boahgerding got everyone into the money today, after taking down unfortunately bubble boy byron211 in 82nd place. A short-stacked byron211 called a push by boahgerding holding [3c][Kc], but the cards favored the aggressor as boahgerding flipped up [Ks][Jc] and the dominate hand held up on the [Ac] [6c] [9s] [9d] [4d] board to send 81 players into the second round of the triple shootout.

kenny05 wasted no time reaching the final table, claiming the first seat towards that $12,000.00 first prize today before any table was even three-handed. postpokerman stamped the second ticket to the final table after mailing home Timphan heads up. After sagitt50 secured the second to last seat, we were four-handed on Table 5 for the final chair to be filled and be assured $775.00 for making the final table.

In the final hand of Table 5, Supernova Jon9ball's short-stacked [9s][Qh] got caught by Ruthenia's slow played pocket aces [Ah][Ac] on the turn with the board showing [4d] [7d] [Ts] [Js]. Still holding an open-ended straight draw Jon9ball, had outs, but none materialized as the [Ad] on the river gave Ruthenia a set of aces and the last final table seat.

Seat 1: calmu1856
Seat 2: sonsonson33
Seat 3: sagitt50
Seat 4: kenny05
Seat 5: Ruthenia
Seat 6: solody
Seat 7: DNA2RNA
Seat 8: BornSurvivor
Seat 9: postpokerman

solody is back at the Battle of the Planets final table after snagging $2,735.00 for fifth place back in December 2007 (write up here) as all the players started off the final round with 1,500 chips and 10/20.

As the usual, the first round of blinds went by without incident, but in the 15/30 blind round sonsonson33 and postpokerman got their chips in the middle preflop in a KK vs. AA cooler with postpokerman's [Ad][Ac] holding up, crippling sonsonson33 down to 170 chips.

sonsonson33 looked to be assured the $775.00 prize for ninth place, but held on to those chips long enough to watch postpokerman take out sagitt50 instead. To start the hand, sagitt50 raised from middle position to 90 chips with [Kd][Jc], folding around to postpokerman in the big blind who elected to call. A flop of [8c] [Ks] [3s] got postpokerman to check as sagitt50 followed-through with a 210 chip bet. But, postpokerman wasn't done with the hand as an election to check-raise to 630 chips came out and sagitt50 decided to call. [6h] on the turn and postpokerman's chip leading stack went into the middle and again sagitt50 decided to call and see the bad news. The big slick [As][Kc] of postpokerman was well ahead with one to come, and with the [8d] on the river the $775.00 prize for ninth was sagitt50's.

sonsonson33 would survive ten more hands with a micro-stack, but became another postpokerman victim after having to put 1/3rd of that stack in the middle to pay the blinds. postpokerman would raise from the button to 150 chips with the blinds at 25/50 effectively putting sonsonson33 all-in and calling with [4s][9s]. sonsonson33 had two live cards against postpokerman's [Ts][Jc], sadly the board delivered no one even a pair as postpokerman's jack high was enough to ship sonsonson33 out in eighth place ($1,200.00).

During the same blind level, solody would grab a big chunk of postpokerman's chips when kings held up over postpokerman's queens shipping a 3,965 chip pot to solody as postpokerman slipped back to 2,825.

Supernova Elite kenny05 found some love on the river of this hand against BornSurvivor. Watch BornSurvivor lose the immunity challenge of crossing the river safely below:

With the cracked aces BornSurvivor goes home today with seventh place ($1,700.00).

Action calmed down long enough for the blinds to raise to 50/100 as we saw off our sixth place finisher. calmu1856 was short-stacked with only 425 chips left in the small blind and tried to get a cheap flop by calling after folding around. Instead, kenny05 elected to put calmu1856 in for the rest of the small stack preflop by raising to 400. calmu1856 would call off the remainder of that small stack hoping for two live cards with [8s][Tc]. kenny05 however held a couple of pips higher showing [Jd][Ts] for the dominating hand. The flop of [Td] [Jc] [3c] would nearly seal calmu1856's fate, but the [4c] on the turn gave a little bit of life. Sadly, a black card that was not a club [4s] fell on the river and $2,200.00 was sent to calmu1856 in sixth place.

Another twenty or so hands went by without a subtraction until Ruthenia attempted to steal the blinds from the small blind with an open shove for 1,005 chips. But, solody was going nowhere with the ability to cover and holding [7d][Ac]. Ruthenia turned up a suited [Qc][3c] and watched the board rain down sevens like a Vegas slot machine. Two of them on the flop and one more on the river [8h] [7s] [7c] [3d] [7h] to give solody unnecessary quads and Ruthenia earned a well-deserved $2,735.00 in fifth place.

Flip and a flop. Sometimes you need wait until the turn for something to happen and luckily for kenny05, the turn card favored his [Qd][Ah] against the all-in preflop bet of DNA2RNA's pocket tens [Th][Td]. Watch DNA2RNA's final hand play out below:

With the turned pair of aces, kenny05 eliminated DNA2RNA in fourth place ($3,350.00).

kenny05 would pick up a few more big pots and led at the only break of the final table. Here's how our remaining three stood:

Seat 4: kenny05 (7245 in chips)
Seat 6: solody (4225 in chips)
Seat 9: postpokerman (2030 in chips)

As the blinds moved up to 75/150, solody however would double thru kenny05 when both of them flopped two pair on the [Jd] [Kh] [Qs] [9h] [3h]. solody's [Kc][Jh] proved to be the winner over kenny05's [Qd][Js] as 9,050 was shipped away from kenny05's Philly's World Series championship ring. They would play on with preflop pushes being the norm as solody and kenny05 would tangle again in a blind vs. blind battle for kenny05's tournament life. [Ad][Jc] is a well-above average hand for a blind steal and kenny05 should have felt good about solody's call. But, after solody flipped up [As][Qs] and there was nothing to do but watch the [7c] [3h] [2d] [Th] [9c] board play out in solody's favor as the Supernova Elite left the ring with $4,500.00 and third place.

solody would start out heads-up play with the commanding chip lead shown below:

solody (11395 in chips)
postpokerman (2105 in chips)

But, seven hands into the match postpokerman would find a double up when [2s][As] held up over solody's [6d][7s] all-in preflop for a 3,860 chip pot. The two would continue battling it out with SilverStar postpokerman having to play defensively against the aggressive solody's chip lead.

postpokerman would try a 1st class bluff in the last hand of the tourney, and watch as solody takes the time to make the correct call below:

Top pair so-so kicker for solody's [Tc][7h] held up against the middle pair [4d][Qd] on the board of [2c] [4s] [7s] [5c] [Js] and this month's champion improved on that December 5th place finish as much as you could with a victory here tonight earning $12,000.00 for the win.

For the runner-up, postpokerman, takes home $7,500.00 for a job well-done during this month's $50,000 Battle of the Planets SnG promotion run.

May 2009 $50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout (05-31-09)
1. solody (Rennes) $12,000.00
2. postpokerman (Sheboygan) $7,500.00
3. kenny05 (Philadelphia) $4,500.00
4. DNA2RNA (Las Vegas) $3,350.00
5. Ruthenia (Severodvinsk) $2,735.00
6. calmu1856 (yucaipa) $2,200.00
7. BornSurvivor (Belfast) $1,700.00
8. sonsonson33 (Lauterbourg) $1,200.00
9. sagitt50 (New Cumberland) $775.00

Here's how we arrived at the third leg of the triple shootout with our final nine:

The "Black See" parted ways as the official bubble boy in 82nd place when his short stacked [Ad] [Jc] couldn't quite pass by the [6c] [Qc] of zivbaryosef on the [2d] [Ts] [7c] [Qd] [4h] board. The remaining 81 players spread out onto nine new tables and lined their pockets with at least $195.00 as the quest towards our final nine continued on.

Supernova Elite rivermanl was the first to stake a claim at a final table seat when his [3d] [Ks] managed to slide by the [Kc] [Td] of Mudex Veg when a timely [3h] hit the river. rivermanl was followed closely by PrettayGood who won his table when Table 8 still had seven players left!

BigUnit2 and BUAITEOIR1 locked up into heads-up battle out on Table number four for the last seat to the final table getting up to the 150/300 ante 25 blind level. It would take a rivered set of sevens, but BUAITEOIR1 was victorious in sending home BigUnit2 with $195.00 setting up our final nine below:

Seat 1: PrettayGood (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: rivermanl (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: duvvard72 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: BUAITEOIR1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: gametymer (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: LuckyladyO (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: nederen_dk (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: AA_$mokin (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: MrBIond (1500 in chips)

The players traded some small pots during the 10/20 and 15/30 blind level as everyone started off with 1,500 chips, but no one took an early ticket home. nederen_dk and PrettayGood took a minor chip lead on the field, but the table lacked a clear chip bully as no one cracked the 2,000 chip mark during the starting two rounds.

BUAITEOIR1 and AA_$mokin would get their smaller stacks into the middle in the last hand of the 25/50 blind level. Pocket jacks [Jc] [Jd] for AA_$mokin and pocket kings [Ks][Kd] for BUAITEOIR1, an all-under board of [9d] [8d] [3h] [Td] [6s] gave BUAITEOIR1 a near starting stack with the 1,495 chip pot and AA_$mokin dipped to 830 chips.

The start of the 50/100 blind level woke up the players as we had four all-ins in the first seven hands. One of those involved rivermanl would was proudly displaying his Supernova Elite stars, but he was short stacked with 995 chips holding [9s] [9h] on the button facing a 300 chip raise from nederen_dk. "All-in" was the response and a call from nederen_dk holding [Qs][Ah] gathered up the 2,140 chip pot. A flopped queen [4s] [Qd] [5s] put nederen_dk in position to strengthen his chip lead. [4c] on the turn left rivermanl looking for another lucky river, but instead got the [8d] and the $775.00 that comes with ninth place.

The next hand AA_$mokin and PrettayGood would chop up their all-in hand with both holding big slick to no avail.

After duvvard72 took down the blinds on the very next hand, AA_$mokin was back at it getting his 1,055 chips into the middle preflop with pocket fives [5h][5d] from UTG. Folded around to gametymer who also pushed a similar stack holding a suited Mrs. slick [Qs][As] on the button. Unfortunately for AA_$mokin AA hit the flop as the final board had nothing but broadway cards [Ad] [Ah] [Kc] [Jc] [Jd] as AA_$mokin flamed out in eighth place ($1,200.00).

gametymer wasn't done there as on the very next hand, watch his pocket rockets go to work against duuvard72 below:

The aces would hold and duvvard72 would receive $1,700.00 for his seventh place effort.

gametymer would give the table a ten hand reprieve but went back to work holding pocket tens [Th] [Ts] in the small blind while still in the 50/100 blind level and open-raising it to 300. LuckyladyO perhaps thought it was a blind steal but with only 1,130 chips left it was a decent risk to push with [Jd] [9d]. gametymer would make the call and only when gametymer turned a set on the [7c] [3s] [Qd] [Td] board did it get interesting. Holding an open-ended straight flush draw, LuckyladyO still needed to get lucky on the river. Instead the tepid [2c] hit, and LuckyladyO acquired $2,200.00 for a sixth place finish.

BUAITEOIR1 would double up off MrBlond, and get up to a double stack. But MrBlond would fight back taking down four of the next five hands preflop. His streak would end a few hands later when he flipped his [Kc] [Jc] against similarly stacked PrettayGood's [4d] [Ac] for a 1,855 chip pot. The flip favored the New Yorker PrettayGood, as the board showed [5d] [6d] [6h] [Qc] [As] leaving MrBlond with just 420 chips. With blinds at 75/150 the scraps would go in against gametymer and BUIAITEOIR1. MrBlond couldn't connect with [Ks] [4s] as gametymer would claim the small pot and another player at the final table sending fifth place money ($2,735.00) to MrBlond.

nederen_dk got really quiet after starting off hot on this final table, but was eventually extinguished by PrettayGood. A blind versus blind battle started with nederen_dk attempting to snag the blinds, shoving [7c] [Qc] into PrettayGood. Big slick [Ac] [Kh] is a prettay good hand and on a [Tc] [As] [5h] [8h] [2c] board its worth 3,850 prettay good chips. nederen_dk was left with zero tournament chips but immediately got $3,350.00 real cash for his fourth place finish.

gametymer would run into some hard luck as he would double up BUAITEOIR1 who turned a straight. Then, gametymer called PrettayGood's push and gave up another 2,405 chips when the pocket aces [Ac] [Ad] of PrettayGood held up versus gametymer's [3d] [Ah]. Four hands later gametymer would give up the majority of chips on this hand against BUAITEOIR1:

Now short-stacked, gametymer would last just three hands further as his [Jc] [4c] couldn't beat out PrettayGood's [6s] [As]. Third place probably wasn't gametymer's thoughts holding that big chip lead, but $4,500.00 can help people forget.

We would start heads-up play with 100/200 blinds and the chip counts fairly even:

Seat 1: PrettayGood (5900 in chips)
Seat 4: BUAITEOIR1 (7600 in chips)

BUAITEOIR1 would take a good sized lead after showing down two pair and value betting his way to a 5,350 chip pot to take a nearly 5:1 chip lead.

PrettayGood would battle back however catching a little luck on this hand to knot things up:

After see-saw battle between the two that would get them all the way to the 200/400 ante 50 blind level we had our champion. PrettayGood would come into the hand with a 8,975 to 4,525 chip lead and after calling from the button the two remaining players would see a flop of [3h] [Td] [3c]. BUAITEOIR1 would lead off betting 650 chips and getting a quick call from PrettayGood. [8c] on the turn and BUAITEOIR1 slowed down to check, as PrettayGood set out a 1,640 chip bet. So much for slowing down, as BUAITEOIR1 check-raised to 3,425 total. Holding the flopped trips [3s] [Qc] PrettayGood made the call and BUAITEOIR1's top pair [Th] [5c] was down to two tens on the river.

[9h] was not the two-outer BUAITEOIR1 was looking for as the runner-up money of $7,500.00 was his. To our April 2009 Battle of the Planets champion, PrettayGood, got a prettay good bankroll jump as the full $12,000.00 was shipped for winning tonight.

Congratulations to all of our participants and see you next month!

April 2009 Battle of the Planets Results
1. PrettayGood (New York) $12,000.00
2. BUAITEOIR1 (Letterkenny) $7,500.00
3. gametymer (Miami) $4,500.00
4. nederen_dk (Aarhus C) $3,350.00
5. MrBlond (Sheffield) $2,735.00
6. LuckyladyO (St. Petersburg) $2,200.00
7. duvvard72 (Duluth) $1,700.00
8. AA_$mokin (Kitchener) $1,200.00
9. rivermanl (Amsterdam) $775.00

After about three hours of play (or less if you're savvy enough to eliminate all of your table's opponents before dinner time) the nine remaining SnG rounders competed for the biggest slice of the Battle of Planets $50,000 total prize pool. Eight players walked away today with at least four figures, and one will get the aforementioned twelve grand to help boost their buy-in level while they multi-table SnGs like Boku87 (story from Pokerstarsblog with video here) who took $100 and turned it into $10,000 by 51 tabling low level SnGs here at PokerStars.

Ok, maybe only 20 or 30 at a time, as I tried 15 tabling yesterday and needed some Dramamine and a nap afterwards.

Action before the final table:

Money bubble boy waterwolves watched his [Ac] [6c] go down to Bloomer's [4s] [Ks] on the [Jh] [Kd] [8d] [4c] [5c] board and everyone left was assured the $195.00 for 10th thru 81st.

Phil9 got a well earned rest before the final table as he locked up the first seat after his pocket sevens [7h] [7d] defeated yuenjai24's big slick [Kd] [As] on a decisive pre-flop coin flip with both players nearly even in chips. jeanette_33 took down FlapBink in eleventh, then it was down to the final seat decided by the heads up match between jonny2jabs and Guillaumel21. With back-to-back hands jonny2jabs put forth a right cross for most of Guillaumel21's stack and finished him off with an uppercut of [9h] [Kc] versus Guillaumel21's [8h] [7c], two pair on the flop, faded the open ended straight draw on the turn, and we had our final nine shooting for the March Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout title:

Seat 1: Catch You AA (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: jeanette_33 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: CoolAsAFan (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: jonny2jabs (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: tdh61 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: kennenny (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Acesupper (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Phil9 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: daveyjh (1500 in chips)

For the last leg of the triple shootout everyone had their stacks reset to 1,500 chips and 10/20 blinds. Unless my search is broken on the PokerStarsBlog, none of the players tonight have made the final table of the Battle of the Planets before, so we'll have nine players getting their biggest payday of this monthly tournament series.

As with most of these final tables, the 10/20 and 15/30 blind levels went by without players dropping out as the chip count looked like this:

Seat 1: Catch You AA (1100 in chips)
Seat 2: jeanette_33 (1645 in chips)
Seat 3: CoolAsAFan (1860 in chips)
Seat 4: jonny2jabs (1560 in chips)
Seat 5: tdh61 (1780 in chips)
Seat 6: kennenny (2055 in chips)
Seat 7: Acesupper (1265 in chips)
Seat 8: Phil9 (900 in chips)
Seat 9: daveyjh (1335 in chips)

Acesupper would claim the first double up at the table a cooler of a hand versus CoolAsAFan when both players claimed a flush on the [7h] [2h] [4h] flop but Acesupper [Kh] [Ah] would beat CoolAsAFan's [9h] [Th] for the 2,405 chip pot, leaving CoolAsAFan with 950 chips.

We would wait until the 50/100 blind level for the first elimination, and it was CoolAsAFan bowing out. Seeing a chance to improve on his shortstack of 950 chips he would open push [9d] [As] from the button. jonny2jabs would fold his small blind, but tdh61 took a couple of seconds to correctly call with [Qs] [Ad]. Trip sevens on the board of [7c] [Td] [4d] [7s] [7h] would help neither player as tdh61's queen kicker played and CoolAsAFan was iced in ninth place ($775.00).

Oof. No amount of adjectives here could describe those fateful turn cards that take the life out of someone's tournament. kennenny got his money in good as he pushed 1280 chip stack in the middle and well... watch the carnage below:

Just like that Acesupper was the chip leader with 4,560 chips and no one over 2,000 and kennenny was out in eighth place ($1,200.00).

Two hands later the end cards on the board did the duty once again. daveyjh was sitting on the shortstack with 735 and open pushed his stack holding [5d] [As] in the small blind into Catch You AA who's pocket sixes [6s] [6c] were enough to make the call. An ace on the flop of [3d] [Ac] [8d] gave daveyjh a commanding lead on the hand, but as soon as his Borat avatar could say "fun sexy time doubling up!" the [Ts] and dagger-worthy [6h] fell on the river giving Catch You AA a set of sixes and sent Borat/daveyjh back to Kazakhstan with many American Dollars, $1,700.00 to be exact, for seventh place.

With the blinds rounding the 100/200 level everyone got into the pool and splashed their clips. Starting with jonny2jabs who pushed his [Kd] [5s] from UTG+2 for 1,510 chips but chipleader Acesupper was waiting on the button and called with [Ad] [9c]. An ace on the flop, and jonny2jabs was punchless by the turn of the [4h] [Ah] [4c] [Jc] [Tc] board. For the $2,200.00 jonny2jabs won tonight, I'm sure many Whoppers could be purchased by his Burger King avatar.

Another three hands and another shortstack had to make a play. jeanette_33 tried to get her 1,240 chips and pocket treys [3d] [3h] past the [Qd] [Jc] of Catch You AA but unfortunately could not fade the flopped queen on the [Tc] [4h] [Qh] [9h] [Ad] board despite catching a four-flush draw on the turn. Treys down as jeanette_33 headed back to Stavanger with an extra $2,735.00 in her pocket in fifth place.

Not one to let anyone breath, Acesupper got hungry on the very next hand and ate Phil9's chips for dessert. After Acesupper completed the small blind, Phil9 shoved his remaining 1,175 chips into the middle from the big blind. Acesupper would give him action with [Th] [Kc], Phil9 welcomed the action holding [As] [Qc] and was in great shape thru the turn on the [5h] [6s] [9h] [5s] board. But, as with some other bust-outs this evening the river was not kind to the favorite, and the [Ks] gave Acesupper a pair of kings defeating the ace-high of Phil9. Fourth place ($3,350.00) would shuttle across to Phil9 after the hand played out as Acesupper enjoyed an even larger chip lead over Catch You AA and tdh61:

Seat 1: Catch You AA (3875 in chips)
Seat 5: tdh61 (2605 in chips)
Seat 7: Acesupper (7020 in chips)

The trend tonight was to wait till the turn or river for the gut-turning cards, and once again held true as Catch You AA was given his departure ticket in third place ($4,500.00). Just watch below as the turn and insulting river come in to give Acesupper a big lead going into heads-up play against tdh61:

Two hands into heads up play tdh61 would get his much needed double up as his [Js] [9s] out-flopped the [Td] [Ac] of Acesupper and with two pair on the board of [Td] [Jc] [9h] [4h] [8d] he would continue the race for the $12,000.00 first prize. Another ten or so hands and tdh61 would catch some more lightening in a bottle as his [Td] [Qs] would crack the rockets [Ac As] of Acesupper on the [Jc] [Qc] [8d] [3c] [9h] board for a straight and the 6,320 chip pot. Acesupper's lead was chopped to under 1,000 chips.

Four hands later, tdh61 would strike luck once again as his [Kc] [Jc] beat out the big slick [Ks] [As] of Acesupper as both players got it in preflop and Acesupper couldn't stomach the jack on the flop of [8h] [Js] [3c]. No ace on the turn [7c] or river [8s] and tdh61 was sitting on 9,990 chips while Acesupper was still in with 3,510 chips as the blinds increased to the 125/250 blind level.

The players would swap chips back and forth but neither gained much and after twenty hands and a five minute break, the final deal was broken:

tdh61: $10,000.00
Acesupper: $9,500.00

With all the money off the table, the official title of the March Battle of the Planets champion was yet to be decided.

Neither player gave up that distinction without a fight as the two would battle for over twenty hands after the money swap. Acesupper was the victor when he would call tdh61's [Qs] [5h] bluff on the flop of [2d] [3s] [Js] holding just a flush draw, but a higher card [9s] [Ks]. The call was the right one, as the board ran out [7c] [6c]. Granted he took less money in the chop, but Acesupper is the only one who can claim to be this month's Battle of the Planets champion.

Congratulations to all our players tonight, see you back next month!

March Battle of the Planets (03-29-09)
*(based on two-way chop)
1. Acesupper $9,500.00*
2. tdh61 $10,000.00*
3. Catch You AA $4,500.00
4. Phil9 $3,350.00
5. Jeanette_23 $2,735.00
6. jonny2jabs $2,200.00
7. kennenny $1,700.00
8. CoolAsAFan $1,200.00
9. Guillaumel21 $775.00

delucabr could only get out a "lolololol" in the chat box as his dominating [9H]-[6H] (yes, dominating) over the [9D]-[3D] of GoldStar VIP level NL_Profit. His domination failed to even make it past the flop. [3H]-[3S]-[AS] rained down on the flop making trips for NL_Profit, no miracle flush or running sixes on the turn and river, and delucabr was the official bubble boy for today's contest finishing in 82nd place. NL_Profit however could not continue his stroke of luck, falling in 31st place.

In the round of 81, the players at table number 8 were apparently late for dinner or forgot the winner gets a shot at $12,000.00, bigtime4K and e4e5nf3nc6 were heads up at before any other table got down to five. Those two would slow down to lengthy heads-up game as it was BB_ShiNing taking the first seat at the final table, when his gutshot straight flush draw overcame the top pair-top kicker of anttoy1 and assured himself at least $775.00. bigtime4K would finally knock off e4e5nf3nc6 for the second final table seat, as the antes were finally introduced and the last seven tables came down quickly. With just shinng and previous Battle of the Planets final tablist (October 2008, fifth place, read the write up here) BakonJarser left to round out the field of nine, and BakonJarser starting with a sizable lead heads-up, they would start a drawn out battle for the final seat. A return to the final table was not in the cards for BakonJarser as in the space of two hands he lost his chip lead, then with a flop of [9H]-[QS]-[10C] both players pushed with shinng showing {AC]-[JH] for an open-ended straight draw and an overcard to BakonJarser's [JD]-[10H] for the same draw and a leading pair. [9S] on the turn helped no one as BakonJarser looked good for a double up, but the [AH] on the river set our final nine and BakonJarser will have to wait till next month for another final table shot:

Seat 1: BB_ShiNing
Seat 2: shinng
Seat 3: mak10
Seat 4: Kirua
Seat 5: PokerGoat111
Seat 6: Boku87
Seat 7: hockey65
Seat 8: bigtime4k
Seat 9: vladimwd

Boku87's SnG chops were shown at the recent World Cup of Poker qualifying, while helping his Germany 1 team earn a free trip to the Bahamas (write up of the qualifier found here) and making this final table is another notch on his PokerStars tournament belt.

The final table started with no excitement from the neither 10/20 nor 15/30 blind levels as small pots were pushed from side to side as the players jockeyed for position. Only vladimwd found himself below the 1,000 chip mark from the beginning 1,500 chips when the 25/50 blind level started, but three hands into the level he flopped Aces Full against hockey65 and a nice value on the end snagged a 1,150 chip pot as he would get right back into the game.

Luck would reverse for vladimwd as the 50/100 blinds started. He got his money in good versus the short stacked hockey65 twice and things did not turn out for the ninth place finisher. First was re-raising the short stacked hockey65 for the rest of his chips preflop and finding himself well ahead with [AD]-[KC] versus hockey65's [KH]-[JS]. Flopping top pair - [4C]-[10C]-[AH] - was huge and shifted the outs from a jack to a queen for hockey65. The [6H] on the turn did nothing but the river [QD] delivered the broadway straight and knocked vladimwd to the short stack. The very next hand, again vladimwd and hockey65 would tangle preflop, and again vladimwd found As-Ks and dominating hockey65's hand (Ad-Qh). The domination would last about two seconds as the [JH]-[KH]-[10H] flop left vladimwd looking for one of the two remaining queens for a chop. The flush never came, but neither did the queen on the turn and river, vladimwd took home $775.00 in ninth.

Unfortunately for bigtime4K, big slick finally pulled through in for someone. In back-to-back hands bigtime4K got his stack in the middle preflop. First against the short stacked BB_ShiNing then again against the chip leader shinng. After pushing on the button with [AH]-[5C], bigtime4K found himself up against the small blind BB_ShiNing's [AS]-[KD], which held up on the [8S]-[4S]-[7D]-[9D]-[7S] board and left him with 415 chips. Those remaining chips would go into the middle again preflop with [QC]-[8C] where shinng was quietly waiting in the big blind with [AS]-[KS]. A small threat to shinng's lead emerged on turn of the [10D]-[5D]-[7C]-[9D] board, but the [KC] sealed bigtime4K's eighth place finish. Not exactly 4K in winnings but a free $1,200.00 never hurt anyone.

Continuing the big slick theme, Boku87 found himself all-in preflop after re-raising UTG+2 to 1,050 chips. Folded around to BB_ShiNing in the cutoff who covered by 450 chips, made the easy push with [KC]-[KS]. The original raiser, PokerGoat111 went out to the pasture as Boku87 flipped up [AS]-[KH]. This time big slick was the underdog and found himself with two outs after the all club flop of [9C]-[4C]-[JC]. The ace on the turn was of the club variety, and instead of sucking out, Boku87 found himself drawing dead as the 2,725 chips had BB_ShiNing's name on it with the nut flush. $1,700.00 for the German rounder as Boku87 finished in seventh place.

With the blinds ramping up to 100/200, so did the action. After shinng doubled up Kirua, the very next hand saw a three way all-in.

hockey65 [JD]-[QH]
shinng [KD]-[KH]
PokerGoat111 [AD]-[AH]

shinng still covered the other two competitors by 415 chips as hockey65's and PokerGoat111's tournament lives were on the line. The flop of [8S]-[7H]-[JC] gave hockey65 an open five hole but the [3H] and [10S] on the turn and river stop his wrist shot in its tracks. PokerGoat111 took in the 4,570 chip pot and the chip lead, as hockey65 skated off the rink in sixth place ($2,200.00).

shinng would get a boost from the very next hand turning his 415 chips into 1,345 chips after big slick outraced the pocket eights of BB_ShiNing and 7d-5s of PokerGoat111. With those chips he dug himself out of the hole even further after catching running spades with [KS]-[7S] against the pocket queens of mak10 to cripple the Michael Jordan fan. mak10 would survive the next hand with big slick (again), but his [JH]-[6H] on the following hand would provide a little more fun (but alas, no chips). After pushing on the button for his remaining 810 chips, mak10 would get an insta-call from PokerGoat111 holding [AD]-[AC]. After the turn the board showed [5C]-[5H]-[3S]-[4H] giving mak10 an open ended straight and flush draws. The plethora of outs did not materialize for mak10 as the [8D] on the river gave him $2,700.00 in fifth place.

BB_ShiNing's stack would take a huge hit against shinng when his [JC]-[8C] shove on the button didn't get by shinng in the small blind with [AC]-[10D] and after trip tens hit by the river for shinng, BB_ShiNing would be left with 745 chips. A few steals and a double up helped BB_ShiNing get back to around 2,000 chips but a race with Kirua ended with BB_ShiNing taking home $3,350.00 in fourth place. With the blinds at 125/250 ante 25, BB_ShiNing shoved from the button with [AH]-[JD] which was called by Kirua in the big blind with pocket nines. Kirua covered by 1,445 and couldn't have been happy with the [4H]-[8S]-[AS] flop. Firmly in the lead of the race, BB_ShiNing watched a [2C] on the turn looking to take the 3,655 chip pot. But, the dirty river presented one of the two nines left in the deck as the [9S] fell and BB_ShiNing was shot down by Kirua's rivered set of nines in fourth place.

"Ew"

My monosyllabic non-word, after watching shinng's bust out courtesy of the following hand:

150/300 ante 25 blinds, after a min-raise by shinng in the small blind and a call from Kirua in the big blind the board showed [4H]-[4D]-[JD]. Both players go nuts and get their chips into the middle with Kirua holding 2,200 behind. Both flip up QJo, shinng has [QC]-[JH] and Kirua's [JC]-[QD] for the only live card between the two. As you can see where this is going, the [3D] on the turn cranked the music up for a possible flush and blew out the subwoofers on the [8D] river for runner-runner flush sending home an unlucky shinng in third place ($4,500.00).

Heads-up play was of the blink and you missed it variety as Kirua took his 7,905 chips versus 5,595 for PokerGoat111 and turned it into a victory on the very first hand. A preflop raise of 900 from Kirua on the button was called by PokerGoat111 to see the flop of [9C]-[3D]-[4C]. Kirua followed thru with a 1,200 chip continuation bet, which had PokerGoat111 pushing his remaining 4,670 into the middle. Kirua took a little time to make the correct call with pocket eights which found himself ahead of PokerGoat111's [QS]-[JS]. [7C] on the turn opened up even more outs for PokerGoat111, but the red [4D] on the river shipped the $12,000 first prize to our February Battle of the Planets champion Kirua! For fighting through three tables and only one club away from extending the match, our runner-up PokerGoat111 is going home with $7,500.00 today.

February Battle of the Planets Results (02-22-09)

1. Kirua $12,000.00
2. PokerGoat111 $7,500.00
3. shinng $4,500.00
4. BB_ShiNing $3,350.00
5. mak10 $2,735.00
6. hockey65 $2,200.00
7. Boku87 $1,700.00
8. bigtime4K $1,200.00
9. vladimwd $775.00

In pre-final table action, Snake1928 was the unfortunate money bubble boy today as his flopped pair of sevens fell to the wayside when cristian10's had an open ended straight flush draw on the turn got there on the river. During the second leg of the triple shootout, JareemWeaver could only utter a "sick" in the chat box after he and OvBismarck got their nearly even stacked chips in the middle pre-flop with JareemWeaver holding AQo to OvBismarck's A7o. The Jh-7d-Jd flop that showed a third, unnecessary seven on the river for a boat locked up the first seat at the January Battle of the Planets final table while most tables still had five players left.

NickLeeson95 will certainly have the best looking railbirds today for the final table after defeating duvvard72 heads up, if his "Playboy Mansion" place of residence is to be believed. After Nick wrapped up his seat all eyes went to table three where the final seat was awarded to one of four players still in. ZipZottel and rikichipay knotted up for a lengthy heads-up battle nearly reaching the 400/800 ante 75 level to decide the final seat and a several hundred dollar difference between 9th and 10th. But, ZipZottel's big slick held up to rikichipay's A4o despite both players pairing their kickers to send rikichipay home with $195.00 in tenth place.

Seat 1: 3Shells
Seat 2: csabes
Seat 3: ZipZottel
Seat 4: NickLeeson95
Seat 5: KK-DOG4
Seat 6: kindaichi10
Seat 7: matt2120
Seat 8: ISANI (
Seat 9: OvBismarck

Everyone starts over during the third leg of this triple shootout with 1,500 in chips and blinds at a plentiful 10/20 level. OvBismarck shook off the rust of waiting nearly an hour for the final table to start and took the first significant pot off KK-DOG4 when his nines turned a set and rivered a boat as he raked in the 944 chip pot. ISANI also showed some early round spunk by winning five hands in a row, and seven of nine to move into the early chip lead with 2,350 and blinds at 15/30.

kindaichi10 would become the first victim of the final table as the blinds moved up to 25/50. After raising to 400 from the cutoff, kindaichi10 got called by matt2120 on the button as the blinds folded to see a flop of 7s-6d-4c. With a stop-and-go play, kindaichi10 immediately pushed his remaining 625 chips into middle and was called by the similarly stacked matt2120. As-Qd for kindaichi10 and matt2120's pocket nines were in the lead. That lead would extend into a lock, making his set on the turn with the 9h and sent kindaichi10 home in ninth place with $775.00

At the break here's how the stacks sized up with blinds at 50/100:

Seat 1: 3Shells (1320 in chips)
Seat 2: csabes (1140 in chips)
Seat 3: ZipZottel (1200 in chips)
Seat 4: NickLeeson95 (875 in chips)
Seat 5: KK-DOG4 (2053 in chips)
Seat 7: matt2120 (2520 in chips)
Seat 8: ISANI (1725 in chips)
Seat 9: OvBismarck (2667 in chips)

A back and forth hand would cripple NickLesson95 as he took a chance to improve on his small stack when he pushed for 725 chips after it folded around to his small blind. But KK-DOG4, who took a couple of hits and had only 703 chips, insta-called with Ac-Td. NickLesson95 would turn over Kd-7d for the steal but the Kh-7c-Ad flop shifted the lead in Nick's favor with bottom two pair. The turn Qd seemed to improve Nick's lead further by shutting out some diamond outs for KK-DOG4, but the Ah on the river provided the re-suck and KK-DOG4 was awarded the 1,406 chip pot, leaving NickLesson95 with a hammer-tastic 72 chips. He would take those chips and build them back to over 1,000 in the next two hands perhaps setting up a comeback story?

Sadly, no, today was not that day.

Several hands later, NickLesson95 would make the call for his remaining 814 chips with the blinds at 100/200 in the big blind facing a button raise from csabes. Ks-Qh for Nick, As-7c for csabes and the board ran out with nary a broadway card as csabes paired his kicker on the 8c-9s-2d-7s-4h board to send NickLesson95 home in eighth place and $1,200.00 for the bunnies on the rail.

KK-DOG4 climbed the chip ladder quickly after nearly busting NickLesson95, he doubled up off OvBismarck squeaking his AJo past Ov's AQo with a flopped Jack. Then he sent matt2120 home in seventh place when matt2120 shoved his remaining 1,300 in chips UTG with the blinds at 125/250 ante 25 and KK-DOG4 made the call with Ac-Js in the big blind. Two live cards in Ts-9s for matt2120, but the 3h-Kh-Ks-Kd-8d board gave no improvement to either player as matt2120 had to settle for the $1,700.00 in seventh place.

In rapid succession our sixth and fifth place players exited as four hands later OvBismarch, 3Shells, and csabes would get their small stacks into the middle in a three-way all-in preflop.

OvBismarck: 6d-9c
3Shells: 8s-Kd
csabes: Qd-Ac

csabes would retain his lead through the Qh-3h-Jc-7h-9d board and cripple OvBismarck down to 198 chips while sending 3Shells home $2,200.00 richer in sixth place. The very next hand OvBismarck would throw his crumbs into the middle against ISANI's UTG raise with Ac-7s. ISANI's suited connector of 9s-8s would need the entire board of 4d-Qh-7h-Tc-Jd to shutdown any comeback with a straight. OvBismarck picked up $2,735.00 for the fifth place finish.

ZipZottel had a fairly quiet final table but managed to take away $3,350.00 in fourth place after becoming severely short stacked in the small blind holding just 850 chips and blinds at 125/250 ante 25. He called off his remaining chips with Kc-9c against the aggressive csabes' button raise. Once again csabes had the goods showing two black jacks and promptly flopping a boat on the Ac-Jh-Ad board. Running kings did not come down the 5s turn and 8h river, and four became three.

After several all-ins by all three players ISANI retained a commanding lead and he applied the pressure on csabes with a push while covering from the small blind. csbaes decided to take a gamble with 2h-Qs on his remaining 1,800 chips. ISANI covering by over 8,000 chips turned over a decent pocket pair of sevens which held up on the 3d-Ac-8c-9h-Jh board to ship $4,500.00 to csabes in third place and set up the heads-up battle with KK-DOG4.

Here's how the brief heads-up play started:

Seat 5: KK-DOG4 (3087 in chips)
Seat 8: ISANI (10413 in chips)

A three to one chip lead survived one double up by KK-DOG4, and fifteen hands into the proceedings; ISANI would be crowned this month's Battle of the Planets champion. Starting the hand with just 2,374 in chips and blinds at 150/300 ante 25 and facing the raise to 900 from ISANI, KK-DOG4 would push his stack with 2d-Ah. ISANI insta-called with pocket nines (9h-9c). KK-DOG4 would improve to a pair of twos on the flop but no further on the 2c-3d-Qs-Js-8d board and left the tournament as the runner-up earning $7,000.00 for his effort.

ISANI exchanged the 13,500 in tournament chips for a very real $12,500.00 and the title of January's Battle of the Planets champion!

Battle of the Planets results (01-25-09)

1. ISANI $12,500.00
2. KK-DOG4 $7,000.00
3. csabes $4,500.00
4. ZipZottel $3,350.00
5. OvBismarck $2,735.00
6. 3Shells $2,200.00
7. matt2120 $1,700.00
8. NickLeeson95 $1,200.00
9. kindaichi10 $775.00

klop0007 went out for a six-course meal as he was the first to nail down his seat at a final table (and waited nearly 45 minutes to play) awarding $12,500 to the winner. solody, a former 2006 WCOOP final tablist in Razz got to play Hold'Em with hopes of adding on to the $22,827.20 he won two years ago. doucheburger returned to the final table as he trapped potlogic with pocket aces versus pocket queens. He managed a 6th place finish back in September (link here), and one month later nearly took down the $1 million Turbo Takedown (link here) with a runner-up finish for $52,000.

The last final table seat was decided between Vegas_Matt78 and levaitom, sadly 10th place pays the same as 81st in the triple shootout and it was after a well spirited heads-up match that levaitom fell for the $195 consolation prize in 10th place to set our final table.

Despite two victories to get here, all players started off with the same $1,500 chip stacks and the blinds at an easy going 10/20. Any chance at an early deal was taken off the board by doucheburger:

AdamDay342: do they do table deals at this table?
doucheburger: they do
doucheburger: but i don't

He may not do deals, but PokerStars does, by now if you have been playing this weekend there are several World Record Week promotions going on. Check out the promo page (link here) for reload bonuses, 10,000 player SnGs, and Milestone hands which can make you a winner just for sitting down and playing cash games!

No blood was drawn early, as AdamDay342 was the first to reach 2,000 chips followed closely by eL cuCut whose connection problems got the table grumbling, but none of the players felt the hurt from the blinds escalating from 10/20 to 15/30. Patient play shown by all the players as 3x big blind preflop raises took the blinds as very little post flop play was seen.

The first push came after a 3X big blind raise from the shortstacked klop0007 from Sleven11 with the blinds at 25/50. But, klop0007 decided to fight another day with his $775 in chips and folded. doucheburger jumped on a raise from Deurdy on his immediate right with a push but much like the prior hand, Deurdy took his $1,600 in chips and passed $150 of them quietly to doucheburger while mucking.

Steal attempt gone wrong, but chips shipped regardless. As the blinds moved up to 50/100, it folded around to doucheburger on the button who pushed with $1,310 chips remaining hoping to snag the $150 in the middle. But, AdamDay342 woke up with pocket nines in the big blind as doucheburger had to show the Qd7d busted steal attempt. The flop Kd-Jh-Ah provided some love for doucheburger for straight outs, the turn 6d added on the flush outs which hit on the cruel 9d river. Despite hitting his set, AdamDay342 fell to doucheburger's flush and had to settle for $775 in ninth place.

The blinds at 50/100 now represented some problems for the shorter stacks as Vegas_Matt78 and klop0007 managed to double up off doucheburger and eL cuCut respectively to go from short stack to average stack.

At the break here's how the stacks looked as the players came back to 75/150 blinds:

Seat 1: Sleven11 (1,180 in chips)
Seat 2: eL cuCut (2,465 in chips)
Seat 3: Fosca1 (2,170 in chips)
Seat 4: Vegas_Matt78 (1,580 in chips)
Seat 5: solody (1,300 in chips)
Seat 6: Deurdy (1,600 in chips)
Seat 7: doucheburger (1,655 in chips)
Seat 8: klop0007 (1,550 in chips)

Many all-ins but no one all out as the 75/150 blind level went thru without incident. But, as soon as the blinds bumped up to 100/200, solody and Sleven11 started the rain on all-ins and a call. Leaving $445 in chips behind, solody called the all-in push of Sleven11 from middle position with pocket jacks. Sleven11 was short on chips and short on luck as his Tc-9c never had a chance on the 5d-2d-Qc-Ah-8s board. solody collected the $2,410 chip pot and Sleven11 collected $1,200 in eighth place.

Two hands later, with only $605 left, Vegas_Matt78 open-pushed two off the button and Deurdy followed in suit on the button with a push of his own while holding $1,225 in chips. No "Deurdy" river needed in this race of Deurdy's Ac-Qc versus Vegas_Matt78's pocket deuces. The flop hit Deurdy's ace showing 9d-4d-As and held up through the Td turn and 9c river. Vegas_Matt78 was chatting about $1 SnG and will now be able to play a little higher thanks to the $1,700 he won in seventh place.

Another two hands later, another all-in and a call preflop. This time klop0007's button push with Ac-7d found himself well behind the big blind Fosca1's Ad-Ks. No suspense in the outcome as the flop showed Kc-7h-Kh giving Fosca1 flopped trips and leaving klop0007 searching for the remaining sevens in the deck. Td and Qh on the turn and river sent the double agent home for the holidays with an extra $2,200 in his PokerStars account in sixth place.

Most hands this late in the tournament with the blinds at 125/250 ante 25 begin with a push and end with either a fold or call preflop. eL cuCut raised from the button with Ah-Qd to $600 and was facing a push from solody in the big blind for most of his chips saving $1,010 behind. He made the correct call and found himself racing with the pocket deuces on solody. The 3c-Jd-Ks flop added four more outs to the race for eL cuCut, the 8d on the turn did nothing, but the Ts on the river danced eL cuCut to his winning broadway straight and sent solody home with $2,735 in fifth place.

The very next hand produced a very "Deurdy" river. Again it was eL cuCut mixing it up leaving $1,560 in chips behind this time as he called the three-bet push of Deurdy with a suited big slick (Ac-Kc) and Deurdy found himself well behind with Ad-Td. The flop 3h-Tc-3c hit Deurdy hard he now he was dodging clubs and three kings to take the $7,620 chip pot. Js on the turn opened up three more queens for outs, and the "Deurdy" river 6c flushed Deurdy out of the last 2008 Battle of the Planets final table in fourth place earning $3,350.

doucheburger decided to go on the offensive pushing the next three out of four hands but losing most of his chips to Fosca1 when his Ac-3s missed the board, and Fosca1's Jc-7s connected for a winning pair of sevens. Down but not out, doucheburger with only $730 left won the blinds the next hand but lost the following hand when his 6d-2d could not make up for lost ground against Fosca1's Ad-2h on the 9c-3c-9h-8h-Ks board. doucheburger did add another impressive finish to his mantle with a third-place finish worth $4,500.

Even with doucheburger out, talks of chopping up the final two places only materialized after the following hands: eL cuCut's 8,430 to Fosca1's $5,070 heads up lead would evaporate after 18 hands when Fosca1's pocket eights overcame the overcard and flush draw of eL cuCut's Kd-5d on the 2d-4h-Qd-4c-7c board leaving eL cuCut with just $1,460 in chips. But, eL cuCut would battle back to even thanks to a few steals and pocket aces versus Fosca1's pocket nines brought to gap into deal making range.

After a short wait for the trusty PokerStars Host, our remaining contestants divvied up the $19,500 left in the prize pool. Chip-chop it up!

Fosca1: $10,273.52
eL cuCut: $9,226.48

The players pushed the next two hands and with pocket Tens, eL cuCut held off the Qs-8c of Fosca1 to become the December Battle of the Planets champion!

Here's how the final table's share of the prize pool was given out:

December Battle of the Planets
(Based on two-way deal)

1. eL cuCut $9,226.82
2. Fosca1 $10,273.52
3. doucheburger $4,500.00
4. Deurdy $3,350.00
5. solody $2,735.00
6. klop0007 $2,200.00
7. Vegas_Matt78 $1,700.00
8. Sleven11 $1,200.00
9. AdamDay342 $775.00

BrandonB11 was the first to claim his seat and could have afforded a sizable snooze until the final table of nine was decided. Betgo, who took runner-up in last year’s Event #13 of the WCOOP (final table report here) for $64,473.50, nearly made another final table tonight finishing 12th. Juice It Up and eagle_ke both fell as the co-bubble boys as TwistedEcho out kicked Juice It Up when both got it in after flopping top pair and young_jedi76 flopped trip deuces with A2o versus the 8c-9c for eagle_ke that never caught up.

Here’s how the celestial champions lined up tonight:

Seat 1: quaid745
Seat 2: zelotalot
Seat 3: young_jedi76
Seat 4: TwistedEcho
Seat 5: BrandonB11
Seat 6: Ennessem
Seat 7: Mortenlan
Seat 8: GB2005
Seat 9: dreamgirl3

BrandonB11 got caught in a mosh of a hand when Mortenlan min raised UTG with the blinds at the starting 10/20, found a call from GB2005 to his left, zelotalot went along for the ride in middle position. Folded to BrandonB11 in the small blind who made it 200 to go. Mortenlan abandoned his 40 chips but GB2005 3-bet for his remaining 1,470 chips. After a short discussion with his cards, BrandonB11 made the call with a suited big slick (Ad-Kd) only to find himself facing the pocket rockets of GB2005. The flop did not bring any flush outs when 4c-Qh-Ks came down but did present two outs for trip kings. No suckout tonight for BrandonB11, as the Qs and 4h came on the turn and river to leave him with 160 chips. Two hands later Ennessem acquired those 160 chips in a big ace versus smaller ace battle and $775.00 for ninth place was shipped to the SilverStar BrandonB11 as he was first in, first out.

After BrandonB11’s demise, the action quelled for a bit with the large stacks to the blinds ratio, twenty hands later the only all-in found was Ennessem and quaid745 getting all of their chips into the middle preflop with big slick to split the pot. Add on another twenty hands and the table still resembled the same chip stacks as the previous twenty, GB2005 still holding a double stack, zelotalot acquired a double stack (3,000 chips) through steals and the rest of the table holding steady with stacks around 1,000 to 1,500 as the blinds moved up to 50/100.

Needing a 989 to 1 shot isn’t the most fun to exit a tournament but Mortenlan found himself in that predicament after shoving all-in for his remaining 833 chips UTG+2 with Js-Ts and blinds still at 50/100. The table folded around to TwistedEcho who made the call in the big blind while leaving about 1,500 in chips behind showing Ad-Qc. The flop came down a near perfect Qd-Ac-As for Twisted Echo and left Mortenlan gasping for the Ks and Qs for the runner-runner Royal Flush. Alas, the 5s and 4c came instead and SuperNova Mortenlan found $1,200.00 in eighth place.

Eight hands later, short-stacked quaid745 found himself looking for chips in all the right places, as he called the all-in of dreamgirl3 who had his 1,060 chips covered, with Ad-Qd. dreamgirl3 flipped over Kh-Th which promptly paired up on the flop of 6h-6c-Ts. The Jc turn opened up a few more outs, but the 3s sent quaid745 home with $1,700.00 in seventh place. This woke up young_jedi76 who pushed the next hand with his remaining 605 chips and doubled up off GB2005, and doubled again the next hand against dreamgirl3 who’s pocket jacks could not hold down the Ad-Ts of young_jedi76 when he flopped top two and improved to a boat by the turn.

At the break here’s how the chips stacked up:

zelotalot (2540 in chips)
young_jedi76 (1750 in chips)
TwistedEcho (2943 in chips)
Ennessem (1175 in chips)
GB2005 (3090 in chips)
dreamgirl3 (2002 in chips)

First hand after the break GB2005 found a pair of aces in his lap and raised them up to 400 from the cutoff with the blinds still at 75/150. Normally dreamgirl3’s AQo is a decent re-steal hand as she pushed her hammer-rific 2,227 chips into the middle from the button but GB2005 made the easy call and after the 4d-Tc-2c-6s-Ks provided the excitement of a 2 a.m.infomercial, the 4,679 chip pot went to GB2005. dreamgirl3 will rest easier with the $2,200.00 PokerStars just added to her account for sixth place.

Five hands later Ennessem found himself getting very short with only 875 chips and sitting on the button with Kh-Qh. An easy push with the blinds increasing the very next hand to 100/200, but it was GB2005 finding a calling hand as he pushed from the small blind with pocket sevens (7d-7s). A flopped set for GB2005 on the Td-7h-5c left Ennessem gasping for a runner-runner straight or flush, neither came as he was drawing dead by the 2s on the turn. $2,735.00 newly minted dollars will be finding their way to Ennessem account after his fifth place finish.

zelotalot couldn’t find much to play since his high water mark at the previous break, with only 1,190 left he made a stand with two face cards (Qc-Js) but TwistedEcho was waiting in the small blind with Ad-9c and made the call for the coin flip. The Kh-2c-9h did not change the pre-flop advantage but did open up some straight outs for zelotalot. No ten, queen, or jack came on the turn nor river as the Kd and 7s came down instead and zelotalot travelled back to Wellington with an extra $3,350.00 in fourth place.

SWIPER NO SWIPING! young_jedi76’s sly fox tried to take TwistedEcho’s chips on the very next hand and succeed as he doubled through TwistedEcho when TwistedEcho’s flopped two pair (Ks-Tc) found a cooler on the board of 4s-Th-Kh-3s-8h. young_jedi76 pushed his remaining 1,575 chips on the river and flipped over Ah-2h for the nut flush and took the 5,350 chip pot when TwistedEcho made the call. With only 1,533 chips remaining and in the small blind, TwistedEcho pushed preflop with Qs-8h and GB2005 made the call in the big blind leaving 4,884 behind with Ac-9d. A gutshot straight draw on the 6s-Jh-Th flop added some outs, but this was not TwistedEcho’s night as the 6d and 2h on the turn and river sent him home in third place. The tournament leader board regular added another $4,500.00 to his bankroll.

Heads-up play started with a bang as young_jedi76 doubled through GB2005 when both players flopped two pair on the Tc-8s-3h-Qs-Kh board but young_jedi76’s Th-8h bested GB2005’s 8d-3d and Swiper err... young_jedi76 took a 10,700 to 2,800 lead. Five hands later, it was GB2005’s turn to connect as he won a preflop race with Kc-Qs versus the Ac-Jc of young_jedi76 for a 7,300 chip pot and took a small lead as the blinds moved up to 125/250 ante 25.

GB2005’s persistence shown from making the final table paid off again. He managed to wait out Dora the Explorer’s nemesis when the blinds hit 200/400 ante 50 and both players pushed all-in preflop while GB2005 left 4,980 behind and showed:

GB2005 Ac-Qc
young_jedi76 Ks-Qs

The big preflop advantage held up over the board of 3s-4c-7h-Jd-6c shipping the remaining 8,520 chips to GB2005 with his high card ace. For the runner-up, Supernova young_jedi76 snagged $7,000.00 to run away from Boots and Dora’s pleas to stop swiping their blinds. As for our new monthly Battle of the Planets Champion, GB2005 took home the full $12,500.00 with his victory!

Final table results below:

November Battle of the Planets 11-30-08
1. GB2005 $12,500.00
2. young_jedi76 $7,000.00
3. TwistedEcho $4,500.00
4. zelotalot $3,350.00
5. Ennessem $2,735.00
6. dreamgirl3 $2,200.00
7. quaid745 $1,700.00
8. Mortenlan $1,200.00
9. BrandonB11 $775.00

da ItchY 84 knows all about the final table for the Battle of the Planets triple shootout, as he took third place in August (final table write up, follow the link) for a $4,500 score. He was waiting for some time, as was JCrosby for the remaining seven seats to fill up.

All 81 players who won the first leg of the triple shootout took home $195.00 while the final nine squared off for the $12,500.00 first prize. After V-X-DRAGON and BakonJarser finished up their heads up battle with BakonJarser coming out on top, here’s how the final table shaped-up this evening:

Seat 1: slipperily
Seat 2: slidinshadow
Seat 3: SmartFAB
Seat 4: BakonJarser
Seat 5: bparis
Seat 6: Tysic
Seat 7: JCrosby
Seat 8: da ItchY 84
Seat 9: teamhonda1

Ouch! Just six hands into the final table with most of the players still sitting in front of their 1500 starting chips with blinds at 10/20, slidinshadow found himself severely crippled after getting tangled up with SmartFAB post flop. The hand started out with slidinshadow raising it up to 60 chips from UTG + 2 and SmartFAB making the flat call to his left and the blinds folded to see a flop of 2c-8d-9c. slidinshadow led out for 80, as SmartFAB raised it up to 220, slidinshadow wasn’t getting out of the way as he 3-bet to 1,360 leaving just 110 chips behind. SmartFAB raised all-in as slidinshadow had just 30 chips behind to see the bad news.

slidinshadow: Ad-As
SmartFAB: 9s-9h

Top set for SmartFAB as slidinshadow watched the Qd and Tc fall helplessly on the turn and river. Two hands later the scraps was eaten up da ItchY 84 and slidinshadow went back into the dark in ninth place picking up $775.00 in the process.

At the first break SmartFAB steadily gained chips since knocking out slidinshadow and held first place with 3,989 chips. Only teamhonda1 and slipperily had more then the starting 1,500 chip rack and five minutes after the break the blinds went up to 50/100 and short stacks da ItchY 84 and Tysic with under a thousand chips needed to dig out of the early hole. Shortly after the break SmartFAB got served a cooler as his pocket kings (Kh-Ks) got all-in preflop against bparis’ pocket aces (Ac-As) with the board showing nothing to change the advantage, SmartFAB handed over the temporary chip lead to bparis.

Play sped up significally after the blinds went up to 50/100 as the short stacks were shoving preflop to grab those 150 chips in the middle off the blinds. da ItchY 84 was sitting on the button facing a shove by JCrosby, calling meant his remaining stack of 565 from the small blind. Pocket jacks (Jd-Js) was his choice of weapon as JCrosby flipped up Ad-Qs for the race. The flop of Th-4c-Ac left the two-time Battle of Planets final tablist needing a king or jack on the turn or river. Neither came as the board ran out 3c and Qh to give JCrosby the 1,280 chip pot with top two pair and da ItchY 84 did not improve on his third place finish, but showed his poker chops by finishing eighth today for $1,200.

Tysic, while displaying the five stars of a Supernova player, sat on the short stack for quite some time managed one small double up, then pushed the very next hand for his remaining 357 chips on the button with blinds at 75/150. JCrosby made the call from the small blind with Ac-Jd. Tysic held As-4s and neither player improved on the board of Kh-5d-8c-Kd-2d. The Supernova did earn $1,700.00 for his time today while finishing in seventh place.

Which way is up? After slipping and sliding through the board slipperily found himself out in sixth place after a wild ride. UTG and only 330 chips to his name, he pushed as BakonJarser made the call in the cutoff but JCrosby in the small blind had other ideas as he over-shoved getting BakonJarser out of the way. slipperily’s Jc-5c was way behind the pocket queens of JCrosby (Qc-Qs)…

… that was until the flopped flush appeared. Kc-Tc-3c spelled jackpot for slipperily but the board paired on the turn Ks giving JCrosby some more outs to a boat along with the higher flush…

… that hit on the river Ac and slipperily slid home with $2,200.00 in sixth place.

Four hands later BakonJarser found himself on the short stack and open shoving on the button with Ah-2s with 1,150 chips remaining. But, the JCrosby's terminator-mode was on full throttle as he called with pocket sevens (7s-7h). No ace, no wheel, no more chips for BakonJarser as he earned $2,735.00 and fifth place on the board of Kc-9d-8h-4h-3s .

bparis got back into the picture after winning an all-in preflop race with big slick versis against JCrosby’s pocket queens. A few hands later he would use those chips as he defended his big blind against the small blind shove of SmartFAB. bparis turned over pocket threes while “The Brain” held Ks-9d. Inky’s partner could not find a pair on the board of Jc-8d-5c-6d-Tc and SmartFAB went back to his laboratory for world domination with an extra $3,350.00 in fourth place.

bparis crippled teamhonda1 on a preflop all-in by both players when bparis’ pocket fours found a set on the flop and teamhonda1’s Kh-Qd found an open ended straight draw on the turn of Td-3d-4h-Jc but no love on the river and teamhonda1 was left with 960 chips and forced to play the severe short stack with blinds at 125/250 ante 25. Undeterred, he managed two double ups, one off bparis and another off JCrosby as the chips began to slowly even out with bparis still holding out to the lead.

Seat 5: bparis (6635 in chips)
Seat 7: JCrosby (3123 in chips)
Seat 9: teamhonda1 (3742 in chips)

teamhonda1 eventually chipped up enough to overtake bparis’ chip lead by 167 chips as the two got it all-in preflop again. This time bparis’ pocket kings Kc-Kh would hold up against teamhonda1’s As-Qh on the board of 7c-Qc-3d-4c-Tc. The reliable car maker would triple up on the next hand but bparis would send the popular Civic home in third place on the next hand dominating teamhonda1’s Ks-9d with his Kh-Tc and the flopped pair of tens was plenty for the 1,092 chip pot. teamhonda1 earned $4,500.00 for the bronze medal.

Just two hands later, JCrosby faced over a 3:1 chip deficit and was facing a button raise from bparis for his remaining 2,784 chips. It was the right call as JCrosby’s Ad-3d was slightly ahead of bparis’ Jh-Kh but the 8h-9s-Ts flop gave bparis several more outs, one of which hit the turn as the Qc fell giving bparis the unbeatable nut straight and this month’s Battle of the Planets victory!

JCrosby earned $7,000.00 for his runner-up effort as the Battle of the Planets champ, bparis, took home the mother lode of $12,500.00 for first place. Congrats to all of our qualifiers and participants today. Be sure to start earning those seats for next month!

Battle of the Planets Results (10-26-08)

1. bparis $12,500.00
2. JCrosby $7,000.00
3. teamhonda1 $4,500.00
4. SmartFAB $3,350.00
5. BakonJarser $2,735.00
6. slipperily $2,200.00
7. Tysic $1,700.00
8. da ItchY 84 $1,200.00
9. slidinshadow $775.00

As mentioned at the outset, this month’s triple shootout only took a little over four hours. Round 1 took about an hour and 45 minutes to complete. Then Round 2 took about two hours.

The final table? That’s right, about 15 minutes or so. Allow me to explain.

A total of 445 players qualified for today’s event, and Round 1 began with all of them being seated at 81 tables, thus making the first table either five- or six-handed. Winners of those tables were all guaranteed $195 for their efforts. Player _maarten_436 was the first one through to Round 2, taking just a little over half an hour to take care of his five-handed table. Then cdbr3799 and barrybab333 moved on shortly afterwards as well.

The longest-lasting table of Round 1 was won by CJSaunders after a lengthy heads up battle with Triple X1. The chip lead went back and forth for awhile, until finally CJSaunders took the advantage and built up to a better than 3-to-1 chip advantage. At that point, Triple X1 shoved all in with 9c-Kh, and CJSaunders made the call with Qh-Td. A ten flopped, and Triple X1 couldn’t catch up. We were onto Round 2.

AHANDY was the first to secure a spot at the nine-handed final table, taking just under an hour to get down to heads up with jeffv8x_-_16 and knock him out to move on. A couple of minutes later, Akumila finished off azakas10 over on Table 9. Those two would get to wait about an hour before the rest of their competitors joined them at the final table. Once again, CJSaunders was the very last to make it through, winning his table just a few seconds after the eighth winner, Dijkstraight.

The players were all back to 1,500 chips. Here was the scene as the first hand of the final table was dealt.

As that first hand was being dealt, T. Cadet immediately proposed a nine-way chop of the remaining prize pool (almost $36,000). Several players agreed to the idea, but a couple of orbits would pass before support could be summoned. The tournament was paused after 18 hands, with most players still close to their starting stacks. Player shawnden had taken a couple of pots to take the early lead with 1,850, while Akumila had slipped to 1,250.

Most players seemed interested in a straight nine-way deal, which would result in each receiving $3,995.56. However, shawnden -- a supernova elite player -- preferred a chip chop. Otherwise, as he explained, “Ill take my chances at 12 gs... Im the favorite most likely against the field.”

Numbers for chopping up the prize pool according to the current chip stacks were provided, and Akumila -- sitting on the short stack -- wasn’t pleased. T. Cadet, who had made it through to today’s freeroll via the Mercury ($1.00-$2.99) division, immediately offered an extra hundred to Akumila, and that was deemed satisfactory.

A deal having been reached, the event had to be resumed so support could adjust the amounts afterwards. There had been some talk of leaving $500 on the table to play for, but no unanimity. Unlike other major tournaments at PokerStars, there’s no requirement to leave money on the table for the Battle of the Planets. So play resumed.

Wonder how a final table looks when there’s nothing left to play for? Click below.

That was the second hand after the deal had been struck, in which Akumila knocked out four opponents at once. He’d knock out another on the next hand. “I'm running goooood,” he typed facetiously.

It would take seven hands altogether before everyone had finally delivered all of their chips into Akumila’s stack.

Here is the order of finish, then, although it should be understood all nine spots were filled after a deal had been struck and there was no money left to play for. Note those payouts -- not too shabby a rate for four hours of work on a Sunday afternoon!

September Battle of the Planets results:
(amounts listed reflect nine-way chop)

1. Akumila - $3,558.80
2. CJSaunders - $4,027.76
3. giveitatri - $3,630.56
4. AHANDY - $3,802.32
5. Dijkstraight - $4,027.76
6. Kreuznagel - $4,253.20
7. low18is63 - $4,145.85
8. shawnden - $4,747.02
9. T. Cadet - $3,766.73

Here’s how our final table stacked up this week, as the winners of two tables to reach here are going home with no less then $1,550.00:

Alkaatch (Neptune)
Domerboy
Dutch-nOOb
JohanEll
Landsoflore7 (Venus)
Martin-king
Pebah
Windysufan (Mars)
Prezado (Neptune)

Chopping up the final table money was thrown back and forth across the table for the first thirty minutes, and after some negotiations that would rival international treaties being drawn up at the United Nations headquarters, the players decided to reward themselves with $6,000 a piece. Being the Sit and Go kings they are, tonight we are playing for 50%-30%-20% of the remaining $17,920 prize pool for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd which mirror the normal payouts for a nine player SnG.

1st = $8960.00
2nd = $5376.00
3rd = $3584.00

Still a lot of money on the table for these folks but we will see if the guaranteed $6,000 will have an effect on the speed of play. At least three orbits went by after the deal was struck and still our original nine have chips to battle with. No clear cut chip leader has emerged but windysufan has been the short stack for the majority of this final table.

Dutch-nOOb certainly did not play to his namesake as he was one of the more aggressive players who clamped down on any preflop limping with timely raises but sadly exited first today. With blinds at $50/$100 and an opening pre-flop min-raise coming out of dutch-nOOb’s stack, landsoflore7 came over the top holding an unsuited big slick. Dutch-nOOb made the call with the remainder of his $1,300 stack with pocket tens. Two pair on the flop of Ah 2c Kd, left dutch-nOOb shaking his luckbox icon for all its worth, but blanks on the turn and river left him in ninth place.

Landsoflore7 was not done gathering chips as just four hands later his pocket Queens saw yet another race begin preflop, except this time he was facing the unsuited big slick of JohanEll. Little cards tapped the across the board, and a Jack on the river sent landsoflore7 up the chip ladder to a significant lead and sent JohanEll in eighth place with the chopped $6,000.

With the tight play at the beginning, the next dozen hands at the $75/$150 blind levels were a plethora of all-in aggression and bust outs. The short stacks of windysufan and alkaatch decided to all their battling pre-flop and in the blinds, both holding decent heads-up hands for short stacks. Alkaatch was in great shape to double up and knock out the resilient windysufan when his Ad9c dominated windysufan’s Kc9s. The 4s 5s 7h flop looked safe enough and only a runner-runner straight, flush, or a King would help out windysufan’s hand. The King of diamonds on the turn turned the tide and blank on the river left alkaatch with just 160 chips which were donated on the next hand with an unimproved hammer (that’s seven-deuce offsuit) versus domerboy’s QTo that paired the turn and left alkaatch in seventh place.

Pebah did not give up despite the rising blinds for everyone, and made a great play for the blinds while left with just $1,050 in checks and the blinds at $75/$150 with a middle connecting hand of 7s8c. But windysufan has been riding the wave as he called with Ac6d leaving just $230 behind. The flop made no connections, the turn gave no answers, and the river hung up the phone on pebah’s Battle of the Planets run. Windysufan’s Ace high got him one step closer to the extra chopped cash and left pebah out in sixth place.

As in any SnG once the blinds get high so does the speed of the bust outs as prezado and martin-king were left with just a few big blinds they shoved their hands in preflop looking for a little light in a dark tournament place. Unfortunately, they both ran into dominated hands preflop, prezado took his A5o up against windysufan’s ATo and after the river ten appeared with no straights, flushes, or trips for prezado, he exited in fifth place just short of the extra pay scale. Martin-king made the right decision and pressed his chips for all they were worth from the small blind with only 926 chips left and blinds at $125/$250 Ante $25 but domerboy in the big blind found a call and saw his K7o well ahead of martin-king’s 74o after no love on the flop, and turn, the big King on the river cemented our final three players to play for the remaining prize pool.

In an amazing turn of events, the heads-up play began with the former long term short stack windysufan in the lead over domerboy. Landsoflore7 played a great aggressive game with his chip lead but winning coin flips is essential to every tournament win and his final hand was a classic race of his AKo versus domerboy’s pocket Jacks. As I already gave away the ending of the race in the first sentence, landsoflore7 took home the chopped $6,000 plus 3rd place money of $3,584!

With a couple of pushes, Domerboy stole the heads-up lead from windysufan and pressed continuously with raises and re-raises preflop while taking a 5:1 chip lead with blinds at $150/$300 ante $25 and leaving windysufan with under ten big blinds in his stack. But, windysufan caught domerboy with a well-placed trap after turning a straight, domerboy complied by diving into the net turning the game into an even-up affair after a few more blind steals by windysufan.

$1,470 was the chip lead windysufan held over domerboy as the game turning hand began with domerboy limping from the button and windysufan checking his option. 8c 8h 6d on the flop got domerboy to lead out for $600 and a quick flat call by windysufan. The ten of hearts on the turn got domerboy to lead out for $900 and was met by a quick all-in from windysufan. Flopped trips for windysufan was a yet another trap laid by the Syracuse University fan holding 8s4h, but domerboy caught up on the turn as he quickly called with TdTc for the turned boat which avoided the one-outer on the river for a dominating 12,030 to 1,470 chip lead.

Two hands later both players got their remaining chips into the pot:

Domerboy: AsQs
Windysufan: 5dQh

Domerboy’s preflop advantage was never questioned, never in danger, and finally gave him the biggest slice of the chopped pie as he was awarded $6,000 plus $8,960 while becoming this month’s Battle of the Planets champion! Windysufan made the most of his cards and perseverance in rallying from a huge chip deficit at the beginning of the final table and was rewarded with an extra $5,376 for second place on top of the $6,000 all the final table players received. Congrats to all of all winners today, and be sure to start your qualifying runs for next month’s Battle of the Planets competition tomorrow!

July Battle of the Planets results:
(based on nine-way chop leaving prizes awarded for the final three players)

1. Domerboy $6,000.00 + $8,960.00
2. windysufan $6,000.00 + $5,376.00
3. landsoflore7 $6,000.00 + $3,584.00
4. martin-king $6,000.00
5. prezado $6,000.00
6. pebah $6,000.00
7. alkaatch $6,000.00
8. JoahnEll $6,000.00
9. dutch-nOOb $6,000.00