for a boat or a six to chop the Qd and 8h did not provide and roo_400 added another big cash at PokerStars for $7,000.00 in second place.
Einoeloclee got the “lion’s share” as this month’s Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll champion netted $12,500! A congratulation to all that cashed, and be sure to start qualifying for next month’s competition starting today!
WCOOP is coming and I'm already getting excited. I've had a month now to forget about the disappointment of the WSOP and now have another to get ready for this year's new and improved version of WCOOP, featuring a few new games and several higher buyin tournaments. The addition of the 10k NL and 25k Heads-Up should definitely make for some very tough fields and interesting final tables. And with the current size of the Pokerstars Sunday tournaments, I'm sure we'll see plenty of record-breaking fields in the smaller buy-in events.
As for myself, despite having my share of cashes the last 2 years of WCOOP, final tables, and more importantly bracelets, have eluded me. But I have high hopes for this year. I've really started to put some effort into learning the other games; playing more PLO and starting to do some stud and split games studying. Despite being a bit of a novice in the non-holdem games last year, I was able to make a couple deep runs in the relatively smaller fields and look forward to a shot at a final table this time around. I missed this year's chance at a WSOP bracelet, but a WCOOP bracelet would be a pretty nice consolation prize.
Good luck to everyone at the tables, and hopefully I'll see some of you at a WCOOP final table!
The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker begins this Friday, September 5 at PokerStars.com. Steve Paul-Ambrose is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.
Macau: the world's fastest growing gaming destination.
Macau is often called as the “Las Vegas of the East”, and for good reason. More gambling dollars flow through the doors of Macau’s 28 casinos (approximately USD $6 billion each year) than any other gaming destination on the planet, including Vegas.
Despite the role that the casino industry plays in both cities, the similarities between Macau and Las Vegas just about end there. Situated about 60 kilometres south-west of Hong Kong, Macau (or the Special Administrative Region of Macau as it is officially known) consists of a small portion of the Macau Peninsula plus the islands of Taipa and Coloane.
More than 500,000 people live in an area of less than 30 sq km, making Macau the most densely populated territory in the world.
High-speed hydrofoils operate between Hong Kong and Macau.
Most visitors to Vegas arrive via air or across the Nevada Desert by road. In contrast, the majority of Macau’s tourists journey via high-speed ferry (or helicopter for the lucky few). The outline of the bridges that link the mainland with Taipa, the soaring Macau Tower and the remarkable lotus-flower shape of the Grand Lisboa Hotel slowly emerge from the haze to create a spectacular vista for travellers arriving via water.
Macau also provides visitors with a unique blend of Eastern and Western cultures, as it was China’s first and last European colony. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on December 20, 1999.
The Central People's Government is responsible for the Macau’s defence and foreign affairs, but Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system and culture.
The ruins of the Church of St Pauls.
The blend of east and west isn’t hard to spot. It’s there in buildings like the Portuguese influenced Real Senado (the Loyal Senate) and the 16th century A-Ma Temple, the Chinese temple from which the city’s name was taken. In restaurants and cafes, classic Chinese dishes might be finished with a Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese egg custard tart).
And there’s one other big difference between Vegas and Macau, where the desert heat is replaced by energy sapping, T-shirt sticking humidity (now we know how the athletes in Beijing felt during the 2008 Olympic Games).
In the past 12 months, Macau has started to embrace another element of Western culture: poker. In November 2007, the first No Limit Hold’em poker tournament ever played in the People’s Republic of China was held as part of the first season of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).
The Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino: host venue for the PokerStars.net APPT Macau
Given the success of that inaugural event, it’s appropriate that season two of the APPT opens at the venue that has quickly established a reputation as the hub of poker in Macau: the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino.
The five-star Grand Waldo Hotel opened in 2006 and was the first one-stop hotel and entertainment resort in Macau. Overlooking the Pearl River, the People’s Republic of China lies not much more than a nine-iron away.
Such was the success of last year’s APPT Macau: Asian Poker Open and High Roller events, the Grand Waldo is now home to PokerStars Macau: the first live poker room to open in the world’s premier gaming locale.
Over the next 10 days, the world’s best players will return to Macau to contest two events – the HKD $25,000 buy-in Main Event and the prestigious High Roller event with a buy-in of HKD $150,000. Both events have a guaranteed prize pool of HKD $10,000,000.
Team PokerStars Pros who have arrived in recent days include 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Greenstein, 2006 Aussie Millions winner Lee “Final Table” Nelson, 2008 PCA champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier, Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown.
Other players who can’t wait to experience poker Macanese-style include dual WSOP main event winner and 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, six-time WSOP bracelet winner Men “The Master” Nguyen, his wife Van Nguyen (the first female to win an open WPT title), 2008 WPT Championship winner David Chiu and WPT Ladies Night IV victor JJ Liu.
Over the next nine days, we look forward to bringing you all the action from the biggest poker tournament ever held in Asia: the PokerStars.net APPT Macau.
If the rock singer Pink was here, she'd be singing "Get this Party Started!" The atmosphere is building in the Grand Waldo casino. The players can almost taste the anticipation in the air as they prepare their poker faces for the biggest ever poker party in Asia... Season 2 of the APPT Macau, sponsored by PokerStars.net.
Yep, everyone who's anyone and anyone who aspires to be someone in poker have descended on Macau, a city where there's so much neon that anyone who lives here and isn't a poker dealer works in the light bulb business. With even more casinos under construction, business forecasts are looking good.
Barry Greenstein... aware there are bounty hunters out there
Meantime, back at the Grand Waldo, there's some poker going on. The players have been warming up with some preliminary events. Today we saw the Team PokerStars Pro bounty tournament, where each of Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier; Barry Greenstein; Hevad "RainKhan" Khan; Emad Tahtouh; Chad Brown; and Vanessa Rousso had a $5,000 bounty paid to any player who eliminated them. ElkY, the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event winner, championed the Team PokerStars Pro cause, with a solid effort making it to the final table of the bounty event, but still fell short, as players were much more willing to call the all-ins of bounty pros. Not to worry ElkY, you just got a bit more time to prepare for the PokerStars APPT Macau welcome party tonight...
ElkY - eyeing off an APPT title to go with his PCA championship
Let's not forget the ladies. The Ladies Event also took place today, and as a demonstration of the growth of poker's popularity in Asia, the vast majority of the competitors were of Asian descent. Some of the notable players who took part include Celina Lin, Van Nguyen (Men "The Master" Nguyen's wife), and Jeannie Hachem (Joe Hachem's wife). Although Hachem was eliminated early, both Lin and Nguyen both made it to the final table of the $1,000 buy-in event.
Celina Lin - Shangai's greatest poker export
Day 1 of the Main Event begins tomorrow, but all the players are also looking forward to the APPT Macau welcome party tonight, at the Grand Waldo's most popular bar, the Monkey Bar. So although the "big poker dance" is tomorrow, you can bet your last tournament chip that there'll be dancing of another kind taking place this evening. Anyone who has been to a PokerStars party knows they are quality events, so if you couldn't make it this time, don't worry, as the PokerStars blog will be performing the... er... research to keep everyone informed on the APPT Macau social scene. Oh yes, there'll be some poker reported as well if you like that sort of thing.
In last week’s blog, I began covering the various necessities that you should adhere to in order to have a fighting chance to play poker professionally.
One of those items is bankroll.
To reiterate, as a budding (or even established) pro, you should have at least one full year’s expense money put aside before even thinking about attempting to play for a living.
Then, you will also need a playing bankroll. The amount you will need varies depending on the game limits you decide to play.
I feel that the smallest possible game limit you will have to compete in to give you a chance to earn enough money to support yourself (if you are good enough) will be $15/$30 online, or the live equivalent, $30/$60.
I cannot tell you which actual poker game to choose. That decision would have to be made by your ability to play the different games currently offered at the casino you play at. If you are skilled at split-pot games, I will say that playing these games online give you tremendous value, because the speed that each pot is chopped (by computer as opposed to a live dealer) allows you to play many more hands.
For our discussion today, I will use the $30/$60 limits online. I will also assume $60,000 USD for your yearly expenses – that’s the minimum you need to survive at your chosen status of living, for the purpose of this discussion.
I would say that $30,000 USD would be your minimum needed playing bankroll to try and play $30/$60 limit online poker at the professional level, in addition to the $60,000 USD that you have put aside for expenses.
To calculate your minimum bankroll, I would use a blanket 100x the minimum bet in whatever game and limit you choose to play, i.e., $100,000 for a $100/$200 limit game, and so on. Please remember that this assumes you have the skills to beat the game you are playing. No amount of bankroll is sufficient to survive long-term it you are a losing player, let alone play professionally. It’s essential that you are honest about your profit-making potential; that’s why the 2000-hour test is important before you attempt to play for a living.
To reiterate from my last blog, if you are making a commitment to try and do this, I would recommend playing at least 2000 game hours (approximately one year) in your poker game and limit of choice before making a determination whether you are skilled enough to play for a living.
If over that time you have not earned enough to pay for your expenses, you’re probably not ready to turn pro.
In the old days, articles used to be written with regards to how much you should make per hour in your game and limit of choice. It used to be a rule of thumb that a professional should earn at least one big bet per hour, i.e., $60 per hour in a $30/$60 limit game. Although this theory can be used as a guideline, the reality is that you will need to make enough money to cover your yearly expenses, whether that amount is more or less than whatever “one big bet per hour” is in the game and limit of your choice. This guideline was formulated in the pre-online world, where all games were played in casinos, at a slower pace than online.
In today’s poker world, if you work 2000 hours in a $30/$60 limit game over 2000 hours, and earn $60,000 (enough to cover your expenses) , I would still consider you a professional, even though you earned only $30 per hour.
There should also be strict money management guidelines which must be adhered to for you to have a chance at success. They too apply to all different games and limits. In my opinion, these guidelines can be even more important than actual ability as a poker player. I will cover those next week.
In the meantime, I would like to remind you that you can generally find me in either the $10/$20 or $30/$60 limit games in the Stud high, Stud 8 Hi/Lo, or Razz games on our site, as well as the $215 buy-in weekly Stud Hi/Lo tournament (with a $10k guarantee) that we offer every Saturday at 16:45 pm ET.
If you are interested in reading any of my past blogs, click HERE. If you would like to contact me further with any questions or suggestions, please do so at adamr@pokerstars.com>. Thank you.
The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.
The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.
While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.
The second season of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is about to begin in Macau and now PokerStars has kicked off satellites for the second stop on the tour.
PokerStars is now running satellites for the APPT event in Seoul, Korea. The event runs September 26-28 at the Paradise Walker-hill Casino.
PokerStars players can win their seat in Seoul in cash and FPP qualifiers starting at $2.20 or 50 FPP credits. Seats are also available in Steps sit-and-go satellites starting at $7.50 or 500 FPP credits.
The APPT Macau prize package is worth $6,000, and includes tournament buy-in, hotel accommodation and money for expenses.
To register for an APPT satellite tournament, open the PokerStars lobby, click ‘Events’ and ‘APPT’.
For more information, visit the APPT Seoul homepage.
Well, we don't know about you, but we're exhausted. This was one big Sunday of tournament poker, and we watched a goodly portion of it.
If you missed it, we spent Sunday live-blogging the whole of both the PokerStars Sunday Warm-UpPokerStars Sunday Million. Over the course of fourteen hours, we saw a ton of good poker, not to mention a fairly large chunk of prize money getting picked up by the players.
A special note before we get to the results. Next week's Sunday Warm-Up is going to be extra attractive this coming Sunday. The guarantee has been bumped up at $1 million for the week and all players will have a chance to rebuy once in the first two hours.
Final table results for this weekend's events are below. Congratulations to all of this week's winners.
PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results Based on finishing order and two-way deal
It’s one of those things you’ve just come to expect in life. Birds gonna fly, fish gonna swim, dogs gonna bark, and PokerStars gonna beat the guarantee in the Sunday Million. With a symmetrical 7,557 players in the field, the prize pool for the biggest weekly tournament in poker was an incredible $1,511,400.00. The top 1,080 players got a piece of the pie, but nobody’s slice was bigger than NFrost_10, who took down $170,900.91 for first place after a deal that left $30,000 to play for when the field thinned from thousands down to just two. With just a couple of weeks before the WCOOP, PokerStars unveiled the new live blogging feature for this week's Sunday Million.
If one person in a poker tournament is ecstatic, 7,556 are less so. One of the less happy was final table bubble boy Roolender, who put on a display of ruthless aggression on the final table bubble that was impressive to watch. His chip stack went up and down like a roller coaster, but he finally found himself all in with Kc-Qc to Duffs#1fan’s Ad-10d. Duffs#1fan hit an ace on the 4d-5h-Ah flop, and Roolender was drawing thin. No help on the turn or river, and Roolender finished in 10th place for $7,557.00. That hand gave Duffs#1fan the chip lead going into the final table, but es_dame and NFrost_10 were close behind.
Afiopeneyes2 started the final table on the shortest of short stacks, and wasted no time moving all in preflop with Kd-Qc. NFrost_10 made the call with Ad-3d, and sent afiopeneyes2 to the rail when the board ran out 4s-6d-5s-6h-5d. Afiopeneyes2 picked up $10,579.80 for 9th place. That hand put NFrost_10 solidly in third place on the leader board, within striking distance of the chip leaders.
Shortly after kidkanada99 was crippled, SonnyInMtl moved all in preflop with Ah-Kh. Hidden1s called with Ac-Js, and several bigger stacks went into the tank weighing the option of busting two players. Finally the big stacks got out of the way, and it was heads-up to the 9c-7h-5c flop. No help on the Ad turn or the 6d river for hidden1s, and SonnyInMtl dragged the pot as hidden1s picked up $17,381.10 for 8th place.
The micro-stacked kidkanada99 was all in after calling the big blind on the very next hand, and found two opponents as es_dame completed the small blind and Duffs#1fan checked the big blind. The two chip leaders checked it down to the river as the board ran out 10d-3c-4s-10h-2s. Es_dame showed Kd-Jc, and both opponents mucked as kidkanada99 was eliminated in 7th place for $26,449.50.
Lecharentais held on for a few minutes after kidkanada99 busted, but eventually headed to the rail in 6th place ($39,296.40). After moving in several times preflop and picking up the blinds and antes, lecharentais found a caller in karelli, who picked up Kc-10c in late position and made the call. Lecharentais tabled 8h-6h, and karelli’s king kicker was good on the board of Qs-3s-7d-5c-5d.
Es_dame reclaimed the chip lead with the next bustout, sending SonnyInMtl to the rail in 5th place. On a board of 10s-10h-6c, SonnyInMtl moved all in with Kh-Qc. Es_dame quickly called with Ks-6s for two pair, and SonnyInMtl was left looking for a king or a queen. None came as the final board read 10s-10h-6c-5s-7h, and SonnyInMtl picked up $54,410,40 for 5th place.
With chip lead in hand, es_dame next took out Duffs#1fan, who went to the rail in 4th place. On a flop of Js-3h-8s, Duffs#1fan led out. Es_dame raised with pocket threes for bottom set, and quickly called when Duffs#1fan moved all in over the top. Duffs#1fan tabled As-9s for the nut flush draw, but no spade came on the turn or river, and es_dame busted Duffs#1fan in 4th place for $69,524.40.
The final break saw es_dame in the chip lead, with karelli on a short stack -
es_dame - 39,207,518
NFrost_10 - 25,311,860
karelli - 11,050,622
It only took a few minutes after players returned from break for everything to sort out, as NFrost_10 quickly took karelli out in 3rd place. NFrost_10 raised preflop, and karelli moved all in with Ac-7s. NFrost_10 called with As-Jh. Nothing out of the ordinary happened as the board ran out 9s-5c-Jd-7h-10d, and karelli picked up $84,638.40 for 3rd place.
The players paused briefly once heads-up play began to discuss a deal, and quickly agreed on an even chop of the remaining money. Karelli’s elimination had moved NFrost_10 almost dead even with es_dame in chips, so each player took home $140,900.91, with $30,000 left to play for.
Heads-up play only took a few hands, as NFrost_10 wasted no time taking a small chip lead and exploiting it. With the tournament nearing clock nearing 3AM, all the chips went in the middle on a flop of Js-9s-7s. Es_dame showed Jc-4s for top pair with a flush redraw, while NFrost_10 tabled 9d-8s for middle pair with a better redraw. The 2s on the turn sealed the deal for NFrost_10, and the 6h on the river was irrelevant as NFrost_10 picked up a total of $170,900.91 for his Sunday Million Victory.
Congratulations to NFrost_10 and all the players who cashed in this week's Sunday Million!
The Final Table finishers and payouts looked like this after a deal between the final two players –
For a little fun today, we're going to live blog the PokerStars Sunday Million. Over the next eleven hours or so, Carol Kline, Johnny Kampis, Jen Newell, and John Hartness will be on hand to bring you the latest information on the Sunday Million. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Here's the Sunday Warm-Up Live Blog.
2:43am - NFrost_10 takes down the Sunday Million!
After making a deal which left $30,000 on the table, NFrost_10 wasted no time in claiming the chip lead from es_dame. After jockeying for position for a few hands, all the chips went in the middle on a flop of Js-9s-7s. Es_dame showed Jc-4s for top pair with a flush redraw, while NFrost_10 tabled 9d-8s for middle pair with a better redraw. The 2s on the turn sealed the deal for NFrost_10, and the 6h on the river was irrelevant as NFrost_10 picked up a total of $170,900.91 for his Sunday Million Victory. Congratulations to NFrost_10 and all the players who cashed in this week's Sunday Million!
Check back here soon for the recap of all the final table action.
2:40 am - Let's Make a Deal!
With chip stacks nearly equal, the two remaining players agreed to an even chop of first and second-place money. With $30k left in the middle for the eventual winner, es_dame and NFrost_10 each claimed $140,900.91 for their tournament. $30,000 is not peanuts, so the players played on.
2:35am - karelli out in 3rd, discussions of a deal break out
NFrost_10 raised preflop, karelli reraised all-in with Ac-7s, and NFrost_10 called with As-Jh.
The board came out 9s-5c-Jd-7h-10d, and it was over for karelli in 3rd place for $84,638.40. Once play got down to heads-up, the tournament was paused while the players discussed a deal.
2:30am - Players on break - es_dame in chip lead with 3 to go
With only three players remaining, es_dame has a significant chip lead, with nearly 40 million in chips. The stacks for the remaining three players are -
2:26am - es_dame back in the lead, Duffs#1fan headed home in 4th place
After busting SonnyInMtl in 5th place, es_dame took back over the chip lead and set his sights firmly on first place. His next victim was Duffs#1fan, who got the last of his chips in the middle with the nut flush draw on a board of Js-3h-8s. Duffs#1fan led out at the flop, es_dame rasied, Duffs#1fan moved all in over the top with As-9s, and es_dame called with pocket threes for bottom set. No spade on the turn or river for Duffs#1fan, and he finished in 4th place for a $69,524.40 payday.
2:21am - SonnyInMtl heads home in 5th, es_dame reclaims the chip lead
SonnyInMtl shoved the last of his chips in the middle with Kh-Qc on a flop of 10s-10h-6c. Es_dame made the call with Ks-6s, a nightmare hand for SonnyInMtl. Looking for a king or a queen, SonnyInMtl found only the 5s-7h on the turn and river, and was eliminated in 5th place, good for $54,410.40.
2:17am - lecharentais busted in 6th place
On a short stack for much of the final table, lecharentais moved all-in preflop time with 8h-6h. Karelli called with Kc-10c, and the board came Qs-3s-7d-5c-5d. Karelli's king kicker was good, and lecharentais was out in 6th place, taking home $39,296.40.
2:14am - The chip lead, they are a'changing.
Duffs#1fan took the chip lead into the final table, but a big elimination by es_dame vaulted him into the chip lead for a few hands. Then NFrost_10 took over the chip lead by moving in over the top of Duffs#1fan's preflop raises. The top three spots on the leader board stayed close as the players all made their moves at the $185,902.20 first place money.
2:08am - And then there were six - kidkanada99 busted in 7th
On the short stack, kidkanada99 went to the rail in 7th when he tangled with es_dame and Duffs#1fan. Kidkanada99 was all in after calling the big blind, and es_dame completed the small blind with Kd-Jc. Duffs#1fan checked the big blind, and the two chip leaders checked down the board of 10d-3c-4s-10h-2s. Es_dame's K-J was good, and kidkanada99 was frozen out in 7th place for $26,449.50.
2:04am - hidden1s out in 8th
SonnyInMtl pushed all-in preflop, and hidden1s called. Several players went into their time bank before folding, but it was heads-up to the flop. SonnyInMtl had Ah-Kh, and hidden1s showed Ac-Js. The board came 9c-7h-5c-Ad-6d, and hidden1s was out in 8th for $17,381.10.
1:57am - afiopeneyes2 busted in 9th place
The short stack to start the final table, afiopeneyes2 wasted no time getting the last if his chips in the middle with Kd-Qc. NFrost_10 made the call with Ad-3d, and the board ran out 4s-6d-5s-6h-5d. NFrost_10's kicker played, and afiopeneyes2 was the first casualty of the final table, finishing in 9h place for $10,579.80. NFrost_10 moved solidly into third place with that hand, closing the gap between himself and the chip leaders.
1:54am - Roolender's tournament ends and the final table is set
On the final table bubble, es_dame held a slight lead over NFrost_10, but the bubble wasn't to last long. After just a couple of hands of hand-for-hand play, Roolender all-in with K-Q of clubs versus A-10 of diamonds of Duffs#1fan. The board came 4d-5h-Ah-3c-9c, and it was over for Roolender in 10th place for $7557.00. Duffs#1fan took over the chip lead as the final table began, holding a slim lead over es_dame and NFrost_10.
1:50am - The Final Table draws ever nearer
As the remaining players sniff the final table and the big paydays that await there, the play tightens up with lots of all-in moves preflop, but very few calls. In one hand that bucked the trend, SonnyInMtl doubled through lacharentis with pocket nines against lecharentis' 7-6. Then all heck broke loose and we went from 12 players down to 10 in the blink of an eye. Or two hands, but some people blink slowly.
First off, VegaNevada moved the last of his chips in the middle with Ac-Qh, running into Duffs#1fan holding pocket Jacks. The Jacks held up, and VegaNevada was done in 12th place, good for a $7,557.00 payday. Then FatHeadMF went all-in with Ks-Jc and met with Ad-Js. The virtual dealer gave them Ac-4s-Qc-6h-9d, and it was all over for FatHeadMF in 11th place.
1:42am - afiopeneyes doubles up
afiopeneyes2 finally pushed 1,871,300 into the middle with As-10c and was called by SonnyInMtl who had pocket queens. The board showed Ks-3s-Ah-Ac-3d, and afiopeneyes2 doubled up. Roolender, who had lost a significant number of chips since moving into second place, doubled through VegaNevada when Roolender's pocket sixes held up against VegaNevada's A-Q. No help on the board for VegaNevada, and Roolender moved back into second place behind es_dame.
1:35am - Roolender making a move up the leader board
afiopeneyes2 doubled through es_dame with A-10 versus pocket fives when a 10 came on the flop. The board of 3c-10h-3d-8h-6c didn't help, and es_dame lost some chips. in a pot of nearly 5 million. While that was happening, Roolender became the second player to cross the 10 million chip mark, moving into second place.
1:29am - fast action after the break
Just after the break, Outfielder71 moved all-in with Ah-Js against the pocket eights of karelli. The board gave nothing to the shorter stack when it came 10d-2s-Kh-Kc-7d. Outfielder71 was forced to accept 15th place and $5,289.90 for it.
Maggie32198 fell just seconds later when Roolender's pocket Queens held up against maggie32198's Ad-Qd on a board of Kh-4d-6d-7s-9s. Maggie32198 had to settle for close but no cigar on the final table, finishing in 15th. At almost the same moment, uchi14 headed to the rail in 14th for $5,289.90
1:25am - Slower play but accelerated attempts to catch chip leader
After taking out several players in the last hour, kidkanada99 has moved into second place in the chip counts, within striking distance of es_dame's big stack.
At the same time, a short-stacked waltby made a stand from early position with pocket fives, and FatHeadMF made the call from the big blind with Ac-9h. The flop of As-Jc-Kd left waltby drawing thin, but the Qh on the turn added a few additional outs to a chop. The 7c on the river wasn't one of them, and waltby was eliminated in 16th place for $3,778,50.
With the next money jump of just over $1,500 kicking in, play slowed a bit and players went on a 5-minute break.
1:15am - Commanding chip lead held by es_dame with over 10 million in chips
With two tables remaining, it was clearly es_dame in the lead, but NFrost_10 and VegaNevada were both making a serious attempt to catch up.
Speaking of chip leaders, the chip leader coming into this level is the first casualty of these final two tables. Moving all-in on a steal attempt with Ks-3s preflop. Kidkanada99 limped in with pocket sixes and called ahhhhhsht's raise. The board ran out Qh-4d-3c-7d-4s, and kidkanada99 moved one step closer to the final table, while ahhhhhsht took 18th place and a $3,778.50 cash.
es_dame was not to be outdone in the elimination game, taking out laafii just seconds later. laafii moved all-in from the big blind with pocket threes after es_dame raised from the button. es_dame quickly called with Ad-Js and hit an ace on the flop to send laafii home in 17th place with $3,778.50.
12:55am - Final 23 players trying to catch es_dame
One player who will no longer be in that hunt is panchita69, who moved all-in over the top of northerngent's preflop raise with Ac-Jd, only to find SonnyInMtl holding pocket aces in the small blind. Nothing unexpected happened, and panchita69 was done in 23rd for a $3,022.80 prize.
The next to fall in a flurry of bustouts was puffinmypurp when he moved all-in over the top of afiopeneyes2 with Qh-9h. afiopeneyes2 tabled pocket sevens, and the board ran out 8s-2h-Ks-6d-3c. puffinmypurp was done in 22nd place.
Nuscas left the party next when he and kidkanada99 tangled for a final time. Nuscas open-shoved preflop with pocket sixes, and kidkanada99 made the call with Ac-Qh. The ace on the flop made things tough on Nuscas, and the running broadway cards made a straight for kidkanada99 and left Nuscas out in 21st.
northerngent was next to get in on the action, moving all-in with Ah-Kh and finding himself in a classic race against VegaNevada who held pocket jacks. The flop of 5d-7s-9h was no help to either player, but the Jh on the turn not only gave VegaNevada a set but gave northerngent a flush draw. The 7h on the river was a heart northerngent did not want to see, as it gave him the flush but filled up VegaNevada. northerngent went to the rail in 20th place.
And all the while, chip leader es_dame stays out front, claiming more chips for his growing virtual stacks when his As-Kh held up against pokrjoker78's Ah-Jd on a board of 5d-Qd-Qs-8h-3h. pokerjoker78's elimination in 19th sent the remaining players to the final two tables, while pokrjoker78 picked up $3,022.80, just before the next pay jump.
12:40am - Down to 3 tables, final table inches closer
The chip leader of only a few minutes ago, ahhhhhsht took a hit in a pot with karelli when pocket deuces lost a coinflip to karelli's Kc-Js.
Aceupmyslv7 went to the rail in 27th place when VegaNevada had not only an Ace but a six up his sleeve. All the money went in on the 2h-3s-6s flop and Aceupmyslv7's 5c-7d couldn't catch the four for the straight as VegaNevada had top pair, top kicker and improved to two pair on the river. Aceupmyslv7 picked up $3,022.80 for his finish.
Next to fall was highfloor33, who was the micro-stack as the hand began and whose 10s-6s was no good against NFrost_10's Ac-3s. After picking up a pair of sixes on the turn, it was NFrost_10 who made top pair and kept it to win the hand. highfloor33 finished in 26th place.
On table 430, es_dame continued the run and broke the 10 million chip mark, a 6 million chip lead over the nearest competitor.
Raynee headed to the rail in 25th place when his QhQs was cracked by NFrost_10's pocket eights on a board of 8c-3s-10h-2d-7s. The two-outer sent Raynee to the rail in 25th place.
Shortly thereafter, waltby won a coin flip in decisive fashion when he called IveGotToejam's all in preflop with pocket tens to IveGotToejam's Ah-Jh. A ten on the flop and another on the river made for a decisive exit for IveGotToejam, who got $3,022.80 for 24th place. (He can now attend to that toejam problem.)
12:25am - ahhhhhsht returns from break with chip lead
Coming back from break, there has been no shortage of action. A new table for ashhhhhsht, but the chip lead remains his to defend.
TeamSwindler was the first player to go after the break when his As-Qd went all in preflop against Duffs#1fan, who had pocket 9's. The board came 2c-3s-10s-7s-Jd, and TeamSwindler was eliminated in 35th place.
As play is fast and furious at the last four tables, es_dame moved up the chip ladder when a set of Aces flopped to bust Jesper_H. es_dame now sits in second place behind ahhhhhsht.
12:11am--Roolender ruling Table 2
Roolender eliminated another player at Table 2 after flopping trips with As-6s against the Ah-7h of Bjolle. After collecting 1.38 million from the pot, Roolender climbed to second on the leaderboard.
12:05am--His game is not in the crapper
Ahhhhhsht has flushed away several opponents at his table and is now our chipleader with 4.88 million. Forty-five players remain.
11:55pm--Roolender eliminates one player and cripples another
Action at Table 2 seems to have been fast and furious of late. The following three players were all-in pre-flop in this hand (chip counts are after blinds and antes): Sumpas (738,289 in chips), Roolender (1,039,722 in chips) and HitUR2outer (1,400,597 in chips). Roolender's Ah-Qd was behind HitUR2outer's Ad-Kh pre-flop, but both Roolender and Sumpas flopped a queen. Roolener's ace kicker was better than Sumpas' 9 kicker, and Roolender took down the 2.3 million chip pot. Sumpas was eliminated on the hand, and HitUR2outer dropped to 361K.
11:51pm--Who will we make jokes about now?
G Depardieu’s run has sadly ended. Grinded down to 367K, G Depardieu pushed all in with A-7, but ran into A-J. He finished in 59th place.
11:48pm--900K three-way pot won with nut no pair
SnowwwMan, who was sitting toward the top of the leaderboard with 2.4 million in chips, raised to 158K. Otto Doctor re-raised to 343K all-in, drifto88 called the all-in for less and SnowwwMan called as well. It was Ad-Qh for Otto Doctor, As-Jh for SnowwwMan and Ac-8c for drifto88. The board ran out 7h-9s-5c-7c-Kd, and Otto Doctor's nut no pair was best.
11:34pm--Manine in top three
Manine moved up the charts by winning a more than 2 million pot against former top ten chipholder CONI2AD. Manine’s jacks held up against the A-K of his opponent and Manine now has 2.35 million in chips.
11:32pm--HitUR2outer hits two big pots in a row; misses third
In the first hand, HitUR2outer's Ks-Qs was up against the Ad-Qc of crazy_teeth after HitUR2outer open shoved pre-flop. The flop was Kd-4s-As, giving HitUR2outer second pair and the nut flush draw. The 3h on the turn was no help, but the 3s on the river gave HitUR2outer the winning hand and the million chip pot.
Then, HitUR2outer raised to 100,771 pre-flop. GARFIELD25 raised to 921,034 all-in and HitUR2outer called. GARFIELD25 needed significant help, as his Ad-Jc was against HitUR2outer's As-Qh. Neither player improved, and HitUR2outer skyrocketed to 2.6 million in chips.
A few hands later, HitUR2outer got it all-in pre-flop against Roolender. HitUR2outer's 7h-7c was behind the Td-Tc of Roolender. The board ran out 6c-4s-4h-4d-5s, and HitUR2outer dropped back down to 834K.
11:24pm--Roolender finds another snowman
After getting it all-in pre-flop against WufflerL, Roolender found himself behind with Ac-8s against Kd-Kh. The flop was 7h-6d-8d, putting WufflerL in good position to double up, but the river 8c sent WufflerL to the rail. Roolender moved into the top ten on the leaderboard with 1.4 million in chips.
11:21pm--Pokrjokr78 takes chip lead
Pokrjokr78 is now up to 2.1 million after his pocket jacks held up against Skintz’s pocket tens.
11:20pm--Another pay jump
With only 88 players remaining, each is guaranteed at least $2,115.96 for his or her efforts.
11:10pm--Top ten chip leaders after the sixth hour; 98 players remain
Level 25
Blinds 20,000/40,000, antes 4,000
Average chip count: 771,122
Players remaining: 98
First Prize: $185,902.20
Saul couldn’t win a coin flip and is gone from the Sunday Million. Rasmus73 raised to 75,000 and Saul pushed the rest of his 237,500 into the pot. Rasmus73 called and it was his Ad-Ks versus Saul’s Jh-Jd. The board came 7d-4h-Kh-Ac-8s and Saul finished in 123rd place.
10:58pm--And the Academy Award goes to…
We have a new chipleader and his screename is G Depardieu. In a key hand several players limped. After a flop of 2h-Jc-Qd, G Depardieu bet 55K and bukithepro raised to 461K after others got out of the way. G Depardieu called and showed Tc-9s for the open-ended straight draw while bukithepro showed 2s-2d for a set of deuces. Luck was on G Depardieu’s side when he hit the Ks on the turn. The river did not pair the board and G Depardieu was up to 2 million in chips.
10:45pm--Don’t count out Cyrano
After being on life support recently, G Depardieu is back in the top 10 in chips with 1.16 million.
10:41pm—SonnyInMtl rides tens to chip lead
In a pivotal hand, SonnyInMtl raised to 40K and former chipleader Frytki re-raised to 111K. SonnyInMtl called. The flop came 6h-6s-8s and SonnyInMtl led out for 140K. Frytki raised to 460K and SonnyInMtl pushed all in for 193K more. After Frytki called his hand was revealed to be Kh-As while SonnyInMtl was ahead with Td-Th. The turn was the 7h and the river wasTs making a full house for SonnyInMtl, who was up to 1.8 million after the hand. Frytki dropped to 494K.
10:40pm--Bigpulp pummeling the table
Bigpulp has crept into second place on the leaderboard after winning two big pots in short succession. In the first hand, Bigpulp rivered Broadway against the flopped top pair top kicker of GRINDER-HFX for an 852K pot. Three hands later, Bigpulp took down a 387K pot when he re-raised patricklaw after a flop of Ah-2c-8d.
10:23pm--Songuku and asher tangle in two pots
After calling Songuku's pre-flop raise to 45K, asher check-called another 45K after the flop brought 6h-Tc-8c. After the Th on the turn, asher check-raised Songuku's 75K bet to 150K. Songuku made the call. Both players checked after the Qc fell on the river. Asher showed 2c-2h, and Songuku mucked. After starting the level with 1.1 million in chips, Songuku dropped to 725K.
Two hands later, Songuku took down a 464K pot against asher. Both asher and mass.mike called the 45K pre-flop raise from Songuku. The flop was 6c-6d-2h. Songuku bet 60K, asher called and mass.mike folded. Both players checked the turn (8d). Songuku fired another 90K on the river (4s) and asher called again. Songuku showed Qh-Qs and asher mucked. Songuku got back to 990K after the hand.
10:19pm--Kevin "BeLOWaBOVe" Saul moving up the leaderboard
Saul is making nice progress as the tournament winds down below 215 players. In one hand, bapvegas raised to 30K and Saul called on the button. After a flop of Ts-8h-2h bapvegas checked and Saul bet 32,461. Bapvegas check-raised to 90K and Saul pushed. Bapvegas folded and Saul is up to 743K.
10:11pm--Top ten chip leaders after the fifth hour; 245 players remain
Two chipleaders just tangled and Frytki came out the beneficiary of the exchange. In the hand Frytki raised to 28K and Don Laeso re-raised to 48K. Frytki called. After a flop of 9d-Jc-3s, Frytki bet 60K and Don Laeso raised the minimum. Frytki then re-raised to 288K and Don Laeso called. The turn was the 5h and Frytki led for 215K, which caused Don Laeso to tank and fold. After the hand Frytki was up to 1.43 million in chips and Don Laeso dropped to 485K.
10:02pm--Duffs#1fan is not oscartotti
After flirting with the million chip mark, oscartotti suffered a minor set-back when his 9c-9d was bested by the Jc-8d of Duffs#1fan. Oscartotti raised pre-flop to 36K, Duffs#1fan re-raised to 90K and oscartotti called. Duffs#1fan pushed all-in on a flop of 3c-5c-8c. Oscartotti's pair of 9s was best, but Duffs#1fan had a better flush draw. The 2c came on the turn, giving Duffs#1fan the J-high flush and the 725K pot. Oscartotti dropped to 633K in chips after the hand.
9:51pm--First to reach a million
Frykti and poquer1 are the first players to hit the million chip mark. Frykti currently has 1,066,421, and poquer1 has 1,048,401.
9:46pm--Noted online pro on the rise
Kevin "BeLOWaBOVe" Saul is moving up on the field. He just won a nice pot to get to 484K in chips, putting him in the top 30.
9:45pm--Over the four figure mark
We’re now under 325 players, meaning all remaining participants will receive at least $1,057.98.
9:35pm--G Depardieu takes a big loss
G Depardieu lost about a third of his stack to superbeuk when the latter showed Ac-Kh after a board of Qd-Kd-9h-7d-4h and the former mucked. G Depardieu is now down to 600K and superbuek is up to 790K.
9:30pm--Poquer1 makes a stab at Nuscas
At the start of the hand, Nuscas had a top-five chip-stack of 630,227. Poquer1 raised to 16,000 and called Nuscas' re-raise to 56,000. After the 2s-9d-2h flop, Nuscas bet 144,000 which was enough to put poquer1 all-in. Poquer1 made the call and showed As-9s for top pair top kicker. Nuscas showed Ah-Kh. The turn was the Qh, giving Nuscas a flush draw, but the river bricked out. Nuscas dropped to 483,540 in chips after the hand.
9:19pm--G Depardieu doesn’t need green card to capture chip lead
Our favorite Frenchman just won two big pots to take over the leaderboard. First, he slowplayed a full house to perfection. In that hand, G Depardieu called a raise to double his big blind from compris after powerscr also called. After a flop of 2c-2h-Kc all three players checked. G Depardieu led out for 6K after the 9d hit the turn and both opponents called. The river brought the Ah and G Depardieu led out for 6K again. Compris folded and powerscr raised to 30K. G Depardieu re-raised to 54K, enough to put powerscr all-in. The hands shown were 2d-Ks for G Depardieu and Qs-As for powerscr.
On the second hand, G Depardieu called a re-raise all-in from compris, who held Kc-6c. G Depardieu tabled Ad-9s and the board did not help compris. G Depardieu is now up to 936K.
9:09pm--Kipa58 takes a 100K hit
Just back from the break, kipa58 lost a race with 8-8 when BrandonPL hit an ace on the flop. BrandonPL started the hand with 99,819 in chips and re-raised all-in after kipa58 raised to 18,000 pre-flop. Kipa58 has now dropped out of the top ten on the leaderboard.
9:00pm--Top ten chip leaders after four hours; 579 remain
Greenrizla raised pre-flop to 13,500 from the hijack position, Cryp2Nite re-raised all in to 35,886 from the small blind and greenrizla made the call. Cryp2Nite’s 5d-5h could not stay ahead of Greenrizla's Kd-Jh when the flop came 2c-9h-Js. Greenrizla scooped an 81K pot and moved into the chip lead with 578,641.
8:53pm--My hero, the poker player
Could we have a famous actor in our midst? G Depardieu is now second in chips with 538K.
8:45pm--Three players over 500K; 134198 not one of them
The top three in chips now are kipa58 at 541K, drifto88 at 531K and callmejimmy at 508K. 134198 had a rough stretch, including calling an all in with A-8 versus A-A and is down to 290K.
8:32pm--134198 has 546,918
134198 won another big pot when he called a 69K all-in bet from Ut Prosim. Ut Prosim held 8c-Tc and 134198 had Ac-5s. The board ran off Jh-6s-2s-9h-6c and our chipleader now has almost 550K.
8:21pm--The bubble has burst
The bubble recently burst. All remaining players are guaranteed $302.28.
8:20pm--Superbeuk moves into the top three
Superbeuk has joined 134198 and pimplar as the only three players with over 300k in chips. Superbeuk called a 15,000 pre-flop raise from jopieono, and the two players saw a flop of 7c-Kd-Ts. Superbeuk check-raised jopieono to 78,000, which would have put jopieono all in after his initial bet of 15,000. Jopieono folded and superbeuk scooped a 67k pot.
8:18pm--134198 at it again
Perhaps seeking early parole, 134198 has taken a big chip lead after sniffing out a big bluff. On this hand, 134198 raised to 7K and JERRY called. After a flop of Th-Qh-Kh, JERRY check called 12K. Both players checked the turn of Ks, and after the river came Qs JERRY bet all in for 74K. 134198 called and JERRY showed 7d-9h for a stone-cold bluff. 134198 held 6d-Qd for queens full and took down the 190K pot. He now has 484K in chips for a 160K chiplead over pimplar.
8:12pm--134198 wins a big one
Perhaps playing from prison, 134198 wins a big pot with cowboys versus A-10 and A-8 and is now up to 386K.
8:09pm--Eliminations should start slowing down
We are down to 1,150 players, 70 from the money bubble.
8:06pm--134198 moves on up
He hasn't won many big pots recently, but 134198 has chipped up considerably by aggressive play and has increased his stack from 227,589 at the break to 340,123 now, giving him a nearly 40K chip lead at the moment.
7:57pm-- Hols_think sniffs out bluff
Murdoc.73 limped in middle position and called Hols_think’s raise to 7,500. On a flop of 6h-Ad-5s, Hols_think led out for 7,500 after Murdoc.73’s check and called Murdoc.73’s check-raise to 17,500. Both players checked the turn and the river. Hols_think flopped top pair with As-Jc, which bested Murdoc.73’s Qd-Jd. Hols_think finished the hand with 240,979 in chips, which solidifies this player’s position in the top ten.
7:52pm--Top ten chip counts at end of hour number three; 1,338 remain
At least not in poker. Pe-T raised in middle position to 4,999, Isabelle Mercier re-raised all in to 28,050 and Pe-T made the call. It was Ks-Kc for Pe-T against Mercier’s 3h-3d. The board of Tc-Kd-Ac-7s-Jc was of no help for Mercier, and she was eliminated in 1,363th place.
7:44pm--Pimplar down, kipa58 up
Two of the chipleaders just tangled in a big pot. Kipa58 raised it to 6K, BrandonPL called and pimplar re-raised it to 18K. Kipa58 then made it 40K, BrandonPL folded and pimplar called. After a flop of Ts-3s-7d, pimplar checked and kipa58 bet 76K. Pimplar tanked and folded. Pimplay was down to 123K while kips58 moved up to 201K.
7:33pm--1,580 players left
500 more until the money
7:22pm--Annekechillo flops boat and brings opponent along for the ride
SirGutShot raised to 3,125 on the button and annekechillo called from the small blind. Both players checked the 8h-9d-9h flop. After the 7d hit on the turn, annekechillo bet 2,400 and SirGutShot called. The river was the 5d. SirGutShot led out for 6,650 after annekechillo checked, but annekechillo responded by raising to 14,400. SirGutShot called the additional 7,750 and mucked after annekechillo showed 9c-8c for a flopped full house. Annekechillo currently sits atop the leaderboard with 170,640 in chips.
7:19pm--Lee Nelson eliminated
Nelson pushed all in at the wrong time. He posted his big blind of 1,200 and only originator54 called. Nelson put the rest of his 12K in chips in the middle and originator54 called instantly with 8s-8d. Nelson showed Ks-8h. A flop and turn of Qh-7h-Ad-2h made it interesting by giving Nelson a flush draw, but the 5d hit the river and Nelson was eliminated in 1,933rd place.
7:15pm--Now under 2,000 players
7:02pm--William Thorson eliminated
The Team PokerStars Pro was put out in 2,498th place after his A-K ran into K-K all-in preflop and he could not improve.
6:55pm--Steve Paul-Ambrose eliminated
Steve Paul-Ambrose was eliminated in 2,521st place after his A-2 failed to improve against the A-Q of his opponent. Ambrose is still in the hunt in the Sunday Warm-Up with 298,261 in chips. Live blogging coverage of the Sunday Warm-Up can be found here.
6:47pm--Top ten chip counts at end of hour number two; 2,781 remain
Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson has doubled up twice in the last three hands. Sitting on a short stack of 2,136, Thorson pushed all in after a raise to 1,600 from JABRONI-17. Thorson’s Ac-Ad was ahead of the 8c-9c of JABRONI-17, but a flop of 8h-Kh-3s gave JABRONI-17 a bit of help; however, the turn and the river bricked out and Thorson was back to 5k in chips. Two hands later, Thorson called an all-in raise from wheels0271. It was the As-Jc of wheels0271 against Thorson’s Kd-Tc. Thorson hit a ten on the flop and the turn and the river were no help for wheels0271. Thorson had 10,694 in chips after the hand.
6:38pm--Two more Team PokerStars Pros out
Humberto Brenes and Andre Akkari have been eliminated, one right after the other. Akkari finished in 3317th place while Brenes was one spot better in 3316th place.
6:35pm--Less than 3,000 players remain
6:24pm--casa2674 surges toward the top of the leaderboard
Casa2674 has won four of the last six pots at Table 885. The first was a split 62,020 pot where casa2674 flopped the second nut flush draw on a board with two clubs, turned a Broadway draw and rivered Broadway. BrahCheeChoo rivered the same straight. In the next hand, casa2674 raised to 2,400 pre-flop and was called by mr erics21. Casa2674 bet all in on a flop of 9d-8h-7s and mr erics21 folded.
Two hands later, casa2674 defended the big blind after a button raise to 2,400 from ROONEY_DIVES. Again, casa2674 bet all in on a flop of Kh-Qs-2s. ROONEY_DIVES made the call and showed Kc-Js. Casa2674 showed Qd-2c for two pair and eliminated ROONEY_DIVES. Immediately after that elimination, casa2674 was back in action again, holding Kc-Kh against the Qs-Qc of mr erics21. The board did not help mr erics21 and he was eliminated. After this flurry of activity, casa2674 was at 78,574 in chips.
6:20pm--The 100K barrier has been broken
As the field has dwindled to nearly 3,500 players, pokerdream08 became our first player to crack 100K in chips. Pokerdream08 now has 104,409 in chips.
6:16pm--Under 4,000 players
The final table is only minutes away...
5:59pm--No mercy for GS4fun
After doubling through GS4fun a few hands earlier, Isabelle Mercier tangled with GS4fun again. Mercier called GS4fun’s pre-flop raise to 1,200, and the players saw a board of 8d-4h-Qd. GS4fun bet another 1,200, Mercier raised to 4,000 and GS4fun re-raised all in to 17,325. Mercier made the call with Ah-Qc. GS4fun’s Kh-Ks was ahead on the flop, but the Ac on the turn gave Mercier two pair. GS4fun could not hit a king on the river to survive. Mercier now sits at 39,375.
5:58pm--Lee Nelson takes a hit
Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson just lost about 40 percent of his chips. After sneekwater raised to 1,800, Nelson re-raised to 4,200. Sneekwater called and the two saw a flop of Ad-9s-6s. Nelson pushed and sneekwater called all in for 6,500 with Ah-Qh while Nelson showed Jc-Jh. The turn and river were bricks and Nelson was down to 17K.
5:54pm--Third of field gone
We're now under 5,000 players. Just a few more hours until the final table...
5:45pm--Mercier outraces GS4fun to double up
After a raise to 1,200 from GS4fun, Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier re-raised to 4,000. GS4fun re-raised all in to 20,250, which had Mercier covered. Mercier made the call with As-Kd and was racing against GS4fun’s Qc-Qd. On a board of 8d-Ad-7c-Js-7d, Mercier survived elimination and chipped up to 18,800.
5:41pm--Top ten chip counts at end of hour number one; 5,688 remain
Pocket queens have netted Andre Akkari another large pot. Pre-flop, porzerjr raised to 1,200 and Akkari re-raised to 3,300. Porzerjr made the call. On a flop of 7c-8c-5c, porzerjr bet all in for 3,775 and Akkari called. Porzerjr showed Ks-Qs to Akkari's Qc-Qh. The turn and the river were no help for porzerjr, and Akkari chipped up to 21,275.
5:28pm--Victor Ramdin eliminated
Victor Ramdin was felled by an inferior flush. He raised to 900 preflop and was called by rtrtrtr. After a flop of 6d-4c-5c, Ramdin bet another 900. Rtrtrtr raised to 3,000 and Ramdin re-raised all in to 7,000. Ramdin held 3c-6c for a pair, straight draw and a straight flush draw and rtrtrtr held Ac-8c for a better flush draw. The Kc hit the turn, leaving Ramdin with two outs to the straight flush but the Kh hit the river and Ramdin was eliinated in 6,000th place.
5:24pm--Team PokerStars represented
Of the 7,557 players participating today in the Sunday Million, seven of them are Team PokerStars pros. They include Andre Akkari, Humberto Brenes, Isabelle Mercier, Lee Nelson, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Victor Ramdin and William Thorson.
5:21pm--Ramdin's rollercoaster ride
Short-stacked Victor Ramdin doubled up to 9,350 when he got it all in preflop with Ad-Jc versus Ts-Th and the board ran out Kd-2c-Qh-5c-Ah, but lost most of those chips on the next hand. In the second hand, he held 7d-8d and called two bets on the flop and turn with a board of 5d-4h-7c-Js. When the Tc hit the river, both Ramdin and his opponent, S4ILBO4T, checked. S4ILBO4T showed 7s-Ks and won with his kicker. Ramdin is down to 5,300.
5:08pm--Andre Akkari doubles up
Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari started the hand as a short stack with 3,925. Akkari raised to 600, niclas237 re-raised to 1,500 and Akkari pushed all in. Niclas237 made the call and tabled A-K. Akkari showed Q-Q. Niclas237 did not improve on a board of J-T-9-5-J. Akkari currently has 8,050.
5:04pm--Steve Paul-Ambrose doing double duty
When Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose started his afternoon, he was playing six single-table tournaments and the Sunday Warm-Up. He's playing in the Sunday Million right now, but likely more focused on the tournament he started earlier. At this hour, Paul-Ambrose is in the Top 20 in chips of the Warm-Up. To follow his exploits, check out the Sunday Warm-Up Live Blog
4:57pm--Pokrjoker78 is chip leader
Player Pokrjoker78 leads the Sunday Million in the early going with 39,225 chips. He just won a big pot when he made a call of an all-in holding only pocket twos on a rainbow board of T-9-9-5-4. His opponent Jim Bee was bluffing with A-K and Pokrjoker78 took down a nearly 20K chip pot.
4:49pm--More than $185,000 for first
Registration is now closed and there are 7,557 players in today's Sunday Million, which creates a total prize pool of $1,511,400. Of those players, 1,080 will get paid and first place will receive $185,902.20.
4:42pm--Victor Ramdin takes a big hit
After chipping up to 15K early, Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin took a big hit when his pocket aces were cracked by the flopped set of nines of KM-6. He is down to 5K after the hand.
4:30pm--PokerStars Sunday Million off and running
The PokerStars Sunday Million has just begun with 7,200 players and counting. Registration is still open.
4:25pm--PokerStars Sunday Million about to begin
The PokerStars Sunday Million will begin in just a few minutes. With thousands in the field, the final table money is once again going to be huge. Late registration will be open, so get your seat while you still can.
There's no justice in tournament poker; there's only survival. At the end of a grueling tournament, the winner isn't the player who knocked out the greatest number of other players, or the player who was dealt the best starting hands most frequently, or even the "best" player (if such a thing can even be determined). The winner is simply the player who survived longer than any other player. Surviving in and of itself is a skill, to be sure. When you outlast a field of almost 3,600 players, survival takes on a whole new dimension.
3,599 players registered for the Sunday Warm-Up today to vie for a prize pool of $750,000. Eight and a half hours later, 3,590 had been eliminated, leaving nine players vying for a first prize of over $100,000. Here's how those players measured up at the start of the final table:
(Click image for full version)
Seat 1: goodvibe1 (3125226 in chips)
Seat 2: vanky (3620984 in chips)
Seat 3: Supa4real (6992395 in chips)
Seat 4: Dudelinio (3842824 in chips)
Seat 5: tallgeir (8572505 in chips)
Seat 6: GB2005 (1103480 in chips)
Seat 7: lordhuttyx (2034545 in chips)
Seat 8: EDWARDHOPPER (2634407 in chips)
Seat 9: RuudGullit (4063634 in chips)
For a tournament that played more quickly than many expected, it was perhaps no surprise that only four minutes passed before the first elimination of the final table. GB2005, who came to the final table with the shortest stack, made a stand with Big Slick. He found himself up against the opponent with the biggest stack, tallgeir. tallgeir, holding the queen of spades and the eight of spades, had two very live cards against GB2005's ace-king. GB2005 was in great position to survive the hand when neither player picked up a pair on the flop or the turn, but an unlucky river queen made top pair for tallgeir. The rich got richer at GB2005's expense, but it wasn't all lemons for GB2005. He walked away with $6,750.
The big stacks continued to exert pressure on their smaller brethren for several hands until two of the shorties decided to tango on their own. EDWARDHOPPER, in 7th place at the start of the final table, opened with a raise to 398,000. Perhaps his raise looked fishy to Vanky, who moved all-in holding Ah-2s. EDWARDHOPPER made a snap call with pocket kings, but like GB2005 before him, his leading hand did not hold up. Vanky made a five-high straight when the board ran out 5-3-9-9-4. EDWARDHOPPER's tournament life expired with that river card. He finished in 8th place and earned $9,750.
Meanwhile, the other of the shortest stacks at the table, lordhuttyx, inched up the payout ladder. With tallgeir wielding one of the biggest stacks on his immediate right, lordhuttyx couldn't find many spots to pick up pots. He finally found one when action folded to tallgeir in the small blind and tallgeir open-shoved. With Ah-3c in his hand, lordhuttyx may have believed that he was ahead of a good portion of tallgeir's range. This time, he was correct; tallgeir opened Qh-6c after lordhuttyx called. For the third time, it looked like the best hand would lose after the flop came 5-Q-5, but lordhuttyx survived when an ace hit the turn.
That survival bought lordhuttyx some chips and most importantly some time. It put him more on par with the medium stacks, who with the elimination of the shortest stacks had themselves become the new short stacks. RuudGullit found himself with just fifteen big blinds remaining and elected to open-shove Ad-6h from the button. goodvibe1 made a quick call with Ah-Js. The hand went suck-resuck when the flop came 6-K-9 and a miracle jack then appeared on the turn. For the second time in a row, the best hand held up. RuudGullit hit the rail in seventh place, earning $15,750 along the way.
goodvibe1 followed up that elimination by sending lordhuttyx to the rail a few hands later. All the money went in preflop. goodvibe1 again had the best hand, with his pocket jacks leading lordhuttyx's pocket sevens. There was no survival miracle for lordhuttyx this time. By doubling up against tallgeir ten minutes prior, and with the elimination of RuudGullit in the interim, lordhuttyx won $23,250 for finishing in sixth place.
Only five players had survived to this point in the tournament. The shortest among them, Vanky, perhaps concerned for his own tournament survival, suggested chopping the tournament based on chip equity. Supa4real was willing to look into the numbers, but goodvibe1 typed out a very curt "no chop sry". Play continued. Vanky busted in fifth place just four minutes later when his ace-queen couldn't out-race goodvibe1's pocket jacks. He won $30,750.
It was the third elimination in a row for goodvibe1, who had amassed the biggest stack. He added to it by eliminating tallgeir in fourth place just a few hands later. In a raised pot, tallgeir made a half-pot bet on a 3c-Ks-9c flop. goodvibe1 raised to 1.5 million and tallgeir called. When the turn blanked, the two players kept raising until tallgeir was all in. He had middle pair with Qh-9s, but goodvibe1 had top pair with Kh-8d. tallgeir failed to survive the hand when the river didn't bring him a miracle card. It must have been a disappointing end to tallgeir's tournament, but the $38,625 probably took away some of the sting.
With tallgeir's elimination, only three players remained: Dudelinio, Supa4real and goodvibe1. goodvibe1 had done most of the heavy lifting to that point of the final table, with Dudelinio and Supa4real winning small pots along the way and otherwise staying out of the line of fire. That changed in a hurry.
goodvibe1 came in for a raise which Supa4real re-raised to about 1.8 million. Imagine what his reaction must have been when Dudelinio put in the third raise, all-in for just over 3.8 million. With over 6 million chips up for grabs, Supa4real had to call about 2 million more and did so after goodvibe1 obligingly got out of the way. Supa4real's Ah-9h was dominated by Dudelinio's Ac-Qc, but Supa4real had one very large advantage: he wasn't the one at risk of elimination. Dudelinio couldn't survive the hand after the board ran out 6c-2s-9s-5h-Ad. Dudelinio won $48,750 for third place. Just like that, 3,599 players had been whittled down to the final two.
Going into heads-up play, goodvibe1 had the chip lead, courtesy of all of the player he eliminated from the final table. For the first ten to fifteen minutes of heads-up play, the players traded pots. Supa4real would make a little headway against goodvibe1's chip lead, only to lose a few pots and wind up right back at square one. Each player was doing an excellent job of hanging onto his chips and surviving.
Finally, two hands occurred almost back-to-back that decided the tournament. For the first time in heads-up play, goodvibe1 elected to reraise after Supa4real had raised. When Supa4real called, almost 5.7 million chips wound up in the middle. goodvibe1 made a stab at the flop with a bet of 2.8 million, but didn't take long to fold after Supa4real moved all in.
That pot pushed Supa4real into the chip lead for the first time. Just a few hands later, he eliminated the tenacious goodvibe1. Both players limped into the pot for the first time and took a J-4-J flop. goodvibe1 checked, then raised to 1.6 million after Supa4real bet 500,000. With plenty of ammunition, Supa4real called and went to the turn.
When the turn came down the nine of spades, goodvibe1 again checked. Perhaps sensing weakness, Supa4real took another stab with a bet of 1.6 million. goodvibe1 instantly check-raised all-in for a total of 7 million, putting Supa4real to the test. He made an incredible call. His Qc-4d for two pair, jacks and fours, was in the lead against goodvibe1's huge draw with Kc-9c. The river blanked out, allowing Supa4real to win the pot and the whole tournament. He was the ultimate survivor, winning a cool $101,250. goodvibe1 took down $71,250 for his second-place finish.
For a little fun today, we're going to live blog the PokerStars Sunday Warm-up. Over the next eleven hours or so, Brad Willis, Martin Harris, David Aydt, and Dave Behr will be on hand to bring you the latest information on the Sunday Warm-Up. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com.
10:14pm-- Incredible call nets Supa4real the win!
On the heels of the unusual pre-flop re-raise from goodvibe1, both players limped into the pot and took a J-4-J flop. goodvibe1 checked, then raised to 1.6 million after Supa4real bet 500,000. With plenty of ammunition, Supa4real called and went to the turn.
When the turn came down the nine of spades, goodvibe1 again checked. Perhaps sensing weakness, Supa4real took another stab with a bet of 1.6 million. goodvibe1 instantly check-raised all-in for a total of 7 million, putting Supa4real to the test. He made the call and opened Qc-4d for two pair, jacks and fours(!). goodvibe1 was on a draw, albeit a very large draw with Kc-9c. The river blanked out, allowing Supa4real to win the pot and the whole tournament.
A full recap of the final table can be found HERE.
10:13pm-- Times-a-changin'; Supa4real takes over chip lead
A rare preflop reraise just backfired for goodvibe1. After Supa4real opened for 1 million, goodvibe1 re-raised to 2.8 million. Supa4real called, then moved in on the Td-Qh-6d flop after goodvibe1 made a half-pot bet. We could only imagine the sigh of frustration as goodvibe1 folded his hand.
10:12pm--Wanna play heads up for $30,000?
Just in case you're not paying close enough attention, what we're witnessing here is essentially a $30,000 heads-up sit-and-go. Not that there is anything wrong with that. First place is $101,250. Second place is $71,250.
10:08pm-- Not much movement
After ten minutes of heads-up play, little has changed. Supa4real briefly threatened to take over the chip lead by winning a series of small pots, but goodvibe1 sniffed out a bluff and made a great river call with top pair to reset the chip counts to what they were ten minutes ago.
9:58pm--Heads-up chip counts
Here's how the two remaining players stack up at the start of heads-up play.
Seat 1: goodvibe1 (22882846 in chips)
Seat 3: Supa4real (13107154 in chips)
9:54pm--And suddenly, it's heads up
Supa4real must have been tired of watching goodvibe1 take all the chips. After goodvibe1 came in for a raise, Supa4real re-raised. He couldn't have liked it when Dudelinio came over the top all-in for 3,850,648. Supa4real had to call 2,040,648 more and did so after goodvibe1 folded. Dudelinio showed Ac-Qc to Supa4real's Ah9h. Say goodnight, Dudelinio. The board showed 6c-2s-9s-5h-Ad. Dudelinio won $48,750 for third place.
9:51pm-- goodvibe1 barrelling towards the finish line
Just five minutes after turning down a chop, goodvibe1 eliminated another of his opponents. Sitting in the big blind, he called a raise from the small blind, tallgeir. The flop was 3c-Ks-9c. tallgeir led out with a half-pot bet of 750,000, but goodvibe1, with a commanding chip lead (and, we would soon discover, the best hand), raised to 1.5 million. tallgeir called, then led out for 750,000 again on a blank turn. A raising war ensued, with tallgeir eventually all in. He showed Qh-9s for middle pair and was in rough shape against goodvibe1's top pair with Kh-8d. tallgeir missed the river and was bounced in fourth place, earning $38,625.
9:50pm--No curse yet for goodvibe1
Goodvibe1 has silenced any silly talk about the no-chop curse. He just busted vanky. Goodvibe1 came in for a standard raise with JcJs and vannky came over the top all-in with Qs-Ad. When you're running good, you're running good. Goodvibe1's race was a winner on a ten-high board. Vanky finished in fifth place for $30,750.
9:46pm--goodvibe1 must be feelin' it
Five-handed is often the place you see a talk of a chop. The story is no different tonight. Goodvibe1 wanted none of it.
Supa4real: we could look at the numbers goodvibe1: no chop sry vanky: ok
And that's that. And so the players commenced with re-raising the chip leader.
9:40pm-- Dudelinio finds gold with suited connectors
With five players remaining and 2.5 million in his stack, Dudelinio opened for 750,000 holding 8h-9h. The big stack, tallgeir, threw his weight around holding A-T and raised enough to put Dudelinio all in. Dudelinio called and promptly flopped top two pair, which held up through the river.
9:38pm-- Chip counts at break
Level 33
Blinds 125,000/250,000, antes 25,000
Average chip count: 7,198,000
Players remaining: 5
First Prize: $101,250.00
Seat 1: goodvibe1 (9716470 in chips)
Seat 2: vanky (6464280 in chips)
Seat 3: Supa4real (9176506 in chips)
Seat 4: Dudelinio (2602824 in chips)
Seat 5: tallgeir (8029920 in chips)
9:30pm-- goodvibe1 takes out lordhuttyx
The good times kept on rolling for goodvibe1. lordhuttyx open-shoved with pocket sevens, only to discover that goodvibe1 was sitting on pocket jacks, an easy call. The jacks held up, bouncing lordhuttyx from the tournament in 6th place with an extra $23,250.
9:28pm-- RuudGullit can't overcome domination
With fifteen big bets left in his stack, RuudGullit open-shoved Ad-6h from the button. goodvibe1, sitting in the small blind with 4.5 million, elected to call with Ah-Js. He was in a dominating position that was quickly reversed on a 6-K-9 flop. Perhaps channeling his screenname, goodvibe1 found a good vibe when the turn came Jd. There was no re-suck on the river for RuudGullit. He was eliminated and earned $15,750.
9:20pm-- lordhuttyx's ace almost isn't enough
With just 1.5 million chips, lordhuttyx has been tight, choosing not to tangle with most of his opponents. When chip leader tallgeir open-shoved from the small blind, lordhuttyx took a chance with Ah-3c. He was ahead of tallgeir's Qh-6c, but it looked like disaster when the flop came 5-Q-5. An ace on the turn bailed out lordhuttyx and allowed him to double up to 3 million.
9:14pm-- EDWARDHOPPER goes broke in 8th place, and not in a pretty way
EDWARDHOPPER, the man of all caps, had 1,721,407 to start and open-raised to 398,000. Vanky pushed all-in and got the fast call from EDWARDHOPPER's KdKc. Vanky held Ah-2s. Wanna guess what the board looked like at the end? We'll just tell you...5c-3d-9h-9s-4h. Not pretty, not funny, but decidedly the end for EDWARDHOPPER. He picked up $9,750.
9:07pm-- GB2005 unlucky in 2008
We have the first elimination of the final table. With blinds at 80,000 and 160,000, tallgeir opened from the button for 640,000. GB2005 quickly reraised all in with the hand that many players dread -- ace-king. tallgeir, with chips to burn, made the call and showed two live suited cards: Qs-8s. Neither player improved by the turn, but on the river GB2005's tournament ended when tallgeir paired his queen. With that pot, tallgeir moved to over 10 million in chips and GB2005 was eliminated in 9th place. His payday was $6,750.
9:03pm--Final table set
The final nine are in place. Here are the chip counts.
Seat 1: goodvibe1 (3125226 in chips)
Seat 2: vanky (3620984 in chips)
Seat 3: Supa4real (6992395 in chips)
Seat 4: Dudelinio (3842824 in chips)
Seat 5: tallgeir (8572505 in chips)
Seat 6: GB2005 (1103480 in chips)
Seat 7: lordhuttyx (2034545 in chips)
Seat 8: EDWARDHOPPER (2634407 in chips)
Seat 9: RuudGullit (4063634 in chips)
9:01pm--tjechw bubbles final table
It was a good call with a bad result. It was an all-in raise to tjechw's big blind. He made the call with two black fives and was up against AsJs. Needless to say, he lost the race and went out in 10th place for $4,500.
8:55pm-- Connolly the latest casualty
Short on chips, Connolly moved in for 1.5 million with a small ace. He was called by tallgeir who had a bigger ace and finished with a flush. Connolly never improved and was bounced from the tournament in 11th place, $3,150 richer.
8:53pm--p0ck3tp3ar goes to war without pocket pair...or pear
With only 808,000 in chips left, p0ck3tp3ar open-raised for nearly all his chips and got re-raised by vanky. He called for the few thousand more with Ah-7d. Vanky held 9c-Ac. Neither hand paired and vanky's kicker played. p0ck3tp3ar finished in 12th place for $4,500.
8:52pm-- CASINOICE iced
lordhuttyx was behind when all the chips went in the middle, but his cards were suited and live. Both players hit the flop in a big way, with CASINOICE flopping two pair. Unfortunately for him, his two pair made the nut flush for lordhuttyx. CASINOICE ha d two chances to fill up, and missed them both. He was eliminated in 13th place and earned $3,150 for his efforts.
8:49pm--RUS_FISH hooked and fileted
With only 724,024 chips in his stack, RUS_FISH cast his last lure with Ad-4d. RuudGullit took the bait and call with Jh-Kd. RUS_FISH was cooked by the turn on a board of 8s-Ts-Qd-9h-2c. He finished in 15th place, picking up $3,150.
8:42pm-- sebmenk find no love with the ladies
sebmenk found exactly what he was looking for: Qc-Qh. He came in for a raise to 300,000 and Supa4real came back at him for 800,000. The rest of sebmenk's 1,638,288 chips went in and it was the pocket queens vs Ah-Jc. The board was not as pretty as sebmenk's hand. It rann out 2d-Jd-Ks-4d-Ad to eliminate sebmenk in 16th place for $1,875.
8:40pm-- nafudoma loses battle of the blinds
nafudoma must have felt good when he moved in his whole stack of 1.7 million from the big blind after tallgeir opened the action from the small blind with a raise. Things went south for nafudoma from there. tallgeir called with Ad-Tc, which dominated nafudoma's Ac-9s. He took the lead on an 8-9-K flop, but the turn and river were a queen and a jack to make a straight for tallgeir. He eliminated nafudoma in 17th place and cracked the 5-million chip mark at the same time.
8:37pm-- tdomeski crippled, then eliminated
Two tough hands in rapid succession resulted in the elimination of tdomeski from the tournament in 18th place. First, he called the all-in bet of lordhuttyx, who had pushed from the button with pocket eights. tdomeski's Kd-Jd took the lead when the flop came K-J-T, but an 8 on the turn made a set for lordhuttyx. Neither player filled up on the river.
That left tdomeski with just over 100,000 chips, which went in on the next hand after a raise by Dudelinio from late position. Dudelinio's pocket nines were well ahead of tdomeski's 6c-4d, and even moreso when the flop came down nine-high. Although tdomeski ended the hand with trip 4s, he couldn't top Dudelinio's full house, nines full of fours.
8:33pm-- webster426 86'd
With fewer than one million chips, webster426 shove with K9 offsuit and got called by AhJh. A flop with one ace and two hearts was all he needed to see. He was eliminated in 19th place for $1,575.
8:32pm-- Top ten chip counts at end of hour number seven; 19 remain
Level XXIX
Blinds 50,000/100,000, antes 10,000
Average chip count: 1,890,000
Players remaining: 19
First Prize: $101,250.00
tallgeir raised to 240,000 from the hijack seat, and oknergard, sitting to his left, reraised all in with his remaining 720,000-plus chip stack. It folded back around and tallgeir called, showing Kd-Jd. oknergard showed Ad-8d.
The flop was Qs-10h-3c, and oknergard was still ahead, but tallgeir had a lot of outs. One came on the turn -- the Ks. And the Ac on the river sealed it, bouncing oknergard in 20th place. tallgeir is up to 3 million.
8:29pm-- Cruel river sends Se7enTr3y home in 21st place
GB2005 raised to 180,000 from the cutoff, and Se7enTr3y reraised all in for a total of about 543,192 from the big blind. GB 2005, having about 1.4 million behind, made the call.
Se7enTr3y showed 8d-8c, and GB2005 turned over Ac-4h. The flop and turn -- 9d-2s-9h-10h -- were fine for Se7enTr3y. But the Ah on the river stole it away, knocking him out in 21st place.
GB2005 is up to 2.2 million.
8:26pm-- PyroWalter flames out in 22nd place
A bit of a cooler for the flame thrower PyroWalter. After nafudoma had raised to 240,000 from middle position, PyroWalter reraised all-in for his remaining 1,396,996 chips with Jd-Jc. But an instacall from Supa4real from the big blind -- who had him covered -- spelled trouble.
nafudoma folded, and Supa4real turned over Ad-Ah, well ahead of PyroWalter's jacks. Neither player improved on the 3h-3c-7h-Qh-6d board, and PyroWalter’s flame was extinguished in 22nd place.
8:19pm-- Sticky situation for stiCKypiFF14
stiCKypiFF14 open-shoved a stack of just over 400,000 from middle position, and Supa4real, having about 1.38 million when the hand began, made the call from the small blind.
Supa4real turned over 4d-4c, and probably didn't mind one bit seeing stiCKypiFF14 show 5d-3c. The board came Ks-8d-6s-2s-7d, and stiCKypiFF14 was bounced in 23rd place. Supa4real now has 1.88 million.
8:12pm-- Pocket pairs continue to be good for p0ck3tp3ar; iapetus out in 24th
With just 313,747 in chips and the blinds & antes climbing fast (currently 30,000/60,000 plus 6,000), iapetus made a move for the blinds from middle position, shoving all his chips in with Kc-8s. p0ck3tp3ar gladly called from the small blind with Td-Th.
A board of 7c-2s-Jd-9c-Ad sent iapetus home with $1,575.00 in 24th place.
8:09pm-- taktloss overrun by tjechw's pocket rockets
taktloss47 was eliminated in 25th place after getting it all in with Ac-Qd only to be up against tjechw's As-Ah. The aces held, and tjechw is now up over 3 million.
8:06pm-- blokwillem eliminated in 26th place
vanky pushed opened by pushing all in for 311,000-plus from late position, and blokwillem responded by reraising all in for just over a million from the button. Supa4real thought about it for a moment, then called the reraise from the small blind, leaving only 16,000 or so behind.
supa4real: Kc-Ad
vanky: 9s-Ks
blokwillem: As-Qc
The board came 2h-9c-5c-4h-4c, giving vanky the main pot of just over one million and Supa4real the side pot, pushing his stack to 1.48 million. blokwillem is out in 26th place.
8:01pm-- Louise6 finds no flush, and no more chips
Louise6 fought the good fight after being crippled on a rivered set of eights previously by webster426. But, blind steals only work if no one calls, and with 404,212 chips left Louise6 shoved with Ad-5d UTG only to have RuudGullit waiting on the button with As-Ah.
The pocket aces held up on the board of Tc-9c-Js-Jh-5s sending Louise home in 27th place.
7:55pm-- 27 remain
There are currently 27 players on three tables. The next nine players to be eliminated will each receive $1,575.00. WiLDmAn75 is our current chip leader with 3.09 million. The average stack size is just over 1.33 million.
7:51pm-- There exactly four aces in the standard deck of cards
Se7enTr3y checked his hole cards to find black aces -- As-Ac -- leaving two more in the deck. So when p0ck3tp3ar re-raised his UTG bet, the sounds of fireworks may have gone off in his head.
Unfortunately, the boom of the explosives was reduced to whistling in the air as p0ck3tp3ar turned over the red aces -- Ah-Ad. A little excitement on the flop of 6d-3s-2s, giving Se7enTr3y outs to a four-flush, but the turn of 6c meant they chopped up the two-million chip pot and went back to work. Se7enTr3y has about 1.5 million, while p0ck3tp3ar has about one million.
7:48pm-- WiLDmAn75 goes wild, man
WiLDmAn75 just took a 2 million-plus chip pot when his pocket jacks held up against both Duka333's 7c-7h and Preußenhusar's Kd-Ah.
WiLDmAn75 had both covered, so Duka333 is out in 31st, Preußenhusar is out in 30th, and WiLDmAn75 is near the top of the leaderboard with just over 2.8 million.
7:44pm-- End of the road for engels23
engels23 open-raised to 111,111 from the cutoff, and tallgeir reraised all in from the big blind with his stack of 1.1 million-plus. engels23 had about 475,000 behind, and made the call.
tallgeir showed Js-10d, and engels23 turned over Ad-9s. The board came 8d-10c-8s-9d-7h, and engels23 was out in 32nd place. tallgeir is up to 1.7 million.
7:37pm-- Million is now the norm
With 33 players left, the average chip stack is now at one million chips which will buy you about 11 orbits. Or, if you happen to bust suddenly, places 28th to 36th are scheduled to receive $1,425.00 for their six hours of work today.
7:26pm-- Top ten chip counts at end of hour number six; 37 remain
Level XXV
Blinds at 20,000/40,000 ante 4,000
Players remaining: 37
Average chip stack: 972,702
First Prize: $101,250.00
Team PokerStars Pro: Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose eliminated in 43rd place ($1,350.00)
7:21pm-- Paul-Ambrose out in 43rd
Team PokerStars Pro Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose open-raised all in with his last 243,761 from the cutoff. Then sebmenk reraised all in with his stack of nearly 450,000 from the button. Both might have been surprised to see Se7enTr3y make the call from the big blind, leaving 344,330 behind.
Se7enTr3y: Ah-Kh
stevejpa: 10d-8d
sebmenk: Ad-As
Not the best spot for Paul-Ambrose. The board ran out 3s-2d-5s-7d-Qh, and sebmenk's aces held up. Paul-Ambrose is out in 43rd, while sebmenk moved up to 1.15 million.
7:15pm-- Make that a THREE million-chip man
With the blinds at 15,000/30,000 with a 3,000 ante here in Level XXIV, Oknergard does it again.
This time Oknergard took two red bullets -- Ad-Ah -- up against the former chip leader toweliestar’s red ladies -- Qh-Qd. The board came 4h-Jc-3s-Js-5h and Oknergard took the massive 2,133,122-chip pot, moving him up past the three million-chip mark.
7:12pm-- 45 players remain
We're down to just five tables. The average chip stack is approaching 800,000. At the moment, everyone is guaranteed at least $1,350.
7:04pm-- Oknergard first to two million chips
We're still in Level XXIII. The table folded around to big-stacked oknergard who minimum-raised from the button, prompting lordhuttyx to fold from the small blind fearing strength. But Turob thought otherwise and pushed over the top from the big blind with his remaining 488,758 chips. Oknergard could not call the push quickly enough as he turned over Ac-Ad, well ahead of Turob's Kh-Qd.
The board of 2h-3c-Ah-8d-9c meant Turob's day was done, and gave oknergard the chip lead, making him the tournament’s first two million chip man.
6:59pm-- Six players at the million chip mark to start Level XXIII
60 players remain as we begin Level XXIII. The pre-flop pot now holds 57,500 chips as we start the blinds at 12,500/25,000 with a 2,500 ante. nafudoma, oknergard, EDWARDHOPPER, letontondu64, tallgeir, and Pyrowalter are all sitting on a cool million to start the new blind level. Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose is treading water around the 300,000-chip mark, roughly half of the 600,000 average chip stack.
6:52pm-- Gambolllll
Chips are flying back and forth as we find ourselves down to just 65 players. Another eyebrow-raising hand just took place over on Table 367.
Dsavo, sitting with over 900,000, open-raised to 51,500 from the cutoff. blokwillem then reraised to 160,000 from the small blind. The BB folded, then Dsavo pushed all-in and blokwillem called with his remaining 300,000.
blokwillem: As-Kd
Dsavo: 5d-7s
The board ran out 6c-8h-6h-3c-Qc, and blokwillem claimed the nearly one-million chip pot.
After the hand, swishes2000 typed "gambolllll" from across the table. Dsavo is back down to 457,901.
6:48pm-- Chip leader toweliestar aces cracked, still looking for 6th street
His avatar shows “6th Street,” but unfortunately for toweliestar hold'em only has five community cards.
After having recently taken over the chip lead, toweliestar called p86ba’s 30,101 raise from middle position, and oknergard did the same from the small blind. After a flop of 9c-8c-2h, p86ba checked and toweliestar bet 111,111. Then oknergard shoved his remaining 590,602 into the pot, getting p86ba to duck for cover.
toweliestar instacalled the push, turning over a slowplayed Ac-Ah, but oknergard was well ahead with a flopped top set of nines. The turn Qd and river 5s shipped the hefty 1,320,210 pot to oknergard and left toweliestar with 717,478.
6:36pm-- Tdomeski does double duty with aces
A three-way all-in on table 126 had short stacks tdomeski, plasticard, and LUFCBas all shoving their below par stacks into the middle pre-flop:
Tdomeski: As-Ac
LUFCBas: Kc-Kd
Plasticard: Ah-5h
A cooler for LUFCBas and no flush or trips for plasticard as the board came Qh-7c-8d-Ts-8c. tdomeski rises above the average stack of 400,000, now having 450,674 after the hand.
6:27pm-- New chip leader nafudoma applying pressure
New chip leader nafudoma has been demonstrating his willingness to use his big stack to apply maximum pressure. A recent sequence of five hands went thusly:
1. caalling raised to 43,000 from middle position, nafudoma reraised to 115,000 from the big blind, and caalling folded.
2. nafudoma folded his small blind to a button raise.
3. nafudoma open-raised to 46,000 from the button, taking the blinds.
4. Crowdog49 raised to 45,000 from UTG, nafudoma reraised to 150,000 from the cutoff, and Crowdog49 called with his last 100,000-plus chips. Crowdog showed As-9c, and nafudoma Ah-Js. A nine flopped, and Crowdog49 survived.
5. nafudoma open-raised to 45,000 from the hijack, traveller469 pushed all in for just over 90,000 from the small blind, and nafudoma called. nafudoma's Ac-10c outlasted traveller469's Kd-10h, and he'd knocked out another opponent.
nafudoma currently has over 1.3 million in chips.
6:18pm-- Top ten chip counts at end of hour number five; 112 remain
Level XXI
Blinds at 7,500/15,000 ante 1,500
Players remaining: 112
Average chip stack: 321,339
Team PokerStars Pros:
Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose 409,761 (28th place)
6:08pm-- 132 remain
We're now down to 132 players as we begin Level XX. Blinds are now 6,000/12,000 with a 1,200 ante. The average chip stack is just under 280,000.
EDWARDHOPPER and vidal14 continue to trade the chip lead. Both are nearing the one million-chip mark. And with his recent double-up, Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose has climbed back into the top 20 with a little over 430,000.
Those lasting into the top 117 will all guarantee themselves a payday of at least $1,050. Not a bad return on their $200+$15 investment, though many still have that $101,250 first prize in their sights.
5:58pm-- Steve Paul-Ambrose eliminates Da_FoRcE16, doubles up
A fairly quiet Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose over the past 30 minutes has suddenly come alive. After Da_FoRcE16 raised pre-flop to 26,000, Paul-Ambrose three-bet to 80,000. Da_FoRcE16 wasted no time to get his remaining 185,462 chips into the pot, but wasn’t as excited when the Team PokerStars Pro called with 34,037 chips behind and flipped up Kc-Kh to his 5c-5d.
No presto magic for Da_FoRcE16, as the board came 3c-Th-6c-9c-8d. Ambrose is up to 480,000 in chips while Da_FoRcE16 has been eliminated in 159th place.
5:45pm-- vidal14 gives up chip lead, but his hair still looks good
We are in Level XVIII, with 22 tables and 196 players left standing. With blinds at 4,000/8,000 with an 800 ante, several players are taking their chances pre-flop given the sizable 26,400-chip pot sitting in the middle for a blinds thief to take.
The chip leader is now EDWARDHOPPER after vidal14 lost a pre-flop battle versus dappadan777. vidal14 held Jd-Jh, and dappadan777 Qs-Qh. The board came 6s-3d-Tc-8s-Ks, and both players are now hovering around the 400,000-chip mark with the blinds changing to 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante in two minutes.
5:33pm-- The old suck-resuck
sebmenk, flirting with the top 20 with nearly 300,000 chips, raised to 18,000 from early position, and it folded around to ben81000 who shoved all in for nearly 100,000 from the small blind. sebmenk made the call.
sebmenk: Jd-Jc
ben81000: Qs-Qc
The flop came 8c-9c-Kd, and ben81000's queens were still ahead. But the Js on the turn gave the lead to sebmenk.
However, the 10c on the river saved ben81000, giving him a king-high straight. ben81000 has 213,908, while sebmenk has slipped to 198,143.
5:29pm-- More winners lining up on the leaderboard
Another big PokerStars MTT winner has slowly crept into to the top ten in chip counts. Halfrek has taken down the Tuesday weekly $1,050 buy-in MTT -- good for $66,600 -- and also has several cashes in the Sunday Million and Sunday Million Warm-up. He currently stands in sixth place with 320,860 in chips.
5:18pm-- Play for more next week in the Warm-Up
This just in to the PokerStars Blog: Next week's Sunday Warm-Up will have a $1 million guarantee. It will also be a Second Chance tournament. So, all players will have an opportunity to rebuy once in the first two hours.
5:15pm-- Top ten chip counts at end of hour number four; 282 remain
Level XVII
Blinds at 3,000/6,000 ante 600
Players remaining: 282
5:09pm-- Definitely not one-hit wonders at the top of the leaderboard
The top of the leaderboard is currently riddled with past Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-up final tablers. AA_Legend (currently 3rd) took sixth in the Sunday Warm-up last month, Dsavo (currently 4th) walked away with third in the Sunday Million on July 1st, and current chip leader vidal14 won a $215 rebuy and add-on tourney just two weeks ago.
5:06pm-- Set over set helps vidal14 cross half-million mark
vidal14 minimum-raised to 10,000 from under the gun, and A6540 called from the cutoff. The flop came 2h-Jc-5c, and vidal14 bet 35,000 into the 32,000 pot. A6540 raised to 70,000, and vidal14 quickly pushed all in. A6540, having just 33,680 left, made the call.
A6540 had 5h-5d for a set of fives, but vidal14 had Jd-Js for the better set. The turn was the 3c and the river the 6d, and A6540 hit the rail. Meanwhile, vidal14 is our new chip leader with 582,599.
4:48pm-- Steve Paul-Ambrose, still not showing his cards, moves into top ten
Despite the presence of the second-highest stack of Da_FoRcE16 at the table, Team PokerStars Pro Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose is racking up the most chips whether its pre-flop or on the river.
Without even showing his cards, the applied pressure to his tablemates has grown Paul-Ambrose’s stack to second overall. With blinds now at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante, Paul-Ambrose took down yet another pot, this time from Da_FoRcE16. With a board showing 7h-9h-Js-8d-2c, Paul-Ambrose bet 38,000 into a pot of 77,600, and Da_FoRcE16 folded.
4:43pm-- Grinder out
With blinds of 1,500/3,000, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi shoved his remaining 16,000-plus in the middle and was called by misterkoen3. The Grinder showed Ah-Qd, not a good hand to have against misterkoen3's Ad-Kd.
The board ran out 3d-8s-9d-5d-3d, and The Grinder is out in 451st.
4:39pm-- The bubble bursts
Midway through Level XIV, the money bubble has burst with uncledrkmeat being eliminated in 541st. As expected, the eliminations came fast and furious afterwards, with nearly a hundred players going out within the next ten minutes.
4:29pm-- Hand for hand
541 players remain, which means play is now hand for hand until the money bubble bursts. After that, expect an avalanche of eliminations, as the next 117 players to go out will all be receiving $375.00 for their efforts today.
4:26pm-- The Grinder, many others, sitting tight
Just ten spots off of the money bubble, and it appears Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is sitting tight.
The Grinder had taken a hit earlier when his pocket sevens failed to improve against alonso88's pocket queens. That hand knocked him down to just over 30,000. Then, in the last hand before the most recent break, he lost a race with Ac-Qc vs. a short-stacked iecavniex who held pocket eights, leaving him with just over 13,000.
After the break, a fortunate hand from the big blind in which he flopped trip tens got him back to 24,000, and he's been quiet since then, apparently looking to make the money.
4:21pm-- YEBOBOZ rushes his way into the chip lead
On back-to-back hands, YEBOBOZ eliminated three players. The first came against j.thaddeus and BrandanZ as the three players shoved pre-flop for a massive 250,000 chip pot.
j.thaddeus: Kc-Ks
BrandanZ: As-Ah
YEBOBOZ: 7d-7h
YEBOBOZ still had over 45,000 in chips behind after all the chips went into the middle pre-flop, but he would be getting a whole truckload back as he flopped his set of sevens as the board ran out 7c-4h-Qd-Tc-8c.
Just to make sure he was the new chip leader, on the very next hand YEBOBOZ battled with tylen after a flop of 7d-4d-6c came out with all the chips going to the middle for a total pot of 149,194.
YEBOBOZ: Ac-Qd
Tylen: Kd-Td
Tylen could not connect with his flush or pair draws, and YEBOBOZ now has a 100,000-chip lead over Da_FoRcE16.
4:02pm-- Top ten chip count during hour number three, 87 players to the money
Level XIII
Blinds at 1250/2500 ante 250
Players remaining: 627
Down to just over 20,000, Katja Thater pushed all in from the button with Ad-5s, and was called by TuneEmUp who held Ah-9h in the big blind. The board ran out Kh-9s-8h-5c-Qh, and Thater is out in 673rd place.
TuneEmUp is now up over 145,000.
3:54pm-- Can’t keep up with Steve-Paul Ambrose
Wow, my head gets turned for two seconds and the Team PokerStars Pro doubles up yet again. With blinds at 1000/2000 ante 200 and facing a 6,000 chip UTG raise from Erdnase, Steve-Paul Ambrose re-raised all-in to 38,425 total. Everyone else got out of the way and Erdnase made the call with the last of his 29,224 in chips.
Erdnase: As-Qh
Ambrose: Ad-Kd
The board ran out 6c-3h-Ah-Th-7c giving Ambrose nearly 80,000 in chips and in fine shape to make a run deep in the money today.
3:47pm -- Money bubble on the horizon
As we approach the three-hour mark, we're down to 770 players. The money bubble will be coming into view before too long, as the top 540 finishers get paid.
3:45pm-- Steve-Paul Ambrose rolling along by not showing
Team PokerStars Pro Steve-Paul Ambrose is doing just fine while picking up the 3,600 in chips in the pot preflop during Level XI’s 750/1500 blinds with 150 antes. He has nearly double up to 30,175 in the last orbit without even showing his cards.
3:40pm-- New chip leader has track record
If you're following the chip movement in the Sunday Warm-Up, you'll see a familiar name atop the leaderboard. Current leader usourcek has a Sunday Million win to his credit. In February, usourcek won $155,000 in the Sunday Million.
3:38pm-- Huge pot for usourcek, new chip leader
usourcek raised to 2,920 from UTG, and Eeedz reraised to 5,900 from middle position. A short-stacked MisterTBH pushed all in with his remaining 3,899 and the table folded back around to usourcek who then repopped it to 26,995. Eeedz four-bet all in -- a total of 115,617 -- and usourcek pushed his remaining 67,577 in the middle, making the call.
The total pot was 195,743 -- possibly the largest of the tourney thus far.
usourcek showed Ad-Kh, well behind Eeedz' Ac-Ah. MisterTBH meanwhile was hoping his 9h-9d would get him the small main pot.
The flop was Qd-10s-2d, and Eeedz remained ahead. The 6d on the turn gave usourcek a few more outs.
Then the river brought the Js, giving usourcek the Broadway straight and a boost all of the way to the top of the leaderboard. MisterTBH is out, and Eeedz has fallen all of the way down to 21,045.
3:26pm-- Tall stacks don't faze The Grinder
2Much$4U_08 opened with a raise to 3,299 -- a bit above the size of the pot -- from under the gun. Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi called the raise from UTG+1, as did carolusXX from the big blind.
The flop came 8h-2s-Ah. carolusxx checked, and 2Much$4U_08 bet the unusual amount of 5,999. The Grinder thought a moment, then put his own tall stack out to make the call. carolusxx folded.
The turn was the Jd, and both players quickly checked. The river brought the 6s. After some thought, 2Much$4U_08 bet out 10,999, and The Grinder quickly called.
2Much$4U_08 showed 10h-Jc for a pair of jacks, and The Grinder Ad-Qd for aces. The Grinder is up to 94,233, while 2Much$4U_08 falls to 29,991
3:21pm-- Sunday two hundred grand is starting in ten minutes
For the low, low price of $11 you can join over 18,000 players in the Sunday two hundred grand with a shot of at least $20,000 first place prize
Katja Thater 41,794
Steve Paul-Ambrose "stevepja" 16,275.
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso and Andre "aakkari" Akkari have both been eliminated.
3:00pm--taktloss47 no stranger to chip lead
Sebastian "taktloss47" Ruthenberg, a top German pro, currently holds the chip lead and it's a familiar place for him. He's placed third in an EPT event in Germany. Last year, Ruthenberg placed second in WCOOP Event #5 for $260,184.82. As of the last break, Ruthenberg sat with 154,449 chips in today's Sunday Warm-Up.
2:59pm-- Lady Maverick runs into rough waters and is out
With the antes starting on level VII and blinds at 400/800/50, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso used a little pressure and got squeezed on back-to-back hands. Rousso re-raised all in pre flop for 29,862 chips after posting the big blind and facing a three times the big blind button raise from Veg101 and a call by Klanfear in the small blind. Veg101 got out of the way, but Klanfear made the call all-in with Kc-Qc leaving Rousso with 7,825 behind.
Reluctantly, she turned over Qh-3d, the board ran out 6c-Qs-9s-4h-Kd giving Klanfear 48,474 in chips.
After a blind steal on the next hand, Rousso found herself outkicked with Ad-3s against the table chip leader, Veg101’s Ac-6c. With no help on the board Lady Maverick is out.
2:58pm-- River saves Thater in three-way all-in
The antes have kicked in here in Level VIII, so at nine-handed tables there's 1,750 in the middle when each hand begins. In this one, FranckZ shoved all in for 14,019 from UTG, and P0lak called from middle position, leaving 10,481 behind. It folded around to Katja Thater in the big blind who pushed all in for a total of 14,375. FranckZ called the few extra chips, making the pot 43,619.
The players' hands...
Katja Thater: Kc-Ks
FranckZ: Qd-Jh
P0lak: Ad-Kh
The flop came a tantalizing Ac-10c-Jc, giving P0lak the advantage. The Qs gave POlak Broadway, but FranckZ still had outs to a full house, and Thater her flush draw.
The river was the 2c, giving Thater the flush and the pot. FranckZ is out, and P0lak has slipped to just over 10,000.
2:40pm-- 1,600 remain
We just finished Level VII, and already over half of the starting field of 3,599 has been eliminated. Exactly 1,600 players currently remain. The average stack is just over 22,000, with NicStic sitting atop the leaderboard at the moment with 90,822.
2:31pm-- Lights out for two more, courtesy the Sunset King
Action began with a short-stacked wizard123abc pushing all in with his last 3,341 from early position. david0603, who had nearly 30,000 when the hand began, called from the hijack seat, and Sunset King, who had just over 60,000, also called from the big blind.
The flop came 5c-3d-5h. Sunset King checked, david0603 bet 7,000, and Sunset King called. The turn was the Jc. Sunset King again checked, and david0603 shoved his remaining 19,000-plus in the middle. Sunset King instacalled, showing Ad-5s for flopped trips. david0603 had 9h-9d for two pair, and wizard123abc was drawing dead with Qs-Tc.
The river was the 10h, and the Sunset King had knocked out two opponents. With that hand, he overtakes the chip lead from Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, moving up to 95,079.
2:17pm-- No Repeat for GrtWhtHype
Last week's Sunday Warm-Up champ GrtWhtHype has been eliminated. Down to just 4,420 in Level V (blinds 200/400), GrtWhtHype pushed all in from the button after rnoord had raised to 1,200 from middle position. The blinds stepped aside, and rnoord made the call.
GrtWhtHype held 10d-9d, and was thus far behind rnoord's Kh-9h. The board ran out 6d-2c-Ad-Jh-7c, and GrtWhtHype is out. rnoord currently has 11,480.
2:13pm-- The Grinder chews up another
Chip leader Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi limped in from early position, wolf1864 called from the button, Rockiesbiker completed from the small blind, and a short-stacked Lokern, down to 6,250, probably didn't mind seeing the flop for free.
The flop came 7c-5d-3s, and lokern bet 800 into the 1,600 pot. The Grinder called, and the others folded. The turn was the 7s. This time lokern bet 2,000, leaving himself just 3,450 behind. The Grinder again called.
The river brought the 4c. lokern pushed his remaining chips in, and The Grinder didn't hesitate before calling. lokern showed 9s-4s for a pair of fours (and busted flush draw), while The Grinder showed 6h-4h for the flopped straight. lokern is out, and The Grinder continues to move up. He now has over 76,000.
2:11pm-- Set versus the flush draw, Ambrose nearly doubles up
Steve-Paul Ambrose just found the double-up he needed. With 5,000 in the middle before the flop, Ambrose set out a 2,800 chip bet on a flop of Qc-7s-Js against RACE18. RACE18 met the bet with an all-in push of 5,800, Ambrose called leaving 4,275 behind.
RACE18 flipped up As-6s for the nut flush draw and Ambrose flopped a middle set of jacks. The seven on the turn filled up Ambrose and left RACE18 drawing dead. Ambrose now has 20,875 in chips.
1:45pm-- The Grinder Looking to Add A PokerStars Title to His Trophy Case
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi dropped by to take some chips as we approach the first break. The noted pro is standing tall with nearly 70,000 chips, good enough for the present chip lead.
1:36pm-- Three is a Magic Number
In Level II (blinds 50/100), GrtWhtHype raised to 255 from UTG. wojna987 called from the cutoff, as did sevenspades from the SB. The flop came 3h-8h-Qc. GrtWhtHype bet 555, wojna987 called, and sevenspades folded. The 7h came on the turn, putting a possible flush on board. Both checked. The river brought the 2c, and GrtWhtHype bet 725, and wojna987 called.
GrtWhtHype showed 3c-3d for the flopped set, and wojna987 mucked.
GrtWhtHype sits with about 11,000 at the moment, just a bit above the starting stack, while wojna987 has slipped to 7,000.
1:32pm-- Aces cracked
ChipLieder00 raised to 200 from UTG, then tmoneyy reraised to 564 from middle position. Four others called, including geirto from the button, making a pot of 2,870.
The flop came 6h-8s-Jc, and tmoneyy led out for 2,200. geirto called, and the others got out of the way. Both checked the 3d on the turn. The river brought the 6c, pairing the board. tmoneyy bet 3,900, leaving himself just 1,779 behind, and geirto, who had tmoneyy covered, promptly raised all in. tmoneyy made the call, showing Ad-Ac. But geirto had Jd-Js for jacks full, knocking out tmoneyy and claiming the 18,000-plus pot.
At the time, that pot put geirto over 20,000 and near the early chip lead.
1:15pm--Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso hits early
Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso has started the day nicely. Just one hour into the tourney she has already chipped up to 32,925 chips after a quick double up and taking out sambr when the money went into the middle on a 2s-6c-2d flop, she pushed sambr all-in holding 3s-4s and sambr leading with Ac-7c, but a 4h on the turn and 8c on the river send the chip to LadyMaverick good for a top ten spot on the earlly leaderboard.
1:00pm-- Big hand meets bigger hand
At Team PokerStars Pro Steve-Paul Ambrose's table number 437, Agiletto was value betting cglinn with top set on a flop of 6d 4s Jd, the turn saw the Ac fall and cglinn put out a 400 chip bet which was quickly called by agiletto. A river six of clubs started the fireworks as the two players raised back and forth until all their chips were in the middle and agiletto seeing the bad news as cglinn found quads on the river to take down 20,225 chip pot. Agiletto is not out however still alive with 2,050 in chips. Watch the hand play out below.
12:58pm-- Last week's champ sniffs out a monster
Play has started out tentatively at Table 245, where last week's winner GrtWhtHype is seated. Just now GrtWhtHype was in the big blind when upjump made a minimum raise to 100 from UTG+1. The table folded around to GrtWhtHype, who paused a moment before folding as well.
The table's instincts were correct -- upjump showed Ad-As as he took the small pot.
12:30pm-- Sunday Warm-Up set to begin
Today's PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up will begin in about 15 minutes. Last week's winner, GrtWhtHype of the United States won $105,000 and is back to defend his title. Already signed up to play are such notable players as 55lucky55, CASINOICE, Kongsgaard, mrrain, PearlJammer, Mr. Wrong, THE__D__RY, BKiCE, brainwash, charder30, Daut44, and zangzeban24. They will no doubt be just a few of the people we watch over the next several hours.
PokerStars has just announced an unprecedented line-up of champion poker players who will be bringing world-class poker action to Macau in the People’s Republic of China on September 1st for the launch of Season 2 of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour.
Joining the field of 20 world class champions in a tournament that is destined to become the largest-ever in Asia with 500+ participants, is poker legend Johnny ‘The Orient Express’ Chan. There are few players on the planet who can rival his poker record, with ten World Series of Poker bracelets to his name and more than $6.7 million in tournament earnings during his career.
“It’s great for Poker in Asia that there’s a major tournament like this here in Macau,” says Chan. “It’s bringing in top players like myself, and letting the world know that there is real poker here, and real poker players here, and that anybody can win millions of dollars.”
Joining the Chan will be a host of players from across Asia Pacific, and the world, who have won their way to the event via free online tournaments on PokerStars, in addition to those who will win their entries through live mega satellites still to take place throughout next week at the PokerStars Macau poker room at Grand Waldo Casino. Players can also buy-in directly on-site.
The PokerStars.net APPT Season 2 in Macau from September 1-9, will include the $25,000 HKD buy-in Main Event (approximately $3,200 USD) September 1-6 and the return of the prestigious “high roller” event with a buy-in of $150,000 HKD (approximately $19,250 USD) September 7-9. Both televised events guarantee a minimum prize pool of $10M HKD and with more than 500 players expected to start in the Main Event it is likely to set a new record for poker tournaments in Asia, both in player numbers and prize pool.
The Champions from around the world that will be hosted at PokerStars APPT Macau event include:
Joe Hachem, Australia (2005 WSOP Main Event Champion)
Johnny Chan, Hong Kong (1987 & 1988 WSOP Main Event Champion)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, France (2008 PCA Champion)
Scotty Nguyen, Vietnam (2008 WSOP HORSE Champion)
Lee Nelson, New Zealand (2006 Aussie Millions Champion)
Last week, I began a discussion with regards to the different types of poker players, and what their goals are. I broke that down into three categories. They are:
1) Recreational players
2) Players who use poker to try and earn some extra money
3) Professionals, or people who aspire to being professional
I already covered the first two; they were relatively easy to explain. The third one, is quite a different matter altogether. I will begin to address that this week.
It is virtually impossible to be a professional poker player, long-term. Numerous guidelines (which I will cover here in depth) must be followed, to be successful. Among those are:
Sufficient bankroll, and knowing how it should be used and split up
Game and limit selection
Time management, both on and off the tables; knowing when to stay and when to quit
Avoiding money traps away from the tables
Staying clear of vices
Staying in good mental and physical condition
When I use the word “professional”, I am strictly referring to where your poker earnings independently cover your expenses.
Now, everybody’s expenses are different. A single person in his/her 30’s might only need to earn $60K or less (net), to live reasonably. A family person, who is the sole supporter of his/her brood, will have to earn much more. Regardless of what your expenses are, for you to be considered a pro, you will have to make that amount solely from your poker earnings.
Bankroll is a much underrated concern for most poker players, professional or otherwise. Whether or not you are a pro, the large fluctuations of results, in all games and limits of poker, necessitate a large bankroll (relative to the limits you’re playing) to enable you to achieve success.
As a pro, this amount must be substantially higher than if you fall into one of the other two aforementioned categories of player. This is because going broke is cataclysmic to a professional, since he has no other source of income. If a professional does not have a sufficient bankroll, one bad run can put them out of business.
After many years of competing professionally, I can assure you that 2000 hours will be the minimum amount of time that has to be played (in the same limit, game, and against most of the same players) to determine your accurate anticipated hourly earning rate.
Since the games online not only “play bigger” than when played live (i.e., 30-60 online probably translates to 60-120 live), they also play much faster (in a time sense – more hands per hour). In games like Stud/8, where the pots are split by computer as opposed to manually (by the human dealer in a casino), you can have as much as 4-5 times as many hands dealt out per hour online.
You can also factor in that there usually is the option to play concurrently in multiple games online, which will considerably shrink the actual “real hours” needed to get to the 2000-hour target to accurately evaluate you results. Playing online can take you less than half the calendar time to reach the 2000 hours, than if you played live. If you are attempting to play professionally and full-time, that should translate into no more than one year of online playing.
Keep in mind that you will not only need a sufficient playing bankroll, but also a personal bankroll to pay your day-to-day expenses during your 2000-hour assessment. That translates into one full year of expense money that must be put aside for use only to pay your bills, and never tapped into for poker bankroll. The main purpose of this assessment is to establish that you can win consistently over time. Possibly the biggest mistake that players make is to overvalue a good run. While doing well may be the result of skill, and may be consistently reproducible, it also might just be an instance of “running well.” It’s usually a mistake to go pro as a result of one big tournament win or a good month at the tables.
This assessment period is also your opportunity to decide if you *really* want to play poker for a living. While it may seem glamorous from afar, it’s very true, as the adage goes, that poker is “a hard way to make an easy living.” Something that’s fun and completely enjoyable as a hobby may not be as enjoyable as a way of life.
And even if you can accomplish your goal of playing professionally, no matter how long you have been playing you still should put aside one year’s expense money to sustain you when the inevitable extended “bad run” hits you at the poker tables.
Next week, I will cover the different amounts of money needed for the recreational players, the players who are looking to make extra money at poker while earning their main income doing something else, as well as what bankroll is necessary for your games and limits of choice, regardless of which category you fall into.
I would again like to remind you that you can generally find me in either the 10-20 or 30-60 limit games in the stud high, stud 8 or better, or razz games on our site, as well as the $215 buy-in weekly stud 8 or better tournament (with a 10k guarantee)that we offer every Saturday at 1:45 pm PDT.
If you are interested in reading any of my past blogs, or would like to contact me further with any questions or suggestions, please do so at adamr@pokerstars.com. Thank you.
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for PokerStars to pump up its guaranteed tournament schedule again.
To be fair, it's not every week PokerStars gives its guarantees a shot in the arm, but it does seem like it's happen more often these days.
Just in to the PokerStars Blog newsroom, these new guarantees...kicking off tonight!
Tuesdays
19:55 -- Super Tuesday (Increasing from from $300,000 to $400,000)
Sundays
14:00 -- $109+R NL Hold'em (Increasing from $70,000 to $300,000)
15:00 -- Daily Eighty Grand (Increasing from $80,000 to $125,000)
17:00 -- $55 NL Hold'em (Increasing from $50,000 to $80,000)
17:30 -- $530 NL Hold'em (Increasing from $250,000 to $500,000)
19:00 -- $109 NL Hold'em (Increasing ffrom $50,000 to $100,000)
19:30 -- $109+R NL Hold'em (New guarantee--> $150,000)
21:00 -- $215+R NL Hold'em (Increasing from $200,000 to $250,000)
Oh, and if what we've been made to believe is true, you might want to check back here over the next few days for some more infomation on a very similar subject.
As we count down the days to the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, we continue to be amazed by the kind of money being made on any given Sunday at PokerStars. Top honors this week go to Gunslinger3, who picked up more than $140,000 after a five-way deal (REPORT).
Congratulations to all of this week's winners. Full final table results can be found below.
PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results Based on finishing order and five-way-deal REPORT
People playing the Sunday Million tonight may be looking for some buy-ins to the World Championship of Online Poker that starts here at PokerStars on September 5th. With 7651 players creating a $1,530,200.00 prize pool, almost all of our final tablists tonight could afford to take their shot at the $10,500 H.O.R.S.E. or perhaps the $25,000 high-roller heads-up tourney. Bacco70 ran his pocket sixes into M.nosbocaJ’s pocket queens to bust out on the bubble and the final table was set.
Seat 1: Gunslinger3 (9100597 in chips)
Seat 2: OCTAGONS (6690528 in chips)
Seat 3: RBC* (8574216 in chips)
Seat 4: Octavian_C (2774774 in chips)
Seat 5: exomil (7786435 in chips)
Seat 6: M.nosbocaJ (12196632 in chips)
Seat 7: bastinho06 (9941299 in chips)
Seat 8: Neab (7644299 in chips)
Seat 9: x-13 (11801220 in chips)
No overwhelming chip leader tonight and with the final table blinds starting at $200,000/$400,000 ante $40,000 the fast and furious preflop game may be the key for the winner this evening. X-13 made the first big move of the final table after calling a 1,000,000 chip opening raise from exomil in the big blind and check-raising all-in after exomil’s 1.6 million continuation bet off a flop of 6h 8c 9h. Flashing pocket sevens, X-13 showed the pair and open-ended straight draw to take down a five million chip pot and move into the chip lead with nearly 15 million chips.
About twenty hands later x-13 would give up his chip lead while attempting to knock out bastinho06. A pre-flop all-in race with x-13 holding the pocket pair of nines against bastinho06’s Ace-King. The bookend Kings on the board with no nines in the middle, gave bastinho06 trip Kings and the 15 million chip pot. After a break, we were still at nine players moving into $300,000/$600,000 ante $60,000 blinds and the player’s stacks growing ever tighter to the increasing blinds, talks of nine handed deals floated about but nothing grew out of them.
Octavian_C did not overcome his starting short stack, but he did not leave quietly either. Chipping up to nearly 4.3 million after starting with just 2.7 million and facing a sizable raise from OCTAGONS he shoved his pocket jacks only to see an insta-call by the pocket Kings of OCTAGONS. A board of 4c Tc 6d 4h 6h gave both players two pair but shipped the near 10 million chip pot to OCTAGONS while crippling Octavian_C. RBC* would deliver the final blow to Octavian_C’s tourney run and our ninth place finisher received $10,711.40
Just seven hands later an all-in pre-flop blind versus blind battle broke out between exomil and M.nosbocaJ. Exomil shoved his 3.5 million from the small blind with A2o while M.nosbocaJ held nearly 13 million covered the bet easily and called with A7. Hoping for a split in the chat box, exomil got a worthless pair of Aces instead as M.nosbocaJ’s seven kicker played sending exomil home with $17,597.30 in eighth place.
Card death at the final table is never pretty, and even worse with hundreds of thousands on the line. Neab held out for as long as he could with a short stack and no cards he made a necessary move with blinds at $300,000/$600,000 ante $60,000 and holding only three big blinds and A8o in his hand facing a button raise from bastinho06. Unfortunately for Neab, bastinho06 did not have stealing on his mind as he turned over pocket tens. Fours and Jacks showed on the board, but still did not change the pre-flop advantage as Neab took $26,778.50 back to Peterborough.
Just six hands later the biggest pot of the tourney had three players shoving all their chips into the middle pre-flop.
By the turn the board read Ad 6s 8s 9s giving X-13 straight, flush, and straight flush outs to go with the two that he started the hand with. A tepid 6h shipped the main and side pots to RBC* who took over the chip lead at 23 million chips and sparked deal talks while knocking x-13 out in sixth place.
The size of the blinds compared to their stacks had the final five quickly agreed to the chip count chop:
The chip chop turned out to be a blessing for RBC* as just two hands after the chop he ran pocket Kings into Gunslinger3’s pockets Aces for a massive 41 million chip pot. With just 3.5 million in chips left, RBC* would storm back with while surviving all-ins against OCTAGONS and bastinho06 to claim second place as the final five are playing for the $30,000 set aside from the chop.
Flopped straights look pretty, but Texas Hold Em’ requires five cards to be set out on the community board. Bastinho06 called the push of OCATGONS from the big blind holding QdTd versus OCTAGONS As8s. A perfect flop of Kh As Jd had OCTAGONS drawing dead, kinda, sort of, since he could not win with anything the turn, OCTAGONS needed running cards for help. He got help with the board pairing twice as the Jh and Ad gave OCTAGONS a full house and crippled bastinho06. Fifth place and a chopped win of $88,441 for bastinho06 as the steamroller of Gunslinger3 got the last of bastinho06’s chips on the next hand.
RBC* with 16 million in chips was the only player that could hurt the Gunslinger3’s chip lead of nearly 44 million chip, so his attempt to resteal all-in with Jd8d after an opening raise from Gunslinger3 had some weight behind it. But, Gunslinger3 held pocket nines and wasn’t letting them go. After a board of 3h Qs 2s 7h Td Gunslinger3 shot down another opponent sending RBC* home with the chopped $121,197 in fourth place.
The domino effect of the remaining players falling to Gunslinger3 was swift, as OCTAGONS called the small blind raise of Gunslinger3 for all of his chips holding just four big blinds and Js9c. Once again, Gunslinger3 had some more then air in his holster as his pocket fives won the race sending the lover of geometry (or maybe mixed-martial arts) home in third place with the chopped $83,907.
The chip counts for the tilted heads-up battle for the remaining $30,000:
Gunslinger3 67,026,854
M.nosbocaJ 9,483,146
After Gunslinger3 won the first three hands in a row pre-flop, M.nosbocaJ would push back a little bit by reclaiming the lost chips over the next three hands. There would be no miracle run for M.nosbocaJ however, as his pocket fives went up against the JcTd of Gunslinger3 on the seventh hand of heads up play. The flop of Kd 2d Jh gave Gunslinger3 a huge lead in the pre-flop race that he would not relinquish as the 7h 9c played out the remainder of the board.
With his pair of jacks, Gunslinger3 got his chopped $110,921, the $30,000 for first place, and the title of this week’s PokerStars Sunday Million Champion!
Congratulations to all the cashers and final tablists tonight, here is the final table payout including the five-way chop:
I am a consultant for PokerStars in the stud section. I oversee the 10-20 and 30-60 limit Stud high, Stud Hi/Lo, and Razz games. For those of you who do not know me, I have been a highly ranked player for many years, and have had success from 1991-2001 (the years I played) in live, high limit cash games and WSOP tournaments. You can generally find me competing in one or more of our Stud games, as well as in our weekly $215 buy-in Stud Hi/Lo tournament on Saturday at 1:45 PDT.
This week’s blog will cover and important choice: playing for recreation, playing to win, or playing for a living (with no other income).
Today I will cover those three different types of poker playing, whether it is online or live, and/or in cash games or tournaments.
You may be puzzled reading my first option, which is playing for fun or recreation as opposed to it being cut-and-dry that all players are there to win.
But it has been my experience that there are some players, at all limits, who are just looking to “gamble” or “blow off steam,” and using poker as a venue for that. Now, most people who use gambling for this type of escape do use other casinos games, such as blackjack, craps, roulette, sports betting, etc, as their recreation of choice, win or lose. But, don’t kid yourself; there are still many people who do this in poker as well.
I never could understand this concept. Maybe it has to do with me being a professional in poker, but I do not think so. I always felt that no matter what we do, we should do it well, and in any area of competition, which all forms of poker certainly are, play to win at all times, whether it is for money or not.
Nevertheless, this does not always happen with some people. So, if you are playing poker for "an earn,” or professionally, the most profitable players for you to compete against are the ones who are just sitting at the table “for fun or recreation,” and truly do not care whether or not they actually win or lose.
In fact, I have seen some of these type of players actually be able to play very well, but almost choose not to because it goes against the concept of what they are there to accomplish, which is truly gambling, and even trying to put as many “beats” on the other players as possible!
Usually, these types of players do not last too long, though. Three things tend to happen:
1) They go broke
2) They lose interest and find something else to gamble at
3) They wise up, improve their game, and try to win
Contrary to popular belief, I think that you will find more of these "recreational players” online than live. I say that because these types of players are more comfortable sitting behind the computer where the other players at their table cannot visually see them or make fun of their play. Trust me, it is way more benign reading an insult in the chat box as opposed to having to visually and verbally see and hear one coming from one or more players at the same table.
In addition to that, it is so much more convenient for someone to gamble online as opposed to traveling to casinos, even if you live in a city which offers one. So, when someone is “jonesing” to gamble, all they have to do these days is log on and press buttons, as opposed to even having to drive a relatively short distance to get to a local casino.
My advice to the players who in fact are “playing to win” and/or “for a living” is to be very nice to recreational gamblers, regardless of their behavior towards you. I find that most of the time these recreational players tend to be very cordial, and are just looking to “have a good time,” which is their perception of what they are doing.They generally do not seem to care if a beat is put on them, or how a hand is played. Sure, there are exceptions, to where some of these players, like others, do get belligerent on the chat, but that should be assuaged or ignored. They are the source of the profit for the good players; keep them happy!
With regards to the players who fall into the category of “trying to win,” I feel that these are the largest category of players you will find in all forms of poker.
They are people who have other incomes and use poker as a tool to make some extra money. These players tend to try hard to win, but know that in reality they can stop playing poker completely and not have it affect their lives or livelihoods.
In fact, I find that even most “professionals” who claim that poker is their sole income actually fall into this category. They have other income coming in from various sources which enable them to play poker, and claim that their poker earn is their sole income, even though it is not really the case.
The people who play poker for a living, to where they have no other income coming in from any source, are the ones who really have to follow the strict and stringent guidelines which I will cover in depth in my next blog.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this, and hope to see you at our tables.
Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions, at adamr@pokerstars.com.
If you didn't spend last month under a rock, you probaly know PokerStars had a bit of a promotion (read: its biggest ever) during the month of the July. The end of the PokerStars 2X promotion saw tons of people win tournaments that bumped up their PokerStars VIP Club level.
In the month of July, we witnessed seven people reach the highest level of the VIP Club: Supernova Elite. Among those seven, messier111 did it the old-fashioned way (busting his tail end at the tables). Six people, however, found themselves with Supernova Elite statuses without putting in the full grind. The following people won special tournaments that carried them the rest of the way to Supernova Elite: amarillion, Nookx, vinny ferret, Milwaukee2, non5ense, and IntenseDawg.
Amarillion played in the Platinum Star freeroll at the end of the month. Mainly a mid-stakes cash game player, you'll often find him in the big Sunday tournaments. Living in London, Amarillion has been playing fulltime for the past couple of years.
"I'm looking forward to the WCOOP events, especially the Main Event, as it should have a huge prize pool," he said. "As for now, I'll make the most of Supernova Elite by playing a lot of cash, and hopefully a few EPTs this year. I'll try to earn myself a Porsche in the not too distant future, too."
Across the Atllantic, Alan "IntenseDawg" Liu woke up one day as a regular PokerStars VIP Club member. Before he went to bed again, he was a Supernova Elite. Liu started playing poker seriously at the beginning of this year. Inspired bu a friend who grinds mid-stakes for a living, Liu started off playing with play money.
"I eventually moved to the 2-cent tables, and now I regularly play .50/$1 NLHE cash games," he said.
Now, a grinder in his own right, Liu is a Supernova Elite, thanks to the PokerStars 2X VIP Status promotion tournaments.
"At first, I had zero expectations going in," Lui said. "I was playing really well, made it to the final table, and willed my way to the top two."
Lui plans to continue his .50/$1 grind, while is still keeping his eye on the chance to move up as soon as possible. His new Supernova Elite status will get him an entry into the EPT Monte Carlo or the World Series Main Event. Lui hasn't decided which he wants yet.
"My dream is to play in big live tournaments and try to make a name for myself in the world of poker," he said.
July was a month that saw PokerStars tournament fields grow to record heights. A combination of PokerStars 2X and a new tournament guarantee schedule has lifted the site to a whole new level. With such massive fields, and giant prizes, it was no surprise that July produced some memorable moments.
Here’s a review of how things panned out in month seven of the MTT TLB:
What better place to start a Multi-Table Tournament Leader Board review for July than with a new all-time record score for the Weekly TLB. For the week July 27th –August 2nd (mostly July, so it counts for this review), ‘bduds3737’ posted a seemingly impossible score of 5,785.40 – that’s 1,153.16 points more than the previous record!
So how did ‘bduds3737’ produce such a gargantuan tally?
The foundation for the score was a win in a Sunday Hundred Grand tournament featuring 23,960 players. That victory accounted for 3,112.40 of the total. There were further wins in a $50 Rebuy (561.42 points) and the Weekly $215 Limit Hold’em (350.96). Three other final tables and a host of strong cashes made up the rest of the score.
Four other players broke into the all-time top 20 Weekly TLB scores in July. Players ‘ftb_1988’ and ‘Metsfan512’ both joined the exclusive group of 16 players to have exceeded 4000 points in a week, and now occupy 9th and 5th place on the all-time list. ‘Kiba52’ and ‘TimDawg888’ fell just short of the 4000-point benchmark and hold the 19th and 18th ranked positions.
In the Weekly TLB match, the recent good form of the Team PokerStars Pros came to an end.
The month began with a victory for ‘RobTheCrook’ over Steve Paul-Ambrose for $3,000. Week 2 saw the PROs only victory as Greg Raymer overcame ‘dickson007’. Luca Pagano battled for 48 minutes before succumbing to ‘Kiba52’ in week 3. Week 4 saw Humberto Brenes fall to his first ever TLB match defeat, with ‘Metsfan512’ his conqueror.
Up until the end of July, the Pros lead the challengers 17 – 13.
It will come as no surprise to learn the July Monthly TLB was owned by ‘bdubs3737’. He was unable to replicate his record-breaking exploits over the longer period, but his score of 7,132.61 was still good enough for 6th place on the all-time Monthly TLB scores list. The $5,000 prize money will look good on top of July winnings.
Two other players did enough to make the Hall of Fame, with ‘imeasy2read’ taking 8th spot (7,047.97 points) and ‘jitterbug777’ getting 15th (6,487.83 points). Of course, they also received $3000 and $2000 respectively for their July performances.
The Monthly TLB Top 1000 $20,000 Freeroll saw a fairly typical split of North American and European players. In the end it was German ‘Turkishmcfly’ that took the $5,000 first prize, seeing off a stern challenge from TLB regulars ‘stealurmoney’ and ‘QuasiFiction’.
‘derek8’s domination has continued throughout July with three MTT wins coming from thirteen final table appearances. His current score has now surpassed 33,000 points – less than 2,000 points shy of a new Yearly TLB record. As things stand, ‘derek8’ is in line to win the 5-Stamp PokerStars Passport.
Not to be outdone, current champion and record holder ‘shaundeeb’ remains in second place, albeit more than 2,500 points adrift. He still have five months to make up the ground, but he’ll earn a 3-Stamp PokerStars Passport if he can just maintain his current position.
Third in the Yearly TLB race gets a 2-Stamp PokerStars Passport and that place is currently held by ‘QuasiFiction’. Right now he’s almost 4,000 points back from first, so his first priority will be to hold off the chasing pack.
With seven months already invested in the competition, no-one is going to give up or back down. With WCOOP on the horizon, anything can happen.
With just a few weeks to go until the start of WCOOP, the Sunday majors on PokerStars are getting quite a work out. The biggest WCOOP warm-up came in the form of this weekend's Sunday Million. A two-way deal gave ziggy47 the first place prize and more than $182,000 (REPORT).
Get all the results below for all the big PokerStars Sunday tournaments.
Congratulations to all the winners.
PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results Based on finishing order and two-way deal REPORT
Another Sunday, another massive field in the Sunday Million, and another $1.5 Million guarantee shattered. This week 8,236 players built a prize pool of $1,647,200.00, with the top 1260 players taking home a piece of the pie. After nine hours of play, the final nine competitors gathered ‘round the final table, all vying for the title and the $199,475.92 first prize.
Ohhaaahhh took out BUCK 7 DEUCE to set the final table when ohhaaahhh’s As-Qh outflopped BUCK 7 Deuce’s pocket nines on a board of Jd-2c-Ac-6h-10d to set up the final table. That pot put ohhaaahhh in the chip lead going into the final table, but j.thaddeus took the top spot a few hands later after flopping a set on a board of Jh-4h-9s. All the money went in the middle, and ohhaaahhh’s Ac-Kc couldn’t catch up. J.thaddeus then had more than double the chip stack of the nearest competitor.
Lissem became the first casualty of the final table, about 20 hands in. The short-stacked lissem had played the waiting game, sitting back and posting and folding while awaiting a premium hand. Finally, one came along – Ah-Ks. After a preflop raise from puntnko, lissem called all-in to find a classic race waiting – AK v. pocket Queens. This time, the coin landed tails for lissem as the board ran out 4d-8s-4h-7s-2c, pushing the pot to puntnko. Lissem picked up $11,530.40 for finishing in 9th place.
Ohhaaahhh moved back up the leader board after a monster hand with WSODice that left WSODice headed to the rail in 8th place. WSODice raised preflop with pocket Queens, and quickly called when ohhaaahhh re-raised enough to force an all in. Ohhaaahhh tabled a massive cooler hand for WSODice – pocket Kings. The board ran out 9d-10h-9h-9s-10s, and ohhaaahhh’s boat was bigger as WSODice busted in 8th place for $18,942.80.
Okidokiclub claimed the next scalp when he defended his button against a steal attempt from Foggsy. Foggsy pushed all in from the cutoff with 8d-6c, and had the bad luck to run his steal into okidokiclub’s Ah-7h. The Ace-high flop gave okidokiclub a solid lead, but the 8s on the turn gave Foggsy some outs. The final board read 3h-Qd-Ac-8s-Ks, though, and Foggsy picked up $28,826.00 for 7th place.
Another cooler sent YrrsiNN to the rail in sixth place when As-Qh ran into Ac-Ks and fireworks ensued. Ziggy47 raised preflop with Ac-Ks, and YrrsiNN went all in over the top with As-Qh. Ziggy47 quickly called, and the board ran out 10c-8d-7c-10s-4d. The tough defeat left YrrsiNN with $41,180.00 in salve for 6th place.
Just a few hands later, Ziggy47 continued the streak, sending okidokiclub to the rail in 5th place ($57,652). Ziggy47 raised preflop with Qh-10h, and okidokiclub moved all in over the top with As-5h. Ziggy47 called, and the flop came down Jc-6d-Kc. Okidokiclub was still in the lead with Ace high, but Ziggy47 had an open-ended straight draw for extra outs. The turn was a meaningless 2h, but the 9d on the river made Ziggy47’s straight and ended okidokiclub’s tournament.
The them of dominated hands in monster pots continued when former chip leader ohhaaahhh ran his Kh-Jc into puntnko’s Kc-Qd to bust in 4th place. After a preflop raise from puntnko and a call by ohhaaahhh, the flop came down 9d-8s-Ks. Ohhaaahhh moved all in with K-J for top pair, only to find himself drawing thin against puntnko’s K-Q. The 2s on the turn helped neither player, and ohhaaahhh was left looking for only a Jack on the river. The 7d was no help, as ohhaaahhh picked up $74,124 for 4th place.
J.thaddeus picked his spot the best he could with the short stack three-handed, but when he moved all in with pocket nines over the top of Ziggy47’s preflop raise, he found himself staring right down the barrel of the gun into Ziggy47’s bullets. Ziggy47’s pocket Aces held up on a board of 10c-8s-Kh-7c-8d, and j.thaddeus was heading to the rail with $91,419.60 for 3rd place.
The chip stacks were pretty close when heads-up play commenced, with ziggy47 holding a slight edge over puntnko.
Ziggy47 – 43,409,883
Puntnko – 38,950,117
With blinds at 400,000/800,000 with an ante of 80,000, the two remaining players agreed to a chip count chop that was almost exactly even. Ziggy47 locked up $152,438 to puntnko’s $151,283, with $30,000 left for the winner. With a deal in place, the remaining competitors squared off for the title and the $30,000 left in the middle!
After some initial feinting and jabbing in the early going of the heads-up match, the end came like a looping roundhouse, out of nowhere and fast. Ziggy47 raised from the button like on many hands before, and this time puntnko re-raised with Ad-9h. Ziggy47 moved all in over the top, and puntnko called, only to watch ziggy47 table the dominant Ac-Js. Nothing unexpected happened, and like so many of the final table hands, a strong hand ran into a stronger one, and after the board ran out 8c-Ah-2d-7c-5h, the tournament was over and ziggy47 was the winner, pocketing a total of $182,438 for a long night’s work.
Congrats to ziggy47, puntnko and all the 1,260 players that cashed in this week’s Sunday Million!
All good things must come to an end, and now the first season of the Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT) is in the record books. After Julien Nuijten in Rio de Janeiro, Valdemar Kwaysser in San Jose, the third and final champion has also been decided. And he is also a European. His name is Jose Miguel Espinar, from Valencia, Spain.
The rain on the Spaniard: Jose Miguel Espinar emerges from the ticker tape as a champion
Espinar came through a super-tough final table in Punta del Este, Uruguay, tonight, and won a mammoth heads-up battle against Alex Brenes, of Costa Rica. But at the end, it came down to a huge hand when both players got their level chip stacks in the middle with A-10 and A-9. Espinar had the A-10, and although Brenes thought he'd outdrawn the Spaniard when a nine flopped, the ten on the turn sealed the hand for Espinar.
Delight turns to despair as Alex Brenes outdraws but then is outdrawn on
That left Brenes with just 40,000 in chips, not even a small blind, and Espinar's king-three was enough to win it on the next hand.
The ticker tape rained down, the 80s pop songs boomed out from the speakers. Espinar and his friends from Spain wiped away tears and we crowned a worthy champion.
Espinar deserved it. After two days of stiff competition, we reconvened at the Mantra Resort in Punta at 1pm today with a typically-formidable line-up around the final table. Leading the way was Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes, fresh from World Series success, and carrying the hopes of the Team on his capable shoulders.
But not even Gomes could get away from a hand against Alex Brenes at about the mid-point of the day, when he flopped straight and flush draws but missed them all. Brenes, in fact, hit his straight and sent Gomes out in fourth.
By then, we had already accounted for Brazil's Paulo Cesar Ribeiro, Argentina's Juan Jose Perez, Brazil's Sydney Chreem and Canada's Gylbert Drolet in an all-action opening couple of levels.
We were hardly five minutes in when Ribeiro was forced out: he got all his chips in with pocket jacks, but Espinar, whose king-queen had tripped up on the flop, had trapped him.
Out went the first Brazilian and Espinar was up and running.
Next up for the guillotine was Perez, from Argentina, who also ran into the immovable object Espinar. This time Espinar had a suited ace jack and was way behind against Perez's aces. But the flop, turn and river got progressively straighter for the Spaniard and the king on the river ended it.
Espinar punched the air, Perez punched holes in a voodoo doll of youngster from Valencia. We were down to six.
For a while, it became the Lisandro Gallo show. The Argentinian busted Sidney Chreem, of Brazil, with pocket sevens against Q-10. Then the final PokerStars qualifier and only North American, the Canadian Gylbert Drolet took the walk.
He had been card dead for the whole final table and had been reduced to a small stack when he got it all in with jacks. But the vibrant Gallo, the most vociferous around the table for the best part of two days, called with ace-queen and ended up making a flush.
Then it was time for Gomes to go, to leave Gallo, Brenes and Espinar to fight it out three handed. Gallo was the short stack and although he yo-yoed up and down a couple of times, he eventually ran a pair of sixes into a pair of jacks and then a nine high into aces. Gallo shrugged, smiled, shook hands and walked. Good game Gallo.
The heads up battle pitched two of the most accomplished players against once another. Espinar is a familiar face on the European Poker Tour and had cashed in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure earlier this year. Brenes had already been on an LAPT final table -- in Rio in March -- as well as appearing in the final stages of World Series and WPT events.
What's more, the two of them had been facing off against one another all day; the poker gods had pitted the two against each other numerous times. This heads-up battle had been brewing and then we had what we wanted. They jabbed, they parried, they ducked and weaved.
It went on for more than three levels before that big hand with the ace-ten and the ace-nine. And after all the money had gone in and all the chips had been shipped, they shook hands, hugged and knew it would all happen again some other day.
The first season of the Latin American Poker Tour is over. But it will all start again in November. In the meantime, take a look back at this tournament with the links below, and check out the PokerStars site for satellite tournaments to be a part of season two.
Read all about it in Spanish HERE and read all about it in Portuguse HERE.
Gracias y adios.
All photographs (c) Joe Giron/IMPDI
***
The PokerStars team of video bloggers has been hard at work, as ever, in Punta del Este. Once the tournament got heads up, they reviewed the day with the first clip here. Their full interview with the champion follows.
11.40pm -- Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain, champion of LAPT Punta del Este, earning $241,735
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica, eliminated in second place, earning $127,675
It all goes in next hand and Brenes has A-10 against Espinar's king-five. But a king flops and it stay good, giving the title to the Spaniard. A third European champion on the PokerStars.net LAPT.
11.30pm -- Massive, massive hand that should have won this thing for Jose Miguel Espinar. They conspire to get it all in with A-9 (Brenes) against A-10 (Espinar) and the chips are counted. Brenes had edged slightly into the lead after a previous hand in this level, but only by 40,000 in chips. If Brenes could outdraw Espinar, he'd be champion. If Espinar's hand held up, he' be dominant. But there was drama. A nine flopped sending the partisan Costa Rica crowd wild. But then a ten turned and there was silence as Espinar took the lead again. Brenes is down to air.
11.20pm -- We're into level 27, with blinds at 50,000-100,000 and a 10,000 ante. That's an ante worth every player's buy-in.
The chip counts are as follows:
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain -- 1,950,00
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica -- 1,570,000
11.10pm -- We have a ten minute break at the end of the level and white chips are coming into play.
11.05pm -- After a period of small-ball jousting, there's a raise and a re-raise pre-flop with Espinar repopping Brenes to the tune of about 250,000. Brenes thinks and thinks, then he stands up and looks for all the world as though he's folding. But then ..... he folds.
10.55pm -- A sizeable pot goes to Alex Brenes, which levels everything up. Espinar mucked his cards at the end, but he had been beaten by two pair in Brenes's hand -- eights and fives -- which came on turn and river.
10.45pm -- This is kind of like live blogging a metronome. It's going backwards and forwards but the net result is always something similar: Espinar currently has 2,000,000 and Brenes 1,500,000. Tick, tock, tick...
10.30pm -- It's following a definite pattern here: Jose Miguel Espinar gets about a million chips ahead by playing small-pot poker, then Alex Brenes scoops a biggie and they get back even again. We're nearing the mid point of level 26 and they're all but even again. Tournament director Mike Ward is considering breaking out the white 25,000-value chips to take some of the strain away from the players who are doing a lot of shifting of chip towers.
10.15pm -- Almost imperceptibly, we're into level 26. The blinds now are 30,000-60,000 and a 5,000 ante.
10.10pm -- King high good. They get all the way to the river, and see a board of A-9-5-3-5. Espinar bet the turn but Alex called, and after they both checked the river, Brenes showed jack high. That was no match for Espinar's king.
10.05pm -- There's more to think about than there is to write about.
10pm -- But that's a bigger pot. They get to the flop with the minumum of betting, and it comes A-A-8. Check, check. The turn is a 2 and Espinar bets 200,000. Brenes calls. The river is a six and now Brenes bets 300,000. Espinar calls and is shown A-8 for the flopped full house. The pot is close to 800,000 and the players end up back to where they started the level.
9.55pm -- The first all in of the heads up comes when Alex Brenes check-raises Espinar. The Spaniard never looks like calling and doesn't. Small pot only for the Costa Rican.
9.45pm -- As the tension mounts in Uruguay, here's some light relief courtesy of our video bloggers. First, Alexandre Gomes talks about his charge to the final table, then the Brenes brothers give their thoughts on the tournament:
9.40pm -- Brenes folds. He's left with 900,000; Espinar has 2.4million.
9.30pm -- Another small pot for Brenes, 88,000 to be precise, comes when he bets the river on an A-Q-K-3-4 board and Espinar folds. Soon after, Espinar raises about 100,000 pre-flop and Brenes calls. The flop come 9d-7d-6s and Espinar bets again, which Brenes calls to swell the pot to 538,000. Espinar checks the 4s turn and Brenes bets 400,000. This prompts Espinar to move all in -- the first of the heads up battle and Brenes has a decision...
9.20pm -- The first flop of the new level comes eight high, and when another eight comes on the turn, Jose Miguel Espinar bets 60,000 at it. Alex Brenes, with the Costa Rican scarf draped over his shoulders, a Brenes-trademark sun visor over his eyes, calls. The river is a four, a second four, meaning the final board reads 8-8-9-4-4 and prompts Espinar to bet 180,000. Brenes thinks about this one for a long time, munching on chewing gum, before he calls and shows A-3, for eights and fours with an ace kicker.
It's good and Brenes takes a 580,000 pot. It's now 1.9m for Espinar, 1.7m for Brenes. On we go.
9.10pm -- After some nourishment (well, a players' buffet) we're back for level 25. Tournament officials took a count at the break and this is it:
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain -- 2,257,000
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica -- 1,264,000
Espinar, therefore, has about a million more than his Costa Rican adversary, but the new blinds are still only 20,000-40,000, with a 4,000 ante. Plenty of play left.
8.30pm -- The level is over, and we're off to dinner. It was a largely uneventful first hour of heads up action and the stacks are almost level. We'll be back for level 25 soon.
8.20pm -- We've been playing heads up for about 50 minutes and the players are still about even in chips. Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes is calling the action and is trying to get the railbirds involved. Some of them ran forward to drape a Costa Rica flag over Alex Brenes's shoulders.
No one has a Spanish flag for Jose Miguel Espinar.
8pm -- Flops have been few and far between. And both these players are extremely deep-stacked, meaning this one could definitely go on for a good long while assuming there are no aces versus kings style blow outs. In one hand that did go past the pre-flop action, Espinar check-raised Brenes on a flop of As-2d-4d, and Brenes let it go.
7.45pm -- We're heads up, and here's a bird's, a Brenes' and an Espinar's eye view:
7.40pm -- A small pot for Jose Miguel Espinar, who bets the flop of 2h-9s-5d, then bets the turn of 5s. Alex Brenes calls the first tickle of 40,000, but gives up when it goes up to 80,000.
7.30pm -- This should be a fairly tasty heads-up battle as these two players have clearly dominated this table to date and have not shown any fear of one another. In fact, on occasion, they've seemed to seek out one another in the big pots and this one-on-one contest has been waiting to happen for quite some time.
7.05pm -- The elimination of Lisandro Gallo was the last action of level 23. They've taken a short break before starting level 24 (blinds 15,000-30,000 with a 3,000 ante) and here are the chip counts for mano-a-mano action:
Jose Miguel Espinar -- 1,993,000
Alex Brenes -- 1,528,000
***
Lisandro Gallo's run to third in this event was a truly spectacular one. Here's how he described it to our video bloggers:
7pm - Lisandro Gallo, Argentina, eliminated in third place, earning $93,630
After the huge hand against Espinar, Gallo was left with just 10,000, putting him all in in the big blind. Remarkably, he doubled up twice, with nine-six and then ace-king, but the third time he tries it, he can't pull off another miracle. Alex Brenes has aces, of all things, and Gallo has queen-nine. He can't catch up with the bullets, and Gallo is gone.
Adios Lisandro
6.40pm -- Lisandro Gallo raises pre flop and Jose Miguel Espinar re-raises about another 110,000, giving the decision back to the Argentinian. He calls. The flop comes 2d-6h-10d and both players check. The turn is the Jh and Espinar bets 200,000. Gallo thinks, then moves all in for about 800,000, which just covers Espinar. Espinar calls and shows A-J for top pair; Gallo has six-eight. The river is another jack and Espinar takes a massive pot, all but eliminating Gallo. The count down takes an age.
6.35pm-- Double up for Lisandro Gallo, courtesy of an outdraw. He was short stacked and got it all in pre-flop behind ace-five. Alex Brenes had ace-nine, but the five flopped and Gallo takes a pot of around about 900,000 to stay alive.
6.30pm-- Alex Brenes and Jose Miguel Espinar are at each other's throats again. Brenes takes a pot with a flop bet, but then Espinar gets it back, and more, when his 9-10 hits a ten on the flop and also gets a call from Brenes's J-8, who hits an eight. It's worth about 150,000.
6.20pm -- Lisandro Gallo is spending only about 50 percent of his time around the table, otherwise speaking to his friends on the rail. When he comes back, he's in shove mode and takes a pot off of Jose Miguel Espinar with one pre-flop all in.
6.10pm -- Big pot goes to Alex Brenes, denting Jose Miguel Espinar. Brenes raises from the button, Espinar bumps it up to 105,000 from the small blind pre-flop. The flop comes 4h-4d-Ah and both players check. They also check the turn of Jh, but the river of 8h gets the betting going. Alex Brenes bets 250,000 and Espinar makes a seemingly-reluctant call. He has rivered two pair with his A-8 (no heart) but Brenes has pocket eights for eights full of fours.
Jose Miguel Espinar knows he is beat
6pm -- With blinds now at 12,000-24,000 (3,000 ante), and with Alex Brenes and Jose Miguel Espinar holding more than a million in chips, the pressure is on Lisandro Gallo, who has the small stack of 625,000. He doesn't seem to have been feeling much pressure in the tournament so far and has enjoyed it start to finish. But let's see how he copes from here on in.
5.35pm -- Players are taking a 15 minute break before we enter level 23. Their chips counts -- and their photos -- look like this:
5.25pm -- Alex Brenes and Jose Miguel Espinar are at it again, with Espinar raising from the button pre-flop (to 55,000) and Brenes reraising 220,000 from the big blind. Espinar calls. The flop is 8s-Jd-9h and both players check. The 7s comes on the turn and Brenes moves all in for 900,000 and change. Espinar folds.
5.20pm -- Approximate chip counts with three left:
Jose Miguel Espinar - 1,740,000
Alex Brenes - 1,220,000
Lisandro Gallo - 602,000
5.15pm -- Jose Miguel Espinar wipes some of the smile off of Alex Brenes's face when he takes the mighty 9-3 up against Brenes's Q-4 and spikes a third nine on the river to scoop a 500,000-odd pot. Brenes had flopped a queen and Espinar had flopped a nine. But most of the money went in when that third nine rivered, and Espinar has levelled things out a bit.
5pm -- There's a special kind of grin in poker, known as the chip leader's grin. It looks something like this:
4.50pm -- Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, eliminated in fourth place, earning $68,100
Level 22 starts with a flourish, but unfortunately means that the final Team PokerStars Pro is out of here. All the money goes in on the flop on 4s-3c-6s between Alexandre Gomes and Alex Brenes. They have very similar stacks -- about 880,000 for Brenes against Gomes's 815,000 -- and they actually have pretty similar hands. Brenes shows A-5, for the up-and-down straigh draw; Gomes has Qs-7s for the inside straight draw and flush draw. The 7h on the turn fills the straight for Brenes and the flush card doesn't river. Gomes is out, Brenes is the last Alex standing, and he's in the chip lead.
Alexandre Gomes sees the bad news
***
Before the final table got underway, Gylbert Drolet, the PokerStars qualifier from Canada, who finished fifth, spoke to our video bloggers:
4.50pm-- That's the end of the level, with the chip counts something like this.
Jose Miguel Espinar -- 1,063,000
Alex Brenes -- 880,000
Alex Gomes -- 815,000
Lisandro Gallo -- 620,000
4.40pm -- Alex Brenes wins a pot of about 250,000 from Lisandro Gallo. Brenes flops a full house with A-J when the flop comes A-J-J. Gallo has A-K and calls a bet of about 120,000 on the river. Brenes moves back from the short stack to contention.
4.30pm -- Alexandre Gomes picks up a pot, beating Jose Miguel Espinar to the punch. The Spanish player Espinar raises pre-flop to 45,000 and Gomes calls. Both players check the flop of 4h-3s-3d, then Gomes fires 70,000 on the turn of 6d. The river is the 7h and Gomes now leads out for 130,000. Espinar folds.
4.10pm -- Gylbert Drolet, PokerStars qualifier from Canada, eliminated in fifth place, earning $51,070
Finally a hand, and it accounts for the final PokerStars qualifier in the field, Gylbert Drolet, from Canada. Lisandro Gallo raises pre-flop from under the gun, making it 44,000. Drolet, one to his left, moves all in for 151,000 more and although Jose Miguel Espinar thinks about calling, he gets out of the way and allows the Argentinian to make the call. Gallo shows Ac-Qh against Drolet's pocket jacks. But it's the suits that are important: the flop is all clubs, the turn is a heart, but the river is the fifth club to make the ace-high flush for Gallo. Drolet is ousted.
Victory again for Lisandro Gallo
A decision and then defeat for Gylbert Drolet
4pm -- Alexandre Gomes just took down a small pot with that rarest of beasts in Punta del Este: a re-raise. Alex Brenes had jacked it up pre-flop to 45,000; Gomes added another 150,000 and after a moment of posturing, Brenes let it go. Still pretty slow here.
3.45pm -- The lack of updates here in Punta de Este represents a distinct lack of action. Yesterday, Drolet was the action player, playing a lot of pots and bullying. But since he has become the short stack, he's not been able to play his natural game and instead is being pushed around a bit by the likes of Lisandro Gallo, to his left.
3.20pm -- After a 15 minute break, we have entered level 21. The blinds are 8,000-16,000 with a 2,000 ante. Chip counts at the break:
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain -- 1,350,000
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina - 775,000
Alexandre Gomes, Team PokerStars Pro, Brazil -- 621,000
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica -- 490,000
Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars qualifier -- 227,000
Alex Brenes, one of the final five on the LAPT. Again.
3.10pm -- The level ends with Lisandro Gallo taking another pot, this time from Alexandre Gomes. The tactics are the same: Gallo calls a button raise in the big blind, then check calls all the way to the river. By that point, the board features two aces, a three, a nine and a queen and when Gallo bets out 110,000, Gomes lets it go and heads off for a break.
2.50pm -- It's tightened up considerably in Punta del Este, with few hands making it to the flop and any pre-flop raise usually taking it down. Lisandro Gallo just took a decent-ish pot from Gylbert Drolet, when he check-called all the way in a battle of the blinds and showed down A-10 for ace-high which, remarkably, was good enough. Drolet shipped the best part of 200,000 to the Argentinian. Previously, Alex Brenes kept himself ticking over, when he took a nibble out of Jose Miguel Espinar's chip-lead. Nothing major; we're still five players.
Humberto Brenes calls the action in Punta del Este
2.30pm -- Jose Miguel Espinar just flexed his muscles and took down a decent pot from Alex Brenes. Espinar check-raised Brenes's bet on a flop of As-2d-5s and that was enough to get Brenes to put it down. Espinar continues to climb.
2.10pm -- We're into level 20, where the blinds are 6,000-12,000 (1,000 ante). The approximate chip counts for the remaining five players are:
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain -- 1,145,000 Alexandre Gomes, Team PokerStars Pro, Brazil -- 800,000
Gylbert Drolet, PokerStars qualifier, Canada -- 600,000
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica -- 500,000
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina -- 450,000
2.05pm -- Sidney Chreem, Brazil, eliminated in sixth place, earning $34,045
The tournament short-stack Sidney Chreem moves all in pre-flop for his last 50,000. Lisandro Gallo reraises from the button and everyone else folds. They're racing, as Gallo flips pocket sevens and and Gallo shows Q-9d. The all-in player picks up bundles of outs on the flop -- 10c-8s-10h -- but misses them all on turn and river and is sent packing. That's the end of the level.
One of these pictures shows the winner, the other the loser. You figure it out:
2pm -- Decent sized pot goes to Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes. Gylbert Drolet raises pre-flop to 27,000 and Gomes calls on the button. Everyone else gets out the way. The flop is queen-high rainbow -- 7h-8d-Qd -- and Drolet bets 45,000. Gomes re-raises to 106,000 and eventually Drolet folds. After some table banter, Gomes is persuaded to show his hand: J-10 off suit or, in another language, air.
1.45pm -- Juan Jose Perez, Argentina, eliminated in seventh place, earning $25,535
Jose Miguel Espinar accounts for another player in a whirlwind start to this final table. Perez opens for 35,000 from under the gun, and Espinar re-raises to 92,000 from the button. Everyone gets out of the way and Perez moves all in for about 160,000. Espinar calls, but is in bad shape with A-Jd against Perez's A-A. But the flop brings hope for the Spaniard, when it comes 10s-2c-Qh. The turn is the case ace, giving a set to Perez, but the king falls on the end, filling Espinar's straight and sending Perez to the rail.
Jose Miguel Espinar's great form continues
1.35pm -- Paulo Cesar Ribeiro, Brazil, eliminated in eighth place, earning $17,025
Espinar raises again, and again it's 26,000. This time, Paulo Ribeiro bumps it up to 52,000 and Espinar calls. The flop is 6c-Kh-Kd. Ribeiro bets about another 50,000 and Espinar moves all in, which Ribeiro calls. Espinar shows K-Q, Ribeiro shows pocket jacks but he's been outdrawn.
Vanquisher and vanquished. Espinar knocks out Ribeiro
The Brazilian is drawing dead by the turn, and that is that. We've lost our first player.
1.30pm -- Juan Jose Perez waits just one hand before he's moving all in. Alexandre Gomes opens for 27,000 from early position, Perez is all in for a further 128,000. The Team PokerStars Pro, and chip leader, tanks and ... folds.
1.25pm -- Our lone European, Jose Miguel Espinar, from Spain, takes the first pot with a pre-flop raise to 26,000. It's uncontested and he gets off to a winning start.
After a slight delay for the television crew to do what television crews do (record, re-record, record again for luck), play has started in Punta del Este. Here are the players:
We start today with 43 minutes remaining in level 18, where the blinds are 5,000-10,000 (1,000 ante). Cards are in the air. We'll follow it all the way to the end.
It's the final day on the first season of the Latin America Poker Tour. The final table action is due to start at 1pm local time.
These are the contenders still standing in Punta del Este, Uruguay:
Seat 1: Sidney Chreem, 38, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Known as “flintstom” on PokerStars, Sidney mainly plays tournaments – both live and online. Today’s final table appearance is the best result he’s had so far but he also took sixth place in a Super Tuesday on PokerStars and won a deep stack tournament at the Conrad Casino in Punta del Este. Chreem started off as a backgammon player but, like many backgammon players, found poker more lucrative. Back in Rio, he runs a chain of clothing stores. His wife Silvia couldn’t come to Punta del Este – she’s back home caring for the couple’s two children Laura and Gustavo. “We talk every day though so I can tell her I’m getting on," Chreem said. "I’m in this tournament to win so I expect to do well today.”
Seat 2: Alexandre Gomes, 26, Coritiba, Brazil – Team PokerStars Pro - 763,000 chips
Two years ago, Gomes was fully set on a career as a lawyer. He played poker at home with friends but was committed to his career and was already a partner in a corporate law firm. However once he started playing online poker, he was soon winning big money, including first place in the Wednesday Hundred Fifty Grand for $65,333. Eventually Gomes had to make a choice but doesn’t regret his decision to turn pro. In the past six weeks, his career has soared: first he took down the $2,000 NLHE at this year’s WSOP for an astonishing $770,540; then he was signed to join Team PokerStars Pro and now he is chip leader on the final table at his first ever LAPT. Gomes is a keen sportsman and plays soccer regularly as well as supporting his local team, Coritiba FC. He plays online as 'Allingomes'.
Seat 3: Jose Miguel Espinar, 27, Spain - 675,000 chips
Espinar began playing poker in December 2007 but took to the game instantly. A month later, he found himself at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. A friend convinced him to leave his job and dedicate himself to poker. It was a good decision: Espinar came 44th at the PCA, winning $24,000. Following that, he played the rest of the European Poker Tour season four events. He came to LAPT Punta del Este with a bunch of Spanish friends but has been the only one to make the money. He reached the final table courtesy of busting Team Poker Stars Pro Vanessa Rousso, who came 10th. Vanessa had the misfortune to find pocket nines against Jose Miguel’s pocket aces.
Seat 4: Lisandro Gallo, 41, Argentina - 465,000 chips
Gallo has been playing poker for ten years both live and online. His recent successes include winning a tournament at the Conrad Casino in Punta del Este in March and also a “Argentinians-only“ tournament on PokerStars. By day, he manages an agricultural products company. Gallo hasn’t had it that easy in this tournament – by the time we reached two tables, he was down to just $40k. But a run of good cards brought him back up to 465,000. Despite this low point, he is still supremely confident he can win. He said: “When I walked in here the first day, I pointed at the final table and told my friends “that table is waiting for me”. Gallo is married to Karina and the couple have three children: Maria Celeste, Maria Eugenia and Juan Paolo.
Seat 5: Paulo Cesar Ribeiro, 47, Belém, Brazil – PokerStars qualifier - 281,000 chips
Ribeiro has played all the LAPTs so far: in Rio he went out on the first day and in Costa Rica he made day two but busted short out of the money. Last Sunday he chopped a tournament in a São Paulo poker room, taking Reais $40,000. This inspired him and his best friend Piragibe to try the third and final LAPT season one event in Punta del Este. Ribeiro started playing Texas hold ’em about a year ago but before that he used to play five-card stud. Known online "PC PORTUGA", Ribeiro has tried not to think about what he'd do with the money if he wins, but would definitely set aside some of it to bankroll more tournaments on the live and international circuit, especially EPTs. He has thoroughly enjoyed the LAPT and now plans to bring the trophy and title back to Brazil.
Drolet has been playing poker seriously since he turned 18 three years ago but is already enjoying considerable success. He qualified for both LAPT San José and Punta del Este via the steps satellites on PokerStars. He normally plays online as well as in home games with friends, and prefers tournaments. He has won three $100 online tournaments on PokerStars and also cashed in the Sunday Million around a month ago. He said: “I want to be sponsored and I know I can play really great poker.” Drolet is currently studying technology but will focus on business studies at university. He said: “My parents aren’t that keen on me playing poker but they recognise that I’m pretty good at it.” He is being supported in Punta del Este by his good friend Andreane. He added: “I had a really good feeling about this tournament. It started very badly though. In the first hour, I was dealt kings but ran into aces which took me down to $6k. Despite that setback, I always felt very confident.”
Seat 7: Alex Brenes, 44, San José, Costa Rica - 457,000 chips
Brenes has already set a phenomenal LAPT record by making two final tables in the first three events. He came fourth at the first LAPT in Rio. Alex is the younger brother of Team PokerStars Pro Humberto and has been playing poker for 20 years. He used to watch Humberto and their other brother Eric play home games and when the game shifted to a local casino, he started playing himself. He said: "There was a group of around 30 regulars at the casino. We used to have two tournaments a week and at the end of the year, the top ten on the leader board would play a final table. I won it every year from 1988 to 1996." If he wins today, it won't be his biggest live result – aside from LAPT Rio where he won $62,800, he has come second in two WSOP events, won a WPT title in Los Angeles and a $250,000 first prize in another Las Vegas tournament. Nevertheless, it’s the LAPT title he wants – and which he aims to get today.
Seat 8: Juan Jose Perez, 30, Buenos Aires - 167,000 chips
Perez is a professional player who took up poker four years ago, playing online on PokerStars. He makes most of his money playing cash games, at the 3-6 and 5-10 tables. He also plays live in casinos in Argentina. He has played relatively few tournaments but has thoroughly enjoyed the LAPT. Being short-stacked, Perez plans to play aggressively today. “My only goal is to win.”
***
As we wait for the final table to start, take a look back on day two courtesy of our video bloggers:
Once there were 351, now there are eight. The final table for the LAPT event in Punta del Este, Uruguay, has been set. Before we describe how we got there, here are the players who made it. Each is now guaranteed at least $17,025, although all will be eyeing the first prize of $241,735.
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro, 763,000
Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 691,000 Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain, 675,000
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina, 465,000
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica, 457,000 Paulo Ribeiro, Brazil, PokerStars qualifier, 281,000
Juan Jose Perez, Argentina, 167,000
Sidney Chreem, Brazil, 93,000
Of those, at least a couple of names are leaping a mile from the page. Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes earned a place on the team when he became the first-ever Brazilian to win a World Series bracelet in Las Vegas last month. He came back to his native Latin America as something of a hero. And his performance here, as he bludgeoned his way to the final table as chip leader, has proved already that he is no one-hit wonder.
Gomes was a formidable force today, starting strongly and finishing stronger. He settled the final table late on when he made a mandatory value call against short-stacked Carlos Curi's pre-flop all in. Gomes managed to outdraw the Argentinian and we reached the last eight with his name at the top.
The other familiar face around tomorrow's felt will be Alex Brenes, baby brother of Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes, but an LAPT star in his own right after reaching the final table of the inaugural event in Rio de Janeiro in May. There, he came fourth for $62,800, but a second appearance already consolidates his glittering reputation, whether he betters that score or not.
Typically, the PokerStars qualifiers have also been having a lot of fun here in Punta del Este. Gylbert Drolet, from Canada, was another player on an irrepressible charge to the final table, and his play around both bubbles -- the cash bubble and then the final table bubble -- showed some excellent tournament savvy.
Drolet took out his fair share of players along the way to the second spot on the chip ladder, and with Julien Nuijten and Valdemar Kwaysser before him showing the way to success, the young Canadian will fancy his chances.
Of course, in order to reach this point in the tournament, we have to have shed a great many others, and among the unfortunate fallers today were Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso, Humberto Brenes and Greg Raymer, who all had high hopes but came up just short.
Rousso, in particular, must be feeling especially disappointed right now after she seemed set for a brilliant final table appearance but ran pocket nines into the aces of Jose Miguel Espinar to bust in tenth. That's a tough pill to swallow, just two from the final table and the biggest bucks.
But after a short cooling off period, Lady Maverick can look back on a spectacular showing here in Punta del Este. And she has $11,065 reasons to be happy.
Humberto Brenes also made the money, his first cash on the LAPT, and it meant a great deal to the Costa Rican poker legend.
Amazingly, this was the first time the Team PokerStars Pro had cashed in a PokerStars-sponsored event, despite about a million lifetime cashes in the World Series. It's been a long time coming, Humberto, but worth the wait.
So it is that we'll reconvene here at noon tomorrow and prepare to play to a champion. The LAPT is almost done for its first season, but the grand finale tomorrow will surely be worth waiting for.
In the meantime, remember that you can catch up on the day's action in Spanish by clicking HERE, in Portuguese by clicking HERE and step by step in English by clicking any of the below:
Of course, our video bloggers have also been hard at work in Uruguay following the tournament -- as well as following some of those who are also following the tournament. Nolan Dalla, best known as the media director of the World Series, is vacationing here in Punta del Este and he popped in to take a look at the LAPT and share some of his thoughts:
We are into level 19 in Punta del Este. The blinds now are 5,000-10,000 with a 1,000 ante.
12.15am -- The final eight are set, and tomorrow these players will return to play for the LAPT championship:
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro, 763,000
Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 691,000 Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain, 675,000
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina, 465,000
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica, 457,000 Paulo Ribeiro, Brazil, PokerStars qualifier, 281,000
Juan Jose Perez, Argentina, 167,000
Sidney Chreem, Brazil, 93,000
12.10am -- And that's it. The shortest of all the short stacks, Carlos Curi, from Argentina, just shoved them all in. He had the best hand -- A-Q against Alexandre Gomes's Q-6. But a six came on the turn and Curi's day was done.
We're down to eight and a final table.
11.50pm --
A ten-minute break in the action, as the tournament officials coloured up the pink 500 chips, gave us a chance to get the counts of the remaining nine. They are:
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain, 643,000 Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 665,000
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro, 570,000 Alex Brenes, Costa Rica, 420,000
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina, 360,000 Paulo Ribeiro, Brazil, PokerStars qualifier, 227,000
Sidney Chreem, Brazil, 140,000
Carlos Curi, Argentina, 105,500
Juan Jose Perez, Argentina, 67,000
We are into level 18 in Punta del Este. The blinds now are 4,000-8,000 with a 500 ante.
11.40pm -- The big stacks are pushing, the small stacks are clinging on. So it always is. Here's something from the video blog team to take some attention as the war of attrition continues in front of us:
11.20pm -- We're now on the final table bubble and it's sloooow going. None of us can complain too much, since it was super-fast from about 25 to now, but everyone is clinging on until the death. There are four players on the feature table: Espinar, Gomes, Curi and Chreem, while the remainder -- Gallo, Perez, Ribiero, Brenes and Drolet -- are on the outer felt. Brenes, of course, is eyeing his second LAPT final table in only the third event. That's not bad going at all. Meanwhile, Gomes could become the first Team PokerStars Pro to reach the final table of an LAPT tournament. What a way to celebrate his first appearance in the team colours.
11.10pm -- We're closing in on our final eight and the chips have been flying all over the place tonight. Accurate counts are all but impossible, but the big stacks are the following, probably in this order:
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain
Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars qualifier
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica
Of the smaller stacks, it's Curi and Perez under the most pressure.
10.50pm -- Make that nine. Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso just became the latest victim of Jose Miguel Espinar. The Spaniard had aces, Rousso had nines and it all went in pre-flop.
That was a sizeable chunk -- Rousso had about 230,000 -- but Espinar had her covered. He's now chipped right up and is the probable chip leader. It's now hand-for-hand with nine left.
10.45pm -- And after that flourish to end level 17, we enter level 18 with just 10 remaining, on two tables. The final will be eight handed and we'll play to that tonight. Hold on, this has been breakneck so far.
The remaining players are:
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro
Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars qualifier
Paulo Ribeiro, Brazil, PokerStars qualifier
Juan Jose Perez, Argentina
Carlos Curi, Argentina
Jose Ramon Ponce Mohamed, Mexico
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro
We are into level 17 in Punta del Este. The blinds now are 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante.
10.35pm -- Right at the end of level 17, the lone Spanish contender Jose Miguel Espinar busted Pablo Stella from the feature table. Espinar had 5-6s and loved the flop of 4s-Qs-3d, which gave him a straight and a flush draw. Stella was all in with A-J of hearts but Espinar hit one of his many outs on the turn -- 8s -- and the Spaniard battles on.
10.30pm -- And now Fulvio is out. He got his last chunk in behind A-3, but was in deep trouble when both Juan Jose Perez and Jose Ramon Ponce Mohamed called. Ponce had K-K, Perez A-8 and when an eight turned it was Perez who was in the lead. Fulvio was knocked out, but Ponce survived, albeit on life support. Perez is now chipped up.
10.25pm -- Ferrero Fulvio, the PokerStars qualifier from Italy, has just had to ship a a huge bunch of his chips to Lisandro Gallo, from Argentina.
Lisandro Gallo
Gallo, who once had about 10,000 to his name earlier today, now has about 360,000 after a succession of double ups. This time he had king-jack on a king high flop, and another king on the river convinced Fulvio to make the call with his king-ten. Both had trip kings but Gallo's kicker played.
10.15pm -- Rosemelia Ferreira is eliminated in 14th place, earning $9,360. The chip leader Gylbert Drolet, from Canada, opened to 22,000 from under the gun.
Ferreira shoved all in for 150,000 more from the big blind and Drolet tanked for a while before calling. He showed ace-king, Ferreira had shoved with queen-jack, and although a jack flopped, so did an ace and that was the end of Ferreira. Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso is the last woman standing in Uruguay.
10.10pm -- Goodbye Walter Oaquim. The Brazilian player has been on a short stack for quite some time and eventually got it all in on the feature table. He had ace-queen against Espinar's jack-ten but the worst hand came from behind to take it. Oaquim is out in 15th and has $9,360 and a hug from Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari for his troubles.
9.50pm -- No sooner is one player's bust out reported, than another is taking the walk. Or two. This time it's Chad Hendricks, from the United States, and Veronica Dabul, the PokerStars player from Argentina, who are out.
Dabul followed up her three World Series cashes with a debut cash on the LAPT. Tens weren't good enough to beat queens here, but her 16th place is good for $9,360. They're now down to two tables accommodating the final 15 players.
9.40pm -- Wow. The carnage that characterised the end of level 16 has continued into level 17. We've lost another handful, including Daniel Benjamin, the player who made a charge to the top of the standings earlier in the day. This time, however, he ran into the latest irresistible force/immovable object, Gylbert Drolet, whose aces were too huge for Benjamin's ace-king.
All this action is making the bubble period seem tame, but here's Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso talking about that period earlier in the day to our video blogers:
9.30pm -- There was a good deal of carnage in the closing stages of level 16, with at least five more players perishing, two of them in a multi-way all in pot. Those that remained after the dust settled were the following, with the eliminations and prize-winners to be found HERE.
Feature table
Jose Miguel Espinar, Spain, 158,000
Alexandre Gomes, Brazil, Team PokerStars Pro, 495,000
Chad Hendricks, USA, 120,000
Carlos Curi, Argentina, 125,000
Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, 170,000
Pablo Stella, Argentina, 230,000
Sidney Chreem, Brazil, 75,000
Table two
Daniel Benjamin, Brazil, 60,000
Walter Oaquim, Brazil, 31,100
Gylbert Drolet, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 460,000
Veronica Dabul, Argentina, PokerStars player, 121,000
Paulo Ribeiro, Brazil, PokerStars qualifier, 392,500
Juan Jose Perez, Argentina, 151,000
Table three
Jose Ramon Ponce Mohamed, Mexico, 97,000
Ferrero Fulvio, Italy, PokerStars qualifier, 160,000
Lisandro Gallo, Argentina, 90,000
Rosamelia Ferreira, Brazil, 190,000
Alex Brenes, Costa Rica, 260,000
Javier Sastre, Argentina, PokerStars qualifier, 98,500
With the tournament now reduced to its final three tables, we'll be changing our coverage at LAPT Punta del Este to just the nitty gritty. They will play down to eight players tonight.
8.55pm -- We have a new force here in Punta del Este in the form of PokerStars qualifier Gylbert Drolet, from Canada.
He just picked off Leandro Pimentel, from Brazil, when his pocket threes made a set on the flop to oust Pimentel's aces. Drolet has more than 400,000 in chips.
8.50pm -- After the bubble burst, eliminations came thick and fast. Six players have already made their way out of the tournament room, each taking a modest profit. The full list of prize winners can be found HERE. The chip counts of remaining players, as accurate as it humanly possible, can be found HERE.
8.35pm -- Among the familiar faces here still challenging for the title in Punta del Este is Alex Brenes, brother of Humberto but perhaps better known as a final table player in Rio de Janeiro on the LAPT. Our video bloggers spoke to Alex just before the bubble about a couple of key hands he played earlier in the day.
8.25pm -- With the elimination of Convery, we're down to just 24 players, which means three tables. The tournament staff are moving folk around but we'll have a full list of those still in contention, plus their chip counts, momentarily.
8.20pm -- The Alexandre Gomes show continues.
He's just knocked out Chris Convery with king-jack versus pocket nines, a king flopping. The South African Convery had a great run here, doubling up a short stack multiple times to get him into contention. But Gomes has now ousted him to consolidate his chip lead.
8.15pm -- At the dinner break, the tournament staff reduced the playing area to four tightly-packed tables, surrounded by boom cams, studio lights and a ring of spectators.
Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes is the chip leader and the main attraction here, his WSOP bracelet glinting on the feature table. Fellow Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso is also on the feature table.
We were all just getting ready for our dinner break when all hell broke loose on the feature table. Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes was involved -- that explained the increase in volume -- and so was his Team PokerStars team-mate, Alexandre Gomes.
Gomes had sat beside Greg Raymer for much of the day, and for a brief period he was sitting beside Brenes. That's until he knocked him out, of course, which happened just moments ago.
Brenes raised from the small blind, Gomes re-raised from the big. It was a classic blind-on-blind enounter and Brenes shoved all in for about 70,000, which Gomes called straight away. The Costa Rican had A-5, the Brazilian A-J and the board bricked.
Gomes is now the clear chip leader in the tournament with 300,000+.
The players are now taking an hour's break for dinner. We'll come back and play until only nine remain.
After a relatively short period of hand-for-hand combat, it was a sick outdraw that ended it. It usually is, if the truth be known, and so it was in Punta del Este. Alex Brenes, who was comfortably stacked, raised under the gun to about 15,000. He'd been doing it a lot, profiting from the tightening of players' starting requirements in this, the most tense of circumstances.
Jamal Kunbuz, left, and Alex Brenes
It was folded to Jamal Kunbuz in the big blind, who was short stacked and now faced a tough decision. He pondered, then agonised, and then he flat called. The flop was eight high. That was enough for Kunbuz to announce all in for his meagre stack and Brenes had the quick chance to offer his opponent a rueful glance, a wry smile before he announced that he was going to call.
No surprise there: Brenes flipped pocket eights and had flopped the top set. Kunbuz had pocket tens for the over-pair that had been outdrawn. It's difficult to figure out how either of them could have avoided the money going in. That's that, we're down to 31.
Of those now guaranteed a pay-day are Team PokerStars Pros Alexandre Gomes, Humberto Brenes and Vanessa Rousso. It's each of their first cashes on the Latin America Poker Tour and each are suitably delighted. Gomes has a massive stack, way north of 120,000, and he also now has his mother in the audience, cheering him on. It's a family game.
As a side point, there was also drama occurring on another table during the bubble period, featuring the PokerStars qualifier Carter Gill. For a while, it looked as though Gill might be the one to go away with nothing, and our photographer Joe Giron was camped around that table waiting for what seemed likely to be the end of it all.
It wasn't, as it turned out, but the photo Giron provided is still worth featuring. Here's the kind of tension these moments can generate: a picture worth a thousand words.
***
Away from all the excitement of the tournament room, one of poker's most unflappable campaigners, Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, talked to our video bloggers about the changing face of poker and his role in it.
Well, the bubble hasn't yet burst but still the day is done for Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer.
It's been brutal at the feature table this afternoon with chips flying one way and then the other, but, ultimately, away from the World Champion. He doubled up the South African player Chris Convery with ace-king against pocket sixes (Convery's sixes standing up) and then he got the rest in with Q-J on a harmless board, forcing an opponent to make a hero call with ace high. That was the end.
Convery has been down to the felt on a couple of occasions but has been doubled up by Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes at least twice.
Alexandre Gomes, far left, with Chris Convery, centre
The most recent of these was when Convery had the ace-king and Gomes jacks, all in pre-flop. This time the big slick was good, and a king and an ace came on the board.
After eliminating Raymer, the South African now has more than 130,000 and is right back in it.
The tournament itself now has 36 players remaining, among them Team PokerStars Pros Humberto Brenes, Vanessa Rousso and Gomes. The chip leader is still Daniel Benjamin, who has more than 160,000. But things are getting increasingly close, with huge swings likely. Our plan for the coming couple of hours is bubble-then-dinner or dinner-then-bubble. We're not sure yet.
Poker tournament reporters are really no different from anyone else who has to work for a living. They try to enjoy what they can from a day in the office, but all they really want to do is go home. As a result, they are acutely aware of any looming obstacles that can keep them at the coalface for longer than they want, and in poker, the longest possible delay is often associated with what's known as the bubble.
No one really knows the origin of the phrase, but the "bubble" refers to the moment in a tournament's progression when they have played down to one place from the money. It is the moment when just one more player needs to be eliminated to burst the bubble, meaning anyone left in is guaranteed some cash for their hours upon hours of toil. In this tournament in Punta del Este, 32 players will be paid. That means that the player going out in 33rd is the "bubble boy" who will go home with precisely nothing after a day an a half of hard work.
PokerStars qualifier Kory Kilpatrick saw dreams die earlier in the day
Needless to say, no one wants to be the bubble boy. It's infinitely better, in fact, to bust in the first five minutes of the tournament than to bust on the bubble; at least then you haven't spent so long struggling for the same gross reward. To ensure that everyone gets the same chance of avoiding being the bubble boy, the tournament officials usually begin a period of what's known as "hand-for-hand" play, pausing the action in the entire tournament until each table has completed the hand they are on. This safeguards against players stalling for unnecessary lengths, in the hope that someone is eliminated on the other table.
This. Can. Take. Hours.
Currently, we're approaching bubble time. There are 40 players left, meaning six more need to be eliminated until we enter that hand-for-hand purgatory. The tension ramps up, the spectators close in and although it seems frantic it's actually incredibly painstaking. Something seems to be happening, but often nothing is.
PokerStars player Jamal Kunbuz, still fighting as the bubble approaches
Of course, the moment the bubble bursts is full of excitement and relief. It's like lancing that blister on your big toe that's been causing all the misery for so long. Big cheers usually go up, big sighs are heard the room around. It usually drowns out the silent sobbing of the poor bubble boy, who shuffles out of the room, usually to the bar, before making off into the night.
All this is by way of preparation for the next post on PokerStars blog, which will surely have the details and the photographs from the bursting of the bubble. Naturally we'll be hoping to see the likes of Team PokerStars Pros Humberto Brenes, Greg Raymer, Alexandre Gomes and Vanessa Rousso the other side of that explosion. But someone has to take the fall, and there are really no guarantees. It could be anyone.
***
At the top of day two, our video bloggers took a trip around the tournament room to set the scene for this second day of poker action:
The tournament has just entered level 12, where the blinds are 1,000-2,000 (150 ante) and the field has been trimmed to the final 58 players. Fifteen of those will still go home empty handed, with the money kicking in at 32nd place.
Among the high profile departures this afternoon was Valdemar Kwaysser, the PokerStars qualifier who won in San Jose last month and who now won't become the first two-time LAPT champion. He has been joined on the rail by Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald, who became a victim of the player now at the top of the standings: Daniel Benjamin, from Brazil, who has more than 160,000.
Daniel Benjamin
Benjamin began the day with just 26,225 but profited from three huge hands. First, he flopped a set of twos and busted two other pocket pairs -- tens and queens -- which were overpairs to a low board. Strike one. Then, his king-seven made a flush in a big pot against Fitzgerald, strike two, before Benjamin's aces were too strong for Assassinato's A-J. Strike three, and out.
Team PokerStars Pro remains very well represented. On the feature table, Alexandre Gomes just saw his stack swell to around 70,000 when he knocked out a button shover.
Gomes was in the big blind, fancied his A-7 was ahead against the button-raiser's range, and called the 20,000 all in. Indeed it was -- the raiser had A-5 -- and Gomes ended up with a straight to the seven.
Greg Raymer is keeping his team-mate company under the studio lights and still has something like his starting stack of 75,000. By Raymer's own admission, he's not looking to get too cute without some decent cards at this stage of the tournament, because "once they see one bluff" it'll get a little tricky.
Vanessa Rousso is also on the up and now has close to 80,000.
She was all-but all-in against another stack of around 25,000 but was way in front with her king-queen against king-jack. The king flopped to give both top pair, but the kicker played.
Humberto Brenes is also still clinging on, although he now has less than about 20,000. His brother Alex, meanwhile, continues to keep Humberto in the shadows and now has close to 150,000.
Alex Brenes, background, keeping his brother Humberto, foreground, on the peripheries
Today's other story was an unfortunate one featuring the PokerStars qualifier Andrew Li. Li failed to materialise in his chair when things started up again today, and was still absent through the first two levels, as his chips were blinded away on his behalf.
Andrew Li's chips
When Li finally surfaced -- he had been the victim of a wake-up call that never came -- he was forced to shove with the first high card he saw, but his king-high was not good enough and he was out.
More sleep for Andrew, more chips for the survivors. It's getting interesting.
Before clichés become clichés, they are usually astute truisms and while their repetition can become infuriating it doesn't reduce the accuracy. Poker is something of a breeding ground for clichés -- "chip and a chair", "any two cards", "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master" etc, etc, -- but each of them remains as true now as the day they were coined.
As day two begins in any major tournament, the cliche that always feels especially pertinent refers to the fact that it's impossible to win a tournament on day one, but only to lose it. Paraphrased, we're saying that by busting in the early stages, you will have no chance of taking the top prize, but also that taking the early chip lead is no guarantee of even reaching the final table, let alone taking the whole thing down.
Carter Gill, a PokerStars qualifier from the United States, will no doubt be well aware of this fact. He finished day one with 125,150 in chips, second in the overall standings, but first among the army of qualifiers making a splash in Punta del Este.
And it's a position he's been in before. Back in December 2007, Gill was chip leader in the APPT event in Sydney, again as a PokerStars qualifier, and he eventually finished 28th for a $13,000 payday.
That was good, but what happened in the summer was even better. Gill came third in the $2,000 no limit hold 'em event at the World Series, good for $228,898. He followed up with another $6,000 for 23rd in a pot-limit Omaha event at the Series, so Gill is a man in good form.
Here in Uruguay, Gill is sitting two away from Firas Bassam Massouh, from Brazil, who also finished day one with more than 100,000 in chips.
Firas Bassam Massouh
The two of them have enough in their numerous stacks to fill their table-mates partly with fear, but also with anticipation. This is a game where "it only takes one hand", remember.
***
Greg Raymer is enjoying himself in Punta del Este. He rose through the ranks to somewhere near the chip lead yesterday, and today he's on the feature table, which is like a second home. Earlier in the first level, he had a small discussion with the television producers about the placement of his trademark Diet Coke -- "If you have it between your arms, you won't knock it over. I have never spilled a drink on the table." -- but mostly he's just concentrating on his game, which is as focused and aggressive as ever.
Yesterday, our video blog team caught up with the Team PokerStars Pro as he entered level eight with a huge stack of chips. Here's what Greg had to say:
It's day two of the LAPT Punta del Este in Uruguay and we're expecting it to be a long one. Yesterday we started with 351 players, we played for nine hours and ended it with 93. Today we need to thin that even further, all the way down to a final table of nine.
We're scheduled for another 10 hours of play, although I expect it to be much longer -- we have the cash bubble to contend with, then the final table bubble and nobody here will want to go home.
The full chip counts from day one dropped into our inboxes sometime in the very early hours. They can be found by clicking HERE. We'll keep you updated on the progress of those notable players throughout the day, and you should expect some characteristic confusion and chaos. Once we begin to reach the business end, tables break, players move, stacks balloon while others vanish. We'll translate as much of all that as we can.
In front of where we sit in the main tournament room, Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer, who has been on the team from the very beginning, is seated next to its newest recruit, Alexandre Gomes.
The Brazilian earned his place in the Team Pro livery courtesy of a wonderful, bracelet-winning performance at this year's World Series. Raymer, of course, has some of that jewellery, representing the world title of 2005. They are beside each other on the feature table, one of those quirks of tournament scheduling that these events sometimes provide. How it pans out will make fascinating viewing, today and for the television viewers in months to come.
Also in the field today are fellow Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso and Humberto Brenes. Rousso has a relative small stack, but showed excellent grinding skills in Vegas this year to earn her a few cashes at the World Series. Meanwhile Brenes is one of the finest players in this continent or any other, and will be confident of making his 53,000 grow.
Typically, the PokerStars qualifiers have also been a dominant force in Punta del Este. We started with 145 players who had won their seat at the LAPT on the satellite tables of PokerStars, and going into day two, we still have 36 in the mix. Top among them is Carter Gill, from the United States, who was second in chips overall at the end of last night.
Carter Gill
Gill is back today and looking to flex his big stack all the way into the money.
Also worth watching are Veronica Dabul, a PokerStars player from Argentina, who cashed three times at the World Series last month and is now one of the strongest players in Latin America. Jamal Kunbuz, from Venezuela, also had a blistering show in Vegas and is tearing it up in Uruguay.
All of those -- as well as the likes of Valdemar Kwaysser, Alexander Fitzgerald, Alex Brenes, Bo Sehldstedt and plenty others -- are now seated and the cards are in the air.
Take a look back at yesterday's action with our video bloggers:
Something like a month ago, the chances are that most poker players will have never heard of Punta del Este, Uruguay. Similarly, most residents of Punta del Este, Uruguay, probably didn't know that much about poker. But this week, thanks to the PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT), the two have come together in a happy union.
The first day of this, the final event of the first season of the LAPT, has been as good as any in what has already been a spectacular success story. The good news is that we still have two days left until we wrap.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Today was due to begin at noon and we expected about 300 players. However, as midday came and went, there were 351 players snaking around the exterior of the Mantra Resort, Spa and Casino.
By 1pm, each had put up the $2,500 entry fee to create a prize pool of more than $850,000. The first prize is $241,735 and 33 players will be in profit come the end.
As usual, the field included some of the heavyweights of the world game, a huge number of PokerStars qualifiers, and some hardy locals aiming for a shot at the big time. In the first category were the Team PokerStars Pros Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Humberto Brenes, Alexandre Gomes, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown and Andre Akkari. While the cards did not fall in the favour of Greenstein, Brown and Akkari, the first four of those big names are all still well in the hunt, with Raymer, in particular, enjoying the trip to Latin America.
The 2005 World Champion won a huge pot with kings against ace-king, then busted Akkari with aces against queens. That catapulted him to the chip lead and close to 85,000 in chips, a level he maintained through the end of the day.
Brenes, of course, loves playing poker and he loves playing it on Latin American soil better than anywhere else in the world. He struggled through the early levels, plunging to a low of about 5,000 in chips, but once the feature table had been assembled and he'd been invited to sit around it, the comeback began.
Brenes bagged up 53,000 in chips come closing time, and the shark is well in the hunt.
(As a side point, that wasn't quite enough to be the most chipped-up Brenes in Punta del Este, however. That accolade went to Humberto's brother Alex Brenes, who is our probable overnight chip leader, with 110,000.)
World Series bracelet winner Alexandre Gomes has become a big attraction on the South American poker scene after his fantastically successful sojourn to Las Vegas this summer.
And the spotlight suits Gomes well: the most recent addition to Team PokerStars Pro was still sitting pretty among the 95 finishers, with 31,000.
Vanessa "Lady Maverick" Rousso, meanwhile, ended the day with just less than 20,000, no mean feat given that she played alongside the formidable Raymer all day.
The most up-to-date approximate chip counts can be found HERE. A full, official count will be made available by the tournament staff overnight, and they will appear in exactly the same place when we have them. The payout schedule for the event can be found HERE.
All the action described in Spanish can be found HERE and the same in Portuguese can be found HERE.
As usual, the PokerStars video bloggers have also been out and about in the tournament room, and have talked to plenty of the major players here. The LAPT San Jose champion Valdemar Kwaysser was the latest to share his thoughts:
Tomorrow's fun starts at noon, when they will return to play level 10 with blinds at 600-1,200 and a 100 ante. They'll play down to the final nine. Be sure to join us.
Every poker tour has its own identity that differentiates it from many of the others. Most obviously, the various tours visit numerous different cities where they charge differing buy-ins catering for every bank balance. But there is also something less tangible, a feel or a flavour that characterises the different occasions and marks them out as unique to a particular tour.
These intangibles, in turn, attract particular players and we have already grown used to seeing familiar faces over and over again on the LAPT. So much so, that these players themselves have now become LAPT icons; the players are as much a part of the furniture as anything else. Falling into this category are the likes of Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald, a player who also represents the changing face of poker and its new young pretenders who have been shaking up the establishment for a few years now.
Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald, from Seattle, Washington, makes his major money around the online tables of PokerStars, but has to travel to get his bricks and mortar fix as he is not yet old enough to play in his native United States. No worries: his father is married to a Brazilian woman, which gives him every excuse to travel to Latin America for the LAPT, brushing up on his Portuguese as he goes. Indeed, his online screen-name "Assassinato" means "assassinator" in Portuguese, just in case anyone is struggling to translate that one.
"He knows how to tell a woman she's beautiful; he knows how to order a beer," said our own Portuguese-language expert, the PokerStars Brazil blogger Maria (whose work, incidentally, you can find HERE, in that incomprehensible tongue.)
"It's terrivel!" Fitzgerald said of his own grasp of the language. "But I love travelling and I love Latin America. It's just so relaxed, you know."
We do know, but it's sometimes not so much fun, as Fitzgerald himself can testify. He was cruising towards the final table in Rio earlier this season, but received a horrible beat to knock him out. "I would have traded all the money I earnt just to have had a chance to play the final table," Fitzgerald said. And although that's the kind of platitude you hear quite often in poker rooms, Fitzgerald clearly means it. He's one resolute, focused and very capable performer, currently with about 30,000 in chips in Punta del Este and a his eyes firmly fixed on the title.
Fitzgerald shared some of his views of the LAPT with our video blog team before play began today:
There's more where that came from over at PokerStars.tv
Another fixture on the LAPT is the family Brenes, from Costa Rica. Although big brother Humberto, of Team PokerStars Pro, often takes most of the limelight, his younger brother Alex Brenes has outperformed Humberto so far on the tour.
Alex Brenes
Alex finished sixth in the season opener in Rio, and while he was busted by his own nephew (Humberto's son, of course) in San Jose, he is back in the thick of it here.
And he's been prospering. At latest count, Alex has somewhere north of 100,000 in chips, which is chip leader territory. One to watch, as usual.
Gone are the days when a new poker tour can turn up, get through its entire first season, and not find itself at the centre of a media storm, probably ending up on TV. Although the opening two events on the LAPT both passed by without television's intervention -- our fine PokerStars.tv excepted, of course -- there has been an almighty kerfuffle going on in Punta del Este these past few hours as Fox Sport's Latin America division makes its final preparations to enter into the world of poker broadcasting.
Felt has been pinned down, ironed, and ripped up again; tiny cameras have been fitted beneath the rail. A camera now dangles precariously above the table, and the retinas of all of our eyes have been scorched with the blast of the studio lights. Taking his place on centre stage -- now that new felt has been found and ironed, the cameras have been fixed, microphones attached and lights turned up again -- is Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes.
The Godfather of Latin American poker was an obvious choice, although his trademark sharks might find themselves pressed into action sooner than he'd like. Brenes has only about 10,000 in chips.
But his is not the only table under scrutiny today. Right at the start of the action, an outer table featuring the LAPT San Jose champion Valdemar Kwaysser was already surrounded by a five-pointed camera cordon, focusing their attentions on every inch of the felt. That army of machinery has been marching one step at a time around all the whole tournament arena, filming about an hour at each stopping point. They're onto their sixth or seventh mini battleground of the day, meaning we're into level seven. Nine are scheduled on this slightly shortened first day, and 183 players remain from the opening 351.
Back at that first table, Kwaysser remains with about 25,000 in chips. He's been joined, on his immediate left, by Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald, another online young gun with a huge reputation. Fitzgerald has a beer in hand, a suitcase full of anecdotes, and is entertaining all with his tales from the tables. But his focus is still fixed firmly on the game, and he has amassed about 30,000. The New Zealand PokerStars player James Honeybone completes a triumvirate of big-time online players tearing it up around that particular table.
Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer is still the tournament leader with more than 80,000 in chips. It was the Fossilman who accounted for Andre Akkari about an hour ago, the American's aces holding up against the Brazilian's queens. Raymer was smart enough to get out the way when his other Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso was all in moments later. Rousso had the aces this time, another player had kings, and Lady Maverick vaulted to about 28,000.
Earlier in the day, Rousso and Chad Brown caught up with our video blog team to talk about the tournament, the LAPT and their chances.
For several years PokerStars-sponsored tournaments across the globe have introduced us to numerous fresh faces in the game. And some players who earned their first bricks and mortar wings courtesy of PokerStars online satellites have gone on to become established "names" in both environments. They, to coin a phrase, found the poker star in them.
None fit the profile of online qualifier made good quite as snugly as Greg Raymer. Although his team-mate Chris Moneymaker has that name and that rags to riches story, it was Raymer who really catapulted the game into the stratosphere when he took down the World Series main event in 2005. He did it when the whole world was watching and he did it when people were questioning whether these online guys could really cut it for real. Sure they could: Raymer's paltry online satellite fee earned him five million bucks.
Since then, Raymer has proved it was no fluke with a catalogue of high-profile successes. He's also become one of the best ambassadors for both PokerStars and the game of poker in general, always on hand for an interview, always ready to sign memorabilia or pose for photos. And this week, he's made the long trip down from the east coast of the United States to the south coast of Uruguay. And what do you know, he's got a bunch of chips.
"I had one huge hand before the break," Raymer said moments ago. "I had about 34,000 and I took out the second chip-leader on the table, who had about 24,000. I had kings, she had ace-king." He then went on to describe how the two-club, straightening flop gave his opponent plenty of outdraw possibilities, but that all the outs missed and sent him to the chip lead, with 60,000, "there or thereabouts."
Raymer is the star attraction here in Punta del Este, although his table is among the more star-studded at the event. His fellow Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso and Andre Akkari are also in attendance, and the trio have attracted a huge flock of railbirds, especially with half the field on their dinner break. Raymer is captain, though, a role he fills with some glee. After a lean World Series and a disappointing 2008 in general, there are high hopes in Uruguay that he can get himself back on the winners' rostrum.
Unfortunately, Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein has seen his chances of success ended in Punta del Este. The vagaries of the transportation to this part of the world conspired against Greenstein and deposited him in Uruguay about half an hour before the off-time of the tournament.
He half-played, half-napped his way through the opening levels, keeping something close to his original chip stack of 10,000 in front of him. But they were all in just after the dinner break, with Greenstein holding 10-10. The mandatory call for his opponent, the PokerStars qualifier Teddy Peterson, who was holding aces, and that was that.
Humberto Brenes is also suspiciously on the peripheries of the tournament room, suggesting the worst for him.
We'll confirm whether he's in or out as soon as we get the chance. Team PokerStars Pros Alexandre Gomes and Chad Brown, as well as Raymer, Rousso and Akkari, are still in the mix.
And a special word too about Gualter Salles, the PokerStars player from Brazil, who has traded indy car for poker chip in the past few years.
Salles made a huge play with pocket jacks on a queen-high board shortly before dinner, getting an opponent to lay down king-queen and give up a massive pot. Salles is up to 40,000-odd and cruising.
A full chip count will be coming very soon.
***
Back when the day was still young -- and Barry Greenstein was still involved -- he spoke to our video blog team about how things had been progressing to that point.
More video blogs, including an archive of previous footage, can be found over at PokerStars.tv.
***
Update: In the past couple of minutes, we've just established that Humberto Brenes is, actually, still in, with about 10,000. But Andre Akkari is out and Greg Raymer is now up to about 84,000. Those two last facts may well be related.
As play progresses and competitors get a feel for the tournament conditions, so the bust outs continue while other stacks continue to grow. In the first category, the latest notable scalp was Jason Mercier, the PokerStars qualifier from the United States, who won't be adding LAPT glory to his EPT success in San Remo.
Jason Mercier
Mercier started his day about three yards down from media row in the main tournament room, was moved to the other side of the wall during the third level, and then slipped out the door never to be seen again sometime in the past hour. No details on his demise are yet known, but we're down an EPT champion.
Mario Bonata, from Uruguay, on the other hand, is on the up. He has an enviable array of chip towers, representing all colours including the most valuable blue denomination.
Mario Bonata
At most recent count, the local favourite was sitting with about 40,000, which is four times the starting stack. Nice going.
Also in the ascendancy is Andrew Li, from the United States. Li is already well known on the LAPT after he went way deep in Rio before getting on the end of a shocker, losing with kings against the queens of the eventual champion Julien Nuijten.
Andrew Li
He was second in chips at the time and got it all in against the only man who could either knock him out or double him up. Hoping for the latter, the former was actually true, but Li has returned uncowed. He has 29,000 at latest count.
The full payouts will be with us imminently as the tournament officials end their counting. As they do that, why not check out the latest chip count, which can be found HERE, or take a look at the latest from the video bloggers.
How much sympathy can you have for a poker player who'll sit down at a table in Las Vegas in November and walk away with at least $900,000?
As a member of the so-called November Nine who will contest the 2008 World Series main event final table, David "Chino" Rheem is such a player. He's guaranteed a million-dollar payday from that brief excursion to Sin City (and probably a lot more), but here in Punta del Este, where he's been brushing up his skills before returning to the big dance, he's just been busted by an opponent holding six-four. Ouch.
What's more, Chino actually had the guy dominated with a pretty mighty holding of his own. OK, so nine-six isn't all that mighty, but it's a huge favourite against that six-four. Chino had got a touch short -- the result of running into aces in a huge pot during level two -- and shoved pre-flop with that nine high. He probably feared the game was up when his opponent made a value call, but then probably expected a double up when he saw what he was up against. But a four flopped and Chino was done.
Still, hold the sympathy, and hold the judgment. We'll hope and expect much more from the PokerStars player in Vegas in a couple of months.
Another World Series success story who won't have fond memories of Uruguay is Brandon Cantu, who busted shortly before Chino when he ran tens into pocket kings.
The PokerStars player from Washington also had a fine run in Vegas last month, cruising to 20th place in the main event for $257,334. But his day in Latin America is also done and he was seen stalking out of the Mantra resort an hour or so ago.
Updated chip counts can be found HERE. We'll be playing until the end of level six before dinner is served. At time of writing, 296 players remain from the 351 who started.
The second level of the day has just drawn to a close, giving the players a 15-minute window to get out into the cool winter air and smoke a cigarette, else dash to the bathroom, pick up a drink, do a few press ups, call home, or sometimes all of the above.
The break also gave us the chance to take stock of the early movement in these embryonic stages, tracking the early chip leaders, the hasty bust outs and the steady progress of the tournament notables. In the first two categories, which tend to go hand in hand, table ten has emerged as the place to be. Three of the top five stacks are seated around that table: Jose Carlos Homero, with 24,000; PokerStars qualifier Lasse Pedersen with 26,000; and Damian Andres Salas with 32,000.
PokerStars qualifier Lasse Pedersen, from Denmark
Damian Andres Salas: the early chip leader
Each was coy when questioned as to how they got their chips, but early double ups usually mean early eliminations and there was rumours of a straight versus higher straight to put Homero in profit and a flopped two-pair versus a flopped set of sevens for Salas. We'll keep an eye on all of them to see if they can consolidate their early progress or go the same way as the vanquished.
Elsewhere, Mario Bonanata also has a decent stack of 25,000 at last count. And he's sitting a few seats down from Valdemar Kwaysser, who got his tournament going with a double up courtesy of queens versus ace-king. An early table of death featuring Team PokerStars Pros Greg Raymer and Vanessa Rousso alongside LAPT San Jose final table player Joe Ebanks got a little lighter on fearsomeness when Ebanks became one of the first out the door.
Joe Ebanks: Ebusted
Raymer, Rousso and team-mates Andre Akkari, Alexandre Gomes, Humberto Brenes, Chad Brown and Barry Greenstein are all comfortably in the pack.
Alexandre Gomes
We're currently updating our chip counts page, and will endeavour to do so at regular intervals from now until the close of play. It's still very, very early, so expect big changes over the coming hours as the tournament takes shape.
At time of typing, the tournament staff believe that 351 players entered, of which 325 remain. Originally, they were playing 11 handed, with overspill tables housed upstairs in the casino proper. Those have now been broken, meaning everyone is at least in the same room. It's a bit of a tight squeeze, with no room for spectators at present. So you really do have the best seat in the house.
After a brief delay at the start of the day, action has begun in Punta del Este.
Not long after we began, the first player departed - his pocket kings emphatically outdrawn by A-Q on a flop featuring two aces. No worries, his seat was soon occupied by an alternate, who will continue to join the action until the end of the second level.
During the opening exchanges, PokerStars blog's Alex Villegas walked the room to pick out a few of the notable players in the field:
Humberto Brenes - Team PokerStars Pro
After playing on his home turf in San Jose, the Team PokerStars Pro joins us once again in LAPT Punta Del Este. Accompanying him as usual are his fun loving antics, poker expertise and desire to be the first Latin American to bring home an LAPT trophy.
Andre Akkari - Team PokerStars Pro
The acclaimed Brazilian poker celebrity has become one of the LAPT’s trademarks.
Chad Brown -Team PokerStars Pro
One of the newest members of Team PokerStars Pro, Brown is already a veteran of the LAPT, having appeared on the opening date in Rio de Janeiro. In between then and now, he starred at the World Series, with five cashes, and is now back on the circuit with Uruguayan glory in his sights.
Barry Greenstein - Team PokerStars Pro
Despite stepping off a plane only this morning, Greenstein will be many commentators' favourite for this event. He is one of the game's true megastars, earning six cashes at this year's WSOP, including his third career bracelet and a final table in the showpiece $50,000 HORSE event.
Greg Raymer - Team PokerStars Pro
Poker ambassadors don't come any more respected than the 2005 World Champion Greg Raymer. As dignified off the table as he is fearless and aggressive on, Raymer is always a threat in any environment.
Vanessa Rousso - Team PokerStars Pro
Another Team PokerStars Pro who enjoyed a successful World Series, with three cashes including the main event, Rousso has returned to Latin America for the final stop on the LAPT.
Alexandre Gomes - Team PokerStars Pro
The most recent addition to Team Pokerstars Pro, Gomes brought home a 2008 WSOP bracelet along with $770,000 to keep him company.
Joe Ebanks
After falling victim to the storm of pocket aces in the final table of LAPT San Jose, Joe Ebanks, feared online as ‘Ender 555’, is quickly making a name for himself on the circuit.
Shirley Rosario
After securing her fame as the host on the TV show “Live At the Bike” and owner of the website Poker-Babes, Rosario hopes to secure a major tournament win here in Punta Del Este
Alex Fitzgerald
His online name “Assasinato” seems appropriate to those who’ve had the chance to play him online. Having already played in Costa Rica, where he went deep before finding his luck out just before the money, Fitzgerald has all the equipment to go better here.
Max and Maria Stern
The husband and wife team from Costa Rica wear more than just matching wedding rings. Both sport World Series bracelets, making them the only husband-wife bracelet winners. Maria went very deep in San Jose before falling just out of the money.
Alex Brenes
Alex has so far outshone his more famous brother Humberto, with a a solid fourth place at LAPT Rio.
Veronica Dabul
After cashing three times at the recent World Series, the Argentinian Dabul is trying her luck on Latin American felt.
Jamal Kunvuz
Played in this year’s WSOP main event and finished 33rd, taking home a hefty $193,000.
Gualter Salles
Former Indy car racer in the United States, now a stock car driver and team owner in his native Brazil.
David “Chino” Rheem
Sponsored by PokerStars, David showed amazing skill and endurance in reaching this years WSOP final table. He'll have to wait until November until that plays out, so he's killing some time here in Punta Del Este.
Brandon Cantu
One of very few players in possession of both a WPT and WSOP title, Cantu also went deep in this year's WSOP main event, finishing 27th.
Valdemar Kwaysser
After taking down LAPT San Jose, ending it with a flourish and pocket aces, Valdemar returns to the LAPT in hopes of a repeat here in Punta Del Este.
Jason Mercier
The only player in the tournament field with a chance of becoming the first-ever winner of an LAPT and an EPT event, Mercier won in San Remo last season and is now trying his luck as a qualifier on the LAPT.
It's day one of the PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour tournament in Punta del Este, Uruguay. And what better way to start than with a gross understatement: the LAPT has been a great success. Rio attracted more players than we could possibly have hoped, Costa Rica broke that record, and now we have just got word from the tournament staff in Uruguay that the start has been pushed back an hour, to 1pm local time, to accommodate the swarms of eager competitors camped outside the Mantra Resort.
Poker and Latin America have turned their teenage flirtation into a full-blown love affair. At least 400 guests are expected to come to today's engagement party, and with each stumping up $2,500 per ticket, the honeymoon fund is going to be something like $1 million. Those figures will be confirmed in due course, once the bean counters have done what they do best. Give them a couple of hours and we'll pass on what they tell us.
In the meantime, here's what we do know. This is a no limit Texas hold 'em event, lasting three days, with the final table of nine being played down to a winner on Saturday. The players -- an estimated 400 of them, remember -- will start with 10,000 in tournament chips for their $2,500 and we'll be playing one-hour levels. We're scheduled to play 10 levels today, and the full structure can be found HERE.
In the field today are Team PokerStars Pros Greg Raymer, Humberto Brenes, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Andre Akkari and Alexandre Gomes, as well as a clutch of celebrity players in both the poker and non-poker worlds. There are also 148 PokerStars qualifiers who will make their characteristic charge for the title. We'll introduce you to plenty of them over the coming few days. Regular estimated chip counts will be available HERE.
Last night, as previously reported, we had a welcome party here in Punta del Este, with all the traditional flair and excitement from these kind of occasions. Our video blog team were on hand to provide a real taste of the action.
A couple of hours ago at the Mantra Beach Club in Punta del Este, the President of the Latin American Poker Tour Glenn Cademartori picked up a microphone and tried to sum up his feelings about the opening year of the LAPT.
"This season has been an unbelievable experience," he said, and the edges of the room, where the various LAPT staff members had gathered, became a sea of nodded heads. It sure has, was the general consensus, and that's even before the grand finale, which will take place here in Uruguay over the coming three days and continue to bring that unique PokerStars spirit to yet another part of the world.
Cadamateri was speaking at the now-traditional tournament-eve gathering at any PokerStars event. Be it the EPT, APPT or LAPT, when PokerStars qualifiers are in town, there's always a party. And tonight, the venue was a nightclub on a beach, gazing out over the expanse of the ocean and acres of golden sand. It was lit only by the flashing lights from the dancefloor inside, or from the glow of a vivid moon and a sky pricked porous by stars. There was a salsa party in Rio, painted ladies in Costa Rica, but here there was just the staggering sight of Punta del Este at night. And it worked.
Inside, of course, was something else. We've learned to expect a high degree of opulence at these parties, as well as our hands to be full of as many glasses of something potent as we can handle, and our bellies to be full of food. So it was. Tonight in one room, canape waiters and waitresses floated among enthusiastic revellers, followed by their compadres carrying glasses of whatever we liked. Some partook, others demurred with game faces already frozen into place. Next door, some sat and chatted while others danced. We've seen it before, but the novelty never wears off.
Obviously the stars were out in full force too, with none gleaming brighter than those representing Team PokerStars Pro. Greg Raymer, Humberto Brenes, Andre Akkari, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso and Alexandre Gomes were all in attendance, ahead of tomorrow's opening salvos around the tables.
There they will be joined by another mighty force of PokerStars qualifiers, hoping to make a splash in the big time. Estimates put the total field at somewhere close to 400, which could generate a million-dollar prize pool. It might be Uruguay in winter, but that's enough to warm any heart.
Back at the Mantra Resort, Casino and Spa, which will be hosting this week's tournament, a clutch of celebrities from Brazil and Argentina got together with Brenes, Akkari and Gomes to play a special single-table sit and go for the television cameras.
Meanwhile, the assembled media from around the globe also joined their own tournament, with a token offering into their PokerStars account for whichever hack came out on top. (It wasn't this one.)
And even as all that was going on, the tournament staff were running satellites to tomorrow's main event, swelling the field even further. It was chaos, but the kind that we have come to know and love. Tomorrow, Friday and Saturday will be something we have seen before but also like nothing else we have ever known. Join us from noon tomorrow, local time.
Punta del Este might just be the finest resort you have never heard of.
Perched on the southern coast of Uruguay, about 90 minutes by road from the capital Montevideo, the town boasts the miles of sandy beaches familiar to Rio de Janeiro, the mansion-sized yachts and luxury apartments of Monte Carlo, the fine seafood restaurants of Barcelona, the gleaming blue sea of San Remo, the lagoons, bridges and wicker-topped shacks of the Bahamas, and the opulence and splendour of Las Vegas.
Now, in common with all those places, it also has a poker tournament of some repute. This splendid town, the most prized jewel on South America's tourist trail, plays host to the final event on the inaugural PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT). It's a $2,500 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold 'em event, lasting three days and attracting more than 300 players. We expect to crown a champion late on Saturday night, who will earn something like $250,000 for their troubles.
Tournaments like this attract the stars of the game, and this one is no different. Team PokerStars Pros Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Humberto Brenes, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Andre Akkari and Alexandre Gomes are in town. David "Chino" Rheem is filling some of his time before the World Series final table by joining the fray in Uruguay, and Brandon Cantu will be aiming to add LAPT glory to his WSOP and WPT tournament victories.
Max and Maria Stern, the only married couple each with World Series bracelets, are also here, as is Valdemar Kwaysser, the Hungarian player who won the LAPT event in Costa Rica, and will be hoping for an unprecedented back-to-back triumphs. Meanwhile Jason Mercier, EPT champion in San Remo, leads a typically strong field of PokerStars qualifiers, aiming to translate tiny online satellite buy-ins into major bricks-and-mortar success. Each has the track record to take this down, and we'll find out by Saturday who has seized the day.
Our venue is the wondrous Mantra resort, spa and casino, in the La Barra region of Punta del Este, boasting mud lounges and hydroptherapy tubs, grand baccharat and roulette. The guest services offer a "photographic safari" and "a day in the ranges", or maybe a hot-air balloon ride, with "champagne on board". Wind-swept sand dunes separate us from the beach and block after block of million-dollar apartments staring out over the azure of the Atlantic Ocean. Showrooms offer sports cars and the local realtor's office is a Sotheby's. The waste-paper bin in my room is made of leather; it is that kind of place.
But nearby in another direction, charming small villages are tucked amid pine forest and farmland. The branches of short trees in groves ache beneath the strain of oranges and lemons, and teenagers ride the kind of mopeds powered by duelling wasps. A wild boar forages in the muck and the roof of a house is made from moss. A restaurant describes its speciality as "Slow Food" and a billboard declares: "Wake Up and Live!"
Starting with the welcome party tonight, we expect to do a lot of living over the coming few days. As is customary, PokerStars blog will bring you all the action from Punta del Este and the LAPT, in words, pictures and video. If you want Spanish, you can get it HERE or Portuguese can be found HERE.
Our video blog team have also been out and about in downtown Punta, putting together their early impressions of the place.
Their regular dispatches will appear on this page, but you can also check out PokerStars.tv for their work, plus an archive of previous footage.
Next year, you should be here yourself, having won a seat on PokerStars.com for what is already a fine, fine poker tour. But for the time being, stay tuned for the details of how this one is progressing. Well, is my early guess.
Well, so much of the sterotype of online poker players sitting around getting chubby and rich. We've found some PokerStars players who are not only getting outside for some exercise, but becoming quite a success in the process.
The PokerStars softball team out of South Dakota put on a stunning performance this weekend at their state championships in Pierre. When the weekend was over, the team found itself holding the title of South Dakota State ASA Divison II champions.
Now, the team is headed off to the National competition to compete for the top prize.
Congratulations to the team. Good luck in the Nationals!
The PokerStars Blog is proud to introduce a new offering this week. Adam "STUDstood" Roberts will be featured here weekly on Fridays. He introduces himself below.
by Adam "STUDstood" Roberts
Hi, my name is Adam Roberts. I have been a world ranked stud poker player for many years in both cash games and tournaments. Numerous articles have been written about me in various magazines with regard to my success. In only 20 or so tournaments entered, I have made final tables in six different stud high and stud 8 or better events between 1994-2001.
PokerStars has been spreading multiple and continuous games in my at those limits, as well as some smaller ones as well. PokerStars also offers a weekly 7 card stud 8 or better tournament with a buy-in of $215. It begins at 1:45pm PDT every Saturday and has a guaranteed prize pool of $5000.
This column will be my weekly blog. It will cover various strategies in all the stud games, as well as answer any questions, comments, and suggestions which you may write to me with.
My nickname at PokerStars is “STUDstood”, and my avatar there is a photo of me winning a WSOP tournament bracelet.
It was a big weekend for the PokerStars Sunday Million. This week marked the first weekend of the Million's fulltime $1.5 million guarantee. More than 8,400 players meant a $1.6 million pool and a first prize of more than $204,000. With no deal at the end, that meat Denmark's Fred_Brink got the whole thing. See a full Sunday Million final table report HERE
For full results on all the Sunday tournaments, see below.
The Sunday Million at PokerStars has taken on a new, improved life this week. As announced here at the PokerStarsBlog a few days ago, the Sunday Million’s guarantee has been boosted to $1.5 Million starting this week and continuing as long as people can earn their way into this massive tournament via Frequent Players Point and cash satellites. 8431 players crushed the new guarantee to make a $1,686,200 prize pool. The nine players at the final table will be playing for the $204,198 first place share. With Fred_Brink taking out klezbomb in tenth place, here’s how our final table stacked up:
Seat 1: betofetus (4950163 in chips)
Seat 2: Godfatti (7972659 in chips)
Seat 3: nofingclue11 (21358491 in chips)
Seat 4: Andy McLEOD (16860000 in chips)
Seat 5: Fred_Brink (11521764 in chips)
Seat 6: HappyOldMonk (5398075 in chips)
Seat 7: tpooch (3716775 in chips)
Seat 8: RProps (10504341 in chips)
Seat 9: djmib2 (2027732 in chips)
Blinds starting off with $150,000/$300,000 ante $30,000 for the final table will force some of the smaller stacks to make a stand early against the pair of very aggressive chip leaders in nofingclue11 and Andy McLEOD. They both built their stacks on opposite tables coming into the final nine with constant opening raises and continuation bets, we’ll see how they play sitting next to each other.
The first big move was made by Fred_Brink in a blind versus blind battle with Andy McLEOD as all the money went in preflop with the pocket Kings of Fred_Brink holding up over Andy McLEOD’s AQo. With that pot Fred_Brink took an early chip lead over nofingclue11. The yo-yo stack of Andy McLEOD’s has been an interesting one to watch, as no eliminations have taken place in the first half hour of the final table. The other beginning chip leader, nofinclue11, saw his stack diminished when he trapped betofetus in a 15 million chip pot with pocket queens versus betofetus holding KJo after flopping top pair on a 3h 9c Jh flop, but turned trips and no boat on the river for nofingclue11 and the dominate chip stacks have been spread out.
Tpooch unfortunately was tied to his cards and could not get out of the chip deficit he was spotted at the beginning of the final table. AdTh looked good with just two and a half big blinds left, against the Jack-Six offsuit of Andy McLEOD who made the pot odds call from the big blind. A flop of all hearts and Tpooch’s ten of hearts would lock up the pot with a flush on the turn or river. Queen of diamonds on the turn still favored tpooch to double up, but a Jack of clubs on the river slid the bouncing chips of Andy McLEOD back into his stack and tpooch went back to the kennel in ninth place $11,803.40 richer.
Once lost, but now found, Andy McLEOD would retrieve his chips from djmib2 after doubling up the small stack twice early on. With barely two blinds left djmib2 shoved A5o which was called by betofetus on his immediate left, but Andy McLEOD did not want any further stragglers as he re-popped it with pocket fives and betofetus got out of the way. None on the three remaining aces came up for djmib2 on the board, djmib2 took home $19,391.30 in eighth place.
Small stack carnage continued three hands later as HappyOldMonk broke his vow of silence and shoved his remaining four big blinds into the pot hoping to steal the needed chips. RProps had plenty to cover with $13 million in chips with $300,000/$600,000 ante $60,000 and pocket sevens made the call easier. But, with holding two overcards Ad8s, HappyOldMonk got to race to remain at the final table. The Ace of clubs looked shiny has the second card coming out, but seven of diamonds was brighter. No runner-runner miracle and HappyOldMonk trots off with a bigger smile while taking home $29,508.50 in seventh place.
Godfatti hung on to his short stack long enough to move up massively on the pay scale. With the blinds about to hit, and only holding three big blinds, Godfatti shoved his A9o for all its worth, but nofingclue11 was holding pocket fives and quickly called while the rest of the table let these two battle it out. No pair materialized for Godfatti as he took $42,155 back to Breda for his sixth place finish.
In the biggest pot of the tournament, large stacks betofetus and nofingclue11 got tangled all-in pre flop with a classic race of betofetus’ pocket queens versus nofingclue11’s big slick and facing elimination. A pair jacks on the flops provided no love for the clueless one, and a queen on the river gave betofetus an unnecessary full house to send nofingclue11 to use his $59,017 fifth place money on the strip of Las Vegas.
If one were to use a metaphor for Andy McLEOD’s stack during the final table it dove around like a twin propeller Cessna in a hurricane, might fit well. By far the most aggressive player, Andy McLEOD shoved his stack for all its worth several times during four-handed play as attempts to deal the remaining $500,000+ left on the table never worked out. Andy’s final push of Ace-Queen offsuit from the small blind over the top of RProps’ under the gun raise was most likely on the high end of his pushing range, but RProps gladly turned over pocket Aces to eliminate Andy McLEOD in fourth place for $75,879.
Deal making went on for nearly fifteen minutes as a chip chop deal was close to being sewn up then promptly fell apart. Good thing for Fred_Brink that a deal was not taken, he managed to triple his 13 million in chips in the first ten hands after the chop was shot down. RProps’ stack however, took a nosedive after doubling up Fred_Brink then finding himself as the short stack and having to push pre-flop for much needed blinds and antes. His K9o button push with thirteen big blinds left at $500,000/$1,000,000 ante $100,000 did not even get through the small blind as betofetus woke up with pocket tens. A nine on the flop of 9s 5c Qs gave RProps more outs, none of them materalized on the turn and river. The third place winnings of $93,584.10 will buy a few rounds back in Milwaukee for RProps.
More chip chops talks came out, but neither betofetus nor Fred_Brink could reach a dollar amount to satisfy their hunger, and tonight we will be awarding the full first place prize of $204,198.82 to one person.
Blinds at $600,000/$1,200,000 ante $120,000
Seat 1: betofetus (47846680 in chips)
Seat 5: Fred_Brink (36463320 in chips)
Both began heads-up with a lot of play, and they would use it too as heads up play was more about hitting singles then going for the home run tonight. Most pots going to the opening raiser with the occasional flop seen, but neither player dominating the aggressiveness pre or post flop. The big hand finally came from Fred_Brink as he slow played a flopped set of sixes on a board of 6d 8s 7c Kc. After betofetus lead out on the turn for nearly ten million in chips, Fred_Brink sprung his trap and had his opponent’s 9h7h looking for eight outs to a straight. The lovely queen on clubs on the river held up Fred_Brink’s flopped set, and left betofetus with a 70 million to 13 million chip deficit.
Five hands later Fred_Brink made a gutsy call on a pre-flop push by betofetus holding QhJh finding himself dominating betofetus’ Js9s. The board of Qd 6h 8d Jc, left only a ten on the river to bail out the dominated pre-flop disadvantage. The seven of spades on the river did not provide any changes and betofetus will be consoled with $137,425.30 for his runners-up effort. Fred_Brink is this week’s Sunday Million champion. After a well-fought final table, our Danish winner is pocketing $204,198.82!
In just a little more than a month, the 33-event series will kick off on PokerStars with tournaments that have serious poker players frothing at the mouth. [Visit the WCOOP page for a full schedule of events.]
If you need any evidence of how excited people are getting, just check out the videos below. Team PokerStars simply can't wait.
The European Poker Tour has long been home to high-rollers. The Grand Final buy-in of the tournament series is impressive in itself at €10,000. The rest of the events are nearly as big. However, we always knew there were people in the room who wanted to play bigger. After the tournament was over for the day, the big players would start up big-money sit & go tournaments. If that wasn't enough, the true high rollers would retire to a hotel suite and play private games for more money than most people can imagine.
Now the European Poker Tour has given these high-rollers a tournament of their own.
When the Season 5 EPT London event kicks off in a few months, event organizers will not only host the scheduled EPT London event. They have also just announced a brand new £20,000 + £300 PokerStars EPT £1 Million Showdown, with a guaranteed £1,000,000 prize pool. If that doesn't attract the big action players, not much will.
That's not all. The London EPT event is getting a shot in the arm and the winner of the event is going to be pretty happy about it.
PokerStars is adding an extra £250,000 to the prize pool of this October’s EPT London event, making for a guaranteed £1,000,000 for the winner.
Look out for EPT London satellites starting at PokerStars on August 4, and satellites for the £1M Showdown starting August 18.
When Aryan “avkid86” Virabi won a satellite into last week’s Sunday Million, he never imagined that his second try at online poker’s biggest weekly tournament would end with him in first place and taking down $138,101.00 for his evening’s work. The top prize was the result of a four-way deal at the final table that left $30,000 for the eventual winner. In last place when the deal was struck, Virabi displayed patience and tenacity in outlasting two opponents to get to heads-up play.
It only took a dozen hands or so for Virabi to take the lead, and then he flopped top two pair on the final hand to grab the brass ring that every online player dreams of – a Sunday Million win on PokerStars. For a college student whose previous biggest tournament win was about $1,000, this was a heck of a jump. We caught up with Virabi this week and got a little bit of the skinny on his background.
A college student, Virabi uses poker “to get away from all the work.” He plays a lot with friends at local casinos and some home games, but discovered online poker about three years ago. Once he found PokerStars in the beginning of 2007, he was hooked ever since.
This was only his second shot at the Sunday Million, as he only plays when he can satellite in. A fan of the big MTTs, Virabi also enjoys the multi-table turbo sit n’ gos on PokerStars. He’s mostly a hold’em player, but sprinkles in some Omaha Hi/Lo for an occasional change of pace.
Living in the UK has given Virabi the chance to test his skills in some local casinos and tournament series, including the GUKPT last year. He made the final table in a GUKPT side event last year and cut a deal at the final table to net nearly $12,000.
Virabi said that the big turning point for him came late in the tournament when he was able to put together a streak of five hands in a row where he tripled his short stack and moved back into contention for the final table. When the idea of a chop came up with four left, Virabi happily accepted a deal that guaranteed him at least $100,000. With the deal in place, he thought “I’ve come this far may not get another chance so let’s make the most of it.” He certainly did, outlasting three opponents with bigger stacks to claim his first ever Sunday Million victory and the lion’s share of the prize money.
Congrats to Aryan “avkid86” Virabi for a spectacular final table performance!
By Steve Paul-Ambrose
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The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.![appt_thumb_promo[2].jpg](http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/appt_thumb_promo%5B2%5D.jpg)
The second season of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is about to begin in Macau and now PokerStars has kicked off satellites for the second stop on the tour.
It’s one of those things you’ve just come to expect in life. Birds gonna fly, fish gonna swim, dogs gonna bark, and PokerStars gonna beat the guarantee in the Sunday Million. With a symmetrical 7,557 players in the field, the prize pool for the biggest weekly tournament in poker was an incredible $1,511,400.00. The top 1,080 players got a piece of the pie, but nobody’s slice was bigger than NFrost_10, who took down $170,900.91 for first place after a deal that left $30,000 to play for when the field thinned from thousands down to just two. With just a couple of weeks before the 
For a little fun today, we're going to live blog the PokerStars Sunday Warm-up. Over the next eleven hours or so, Brad Willis, Martin Harris, David Aydt, and Dave Behr will be on hand to bring you the latest information on the Sunday Warm-Up. Have a story for us? E-mail to 
If you didn't spend last month under a rock, you probaly know PokerStars had a bit of a promotion (read: its biggest ever) during the month of the July. The end of the PokerStars 2X promotion saw tons of people win tournaments that bumped up their 
There is a lot to get excited about in the poker world. In fact, sometimes there is so much, it's hard to get really pumped up. 
