qqqq

After two weeks of delayed Sunday Million tournaments for Daylight Savings Time sufferers, the ever-popular Sunday tournament was back on a regular time schedule for the March 22nd edition. With spring having been declared official only two days prior, a new season awaited many thousands of players.

With the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) only days away and players looking to hone their skills in preparation of it, the Sunday Million welcomed a total of 7,906 players to the virtual felt to compete for a prize pool that became $1,581,200, gently putting the $1.5 million guarantee to a quiet shame.

The massive crowd of players quickly thinned, and when the money bubble approached, Bushman kindly went out in 1171st place on that bubble to allow dirkdiggler9 to cash for $316.24 and numerous others to follow. And with that, the field dwindled further to move toward the final nine players and the last table of the tourney.

At that point, it was bakaunko who pushed all-in with his short stack of 3,204,476 preflop holding pocket threes. bbs99 called from the small blind with pocket jacks, and it looked like the final table bubble would burst. But the flop came 6d-3h-5c to give bakaunko the advantage with trips. The 2c on the turn allowed that to hold, but the Jh on the river gave bbs99 the better set, leaving bakaunko ousted in tenth place with $7,906.00 for the bubble spot.

With that, the final nine players were established as follows:

Seat 1: Liqqa (6,120,206 in chips)
Seat 2: reef2287 (7,994,226 in chips)
Seat 3: ckingusc (14,669,864 in chips)
Seat 4: *xen (10,831,038 in chips)
Seat 5: Rabbiej (4,577,660 in chips)
Seat 6: 1GENERAL_TAO (6,775,126 in chips)
Seat 7: bbs99 (16,753,871 in chips)
Seat 8: tpreston (4,310,041 in chips)
Seat 9: bigsexyKN (7,027,968 in chips)

With bbs99 in the chip lead from the start of the action, Zachary “ckingusc” King was not far behind and looking to add another title to his already impressive resume. Many will remember him for his 2008 WCOOP main event win only a few months ago. To remind yourself of that brilliant win, watch our WCOOP main event highlight show right here…

Watch WCOOP Highlights: $5,200 Main Event on PokerStars.tv

Though action began rather slowly, bigsexyKN had no complaints as he doubled through bbs99 to stay alive. But eliminations would come soon.

With tpreston sitting on one of the shorter stacks, the move was inevitable. After reef2287 started the hand with a preflop raise, tpreston reraised all-in with Ad-Kc, but reef2287 called with pocket kings. The board came an uneventful Jc-Td-7d-3c-9h, and tpreston accepted $11,068.40 for the ninth place finish.

Rabbiej wasn’t afraid to move some chips around and soon doubled through bigsexyKN to climb to over 9 million chips. But soon after, looking at a raise from *xen, Rabbiej reraised all-in with As-Jc. There wasn’t much hesitation on the part of *xen to call with pocket kings, and the 3c-7s-8h flop came down in support of that. The 2h on the turn was good for the pair as well, and the Ks on the river just solidified the outcome that gave Rabbiej an eighth place finish and $18,183,80 to go with it.

Next at risk was bigsexyKN, who started the hand with a raise. When ckingusc came in for a reraise, bigsexyKN pushed all-in for more than 9 million chips with Ad-Kc. ckingusc called with Ah-Jd but caught the key card on the flop of Jc-Qs-3h. The 6d on the turn and 8h on the river made it hold, and bigsexyKN was out with a seventh place finish worth $27,671.00.

The next significant hand began with *xen making an all-in move preflop but 1GENERAL_TAO calling all-in for his last 8,925,126 with pocket jacks. *xen turned over Kc-Qd, and the race was on. That was until the flop came Td-Ts-Qh. With an uneventful 4h on the turn and 3c on the river, *xen won the pot with the higher two pair, and 1GENERAL_TAO was forced out in sixth place with a $40,320.60 consolation prize.

The tournament life of Liqqa was the next to be on the line with the short-stacked player all-in preflop holding Jh-8c in the small blind. But reef2287 was there with the call and Ad-8h, the dominating hand. The board ran out Qd-Kc-8d-As-6c, and that was all it took to eliminate Liqqa in fifth place, which was worth $56,132.60.

Despite reef2287’s elimination of Liqqa, reef2287 was unable to gain much momentum and finally pushed all-in preflop with 9c-2s from the small blind. But ckingusc wouldn’t let that go and made the call with pocket eights from the big blind. The board brought nothing for the short stack when it produced Js-4d-3d-7s-As to eliminate reef2287 in fourth place with $71,944.60.

Three-handed play began and continued for some time, and with ckingusc uninterested in any chop talk, the trio played it out. Finally, after an initial raise by ckingusc, bbs99 raised it up, but ckingusc did the same. bbs99 responded with an all-in move with pocket deuces, and ckingusc called with Js-8s. The board gave ckingusc the advantage on the flop when it came 9d-3d-Jc, and the Ks turn and 4s river finished the hand, leaving bbs99 out in third place with $88,547.20 for the effort.

Heads-up action started with the following counts:

Seat 3: ckingusc (48,778,949 in chips)
Seat 4: *xen (30,281,051 in chips)

As ckingusc extended the chip lead, it was up to *xen to look for a spot and make a serious move to reverse the trend. That happened when *xen pushed all-in preflop with Ah-Kd versus the pocket fours of ckingusc. The board came Ac-5h-9d-8c-9h, giving the double-up to *xen, along with the chip lead.

The heads-up battle soon verged on epic, as *xen kept the chip lead for some time but ckingusc never gave up or got involved without the goods. ckingusc took a 12 million-chip pot to tighten the difference between the two at one point, but *xen continued to chip away at the 2008 WCOOP champion.

Eventually, ckingusc found his spot. The hand started with a raise from *xen, a reraise from ckingusc, and all-in move by *xen, and an all-in call from ckingusc with pocket eights, which were up against the Ks-Th of *xen. The board brought 6s-Ts-Qd-Kh-8s to give ckingusc the double-up and the 2-to-1 chip lead.

It only took a few hands for *xen to feel the need to push, and he did it preflop with pocket nines. It just so happened that ckingusc woke up with pocket jacks on the same hand and had *xen dominated. The board reduced the short stacks’ outs as it came 2c-7h-Ks-8s, and the Jc only served to seal the deal and give *xen a second place finish. A solid payout of $130,607.12 was the reward.

With that, Zachary “ckingusc” King, became the latest Sunday Million champion, with a $193,697.00 prize to show for it. More importantly, King added a Sunday Million title to his solid list of online poker accomplishments, which included the impressive 2008 WCOOP main event victory in September of 2008, which was worth $1,265,432 and much respect in the poker community. With this Sunday Million title and nearly $200,000 to add to his resume, the young poker pro can be proud of this victory. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 03/22/09:

1st place: ckingusc ($193,697.00)
2nd place: *xen ($130,607.12)
3rd place: bbs99 ($88,547.20)
4th place: reef2287 ($71,944.60)
5th place: Liqqa ($56,132.60)
6th place: 1GENERAL_TAO ($40,320.60)
7th place: bigsexyKN ($27,671.00)
8th place: Rabbiej ($18,183.80)
9th place: tpreston ($11,068.40)

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

After two weeks of delayed Sunday Million tournaments for Daylight Savings Time sufferers, the ever-popular Sunday tournament was back on a regular time schedule for the March 22nd edition. With spring having been declared official only two days prior, a new season awaited many thousands of players.

With the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) only days away and players looking to hone their skills in preparation of it, the Sunday Million welcomed a total of 7,906 players to the virtual felt to compete for a prize pool that became $1,581,200, gently putting the $1.5 million guarantee to a quiet shame.

The massive crowd of players quickly thinned, and when the money bubble approached, Bushman kindly went out in 1171st place on that bubble to allow dirkdiggler9 to cash for $316.24 and numerous others to follow. And with that, the field dwindled further to move toward the final nine players and the last table of the tourney.

At that point, it was bakaunko who pushed all-in with his short stack of 3,204,476 preflop holding pocket threes. bbs99 called from the small blind with pocket jacks, and it looked like the final table bubble would burst. But the flop came 6d-3h-5c to give bakaunko the advantage with trips. The 2c on the turn allowed that to hold, but the Jh on the river gave bbs99 the better set, leaving bakaunko ousted in tenth place with $7,906.00 for the bubble spot.

With that, the final nine players were established as follows:

Seat 1: Liqqa (6,120,206 in chips)
Seat 2: reef2287 (7,994,226 in chips)
Seat 3: ckingusc (14,669,864 in chips)
Seat 4: *xen (10,831,038 in chips)
Seat 5: Rabbiej (4,577,660 in chips)
Seat 6: 1GENERAL_TAO (6,775,126 in chips)
Seat 7: bbs99 (16,753,871 in chips)
Seat 8: tpreston (4,310,041 in chips)
Seat 9: bigsexyKN (7,027,968 in chips)

With bbs99 in the chip lead from the start of the action, Zachary “ckingusc” King was not far behind and looking to add another title to his already impressive resume. Many will remember him for his 2008 WCOOP main event win only a few months ago. To remind yourself of that brilliant win, watch our WCOOP main event highlight show right here…

Watch WCOOP Highlights: $5,200 Main Event on PokerStars.tv

Though action began rather slowly, bigsexyKN had no complaints as he doubled through bbs99 to stay alive. But eliminations would come soon.

With tpreston sitting on one of the shorter stacks, the move was inevitable. After reef2287 started the hand with a preflop raise, tpreston reraised all-in with Ad-Kc, but reef2287 called with pocket kings. The board came an uneventful Jc-Td-7d-3c-9h, and tpreston accepted $11,068.40 for the ninth place finish.

Rabbiej wasn’t afraid to move some chips around and soon doubled through bigsexyKN to climb to over 9 million chips. But soon after, looking at a raise from *xen, Rabbiej reraised all-in with As-Jc. There wasn’t much hesitation on the part of *xen to call with pocket kings, and the 3c-7s-8h flop came down in support of that. The 2h on the turn was good for the pair as well, and the Ks on the river just solidified the outcome that gave Rabbiej an eighth place finish and $18,183,80 to go with it.

Next at risk was bigsexyKN, who started the hand with a raise. When ckingusc came in for a reraise, bigsexyKN pushed all-in for more than 9 million chips with Ad-Kc. ckingusc called with Ah-Jd but caught the key card on the flop of Jc-Qs-3h. The 6d on the turn and 8h on the river made it hold, and bigsexyKN was out with a seventh place finish worth $27,671.00.

The next significant hand began with *xen making an all-in move preflop but 1GENERAL_TAO calling all-in for his last 8,925,126 with pocket jacks. *xen turned over Kc-Qd, and the race was on. That was until the flop came Td-Ts-Qh. With an uneventful 4h on the turn and 3c on the river, *xen won the pot with the higher two pair, and 1GENERAL_TAO was forced out in sixth place with a $40,320.60 consolation prize.

The tournament life of Liqqa was the next to be on the line with the short-stacked player all-in preflop holding Jh-8c in the small blind. But reef2287 was there with the call and Ad-8h, the dominating hand. The board ran out Qd-Kc-8d-As-6c, and that was all it took to eliminate Liqqa in fifth place, which was worth $56,132.60.

Despite reef2287’s elimination of Liqqa, reef2287 was unable to gain much momentum and finally pushed all-in preflop with 9c-2s from the small blind. But ckingusc wouldn’t let that go and made the call with pocket eights from the big blind. The board brought nothing for the short stack when it produced Js-4d-3d-7s-As to eliminate reef2287 in fourth place with $71,944.60.

Three-handed play began and continued for some time, and with ckingusc uninterested in any chop talk, the trio played it out. Finally, after an initial raise by ckingusc, bbs99 raised it up, but ckingusc did the same. bbs99 responded with an all-in move with pocket deuces, and ckingusc called with Js-8s. The board gave ckingusc the advantage on the flop when it came 9d-3d-Jc, and the Ks turn and 4s river finished the hand, leaving bbs99 out in third place with $88,547.20 for the effort.

Heads-up action started with the following counts:

Seat 3: ckingusc (48,778,949 in chips)
Seat 4: *xen (30,281,051 in chips)

As ckingusc extended the chip lead, it was up to *xen to look for a spot and make a serious move to reverse the trend. That happened when *xen pushed all-in preflop with Ah-Kd versus the pocket fours of ckingusc. The board came Ac-5h-9d-8c-9h, giving the double-up to *xen, along with the chip lead.

The heads-up battle soon verged on epic, as *xen kept the chip lead for some time but ckingusc never gave up or got involved without the goods. ckingusc took a 12 million-chip pot to tighten the difference between the two at one point, but *xen continued to chip away at the 2008 WCOOP champion.

Eventually, ckingusc found his spot. The hand started with a raise from *xen, a reraise from ckingusc, and all-in move by *xen, and an all-in call from ckingusc with pocket eights, which were up against the Ks-Th of *xen. The board brought 6s-Ts-Qd-Kh-8s to give ckingusc the double-up and the 2-to-1 chip lead.

It only took a few hands for *xen to feel the need to push, and he did it preflop with pocket nines. It just so happened that ckingusc woke up with pocket jacks on the same hand and had *xen dominated. The board reduced the short stacks’ outs as it came 2c-7h-Ks-8s, and the Jc only served to seal the deal and give *xen a second place finish. A solid payout of $130,607.12 was the reward.

With that, Zachary “ckingusc” King, became the latest Sunday Million champion, with a $193,697.00 prize to show for it. More importantly, King added a Sunday Million title to his solid list of online poker accomplishments, which included the impressive 2008 WCOOP main event victory in September of 2008, which was worth $1,265,432 and much respect in the poker community. With this Sunday Million title and nearly $200,000 to add to his resume, the young poker pro can be proud of this victory. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 03/22/09:

1st place: ckingusc ($193,697.00)
2nd place: *xen ($130,607.12)
3rd place: bbs99 ($88,547.20)
4th place: reef2287 ($71,944.60)
5th place: Liqqa ($56,132.60)
6th place: 1GENERAL_TAO ($40,320.60)
7th place: bigsexyKN ($27,671.00)
8th place: Rabbiej ($18,183.80)
9th place: tpreston ($11,068.40)

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

Just two more weeks until the flood gates of tournament action are unleashed when the inaugural Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) kicks off for players of all bankroll sizes. Starting April 2nd and lasting until the main event April 12th, players will be able to compete in three buy-in levels of action that won’t kill your virtual wallet to be a part of. Be sure to check here at the PokerStarsBlog for all the final table recaps as we crown three champions a night!

As for tonight’s action at the $215 buy-in Sunday Warm-up 4,353 easily crushed the $750,000 guarantee again and ramped up the first prize to $112,307,40 and assured five figure paydays to eight different players.

Here’s how we arrived at the final nine:

A nice run by Team PokerStars Pro Noah “Exclusive” Boeken (199th place winning $957.66) ended on an open button push with Ah-9s and lara15fiona awaited in the big blind with Ad-Qs. lara15fiona would promptly flop broadway and sent the Dutch pro out of the tournament. With three tables left, not to mention several hours later, lara15fiona would still be using Boeken’s chips on a run towards the final table but ultimately finishing a respectable 23rd place ($1,828.26).

Joining lara on this late table run was none other than James “mig.com” Mackey who’s 2007 WCOOP main event final table netted him almost $600,000 for third place (report found here) and winning Event #14 ($1,050 NLHE) the same year for another $580,212.50, read about that win here.

Another player who is familiar to late play in big online tournaments, grebnrets86, was sitting near the top of the leaderboard with two tables left, just two weeks ago claimed the runner-up prize in the Sunday Warm-up ($76,014.00).

mig.com would knock out mppowerm in 11th after turning a set of nines against mppowerm’s A8o to leap from mid pack to near the top in chip counts. After dishing out some chips and taking them back via steals, mig.com would send ronnyr3 home as the bubble boy when mig.com turned up Ad-Th to ronnyr3’s Kh-Qd and neither connected on the Js-Jc-6d-9c-6c board and Mackey’s Ace high produced our final table.

Seat 1: don_beppe (2612658 in chips)
Seat 2: Buton77 (12005148 in chips)
Seat 3: Ar Schaflme (4502712 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (3781982 in chips)
Seat 5: dj_ponytale (2621644 in chips)
Seat 6: DeacNutt (1684826 in chips)
Seat 7: p5an (2705570 in chips)
Seat 8: mig.com (8973176 in chips)
Seat 9: Quagmire (4642284 in chips)

Buton77 wasted no time to expandhis lead as the fifth hand at the final table he would be responsible for its first knock-out. With blinds at 80,000/160,000 ante 16,000 and folded around to don_beppe in middle position, he would open shove for his 2.5 million chips with pocket eights (8c-8d) and receive a snap call by Buton77 on his direct left. Buton77 turned up a slightly better pocket pair of aces (Ah-Ac) which would hold on the 3c-Ks-2s-3s-As board. don_beppe would have to settle for ninth place and the $7,051.86 that came with it.

Fifteen hands would go by before DeacNutt and Ar Schaflme would actually produce cards in the middle of the board. Post flop play went by quickly however with DeacNutt taking down the 849,424 chip pot with a 640,000 chip flop bet.

At the break the chip counts stood as shown below with Buton77 stack dwarfing the field and mig.com sitting in second:

Seat 2: Buton77 (15256806 in chips)
Seat 3: Ar Schaflme (2877000 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (5068982 in chips)
Seat 5: dj_ponytale (1923744 in chips)
Seat 6: DeacNutt (2673438 in chips)
Seat 7: p5an (2164570 in chips)
Seat 8: mig.com (8440176 in chips)
Seat 9: Quagmire (5125284 in chips)

Mackey would claim his first final table victim in the form of p5an. Folded around to p5an sitting on the button with the short stack and pocket sevens (7c-7h) a push seemed to be an easy decision. Unfortunately, that 460,000 pre-flop pot would not be sliding his way as mig.com woke up with pocket kings (Kh-Kd). The kings proved to be enough on the 4c-3h-Tc-2h-4h board with mig.com being the benefactor of the 3.8 million chip pot increasing his total to nearly nine million. For eighth place p5an got a five figure send off in the form of $10,882.50 added to his PokerStars account.

Six hands later, the other big gun at the table, grebnrets86 would get his hands deep into the battle for that $112K first prize as he tangled with Ar Schaflme pre-flop. Folded around to Ar Schaflme in the cutoff he would shove his remaining 2.8 million into the middle and got a customer in the form of a re-raise from grebnrets86 on the button. The blinds got the message to sit this one out. Ad-Td for grebnrets86, a dominated As-7h for Ar Schaflme, and there was no drama once again as grenbnrets86 would flop two pair and river the nut flush on the Tc-Qd-Ah-Kd-9d board for the 6.1 million chip pot sending Ar Schaflme home in seventh place ($17,412.00).

You know how people compare the live game with the speed of the online game? Well, the next bust out happen quicker then I could type out the amount won by Ar Schaflme! The very next hand grebnrets86 sended another player out of his seat. Opening from the cutoff for 478,987 grebnrets86 would push DeacNutt’s in the big blind into making a decision for his chips. The decision was clear that Ah-Jc was the hand to double-up or go home with as DeacNutt shoved his nearly two million chips into the middle. grebnrets86 would make the call with pocket ducks (2h-2d) and the race was on for DeacNutt’s tournament life. Only this race lasted slightly longer then a bad TV sitcom pilot, as grebnrets86 would flop a set of twos and river a boat on the 2s-9h-5h-6d-9c board leaving DeacNutt with nothing left to hold but the $26,118.00 he received in sixth place.

Eight hands later would be the biggest hand of the tournament to this point as the two heavyweights would collide for all of their chips pre-flop. mig.com would start the betting by raising to 510,000 with the blinds at 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000. grebnrets86 would counter with a re-raise from the small blind to 1.6 million. To which Mackey had an answer of “all-in”, and grebnrets86 took a look at his cards and responded likewise.

grebnrets86: [Td-Ts]
mig.com: [5h-5s]

Well behind, Mackey still had 177K chip in his stack but wouldn’t need them, as the pretty looking five of diamonds hit the 5d-Js-9h flop. 8d on the turn opened up straight possibilities as well as the other two tens, but Ad came instead and grebnrets86 couldn’t improve on his runner-up finish this evening and had to settle for a $34,824.00 bad beat story in fifth place. Mackey’s stack would take over the chip lead as a result of the 22.1 million chip pot.

dj_ponytale tried to dance with the seemingly bulletproof Mackey next as he would shove as 1.9 million chips in from the cutoff and getting a call from Mackey on the button. This time it was mig.com’s turn to dominate as his Ah-9c was ahead of dj_ponytale’s Ad-6d. The Kh-Qd-4d flop heavily favored dj_ponytale as he got some light with the nut flush draw. 9s on the turn changed nothing, and the As on the river stopped the music for dj_ponytale in fourth place for $43,530.00, perhaps enough for a new turntable.

Buton77 would snag a five million chip pot off mig.com to pull the race closer two hands later. Quagmire stayed out of their way until he faced a push holding Ks-Jc from Mackey into his big blind. mig.com only held Jh-9d and with the 8s-Ad-As-4s-5h board, 7.5 million chips and a new life headed into Quagmire’s stack. But, with the blinds moving up to 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000 moves would need to be made to hang on to those chips. Buton77 raised to 615,000 into Quagmire’s big blind and with a little more force in his stack he would shove over the top for 6.2 million total with just 2d-9d hoping to increase his stack even more. Buton77 had the cards to make the call and did while exposing pocket sevens. A deuce would hit the flop but the 2h-6c-Jc-3d-Th board showed Buton77’s sevens were the victor. $52,236.00 was Quagmire’s to keep in third place as heads-up play was about to begin.

Buton77 (23,569,374 in chips)
mig.com (19,960,626 in chips)

Fairly even stacks as both players would begin their joust for the $112K first prize with the blinds still at 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000.

The first minor shot came with mig.com taking down a 3.75 million chip pot when they both agreed to finally see a flop of 6s-7c-8s after the two traded pre-flop raises and mig.com’s 2.25 million chip bet took it down. Buton77 would counter back while taking his own 4.55 million chip pot a few hands later when his 2.7 million chip bet on a flop of Qs-3d-Qh was not called and he regained his small chip lead.

“Along as there are outs, you still have a chance to win” might be tad overstated and bland to read. But when there’s a $30K difference in prize money on the line, a roller coaster of emotions going from elation to defeat and back to happy-land again might require a strong heart watching those outs produce on the board.

The final hand started out innocently enough as Buton77 raised to 600,000 from the button and got a call from Mackey to see a 8h-As-Th flop. mig.com checked as Buton77 followed thru with a bet of 815,000. Then the fireworks started, mig.com check-raised to 2.5 million, Buton77 countered with a three-bet to six million, and mig.com made it four bets for nearly twenty million. Definitely, a nut check holding just middle pair with $30K on the line and Ts-6s, but Buton77 would make the correct call and mig.com showed the semi-bluff of 9d-7h. An open ended straight draw for Mackey would fill on the 6d turn but still gave Buton77 outs to a boat.

You see where this going?

River: Td

Tens full boat for Buton77 and at the end of the roller coaster, the $112,307.40 for this week’s Sunday Warm-up Champion! Mackey added yet another huge tournament score in second place banking $78,354.00 as the runner-up.

Be sure to check PokerStars.TV tomorrow as the hole cards of the final table will be exposed to all with great commentary.

Sunday Warm-up Results (03-22-09)
1. Buton77 $112,307.40
2. mig.com $78,354.00
3. Quagmire $52,236.00
4. dj_ponytale $43,530.00
5. grebnrets86 $34,824.00
6. DeacNutt $26,118.00
7. Ar Schaflme $17,412.00
8. p5an $10,882.50
9. don_beppe $7,051.86

Just two more weeks until the flood gates of tournament action are unleashed when the inaugural Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) kicks off for players of all bankroll sizes. Starting April 2nd and lasting until the main event April 12th, players will be able to compete in three buy-in levels of action that won’t kill your virtual wallet to be a part of. Be sure to check here at the PokerStarsBlog for all the final table recaps as we crown three champions a night!

As for tonight’s action at the $215 buy-in Sunday Warm-up 4,353 easily crushed the $750,000 guarantee again and ramped up the first prize to $112,307,40 and assured five figure paydays to eight different players.

Here’s how we arrived at the final nine:

A nice run by Team PokerStars Pro Noah “Exclusive” Boeken (199th place winning $957.66) ended on an open button push with Ah-9s and lara15fiona awaited in the big blind with Ad-Qs. lara15fiona would promptly flop broadway and sent the Dutch pro out of the tournament. With three tables left, not to mention several hours later, lara15fiona would still be using Boeken’s chips on a run towards the final table but ultimately finishing a respectable 23rd place ($1,828.26).

Joining lara on this late table run was none other than James “mig.com” Mackey who’s 2007 WCOOP main event final table netted him almost $600,000 for third place (report found here) and winning Event #14 ($1,050 NLHE) the same year for another $580,212.50, read about that win here.

Another player who is familiar to late play in big online tournaments, grebnrets86, was sitting near the top of the leaderboard with two tables left, just two weeks ago claimed the runner-up prize in the Sunday Warm-up ($76,014.00).

mig.com would knock out mppowerm in 11th after turning a set of nines against mppowerm’s A8o to leap from mid pack to near the top in chip counts. After dishing out some chips and taking them back via steals, mig.com would send ronnyr3 home as the bubble boy when mig.com turned up Ad-Th to ronnyr3’s Kh-Qd and neither connected on the Js-Jc-6d-9c-6c board and Mackey’s Ace high produced our final table.

Seat 1: don_beppe (2612658 in chips)
Seat 2: Buton77 (12005148 in chips)
Seat 3: Ar Schaflme (4502712 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (3781982 in chips)
Seat 5: dj_ponytale (2621644 in chips)
Seat 6: DeacNutt (1684826 in chips)
Seat 7: p5an (2705570 in chips)
Seat 8: mig.com (8973176 in chips)
Seat 9: Quagmire (4642284 in chips)

Buton77 wasted no time to expandhis lead as the fifth hand at the final table he would be responsible for its first knock-out. With blinds at 80,000/160,000 ante 16,000 and folded around to don_beppe in middle position, he would open shove for his 2.5 million chips with pocket eights (8c-8d) and receive a snap call by Buton77 on his direct left. Buton77 turned up a slightly better pocket pair of aces (Ah-Ac) which would hold on the 3c-Ks-2s-3s-As board. don_beppe would have to settle for ninth place and the $7,051.86 that came with it.

Fifteen hands would go by before DeacNutt and Ar Schaflme would actually produce cards in the middle of the board. Post flop play went by quickly however with DeacNutt taking down the 849,424 chip pot with a 640,000 chip flop bet.

At the break the chip counts stood as shown below with Buton77 stack dwarfing the field and mig.com sitting in second:

Seat 2: Buton77 (15256806 in chips)
Seat 3: Ar Schaflme (2877000 in chips)
Seat 4: grebnrets86 (5068982 in chips)
Seat 5: dj_ponytale (1923744 in chips)
Seat 6: DeacNutt (2673438 in chips)
Seat 7: p5an (2164570 in chips)
Seat 8: mig.com (8440176 in chips)
Seat 9: Quagmire (5125284 in chips)

Mackey would claim his first final table victim in the form of p5an. Folded around to p5an sitting on the button with the short stack and pocket sevens (7c-7h) a push seemed to be an easy decision. Unfortunately, that 460,000 pre-flop pot would not be sliding his way as mig.com woke up with pocket kings (Kh-Kd). The kings proved to be enough on the 4c-3h-Tc-2h-4h board with mig.com being the benefactor of the 3.8 million chip pot increasing his total to nearly nine million. For eighth place p5an got a five figure send off in the form of $10,882.50 added to his PokerStars account.

Six hands later, the other big gun at the table, grebnrets86 would get his hands deep into the battle for that $112K first prize as he tangled with Ar Schaflme pre-flop. Folded around to Ar Schaflme in the cutoff he would shove his remaining 2.8 million into the middle and got a customer in the form of a re-raise from grebnrets86 on the button. The blinds got the message to sit this one out. Ad-Td for grebnrets86, a dominated As-7h for Ar Schaflme, and there was no drama once again as grenbnrets86 would flop two pair and river the nut flush on the Tc-Qd-Ah-Kd-9d board for the 6.1 million chip pot sending Ar Schaflme home in seventh place ($17,412.00).

You know how people compare the live game with the speed of the online game? Well, the next bust out happen quicker then I could type out the amount won by Ar Schaflme! The very next hand grebnrets86 sended another player out of his seat. Opening from the cutoff for 478,987 grebnrets86 would push DeacNutt’s in the big blind into making a decision for his chips. The decision was clear that Ah-Jc was the hand to double-up or go home with as DeacNutt shoved his nearly two million chips into the middle. grebnrets86 would make the call with pocket ducks (2h-2d) and the race was on for DeacNutt’s tournament life. Only this race lasted slightly longer then a bad TV sitcom pilot, as grebnrets86 would flop a set of twos and river a boat on the 2s-9h-5h-6d-9c board leaving DeacNutt with nothing left to hold but the $26,118.00 he received in sixth place.

Eight hands later would be the biggest hand of the tournament to this point as the two heavyweights would collide for all of their chips pre-flop. mig.com would start the betting by raising to 510,000 with the blinds at 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000. grebnrets86 would counter with a re-raise from the small blind to 1.6 million. To which Mackey had an answer of “all-in”, and grebnrets86 took a look at his cards and responded likewise.

grebnrets86: [Td-Ts]
mig.com: [5h-5s]

Well behind, Mackey still had 177K chip in his stack but wouldn’t need them, as the pretty looking five of diamonds hit the 5d-Js-9h flop. 8d on the turn opened up straight possibilities as well as the other two tens, but Ad came instead and grebnrets86 couldn’t improve on his runner-up finish this evening and had to settle for a $34,824.00 bad beat story in fifth place. Mackey’s stack would take over the chip lead as a result of the 22.1 million chip pot.

dj_ponytale tried to dance with the seemingly bulletproof Mackey next as he would shove as 1.9 million chips in from the cutoff and getting a call from Mackey on the button. This time it was mig.com’s turn to dominate as his Ah-9c was ahead of dj_ponytale’s Ad-6d. The Kh-Qd-4d flop heavily favored dj_ponytale as he got some light with the nut flush draw. 9s on the turn changed nothing, and the As on the river stopped the music for dj_ponytale in fourth place for $43,530.00, perhaps enough for a new turntable.

Buton77 would snag a five million chip pot off mig.com to pull the race closer two hands later. Quagmire stayed out of their way until he faced a push holding Ks-Jc from Mackey into his big blind. mig.com only held Jh-9d and with the 8s-Ad-As-4s-5h board, 7.5 million chips and a new life headed into Quagmire’s stack. But, with the blinds moving up to 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000 moves would need to be made to hang on to those chips. Buton77 raised to 615,000 into Quagmire’s big blind and with a little more force in his stack he would shove over the top for 6.2 million total with just 2d-9d hoping to increase his stack even more. Buton77 had the cards to make the call and did while exposing pocket sevens. A deuce would hit the flop but the 2h-6c-Jc-3d-Th board showed Buton77’s sevens were the victor. $52,236.00 was Quagmire’s to keep in third place as heads-up play was about to begin.

Buton77 (23,569,374 in chips)
mig.com (19,960,626 in chips)

Fairly even stacks as both players would begin their joust for the $112K first prize with the blinds still at 125,000/250,000 ante 25,000.

The first minor shot came with mig.com taking down a 3.75 million chip pot when they both agreed to finally see a flop of 6s-7c-8s after the two traded pre-flop raises and mig.com’s 2.25 million chip bet took it down. Buton77 would counter back while taking his own 4.55 million chip pot a few hands later when his 2.7 million chip bet on a flop of Qs-3d-Qh was not called and he regained his small chip lead.

“Along as there are outs, you still have a chance to win” might be tad overstated and bland to read. But when there’s a $30K difference in prize money on the line, a roller coaster of emotions going from elation to defeat and back to happy-land again might require a strong heart watching those outs produce on the board.

The final hand started out innocently enough as Buton77 raised to 600,000 from the button and got a call from Mackey to see a 8h-As-Th flop. mig.com checked as Buton77 followed thru with a bet of 815,000. Then the fireworks started, mig.com check-raised to 2.5 million, Buton77 countered with a three-bet to six million, and mig.com made it four bets for nearly twenty million. Definitely, a nut check holding just middle pair with $30K on the line and Ts-6s, but Buton77 would make the correct call and mig.com showed the semi-bluff of 9d-7h. An open ended straight draw for Mackey would fill on the 6d turn but still gave Buton77 outs to a boat.

You see where this going?

River: Td

Tens full boat for Buton77 and at the end of the roller coaster, the $112,307.40 for this week’s Sunday Warm-up Champion! Mackey added yet another huge tournament score in second place banking $78,354.00 as the runner-up.

Be sure to check PokerStars.TV tomorrow as the hole cards of the final table will be exposed to all with great commentary.

Sunday Warm-up Results (03-22-09)
1. Buton77 $112,307.40
2. mig.com $78,354.00
3. Quagmire $52,236.00
4. dj_ponytale $43,530.00
5. grebnrets86 $34,824.00
6. DeacNutt $26,118.00
7. Ar Schaflme $17,412.00
8. p5an $10,882.50
9. don_beppe $7,051.86

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here’s your daily update of the action from PokerStars’ very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

Prior to the final team selection tournament, there were still six members of the All Star Challengers team that had not secured a match in the All Star Week line-up. With only five spots left to fill, at least one person was going to miss out.

As it turned out, two of those six were finally able to break through. Dutch Supernova Elite busto_soon rode comfortably into third place and selected Isabelle Mercier as his single opponent for the series. The result delighted his legions of railbird fans who had been eagerly awaiting this chance to cheer. 1ofaKind420, a 2008 Yearly TLB Top 50 player, made harder work of qualifying but did enough to take the fifth spot for the day. He will take on Lee Nelson in Sunday’s 16:00 ET Stud Hi/Lo match.

The day’s other qualifiers are already firmly entrenched in the All Star Week schedule and will be challenging for the team MVP award. The first man to choose from Sunday’s games was Pole kAmIkAdZeE. His fourth match for the week will be the potentially crucial final match of the series against Greg Raymer.

Second choice went to the red-hot Supernova Elite ‘psimalive’, who made it three in a row today - a unique feat during the week’s tournaments. He exercised his option on the 12:00 ET match with Vicky Coren. It was another four-time winner that took the remaining match in the schedule. Sumpas will take on Chad Brown in the penultimate match of All Star Week.

Battle commences for real tomorrow, and you can follow all the action here on the blog. The full schedule of matches is as follows:

Monday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Vicky Coren Vs Sumpas
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Lee Nelson Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 3 [STUD] 16:00 Chad Brown Vs Bookie1978
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Isabelle Mercier Vs PKerBL
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Dennis Phillips Vs bluffblocker

Tuesday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Katja Thater Vs oblowski512
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Marcin Horecki Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 3 [PLO8] 16:00 Noah Boeken Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Alex Kravchenko Vs VOLCANO360
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 JC Alvarado Vs 666 INRI

Wednesday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 ElkY Vs VOLCANO360
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Victor Ramdin Vs Aryamehr
Match 3 [PLO] 16:00 William Thorson Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Vanessa Rousso Vs PKerBL
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Chris Moneymaker Vs bluffblocker

Thursday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 ElkY Vs PKerBL
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Vanessa Rousso Vs Sumpas
Match 3 [LHE] 16:00 Ylon Schwartz Vs Aryamehr
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Alex Kravchenko Vs oblowski512
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Chris Moneymaker Vs Gunslinger3

Friday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Katja Thater Vs GoMukYaSelf
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Andre Akkari Vs bluffblocker
Match 3 [5CD-limit] 16:00 Barry Greenstein Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Humberto Brenes Vs psimalive
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Daniel Negreanu Vs lordhuttyx

Saturday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Victor Ramdin Vs psimalive
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Steve Paul-Ambrose Vs Sumpas
Match 3 [O8] 16:00 Greg Raymer Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Humberto Brenes Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Joe Hachem Vs 666 INRI

Sunday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Vicky Coren Vs psimalive
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Isabelle Mercier Vs busto_soon
Match 3 [STUD8] 16:00 Lee Nelson Vs 1ofaKind420
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Chad Brown Vs Sumpas
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Greg Raymer Vs kAmIkAdZeEe

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here’s your daily update of the action from PokerStars’ very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

Prior to the final team selection tournament, there were still six members of the All Star Challengers team that had not secured a match in the All Star Week line-up. With only five spots left to fill, at least one person was going to miss out.

As it turned out, two of those six were finally able to break through. Dutch Supernova Elite busto_soon rode comfortably into third place and selected Isabelle Mercier as his single opponent for the series. The result delighted his legions of railbird fans who had been eagerly awaiting this chance to cheer. 1ofaKind420, a 2008 Yearly TLB Top 50 player, made harder work of qualifying but did enough to take the fifth spot for the day. He will take on Lee Nelson in Sunday’s 16:00 ET Stud Hi/Lo match.

The day’s other qualifiers are already firmly entrenched in the All Star Week schedule and will be challenging for the team MVP award. The first man to choose from Sunday’s games was Pole kAmIkAdZeE. His fourth match for the week will be the potentially crucial final match of the series against Greg Raymer.

Second choice went to the red-hot Supernova Elite ‘psimalive’, who made it three in a row today - a unique feat during the week’s tournaments. He exercised his option on the 12:00 ET match with Vicky Coren. It was another four-time winner that took the remaining match in the schedule. Sumpas will take on Chad Brown in the penultimate match of All Star Week.

Battle commences for real tomorrow, and you can follow all the action here on the blog. The full schedule of matches is as follows:

Monday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Vicky Coren Vs Sumpas
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Lee Nelson Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 3 [STUD] 16:00 Chad Brown Vs Bookie1978
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Isabelle Mercier Vs PKerBL
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Dennis Phillips Vs bluffblocker

Tuesday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Katja Thater Vs oblowski512
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Marcin Horecki Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 3 [PLO8] 16:00 Noah Boeken Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Alex Kravchenko Vs VOLCANO360
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 JC Alvarado Vs 666 INRI

Wednesday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 ElkY Vs VOLCANO360
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Victor Ramdin Vs Aryamehr
Match 3 [PLO] 16:00 William Thorson Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Vanessa Rousso Vs PKerBL
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Chris Moneymaker Vs bluffblocker

Thursday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 ElkY Vs PKerBL
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Vanessa Rousso Vs Sumpas
Match 3 [LHE] 16:00 Ylon Schwartz Vs Aryamehr
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Alex Kravchenko Vs oblowski512
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Chris Moneymaker Vs Gunslinger3

Friday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Katja Thater Vs GoMukYaSelf
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Andre Akkari Vs bluffblocker
Match 3 [5CD-limit] 16:00 Barry Greenstein Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Humberto Brenes Vs psimalive
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Daniel Negreanu Vs lordhuttyx

Saturday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Victor Ramdin Vs psimalive
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Steve Paul-Ambrose Vs Sumpas
Match 3 [O8] 16:00 Greg Raymer Vs Canuck
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Humberto Brenes Vs kAmIkAdZeEe
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Joe Hachem Vs 666 INRI

Sunday
Match 1 [NLHE] 12:00 Vicky Coren Vs psimalive
Match 2 [NLHE] 14:00 Isabelle Mercier Vs busto_soon
Match 3 [STUD8] 16:00 Lee Nelson Vs 1ofaKind420
Match 4 [NLHE] 18:00 Chad Brown Vs Sumpas
Match 5 [NLHE] 20:00 Greg Raymer Vs kAmIkAdZeEe

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here’s your daily update of the action from PokerStars’ very own Host Bob.

by Host Bob

In contrast to the fresh faces produced by Friday’s team selection tournament, all five of Saturday’s winners were already booked into the All Star Week schedule.

The first match selection fell to Canuck (a name we’ve been hearing a lot this week), who stuck to his previous form and chose the day’s non-NLHE option. He will take on Greg Raymer in an intriguing Limit Omaha Hi/Lo contest. After going zero from four in the early stages of team selection, American Supernova Elite psimalive has produced two wins in two days. He used his second choice on the 14:00 ET match with Team PS Pro captain Victor Ramdin.

kAmIkAdZeEe returned to the winner’s circle on Saturday, after three days outside the top five players. His third match of All Star Week will be against Humberto Brenes at 18:00 ET. The result puts him firmly back in the race for the team MVP title.

Also gaining a third spot in the All Star Week itinerary was 2008 WCOOP Main Event final tableist Sumpas. The Swede will come up against 2006 PCA champion Steve Paul-Ambrose.

The prospect of a clash with Joe Hachem awaited the final member of the top five. The honour fell to a Supernova Elite hailing from Germany, 666 INRI. Joe is one of only a handful of players with lifetime live tournament winnings in excess of $10,000,000, so 666 INRI has an intimidating task ahead of him. With just five matches remaining after this game, it could be a crucial clash.

There are now ten players with two or more matches on the All Star Week card - all of whom will be in with a chance of securing the MVP award. The 1-Stamp PokerStars Passport will hinge on who has the talent and the nerve to claim victory in their respective matches.

The fans are currently backing the Pros to win by 996 votes to 699. The Challengers will be determined to prove a lot of people wrong!

The qualifiers for PokerStars All Star Week are in the midst of determining who will face off against the Team PokerStars Pros. Here’s your daily update of the action, this time from PokerStars’ very own Host Scotty.

by Host Scotty

There were sighs of relief from several members of the All Star Challengers team on Day 5 of team selection, as we saw three new names appear on the All Star Week schedule.
After multiple near misses, lordhuttyx, GoMukYaSelf and psimalive all secured a first match in next week’s series.

lordhuttyx squeezed in this time around with the lowest stack, and found himself with a tricky match against Daniel Negreanu in the 20:00 ET slot. GoMukYaSelf has had a tough run in the daily selection tournaments and will be delighted to finally gain a berth in the All Star Week. He held second place when discussions began and decided to take on Friday’s opening match against WSOP Razz bracelet winner Katja Thater.

psimalive got to choose right after GoMukYaSelf and selected Team PokerStars Pro’s most colorful character as his opponent - Humberto Brenes. Costa Rica’s Godfather of Poker has been quite a handful in his appearances in the Weekly TLB challenge matches. He’ll be a tricky obstacle to overcome in the 18:00 ET Match 4.

The remaining qualifiers for the day both secured their third matches in All Star Week. Supernova Elite bluffblocker finished this selection tournament with the chiplead and chose to take on a man he has already encountered numerous times at the PokerStars tables - Andre Akkari.

Completing the quintet of Challengers for Friday was Canuck. He kept up his run of taking the non-NLHE option by agreeing to face Barry Greenstein at Limit 5-Card Draw. He will also be seen in the PLO and PLO8 matches of All Star Week.

In qualifying for a third time, bluffblocker and Canuck moved into a three-way tie for the Challengers MVP award with PKerBL. There are five other team members that have two games apiece that will be looking to improve in the last two days of team selection over the weekend.

Come back to the blog to find out which of the Challengers is rising to the occasion, or follow the action for yourself at 16:00 ET on the PokerStars software. The team selection tournaments can be found under the Events > Special tab, alongside the supporter tourneys and the All Star Week matches themselves.

by Brad Willis and Change100

In the late hours of Day 2, Tournament Director Mike Ward began joking with 20 year-old Norwegian Karl Hevroy. Ward called the young online poker player “Houdini.” At first, it was an inside joke between the two men. Tonight, it has a lot more meaning.

Hevroy is, in fact, the LAPT’s master of escape. No matter how dire the situation, no matter how deep the hole, no matter how sure the lock, Hevroy managed to get free. The result? One very impressive feat of magic, $283,500, and an LAPT title.

Three hundred twenty-seven players started this event three days ago. The top 36 walked away with cash, but the big money was handed out tonight at the final table.

Nine people from around the world made it to this ultimate felt. Here’s how they stacked up going into final table action (you can learn more about the players at our LAPT Punta del Este final table profiles report).

Seat 1: Andre Ventura 103,000
Seat 2: Oliver Rowe 412,000
Seat 3: Bolivar Palacios 167,000
Seat 4: Waldemar Cago 263,000
Seat 5: Karl Hevroy 1,079,000
Seat 6: Magno Aragao 153,000
Seat 7: Angel Guillen 572,000
Seat 8: Alejandro De Arruabarrena 397,000
Seat 9: Ron Wasiel 134,000

The LAPT Punta del Este final table

Andre Ventura was the comeback story of the tournament. At the end of Day 2, Ventura got pocket sixes in against queens and was crippled to 13,000 chips–less than one big blind. Within an hour, Ventura had doubled up a few times and made the final table.

On the very first hand of the final table, Angel Guillén came in for a raise. Ventura pushed all in with pocket queens and got got called by Guillén’s A-7. Ventura doubled up and looked to go deep. It took a minor cooler to bust him.

After Ventura opened for 41,000, Oliver Rowe reraised to 101,000, Ventura moved all in for 153,000 total and Rowe quickly called. It wasn’t pretty: Ventura’s Jh-Jd against Rowe’s Qs-Qd. Ventura’s chorus of railbirds started chanting “Jota! Jota! Jota!” imploring for a jack on the flop for their man.

The flop, though, came down 9h-5h-2s. The “jota” chorus turned into the “corazon” choir when the Kh appeared on the turn, Ventura picking up a flush draw, but he couldn’t get there, the 3d landing on the river to eliminate him in 9th place.

Andre Ventura

Magno Aragao was without a doubt one of the most affectionate poker players we have ever seen. When someone won, when someone lost, when someone looked like they just might need it, Aragao offered a giant, warm, manly hug. In our time as poker reporters, we have only one person offer so many hugs. That top spot was once held by Gentleman John Gale at the 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Mr. Gale, you have some competition in the Department of Affection.

Eventually, there came a time when Aragao needed a hug. Under-the-gun and with only 30,000 remaining, Magno Aragao dribbled his remaining chips into the middle and got two callers in Oliver Rowe and big blind Karl Hevroy. The flop came down Ts-7c-5c. Hevroy checked, Rowe bet 40,000 and Hevroy folded. With no more action to be had, the cards were turned up. Aragao held Qd-Qc to Rowe’s Jc-Td.

The room buzzed as Aragao’s pocket queens were revealed. Were we going to witness yet another amazing comeback? The turn was the 8h. Now Aragao was really sweating, as Rowe could win with a ten, a jack or a nine. And the river… was the 9h, making him a jack-high straight.

The always-affectionate Aragao hugged his opponent before heading out to collect his $26,640 in winnings.

Aragao, in need of a hug

It had only been a couple of days since we saw Bolivar Palacios take seventh place in the LAPT Mexico event. Today, he came here looking to better that performance. He was in pretty good shape to do that after a couple of timely double-ups in the early going. His Panamanian Rat Pack of poker players cheered him with as much gusto as any other group in the room. Finally, Palacios picked up a big hand and got his chips in with two black queens. He was racing against Alejandro De Arruabarrena’s As-Ks.

All looked well on the early part of the board. The first four cards came out 5d-4h-4s-7c. Then that ugly Kd fell on the river and Palacios was out in seventh place…again. He earned $37,740.

Boilvar Palacios

If you’re the kind to root for an underdog, Waldemar Cogo was your man today. Short-stacked for his entire time here, he managed to turn one big blind into a couple of money jumps. Every time it looked like he was out, the cards brought him back in. Ultimately, he used the last of his nine lives. With the action folded to the small blind, Oliver Rowe completed, Cogo moved all in and Rowe made the call. It was the Ks-7h for Rowe, dominating Cogo’s Kh-3s. The board ran out Kc-5s-2d-Jd-4s and Cogo headed out the door in sixth place. He won $48,840.

Waldemar Cogo

With Cogo gone, most of the stacks at the table were pretty big. We expected things to go slowly. They did not.

The next big hand was the kind that could make a player give up the game forever. On a flop of Js-9s-3h Oliver Rowe led out for 50,000 from the small blind and Karl Hevroy called.

The Kd came on the turn and Rowe considered for several minutes before settling on a bet of 115,000. Hevroy moved in and Rowe quickly called, showing 3d-3c for bottom set to Hevroy’s Kc-Qh. The young Norwegian who entered the final table as the dominant chip leader was now drawing to only four outs that would save his tournament life.

What happened next was the stuff of tin foil hats. The Th landed on the river. Hevroy made a king-high straight and claimed the rest of Rowe’s stack. Rowe’s face told the story.

Oliver Rowe

With Rowe out of the way, short-stacked Ron Wasiel finally gave up the ghost. He got the rest of his chips in on a flop of Td-Ts-9s and Karl Hevroy made the call. Wasiel was in a tough spot, his Js-9c up against Hevroy’s pocket jacks. The 8c on the turn gave him some outs to a chop should a seven or a queen appear, but the 3c hit the river, giving the hand to Hevroy and sending Wasiel to the rail in fourth place.

Ron Wasiel

We all started to learn our lesson on the next hand. The lesson?

Don’t ever count out Karl Hevroy when he’s behind.

Angel Guillen opened from the button for 64,000. Hevroy bumped it to 210,000 from the big blind and Guillen quickly moved all in. Hevroy made the call.

Guillen had his opponent dominated, holding the Ac-Jh to Hevroy’s As-Tc. But remember what we told you…

The flop came down Qd-Ts-6c, pairing up Hevroy. The crowd roared in a mixture of celebration and total disbelief. The turn was the 6h, the river was the 7d, and just like that, Hevroy had claimed another victim.

Angel Guillén wits for his end with an anxious Team Mexico

And so we went to heads-up play. How long would you expect it to take when Hevroy had a nearly 6-1 chip lead on Alejandro De Arruabarrena?

Answer: One hand.

Alejandro De Arruabarrena completed the small blind and Karl Hevroy checked his option. The flop came down 9c-9d-8s. Hevroy checked over to De Arruabarrena, who bet 70,000. Hevroy called. The turn brought the 4h and another check from Hevroy. De Arruabarrena fired another 100,000, Hevroy moved all in and De Arruabarrena called.

It was all over as soon as the cards were turned up. Hevroy had flopped the nut full house with 8h-9h. De Arruabarrena was drawing dead, holding the Qd-Js. No river card was necessary, but for posterity’s sake, we’ll let you know it was the 4c.

Alejandro De Arruabarrena

Hevroy leapt from his chair and embraced his friends on the rail. It’s probably the most emotion we’ve ever seen from a Scandinavian poker player.

De Arruabarrena was gracious and shook the young man’s hand, wearing the same bewildered look that so many opponents have shown after playing a hand with this one-man wrecking crew.

Afterward, Hevroy could barely speak. Just a few days ago, he was having trouble withdrawing money from his online account. He borrowed $4,000 from a friend to buy in. Now, he is $283,500 richer.

“I’m so happy, I don’t feel like I know anything. It’s so sick,” Hevroy said.

If there’s any way to sum it up, it was this final quote from the man with the trophy.

“I had a few moments where I was in danger,” he said,”and then I luckboxed my way out of it.”

Congratulations to Karl Hevroy on his knockout win.

For a look back at our coverage from the day, check out any of the links below.

Final table player profiles</a.
Level 19 live updates continued
Level 20 live updates
Level 21 live updates
Level 22 live updates
Level 23 live updates

Of course, we hope you take the time to go over to PokerStars.tv and check out all the great video blogs there. If the Spanish or Portuguese word is more your style, please head over to the coverage on the PokerStars Spanish blog and PokerStars Brazilian blog

For a complete look at the winners in this event, see our LAPT Punta del Este payouts page.

The next stop on the Latin America Poker Tour will be our final of the second season. Join us in just a few weeks as we cover the finale in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

All photography Joe Giron/IMPDI