Seven years ago today, I pressed publish on the very first post of the PokerStars Blog. On that day in 2005, I’d been playing poker my whole life. I’d been blogging for six years. I’d been blogging about poker for almost as long. There was no reason to be nervous. And yet I was. As I sent the first PokerStars Blog story out into the ether, I wondered, “What is this going to turn into?” I had no way of knowing how big it would get.

Today, we here at the PokerStars Blog celebrate our seventh anniversary. In the seven years since that first post, we have grown from one guy with a notepad and a camera to an entire team of writers, photographers, and tech gurus that we like to think has no equal. How we got there is a road so winding, I don’t even remember all the turns. The long version of the story is told in a post I wrote last year chronicling our story for PokerStars 10th anniversary: How the PokerStars Blog got its start. If you’re interested in how we grew, that story tells it in a really big nutshell.

How we looked seven years ago

Today, there are more than a dozen PokerStars Blog outlets in just about any language you need. We have writers all over the globe who work tirelessly to bring you the best PokerStars online and live coverage there is. Our readership has grown exponentially since 2005 and we welcome millions of readers to this page every year.

How?

Well, I think there are a lot of reasons. First and foremost, PokerStars’ eye for and dedication to innovation has meant a great deal to the PokerStars Blog. There is no arena PokerStars enters that it doesn’t strive to be the best, and the PokerStars Blog is no exception. There is a top-down philosophy that mandates the people of the PokerStars Blog work to be the best at what we do. Despite our admitted and transparent bias toward PokerStars, we maintain the strictest of standards in our reporting efforts. We aim to not be a machine that spits out press releases. We actively work to offer you the most accurate, entertaining, and comprehensive poker reporting available (you can also read how that came about in this post. If our readership is any indication, we feel pretty confident we succeed most of the time.

Furthermore, over the years, we have all kept our eyes open on new innovations and technologies to help us better report the news. In the past few months, we have expanded our live coverage team such that we now can report all the hand-by-hand action while simultaneously providing the best color and features on tour. Here’s a look at a day in the life of a PokerStars live blogger.

It goes beyond that, however. All the philosophy in the world won’t matter if we don’t have the people to execute it. Fortunately, over the years, we’ve put together a staff of people who know how to report the news and tell good stories. A majority of the people who work for the PokerStars Blog were professional storytellers before they turned their focus to poker. Our staff is made up of former newspapermen, broadcasters, novelists, English professors, and top bloggers.

The result is what I consider to be the best team in the business turning out some of the most interesting stories around. In the end, we turn out hand-by-hand action of live events, in-depth features and interviews, and breaking news as it happens. Even when you don’t have time to read us here, we update the PokerStars Blog Twitter feed.

The blog team in Monaco

A few of the bloggers at the PCA

If you’re new to the PokerStars Blog or haven’t been able to read us daily, here are a few stories from the past few years that have stood out to me as representative of what we do and how we do it.

The long, lonely walk of Matt Affleck (by Howard Swains)

Slaying the EPT Monkey (by Simon Young)

Finding Isildur1: Viktor Blom cops to his secret identity (by Brad Willis)

Seventeen steps with Barry Greenstein (by Brad Willis)

The PokerStars Blog One Time Chip (by Howard Swains)

It got hot in here (by Stephen Bartley)

Drama with 30,000 chips (by Stephen Bartley)

How you can back Tom McEvoy for the Poker Hall of Fame (by Simon Young)

The real reason Stephen Bartley looks so odd (by Simon Young)

Safari so good (by Simon Young)

A public health message (by Brad Willis)

Perspective (by Brad Willis)

The Post-Modern American Dream (by Paul McGuire)

Cinderella (Wo)man by Kristin Bihr

Baptism by bloco (by Dave Behr)

The best thing I’ve ever seen on this tour (by Brad Willis)

There are many, many more that I could list here from the likes of Rick Dacey, Martin Harris, David Aydt, Jennifer Newell, Kevin Mathers, Marc Convey, and the long, long list of other writers who contribute here. They are people who put their hearts and souls into blogging for us, and we’re lucky to have them on our team.

So, today we celebrate our seventh anniversary. It’s a happy day for us, and we’re looking forward to many more years of making the PokerStars Blog even better.

Tags: archives | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | European Poker Tour | italian poker tour | news | philosophy | tcoop | UKIPT | world cup of poker | World Series of Poker

Call it the Vernal Equinox. Call it the first day of spring. Or call it a Sunday that provided opportunities galore for big money and a title for one person to be dubbed this week’s Sunday Million champion. Just don’t call while I’m playing online poker. (Old joke. Apologies all around.)

In all seriousness, it was a solid day of poker for those who played the Sunday Million, and the registration number was a substantial one, not surprising for a tournament with a $1.5 million guarantee. With 9,594 players at the tables, the prize pool soared to $1,918,800.00, which allowed the powers-that-be to pay out the top 1,440 finishers.

Action started a bit late because of adjustments still being made for Daylight Savings Time, but no one in the action seemed to mind. And as the hours passed, the money bubble neared until 1,440 players were secure in the knowledge that they would walk away with at least a few more dollars than when they started. Among those players, there were a number of Team PokerStars Pros who cashed in the event, starting with Pat Pezzin, who exited in 1196th place. He was followed by Juan Manuel Pastor in 1155th, Jason Mercier in 1138th, Team Online’s Clayton “cnew27″ Newman in 1064th, JP Kelly in 870th, Online’s Javier “El_Canonero” Dominguez in 853rd, George “gkap13″ Kapalas in 787th, Tom McEvoy in 538th, Maxim Lykov in 457th, Marcello del Grosso in 338th, and Marcel Luske in 211th. The last Team Pro standing was Switzerland’s Anton Allemann, though he ended up exiting well into the ninth hour of play – and just missing the final table – in 13th place.

It didn’t take long to move on from that point, as the all-ins were aplenty. David_Wain decided to make his move from the big blind with [Ah][Qh] on the bubble, and original raiser kalmuka showed with [Ac][2c]. The board cmae [8s][Qs][3d][4c][5d] to give kalmuka that runner-runner straight, and David_Wain waned in tenth place, leaving with $9,594.00.

Upstrick77 on the uptick as final table begins

It was moments into Level 35, when blinds were set at 150,000/300,000 and the ante was 30,000, when the final table got underway. At about 9 hour and 40 minutes into the tournament, the players and their starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: XBraumeister (10,977,808 in chips)
Seat 2: IkBenEenBaas (9,741,476 in chips)
Seat 3: BlackMojos (5,613,327 in chips)
Seat 4: upstrick77 (19,865,213 in chips)
Seat 5: dickkemp (3,741,434 in chips)
Seat 6: kalmuka (13,065,720 in chips)
Seat 7: Mr_BigQueso (18,893,216 in chips)
Seat 8: PureCash25 (5,533,184 in chips)
Seat 9: SeraphimV (8,508,622 in chips)

The lone player from Belarus, upstrick77, led the pack as action got underway, though Mr_BigQueso from Spain was close behind and eventually took over the lead. Kalmuka started strong but lost quite a few chips when dickkemp doubled through to stay alive. But upstrick was set on taking the lead back and did it by taking a 10 million-chip pot from Mr_BigQueso. And this subsequent move by kalmuka put Mr_BigQueso in deeper trouble:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Meanwhile, short-stacked PureCash25 had been looking for a hand and eventually decided that [Kh][Jc] in the small blind was it. SeraphimV called from the big blind with a dominating [Kd][Qs], and that kicker held up through the dealing of the [5c][As][9h][8c][3d] board. PureCash25 walked away with $13,047.84 in pure cash for the ninth place finish.

A few hands later, it was time for Mr_BigQueso to make his move, and he did it preflop with [As][Th]. SeraphimV was the caller holding [Qs][Qd], and that pair only grew as the [Qc][6h][3d] made a set and the [2h] turn and [2c] river put together a full house. That left Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Callopy cheesed off and out in eighth place with $19,188.00.

Kalmuka was on a roll and looking to move to the top spot and beyond, starting with a pot worth 15.2 million chips taken from IkBenEenBaas. Not long after, when XBraumeister tried to get into a hand with a raise, kalmuka reraised all-in from the big blind to put him to the test. XBraumeister wanted to take that test and called all-in for nearly 9 million more chips with [As][Jd]. Kalmuka showed [Kd][6d]. The cards rolled off as if specifically for kalmuka, and the [5c][7h][8s][4d][3c] board made the straight. XBraumeister was exed out in seventh place, which was worth a $38,376.00 payday.

Feisty finalists finally agree to a deal

The last six players standing took a break from the action to discuss the possibility of a deal, and though it took more than 30 minutes of sometimes-touchy discussions, the players finally agreed on some numbers. With $30,000 set aside for the eventual winner, the payouts were determined to be as follows:

Seat 2: IkBenEenBaas (8,343.081 in chips) = $108,438.49
Seat 3: BlackMojos (7,172,027 in chips) = $99,255.65
Seat 4: upstrick77 (14,744,082 in chips) = $135,354.39
Seat 5: dickkemp (9,231,868 in chips) = $109,075.66
Seat 6: kalmuka (39,457,880 in chips) = $204,574.03
Seat 9: SeraphimV (16,991,062 in chips) = $146,066.56

Play resumed a little more cautiously than expected, but it was upstrick77 who seemed anxious to get involved. After dickkemp took a reasonable pot from upstrick77, the latter took only a short time before getting involved in a raising war with SeraphimV. Upstrick77 was all-in holding [Kc][Js], and SeraphimV showed [Ah][Qc]. The dealer gave them a [Ts][3h][5h][Jh][Kd] board, and SeraphimV improved to a straight. Upstrick77 was down and out in sixth place with $135,354.39.

BlackMojos doubled through SeraphimV, which relegated the latter to second place on the leaderboard. But BlackMojos was on the move. Dickkemp pushed all-in with [As][4c], and BlackMojos was there with [Qc][Qs], which only improved to a set on the [Jh][3d][8c][7c][Qh] board. Dickkemp was kicked out in fifth place, for which he received $109,075.66. And that put BlackMojos in second place on the board.

Short-stacked IkBenEenBaas got involved with SeraphimV to see a flop of [Qs][Qc][7s], at which point IkBenEenBaas bet, SeraphimV check-raised, and IkBenEenBaas called all-in holding [Ts][Tc]. SeraphimV had [Kd][7d] but was saved by the [Ah] turn and [As] river that gave him the better two pair. IkBenEenBaas was booted in fourth place with $108,438.49.

Some changing of the chips took place over the next while, as BlackMojos doubled through kalmuka, who then doubled through SeraphimV. The three played quite selectively over the course of the next few rounds, but the following win by BlackMojos changed the scenery:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Two hands later, SeraphimV risked the remainder of his chips with [Td][Th], and kalmuka called with [As][Js]. The board of [Ac][2s][5c][Jc][3h] gave kalmuka the jacks. That meant that SeraphimV, who previously placed second in a Sunday Million in 2009 and fifth in another in 2010, was gone this time in third place. The prize amount for SeraphimV was $146,066.56.

Bulgaria battles US in heads-up duel

The final match of the night got underway at the 11.5 hour mark, and the players’ counts were:

Seat 3: BlackMojos (64490288 in chips)
Seat 6: kalmuka (31449712 in chips)

Kalmuka worked quietly and finally found a double-up spot with pocket aces, which stood up to the A-10 offsuit of BlackMojos. That double put kalmuka in the lead, but the stacks were fairly close, and it was anyone’s game. But BlackMojos climbed slowly but steadily back into the lead, though kalmuka found another ideal double-up spot and found that A-2 can handily beat pocket jacks.

At the half-hour mark of the battle, the stacks were nearly even once again. But as time went on, kalmuka found another chance and doubled again, that time with 6-4 offsuit against the A-K suited of BlackMojos. That pot, worth nearly 94.5 million chips, left BlackMojos crippled.

One double-up for BlackMojos led to another attempt, and all 1,528,368 chips went in holding [9h][3d]. Kalmuka showed [3h][2h] and hit the [7d][6s][Kc][2s][Jd] for the pair of deuces. That left BlackMojos out in second place with $99,255.65.

Kalmuka won the March 20 Sunday Million, and the Bulgarian won $234,574.03 and the title. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 03/20/11:

1st place: kalmuka ($234,574.03)*
2nd place: BlackMojos ($99,255.65)*
3rd place: SeraphimV ($146,066.56)*
4th place: IkBenEenBaas ($108,438.49)*
5th place: dickkemp ($109,075.66)*
6th place: upstrick77 ($135,354.39)*
7th place: XBraumeister ($38,376.00)
8th place: Mr_BigQueso ($19,188.00)
9th place: PureCash25 ($13,047.84)

*results of a six-way deal

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

Tags: action | belarus | lists | online-poker | pokerstars | rio | sunday-million | time

Tonight was a warm-up for the Sunday Million players. No, not that Warm-Up, but more of a preparation of sorts for next week’s action. For those who haven’t heard, the March 6th Sunday Million plans to up the ante, so to speak, with a special $5 million guarantee. Not only will that guarantee at least $1 million for first place, but there will also be the added incentive – as if that’s necessary – of a Lamborghini Gallardo for the winner. So, yeah, it looks to be sort of a big deal.

That didn’t make this week’s Sunday Million any less of a big deal, though. And players looking to score big prior to next week’s challenge came up with the $215 to enter the February 27th Sunday Million. In fact, there were 9,147 of those players, which pushed the prize pool well past the $1.5 million guarantee to where it landed at $1,829,400. Substantial, no?

The starting field dwindled quickly as the hours passed, and the money bubble eventually burst so the top 1,350 finishers could be assured of a payout. That group included several members of Team PokerStars, and they exited in the money as follows: Liv Boeree in 1211st place, Juan Manuel Pastor in 1162nd, Henrique Pinho in 1026th, Team Online’s Andrew “foucault82″ Brokos in 851st, Theo Jorgensen in 695th, Marcello del Grosso in 606th, Andre Akkarri in 576th, and Dennis Phillips in 462nd. The last Team Pro standing was Tom McEvoy, who departed in 280th place.

Play continued with fewer and fewer tables remaining, until the tense hand-for-hand play indicated that the bubble loomed. Part of that tension came from Flush_Entity, who was reduced to a stack of less than 1 million chips at one point but doubled up enough times to move to the middle of the pack and avoid elimination. But rolstoel wasn’t so lucky. When WinnersClub challenged with [As][Js], rolstoel called from the small blind with [Ah][9s]. The board of [Td][9d][Qs][Tc][Jd] left rolstoel out in tenth place with $9,512.88.

Baza88 buzzes into final table with chip lead

It was near the end of Level 37, with blinds at 250,000/500,000 and a 50,000 ante, that the final table was set, later than most Sundays. But the players were energized and ready to go with the following chip counts:

Seat 1: BonesMaster (8,432,900 in chips)
Seat 2: csacsi111 (10,651,170 in chips)
Seat 3: SoulMaster7 (11,244,391 in chips)
Seat 4: WinnersClub (11,450,078 in chips)
Seat 5: BaZa88 (15,958,284 in chips)
Seat 6: JustPushIt (7,740,182 in chips)
Seat 7: Flush_Entity (9,571,440 in chips)
Seat 8: G6Dragon (9,564,265 in chips)
Seat 9: kenmrvegas (6,857,290 in chips)

Well into the tenth hour of the tournament, action got underway. Just a few hands in, csacsi111 and BonesMaster chopped a 20.3 million-chip pot, and it was fairly evident that the players were ready for some big pots.

About ten minutes later, BonesMaster was ready to move again, but it was G6Dragon who made the first move by pushing all-in. BonesMaster called from the big blind for little more than 8 million chips with [Ad][Th], and G6Dragon showed [5c][5h]. The first four cards came [8h][7c][6d][4s] to give G6Dragon the straight, meaning the [Tc] on the river was inconsequential. BonesMaster was out in ninth place with $12,805.80.

JustPushIt doubled through SoulMaster7 to stay alive, and the latter became the short stack.

Players flushed, not feeling fly like a G6

However, it was Flush_Entity who was the next to risk it all. When BaZa88 made the initial move, Flush_Entity called all-in from the big blind with [Ah][Qh], which had the advantage over the [Ac][Ts] of BaZa88. But the flop of [Th][6c][7h] brought the ten for the pair, and the [As] turn and [Ks] river only turned that into two pair. Flush_Entity, who made this exact final table last week and took seventh place, accepted eighth place and the $20,123.40 that went with it this week.

A short time later, G6Dragon and WinnersClub tangled in a massive pot. The preflop raising war led to G6Dragon pushing all-in for 15,934,398 with [Js][Jh], and WinnersClub called with [Kh][Ks]. The board was interesting with [As][3s][8s][5s][9h] bringing a flush to both players, but WinnersClub had the higher one with the king, and G6Dragon departed in seventh place with $36,588.00.

SoulMaster7 scored a significant double-up through csacsi111 that put him in contention for the top spot on the leaderboard. Play then slowed tremendously, and deal-talk suggestions fell flat. SoulMaster7 lost ground, as did kenmrvegas, over the next 25 minutes.

But it was csacsi111 who ultimately chose to move all-in preflop with [Kh][3d]. WinnersClub made the call with [Ts][Tc], and that hand only improved on the [9d][Jh][9s][8d][6d] board. Csacsi111 was gone in sixth place with $54,882.00.

WinnersClub turning others away at the door

As raise-and-take-it became the mantra of the remaining players, the one who took the most was WinnersClub, slowly but surely jumping out to a massive lead over the other competitors.

Short-stacked kenmrvegas, on the other hand, decided to make a move with [Qc][8s], and SoulMaster7 made the call with [Ks][Qs]. As the cards were dealt, [7d][Ts][6s][Jc][2s] appeared and created a flush for SoulMaster7 to secure the chips in the pot. It didn’t matter where kenmrvegas went, but he had to get outta here, though he was able to leave with $73,176.00 for the fifth place finish.

Just after the 11.5-hour break, WinnersClub made a standard raise to kick off the hand, and BaZa88 pushed all-in from the small blind holding [9h][9s]. That would’ve been a solid hand if WinnersClub didn’t have [Ad][Ac]. The board of [4c][Ts][3c][3d][Td] changed nothing, and BaZa88 waved goodbye as he walked away with $91,470.00.

Pushing it

JustPushIt was continually asking if they were interested in deal talks, and though he received no responses, he did receive chips. The short stack first doubled through SoulMaster7 when 9-3 bested A-3. And two hands later, a double-up through the chip leader looked like this:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Suddenly, JustPushIt was in second place of the final three. And moments later, SoulMaster7 moved all-in with [Qd][Td], and JustPushIt was there to make the call with [Jc][8c]. The board of [Th][9s][2s][7h][7c] was on the side of JustPushIt to bring on the straight, and SoulMaster7 was out of the tournament in third place, which was worth $136,198.83.

Deal? No deal; play on

The final two players began their match with the following counts:

Seat 4: WinnersClub (31,875,997 in chips)
Seat 6: JustPushIt (59,594,003 in chips)

They quickly decided to pause the game to look at chip-chop numbers, but JustPushIt didn’t like what resulted. With no agreement in place, the two resumed action. Caution was the word going forward, but WinnersClub was losing chips fairly quickly.

About ten minutes into the duel, WinnersClub finally made the move for 17,755,997 chips holding [Kd][Qd], and JustPushIt called with [3s][3h]. No face cards appeared on the [6h][7c][9h][8s][2c] board, which eliminated WinnersClub in second place for $192,087.00.

JustPushIt became the night’s Sunday Million champion, walking away with the title and $261,243.18 in cash. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 02/27/11:

1st place: JustPushIt ($261,243.18)
2nd place: WinnersClub ($192,087.00)
3rd place: SoulMaster7 ($136,198.83)
4th place: BaZa88 ($91,470.00)
5th place: kenmrvegas ($73,176.00)
6th place: csacsi111 ($54,992.00)
7th place: G6Dragon ($36,588.00)
8th place: Flush_Entity ($20,123.40)
9th place: BonesMaster ($12,805.80)

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

Tags: ept | flush | liv boeree | players | pokerstars | river | straight | sunday-warm-up | winners

At the end of each month, PokerStars waves goodbye to that page on the calendar with special tournaments for its players. But to kick this January out the door, there were numerous bits of excitement to keep poker players and fans entertained on a Sunday that was anything but ordinary. The Battle of the Planets rewarded the month’s top sit-n-go players with a sizeable freeroll, the Turbo Takedown awarded $1 million (and a car!), and the WBCOOP gave poker bloggers more chances at big prizes with its Main Event. And to top it all off, Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom battled Daniel Cates in a SuperStar Showdown.

Of course, there were the usual head-turning events that make up the Sunday majors as well. That brought us to the Sunday Million, where players line up each week to take a shot at the $1.5 million guarantee. When registration stopped for this week’s big tournament, it showed 8,994 competitors at the tables and a subsequent prize pool of $1,798,800.00.

The passage of several hours of play led to the bursting of the money bubble that allowed the top 1,350 finishers to be paid for their efforts. In that group, several well-known players could be found via the list of Team PokerStars Pros, including Humberto Brenes, who exited in 1333rd place, Jason Mercier in 927th, Christian “el grillo” de Leon in 779th, Henrique Pinho in 758th, Tom McEvoy in 141st, and Johnny Lodden in 109th. And as the action continued toward the last few tables, one PokerStar continued to shine as Vanessa Selbst took over the top position on the leaderboard with three tables remaining.

Play moved more quickly than usual. With ten players and hand-for-hand play in action, Stev0L tangled with chip leader Daut44 on every street as the board came [Ts][6d][4d][Qs]. It was then that Stev0L made the all-in move with [Ah][Td], but Daut44 called with [Th][6h] and two pair. It held up through the [2h] on the river, and Stev0L departed in tenth place with $9,353.76.

Daut44 undoubtedly leads the pack

It was only 9 hours and 15 minutes into the tournament when the final table got underway. That meant that Level 33 provided blinds of 100,000/200,000 and a 20,000 ante, and the starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: Daut44 (19,379,569 in chips)
Seat 2: robinho (3,393,748 in chips)
Seat 3: salfshb (7,556,067 in chips)
Seat 4: ZeeJustin (12,249,794 in chips)
Seat 5: V. Selbst (13,112,007 in chips)
Seat 6: wwwBTHEREcom (9,787,977 in chips)
Seat 7: Drewfus81 (7,353,380 in chips)
Seat 8: binhoeiji (13,132,185 in chips)
Seat 9: Leveret2 (3,975,273 in chips)

Only a few hands into the action saw a big hand develop. After an initial raise by Daut44, short-stacked robinho reraised all-in for just 3,293,748 chips. But Vanessa “V.Selbst” Selbst came over the top with her own all-in move. That prompted Daut44 to get out of the way, and Selbst showed [Ac][Kh], which was ahead of the [Ad][Qs] of robinho. Nothing about the [8s][5h][2d][5c][Js] changed the outcome, and robinho was ousted in ninth place with $12,591.60.

Just before the first break, Selbst used her aggression to take over first place on the leaderboard, though Daut44 was prepared to take it back a short time later. And after that break, Drewfus81 was able to double through ZeeJustin to stay in the game.

ZeeJustin tried to recover from that hit. A hand that started with a raise from binhoeiji and call from Daut44 found ZeeJustin pushing all-in for little less than 3.5 million chips. Binhoeiji called, Daut44 folded, and ZeeJustin showed [9d][9s]. But binhoeiji turned over the dreaded [Ac][Ad], and those aces held as the dealer gave them a board of [Qc][6c][Ts][4h][2s]. Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo was out of the tournament in eighth place with $19,786.80 to show for it.

Daut44 then proceeded to take a 7.5 million-chip pot from Selbst, and salfshb doubled through Selbst. Things were getting dicey for the Team PokerStars Pro.

Meanwhile, short-stacked Leveret2 finally decided to move it or lose it. The all-in push came preflop with [Ad][Tc], and original raiser binhoeiji called with [Qh][Jd]. The board of [8h][2d][Th][9c][Qd] gave binhoeiji the straight, and Leveret2 was left with a pair of tens, which meant a seventh place departure and a $35,976.00 payday.

As Daut44 continued to soar, the following hand gave him a substantial lead over the rest of the pack:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Salfshb then took another hit when wwwBTHEREcom doubled through, leaving the former with less than 4 million chips.

But it was Selbst who was the next to risk her tournament life. From the small blind, she pushed all-in for 6,467,701 chips with [Ks][3s], but wwwBTHEREcom decided to call from the big blind [Ad][4d]. The flop of [Ah][As][5h] was not what Selbst wanted to see, as it gave wwwBTHEREcom trip aces, and the [6s] turn and [Kh] river ended the hand. Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst was gone from the Sunday Million in sixth place, for which she received $53,964.00 for the deep finish.

Finally, salfshb took a shot with [Qc][4h], and Daut44 called 1,777,507 more chips from the big blind with [Td][7d]. The dealer handed them a flop of [8s][6d][Qh] to make things look even better for salfshb, but the [9d] and [Kd] that followed gave Daut44 the diamond flush. Salfshb was out in fifth place with $71,952.00.

Drewfus81 was the next to be in danger, pushing all-in preflop with [Ac][9c]. After Daut44 reraised from the big blind, original raiser wwwBTHEREcom left the party. Daut44 showed [7c][7s], and he improved to two pair with the reveal of the [8d][Qd][Jc][4h][8s] board. Drewfus81 left in fourth place with $89,940.00.

Final three agree on deal

At the onset of three-handed play, the finalists took a break from the tournament to discuss a possible deal. After some numbers were given and adjustments made per the players’ requests, an arrangement was made to accept the following numbers, considering that $30,000 was set aside to be added to the winner’s total:

Seat 1: Daut44 (46,720,015 in chips) = $208,668.16
Seat 6: wwwBTHEREcom (17,463,655 in chips) = $165,000.00
Seat 8: binhoeiji (25,756,330 in chips) = $176,000.00

Play resumed, and it only took a few hands for wwwBTHEREcom to put it all on the line with A-K offsuit against the pocket jacks of Daut44. An ace on the turn gave wwwBTHEREcom the double-up and the chip lead for the first time at the final table. But when binhoeiji doubled through wwwBTHEREcom, it was binhoeiji in the top spot. All three players were fairly close in chip counts, though, until wwwBTHEREcom’s aggression put him out in front by a margin. It was hands like this that made it happen:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Ultimately, it was binhoeiji who got into a raising war with wwwBTHEREcom, and binhoeiji finally pushed all-in with [5h][5c]. But wwwBTHEREcom showed [Kh][Kc], and that pair held up through the dealing of the [9d][6c][3d][Ad][2h] board. Binhoeiji had to depart with $176,000.00 for the third place finish.

Heads-up play began immediately, with the following counts:

Seat 1: Daut44 (12,649,815 in chips)
Seat 6: wwwBTHEREcom (77,290,185 in chips)

Daut44 made an effort but was able to make little headway against a tough opponent with a majority of the chips. Any progress was chipped away quickly. Finally, Daut44 had enough and responded to a wwwBTHEREcom raise with an all-in move for just less than 14 million chips. The easy call was made by wwwBTHEREcom with [Kh][Ks], while Daut44 showed [7h][5h]. The cards came [6h][4d][As][4c][Ts], and Ryan “Daut44″ Daut had to accept second place and the $208,668.16 that went with it.

The winner of this week’s Sunday Million was wwwBTHEREcom, and the prize was $195,000.00. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 01/30/11:

1st place: wwwBTHEREcom ($195,000.00)*
2nd place: Daut44 ($208,668.16)*
3rd place: binhoeiji ($176,000.00)*
4th place: Drewfus81 ($89,940.00)
5th place: salfshb ($71,952.00)
6th place: Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa “V. Selbst” Selbst ($53,964.00)
7th place: Leveret2 ($35,976.00)
8th place: ZeeJustin ($19,786.80)
9th place: robinho ($12,591.60)

*Results of a three-way chop

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

Tags: ept | isildur1 | money | planets | pokerstars | selbst | team pokerstars pro | vanessa-selbst | wbcoop

12.10am: Play over
That’s it for the night. It looks like Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver will be our overnight chip leader with 245,300. A full list of counts will be made available on the chip count page as soon as we get it, while a full wrap of today’s play will be with you shortly. — SY

11.55pm: Last few hands
The clock has been stopped with 15 minutes left, and dealers have been told to deal just five more hands. Then players will bag and tag – and we get to go to bed. — SY

11.50pm: Minieri versus Heimiller
Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri just tangled and came out on top against Dan Heimiller. The diminutive Italian raised and then four-bet when Heimiller three-bet him. Heimiller called to see the [4d][6h][5s] flop but soon faced a 35,000 all-in bet from Minieri. He folded and Minieri showed [ah] and scooped the pot to move up to 75,000, whereas Heimiller drops to 56,000. — MC

11.48pm: Horecki straightens up
Marcin Horecki bust a player with [3h][5h] on a [6h][4c][kd][7h][js] board, his opponent mucking [6d][7d] for two pair. — SY

11.44pm: Lewis battering his way towards the chip lead
I wandered over to EPT Vilamoura winner Toby Lewis to see how his tournament was going. “110,000. And it’s been up and down,” he said with a smile and a backwards nod to Dario Minieri, the Team PokerStars Pros that specialises in a form of irascible poker.

That 110,000 was about to grow. Fresh meat had just settled into the seven seat, two seats to Lewis’ right, and it decided to raise to 3,000. Lewis called in the hijack, incredibly Minieri decided to muck his hand in the cut-off but Dan Heimiller opted to see the flop from the small blind.

The meat c-bet 7,000 on a [8h][9c][2c] flop and Lewis, after sitting statue still for 30 seconds, raised it up to 18,500. Heimiller wanted no part of this nonsense and passed his hand. The meat did not. Call.

The [5h] didn’t stop Lewis who fired 23,500. He was called again. A [td] on the river would have completed a gutshot straight draw (six-seven would have got there already) and Lewis moved all-in putting his opponent’s remaining 45,000 to the test. He didn’t like the taste of it and mucked his hand. Lewis is up to over 150,000. — RD

11.40pm: Deeb done
Shaun Deeb is out with less than half an hour left to play on Day 1A. He opened for 2,500 and was re-raised by Jonas Becker who made it 7,000 to play. Deeb immediately lumped the last of his stack, a few thousand, into the middle and Becker called, turning over [ac][js] to face Deeb’s [tc][td].

All looked good for Deeb until the river card, the board running [as][6c][jd][ts][jh]. Deeb had been ready to go, was ready to stay on the turn, then got up to leaves on the river. – SB

11.35pm: Lucky number 7
Faced with a 2,600 raise, Eric Froehlich moved all-in for 31,700. Jim Fennel, to his left, also moved all-in. The raiser folded and Froehlich and Fennel were heads-up.

Froehlich showed [7d][7h] and was trailing Fennel’s [kd][kc]. The flop came [5d][9d][6d], giving both players a flush draw. The turn was a [7c], giving one player a set. There was no metaphorical ace on the river for Fennel, it was literally the [5c].

Froehlich doubled up and is now sitting behind 65,000.

11.30pm: Dabul down
Veronica Dabul has moved table and is now directly to the right of one of the chip leaders, Team PokerStars Pro Peter de Korver. Dabul opened for 3,000 from the cut off which De Korver called from the button. The big blind also called for a flop of [ad][4c][9d]. The big blind checked to Dabul who bet 4,500 of her stack of 15,000. De Korver, reaching to his stack which dwarfs Dabul’s, peeled off a raise to 10,200, effectively making it an all-in move to call for the Argentinian. As the big blind passed Dabul moved from side to side in her chair and after a minute of thought, passed. — SB

11.25pm: Marching Martin
PokerStars qualifier Mathieu Martin is up to 170,000 and part of this is thanks to Erik Seidel. The seven-time bracelet winner raised from the button and Martin defended from the big blind to see a [kd][8d][qd] flop. Martin check-called a 5,000 bet before the [3c] turn and [js] river were checked down. Martin tabled [kh][9h] and it was good for the pot as Seidel mucked to drop to 23,500. — MC

PokerStars qualifier Matthieu Martin

11.20pm: Mighty Minieri
Dario Minieri is up to 77,000, eliminating an opponent in the process. With betting and calling across a board of [2c][5h][qc][4d][tc] the Italian turned over [7c][3c] for a flush to beat [ks][qs]. The broad grin was in place as the departed gave a curt nod to a friend nearby to signal catastrophic failure. — SB

11.15pm: Rubbing it in
We’re used to seeing the lovely massage ladies at the tables, but it’s unusual to see three of them working the same turf. Right now Gigi is soothing the back of Victor Ramdin; Viviana is untying the knots in Justin Smith’s shoulders and Carolyne is busy with Phil Ivey’s neck.

Enjoy, gentlemen! — SY

11.10pm: Dutch heater continues
Team PokerStars Pro Pieter de Korver continues his surge up the leader board. He’s now broken through 200,000 after hitting a jack-high flop with A-J and following that with an A-K coup against pocket jacks. — SY

Pieter de Korver

11.08pm: Reasons to be fearful
This PCA Main Event is so large that there are traps and pitfalls pretty much everywhere you look but sometimes it’s the ones that don’t seem that dangerous at first glance that are the most venomous. This is probably the case for many of the tablemates of Jack Ellwood, aka jackellwood. The young Brit is sat in the nine seat of his table looking, if anything, a little bit nervous. He’s got around 37,000 in front of him, which is not particularly intimidating, but his online record, well, is something to send shivers down anyone’s spine.

Ellwood had an incredible 2010 which was ignited by a second place finish at the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Manchester for £37,500, which equates to around $60,000. Maybe it served as a confidence boost but something happened that weekend because Ellwood went on to win, win and win some more. He binked $237,644 in a $535 tournament and a further $51,017 the same night.

That was the beginning. He then finished third in the $2,100 SCOOP for $206,720 and fifth in the $5,200 WCOOP main event for $509,976. Not a bad year for someone who had previously scored $10k as their largest win. The question is whether 2011 will continue on in the same vein. In the meantime, Ellwood sits and waits. His tablemates have little idea they’re one step away from danger. — RD

Jack Ellwood: It’s always the quiet ones that you have to worry about

LEVEL UP: Blinds 600-1,200, 100 ante

11.05pm: The Heimiller manoeuvre
Daniel Heimiller is up to 53,000 in a that ended with him facing off against EPT Vilamoura winner, Toby Lewis. There was a mid-position raise to 2,500 that Lewis called from the hijack as did both blinds. The flop came [6c][3h][4d] and Lewis bet 5,300 when the action checked to him. Only Heimiller called to see the [ac] turn where both players checked. The river came [js] before Heimiller led for 7,600. Lewis tanked for two minutes but folded to leave himself with around 100,000. — MC

10.55pm: Poluzhnikov power
Phil Ivey has switched tables, his previous home breaking up, taking with it a few barrier poles and some railbirds. He arrived at his new table with the same expression of detachment, back straight, eyes wide and head cocked to one side slightly as if he were listening to a baseball game on a radio in the next room. He pays no attention to Victor Ramdin and Oleg Poluzhnikov playing a hand.

On a flop of [4d][tc][9d] Ramdin checked in the big blind then called Poluzhnikov’s bet of 9,000 for a [2d] turn card. Both checked that for a [t] river. Again Ramdin checked and watched Poluzhnikov bet 10,000. Ramdin tanked a short while then called. Poluzhnikov turned over [kd][ks] for a winning flush.

“I hit the worst card in the deck,” said Ramdin, admitting to having mucked ace-ten. – SB

10.48pm: Ivey comes last in three-way race
Phil Ivey had the chance to knock out two players in one hand whilst holding the best hand but came last out of the three. Brian David Zimcosky moved all-in for his last 6,500 from mid-position and Ivey called before John Kenneth Leathart moved all-in for just 300 more. Ivey made the call with [9h][9c], ahead of [qd][jd] and [7c][7d].

The board ran out [7h][ac][2d][4d][jh] hitting set for Leathart and eliminating Zimcosky. Ivey down a little to 88,000. — MC

10.40pm: Brown and out
No longer in his seat, and therefore presumed out, is Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown. — SY

10.35pm: A Dutch bink
Pieter de Korver made it 2,000 then called when Andras Kovacs moved all-in for around 14,000. De Korver’s pocket nines were a mile behind Kovac’s [as][ac] and the [6s][kh][5] flop and [6d] turn were no help. The river, however, was [9h] and the two outer sent more chips De Korver’s way. He now has 160,000. — SY

Pieter de Korver

10.30pm: Visser loses a race
Team PokerStars Pro Ruben Visser is down to 22,000 after doubling up his neighbour. His ace-king couldn’t get there versus his opponents’ pocket nines, especially after another nine appeared on the flop. — MC

10.25pm: Victor-y for Smith
Justin Smith is up to 85,000 after forcing Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin into folding. The two made it to a [6s][kd][qs] flop where Smith check-raised Ramdin’s 5,700 (7,000 in the pot) up to 15,400. Ramdin looked like he was considering something tricky but ultimately folded to leave himself with 56,000. — MC

10:20pm: Minieri can fold
This might well deserve its own post, if not a 5,000-word magazine article, but the breaking news of the moment is a shocker: Dario Minieri has found the ability to fold. It came as a massive surprise to all who watched. He was facing a bet of more than 20,000 on a [qh][kc][6h][kd][7c] board. He asked the dealer to spread out the pot, in which was more than 40,000. Minieri agonized. He only had two choices: call or raise. Because, as we once thought, he certainly couldn’t fold. But, then he did, sending shockwaves of horror and disgust across this airplane hangar of a room. He still has more than 80,000 in his stack, down from around 100,000 at the last break. A lot of that happened when he played some small suited connectors, caught a gunshot and and backdoor flush draw on the flop. There was no question what would happen then. That’s the nuts for Minieri. He made his straight by the river and put a huge bet in, but his opponent Toby Lewis folded.

“Everybody thinks I bluffed,” Minieri said, “but I had a hand!”

Whatever you say, Dario. –BW

10.20pm: Hahn now with Ivey
Having won his trip here to play Isildir1 (Viktor Blom) heads-up, Nicholas Hahn is now concentrating on the main event, where he is sat with Mr Phil Ivey. Hahn is going along nicely with a stack of 120,000. — SY

10.15pm: Seiver skewered
If you took the bet against Scott Seiver, you won. Seiver moved all in for about 12,000 and was called by Chad Eveslage. Seiver showed [9h][9d] and was up against Eveslage’s [jh][qd]. The race was on.

The board was [7h][3d][10h][2h][kh]. Giving both players a flush, but Eveslage’s was higher. Seiver took his things and made his way to the rail. “I actually thought I was going to win that one,” said Seiver as he walked out. — AV

10.12pm: Prager bust
The first half of Team Prager team has come up short. Josh Prager was just eliminated but got his chips in good. He open shoved for 12,000 and was followed into the pot by the player on the push who moved in for 13,000.

Prager tabled [ks][qs], ahead of his opponent’s [kd][jd]. The board a diamond friendly [ad][6d][5h][6h][5d] to make Prager’s opponent a flush. “Oh well”, he said “Helen’s turn tomorrow”. — MC

10:00pm: Two more hours
After a break to get rid of the green chips (who needs those pesky 25 denomination things anyway), the players are headed back to their seats for the final two levels of the night.

While we wait for the cards to get back in the air, here’s a look at our own personal Hemmingway, aka Tom McEvoy.

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of healthy dinner choices): Simon Young (green salad), Brad Willis (tuna wrap), Alex Villegas (pizza), Marc Convey (a giant, sort of obscene hot dog)

Tags: chip | ept | italian | online | pokerstars | river | Tom McEvoy | united-kingdom

The days are running out. Not many more chances to add that one last big score to the 2010 ledger. Such perhaps was the thinking of at least some of those who came out for the final Sunday Million of the year.

The $215 buy-in no-limit hold’em — the largest weekly tournament in online poker — attracted a larger-than-average field on Sunday with 8,947 coming out to play. That group together built a total prize pool of $1,789,400, easily exceeding the $1.5 million guarantee. The top 1,350 finishers were due to get paid, with the winner scheduled to see that year-end section of the graph catapult upward a dizzying $255,531.18.

As is generally the case in these Sunday Millions, it took just about four hours for the money bubble to burst. About 40 minutes later, 1,000 players remained, with RBC* out in front, followed by rh300487, gaz09, frtk, and Zackattak13.

Earlier in the afternoon, Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis sent out a tweet saying he was playing the Sunday Million. “Been a while since I played online tournaments,” added the Dutch player. “Doing pretty well.”

A while later he was tweeting that he’d moved near the top of the chip counts. “If you wanna rail come quick,” he said. “Might be out soon.”

Well, at the five-hour-and-20 minute mark things were still going pretty well for the player also known as “RaSZi.” In fact, they were going about as well as could be, as Veldhuis was sitting in first place with 500 players remaining. Following him at that point were rh300487, RBC*, draiziene, and shipsyy filling out the top five.

Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis

Veldhuis would drop from the top spot, but continued to battle over the next two hours as the field shrunk to 100 players.

By then a couple of Team PokerStars Pros had cashed — Team Online member Dusty “Leatherass9″ Schmidt in 1,316th ($304.19) and Chad Brown of Team PokerStars U.S. in 660th ($483.13) — but four more Team PS players still remained with chips: Tom McEvoy (United States), Bryan Huang (Singapore), Pat Pezzin (Canada), and Veldhuis (Netherlands).

Of the four, Huang was in the best shape in 18th place, Pezzin sat in 33rd, Veldhuis in 78th, and McEvoy in 94th. Meanwhile, DBL BOGEY101 had moved in the leader’s spot, followed by threatnasty, woody1234321, Anita seek, and draiziene.

McEvoy’s super-short-stack had put him in the danger zone, but he soon improved his status considerably after doubling up in a hand in which he had pushed all in with [Jd][Jh] and was up against HisJazz’s [Ad][Kc]. On that hand a king flopped, but so did a jack. Then the fourth jack appeared on the turn, and the 1983 WSOP Main Event champion suddenly found himself back in the middle of the pack.

Veldhuis was less fortunate, however. The table having folded around to him, Veldhuis open-raised his below-average stack all in from the small blind with [Kh][10h] and tupacmn called, having woken up in the big blind with [Ah][Qd]. Five cards later, Veldhuis was out in 94th place ($1,610.46).

As the tourney crossed the eight-hour mark, the blinds had crept up to 30,000/60,000 when Bart0071 had made a slightly-more-than-2x raise from UTG. It folded back to Bryan Huang who called from the big blind, leaving himself just 205,260. Huang then shoved the [5s][6d][Jc] flop with [Ad][3d], and Bart0071 called with pocket nines. The best hand held, and Huang was out in 57th place ($2,684.10).

Players continued to fall, My Brim Low (49th, $2,952.51), Kroko-dll (42nd, $3,220.92), and mtvdeuem (38th, $3,220.92) among them. The blinds were at 65,000/130,000, when Sembawangboy opened with a minimum-raise from under the gun, then McEvoy pushed all in from the hijack seat for 1,862,493. Anita seku called from the button, and the blinds and Sembawangboy got out. McEvoy had pocket queens and Anita seku [Ac][Kc]. A king flopped, McEvoy couldn’t catch a saving queen, and McEvoy was out in 29th place ($3,489.33).

After marcolina went out in 28th ($3,489.33), just three tables remained with Pezzin the lone remaining Team PokerStars Pro in 17th place.

Team PokerStars Pro Pat Pezzin

Just after the nine-hour mark they were down to 18, and Pezzin was still hanging on in 18th with a little over 1.1 million — not quite six big blinds. By then, Anita seku had pushed in front with more than 16.2 million, followed by pageh656 with 12.28 million and Disho with 7.26 million.

A couple of eliminations later, Pezzin committed his stack with [Ac][10c] and was in need of help versus jesus86′s [As][Kh]. None came, however, and Pezzin was gone in 16th place ($4,473.50).

A short while after that — just as the tourney was reaching 10 hours — jpous eliminated kuller in 10th place ($9,304.88), and the final table was set.

Seat 1: jesus86 — 6,234,718
Seat 2: Disho — 6,691,746
Seat 3: pageh656 — 17,184,585
Seat 4: brianm15 — 6,956,398
Seat 5: Dick_Fosbury — 13,002,761
Seat 6: Anita seku — 15,790,235
Seat 7: F P C — 15,970,992
Seat 8: jpous — 3,704,845
Seat 9: T8MML — 3,933,720

On the fifth hand of the final table, brianm15 opened with a minimum-raise to 600,000 from early position, then it folded around to T8MML on the button who pushed all in for 2,933,720. The blinds folded, and brianm15 called, showing [8h][8c] to T8MML’s [Qd][Kh]. The board came [7h][Td][5s][9c][4d], and T8MML was quickly out in ninth.

About 10 minutes later the blinds were 200,000/400,000 when Discho open-raised all in from the button for 5,040,969, then chip leader pageh656 reraised all in, forcing a fold from brianm15 in the big blind. pageh656 showed [Ah][8d] and Disho [Jd][5d]. The five community cards came [Th][Qs][6h][Qc][Ac], and Disho was eliminated in eighth.

Six hands later, brianm15 was down to just 652,718 and sitting under the gun. Rather than wait for the blinds, brianm15 pushed all in, then Anita seku reraised to 905,436 from middle position. It folded to pageh656 in the big blind who four-bet to 2,400,500, and Anita seku stepped aside. brianm15 had [Qc][Jc], behind pageh656′s [Ah][Js]. The board ran out eight-high — [3s][8d][5s][5c][2d] — and brianm15 was gone in seventh.

pageh656 had pushed out further into the chip lead with more than 30 million, more than twice nearest foes jpous and Anita seku, both of whom sat with just under 15 million.

Meanwhile, jesus86 had become the table’s short stack with just over 1.5 million when he open-raised all in from the button and got a caller in Dick_Fosbury in the big blind. Dick_Fosbury had [9s][7d], meaning jesus86 was ahead to start with [Js][6h]. But it was a Fosbury flop — [4c][Jd][9c] — giving jesus86′s opponent a pair of nines. The turn was the [4h] and river the [Tc], and jesus86 was eighty-sixed in sixth place.

Dick_Fosbury would claim the next victim at the final table as well. After opening with a 3x raise to 2.4 million from the button, F P C reraised all in from the big blind for 6,039,492 and Dick_Fosbury called. F P C had [Kc][Qs] and Dick_Fosbury [Jd][9d]. Both made a pair on the [Ad][9c][Ks] flop, but the [Td] turn and [4d] river gave Dick_Fosbury a diamond flush, sending F P C to the rail in fifth.

Just four hands later, pageh656 opened for 1,650,500 from under the gun, and only Anita seku called from the small blind. Both then checked the [7d][Ks][Jc] flop. The turn brought the [7h], pairing the board. Anita seku bet 1.6 million, pageh656 raised to 3,655,500, Anita pushed all in for 14,119,381, and pageh656 called.

Anita seku showed [Kc][Js] for two pair, but pageh656 had [7s][4s] for trip sevens. The [4c] river made it a full house, and Anita seku was out in fourth.

RSS readers click through to see replay

jpous soon proposed a deal, and while Dick_Fosbury said he was open to one, pageh656 said “not quite ready yet.” A couple more orbits went by, then pageh656 said he was ready to talk. At that point, pageh656 had 52,250,339, jpous 19,660,690, and Dick_Fosbury 17,558,971. The “chip chop” numbers were proposed — leaving $30,000 on the table for which to play — and all three readily agreed.

Play resumed, with Dick_Fosbury scoring a quick double-up through pageh656 with pocket kings versus pageh656′s pocket fours. Soon afterwards the tables were turned, however.

With the blinds 400,000/800,000, pageh656 opened from the small blind for 1,900,500, and Dick_Fosbury promptly raised to 6.4 million from the big blind. pageh656 hesitated for several seconds, then shoved all in. Dick_Fosbury thought a while longer, then called with his remaining 23,837,942, tabling [2c][2h], well behind pageh656′s [Th][Tc]. The board came [6c][3h][Ah][Qh][5c], and Dick_Fosbury was out in third place.

After claiming that pot worth more than 60 million chips, pageh656 enjoyed a commanding lead to begin heads-up play with 67,889,310 to jpous’ 21,580,690. The pair exchanged a few small pots, then, on the eighth hand of heads-up, 11 hours and 15 minutes after the tourney began, the end finally came.

With the blinds up to 500,000/1,000,000 (Level 40), jpous opened with a raise to 2 million from the small blind/button, and pageh656 promptly shoved all in. jpous thought about 10 seconds, then called with [Kd][8d]. pageh656 was behind with [Th][7h], though immediately took the advantage following the [2d][7s][4s] flop. Two cards later — [Jc] and [2s] — and the tournament was over.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Congratulations to pageh656, the final Sunday Million champion of the year!

Sunday Million results for 12/26/10 (*reflects three-way deal):

1st: pageh656 ($249,054.88)*
2nd: jpous ($165,518.36)*
3rd: Dick_Fosbury ($162,065.77)*
4th: Anita seku ($89,470)
5th: F P C ($71,576)
6th: jesus86 ($53,682)
7th: brianm15 ($35,788)
8th: Disho ($19,683.40)
9th: T8MML ($12,525.80)

There are still a few days left to play before we say goodbye to 2010. Check out the PokerStars Online Tournaments page for information on the many events running around the clock.

Tags: anita | ept | from-the-big | pezzin | sunday | sunday-million | team pokerstars pro | Tom McEvoy | under-the-gun | veldhuis

On a day when much of the poker world’s attention remains fixed on Las Vegas — site of the still-concluding final table of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event (details here) — a larger-than-average field of 8,260 players took to the mouse and keyboard for the first Sunday Million of the month, all with hopes of making their own November Nine.

Together that large group created a guarantee-eclipsing $1,652,000 prize pool. The top 1,260 finishers would earn the privilege of dividing up that booty, with the player finishing with all the chips scheduled to receive a healthy $243,009.20 deposit into his or her account.

Turning 200 FPPs into nearly $300

As happens every Sunday, eliminations came at a rapid clip over the first four hours of play, only slowing somewhat as the tourney began to approach the cash bubble. And, as also happens every Sunday, a number of super-short stacks began folding their hands, eyeing those blinds as they crept around the table towards them once again, hoping they’d hang on long enough to make the money.

Among that group this week was Bicman27s, down to just 2,566 chips as the tournament went hand-for-hand. His table having played its hand, he and his tablemates chatted as they waited for the other tables to conclude. When it became apparent there were enough eliminations elsewhere to ensure Bicman27s had cashed, his opponent An Croaibhin congratulated him.

“I GOT IN OFF 200FPP,” typed Bicman27s in response. “Nice pay off,” answered An Croaibhin. He’d be all in the very next hand with [Ac][6h] against
against KKgeoroAA’s [Qd][Jh], and when he flopped trip sixes, then turned quads, the celebratory mood continued.

He’d only last a couple more hands, however, to finish in 1,171st place. Still, as An Croaibhin pointed out, $296.36 is not a bad return at all for having won a Sunday Million seat for just 200 Frequent Player Points!

The Travails of Team PokerStars

The eliminations continued, and with 1,000 players left suren180376, leboace, JoAnne, robots, and danger0us were sitting atop the chip counts.

At that juncture just four of the more than three dozen members of Team PokerStars who entered the Sunday Million had made the cash and still had chips — Tom McEvoy (U.S.), Darus Suharto (Canada), Alexandre “Allingomes” Gomes (Brazil), and Martha “marene” Herrera (Team Online).

Of that group, Suharto would be the first to fall when his [Ac][9d] failed to catch up to young_diam18′s [As][Kc], sending the Canadian out in 820th place ($379.96). The other three would continue to accumulate chips, however, and were all still there with 300 players left, with Herrera having moved into the top 20.

Soon Herrera picked up pocket aces with which she scored a double-knockout of johanfbomb (279th) and mildog11 (278th), both of whom earned $677.32. That hand pushed her near the one million-chip mark and into fourth place behind leader mendieta19, ItalskyB, and gwaag.

Team Online pro Martha “marene” Herrera

A little while later “Allingomes” was all in with [Ad][Td] and against tomaso_13′s [3s][3d]. A ten flopped, but so did a trey, and two cards later Gomes was out in 240th place ($726.88). Next McEvoy would open-shove his stack of just under 15 big blinds with [As][9s] and get called by dridrixs who showed [Jh][Jd]. The jacks held, and McEvoy was out in 161st place ($952.12).

Shortly after crossing the seven-hour mark, 100 players remained, with “marene” still sporting an above-average stack of just over one million chips, good enough for 29th. Mihal Nutt had assumed the chip lead then with a little over 3 million, followed by mcst0002, izzy83, jaspun111, and naznarez2002.

Just about an hour later, with the blinds at 30,000/60,000, Herrera would open-raise all in for her last 326,006 with [Qs][Qc] and hoping to survive against toco who held [Ah][Kc]. Herrera lost the race, however, as the community cards brought an ace, sending the last member of Team PokerStars out in 54th place ($2,808.40).

Finding the Final Nine

With 36 left, izzy83 led the way with more than 6.2 million chips, followed by NickDandolos and mcst0002, both of whom had more than 5 million. With 27 left, Jason “strassa2″ Strasser had moved out in front with 6.87 million, followed by stacksanchez with 6.14 million and mcst0002 with 5.42 million. And as the tourney reached the nine-hour mark they were down to 18, with Strasser still in first, now with 8.82 million, followed by mcst0002 and NickDandolos.

With 11 players left, NickDandolos had moved into the chip lead with more than 13 million, but experienced some bad fortune, losing a big 10 million-plus chip pot to merzavets65. All in before the flop, merzavets65 had [8s][8c] while NickDandolos had [9h][9c]. But an eight in the window gave merzavets65 a set and the hand held, sending NickDandolos back to short-stack status.

naznarez2002 was eliminated in 11th soon thereafter, knocked out by toco. Meanwhile, with the blinds at 200,000/400,000, leboace’s stack had dwindled down to less than half of a single big blind when he was forced all in from the BB in a hand versus chip leader mcst0002. He’d survive that one, but was still super short, and would be knocked out by mcst0002 in the next hand in 10th.

Almost exactly 10 hours after the first hands of the tournament were dealt, the final table — the first “November Nine” of this month’s Sunday Million tourneys — was set:

Seat 1: stacksanchez — 3,250,991
Seat 2: toco — 6,044,882
Seat 3: merzavets65 — 11,513,926
Seat 4: mcst0002 — 22,217,219
Seat 5: stuckndatrap — 5,973,879
Seat 6: izzy83 — 10,179,375
Seat 7: NickDandolos — 8,561,998
Seat 8: reraiser89 — 2,307,973
Seat 9: strassa2 — 12,549,757

Nine Become Three

Soon after the final table began, stacksanchez doubled through NickDandolos, then, almost an orbit later, NickDandolos turned around and doubled back through stacksanchez.

Then, with the blinds still 200,000/400,000, mcst0002 opened for 950,000 from middle position. stuckndatrap, next to act, pushed all in over the top for 4,693,879 total, and it folded back to mcst0002 who made the call. mcst0002 had [Jc][Js] while stuckndatrap had [Ah][Kh]. The board came [5d][Th][7d][9s][2s], and stuckndatrap was the table’s first elimination, finishing in ninth place.

With eight left, stacksanchez was the short stack with 1,750,975, and on the very next hand he’d open shove that stack from UTG. It folded to reraiser89 in the small blind who, true to his name, reraised, though just for 36,998 more. strassa2, who had both players covered, called from the big blind, showing [As][4h]. reraiser89 tabled [Ad][Qc], and stacksanchez [Qd][Jd].

The board brought a couple of pairs — [3c][2c][3s][Kh][2h] — which meant reraiser89 and strassa2 chopped the pot, while stacksanchez hit the rail in eighth.

RSS readers click through to see replay

With the blinds up to 250,000/500,000, it folded to NickDandolos who minimum-raised to 1 million from the small blind. Then reraiser89 pushed all in for 3,353,461 from the BB, and NickDandolos made the call. Both players had woken up with big hands in the blinds, with reraiser89 showing [Qc][Qh] and NickDandolos [As][Ah]. The board came [6s][Ks][Jd][9d][Jc], and reraiser89 was gone in seventh.

Ten hands later, Jason “strassa2″ Strasser opened for 1.1 million from middle position, then merzavets65 reraised all in for 6,583,926 from the small blind. mcst0002 folded the BB, and Strasser called, showing [Kh][Qc] to merzavets65′s [As][Qh].

Looked like a decent spot for merzavets65, but the flop came [2c][9d][Ks], putting Strasser in front. The turn was the [3d] and the river the [5d], and merzavets65 had been felted, leaving in sixth place.

Strasser was at it again just three hands later, open-raising all in from the small blind and getting toco to call from the big blind with his last 2,564,882. toco held [Ad][Tc] and needed help against strassa2′s [As][Jh]. The flop came an intriguing [Kh][Qh][9d], then the [Td] gave Strasser a Broadway straight. The [Th] came on the end, and toco was out in fifth.

That little rush pushed strassa2 close to chip leader mcst0002. mcst0002 had a little over 27 million, while Strasser was up to almost 25.2 million. Meanwhile NickDandolos sat in third with 17.7 million and izzy83, who’d been staying mostly out of everyone’s way thus far, was fourth with nearly 12.6 million.

Those four battled for a while until the tourney reached level 38 (blinds 300,000/600,000). NickDandolos then opened a hand with a 3x raise to 1.8 million from under the gun, and when it folded back to izzy83 in the big blind he called with the 978,750 he had left. izzy83 had but [5d][2s], but both cards were live as NickDandolos held [Kc][Ts].

Then came the flop — [7c][Kh][Ks] — and those two live cards were suddenly pronounced dead. izzy83 was out in fourth.

Let’s Make a Deal

With three left strasser2 was in front with 35.2 million, barely ahead of mcst0002 with 32.5 million while NickDandolos had almost 14.8 million. After a few more hands, Strasser’s stack had remained the same, NickDandolos had climbed to 24.1 million, and mcst0002 22.9 million. That’s when the trio collectively decided to talk about making a deal, and the tourney was paused.

With assistance from Team Online pro Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc, the “chip chop” numbers were proposed and all readily agreed. $30,000 was set aside for the winner, and play quickly recommenced.

On the very first hand back, NickDandolos scored a double-up through Jason Strasser to claim a 48 million-plus chip pot. NickDandolos had [Ad][Qh] and Strasser pocket nines, and while no ace or queen came, four hearts did, thereby catapulting NickDandolos into the lead.

Strasser kept battling, however. While NickDandolos maintained his stack of 48 million, strassa2 built back enough chips to have a slight edge over mcst0002 with 17.3 million to mcst0002′s 16.99 million when the following hand took place.

With the blinds now 400,000/800,000, Strasser opened with a raise to 1.8 million from the small blind, then mcst0002 pushed all in from the big blind. Strasser called instantly, showing [Ac][Ks] to mcst0002′s [6s][6h]. The flop came [Kd][9d][Th], putting Strasser in front, and after the [3s] turn and [Ad] river they were down to the final two.

Heads-Up Play

The first hand of heads-up play saw NickDandolos with the advantage with 48,216,900 chips to Jason “strassa2″ Strasser’s 34,383,100.

After about 35 hands, the pair were nearly even, at which point NickDandolos asked Strasser if he were interested in splitting the remaining $30,000. To do so was not an option, both Strasser and Tourney host Physioc explained. NickDandolos wasn’t too disappointed, though.

NickDandolos: sorry, im super excited.never won so much money

In a way, the line delivered here during the heads-up battle kind of recalled the well-known apology uttered by the historical Nick “the Greek” Dandolos at the end of his million-dollar heads-up match at Binion’s Horseshoe with Johnny Moss over half a century ago. In that one, Dandolos walked away a loser, famously saying “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go” as he did.

But here was an apology of a different sort. Just as Bicman27s had been thrilled earlier in the evening to score nearly $300 from a 200 FPP investment, NickDandolos was also delighted about how his tourney had gone.

Then, about a half-dozen hands later — a little over 11 hours after the tournament had begun — the heads-up battle came to a swift conclusion. And if NickDandolos was “super excited” before, one imagines he was even more so after this hand.

After winning a couple of medium-sized pots, NickDandolos had built his stack up to 62,356,900 when he made a 2x raise to 2 million from the small blind/button. Strasser responded by shoving all in for 20,143,100 total. NickDandolos thought a beat, then made the call, turning over [Qs][9h] and strassa2 showed [Jh][8d].

The flop came [Ac][5h][7s], and NickDandolos was still ahead. Then came the [Qd] turn, pairing NickDandolos and making the [3c] river inconsequential.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Unlike was the case for his namesake in that famous game at Binion’s, NickDandolos was walking away from this one a winner!

Sunday Million Results for 11/7/10 (*reflects three-way deal):

1st: NickDandolos ($195,647.93)*
2nd: strassa2 ($185,266.58)*
3rd: mcst0002 ($163,584.69)*
4th: izzy83 $82,600
5th: toco ($66,080)
6th: merzavets65 ($49,560)
7th: reraiser89 ($33,040)
8th: stacksanchez ($18,172)
9th: stuckndatrap ($12,803)

It was another exciting Sunday at PokerStars. Be sure to come back to the PokerStars blog tomorrow for coverage of the conclusion of the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Then next weekend, log on to PokerStars and perhaps take yourself a seat at the Sunday Million, online poker’s biggest weekly tournament. Check out the Sunday Million page to see how you could have yourself a fun, profitable Sunday like Bicman27s, NickDandolos, and 1,258 others did today.

Tags: 2010 WSOP | bicman27s | ept | final | greed | money | online | race | rio | sunday-million | TOC | world-series

By Pauly
New York City

This just in… the class of 2010 for the Hall of Fame will included Dan Harrington and Erik Sediel. They beat out a tough ballot of ten potential Hall of Famers…

2010 Poker Hall of Fame Ballot:
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson
Barry Greenstein
Jen Harman
Dan Harrington
Phil Ivey
Linda Johnson
Tom McEvoy
Daniel Nereanu
Scotty Nguyen
Erik Seidel

* * * * *
At my first WSOP in 2005, I had no clue about the Hall of Fame ceremony. I knew that the HOF existed and could rattle off a few greats of the game who were enshrined in the hall, but aside from those poker gods, I was clueless about the overall HOF procedures. Heck, up until ten minutes before the press conference, I had no idea that Jack Binion and Crandall Addington were the ones who got the nod. I cite a wicked hangover as one of the contributing causes to my nonplussed behavior. But I was also tightly wrapped up in my own little world. If you’ve read Lost Vegas, then you know the kinds of behind the scenes stresses that I had to deal with during the summer of 2005. A result of that fallout was walking into the Rio and not having a fucking clue about the HOF.

At that point in the WSOP, I was exhausted and drained and sort of operated on vapors and pure instinct. I’m sure that Nolan Dalla sent me an email about the HOF ceremony, but it either got lost in the shuffle or I simply ignored it as I wandered around in a semi-translucent haze.

In 2005, the Hall of Fame ceremony took place on the same day as the Media/Celebrity tournament and WSOP press conference, which occurred on a day off before Day 1A. The media tournament was my biggest concern and the only reason I showed up at the Rio on a rare day off. The press conference was something that I knew I’d have to sit through before we got to play cards. But the HOF was an afterthought.

I showed up at the final table area, where I had been sitting for five weeks straight, and hoped to find my usual seat in between Otis and BJ. I arrived early, set up my laptop, and then went to the media room to chat with friends. The press conference was coupled with the Hall of Fame ceremony, so the folks at the WSOP killed two birds with one stone and was able to take advantage that all of the out-of-town and mainstream media had gathered in one place. When I returned to media row, the final table area was packed with clean-cut people with fresh badges, many of whom I had never seen before. My chair was also missing. Someone walked up to the media row and stole my chair. I had left a black sports jacket hanging on the back of the chair, and luckily, they didn’t steal the jacket. Instead, they snagged the chair, but was kind enough to toss my jacket underneath the desk. I scanned the crowd but could not locate the chair thief.

I spent the rest of the press conference on my knees pecking away at my laptop. For one season in the South Riverdale Little League, I was the starting catcher for the Pirates. As a Yankees fan, I loved Thurman Munson, but he had just passed away in a tragic plane crash, so I had to look to Johnny Bench as a stand-in idol. Twenty plus years later, I did my best Johnny Bench imitation as I crouched in media row and frantically scribbled down quotes at the press conference and made sure I accurately got key phrases from the HOF inductees.

To this day, I’m bummed out that I let the chair thief tilt me because my ire overshadowed the significance of the HOF. That’s one of my biggest regrets of the 2005 WSOP, but it was also a valuable lesson that I applied to subsequent WSOPs — don’t sweat the small stuff and enjoy special moments that don’t happen every day.

In 2006, I was excited for the HOF ceremony and vowed to pay more attention, especially because Billy Baxter and T.J. Cloutier were the two players who got the nod. I showed up in much better condition (not even close to being as hung over from the year before) and I even arrived early. In 2006, the press conference and HOF ceremony got moved to one of the theatres inside the Rio. I sat in the back with Otis. That’s when he snapped this infamous photo of me sharing how I felt about the situation…

I was let down because the HOF ceremony got rushed because of time constraints. The press conference went long because it was coupled with a press junket for Lucky You, the poker movie by Curtis Hanson that bombed. We knew it was going to be a dud after watching seven seconds of the trailer. Sure, we got to hear Drew Barrymore gush about Las Vegas and the poker scene, and it was kinda cool to hear Curtis Hanson discuss why he purposely chose specific unrecognizable locations to shoot certain scenes in order to show a different side of Vegas. Sadly, the Hollywood people ran long and as a result, the HOF speeches from Billy Baxter and TJ Cloutier got cut short. That might have been the most furious I had ever been with Harrah’s, selling out their press conference to Hollywood types. I understand why they did it, but the movie was a utter bomb and did nothing to promote poker. Instead of hearing two greats of the game reflect upon their careers, we got ambushed by the Hollywood propoganda machine.

Yeah, my first two experiences with the HOF ceremony were bittersweet. I don’t recall much about 2007. I know that I worked an insane schedule for Poker News that summer (the first year they had the official updates) and was caught up in my own personal hell, which I did my best to combat with coping aids. I think I was there (and I’m too lazy to sift through the Tao of Poker archives, which is another reason why I need an assistant, or at least get my own version of KevMath who will be the go-to guy when it comes to random Tao stats and moments), but I don’t recall anything of significance from the ceremony. Most likely, I tuned out the chatter mainly because Phil Hellmuth was one of the inductees (along with Barbara Enright) and I was utterly miserable at the time working for Poker News. My bad headspace and my reluctance to hear the Poker Brat brag about his greatness were among the reasons for huge gaping holes in my memory banks.

The 2008 HOF ceremony took place during the dinner break at the November Nine. Finally! A proper ceremony took place to honor that year’s inductees: Henry Orenstein and Dewey Tomko.

Last year, the HOF ceremony was moved away from the November Nine theatre. It was still held during the dinner break, but Mike Sexton’s induction occurred in the privacy of one of the ballrooms. The ceremony was limited to invited guests and specific media members. As a member of the HOF selection committee, I got an invite to the dinner. My +1 was my lovely girlfriend. We sat at the same table with Michalski and his date to the event (the younger sister of a known Dallas pro). We recorded a couple of episodes of Tao of Pokerati at the dinner, and we couldn’t stop laughing at Fun Warren, who drew the rigorous assignment of keeping Padraig Parkison out of trouble, which was an impossible task with an open bar.

Tao of Pokerati at the 2010 Hall of Fame:
Episode 12.4: Hall of Fame Dinner: Voter Hesitation (1:13)
Episode 12.5: Hall of Fame Dinner: Touched by Sexton (2:45)

You can also read an expanded recap of the Hall of Fame Dinner that I penned for Tao of Poker.

Without a doubt, the Mike Sexton ceremony was my favorite HOF that I’ve attended since I became a part of the poker industry. Mike’s acceptance speech was actually overshadowed by his brother Tom, who delivered a sensational introduction speech.

Flash forward to 2010. We’re about two plus weeks away from the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. For a second year in a row, I was selected to be a panelist on the HOF induction committee. Last year, 30 people determined the outcome of the HOF, which included 15 living members of the HOF and 15 selected members of the press. This year, the committee expanded to 33 voters (16 living HOF members and 17 press geeks) and I got a nod once again. I don’t think being on the HOF committee is like a judgeship where I’m appointed for life, so I have to be on my best behavior if I want to be invited back next year. I gotta say, getting tapped for the HOF committee was probably the coolest thing that happened to me in poker outside of the Poker Prof and Flipchip hiring me to cover my first WSOP.

The tone and levity of my writing might suggest that I take a not-so-serious approach to poker, however, I take the HOF with the utmost seriousness. Most of the time, poker writers are pretty much pointed in a general direction and told what stories to write (or more importantly, we learned which stories not to write about). However, in this instance, we’re asked for our honest opinions about the players up for consideration, and the HOF ballot is one of the few times we can fully express ourselves without fear of retribution.

When voting for a specific player, we were asked to consider…

1. A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
2. Played for high stakes
3. Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
4. Stood the test of time
5. Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

If you take a close look, there is nothing about age. The unwritten age rule is something that some of the HOF voters took into deep consideration. You can call it the Chip Reese Rule if you want — that no one under 40 will be elected to the Hall of Fame, because that was the exact age of Chip Reese when he got the nod in 1991.

The cool thing is that the powers to be allowed the committee to interpret the rules as we see fit. So if someone wants to base their votes on the best player regardless of age, without a doubt that’s Ivey, but if someone wants to exclude Ivey because he’s not 40 yet, then they had that right.

But the committee has spoken, and the two that will gain entry this year are Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel. Congrats to both gentlemen.

Current Poker Hall of Fame Members:
1979 Nick “The Greek” Dandolos, James Butler, “Wild Bill” Hickok, Edmond Hoyle, Felton “Corky” McCorquodale, Johnny Moss, Red Winn, Sid Wyman
1980 T “Blondie” Forbes
1981 Bill Boyd
1982 Tom Abdo
1983 Joe Bernstein
1984 Murph Harrold
1985 Red Hodges
1986 Henry Green
1987 Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson
1988 Doyle Brunson and Jack “Treetop” Strauss
1989 Fed “Sarge” Ferris
1990 Benny Binion
1991 David “Chip” Reese
1992 “Amarillo Slim” Preston
1993 Jack Keller
1996 Julius Oral “Little Man” Popwell
1997 Roger Moore
2001 Stu Ungar
2002 Lyle Berman and Johnny Chan
2003 Bobby Baldwin
2004 Berry Johnston
2005 Crandall Addington and Jack Binion
2006 Billy Baxter and T.J. Cloutier
2007 Barbara Enright and Phil Hellmuth
2008 Henry Orenstein and Duane “Dewey” Tomko
2009 Mike Sexton
2010 Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel

Tags: dinner | game | hall of fame | harrah's | laptop | lost vegas | memory | movie | Podcast | Vegas | writing | wsop

Well, hello there Sunday Million. Nice to see you again.

The record-breaking 2010 World Championship of Online Poker having concluded, the first Sunday of October saw the PokerStars Sunday Million return from its month-long hiatus. Awaiting the Million were 7,638 players ready to rejoin online poker’s largest weekly tournament — quite a welcoming party!

Together that above-average field created a total prize pool of $1,527,600. The payout schedule dictated the top 1,170 finishers would realize a profit, while a nifty $229,143.87 was due the player who ended the tournament having successfully claimed all 73,680,000 chips.

After an hour and 40 minutes of play, 5,000 players remained, with gantorius on top, followed by cchryno and Lkdancer. As they crossed the two-hour mark, another thousand had hit the rail, at which point Snzjoker had moved in front, followed by mastika and riick1990. And 20 minutes after that just 3,000 were still alive, with Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski having assumed the chip lead, just ahead of djturbo1 and jos3333.

Three hours in they were down to 2,000, with jos3333 in the top spot followed by Chilax Chuck and Boemer17. Over the next hour the pace of eliminations began to slow a bit as the tourney crept toward the cash bubble. Of the two dozen members of Team PokerStars who entered this one, just five remained at that stage — Angel Guillen (Team Mexico), Karlo “elmagopr” Lopez (Team Online), Greg DeBora (Team Canada), and Friends of Team PokerStars Tom McEvoy and Orel Hershiser.

Hershiser was on the extreme short stack, and finally the right-hander decided to take his chances with pocket fours. Unfortunately for him, he ran into code077′s pocket rockets and soon was out shy of the money in 1,210th place.

Soon — just past the four-hour mark — the bubble burst, and with 1,170 players left it was pescador2409 in first followed by Pipedream17 and yungman. Wasn’t too long after that that Team PokerStars lost another Friend in Tom McEvoy, knocked out in 1,049th by AK87, good for $320.79.

Play continued for the next couple of hours as the field continued to shrink. Eventually Angel Guillen would be all in before the flop with pocket jacks against “VietCutie” Wroblewski’s [As][Kh]. An ace flopped, Guillen couldn’t catch up, and he was out in 280th place ($641.59).

A bit later Karlo “elmagopr” Lopez committed his entire stack following an [8h][Js][4s] flop holding [Tc][9d] and hoping to hit a straight versus jacksonroble’s [Ah][Ac]. The turn and river were no help to Lopez, though, and he went out in 142nd place ($992.94).

As they approached the seven-hour mark, just 100 players remained, with yungman now in front followed by GriffGolf13 and OMFGo_OSYLAR. At that point the last member of Team PokerStars, Greg DeBora, was sitting with a healthy stack in 11th place.

Team PokerStars Pro Greg DeBora

DeBora would still be there an hour later with 30 players remaining, although by then he’d slipped to below average. Then, with the blinds 50,000/100,000 and DeBora sitting with about 1.5 million, the Canadian open-shoved from middle position with pocket fives and it folded to sola100 in the big blind who called with [8h][8c]. sola100′s hand held, leaving DeBora with but 132,485 chips. DeBora would double up once, but finally was knocked out by the aptly-named Urlastchance, ending in 29th place ($3,055.20).

Soon just three nine-handed tables remained, with winga699 in front with nearly 750,000, followed closely by Dsavo and Jakivi. By the nine-hour mark they were down to 18 players, with Jakivi now on top, followed by sola100 and winga699.

About 45 minutes after that they were down to 10 when a short-stacked ureeek took [Ad][8d] up against darrenelias’ [7s][7d], a seven flopped, and a couple of cards later the final table was set.

Seat 1: lasklinz — 16,364,594
Seat 2: winga699 — 7,040,238
Seat 3: $am$pade — 2,575,077
Seat 4: AJacejackAJ — 11,843,061
Seat 5: Jakivi — 6,711,673
Seat 6: Dsavo — 4,020,249
Seat 7: sola100 — 9,727,619
Seat 8: darrenelias — 14,972,143
Seat 9: Urlastchance — 3,125,346

The player $am$pade, named after the great Dashiell Hammett detective, was the first final table casualty. Or, as The Maltese Falcon protagonist might say, the first to be cut down. Or rubbed out. Or knocked off. (You get the picture.)

With the blinds way up to 150,000/300,000, it folded to chip leader lasklinz on the button who raised to 744,248. winga699 folded from the small blind, then $am$pade — who incidentally lists his hometown as “Chandler” (another hard-boiled homage) — reraised all in for 2,875,077. lasklinz called, showing [Ad][Qd], and $am$pade found himself in a pinch with [Ah][8h]. The board came [5s][Kc][4s][9d][4c], and $am$pade was out in ninth, free after 10 solid hours of poker to go have himself a big sleep.

Just a few hands later AJacejackAJ was opening for 625,000 from UTG, then DSavo pushed all in from middle position for 3,360,249. darrenelias called the reraise from the cutoff, and all others, including AJacejackAJ, stepped aside. DSavo had [7c][7d] and darrenelias [9d][9c], and after the community cards came [2h][4h][Qs][6d][3h], they were quickly down to seven.

Within minutes came two more eliminations. With the blinds now 200,000/400,000, darrenelias was back in action, raising to 822,500 from middle position. It folded to AJacejackAJ who called from the big blind, and the pair saw the flop come [9s][6s][6h]. AJacejackAJ checked, darrenelias continued for 1,112,500, and AJacejackAJ called. Both players then checked the [4c] turn.

The river brought the [Td] and another check from AJacejackAJ. darrenelias fired 2,565,000, and AJacejackAJ check-raised to 9,000,000, leaving just a scant 82,274 behind. darrenelias reraised over the top, and AJacejackAJ called with what was left, showing [5c][5d] for sixes and fives. darrenelias had guessed right, showing [Ad][Tc] for the better two pair, and AJacejackAJ was out in seventh.

Take a look at how this 22.5 million-chip pot went down:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Just three hands later, darrenelias — now up close to 30 million and well ahead of second-place lasklinz’s 16.7 million — opened with a 4x raise to 1.6 million from the small blind. Urlastchance was sitting in the BB with just 1,005,346, and called with his remaining chips. darrenelias had a monster — [Qd][Qh] — while Urlastchance had [Kd][8h]. The board came [2c][7d][6h][6d][As], and darrenelias had claimed a third straight victim, eliminating Urlastchance in sixth place.

Next it was lasklink’s turn to win a 22 million-plus chip pot. The blinds had bumped up to 250,000/500,000, and lasklinz opened with a raise to 1.2 million from under the gun. Jakivi reraised to 2,777,777 from the button, and the blinds got out. lasklinz pushed all in, and Jakivi called with the 7,835,118 that was left. lasklinz showed [Ah][Jh] and Jakivi [Qd][Qh].

The flop was good for lasklink — [As][4s][Jc] — and Jakivi was searching for a queen or some runner-runner help. But the turn was the [3s] and the river the [5c], and Jakivi was gone in fifth.

Just a couple of hands later, winga699 opened with a 3x raise to 1.5 million from UTG, and lasklinz reraised to 13 million from the big blind — enough to cover winga699, who quickly called for 10,851,238 more. winga699 had [Ac][Qd] and was racing against lasklinz’ [7d][7h]. No help came for winga699, as the community cards came [Ks][3d][7s][5d][8c], and they were swiftly down to three.

The rapid-fire final table pace did not let up from there. Just five minutes later, the remaining three players were all nearly even in chips, with lasklinz at 27.4 million, sola100 at 25.6 million, and darrenelias at 23.3 million. Then came a hand in which darrenelias minimum-raised to 1 million from the button, lasklinz reraised to 3 million from the small blind, and sola100 folded. darrenelias promptly pushed all in, and lasklinz called.

lasklinz had [As][Kc] and was in a dominating position versus darrenelias’ [Kd][9d]. The [5h][9c][Ah] flop paired them both, and after the [6h] turn and [7d] river, they were down to two.

Thanks to that hand, lasklinz enjoyed a roughly 2-to-1 chip advantage when heads-up play commenced, sitting with 51,304,596 chips to sola100′s 25,075,404. However, the pair essentially traded stacks on the very first hand between them. They got it all in on the turn with the board showing [8s][7h][5c][9c]. lasklinz had [Kd][9d] for a pair of nines, but sola100 had [6d][6h] for a straight. A four came on the river, and now sola100 was in front.

And just five hands later, it was all over.

On the final hand, sola100 opened for 1.5 million from the small blind/button (a 3x raise), lasklinz shoved all in for 22,679,192, and sola100 called.

lasklinz [As][9c]
sola100 [Ks][4s]

The flop brought sola100 a king — [6s][Kd][Tc]. The turn was the [4h], and lasklinz was needing an ace or nine to survive. But the river was the [2d], and the blisteringly-fast final table — just 65 hands, taking 37 minutes — was history.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Congratulations to sola100 for surviving a frantic final table to take down the first Sunday Million of October!

Sunday Million Results for 10/3/10:
1st: sola100 ($229,143.87)
2nd: lasklinz ($168,036)
3rd: darrenelias ($114,570)
4th: winga699 ($76,991.04)
5th: Jakivi ($61,104)
6th: Urlastchance ($45,828)
7th: AJacejackAJ ($30,552)
8th: Dsavo ($17,567.40)
9th: $am$pade ($11,838.90)

All in all an exciting return of the Sunday Million! To learn more about how you, too, can help welcome back online poker’s biggest weekly tourney, check out the Sunday Million page for information about how to join in.

Tags: mexico | money | picture | poker | pokerstars | river | sunday | sunday-million | Tom McEvoy | wcoop

Almost exactly one year ago, it took Eugene “MyRabbiFoo” Katchalov nearly 24 straight hours of poker to capture the WCOOP heads-up title. Katchalov won 11 consecutive matches during this feat of endurance and should probably have received a medal, a stiff drink, and a new puppy along with his his bracelet for making it through the marathon session. For WCOOP 2010, however, the powers that be at PokerStars showed their players (and bloggers) some mercy and transformed Event #12, $215 Heads-up NLHE, into a two-day event. After an extremely manageable nine and a half hours of play, the 2,307-strong field was cut to the 64 runners who will return to the virtual felt tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. EDT to play down to a new WCOOP champion.

Over 30 members of Team PokerStars Pro and Team PokerStars Online came out to prove their heads-up prowess and compete for a share of the $461,400 prize pool. Among them were Barry Greenstein, Anh Van Nguyen, Thierry Van Den Berg, Anders “Donald” Berg, David Williams, Bertrand Grospellier, George Danzer, Gualter Salles, Jason Mercier, Joe Cada, George “jorg95″ Lind III, J.P. Kelly, Daniel Negreanu, Marcello Del Grosso, Chris Moneymaker, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, Orel Hershiser, Steven “stevejpa” Paul, Tom McEvoy, Vicky Coren, Victor Ramdin, and Steven “stevesbets” Jacobs. 256 places paid and the 64 players who survived Day 1 were all assured a payday of at least $1,384.20. Four Team Pros finished in the money– Marcello Del Grosso (205th), Jason Mercier (96th), Tae Joon Noh (74th), and Steven Paul (72nd)– while David Williams and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier will return for Day 2.

David Williams

The Red (Spade) Army

Barry Greenstein won his Round II match when starcity85 moved all-in on the turn after making tens up when the board paired fives. Greenstein called with pocket jacks and they held up to send him through to the next round. His third-round match against fydor_8 ended in a coinflip, Greenstein’s pocket fours holding up against [Ah][8s]. However, Greenstein finished outside the money in 384th place when his ten-high straight fell to N00000ooooo’s king-high straight.

Marcello Del Grosso made quick work of his Round 4 opponent, winning his match in only five hands. All the money went in before the flop, Del Grosso’s [5d][5h] trailing MCLegend’s [9d][9c]. Del Grosso, though, got lucky and flopped a set. In the final hand of his Round V match, Del Grosso tried to move his opponent off top pair, shoving over Aptok’s his check-raise with only [Ah][2h] on a [Kh][3c][2s] flop. Aptok called with [Kc][8c] and made trips on the turn when the [Ks] fell. The river was the [Th] and Del Grosso exited in 205th place.

Jason Mercier won a flip for all the bones in his Round II match, his [Kh][Qs] rivering top pair against 1$sickDisea$e’s pocket eights. In the third round, Mercier called a pre-flop raise with [Kh][4d], then made trips when the flop came down [8d][4c][4h]. Mercier check-raised the flop, got a call, then got two more streets of maximum value after Nanette-1965 made top pair on the turn. Round IV saw Mercier get it in bad pre-flop, his [Ad][7s] dominated by [As][Jd]. However, Mercier flopped a seven and turned another one, taking down the match with trips. Winning Round V also took another stroke of luck as Mercier rivered trips against an opponent who made aces up. Check it out.

Mercier met his tournament end in the final round of Day 1, moving all-in with [7h][8h] on a [9h][8d][2d] flop. Xxndavisxx called with [7c][Tc], turned a straight when the [6d] fell, then rivered a better straight with the [Jc], sending Mercier to the rail in 96th place.

Steven “stevejpa” Paul was able to win five matches, but not a sixth. Paul lost most of his stack when he five-bet shoved pre-flop with [Ac][3h] only to run in to GoGators86′s pocket kings.

“Sigh i’m the worst,” he said as the board blanked out.

Paul was eliminated on the next hand after turning top two pair only to have his opponent river a broadway straight. His run ended with a 72nd place finish.

The Texan and the Frenchman

David Williams won his Round III match when he rivered a king-high flush against SizouSayz’s queen-high flush. In the fourth round, his decisive hand came when he three-bet shoved over morten85′s 120-chip min-raise. Morten85 called the additional 4,002 with [Ac][Kd], but Williams’s pocket sevens flopped a set. The last of morten85′s chips went in on a [5h][Qc][Kd][Qs] board, Williams making the call. Although morten85 turned trip queens with [Qd][Jh], Williams had [Kh][Kc] and took down the match with kings full.

The decisive hand of Williams’ Round V match saw all the money go in on a [Qs][2s][Th] flop, Williams holding top two pair with [Qc][Ts] while ezhik09 was in dire shape with [Qd][4c]. A short time later, Williams punched his ticket to the final 64 when he called a four-bet shove with [As][Ac] and saw his hand hold up against MagicMan111′s [Ah][Qs].

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier took down his third-round match when his pocket jacks held up against pocket eights. Grospellier sealed up his Round IV match when his straight draw came in against a set, then scored another KO in Round V with pocket kings against [As][Qs]. In the sixth round, ElkY had pulled out to a 4-1 chip lead when DEEZZZ_NUTS decided to make a move. DEEZZZ_NUTS led out for 120 on the [Js][Jd][5h] flop, Grospellier min-raised to 240 ad DEEZZZ_NUTS shoved for 1,784. Grospellier made an easy call and he advanced to the final 64 once the [9c] hit the turn and the [6d] fell on the river.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier

The best of times, the worst of times

So, you know that sick, anxious malaise that comes over you when you’ve bluffed off all your chips drawing dead? Mattsim23 had to be drowning in it after he made an ill-timed move on Kevin “BeL0WaB0ve” Saul in their Round V match.

Saul, however, was eliminated in the sixth round on a wicked cooler. Innamon opened for a min-raise to 100, Saul three-bet to 325 and innamon called. Saul led out for 342 on the [As][Tc][9s] flop, and innamon called. The turn paired the board with the [Ts] and Saul fired again, making it 755 to go. Innamon shoved for 4,461.

“I hate hero folding,” Saul said as he called off the rest of his stack.

Both players turned over trip tens, but innamon had the better kicker with [Qh][Th] while Saul held [Td][6d]. The river was the [5d] and Saul exited in 128th place, earning $922.80.

#1 Lucky who?

Dope West was so tardy to his Round IV match that his opponent #1_Lucky_One had no choice but to allow him to be blinded off after sitting out for as long as he could.

#1_Lucky_One: used 50 secs of my clock
#1_Lucky_One: and waited max time every hand all i can do
#1_Lucky_One: stealing i clould have bsuted him already ***
1_Lucky_One: I could have blinded him out already 100%
#1_Lucky_One: I could speed hit call
#1_Lucky_One: everyhand
#1_Lucky_One: Instead of waiting max time
#1_Lucky_One: waiting seems fair
#1_Lucky_One: 64 secs left on my clock
#1_Lucky_One: giving him cachance

As #1_Lucky_One waited for dope west, the observer chat seemed to indicate that the man behind the screen name was actually 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. However, since #1_Lucky_One did not confirm his identity, we cannot definitively say it was him. What we can tell you is that once dope west showed up and read some of the chatter, he was flabbergasted at the potential identity of his opponent.

dope west: what happen
dope west: he was easy on me?
#1_Lucky_One: Yes I folded anf doled
dope west: OH MAN
dope west: phil hellmuth?
dope west: seriously my idol
dope west: PHIL THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING and being a gentleman and waiting
#1_Lucky_One: whoever i am, your welcome
#1_Lucky_One: lol

Dope west ended up busting #1_Lucky_One. All the money went in before the flop, dope west with [Kh][Kd] and #1_Lucky_One holding [Ac][Qc]. Dope west flopped top set but #1_Lucky_One could not live up to his name and pull out a miracle.

Make sure to check back in at 5 p.m. EDT tomorrow for the final six rounds of play. If you have yet to get in on the WCOOP action, well what are you waiting for? Head over to the WCOOP page for more information and a complete schedule. If multimedia is your thing, make your way over to PokerStars.tv for the best of WCOOP in moving pictures.

Tags: bracelet | david-williams | final | grospellier | idol | jason-mercier | mercier | money | online | opponent | turn | victor | victor-ramdin | virtual | williams