Online Poker Tournaments - review of action 11th Feb

This weekend online poker players pulled in big numbers and raised up the stakes at most of the weekly guaranteed events. Both PartyPoker and Bodog saw some serious increases.

Poker Stars was hopping as usual. 6,786 people entered their Sunday Million Tournament. This pushed the prize pool up to an impressive $1,357,200. $191,365.20 was set for first-place, barring any deals and 1,080 entrants made bank in this juicy event.

killygonza led the charge into the final table with 14.6 mil chips and Runnerspleas was the table short stack with 3.4 million. Vera15 improved her second-to-last chip position early on when she doubled up with her pocket cowboys. xtheCreamx was caught on the losing end of that hand and ended up finishing in ninth place a few hands later.

Vera15 knocked out LuckyLady519 in eighth place. She flipped up her pocket kings again and LuckyLady519 didn’t get the luck she needed with her Ad,5d. She earned $12,215 for her efforts, so it’s all good.

Runnerspleas didn’t beg for his tournament life. Instead, he went down with a dismal 10d,8c against the improbable back-door club flush of killygonza who dared to show his 2,3. Ewww!

killygonza then knocked out My03hd with an Ah,10s and a flop that brought him top pair. Soon after, Vera15 would go from first to hurting big-time when he big stack (19.2 million) whittled away to almost nothing against W Snipes, the tournament’s eventual winner. This loss would prove a major factor in Vera’s fifth place finish. Hopefully, the $40,716 will help to assuage her wounded ego.

The final four players talked about a possible chop, but W Snipes, who was a big chip leader at this point, wanted to hold out for more money. In the end, W Snipes, Oregon, killygonza and Jonnyboy38 decided on a deal by chips at the time said deal was struck.

Jonnyboy38 was the next elimination. He went all-in with a Kd,Js against killygonza who had an off-suit big slick in the pocket. The board brought a pair of kings, but the kickers held up and Jonnyboy was the third place finisher. However, killygonza would head out the door soon after he ousted Jonnyboy. His As,7s ran into oregon’s pocket eights and that was it for him.

oregon held the chip lead going into heads-up play, but he and W Snipes traded the chip lead back and forth throughout their 25-minute match. In the end, W Snipes was victorious, getting the extra $30,000 and the benefit of the by-the-chips chop when he had a solid lead.

Here are the results:

*1) W Snipes - $164,356
*2) oregon - $65,871
*3) killygonza - $84,756
*4) Jonnyboy38 - $94,890
5) Vera15 - $40,716
6) my03hd - $29,858.40
7) Runnerspleas - $21,036.60
8) LuckyLady519 - $12,214.80
9) xTheCreamx - $8,007.48

* Payouts reflect a four-way chop which left the standard $30,000 for the winner.

Ultimate Bet brought its $200,000 Guaranteed back. 924 players sat down to play and UB only had to pay out $15,200 in overlays. Derek “DSnyder766” Snyder made the final table with 138k in chips. anakinso held the chip lead with about 450k. DSnyder766, despite being one of the short stacks, outlasted two other players at the final table. He didn’t bid farewell to the competition ‘til he pushed all-in preflop with an As,Ks. anakinso, who had originally raised the pot, quickly called and flipped up pocket tens. DSnyder took home $6,500 for his seventh place finish.

stevie444 kept adding chips to his ever-growing stack. He eliminated EgonOlsen in fifth place. On hand later, he sent JohnnyGstaks to the rail. By the time three players were left dagny0513 was running on empty, but hit a few lucky hands at the expense of anakinso and stevie444 to come back. anakinso would then become the short stack and would not fare as well as dag did. anakinso pushed all-in post-flop with pocket threes. Stevie444 made the easy call with a flopped pair of jacks, which earned him the KO and the right to battle it out with dagny0513 for the title.

stevie444 actually began heads-up play with more chips. However, dag would again come from behind. He won a key hand with A,10 vs. stevie’s A,4. On the next hand, dag put stevie all-in. He dispatched of his opponents with a Q,5 in the pocket.

Here are the final table standings:

1) dagny0513 - $45,000
2) stevie444 - $26,500
3) anakinso - $18,000
4) ACERX - $13,100
5) JohnnyGstaks - $10,500
6) EgonOlsen - $8,500
7) DSnyder766 - $6,500
8) jmar2112 - $4,500
9) KwistzHadrach - $3,400
10) Beach Justice - $2,000

Unlike UltimateBet, Party Poker was able to raise its guarantee – this week’s event was $300,000. The site actually exceeded the goal with the 1,575 players who plunked down their entry fee. 200 players cashed and first place was expected to take home over $60,000. TheWomanizer, a Danish player, led the charge into the final table with over 2.2 million chips. Djunck said farvel to the competition first when his pocket sixes were trounced by Mlyder’s As,9d. jph147 left on the very next hand after Sir_Rossi delivered a bad beat with his J,8.

Sir_Rossi also knocked out Mlyder – after TheWomanizer took away most of lyd’s chips. Soon after, Sir_Rossi followed Mlyder to the rail, courtesy of TheWomanizer. TheWomanizer made trip sevens with his A,7. Mlyder would just have to be content with seventh place and a wee bit over $8,000 for his trouble.

LotsofLarry felt the pain of a smaller flush when his Jack of Hearts tangled with the Queen of hearts Bigbang5 whipped out of his pocket. TheWomanizer then knocked out fingr1 with pocket rockets. PaulB911 came up on the losing end of E_dollars’ Kh,Kc – and his unnecessary flush – to finish in fourth place with $17,167.50.

Eventually, E_dollars would face TheWomanizer heads-up and lose it all with his measly pocket threes.

Here are the results:

1) TheWomanizer – $63,000
2) E_dollars - $34,650
3) Bigbang5 - $21,735
4)PaulB911 - $17,167.50
5)fingr1 - $14,490
6) LotsofLarry - $10,867.50
7) Sir_Rossi - $8,347.50
8) Mlyder - $5,512.50
9)jph147 - $4,252.50
10) Djunck - $2,992.50

Bodog Poker held its $100,000 Guaranteed on Sunday. 954 players showed up so Bodog only had to plunk down $4,600 as an overlay. Gimiyostak had the chip lead as the action got underway. He had almost three-quarters of a million chips. pesto, BigGunX and thecure19 were all vying for short stack honors. Each had about 100k left.

 BigGunX heard the fat lady sing when his pocket hooks got caught up against xiankash’s river pair of aces. Ouch! thecure19 watched as his 8d,8h in the hole became terminal. pesto earned the KO with his big slick. DeltaRaz knocked out PokerChris with a pair of queens on the flop. Then, simivalleykid hit the rails moments after losing almost all his chips to pesto on Gimiyostak’s rivered wheel. Apparently, simivalley took his opponent’s online moniker literally.

xiankash and DeltaRaz were the fifth and fourth place finishers respectively. When three-handed play began, Gimiyostak had already given most of his stack away. He was in last place with only 387k. SKEETnutzSKEET raised it up to 132,000 from the small blind. With the big blind at 40,000, Gimiyostak went all in with his remaining 311,000 and flipped over an Ad,7c. Things were looking good for stak as SKEETnutzSKEET held low suited connectors (4c,5c). Unfortunately, the board would not comply with Gimi’s wishes. It came down Qh,4s,3d,8h,3s which gave SKEET the nutty two-pair of fours over threes. Gimi took $9,000 with him for third-place so it’s not all bad, right?

The elimination brought SKEET within striking distance of pesto as heads-up play began. SKEET held 1.1 mil vs. pesto’s 1.4 million. However, pesto chopped away at SKEET’s chips and won the day less than ten minutes into the match-up.

Here are the final table standings:

1) pesto - $25,000
2) SKEETnutzSKEET - $14,000
3) Gimiyostak - $9,000
4) DeltaRaz - $6,500
5) xiankash - $5,400
6) simivalleykid - $4,400
7) PokerChris - $3,400
8) thecure19 - $2,400
9) BigGunX - $1,550

PokerStars, Ultimate Bet, Party Poker and Bodog all want you to play in their weekend tournaments. You can satellite your way into most events for pennies on the buy-in dollar. Head on over to your favorite sites today so you can start playing you way in for next week’s Main Events.