First Weekend in December Online Poker Tournament Results

We review the action on the felt at Pokerstars, Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet and Bodog Poker

PokerStars Sunday Million Event (3rd December 2006)Pokerstars had a fantastic Sunday Million event this week, right down to the final hand. 6,687 players sidled up to the tables and played. That put the prize pool at an impressive, if not record-shattering, $1,337,400.00. 975 players were lucky enough to make it to the money. As the final table began, br1an2k5 was the chip leader with 16.7 mil. Dgizzard was right behind him and Mr_BigCheese brought up the rear with about 2.5 mil.
However, Mr_BigCheese wasn't the first one to go all-in at the final table. Nor was he the first player busted either. freeradical2 called an all-in bet preflop by zio_slim. freeradical2's big slick was good, but not good enough to beat zio's pocket tens. The board brought him nada so he left in ninth place only a few minutes into the final table action.
br1an2k5 sent Phwap packing when his pocket pair (of eights) held up over Phwap's K-J. Axababa would get knocked out next. Seventh place seems to be his standard finish. In fact, Axababa's has ended up in seventh place twice before in the Sunday Million this year alone. This time, his A,6 was dominated by PhilEatsPoo's A,K. Axa pocketed almost 23k this time. We're sure to see him at the final table again before long. Hopefully, he can make it further up the latter next time.
Soon after, PhilEatsPoo struck again and ended Dgizzard's event. Dgiz's A-8, aka the "Dead Man's Hand", was no match for the pocket ladies of the Poo Eater. Unfortunately for Phil, he was the next one ousted. br1an2k5 brought the hammer down on him when his K,J was found to be in a dominating position over Phil's J-9. To be fair to Phil, he'd seen his stack dwindle from a healthy 16 mil to a paltry 5 mil in the fifteen minutes between his knockout of Dgizzard and his own ouster from the tournament.

Gurre, the eventual winner of the event, was pretty quiet throughout most of the final table until this point. This is when the sassy Swede began to make some moves. He got a big windfall, courtesy of Mr_BigCheese when he flopped two-pair with his K-Q, crushing the Cheese's pocket rockets. Ouch!
Gurre held 32 mil in chips after that. Mr_BigCheese barely had enough chips to cover the blinds. He pushed all-in with his A,5 and got called by Gurre who had the correct pot odds to do so with his J,4. Gurre got lucky again when the board brought him a pair of jacks on the flop. Adieu, Mr_BigCheese.

As three-handed play began, the table was pretty even. br1an2k5 was the chip leader with 25 mil, Gurre was in second with 22 mil and zio_slim had a competitive 19.5 mil left. However, zio_slim wouldn't last long. br1an2k5 raised his pockets tens pre-flop and zio_slim re-raised it up ten times more with his pocket eights. A third eight didn't come to his aid and he was eliminated in third with $58,177 to console him.

At this point, br1an2k5 had a decent chip lead with 42 mil to Gurre's 25 mil. The final two discussed a chop but couldn't agree on the terms. Heads-up play lasted about 20 minutes or so, during which time the chip lead went back and forth quite a bit.
Going into the final hand, Gurre had the chip advantage. He raised to 1.6 mil preflop. It was a small enough raise for br1an2k5 to call. The flop was 8,4,3. Both players checked. The turn brought a ten. br1an2k5 checked. Gurre bet 1.6 mil. br1an2k5 called. The river brought another 3. br1an2k5 checked so Gurre raised to 4.8 mil. For some reason br1an2k5 check-raised to 9.6 million, leaving himself with only 11.6 left. Gurre re-raised to put br1an2k5 all-in, which he called since he was pot committed.

Br1an2k5 had eights and threes, which he obviously thought were good. Unfortunately, Gurre made quads at a crucial point. Yes, he held threes in the pocket! Gurre won $187,236 for first place, leaving br1an2k5 with $93,216 and the runner-up spot. What a fantastic finish!

Here are the tournament results:
1. Gurre (Sweden) $187,236.00
2. br1an2k5 (United States) $93,216.78
3. zio_slim (Italy) $58,176.90
4. Mr_BigCheese (United States) $45,337.86
5. PhilEatsPoo (United States) $35,842.32
6. Dgizzard (United States) $28,887.84
7. Axabaxa (Norway) $22,735.80
8. Phwap (United States) $16,851.24
9. freeradical2 (United States) $10,966.68

We bet that $187,236 could buy a lot of holiday goodies. So, why not enter to play in the Poker Stars' Sunday Million Tournament? If you can't afford the $215 to enter the Main Event (Remember: Once a month the tourney costs $530 to enter and four times a year it's $1,050. SeePokerstars for scheduling info), why not satellite your way in for as little as $3.00? Satellites are going on now!

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As you well know, Poker Stars might have the Sunday Million, the biggest prize pool on the net, but it's not the only game in town. Oh no!

This weekend was another biggie for Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet and Bodog Poker too.

Full Tilt Tourneys (3rd December 2006)
At Full Tilt, the $350k Guarantee saw 2,187 entrants who paid their $200 for a chance to win a total of $437,400. 360 players cashed and first place pocketed $81,481.60.

JWiggles entered the final table with a slight chip lead over colenel decker. The first one out was catchmy2outer when he attempted to steal from big blind. It didn't work and colenel decker's pocket sevens trumped his measly 5-6. Studpokerman was sent to the rails next when his A-J came up against the A-Q of JWiggles. JWig then knocked out Backstaber when his pocket eights turned into trips and trounced Back's two pairs - he had aces and tens.

JWiggles was a bit like a freight train. He then moved on to knock out shahro in 6th. On the river, JWig would turn up a king to make a pair. The next casualty was e2202. e2202's K-8 caught absolutely nada and was no match for colenel decker's pocket jacks.

Pocket jacks knocked out jefflasvegas, the fourth place finisher. His A-Q didn't improve over TiltyZ's hooks. To punctuate the loss, Tilty fished out a third jack on the river. That's okay. jeff would net $25,806.60 for his play which is not too shabby.

At the beginning of three-handed play, TiltyZ was the big dog at the table with 4.2 mil. colenel decker held a solid second with 1.4 mil, and Jwiggles, brought up the rear with his 970k. Unfortunately for colenel, he and Tilty battled in the blinds. The colenel made his last stand with a 7c,5c against Tilty's Ad, Qc. The flop paired decker's fives, but the turn dashed his hopes. It brought another lady for Tilty.

This gave Tilty a 5 to 1 lead over JWiggles when heads-up play started. Three minutes later, he won the event with his pocket 3s.

Here are Full Tilt's final standings:

1) TiltyZ - $80,481.60
2) JWiggles - $49,426.20
3) colenel decker - $32,367.60
4) jefflasvegas - $25,806.60
5) e2202 - $19,683
6) shahro - $14,084.28
7) Backstaber - $10,278.90
8) Studpokerman - $8,091.90
9) catchmy2outer - $6,123.60

Ultimate Bet
Instead of the weekly 200K Guarantee, Ultimate Bet held event #3 in the UBOC (Ultimate Bet Online Championship). It was a $200 + $15 buy-in No-Limit Holdem event. A total of 1,341 players entered the event and 140 entrants made some cash. The night belonged to the internet pros as Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul and Nick "gbmantis" Niergarth made the final table. BeL0WaB0Ve was in the chip lead going on. gbmantis was at the middle of the pack with 324k in chips and the short stack was rdcrsn, who had 146k.

ibite123 was the first one out of the final table when his set of eights met blur5f6's set of kings. razor483 was the short-stack and went in with Ac,Kc. MakiSupa called with pocket jacks. A king hit on the river, giving razor the initial lead, but his hopes were soon dashed when the river brought one of the two remaining jacks in the deck. Adios.

gbmantis was the next out when his pocket sixes lost to sideout31's A-10. (A ten came on the flop, giving sideout the higher pair). cdbr3799 went all-in with a 9,10 off-suit. bluf5f6, the eventual winner of the event pulled out a wheel with his Ah, 2d. sideout31 was thrown out of the competition when his A,9 went head-to-head with MakiSupa's pocket queens. He received $11,264 for the sixth place finish.

BeL0WaB0Ve took his last stand with big slick. He called all-in preflop against blur5f6. blur5f6 got lucky on the river by spiking bottom pair with his Q-9. rdrcsn followed suit and exited the event when his K-9 didn't get any help. blur5f6's A-10 held up and took him out.

When three-handed play started, the players were virtually tied. That would soon change. MakiSupa took down a big pot from Adanthar1 to move ahead of the pack. However, he'd be the first one of the three to hit the rails. First, blur5f6 doubled through him with his pocket queens. He finished MakiSupa off soon after when he made two pair with his Ad, 7s.

This gave blur5f6 the clear advantage going in to heads-up play. He had 2.9 mil in chips to Adanthar1's 407k. Adanthar doubled up at least once, but couldn't do much else. Heads-up only lasted 11 hands. blur5f6 made a set of kings on the river and took home not only first place and $56,724.30, but also the silver UBOC bracelet.

These are the final standings for UBOC's Event #3:

1) blur5f6 - $56,724.30
2) Adanthar1 - $33,632.28
3) MakiSupa - $23,467.50
4) rdcrsn - $17,433
5) BeL0WaB0Ve - $14,080.50
6) sideout31 - $11,264.40
7) cdbr3799 - $8,582.40
8) gbmantis - $6,034.50
9) razor483 - $4,559.40
10) ibite123 - $2,682

Bodog Weekend Tourneys
Bodog Poker saw 954 entrants for its weekly $100,000 Guaranteed. 81 players cashed. LDizasta was the chip leader going on and internet pro, Eric "Rizen" Lynch squeaked into the final table as the short stack. He made his move within the first few minutes by pushing all-in pre-flop with his Js, 10c. GnatButter called him with an Ah, Jc. Rizen hit a ten on the flop, but it wasn't enough to save him. GnatButter caught a straight.

Reggie Gomez and tjd29cu exited fairly quickly after Rizen did. BRK916 was the sixth place finisher. His A-J didn't improve over Gnatbutter's pocket eights. He earned $4,400 for his efforts. At this point, LDizasta sent Gnatbutter to the rail in fifth with a lucky flop giving him top pair with his J,6. He then sent A__theKevlar__2 to the river on a difficult hand. Both players made a spade flush. Unfortunately for A__theKevlar__2, LDizasta held the Ace.

Phoummareth was the short stack when the action was down to three. He had nursed a short stack to make it this far, but would finally succumb to LDizasta when he went all-in with those pocket fives of his. Heads-up play seemed to be a formality. Everyone thought LDizasta would take it, but badblood1 pulled off the upset. He caught lucky cards when he needed to and had the best of it when it was crucial. In the end, he took home top prize of $25,000 and LDizasta pocketed $16,000 for the day.

1) badblood1 - $25,000
2) LDizasta - $14,000
3) Phoummareth - $9,000
4) A__theKevlar__2 - $6,500
5) GnatButter - $5,400
6) BRK916 - $4,400
7) tjd29cu - $3,400
8) Reggie Gomez - $2,400
9) Rizen - $1,550

Don't you want to get in on the action each week at Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet and Bodog Poker? You can enter to play these events in more than one way. We're sure that thousands of dollars could make it a very Merry Christmas for you or someone you love, couldn't it? What are you waiting for? Head on over to each of these sites and play some qualifiers already. Some are as low as $1.00!