Sunday Majors
PokerStars’ two biggest weekly tournaments – the Sunday Warm-Up and the Sunday Million – were back again this past weekend, awarding five- and six-figure paydays to a host of players.
The Sunday Warm-Up got under way first with 3,619 players and a prize pool of $723,800 – far more than the $500k guarantee. Most importantly, it was a WINWINWINWIN situation for ‘BAGBAGBAGBAG’ from Switzerland, who came first and pocketed the adjusted prize money of $91,043.18, after a deal was negotiated between the final three.
The Sunday Million, meanwhile, saw a total of 7,710 players register to create a prize pool of $1,542,000. It was an epic tournament, too, with nearly 13 hours’ play before a winner was crowned. That person was ‘shamandez’ from Russia, who received the most amount of money after another three-way chop. He got $178,192.36, slightly more than the two Australians – ‘Mackkapackka’ and ‘dave798111’ – who came second and third and received $178,079.17 and $160,298.47 respectively.
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Turbo Championship of Online Poker
It’s little more than a week until the inaugural TCOOP gets under way, the turbo tournament festival from PokerStars that features $10 million in guaranteed prizes across 50 events. With buy-ins ranging from $5.50 to $2,100 there is something for players of all levels, and with tournaments expected to last no more than a few hours, it should provide a great opportunity for recreational players to get involved.
Satellites are running now at PokerStars.com. Check out the PokerStars client – Events > TCOOP > All for more details, or the dedicated website at www.pokerstars.com/tcoop.
In addition, players that deposit $60 or more between now and January 18, 23.59 ET, will receive a free $22 entry to a TCOOP event. Use the code ‘TCOOP’ when making the deposit and the ticket will be credited to the account. The offer is limited to one per person and ticket must be used by 18.30 ET on January 29.
EPT Deauville
While the players’ minds are focused on the tournaments taking place in the Caribbean right now, it won’t be long before thoughts turn to the next stop on the EPT calendar, which is in Deauville, France at the end of January.
The popular French destination is set for a 35-event festival from January 31 to February 6, with the highlight being the €5,000 + €300 Main Event. Last year it pulled in a huge field of 891, which created a prize pool of more than €4 million. There are high hopes that the Season 8 event will be even bigger and satellites are now running at PokerStars.com starting from just €2.22.
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PCA ROUND-UP
Phil D’Auteuil replaces Faraz Jaka as Main Event chip leader!
When play resumes on Day 4 of the PCA Main Event later today, Phil D’Auteuil will be leading the charge to the final table. The Canadian, who came fifth at EPT London in Season 6, bagged up 1,472,000 chips last night to replace Faraz Jaka at the top of the leaderboard. Jaka drops to third behind Sam Greenwood in second.
Earlier in the day, the bubble burst just 45 minutes into play with little fanfare, the 184 returning players quickly becoming 160. The field is now down to just 64 players and several Team PokerStars Pros remain in the hunt. Returning later today will be Luca Pagano, Jan Heitmann, Barry Greenstein and Arnaud Mattern. Last year’s Main Event winner Galen Hall has also still got a chance, hanging in there with 168,000, while Spanish pro golfer Sergio Garcia will also return to the action on Day 4.
Check out the players’ chip counts here: www.pokerstarsblog.com/tournaments/pca/2012/main-event-12. Follow all the action today as it happens and for the rest of the week at www.pokerstarsblog.com. Also, don’t miss out on coverage of the $25,000 High Roller event, which starts on Thursday, January 12 and is expected to be another who’s who of the poker elite battling it out for the prestigious title and six-figure sums.
Both the Main Event and High Roller final tables will be streamed live (40-min delay) with cards revealed at www.PokerStars.tv on January 13 and January 14 respectively. Both final tables will begin airing from 14.00 ET (20.00 CET).
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Kojo wins $5,000 NL Hold’em Turbo
Japanese player Kunimaro Kojo, who was runner-up at the EPT London Season 8 £2,000 NL Turbo Bounty event, has stepped up his game by taking down the $5,000 NL Turbo event at this year’s PCA. The event kicked off with 53 players, creating a total prize pool of $257,050. Kojo, whose previous best live result was 14th in last summer’s WSOP $25,000 NL Heads-up event, snagged $92,540 for his victory. Serial EPT casher Yulius Sepman from Russia came second for $59,120, with American pro Isaac Haxton third. Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel came fifth for $17,990.
Duhamel takes down $5,000 NL Hold’em
2010 World Champion and Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel won the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $239,830. The 24-year-old French-Canadian beat a clutch of other Team PokerStars Pros, including Jason Mercier and current world champion Pius Heinz, who came third and fifth for $80,460 and $45,980 respectively. A total of 158 players competed in the $5k No Limit 8-Max event generating a $766,300 prize pool.
Duhamel’s victory last night means he has already earned more than $550,000 at the PCA this year, and there’s still another four days to go, including the televised $25k High Roller event which starts tomorrow. Last Saturday, Duhamel won $313,600 after finishing fourth in the PCA $100k Super High Roller event (won by Team PokerStars Pro Viktor Blom).
Massive turnout for $2,000 NL Hold’em event
A whopping 348 players turned up to compete on Day 1 of the $2,000 NL Hold’em event, including Team PokerStars Pros Jude Ainsworth, Liv Boeree, Alex Kravchenko, Eugene Katchalov, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Victor Ramdin, Pat Pezzin, Joe Cada, Ivan Demidov , Max Lykov, Juan Manuel Pastor and Ana Marquez, plus Team PokerStars Online’s Andrew ‘foucault82’ Brokos and Mickey ‘mement_mori’ Petersen. They are all competing for a mouth-watering $675,120 prize pool, with $175,550 for first.
David Labchuk wins Canada Cup
David Labchuk, a chiropractor from Calgary, has emerged victorious from the final table of the Canada Cup tournament. David bought into the tournament online for $530, and battled through the field to take the $40,000 first prize and the trophy.
