Record-Breaking Online Poker Weekend
(Credit: ddb )
Yesterday, I gave you the results from the PokerStars' Sunday Million Tournament . Even though it was a holiday weekend in the US, many online poker sites reported record-breaking numbers. This proves my theory that people would rather play poker than talk to their dysfunctional families, but I'm not bitter. (Hehe!)
Full Tilt , the newly anointed number #2 poker room, had another fantastic weekend. Their $350,000 Guaranteed had almost 2,300 entrants, over 250 more than its previous record. The prize pool was also record-breaking at $455,800.
The event at FTP was truly star-studded, featuring two famous pros, Mike Matusow and Carlos Mortensen, both of whom play for the online card room. Both Carlos and Mike made the final table along with Michael Craig, poker blogger/writer. He's the author of The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King , a tome about millionaire Andy Beal's run against a talented group of poker players, called "The Corporation" which includes Jennifer Harman, Doyle Brunson and Howard "The Professor" Lederer.
Craig was at the middle of the pack when the final table started. He held on for a bit and was ousted in fifth place when his Ad,Qd didn't improve over Bluechip200's pocket fours. He earned $20,383 for the day, however. Matusow, aka dermsperm, finished in 7th place and Carlos "cjhubbard" Mortensen made it to 3rd. The winner of the event was the same Bluechip200. The same dude who knocked out Michael Craig.
The final standings were:
1) Bluechip200 - $83,616.51 2) XMart - $51,323.08 3) cjhubbard - $33,592.46 4) YukDaDuke - $26,801.04 5) Michael Craig - $20,283.10 6) drbakunin - $14,585.60 7) dermsperm - $10,711.30 8) JohnnyROCKS - $8,386.75 9) salty14 - $6,381.20
Over at Ultimate Bet , the cardroom of choice for Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, had 954 players on Sunday. THE_D_RY, who finished at the final table in last week's Full Tilt Online Poker Series Main Event , made it to tenth place and the final table at Ultimate Bet this week. Pauly007 was chip leader heading into the final table, but he wouldn't hold onto it for very long. He was sent to the rail in fourth place, earning $13,000 for his efforts. simmo97 and romangra made it to heads-up play. The final hand saw K,9 vs. Q,9 and simmo97, who held the king, took home the top prize.
Here are the results:
1) simmo97 - $45,000 2) romangra - $27,000 3) josh prager - $18,500 4) Pauly007 - $13,000 5) BAN - $11,000 6) liz90 - $9,000 7) haman14 - $7,000 8) SMACKAHO22X - $5,000 9) TheWacoKidd - $3,500 10) THE__D__RY - $2,000
Bodog Poker saw an increase in numbers from last week, reaching almost 1,000 players. jstockton, BeerBaron and ROBERT PAULSON were close in chips for a while at the final table. That is until magpe came from behind to take the chip lead after he doubled up through Ryan506's pocket kings. magpe made a flush and received a comfy chip lead with 700k. jstockton stayed in the thick of things and made it to heads-up play against magpe but couldn't close the deal. In the end, magpe won the top prize of $25,000.
For the results, see below:
1) magpe - $25,000 2) jstockton - $14,000 3) BeerBaron - $9,000 4) not_hans_brix - $6,500 5) ROBERT PAULSON - $5,400 6) Ryan506 - $4,400 7) ShariVegas - $3,400 8) Vatche - $2,400 9) neneburger - $1,550
Want to win your slice of some top guaranteed prizes? You can play in each of these events. Full Tilt Poker's $350K Guarantee costs $216 to enter. Too rich for your blood? Satellite into the Sunday tournament for as little as $4.40. Ultimate Bet's $200K is $200 + 15 to enter. Satellites go as low as $5.50 for the weekly main event. Bodog's 100K Guarantee is $100 + 9, or you can use 250 Bodog Poker Points or $1 for satellite events to win your way in! (See each site directly by using the links in this article to get more information.)