Online Poker Weekend: A 'pleace'-ing Night at Full Tilt

February 04, 2008

Haley Hintze

Online Poker Weekend: A 'pleace'-ing Night at Full Tilt 0001

The distinctly American holiday known as Super Bowl Sunday resulted in reduced attendance across the board in the largest of Sunday's online tourneys. Still, solid turnouts were on hand at PokerStars, Full Tilt and PartyPoker, and each of these sites' major events easily topped its offered guarantee. The night's biggest events saw late turnabouts and frenzied action, and not a chop in sight anywhere.

PokerStars Sunday Million

The Sunday Million at PokerStars drew 6,266 entrants and offered $1,253,200 in prize money. First place here was scheduled to receive $180,210.16, with the top 900 runners making the money. This final table was among the quickest in recent Sunday Million memory, with talk of a deal by the players barely being uttered before the tournament itself rushed to its conclusion. 'jamb0ne' and 'chris935' were the early final-table leaders, with the rest of the table well-distributed in stack size.

'rroyrag', the shortest stack, was first to depart, exiting when his A♥Q♦ couldn't overtake jamb0ne's A♣K♣; the chips went in before the flop and the board rolled out 8♦J♠3♣4♣6♦. After being whittled down to nearly nothing in chips, stpauli111 departed soon after. The last chips for stpauli111 went in behind K♠10♣, which fell to 'RabidMonkey0's Q♣9♣ when the board brought Q♥2♠8♣6♠A♥. Seventh was decided only five hands later, when RabidMonkey0 and 'chris935' had a pre-flop raising war. chris935's K♥J♠ won out over RabidMonkey0's A♠9♥ when the board came 2♠2♥9♦Q♠9♣.

A huge pot between early leaders jamb0ne and chris935 resulted in the next knockout and a dominating lead. The chips went in pre-flop and jamb0ne had the best of it, with K♠K♦ to chris935's A♦10♣, but exited in heartbreak style when the board brought 7♥9♣7♦Q♥A♠; jamb0ne was on the rail after the rivered pair of aces, while chris935 jumped to over 32 million in chips. chris935 picked up the next knockout as well, again catching a fortunate river; his K♥10♠ reeled in the A♣7♣ of a short-stacked 'IG0tDibs' when the board brought 5♣9♦5♠2♦K♦.

The run continued for chris935 when he sent 'Kelvan' to the virtual rail in fourth, this time having the best of it with K♦K♣ to Kelvan's A♣J♥ and having it hold up on a 10♣2♦2♠J♠7♠ board. A dozen hands later, chris935 again showed no hesitation in mixing it up, and again came from behind for a knockout. 'WiLDmAn75' pushed all in with A♣A♥ after the turn, when the board read 10♠J♥2♠Q♦, but by then chris935 had made a straight with his K♠9♥ and had WiLDmAn75 dead to the chop. Those slim chances disappeared when the river bricked out with the 7♠.

chris935 entered heads-up play with a 46.6 million to 16.1 million edge in chips over 'VOLCANO360'. It looked like the rout would be completed on the very first hand, when the chips went in before the flop and chris935 showed A♠J♥ to VOLCANO360's A♦10♣. The board, though, brought 10♠8♣7♦4♥2♣, and the players were back to even. The end came just six hands later, when again the players showed no desire to wait. Despite each player having over 50 big blinds in chips, those chips all went in pre-flop, with chris935's A♠10♦ racing against VOLCANO360's 7♣7♠. The board arrived 2♦Q♦J♦2♣8♥, leaving VOLCANO360's pocket sevens in front and finishing off his win.

Final Results:

1. VOLCANO360 — $180,210.16

2. chris935 — $93,864.68

3. WiLDmAn75 — $67,547.48

4. Kelvan — $52,634.40

5. IG0tDibs — $40,227.72

6. jamb0ne — $28,823.60

7. RabidMonkey0 — $20,677.80

8. stpauli111 — $12,532

9. rroyrag — $7,769.84

Full Tilt Super Sunday $500K

With large numbers of American players likely dedicated to attending Super Bowl parties on Sunday evening, Full Tilt ran a special 'Super Sunday $500K' event in lieu of a tourney with a larger guarantee. 3,048 players showed up, meaning that the $609,600 purse easily eclipsed the pre-event guarantee. 459 players made it to the money spots and first was worth $109,148.88.

'scatterbrain123' held a narrow edge as this final table came together, his 1.5 million in chips just higher than three other players. First to fall was 'NSXT2', when his A♠K♥ lost a race against 'pleace's 9♠9♣ when the board delivered 3♠8♠4♠6♦2♦. pleace picked up another knockout two hands later, this time when his A♦A♥ held up over the K♠Q♦ of 'gnordy' as the chips went in after a J♣Q♥7♥ flop. The turn and river brought the 3♥ and 2♣ and the field was down to seven.

In only two more hands, it was down to six. After 'nickyr141955' opened from UTG with K♣J♦, a short-stacked 'joeramos333' pushed all in with A♣7♣, and nickyr141955 made the call and picked up the knockout by making a straight on the 10♦9♣7♥6♠Q♥ board. The pace of exits then slowed, but only marginally; five hands later pleace and 'Beaker1' got the chips in after a 3♠3♦5♦ flop. Beaker1 was ahead with 4♥4♣ to pleace's A♦10♦, but departed when the turn brought the 10♣ and the river was the 3♥, leaving pleace with the better full house.

Just four hands later, pleace continued his rush, this time sending 'lanceboe1' to the rail when his Q♥Q♦ held up over lanceboe1's A♥K♥ on a 4♦6♠6♥7♣6♣ board. The knockout pushed pleace over four million in chips and nearly a 5:2 lead over each of the three other players. Of those, 'hellraiser88' would be next to depart after being trimmed down to short-stack status. hellraiser88 made a move from the button with Q♥6♦, and nickyr141955 re-raised from the small blind with 8♠8♥. nickyr141955's eights held up when the board showed 2♠3♣2♦7♦3♦.

nickyr141955's joy was short-lived, however. He was next to exit after his 6♣6♦ failed to hold up against pleace's A♣Q♥, with the board of 8♠J♥Q♠A♦9♥ giving pleace the knockout. pleace entered heads-up play against the last survivor, 'scatterbrain123', with nearly four-fifths of the chips in play, and though scatterbrain123 gained some short-lived ground, the end came in only 16 hands. The final hand saw a pre-flop raising war between the two, and when the chips were in, pleace showed A♠8♣ to scatterbrain123's A♦7♦. The flop came 8♦2♠5♣, moving pleace farther ahead, and the K♣ turn and 3♦ river completed the action and capped pleace's final-table rush to victory.

Final Results:

1. pleace — $109,148.88

2. scatterbrain123 — $66,446.40

3. nickyr141955 — $43,281.60

4. hellraiser88 — $33,832.80

5. lanceboe1 — $25,298.40

6. Beaker1 — $18,714.72

7. joeramos333 — $14,020.80

8. gnordy — $10,972.80

9. NSXT2 — $8,168.64

PartyPoker $300,000 Guaranteed

1,658 hopefuls tried their luck in the Sunday $300,000 Guaranteed at PartyPoker, producing a total prize pool of $331,600. 250 players cashed and first place was scheduled to receive $64,662. 'gotthismoney' was an easy leader as this tourney's final ten came together, his nearly 2.9 million in chips more than twice his nearest competitor.

The first knockout occurred only a couple of hands in, when 'LUV_YA_GLORI's all-in with A♥6♠ was reeled in by the K♣Q♣ of 'KlonkSork' as the board brought 4♣Q♥9♠J♠J♣. Next, 'bastet200470' got his chips in after a flop of 6♣3♠8♣ while holding 7♣6♠, but KlonkSork's 9♥9♠ was better and stayed that way as the board brought 6♣3♠8♣Q♦Q♠. Eighth went to 'vitja__' soon after, when his A♠K♠ lost a race against the 7♥7♠ of 'Hasi31' as the board arrived 6♠8♣9♥Q♣J♣.

Hasi31, who was near elimination early in the final, continued his rush by sending 'Mushroom2526' to the rail in seventh. The chips went in after a K♠5♠5♦ flop, with Mushroom2526 holding K♣10♥ to Hasi31's A♠Q♠; the turn was a blank 4♥ but the river was the 6♠ for the flush and the knockout. Hasi31 made it three in a row after his pocket tens easily held up against a short-stacked 'Mr_A2's A♦7♣, with the board bringing 8♦10♥K♠K♦3♦.

'aerobios', another short stack, departed soon after. His all-in with A♥J♣ went nowhere against 'pasopvirpot's A♠A♦, with the board running out 6♥2♠Q♠K♠6♠. At this point the four survivors entered extended and acrimonious deal negotiations, with second-position KlonkSork's demands for a significant premium over the system-generated chip-count numbers eventually souring the deal.

After the four finally returned to live play, KlonkSork and leader 'gotthismoney' quickly got all the chips into the middle in a race, with Klonksork's 7♣7♠ against gotthismoney's A♦Q♠. When gotthismoney connected on the river of a 2♣4♥2♣K♦Q♥ board, Klonksork was on the rail with less than half the winnings available in the chip-count deal. Following KlonkSork's exit, the other three players quickly agreed to the chip-count chop, with gotthismoney the official winner.