Recently in PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Category

PokerStars ended the holiday season on a high note with another massive crowd lining up for the Sunday Warm-Up. The first Sunday Warm-Up of 2009 blew through the guarantee, with 4103 players building a massive $829,600 prize pool. Anybody who thought that registration would be slow with so many players headed down to Atlantis for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure got a big surprise, as both the Warm-Up and the Sunday Million had huge fields to kick off the new year.

It took many hours to thin the field down to the final table, and after a lengthy hand-for-hand battle, the final nine competitors wasted no time in getting chips in the middle. Warty31 threaded his short stack through the eye of the needle to make the final table, but he shipped it in with Ac-9c almost immediately after the final table kicked off. He found one caller in Drago0906, who picked up a straight draw with Qd-Jh on the 6c-10d-9d flop. He couldn't catch anything to help out as the turn and river came down 7h-Ah to make two pair for warty31 and leave Drago0906 on the short stack. On the very next hand Drago0906 got the rest of his stack in the middle with 3g-3c from the small blind after a preflop raise from IW1LLH1TN0Ts. IW1LLH1TN0Ts made the call with Kd-10c, and the board ran out Qs-10h-Ad-5d-6h to make Drago0906 the first casualty of the final table. He picked up $6,646.86 for his 9th place finish.

Warty31 seemed poised for a run at the top spot after his early double-up, but he couldn't overcome his short stack to stay live past 8th place. After a preflop raise from frtk, warty31 called all-in with Qh-Qs, and was looking good when frtk showed 10c-7s for the steal attempt. The flop of Jc-10h-3c gave frtk a pair, but he was still drwing to beat warty31's overpair. The tide turned on the turn when the 7h landed to give frtk two pair and leave warty31 drawing for his tournament life. The 4h on the river was no help, and warty31 was done in 8th place ($10,257.50).

After frtk did the heavy lifting to decimate his chip stack, SrixXxon fell to chip leader luetch1 on 7th place ($16,412.00). SrixXxon moved all in preflop with As-Js, and luetch1 made the call for a coin flip with 5h-5d. The flop hit luetch1 right between the eyes, as he made top set on a board of 4h-5c-3d. SrixXxon was drawing to a deuce for the wheel or running Aces to stay alive, and when the rest of the board ran out 10s-Ah, the field was left six-handed.

Frtk's luck ran out when he went for a steal just after the final table's first break, moving all in from the small blind with Jc-8s. Action had folded around to his small blind, so the only thing standing between frtk and the orphaned blinds and antes was whatever hand IW1LLH1TN0Ts woke up with in the big blind. When that hand turned out to be pocket aces, frtk was in deep trouble. The flop of 7c-10d-2h left images of runner-runner straights in frtk's eyes, but the turn of 3d left him drawing dead. The 8d was the irrelevant river card, and frtk picked up $24,618 for 6th place.

After some huge back-and-forth swings five-handed, LOGIST_14 lost a huge pot to luetch1 that gave luetch1 back the chip lead and left LOGIST_14 on the short stack. He shipped it in a few hands later with Kc-Js on the button, and IW1LLH1TN0Ts made the call from the small blind with Ac-3c. IW1LLH1TN0Ts pulled even further ahead on the 6h-Ah-Qh flop, and the 3h on the turn sealed LOGIST_14's fate. When the 9s rolled off on the river, LOGIST_14 collected $32,824, and the tournament was four-handed.
That wasn't to be the case for long, as luetch1 knocked out both rbeckwith and IW1LLH1TN0Ts in one hand to create almost a 6:1 chip lead going into heads-up play. In what was by far the most exciting hand of the final table, short stack rbeckwith moved all in preflop from the button and found callers in both luetch1 in the small blind and IW1LLH1TN0Ts from the big blind. The flop came down Jh-8s-Qh, and luetch1 led out. IW1LLH1TN0Ts moved all in over the top with As-Qc for top-top, while luetch1 called with Ah-10s for the gutshot and runner-runner flush draw. Rbeckwith was drawing extremely slim with 7d-7h, and when the 8h hit the turn, luetch1 picked up a legitimate nut flush draw. The 2h on the river was the key card, as it gave luetch1 the four-flush to send rbeckwith home in 4th place ($41,030) and IW1LLH1TN0Ts home in 3rd place ($49,236) all in one quick hand.

That left luetch1 with a little more than 35 million chips to buller00's 5.9 million. Buller00 offered an even chop, which for some reason luetch1 didn't feel was quite in order with his chip stack. The heads-up match commenced, with buller00 half-jokingly declaring "then you go down." What might have started as a joke quickly became a reality, as it took only a few minutes of heads-up play for the tide to turn and buller00 to storm into the chip lead. It took another couple dozen hands, but finally butler00 put the cap on one of the most impressive come-from-behind wins in recent memory when he got all the chips in the middle for the very last time.

Luetch1 raised from the button, and buller00 made the call with the chip lead. The flop came down 6s-4h-6c, and buller00 checked. Luetch1 fired at the pot, and buller00 pulled the trigger on the check-raise. Luetch1 thought for a brief moment before calling, and buller00 moved all in when the 5s hit the turn. Luetch1 thought for a long moment before calling for his tournament life with Ac-Jh, only to see buller00 tabled 6d-3d for flopped trips. The 10d on the river was irrelevant, and luetch1, who led almost the entire final table, fell in 2nd place ($73,854). Buller00 came from a huge chip deficit to take the lead, then the tournament, as he finished in first place for $105,857.40. In his own words, buller00 "put on a clinic, didn't I?" And we can't disagree one bit. Congrats to everyone who cashed in this first Sunday Warm-Up of 2009, may this year continue to be every bit as prosperous for all of you!

As part of World Record Week here at PokerStars, several tournaments received a money injection into their guarantees. The Sunday Warm-up, normally a guaranteed $750,000, became a $1 million guarantee, and just so people would not confuse this tournament with the "Sunday Million" the marquee weekly PokerStars tournament's guarantee was bumped up to $2.5 million!

The added guarantee wasn't necessary as a record 5,836 showed up for the Sunday Warm-up to boost the prize pool to a staggering $1,167,200.

The stars of MTT's at PokerStars came out swinging as TLB regular BeL0WaB0Ve put in a valiant effort in 21st place. He led with a commanding lead during several portions of the tournament but ran into the force from down under known as Andy McLEOD who defeated BeL0WaB0Ve's K-Qs with A-To that connected a rivered two pair to overcome BeL0WaB0Ve's flopped top pair, sending him home. The Aussie has been a force on the TLB standings with Sunday Million final tables, and nearly getting Australia into the World Cup of Poker (being played next month as part of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure).

In Andy-like fashion, he ran over the table with a variety of head-turning plays, and once the table came back to their senses, he was the one standing tall with the most chips. Here's how the final table started off with aforementioned Andy McLEOD with the final table chip lead:

Seat 1: Andy McLEOD (13,573,358 in chips)
Seat 2: Hr_Herman (3,975,211 in chips)
Seat 3: zmeyer (4,242,287 in chips)
Seat 4: groengras (3,943,729 in chips)
Seat 5: Tehanu (7,989,306 in chips)
Seat 6: KKgeoroAA (2,646,560 in chips)
Seat 7: totaloser (10,787,241 in chips)
Seat 8: Iceman1278 (4,573,710 in chips)
Seat 9: 69CANA69 (6,628,598 in chips)

It took nearly 30 minutes for Andy to claim his first victim, but KKgeoroAA was short-stacked with blinds at 200,000/400,000 ante 40,000, and facing a 800,000 chip raise from Andy McLEOD while in the big blind. KKgeoroAA responded with a push for his remaining 1.2 million behind his big blind with Kh-Tc. A snap call by Andy McLEOD with Ah-Ks proved to be the right one as the aggressive player had the cards to back up the bet this time and the Jc-2d-6c-9d-8d changed nothing. 3.8 million chips to Andy, and KKgeoroAA was the first to fall in ninth place earning $8,170.40

This set off an explosion of action as on the very next hand Andy McLEOD raised from UTG+2 to 800,000 and groengras pushed for 6.8 million from the cut-off. Button and small blind folded but Iceman1278 made the call in the big blind with Ad-Ks for his remaining 4.4 million. Andy McLEOD folded and groengras' three-bet steal attempt was exposed as he turned over Qd-6s. Neither player hit the 5c-2s-5h-Th-9d board and the 11 million chip pot was shipped coolly to Iceman1278 while groengras was left with 1.9 million. Two hands later groengras tried shoving again but Andy McLEOD was waiting in the wings, dominating the Th-6c of groengras with As-Ts. Andy hit his ace on the board of Js-3h-Jh-Ah-3d sending the aggressive groengras to the rail with $14,006.40 for eighth place.

The very next hand, terminator Andy McLEOD again knocked out a rival as 69CANA69 open-shoved his remaining 2.8 million on the button and with 15 million in chips, Andy McLEOD gambled a bit and made the call with Kd-Jc. It proved to be the right thing as 69CANA69 turned over the dominated Kh-4h. Five cards later, Jd-3c-9s-7c-9d, and the 6.3 million chip pot increased his lead to 19.2 million, nearly double of Iceman1278 in second place with 10.7 million. A seventh-place finish for 69CAN69 earned him $22,176.80

Sixth place was decided in a huge 18.2 million chip pot with the blinds increasing to 250,000/500,000 ante 50,000, when a three-way, all-in preflop chip battle broke out.

Andy McLEOD: Js-Jh
totaloser: Ac-Qh
Tehanu: 6c-5c

Tehanu had 4.1 million and totaloser 6.7 million as Andy covered both as all three pushed all-in to see a flop of 7d-4c-Kc. Tehanu flopped the world with an open-ended straight and flush draws. The turn 2h gave the lead back to Andy McLEOD, but the cruel Qs on the river missed Tehanu's huge draw and beat Andy McLEOD for the main pot shipping 18.2 million chips totaloser's way and sending the unlucky Tehanu out in sixth place, earning $33,848.80

In fifth place, and for the first time, Andy McLEOD decided to let someone else do the deed as Hr_Herman started things off with a 1.5 million chip raise UTG and zmeyer to his immediate left three-bet his remaining six million chips. Lucky pocket sevens for Hr_Herman were good enough to make the call as the race was on against zmeyer's Kd-Qd. The jackpot flop of 3c-6h-7h hit Hr_Herman's set and left zmeyer drawing dead to a chop. The 5c provided some ooohs and ahhhs but the 8s handed $45,520.80 for fifth-place money to zmeyer.

He might lose sometimes but those sometimes are far less then the ones he wins. Andy McLEOD once again was in the eye of the storm as Iceman1278 tried to push his remaining 6.3 million chips into a 10.8 million chip pot and claim it with the board showing 5h-3c-7d. Andy sniffed out the Ad-8h bluff from Iceman1278 with ace high himself but with a better kicker as his Ah-Kd was in the lead. 2d and Td later and Andy McLEOD landed the 19 million chip pot into his lap and the Iceman1278 was a melted memory in fourth place with $57,192.80

Andy would lose many of those chips to Hr_Herman on a 30 million chip preflop all-in hand with Hr_Herman holding pocket kings (Kh-Kd) and Andy Jd-Td. The board was an enticing 7h-Th-6h-5h.... 3h. Andy McLEOD still held 11 million in chips while totaloser sat in second with 16.3 million.

Pre-flop play dominated the next 20 hands, then totaloser and Andy McLEOD got into a preflop all-in with Andy holding one million behind and the blinds moving up to 300,000/600,000 ante 60,000. Pocket sevens for totaloser and Ad-Th for Andy McLEOD, and the flop provided all the love Andy would need as the Td-4s-3s gave him the lead with top pair. 8d on the turn and an unnecessary Ac on the river for two pair sent totaloser home with an unloser-like $68,864.80 in third place.

"Chop?", asked Hr_Herman.

Andy politely declined and they played one of the quickest heads up matches seen in the Sunday Warm-up. With blinds still at 300,000/600,000 ante 60,000, and Hr_Herman holding a 35.8 million to 22.4 million chip lead, they played nine hands with the big hand coming on hand number six when Hr_Herman came in for a 1.8 million chip raise on the button and was called to see a flop of 3d-9c-Ac. The 2.4 million chip continuation bet was called by Andy McLEOD as was the 6.6 million turn bet when the 6h fell. After the 7d splashed the river, Hr_Herman splashed the pot with a push that would leave Andy with either the victory or 1.9 million in chips.

Andy got 1.9 million in chips as Hr_Herman turned over Ad-Ts for flopped top pair to overcome Andy's second pair with Jd-9s. One double up later, the two faced off for the final hand as Hr_Herman's Tc-4s overcame Andy McLEOD's Js-6h on the turn when the board played out 3h-6c-9d-Ts-Ks to become this week's Sunday Warm-up champion!

Both players scored six-figure paydays as Andy McLEOD received $101,546.40 as the runner-up and Hr_Herman got $147,067.20 for the win.

Sunday Warm-up Results 12-28-08

1. Hr_Herman $147,067.20
2. Andy McLEOD $101,546.40
3. totaloser $68,864.80
4. Iceman1278 $57,192.80
5. zmeyer $45,520.80
6. Tehanu $33,848.80
7. 69CANA69 $22,176.80
8. groengras $14,006.40
9. KKgeoroAA $8,170.40

A whopping 3,837 players took to the field for the last Sunday Warm-up before Christmas in 2008, and 585 of those players found at least $383.70 in their stocking by the end of the day. As the stores began to close on the east coast for shoppers, the final nine players gathered for their shot at the big money, including an impressive $99,762.00 for first place.

As the final table bubble neared, chip leader dan82mur amped up the aggression, taking out several players on the final table bubble to increase his chip lead. After a lengthy hand-for-hand period, etn99 busted in 10th place and the final table was set, with dan82mur taking a big chip lead into the final nine.

Caution was the watchword to kick off the final table, as the players took their time committing chips to the pot. Finally, with blinds at 100,000/200,000 and a 20,000 ante, liverdracon moved all in preflop from late position. He found action in the form of cadillacsa moving all in over the top with As-Qc. Liverdracon tabled Qh-9c, and needed help to stay alive. The board brought a little help, but not enough for liverdracon, as it ran out 6h-5h-3h-Qd-Ad to give cadillacsa two pair and send liverdracon packing in 9th place ($6,599.64).

With the first elimination, the floodgates cracked open and players began to be willing to commit chips to the pot. Next time around, it was eitishoo moving all in preflop with pocket jacks and snowking_85 making the call with Ac-Jh. That cracking sound you heard? That was the sound of an ace on the turn cracking eitishoo's jacks as the board ran out 4s-7h-2c-As-4c. Aces and fours for snowking_85 was good enough to best eitishoo's jacks and fours and send eitishoo home in 8th place, good for $9,592.50.

In an ironic 7th-place exit, AhKhQhJh10h moved all in preflop with Ah-Kd and found one caller in jas21, who showed Ac-Qc. The flop was certainly interesting, coming down Js-10c-9d to give both players the inside straight draw. The 4h on the turn was no help for anyone, but the Kh on the river made jas21's Broadway straight and busted AhKhQhJh10h in 7th place for $15,348.00.

Cadillacsa made a move from early position when he open-shoved with Ac-5c, but he ran into trouble when jas21 made the call with Ah-As. Cadillacsa needed help to stay alive, and the flop left him drawing even thinner when it came down Js-Ad-2c. Jas21 made a set on the flop, and cadillacsa needed running straight cards to survive. The Qc on the turn left him drawing dead, and when the 7d hit the river, cadillacsa was done in 6th, with $23,022.00 for his troubles.

Raising with marginal hands from the button is a tried and true method of increasing your stack late in a tournament, and there was plenty of that on display at the final table. It went wrong for OMGSHIPIT when he shoved all in from the button with Ks-7d, but only because snowking_85 woke up with a real hand in the small blind. Snowking_85 made the easy call with Ah-Kc, and OMGSHIPIT was dominated. The flop brought a pair for both players, as it came down 2c-Qs-Kd. OMGSHIPIT needed a seven to survive, but it was not to be as the turn and river ran out 6d-Qc to send OMGSHIPIT home in 5th place ($30,696.00).

With OMGSHIPIT's elimination, the remaining four players were very close in chip stacks. Talks of a deal surfaced but were quickly quashed, and play continued. Four-handed play continued for quite a while as the players jockeyed for position, and when the dam finally broke, it was ael1979 headed to the rail in 4th place with $38,370 for his troubles. Ael1979 raised preflop, and snowking_85 made the three-bet in position. After a long think, ael1979 moved all in over the top with Jh-10d. Snowking_85 quickly called with Ad-Qh, and the flop made things even uglier as it came down 2d-10s-As. Ael1979 picked up a pair, but so did snowking_85 with the ace. The Qc on the turn made two pair for snowking_85, and only a ten on the river would save ael1979. It was not to be, as the river brought the 3d, and snowking_85 took a commanding chip lead with three players left.

Dan82mur had built a stack repeatedly by aggressively stealing the blinds and antes and making solid moves in position. Every once in a while, he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and that's exactly what happened to him when pay got short-handed. After getting called on an all-in shove with 8-6o, he found himself the short stack and needing to make something happen. He made his move from the button with Qh-3h, and jas21 made the call with pocket nines. Dan82mur needed to pick up a queen to stay alive, but the board ran out 2h-Ac-7s-5c-Jh and he was done in 3rd place. $46,044 is a pretty good day's work, and that's what dan82mur collected for his 3rd-place finish.

That big hand left the remaining players close to even in chips as heads-up play began, as jas21 and snowking_85 battled it out for the top spot. Heads-up play was a lengthy duel, with jas21 taking a 2:1 chip lead going into the last break of the evening. Snowking_85 wasn't going to go easy, though, as he climbed back into contention to bring things close again. As the back-and-forth heads-up match continued, it was snowking_85 with the chip lead going into the final big hand. After a raise from snowking_85, the flop came down 10h-Qs-9h. Snowking_85 led out with a bet and jas21 moved all in over the top with Kh-10d for second pair and a straight draw. Snowking_85 made the quick call with 9s-10s for flopped two pair. The 9d on the turn ended all hope for jas21, and when the Ah hit the river, jas21 was done in 2nd place ($69,066.00). Snowking_85 came out on top after a tough back-and-forth heads-up battle, and pocketed $99,762.00 for his first-place finish, with no chop.

Congrats to snowking_85 on a hard-fought victory, and to all the 585 players who cashed in this week's Sunday Warm-Up!

This week's Sunday Warm-Up saw 3,899 runners log on, thereby ensuring the $750,000 guarantee would be safely met. A total of 585 places paid for today's event, with the prize pool ultimately topping off at $779,900. Leaving aside any final table deal-making, the player finishing in first place stood to earn a handsome $101,374 for his or her efforts.

Player sasodiits was the fastest out of the gate, claiming the chip lead after the first hour and continuing to hang around the top of the leaderboard for much of the afternoon before ultimately hitting the rail in 96th place. The leader after the second hour was amarillion. amarillion would also make a deep run today, sitting in second place after four hours, and in 15th after six hours before ultimately busting in 42nd.

Other early chip leaders would also fall by the wayside as the day wore on. jumps13, who led after three hours of play, finished in 180th. After five hours 9ballor8 had the lead, but would be bounced in 53rd. And philivey6922 (who led during the fourth hour) lasted for a while but ultimately went out in 31st.

After six hours of play we were down to 49, and hidalgo18 had emerged from the pack to claim the chip lead with over 1.8 million. An hour later and hidalgo18 was still in first with 18 to go, his stack having ballooned to 5.9 million. At the time, mortens22 was his nearest competitor with 4.32 million. hidalgo18's stack would shrink, however, as we reached the final ten. Finally, near the end of Level 31, player Mi||a.TiMe knocked out TurboToad in 10th, and we had our final nine. Here was the scene:

Seat 1: mmmbillski (7,904,813 in chips)
Seat 2: yokerface (1,846,960 in chips)
Seat 3: D1rtyR1v3r (5,252,272 in chips)
Seat 4: riddup (2,525,008 in chips)
Seat 5: mortens22 (6,216,701 in chips)
Seat 6: DenyoDeluxXe (2,724,503 in chips)
Seat 7: suckedoutagn (5,429,773 in chips)
Seat 8: Mi||a.TiMe (5,705,289 in chips)
Seat 9: hidalgo18 (1,384,681 in chips)

The table's short stack, hidalgo18, would be the first to go. On the sixth hand of the final table, hidalgo18 open-shoved his last 1.03 million from middle position with Kd-Qc, and yokerface -- also on the short side with just 1.43 million -- called from the button with Tc-Ad. The flop came 2d-Qs-6s, giving hidalgo18 top pair. But the turn was the Ah, giving the lead back to yokerface. The river was the 4s, and hidalgo18 was out in 9th.

Just three hands later, yokerface raised 3x to 600,000 from middle position, and the table folded around to DenyoDeluxXe who pushed all in from the small blind for a total of 2.73 million. Too bad for DenyoDeluxXe -- suckedoutagn was waiting in the big blind with pocket rockets, and therefore promptly reraised all in for 5.18 million. yokerface judiciously stepped aside, and DenyoDeluxXe was left hoping for a miracle with his 8s-8h. None came, as the board ran 4c-Td-Kd-Jd-9d, and DenyoDeluxXe was out in 8th.

The next two eliminations came quickly as well. First yokerface pushed all in for 1.89 million with Jh-Qh and was called by riddup who held Ad-Qd. The board brought no jack (and a superfluous ace), and yokerface was out in 7th. Then, on the very next hand, mmmbillski made a small preflop raise to 512,505, mortens22 called from the small blind, and suckedoutagn also called from the BB. The flop came 6s-Ah-Ts, and when the blinds checked to mmmbillski he bet 845,500 -- about half the pot. mortens22 then check-raised all in for a total of 5.86 million. suckedoutagn folded, and mmmbillski made the call.

mortens22: Qd-As
mmmbillski: Td-Th

mortens22 had flopped top pair, but mmmbillski had him in bad shape with his set of tens. The turn was the Kh and the river the 5h, and mortens22 was gone. Just 15 hands played at the final table, and we were down to five players.

When the players reached the eight-hour break, mmmbillski had assumed the chip lead with a little more than 16 million, followed by suckedoutagn with 7.04 million, Mi||a.TiMe with 5.97 million, D1rtyR1v3r with 5.61 million, and riddup with 4.25 million.

suckedoutagn would soon take the chip lead after claiming a big 12 million-plus chip pot off of mmmbillski. That hand had begun quietly with suckedoutagn calling from the big blind mmmbillski's modest preflop raise from middle position. Both checked the very hammery flop of 7h-2s-2c. The 8h came on the turn, and suckedoutagn check-called mmmbillski's bet of 860,000. The river brought the 8s. suckedoutagn checked, mmmbillski bet 1.45 million, then suckedoutagn surprisingly pushed allin for 4.53 million. mmmbillski thought a while, then called showing Qc-2d for deuces full of eights. Alas, suckedoutagn had Ad-8d for the better boat, and had thus taken the lead.

Thus began a long sequence of preflop jockeying, with chips moving in relatively small increments back and forth across the virtual baize. mmmbillski retook the chip lead during this stretch, pushing up around 16 million, while riddup was nursing the short stack with less than 2 million. riddup was probably very glad to see 3rd and 4th place players D1rtyR1v3r (5.01 million) and Mi||a.TiMe (4.00 million) soon get involved in a huge pot. Mi||a.TiMe open-raised to 885,700 from the button, then D1rtyR1v3r pushed all in from the big blind. Mi||a.TiMe thought a while, then called with 7s-7c, well behind D1rtyR1v3r's Qh-Qc. The board came 9h-Th-3h-5s-8d, and it was rail time for Mi||a.TiMe.

With just four left, riddup gleefully pushed all in on the next hand, and in fact managed to double up when his Ac-Ts held up against mmmbillski's 9d-8d. riddup's joy would last a little while longer, until he pushed all in for 2.63 million with pocket queens and was called by D1rtyR1v3r who held pocket tens. A ten flopped, prompting riddup to type "noooooo" in the chat box. No queen came to save him, and D1rtyR1v3r responded with a "gg...ul" as riddup hit the rail in 4th.

mmmbillski still had the chip lead with 15.84 million as three-handed play commenced, with D1rtyR1v3r next with 12.87 million and suckedoutagn in third with 10.26 million. After nine more hands, the tournament was paused for the players to discuss a chop. By that point, D1rtyR1v3r had moved out ahead (16.77 million), followed by mmmbillski (12.39 million), and suckedoutagn (9.81 million).

As the tournament host explained, any deal would require the trio to leave at least $10,000 on the table. Payouts according to current chip counts were shared with the players, but both D1rtyR1v3r and mmmbillski wanted more than was being offered to them. suckedoutagn wasn't going to give up any of his proposed share, so the tourney was resumed.

Over the next 20 hands, D1rtyR1v3r pushed out to a commanding lead, moving past the 23 million mark. Then mmmbillski shoved all in for 6.8 million with Kd-4d, D1rtyR1v3r called with As-4c, a king flopped, no ace came, and D1rtyR1v3r had fallen back to the pack. Six hands later, D1rtyR1v3r lost another big all in confrontation with suckedoutagn, this time unfortunately running his pocket jacks up against suckedoutagn's As-Ad.

Just like that, D1rtyR1v3r was the short stack with less than 5 million, and soon thereafter would shove all in himself with Jd-6d. His bad fortune continued, as mmmbillski was waiting for him with pocket queens. The board brought no jack, six, or even a single diamond, and D1rtyR1v3r's dizzying swoon ended with him finishing the tournament in third.

At that point mmmbillski and suckedoutagain had almost exactly the same-sized stacks (each with right at 19.5 million) and so quickly decided to chop the remaining prize money evenly and play for the remaining $10,000.

mmmbillski pushed out to a lead during the first dozen hands of heads up, and when the pair reached the nine-hour break he held a 23.2 million-15.7 million advantage. After 50 total hands of heads up, mmmbillski still had the same lead. suckedoutagain soon made a move, taking a couple of medium-sized pots to take a small lead by Hand No. 60 of heads up. Soon thereafter came a huge hand in which suckedoutagn pushed all in with Ad-7d on a on a flop of Qs-As-Kh, only to get called by mmmbillski who held Kd-Ac. mmmbillski's two pair held up, giving him the 37.7-million chip pot. suckedoutagn was down to just 1.22 million.

suckedoutagn survived a sequence of all ins, though, and by Hand No. 80 of heads up had built back up to 11 million of the nearly 40 million chips in play. Then came Hand No. 85.

With the blinds 400,000/800,000 (Level 38), suckedoutagn called from the small blind/button and mmmbillski checked his option. The flop came Jd-Ks-Qd. mmmbillski checked, suckedoutagn pushed all in for his last 10.2 million, and mmmbillski called.

mmmbillski: 9d-Th
suckedoutagn: Qc-6s

mmmbillski had flopped the straight, while suckedoutagn had just a pair of queens. The turn was the 3s and the river the Kd, and mmmbillski took the extra 10 grand reserved for the winner. Congratulations to mmmbillski, as well as to everyone who cashed!

Sunday Warm-up Results: 12-14-08

1. mmmbillski $90,788*
2. suckedoutagn $80,788*
3. D1rtyR1v3r $46,788.00
4. riddup $38,990.00
5. Mi||a.TiMe $31,192.00
6. mortens22 $23,394.00
7. yokerface $15,596.00
8. DenyoDeluxXe $9,747.50
9. hidalgo18 $6,706.28

*amounts reflect two-way chop

3,751 players signed up for one of the richest guarantees in online poker this week – the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up. After 8 ½ hours of No Limit tournament play, the final nine players gathered round one table for their piece of the big money. Sbj1000 took the chip lead into a fairly even final table, without the huge leaders or micro-stacks we sometimes see at the final tables of the big Sunday tournaments. One name that stood out among the final nine was busto_soon, the Supernova Elite player who took second in his event for Team Netherlands in the World Cup of Poker Divisional Rounds early Sunday Morning. With a final table in the Sunday Warm-up starting some thirteen hours after his World Cup match kicked off, busto_soon certainly had a long day on Sunday.

The early going was fairly sedate, without any huge confrontations in the first few hands. But soon enough the action loosened up, as the blinds got high and the average stack crept down around 20 big blinds. The preflop shove to pick up blinds and antes became the norm, and it was only a matter of time before two players picked up a hand worth going to war with at the same time. When it finally happened, it was busto_soon who moved all in preflop from late position with Kd-Qc. Keramiken called from the big blind with pocket eights, and when the board blanked out, busto_soon was left crippled. Busto_soon got the last of his chips in on the very next hand with Ks-3d to eatyourstac’s Ad-8h. No help on the board for busto, and he did just that in 9th place ($6,751.80).

It took quite a while for our next clash of the titans to materialize, but when it did, former chip leader sbj1000 was left with just remnants of his stack. Sbj1000 raised preflop with Ah-Kd, only to find an all in re-raise from eatyourstac. After going into the tank for minute, sbj1000 made the call, only to find himself facing pocket kings. No ace on the board, and sbj1000 was left with just the most tiny of stacks. All in from the small blind on the next hand, sbj1000 busted in 8th place for $9,752.60.

FatsoFat6969 was the next to fall when he lost a big coin flip to KevinV for all his chips. KevinV moved all in preflop with A-Q, and FatsoFat6969 made the call with pocket Jacks. The Queen on the flop gave the lead to KevinV, but the Kh-Qd-Kd-10h board on the turn left Fatso with outs to the straight. The river was the 7c, however, and KevinV’s queens and kings held up to send FatsoFat6969 packing in 7th place ($15.754.20).
After that, the action picked up rapidly, as the bustouts flew fast and furious. Vishnu24 got the last of his chips in preflop with pocket threes, but needed help against Shotgun78111’s pocket sevens. The board ran out 8c-Jh-4d=Ac-2h, and vishnu24 was gone in 6th ($23,256.20). Just a couple of hands later, keramiken moved all in preflop and found callers in both eatyourstac and stirthepot. On a board of 2d-Qc-Kh-3c-7h, stirthepot tabled 8c-8h for a pocket pair of eights. It’s good enough to drag the pot as keramiken and eatyourstac both muck, and keramiken heads to the rail in 5th place ($30,758.20).

With only four players remaining, the survivors took a moment to discuss a deal. After a moment’s discussion, eatyourstac decided not to make a deal, and play continued. The four remaining players jockeyed for position for quite a while before another big confrontation, and this time is was KevinV coming up on the short end of the coin flip. The aggressive chip leader shotgun78111 raised preflop, and KevinV thought went into his time bank before making the all-in call with pocket sixes. Shotgun78111 showed Qh-Js, and the window card was the Qd, leaving KevinV drawing pretty thin. The final board ran out Qd-Ac-2d-4s-9d, and KevinV was gone in 4th place ($38,635.30).

The three remaining players paused once more to discuss a deal, and this time the deal went through. The final numbers looked like this, with $10,000 left on the table for the eventual winner.

Stirthepot - $59,112
Shotgun78111 - $88,104
Eatyourstac - $64,091

Play resumed with $10,000 on the line, and the short-stacked stirthepot was the next to fall to Shotgun78111. Stirthepot pushed all in preflop with Qc-10s after a raise from Shotgun78111. Shotgun78111 insta-called with Ac-Jd, and both players picked up a pair on the 3h-Qs-Ah flop. The rest of the board ran out 9d-6s, and stirthepot was done in 3rd place.

Shotgun78111 took a 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play, but his GoldStar opponent wasn’t going easily. Heads-up play went back and forth for a while, with both players looking for an opening. Finally, eatyourstac raised preflop with As-10h, only to find a re-raise coming from Shotgun78111. Eatyourstac moved all in over the top, and Shotgun78111 quickly called with pocket Jacks. Eatyourstac picked up a straight draw on the Qd-2s-Js flop, but the 2d on the turn gave Shotgun78111 a full house and left eatyourstac drawing dead.
With the extra $10K for taking down first place, Shotgun78111’s haul for the evening totaled a whopping $98,104! Congrats to Shotgun78111 and all the players who cashed in this week’s Sunday Warm-Up!

The Sunday Warm-up keeps getting bigger and bigger as we welcomed 4,066 to this $750,000 guarantee prize pool tournament tonight. With a player funded $813,200.00, the champion will be walking away with six figures again tonight as 585 players took home at least $406.60.

Soren “Kongsgaard” Kongsgaard made yet another deep run in a big Sunday tournament. The previous Sunday Million winner won $1,463.76 in 38th place tonight. Other players were doing double duty like TwistedEcho, who just finished third in the monthly Battle of the Planets SnG promotion. He added another $1,463,76 for 40th place, to his $4,500.00 he won in third place just a few hours ago in the $50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout freeroll.

They will not be gracing the final table tonight, but these nine did after a lengthy industrial strength bubble struggle ended when ClaudeX took down unlucky banda7381 when ClaudeX’s dominated A4o found a four-flush on the river versus banda7381’s ATo:

Seat 1: propell (6418140 in chips)
Seat 2: Gbgwrestler (3500886 in chips)
Seat 3: yaron1209 (974912 in chips)
Seat 4: moaninator (5452431 in chips)
Seat 5: Yankees31 (3634317 in chips)
Seat 6: Troels1 (1301149 in chips)
Seat 7: ClaudeX (13413780 in chips)
Seat 8: frost10000 (3500363 in chips)
Seat 9: Hallrmonky2 (2464022 in chips)

yaron1209 wasted no time in trying to get a necessary double-up with his short stack. Just four hands into the final table he pushed his remaining 794,912 into the middle from middle position with Qs-Js, folded to tournament chip leader ClaudeX who was responsible for bursting a very long bubble, he made the math call with 5s-6h in the big blind with the blinds at 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000. The math added up to a 1.8 million chip pot shipped to ClaudeX, as he flopped the nut straight on the board of 4c-8h-7d-Tc-Th and sent yaron1209 home in ninth place. But, for making the final table yaron1209 will enjoy an extra $6,993.52 in his PokerStars account.

Stealing is a necessary evil late in poker tournaments when the blinds get high, with luck you never have to show your cards. Unfortunately for Hallrmonky2 he only held 804,022 chips with the blinds at 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000 and found two live cards to steal with as he open shoved with 7d-Td from the cutoff. The button folded, but Gbgwrestler found a correct call with Kd-Jh and took home the two million chip pot when the board fell 3h-Qh-6h-5s-3d. For his eighth place efforts $10,165.00 will earn the monkey a new cage.

14 million chips.

About the amount chip leader ClaudeX held near the beginning of the final table. Some of those chips found their way into the middle during a three-way all-in between ClaudeX, Gbgwrestler, and moaninator.

moaninator’s 1.9 million chips went in preflop UTG as ClaudeX made the call from the cutoff and Gbgwrestler called from the big blind while the blinds were at 200,000/400,000 ante 40,000. After a flop of 7d-Tc-2d, Gbgwrestler checked and ClaudeX lead out for two million. A swift check-raise all-in came from Gbgwrestler for 4.07 million with ClaudeX making the call:

Gbgwrestler: Ad-Kd
ClaudeX: 6s-6d
moaninator: Ac-3d

The Td on the turn completed the flush for Gbgwrestler and no two outer on the river for ClaudeX as Gbgwrestler assumed the chip lead with that 14 million chip pot and moaninator was odd-man out in seventh place with $16,264.00 to show for his efforts.

frost10000 and Troels1 would find double ups to survive, but propell would not. With the blinds still at 200,000/400,000 ante 40,000 propell would shove his remaining 3.2 million into the pot from middle position with Ad-4d as Gbgwrestler on his immediate left would make the call with Js-Kh. The flop Ah-Qh-9c was a great one for propell as he took a big lead with a pair of aces, but the turn ended the night for propell as the Tc completed the gutshot straight draw leaving the shortest stack drawing dead. $24,396.00 in sixth place for propell’s run tonight will help with the bills for a while.

Harsh times fell upon ClaudeX after tripling up Gbgwrestler and doubling up frost10000. Short-stacked, ClaudeX called the all-in cutoff push of Yankees31 with Ad-9d for his last 2.6 million. Yankees31 had him covered by one million and flipped up red pocket deuces. Hard times became lost times as the board Kd-Jc-5c-Js-8c showed only one diamond and no aces, no nines, and ClaudeX was no more. $32,528 for fifth place should help out with any disappointment he may have from going from chip leader to fifth in short order.

Yankees31 continued his aggressive game after doubling up with aces against frost10000. While four handed he open shoved from the button for his 14 million chip stack and Troels1 who previously was quiet, woke up with a snap call in the small blind for his remaining 4.8 million with Kc-Ac. Yankees31 found himself caught with his hand in the cookie jar with Ks-5s. The flop was a Troels1-safe 3h-8c-6d, but the 5d on the turn leaned the 10.5 million chip pot heavily in Yankees31’s favor. The 2s on the river sent our fourth place finisher, Troels1, home with a $40,660.00 bad beat story.

When it’s your night, everything is going to go your way no matter the cards and percentages say. Yankees31 had to be feeling this way as he shoved again from the big blind after facing a 3.5 million chip raise from Gbgwrestler sitting in the small blind. Snap call from Gbgwrestler was justified from his red pocket kings as Yankees31 got caught again with As-3s. The 25 million chip pot would give the winner command of the tournament with the blinds at a hefty 250,000/500,000 ante 50,000. The flop Qd-4h-6h provided nothing, but the 5c on the turn opened up 11 outs and Gbgwrestler could do nothing but think of what could have been after the Ac splashed the river giving Yankees31 the win. He couldn’t grapple the luck of Yankees31, but Gbgwrestler did go home with $48,792.00 in third place.

Going into heads-up play this is how the chips were spread out:

frost10000: 7,019,544
Yankees31: 33,640,456

Immediately frost10000 would strike blood with a double up when Yankees31 again shoved from the button with 5d-4d. frost10000’s Ad-4h would hold up on the board of 8d-Jc-8c-Ac-Js to flatten out the chips a bit to 14 million for frost10000 and 26 million for Yankees31. But six hands later, the final lucky drop for Yankees31 would happen. Starting the hand 7.8 million to 30.9, frost10000 found himself behind the very aggressive Yankees31. frost1000 raised from the button to 1.25 million and was met by another shove by Yankees31 which he called creating an 18.3 million chip pot.

frost10000: As-Td
Yankees31: Ad-2h

But, this was Yankees31’s night as proven when the board flopped a four-flush Ah-9h-8h in Yankees31’s favor. The 6s did nothing, the dagger 3h came down to complete the run for the Bronx Bomber fan as his flush sent the final man back to the clubhouse. For his runner-up efforts frost10000 received $73,188.00 and Yankees31 might be able to afford a new Yankees Stadium skybox with his $105,716 winner’s share!

Here’s the final tally:

Sunday Warm-up Results: 11-30-08
1. Yankees31 $105,716.00
2. frost10000 $73,188.00
3. Gbgwrestler $48,792.00
4. Troels1 $40,660.00
5. ClaudeX $32,528.00
6. propell $24,396.00
7. moaninator $16,264.00
8. Hallrmonky2 $10,165.00
9. yaron1209 $6,993.52

Just two months ago PokerStars was filling the prize pool with the $750,000 guaranteed money. Now, it has become commonplace to see yet another smashed guarantee as it was tonight with 3,899 making the final money tally a whopping $779,800 to be broken up into smaller pieces for the 585 players that cashed tonight. Among those cashing were Team PokerStars pro John Duthie in 325th and Andre “aakkari” Akkari clocking in 146th place for $935.76. They unfortunately did not join the final nine whom played on in search of bigger cash including the $101,374.00 for winning the Sunday Warm-Up.

The chip leader with five tables remaining was no stranger to success; Sebastian “taktloss47” Ruthenberg was the runner up in the 2007 WCOOP Event #5 good for $260,184.82 (final table report link here) and third place the same year in the European Poker Tour Dortmund event, held a sizable lead into the final 45. But, Sebastian’s night would end after a rough set vs. straight flush draw hand against final tablist Powergolf, which the straight got there without the board pairing and Cobus83 trapping the German with pocket queens in a blind verus blind battle. Ruthenberg left in 13th place good for $3,119.20 in winnings.

Cassidy13 did the honors in opening up the final table as he took out BrainBusto in 10th as Cassidy13’s pocket nines proved to be the victor over the Ah-6s of BrainBusto on the 4c-3c-Qs-Th-3h board. Kameleont would carry the weight of the chip leader into the final nine, here’s how they shaped up:

Seat 1: Kameleont (8690525 in chips)
Seat 2: Powergolf (2952791 in chips)
Seat 3: fffffs (6535376 in chips)
Seat 4: NewsKoooL (5100647 in chips)
Seat 5: Cobus83 (6271711 in chips)
Seat 6: Mr nOmadsen (2438436 in chips)
Seat 7: IDOLLS (1346112 in chips)
Seat 8: Cassidy13 (4193730 in chips)
Seat 9: Trueblue333 (1460672 in chips)

No clear-cut chip dominance starting off the final table but IDOLLS and Trueblue333 had some serious work to do with the blinds starting off at 80,000/160,000 ante 16,000. Unfortunately, one of them went up and the other went out in back-to-back hands. IDOLLS found As-Js in the small blind and 3-bet all-in for a little over a million off a middle position raise to 400,000 by fffffs. fffffs made the call leaving well over five million behind with Ks-Ts. The flop Jd-4s-6d increased the lead for IDOLLS, but ffffs found a running two pair with the Kh and Tc on the turn and river sending IDOLLS home with $6,706.28 in ninth place.

Trueblue333 however would skyrocket to the seven million chip mark thanks to the former chip leader Kameleont in back-to-back hands. A flopped straight with Kh-Tc against Kameleont top pair, then a cooler of pocket queens for Kameleont and pocket aces for Trueblue333 which flopped a boat, took a 7.7 million chip pot and temporary chip lead in just two hands going from eighth to first in the standings.

The hot action continued as five hands later a blind versus blind battle would send home our eighth place finisher. NewsKoool sent out the odd $379,998 raise from the button only to have the fireworks go off behind him. Cobus83 in the small blind re-raised to 999,999 and Mr nOmadsen in the big blind pushed for his remaining 2.2 million. NewsKoool decided to read a different section of the paper, but Cobus83 made the call with Ah-Tc for the 5.2 million chip pot leaving 2.8 million behind. Black kings for Mr nOmadsen had him well into the lead on the turn of 3s-6d-2c-7c and you can see where this is going as the dirty ace of spades on the river handed $9,747.50 to Mr nOmadsen in eighth place for a new monitor or laptop. Cobus83 would shoot up to 8.8 million in chips good enough for second place.

Started as a coin flip, and another shocking river card doubled up Cassidy13 and left Powergolf with a 80 foot putt for par with a severe break from left to right. Virtually even in chips, Cassidy13 open shoved his 2.7 million in chips from the cutoff and Powergolf made the call with a suited big slick (As-Ks). Cassidy13 found his race with pocket fours (4s-4c) but found himself behind a wall of hearts on the flop that included an ace for Powergolf. The turn showed a board of Ah-3h-Qh-2s opening up four 5’s for a wheel. “Rivered again” may have wedged out of Powergolf’s jaw as the five of spades completed the runner-runner wheel straight and his scraps would be eaten by Kameleont five hands later. $15,596 in seventh place for the links lover as the blinds increased to 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000 for the six remaining players.

As the players broke for five minutes, you can too by reading up on the PokerStars World Cup news as they continued its qualifying rounds today with the US states, Canadian province, and German group finals. Check out the action from these links from the PokerStarsBlog (Germany, US and Canada early results, or follow all of the World Cup qualifying action thru this link).

Blind steals were aplenty for the next twenty or so hands as no flops were seen and the preflop raiser took down the tidy 525,000 chips sitting in the middle with blinds at 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000. fffffs, Cobus83, and Trueblue333 were tight at the top with ten, nine, and eight million chips respectively and Cassidy13, NewsKoooL, and Kameleont were on the lower end all sitting with three million and change.

fffffs continued to build his stack with timely re-raises of Trueblue333’s blind steals and found himself sitting on 13 million in chips when he raised to 570,000 from the button and was facing a push from NewsKoooL in the small blind for his remaining 2.5 million. After a few blinks of thinking, fffffs made the call with Ac-9c and the coin flip was on as NewsKoooL’s pocket fives (5s-5c) were slightly in the lead. A beautiful flop for fffffs of Tc-Kc-7h gave him a new set of outs to a flush as well as the overcards, and the Ad on the turn gave him the lead which would hold up to the river Th, shipping the 5.6 million pot to ffffs and increasing his chip lead to 16.6 million chips. A sixth place finish for NewsKoooL was worth $23,394.00 tonight with hopes that presto will provide more magic in the future.

After a lull of nearly 30 hands without significant action, and NewsKoooL busting in sixth, just four hands later Trueblue333 and beginning final table chip leader Kameleont tangled for another big pot between the two. Trueblue333 raised to 1 million from the cutoff, as Kameleont came over the top on the button with a shove for 3.5 million and the blinds went back to watching Sunday Night Football. Trueblue333 made the call leaving 3.2 million behind and showed Ad-Tc versus Kameleont’s black sevens. Flopped set of trip aces for Trueblue333 on the flop of 5s-Ah-As propelled him well into the lead. The two outer did not appear on the turn and river as the nine of spades and diamonds rained down and $31,192.00 was shipped to Kameleont as his nemesis Trueblue333 chopped up his chip lead and then sent Kameleont home in fifth place less then an hour later.

A few all-ins by Cassidy13, including doubling up off of Trueblue333 with a AK vs. AJ hand. The double up spread out the chips a bit with four players left, as fffffs’ chip lead was only a few million over Cobus83 and Cassidy13 with Trueblue333 looking up with five million in chips when the blinds moved up to 150,000/300,000 ante 30,000. But, no talks of chopping or any kind of chatter would be found, as the chat box shows nothing but hand result information nearly the entire final table up to this point.

As the blinds moved up to 250,000/500,000 ante 50,000 so did the big hands as Cassidy13 found himself getting short with only eight BBs left but doubling up off of fffffs who subsequently dropped to nearly eight million chips. Cobus83 racked up an impressive lead with nearly 17 million chips at this point as the four-handed match was played without fear as all four players used aggression and position to keep themselves ahead of the blinds at this point with nearly a million chips in the middle preflop:

Seat 3: fffffs (7932625 in chips)
Seat 5: Cobus83 (17339645 in chips)
Seat 8: Cassidy13 (7363680 in chips)
Seat 9: Trueblue333 (6354050 in chips)

Cobus83 would open up his lead to nearly 22 million in chips as the other players (Trueblue333, Cassidy13, and fffffs) were left to fight among themselves as Cobus83 held more then half the chips in play as just before the blinds moved up to 300,000/600,000 ante 60,000 fffffs and Trueblue333 got their stacks into the middle preflop in a blind versus blind battle. fffffs was slightly ahead with Ac-7h versus the Kh-Qc of Trueblue333 in the virtual coin flip and fffffs had three million behind when they created a 9.2 million chip pot. The flopped pair of aces for fffffs would hold up as the board ran out 8d-Tc-Ad-3h-9d and ended Trueblue333’s night in fourth place. After the $38,990.00 was sent to Trueblue333, the other players finally found the letter keys of their keyboards and asked for the chip chop numbers to be presented.

In the shortest agreement since offering ice cream instead of broccoli for dessert to my kids, we had a chop of the first thru third place prizes:

Cobus83: $83,819
fffffs: $68,210
Cassidy13: $56,314

Now that the big money was settled, the three played on for the title of Sunday Warm-Up champion and $10,000 left aside for the winner. Cassidy13 would strike first blood against fffffs, as he doubled up to almost 15 million chip when a turned Th gave him the lucky card he needed as his Ah-Ts overcame the As-Js of fffffs. Several hands of blinds steals would go on as none of the players were readily giving in. But, it was Cassidy13 putting the nails into the coffin of fffffs as the two squared off again preflop nineteen hands later. With the blinds at 300,000/600,000 ante 60,000 Cassidy13 raised from the small blind to 1.8 million and was met by ffffs’ shove for his 7.2 million chip stack. Unlike the last big hand between the two, this was a coin flip for the 15 million chips in the middle.

Cassidy13: Ah-Jd
fffffs: Th-Tc

Things went sour quickly for fffffs as Cassidy found trip jacks on the Jc-9s-Jh flop. Things did not improve on the turn as the Ac sealed up the hand and Cassidy13 became the new chip leader with 20 million chips thanks to the jacks full of aces and fffffs would exit in third place with $68,210 from the chop agreement.

From the previous play from these players and virtually same chip stacks, a long heads up battle was sure to take place…

… but it did not as Cobus83 took the chip lead after just four hands of heads up play when the following hand would seal his victory in this week’s Sunday Warm-Up.

Cassidy13 started off with 16 million to Cobus83’s 20 million and the blinds still at 300,000/600,000 ante 60,000. A raise on the button to 1.8 million by Cassidy13 was met quickly by a shove all-in by the shaded George Washingon icon and Cassidy13 made the call with Ad-7d. Usually any ace is a great heads-up hand, unless you’re outkicked as Cobus83 turned over Ah-Qh. The 4h-Jh-Kc flop took away several outs from Cassidy13 as any ten or heart would seal up the victory. Looking for a black seven, Cassidy13 wouldn’t find them as the Ks on the turn and 2h on the river gave Cobus83 the nut flush and the extra $10,000 for the victory.

From the chop Cassidy would take home $56,314 for second place and Cobus83 would add $10,000 to his biggest piece of the pie from the chop, to total $93,819 for tonight’s win!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Results 11/23/08
Based on three-way chop
1. Cobus83 $93,819.00
2. Cassidy13 $56,314.00
3. fffffs $68,210.00
4. Trueblue333 $38,990.00
5. Kameleont $31,192.00
6. NewsKoooL $23,394.00
7. Powergolf $15,596.00
8. Mr nOmadsen $9,747.50
9. IDOLLS $6,706.28

This was one of those weekends where not even the biggest plot of internet real estate could handle all the PokerStars tournament action happening at the same time. At the very moment all the big Sunday majors at PokerStars were happening, the World Cup of Poker was underway with preliminary action. Meanwhile, the PokerStars APPT crowned a new champion in Manila. Halfway across the world in Warsaw, the European Poker Tour was working it way toward a final table. Antony Lellouche and Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri kicked off Day 2 in Warsaw at the top of the leader board.

While all of those events were important as always, the Sunday Majors changed the bankrolls of dozens of PokerStars players. Slyfox151 took down the Sunday Warm-up. You can read all about it in this report. Making an even bigger score was Denmark's kesher79 who won the Sunday Million for a nearly $200,000 payday. Read all about kesher79's outright win in this Sunday Million final table report.

For a complete list of PokerStars Sunday majors results, check out all the PokerStars Sunday Tournament Results for 11-16-08.

Congratulations to all the winners.

See everyone next week!

The turnout for the Sunday Warm-Up continues to swell, with 3,896 players turning out this week to take their shot at a piece of the $750,000 guaranteed prize pool. As usual, the huge field blew through the guarantee, with a total prize pool of $779,200 and a whopping $101,296 for first place! It took a little over eight hours for our competitors to make the final table, with smfoto67 picking up $4,285.00 for 10th place and the final table bubble. There was no runaway chip leader at the final table, but the presence of one Bill Ivey in the middle of the pack made all the chip leaders sit up and take notice.

RaisingRay91 and jwaces were the most active players early on, with a couple of big confrontations early on. First jwaces doubled through RaisingRay91, then RaisingRay91 returned the favor a few hands later. Play settled down a bit after that, until Bill Ivey picked a tough time to make a move. After a preflop raise from RaisingRay91 in late position, Bill Ivey moved all in over the top with Ks-Qs. RaisingRay91 turned over pocket Aces, and Bill Ivey needed help. Some of that help came on the flop, in the form of the 6c-9c-Kc board, but the turn and river came down Jh-9d, missing Bill Ivey and moving RaisingRay91 into second in chips. Bill Ivey picked up $6,701.12 for 9th place.

After trading double-ups with RaisingRay91 early, jwaces found himself on the short stack at the final table. He finally fell in 8th place ($9,740) after running his pocket pair into a bigger pocket pair from ArzrA. Finding pocket threes in middle position, jwaces moved his stack into the middle, hoping to either pick up the blinds and antes or at worst find himself in a coin flip. Action folded around the ArzrA in the big blind, who woke up with pocket Queens at the worst possible time for jwaces. ArzrA made the easy call, and turn a four-flush with his Qd on a board of 10d-5d-8d-6d-6h. After that hand, ArzrA went into the first break of the final table with a slight chip lead over jeroenromate.

The tournament tide can turn quickly, though, and after losing a few big hands, it was ArzrA who made his exit next, picking up $15,584 for 7th place. As had been his habit for several hands, ArzrA open-shoved when he decided to play a hand, and this time he picked up pocket sevens to do it with. BlackFourz made the easy call with pocket nines, and turned a straight as the board came down 10d-Jc-Kd-Qd-10c.

Six-handed play only lasted for a few hands, as just three hands later Bjorg0010 shipped it all inwith Ad-Jc. Slyfox151 called with the dominating Ah-Ks, and flopped the joint with a board of As-Kh-Kc. Bjorg0010 was drawing to one out for the chop on the flop, but the case ace did not materialize as the turn and river ran out 7s-Qh. He took down a $23,376.00 payday for 6th place.

RaisingRay91 was the next to fall, busting in 5th place in a brutal hand against BlackFourz. In an ugly battle of the blinds, BlackFourz open-shoved when action folded around to his small blind. RaisingRay91 had seen this movie before, and snap-called with Ac-6d. It turned out to be a pretty good call, as BlackFourz tabled Kh-7c. Both players hit the 3c-Ah-Kc flop, but it was the 7d on the turn that gave BlackFourz the lead. RaisingRay91 couldn’t apply the re-suck on the river as it came down the Jd, and he finished in 5th place for $31,168.

Sometimes in tournament poker you’re faced with tough decisions. You have to make calls for all your chips with second pair based on a read. You have to jam with a straight on a flushy board because you know your opponent will call you with top pair. And then there are the hands that play themselves. Like when you’re four-handed in a massive online tournament and the button open-shoves. And you’re in the big blind with pocket Aces. That’s where jeroenromate found himself in the hand that send aty79 to the rail in 4th place ($38,960). Aty79 moved his short stack all in from the button with Qc-10h, and jeroenromate made the easiest preflop call in poker. Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the 6c-6h-5h-8d-3d board, and then there were three.

Even with that pot, jeroenromate was the next casualty of the final table, finishing 3rd for $46,752. Finding himself on the short stack and sandwiched by two opponents who had him easily covered, jeroenromate moved all in with what he hoped were at least live cards – 9s-6c. Slyfox151 made the call with Ah-9h, and jeroenromate was way less live than he’d hoped. The board missed both players as it ran out Qd-Kd-3d-4s-7s, and slyfox151’s Ace kicker played to boot jeroenromate in 3rd place.

With that elimination, slyfox151 took a big chip lead into heads-up play, with a little over 24 million to BlackFourz’ 14.6 million. The players took a moment to discuss a chip count chop, and agreed on $83,348 for slyfox151, with a guaranteed $78,075 for BlackFourz. That left the two players to duke it out for $10,000 in the pot for the eventual winner, and that was all decided on the very first hand after play resumed.

BlackFourz picked up half of his namesake on the button and raised preflop with 4d-4s. Slyfox151 re-raised, BlackFourz moved all in over the top, and slyfox151 insta-called with Kc-Kh. The flop of 5s-Qs-Qd helped neither player, but the As on the turn gave BlackFourz additional outs to the flush to stay alive. The 2h on the river sealed the deal, though, as Slyfox151 claimed the extra $10K to bring his total for the win up to $93,348! Congrats to all our final table players and our champion slyfox 151!

As you might expect, our focus this weekend has been on a little tournament playing out in Las Vegas. If you haven't been paying attention, we recommend you check out how PokerStars' Million Dollar Men did at the World Series this weekend. Tonight, two of the PokerStars 6 will go head to head for the bracelet. You can read more about that in our World Series Final Table wrap-up.

With all of that recognized, we can't let Monday pass without paying attention to the big online action from the weekend. As the winter months approach the northern hemisphere, the online poker tables and big Sunday tournaments are filling up.

Last night, TherookieQQ9 picked up $188,919.50 in the Sunday Million. Get the whole story on TherookieQQ9 and his win HERE.

A bit earlier in the night, Snookerfun took down the Sunday Warm-Up for nearly $100,000. For a full report, click on this post about Snookerfun's win.

For a complete list of this weekend's results, click: PokerStars Sunday Tournament Results (11-9-08).

Congratulations to all of this weeks winners.