A smaller than average field--see World Series of Poker for likely reason--created a nearly 100k overlaid Sunday Warm-up this weekend; a juicy little bonus for the 3,258 internet ringers that turned up to play. And in spite of both World Series and World Cup action in full swing this past Sunday, a number of your favorite Team PokerStars players posted the $215 entry-fee and took to the virtual felt. EPT regular and PokerStars Team Germany Pro Benjamin Kang carried the PokerStars flag the furthest this week, busting out in an impressive 49th place, good for $1,425. Kang wasn't the lone PokerStars player to make it into the money this Sunday, however. Online Team members Denys "diatty" Shcherbakov (308th for $420) and Martha "marene" Herrera (104th for $1,012.50), and former racing star and current Brazil teamer Gualter Salles (102nd for $1,012.50) managed to join Kang at the virtual payout cage at the end of the day.

Tîmexed out

By the time the Warm-up had gotten down to two tables all eyes were on one screen name, Tîmex. Tîmex, or Mike McDonald as he's known in the three dimensional world, boasts an impressive live and online resume, including five EPT cashes and one win at the 2008 EPT German Open. Yes, Tîmex can mix it up with the best with them, and with just 18 players left yet another Tîmex final table looked assured. Alas for the young Canadian it was not in the cards, as time ran out on McDonald in 12th place ($4,500). Just a few hands later, and we had our final table, with a short stacked bikkles failing to run down naupen07's [Ac] [Qc] with [As] [8s]. Bubble boy bikkles took home $4,500 for his oh-so-close finish, while the remaining nine players took their seats at table 9 for final action.

With the Sunday Million on hiatus due to 8,669 players who are trying to gain a last minute ticket into this year's World Series of Poker Main Event, the big tourney of the evening started a few hours earlier. The $750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up had a strong showing tonight despite all the players looking for a last minute Father's Day gift, much like a certain writer who picked up a Home Depot gift card on the way to see his dad. 4,129 showed up for with the $215 buy-in and unlike last week, crushed the guarantee creating an $825,800.00 prize pool leaving aside $129,553.34 of that for tonight's winner. Perhaps the victor tonight will show up at his or her father's place with little more than I did after taking home the six-figure win.

Down to the final table bubble and a difference of around $1,600 on the line, not to mention the six figures awaiting for our winner, short-stacked Mochuelo1 with just over one million chips and 80K/160K ante 16K blind tried to improve with a shove from the cutoff holding [Ks][Qh]. JoeJ1337 in the big blind looking down at pocket tens [Tc][Ts] refused to relinquish the blinds and made the call. In an odd reverse fade, JoeJ1337 started spamming "Q" in the chat box, and sure enough nary a "Q" found the [7s] [5h] [8s] [7h] [Th] board and Mochuelo1 was sent home in tenth place ($4,954.80).

Seat 1: needdollarz (7782684 in chips)
Seat 2: Nitrite (3644958 in chips)
Seat 3: degiomusic (6655267 in chips)
Seat 4: SiiliSuhonen (2076100 in chips)
Seat 5: JoeJ1337 (4826878 in chips)
Seat 6: raare01 (3537032 in chips)
Seat 7: QazMiNowPlz (5872951 in chips)
Seat 8: lankeshwar (2080064 in chips)
Seat 9: da produca (4814066 in chips)

Blinds would move up to 100K/200K ante 20K within a few minutes of the final nine being seated as needdollarz came in with the most tournament dollars followed closely by degiomusic and QazNiNowPlz who was flying the colors of Denmark.

Hearts Ahoy

After losing a huge eight million chip pot to SilliSuhonen, lankeshwar was left with just a half million in chips. Three hands later with the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K, lankeshwar found [Ad][Qs] in early position and open shove for 476,916 chips. Folded around to degiomusic in the big blind who only had to call another 226,916 while holding 3.4 million behind, made the math call with [4h][9h]. 1.3 million chips in the middle with lankeshwar having to fade a flush draw [Th] [3h] [3d] after two hearts hit the flop. [Js] on the turn was fine, the red lady on the river [Qh] completed the flush for degiomusic sending lankeshwar off in ninth place ($6,606.40).

Moving with the chip rhythm

Five hands later da produca would open shove from UTG holding pocket nines [9s][9d] for 3.3 million. Two spots over degiomusic held pocket kings [Kd][Kh] and called all-in for just 82,947 chips less as the rest of the table went back to watching World Cup highlights. Two pair came out on the [Qh] [5s] [Td] [Ts] [Qs] board as degiomusic's kings over queens reigned supreme, taking in the 7.1 million chip pot. The very next hand da produca's 82,947 chips went into the middle in the big blind as QazMiNowPlz and degiomusic made the call. After the [Kd][7d][6c] flop, degiomusic led out for the minimum as QazMiNowPlz left the hand and turned up [Kc][Js] for top pair. da produca still had some life with the ragged [5h][9h] and an inside straight draw. But, the saving eight would stay away from the [6h] turn and [3c] river sending the da produca back to da studio in eighth place ($10,322.50).

Nitrite blows up

In one of the biggest pots of the tournament to this point, chip leader SilliSuhonen would put needdollarz to the test preflop after needdollarz found his preflop raised by both Nitrite and SilliSuhonen. needdollarz would abandon the 532,123 chips as Nitrite was all-in against SilliSuhonen for the 7.9 million chip pot. Watch the results below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Pocket queens for SilliSuhonen [Qd][Qc] would trample Nitrite's [Jd][Ac] on the [3d] [3h] [Kd] [8d] [Th] board and scoop the 7.9 million chips as Nitrite took in $18,580.50 in seventh place.

1337dOOd done

The blinds moved up to 150K/300K ante 30K as JoeJ1337 and QazMiNowPlz tried to combine their similar five million chips and change stacks into one massive stack preflop. JoeJ1337 would cover by 57,705 chips and turned over pocket eights [8s][8d] to QazMiNowPlz's big slick [Kc][Ad]. Much like the final table bubble hand, JoeJ1337 immediately went for the reverse sweat and started spamming "aaaaaaaaaa". Obviously, that worked as no ace hit the board but a king did on the river [3s] [7h] [4c] [4h] [Ks] sending the 11 million chip pot to QazMiNowPlz. The next hand SilliSuhonen would scoop up JoeJ1337's scraps and send the elite one out in sixth place ($26,838.50).

Time to face the music

Just two hands later degiomusic, who helped carve a few players from the final table would find his own head on the chopping block facing chip leader SilliSuhonen. After raare01 and degiomusic made the call of SilliSuhonen preflop raise to 700K all three would see the [Qs][Ks][5d] flop. From the big blind degiomusic tried to scare off the remaining players with a shove for 2.7 million. Instead the response was an equally quick call from SilliSuhonen holding big slick [Ks][As] and quick fold by raare01. degiomusic also held top pair but a lesser kicker [9h][Kd], and failed to catch up on the [8h] turn and [7s] river leaving the tournament in fifth place ($35,096.50).

3-2-1 Contact!

Three eliminations in four hands tends to make writer's hands cramp up. With the blinds holding steady at 150K/300K ante 30K raare01 tried to hop into the action by shoving for 2.3 million over the top of a preflop raise by needdollarz. Holding 6.1 million in chips and only having to call 1.7 million more, needdollarz would make the call holding [7s][Ac]. raare01's [Ah][8c] looked a lot brighter after the [6d][9s][Jc] flop. But, the [7h] would dim the lights on raare01's tournament as the [3s] turned those five million chips in needdollarz's direction. raare01 would finish just outside of the proposed deal in fourth place ($46,657.70).

Did I mention a deal?

Immediately the final three had our PokerStars host pause the time clock for one of the quicker deals I have had the pleasure of covering. Details below leaving $10,000.00 for the winner:

needdollarz: $88,320.19
QazMiNowPlz: $87,678.76
SilliSuhonen: $107,888.59

Eight is not enough

Watch this massive 17 milllion chip pot between needdollarz and QazMiNowPlz play out below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

After the [4h][6h][8s] flop QazMiNowPlz would check as needdollarz would lead out for one million. QazMiNowPlz check-raised all-in and covered as needdollarz could not hit the call button quickly enough with the flopped straight [5d][7s]. QazMiNowPlz's top pair [Kh][8d] would be drawing dead by the [3s] turn as 17 million chips went to needdollarz. QazMiNowPlz's remaining 666,873 chips would be placed in the middle for a snack on the next hand as SilliSuhonen would hit a broadway straight to send off QazMiNowPlz in third place ($87,678.76).

Quick end to a long tourney

Ten hours after 4,129 players started, heads-up play would begin with needdollarz in a 15.8 million to 25.4 million chip deficit to SilliSuhonen. Three hands in needdollarz would score a needed double-up with another eight high straight, scoring 31.2 million chips. After the reversal in chip counts, needdollarz would apply the pressure in winning six of the final eight hands including the final hand where SilliSuhonen decided to test his luck preflop and shoved for 7.5 million chips holding two face cards [Qh][Jc]. With decent suited ace [Td][Ad] needdollarz made the call. A jack on the flop [Ks] [8s] [Jh] had SilliSuhonen looking good to get back into the tournament. [9d] helped no one on the turn but the rivered [Qs] improved both hands as needdollarz racked up yet another straight and the final 15 million tournament chips to become this week's Sunday Warm-up champion and collected the additional $10,000 bringing the total winnings to $98,320.19!

$750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up Results (06-20-10)
(*denotes part of three-way deal)

1. needdollarz (St.Petersbourg) *$98,320.19
2. SiiliSuhonen (roma) *$107,888.59
3. QazMiNowPlz (Jyllinge) $87,678.76
4. raare01 (no chat) $46,657.70
5. degiomusic (cournonterral) $35,096.50
6. JoeJ1337 (Livonia) $26,838.50
7. Nitrite (Stockholm) $18,580.50
8. da produca (Zurich) $10,322.50
9. lankeshwar (Northborough) $6,606.40

For the second time in as many weeks fewer than four thousand players ponied-up the necessary $215 entry fee to sit down in the Sunday Warm-Up. Nevertheless, a healthy 3,674 runners entered to compete for their share of the slightly overlaid, $750,000 prize pool. Even with the World Series in full swing, plenty of PokerStars Pros decided spend their Sunday playing on the virtual felt, with PokerStars Nordic Team pro Johnny "johnnylodden" Lodden (469th for $322.50) and PokerStars Online Team pros Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc (392nd for $352.50) and Anders "Donald" Hoyer Berg (288th for $435) making it into the money.    

Penthouse to Outhouse

At eleven players left, with the final table in sight, the shortest stacks jockeyed with each other for their spot among the final nine. Predictably, this cautious play was to the benefit of the tournament leaders, who were able to chip-up relatively unchecked. Initially, it looked like HOMERos would glide into the final table as one of the chip leaders, enjoying a more than six million chip stack as play approached the final table bubble. However, a big misstep with [Ad] [Qh] against TommyGunn34 flopped set left HOMERos with less than 500,000 chips, just two spots away from the final table. A few hands later, HOMERos, very short and in a heads-up pot with verehaga, open shoved all-in with [10d] [7d] on a [2d] [2s] [Ad] flop. verehaga called and was ahead with [Ac] [8c] for top pair, but had to sweat HOMERos ten-high diamond flush draw. Alas for HOMERos it wasn't meant to be, as the [Kc] fell on the turn and the [4h] on the river, knocking HOMERos out in tenth place ($4,500) and setting the final table.


Seat 1: SOXFAN83 (5066199 in chips)
Seat 2: jackziyang (2077828 in chips)
Seat 3: TommyGunn34 (10803673 in chips)
Seat 4: PremiumStud (2330164 in chips)
Seat 5: modyla (3421072 in chips)
Seat 6: Aftret (2562683 in chips)
Seat 7: hithenose (3309454 in chips)
Seat 8: turataika (2169995 in chips)
Seat 9: verehaga (4998932 in chips)

HOMERos exit sent everyone to Table 260 for the tournament's final stretch. TommyGunn34, with an assist from HOMERos's downfall, came into the final table with a substantial chip lead over the field--10.8 million in chips good for nearly 30 percent of all the chips in play. The rest of the final table started off relatively bunched together, with SOXFAN83's five million chip stack in second place. Blinds were 65k/130k with a 13k ante as play resumed.       

Does Everyone Have a Plane to Catch or Something?

Things got off to a quick start when play restarted. In the second hand of final table play SOXFAN83 opened for 272,345 in the cutoff position only to have jackziyang push in his last 1,986,828 on the button. Play folded to SOXFAN83, who called jackziyang all-in bet with [8s] [8c]. jackziyang was in bad shape, holding a dominated pair of sevens. The board kept kosher, running out [10h] [3s] [2h] [9c] [Ac] and bringing jackziyang's brief run at the final table to an end in ninth place ($6,000).

It wasn't long until jackziyang had company on the virtual rail, however. Just two hands later SOXFAN83 opened for just over 340k from middle position. PremiumStud, from the button, then moved all-in over the top of SOXFAN83's raise for 2,656,941. Aftret called off his last 2,507,683 and, amazingly, SOXFAN83 also made the called, having both players covered. SOXFAN83 was well ahead of both all-in player, with [Kh] [Kd] versus PremiumStud's [Ah] [10d] and Aftret's [Qs] [Qc]. SOXFAN83 retained his lead on a flop of [8s] [9h] [6c], but PremiumStud vaulted ahead when the [7c] came on the turn, giving him a ten-high straight and a hammerlock on the hand. Both SOXFAN83 and Aftret were drawing to a ten on the river for a split pot, but instead the [8d] came, eliminating Aftret in eighth place ($9,375) and nearly tripling-up PremiumStud.

The Carnage Continues

The first two exits at the final table came so quickly that final table moderator, PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin, wasn't able to make an appearance at the table until both Aftret and jackziyang had already been eliminated. Not that Victor's presence at the final table meant any less action. At hand 13, nine hands after Aftret made his exist in eighth place, PremiumStud opened for 345,678 in the hi-jack seat. modyla called from the cutoff, but turataika decided to play it decidedly less friendly and moved all-in for just under 2.5 million. The original raiser, PremiumStud, folded, but modyla made the quick call. turataika was the player at risk and showed [4c] [4d], which was crushed by modyla's [Jh] [Js]. Things became bleaker for turataika after a flop of [5h] [5s] [10s], leaving turataika just two chances to hit one of the two remaining fours in the deck. The turn and river came [9d] [Ah] respectively, and turatiaka was eliminated in seventh place, good for a $16,875 payday.

Can I Still Take the Deal?

Play slowed down a bit once the table became six-handed. A deal was briefly discussed by four of the players remaining, but ultimately rejected by the largest stack, TommyGunn34 with 14 million, and the smallest, verehaga with less than five million. A comeback never materialized for verehaga, who, after spiking an ace to outdraw modyla's [7c] [7d] with [Ah] [7h] in an all-in confrontation, ran into trouble against PremiumStud just one hand later. verehaga opened with 600k in the cutoff position only to be raised all-in by PremiumStud. verehaga called off his last 2.1 million and exposed [As] [9h], which was dominated by PremiumStud's [Ac] [Qd]. The board ran out dry for verehage, [4c] [4h] [7d] [10c] [Kd], who still collected a healthy $24,375 payday for his sixth place finish.

MC Ramdin

In spite of the big money at stake the mood was pretty light as the final table moved into five-handed. Moderator Victor Ramdin traded jokes with a few of the final tablists, as the players began to trade blinds back-and-forth. At one point hithenose made a proposition to Victor; if Ramdin performed a rap he would transfer a whopping $5 to Victor's PokerStars account. In case you're wondering, Victor Ramdin has over $2.6 million in career tournament earnings. The ever jovial Ramdin jokingly replied "double it" before deciding to reject the idea altogether. However, before the joke was totally dead TommyGunn34 decided to put in his two cents, writing in the chat box "Hey that's ten bucks, better than minimum wage you know."

Anyway, here is how the final five looked as the blinds raised to 125k/250k with a 25k ante:

Seat 1: SOXFAN83 (3842741 in chips)
Seat 3: TommyGunn34 (14478116 in chips)
Seat 4: PremiumStud (7215644 in chips)
Seat 5: modyla (5254591 in chips)
Seat 7: hithenose (5948908 in chips)

No es Bueno
         
About 30 hands after verehaga made his exit in sixth, modyla and hithenose got tangled in a heads-up pot after a flop of [Jh] [9h] [Ah]. modyla first checked to hithenose, who made the less than half-pot bet of 500k. modyla raised hithenose 5 million, effectively moving hithenose all-in. hithenose snap called and showed [As] [Kh] for top pair with the nut flush draw. modyla was in trouble with [Ad] [10c], needing runner-runner to knock out hithenose. The turn card, [8s], provided a little sweat to a possible straight for modyla, but a blank river three doubled-up hithenose and crippled modyla down to 220k. modyla, who was sporting one of the newly available World Cup avatars, representing Spain, said adios to the final table two hands later when his [Kh] [9d] was out drawn by SOXFAN83's [5c] [2h]. modyla collected $31,875 for his fifth place effort.

Sox lose Twice!

Two hands after modyla's demise, and with the blinds creeping up on him, a short stacked SOXFAN83 raised his button to 522,345 with [Ah] [10s] only to be reraised all-in by PremiumStud in the big blind. SOXFAN83 called the all-in, PremiumStud showed [4c] [4s] and they were off to the races! Unfortunately for him, SOXFAN83 ran about as well as his Red Socks did earlier in the day against Philly, coming up dry on a [3s] [Jc] [Kh] [2d] [Kc] board. PremiumStud's pocket fours held, sending SOXFAN83 out the door in fourth, $43,125 richer or roughly the same amount Daisuke Matsuzaka makes for everyday he's on the DL.

Chop-Chop

The idea of a deal was brought up once again following the elimination of SOXFAN83 in fourth. The players were fairly even in chips, with TommyGunn34 leading the way with 14,453,116. PremiumStud and hithenose were just a couple million behind the leader, holding 11,669,320 and 10,617,564, respectively. A strict chip-chop was agreed upon, setting aside $10,000 for the eventual champion.

TommyGunn34: $89,278.48
PremiumStud: $87,536.91
hithenose: 80,559.61

Put out to Stud

After losing a big pot to hithenose on the first hand after the deal, PremiumStud got himself into a raising war against TommyGunn34 in a battle of the blinds. hithenose passed on his button allowing TommyGunn34 to raise his small blind to 666,666, prompting PremiumStud to move his last 7 million into the pot. TommyGunn34 called, showing [Ah] [Kh]. PremiumStud was behind, but still very much alive with his [Qh] [Jc]. That is, PremiumStud was very much alive until the flop came down ace high, [Ad] [7d] [2s]. A queen on the turn gave PremiumStud a little hope, but a brick four on the river sent PremiumStud packing in third with $87,536.91.

Looking for the Comeback

Taking the low end of the chop, hithenose was looking to overcome a slight chip disadvantage to TommyGunn34 (16,255,128 to 20,484,872) in order to leapfrog both PremiumStud and TommyGunn34 in the final payouts. Blinds were 150k/300k with a 30k ante as heads-up play commenced, leaving the final two competitors with plenty of play, each wielding stacks of more than 50 big blinds.

Brrr, it's Cold in Here

After 53 hands of heads-up play, fortunes were now reversed from the start of heads-up action, with hithenose commanding a 22 million chip stack and TommyGun34 looking for the comeback with 14.5 million chips. Then came the awfully cold 54th hand. hithenose made it 800k on his button. TommyGunn34 countered with a raise to just over 2.1 million. hithenose wasn't satisfied with 2.1 and made it 4.2 million back to TommyGunn34. TommyGunn34 put in the last raise, all-in for 14.5 million. hithenose made the quick call and revealed two red aces. TommyGunn34' s hand wasn't much worse, [As] [Kh], but was crushed by hithenose's pocket aces. No funny business on the board, [3d] [4d] [8h] [2s] [10c], and TommyGunn34 was eliminated in second, collecting $89,278.48 for his great runner-up performance.  

hithenose manages to barely top TommyGunn34 in money ($90,559.61 to $89,278.48) thanks to his victory. No word yet on if hithenose will use is new found wealth to fund a Victor Ramdin rap album.

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up Results (06-13-10):
(* denotes part of a three-way deal)

1. hithenose (Montclair) *$90,559.61
2. TommyGunn34 (Minooka) *$89,278.48
3. PremiumStud (Las Vegas) *$87,536.91
4. SOXFAN83 (Abington) $43,125.00
5. modyla (Sahrah-beduine) $31,875.00
6. verehaga (Russia) $24,375.00
7. turataika (Helsinki) $16,875.00
8. Aftret (Strindheim) $9,375.00
9. jackziyang (London) $6,000.00

A quieter crowd once again for the Sunday Warm-up this week as the first crowd this year fewer than four thousand showed up for tonight's $750,000 guarantee tournament. 3,965 runners lined up their $215 buy-ins which still beat out the guarantee and allotted the $793,000.00 to award two players a six-figure score. How did they get there? Find out below after bluffdeez503 set up the final table.

No need to bluff these

Down to the bubble and five aside on two tables with blinds at 65K/130K ante 13K, jaxxonxxx would try to take down the blinds with a button shove holding pocket deuces [2h][2c]. But, bluffdeez503 held a higher pair, covered the bet in the small blind, and would make the call holding pocket sevens [7s][7c]. Bookended by eights [8h] [Ts] [3d] [Qh] [8c] the board showed no surprises in breaking the final table bubble for nine finalist and sent jaxxonxxx home in tenth place ($4,758.00).

Seat 1: trionojnika (3825052 in chips)
Seat 2: Showťime (4222252 in chips)
Seat 3: ValueH (3925108 in chips)
Seat 4: bullyon (9925874 in chips)
Seat 5: Jeremysl98 (3989460 in chips)
Seat 6: Sunny220v (2416900 in chips)
Seat 7: CHRISCCC (3440612 in chips)
Seat 8: ginofluit (3186592 in chips)
Seat 9: bluffdeez503 (4718150 in chips)

Night time for Sunny220v

Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy took time away from the busy World Series of Poker floor to MC tonight's Sunday Warm-up final table. And no sooner than the former world champ stating the amount for tonight's ninth place finisher, that player was named. bullyon with the bullying stack led out for 360,000 with blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K as shorter stacked Sunny220v two seats over shoved for 2.7 million. Folded back around to the chip leader who would snap call with pocket queens [Qh][Qd]. The pocket nines [9d][9s] for Sunny220v looked very cloudy, especially after a queen hit the flop [2s][5c][Qc]. By the turned [As] Sunny220v's sunset was complete in ninth place ($6,344.00).

All bullyon does is flop sets and take names

You are sitting down with a coin flip holding a pocket pair and flop your set. Life is good. But, suddenly the turn cards comes over giving your opponent an open ended straight flush draw and realize the celebration may have started a bit early. Check out the hand below between bullyon and Jeremysl98 for the river card that helped both players:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Jeremysl98 would catch a rivered flush holding the overcards [As][Qh], but on the board of [6h] [Jc] [9h] [Th] [Jh] bullyon's nines full [9d][9c] would take down the 6.8 million chip pot eliminating Jeremysl98 in eighth place ($9,912.50).

It's a monster!

Not the best way to go out of a tournament but CHRISCCC had little choice to go after the blinds with maybe less than premium cards. With blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K CHRISCCC would open shove holding [Jc][3c] and no sooner than the cards folded to trionojnika in the small blind making the quick call as Showt'ime in the big blind found time to fold. Pocket kings [Ks][Kh] for trionojnika looked good for the three million chip pot, even more after the [Ts][4c][4h] flop. But, a club would pop off on the turn [Tc] giving CHRISCCC a flush draw, which failed to fill on the [Jd] river shipping CHRISCCC off in seventh place ($17,842.50).

Big bully(on)

As the blinds moved up to 125K/250K ante 25K here's how the stacks lined up with bullyon firmly in the lead:

Seat 1: trionojnika (9,731,190 in chips)
Seat 2: Showťime (3,595,253 in chips)
Seat 3: ValueH (4,353,104 in chips)
Seat 4: bullyon (15,617,122 in chips)
Seat 8: ginofluit (3,430,620 in chips)
Seat 9: bluffdeez503 (2,922,711 in chips)

More lunch money for bullyon

Playing some big stack poker and making the others come up with an answer to his aggression bullyon would lead out on the button for 3.75 million forcing both the blinds to call for their stacks if they wanted to play. ginofluit would fold in the small blind, but bluffdeez503 made the call holding [Ad][Ts]. bullyon held [2s][Kc] and would be at a slight disadvantage until a deuce was produced on the door and held on the [2d] [6h] [4c] [9s] [9d] board sending the person who broke the final table bubble home in sixth place ($25,772.50).

Value call

Eight hands later bullyon had someone all-in again, this time it was ValueH trying to shove in small stack of 2.2 million from the small blind holding [4d][Ac]. But, bullyon had the stack a suited ace to make the call [5h][Ah]. Sometimes this hand would end in a tie but the flop [8d] [8h] [9h] showed bright red hearts for bullyon. The hearts were not needed though, as a [5c] hit the turn shutting out ValueH in fifth place ($33,702.50).

Express train to victory?

As the blinds moved up to 150K/300K ante 30K bullyon would put ginofluit to the test after re-raising ginofluit's UTG 900K raise and putting him all-in from the big blind. Holding [9d][8d] and only 1.3 million behind, ginofluit would make the call. bullyon had the upper hand in more than one way holding two diamonds himself [Ad][Td]. No slowing down bullyon's declamation of the final table so far as the flop showed two aces [Ah] [2s] [As] [3s] [6d] making the rest of the board moot and shipping the 4.7 million chip pot to bullyon's overflowing stack. ginofluit's night was ended in fourth place ($45,597.50). This finish would top ginofluit's recent April score in this very tournament, getting seventh place for $20,646.00 (click here for the recap).

Agree to disagree

Two hands after ginofluit's departure the three would try to hash out a deal but unable to come up with a suitable amount. And as soon as McEvoy turned on the poker machine the two smaller stacks shoved preflop to combine for one big stack. Watch Showt'ime and trionojnika combine their stacks for a 15.8 million chip pot below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Showt'ime: [Td][Ts]
trionojnika: [Ah][Qc]

Queen on the flop would be Showt'ime's dagger as the board ran out [Qs] [2d] [Jh] [3d] [2c] in favor for trionojnika. Showt'ime would settle for the third place check ($65,422.50) and armed with the 15.8 million chips from the pot, trionojnika would have the chips to take on bullyon heads-up for the title.

A bluff called

bullyon would ask for $107,000 for the chop as he now held a very slight lead 20.3 million to 19.2 million. trionojnika balked at the idea with the chip counts so close. "You called my bluff, we have a deal" said bullyon as the two would lock up six-figure scores and play for the remaining $10,000 left in the prize pool.

bullyon: $104,120.08
trionojnika: $103,161.92

Not backing down from the bully

After battling back from the several chip deficits, trionojnika would make the chase for the final $10,000.00 of the prize pool a lengthy one. After over ten hours of play, with the blinds moving all the way up to 250K/500K ante 50K the two players decided to let their cards do the talk on the final hand.

bullyon: [5d][5s]
trionojnika: [Jc][Ks]

The all low [7s] [7d] [4c] flop was safe for trionojnika who was looking for a much needed double-up with this 20.9 million chip pot. [Kc] on the turn flipped things in bullyon's direction leaving two outs on the river for trionojnika to stay alive. [3h] appeared as trionojnika avatar disappeared from the table leaving bullyon with all the chips as this week's Sunday Warm-up champion!

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up Results (06-06-10):
(* denotes part of two-way deal)
1. bullyon (chandler) *$114,120.08
2. trionojnika (Pazardjik) *103,161.92
3. Showťime (Vechta) $65,422.50
4. ginofluit (sint jansteen) $45,597.50
5. ValueH (Sliema) $33,702.50
6. bluffdeez503 (Sherwood) $25,772.50
7. CHRISCCC (Leicester) $17,842.50
8. Jeremysl98 (Souderton) $9,912.50
9. Sunny220v (Kiev) $6,344.00

The slight downturn in attendance in tonight's $750,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-up is probably directly correlated with the many high-stakes players from across the globe descending upon Las Vegas for the start of the World Series of Poker this week. Still be noted that the guarantee was not needed once again, as 4,029 managed to join us tonight for the $215 buy-in tourney creating a $805,800.00 prize pool.

Team PokerStars Pro Thierry van den "BOKPOWER" Berg fresh off a decent run during the SCOOP series carried the PokerStars flag late in the tourney. But, ultimately fell short in 77th place earning $1,208.70 for the effort.

Down to ten players after eight and a half hour with five aside on two tables we would shrink our field to the final table which only seats nine. Blinds sitting at 80K/160K ante 16K Boruzze would lead out for 374,512 from UTG folding to w4ldo who found two cards he liked and shoved for 1.3 million. Boruzze covered easily and made the call holding [Th][Ks] and was slightly behind the [9d][Ah] of w4ldo. Ten on the flop and king on the river [Qs] [3d] [Tc] [7c] [Kh] to seal the hand for Boruzze sending w4ldo to be found on a different tournament page as his night was done in tenth place ($4,834.80).

Seat 1: ryanghall (8561201 in chips)
Seat 2: Slawas1 (4857173 in chips)
Seat 3: PSÄ! (4834607 in chips)
Seat 4: vador50 (6586791 in chips)
Seat 5: guinor (2367872 in chips)
Seat 6: Boruzze (6151507 in chips)
Seat 7: King_Lewis8 (2142911 in chips)
Seat 8: EndlessJ (1981236 in chips)
Seat 9: Cule100 (2806702 in chips)

Action would start quickly for the final table as blind were at a lofty 80K/160K ante 16K. ryanghall would lead off our first eight figure pot of the night with a raise to 348,000 as it folded to vador50 who would three-bet to 1.28 million. ryanghall had enough of the raising and shoved for 8.1 million as vador50 made the call for less holding [Qh][As]. Normally a decent hand, but ryanghall held the rockets [Ah][Ac] which looked solid for winning the 11.2 million chip hand. Sure enough, the pocket aces would never be threatened on the [9h] [Jc] [6h] [6c] [7d] board as vador50's destiny was in ninth place ($6,446.40).

End of the road

Five hands later EndlessJ would take a big hit in a battle of the shorter stacks. The pair would take their all-in flipping battle preflop creating a 5.1 million chip pot. Pocket tens for EndlessJ [Ts][Tc] and [Qh][As] for Cule100. EndlessJ covered by just 9,878 and that's all he'd have left after a queen would hit the flop and hold on the [8s] [Qs] [8d] [3c] [9c] board for the win. The scraps of EndlessJ were scattered into the antes the next hand which EndlessJ won, but the second time as part of a 1.1 million pot won by ryanghall, EndlessJ found the end of the tournament in eighth place ($10,072.50).

King Nothing

Down to just under five big blinds as the blinds moved up to 100K/200K ante 20K, King_Lewis8 tries to make something happen against guinor. Watch the hand play out below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

King_Lewis8 stood an inch taller than guinor preflop holding [6c][Ac] to guinor's [8h][Kh]. The flop however snubbed its nose at the ruler's ace high hitting both guinor's king and a flush draw [9h] [Qh] [Ks]. The ace would not hit for King_Lewis8 but the unnecessary flush would [7c] [6h] knocking the royal blood line out of the tournament in seventh place ($18,130.50).

Cule to the core

Despite knocking out King_Lewis8 in seventh place guinor was reduced to 3.1 million chips with the blinds still at 100K/200K ante 20K and didn't feel like playing post-flop poker and shoved holding [Td][Ac]. Boruzze would fold but Cule100 would not flipping up pocket queens [Qh][Qd]. The trip down the river was an aceless one [5c] [6d] [3c] [Kh] [3s] showing guinor to the door in sixth place ($26,188.50).

Slawas1 would take a big chunk of PSÄ!'s stack after a blind versus blind preflop confrontation for a 11.6 million chip pot ended with PSÄ! grabbing trips with [Ah][4s] but Slawas1 would hold up the only diamond with his pair of treys [3s][3d] to match the four diamond [9d] [7d] [4d] [4h] [Td] board for the win. Down to 1.1 million chips PSÄ! would shove from UTG holding [8d][Th] getting called by big stacked ryanghall in the small blind with [Jd][Ac]. PSÄ! had a four-flush diamond draw again by the turn, but ryanghall had not only the bigger diamond, there was the flopped pair of aces to go with it. The ace would hold on the [9h] [Ad] [Qd] [4d] [2s] board and ryanghall gained 2.6 million chips as PSÄ!'s message was clear: fifth place gets $34,246.50

Diced Slaw

Watch chip leader ryanghall lead Slawas1 into the pot in the hand below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Pair of eights for Slawas1 holding [8c][9c] was no match for the aces of ryanghall [As][Ac] as Slawas1 was made into a side dish in fourth place ($46,333.50) after the board came down [6h] [2s] [8h] [4d] [Qc].

Cule100 has kicker problems

Blinds up to 200K/400K ante 40K Boruzze would min-raise from the small blind and receive a call from Cule100. Flop of [Qc] [4h] [7d] got Boruzze to lead out for 578,588 as Cule100 bumped it to 1.6 million. Boruzze stuck with the min-raise action and did it again as Cule100 came back over the top for 7.4 million all-in. Boruzze took a little time to think it over and called holding [Qs][Kd]. Cule100 also had a pair of queens but only a ten kicker [Qh][Th]. Two babies on the [3s] turn and [6s] river and Boruzze shoveled in the 16.5 million chip pot and shoveled Cule100 out of the tournament in third place ($66,478.50).

No 50/50 but a deal is struck

Despite the close chip stacks: ryanghall 20,664,776 to Boruzze's 19,625,224 ryanghall would not budge on a 50/50 split of the remaining prize pool leaving $10,000.00 to the winner. But, Boruzze was a little more accommodating and agreed to the below deal:

ryanghall: $110,790.64
Boruzze: $100,000.00

HE TRAPPED ME!

It's a sinking feeling after making strong play only to see your opponent roll over a nearly unbeatable hand. Watch below as ryanghall is forced to watch a useless river card:

RSS readers click through to see replay

And with the full house completed on the turn Boruzze calmly hit the call button after ryanghall tried to represent what Boruzze already had with a 13.1 million chip shove. [8s][8d] for Boruzze on the [4d] [8h] [2h] [2d] [As] board was more than enough to defeat the busted flush draw of ryanghall [7h][6h] and claim the extra $10,000.00 for this week's Sunday Warm-up champion!

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up Results (5-29-10):
(*denotes part of two-way deal)
1. Boruzze (Borussia) *$110,000.00
2. ryanghall (Hamilton) *$110,790.64
3. Cule100 (Barcelona) $66,478.50
4. Slawas1 (Zielona Góra) $46,333.50
5. PSÄ! (SAARBRÜCKEN) $34,246.50
6. guinor (Porto Alegre) $26,188.50
7. King_Lewis8 (Waterloo) $18,130.50
8. EndlessJ (Oi) $10,072.50
9. vador50 (Avranches) $6,446.40

If you are a golf fan, today's Masters Championship in Augusta, Georgia won by Phil Mickelson was the best sporting event offered today. If you are a poker fan (and we have a feeling if you're reading here that's probably true) then today's victory by Vanessa Selbst in the PokerStars sponsored North America Poker Tour's stop at Mohegan Sun was the highlight of your sporting weekend. Luckily, for the 4,588 players in tonight's $750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up, Vanessa was too wrapped up in taking down the final table to enter. Everyone is invited to watch a replay of Vanessa strong-arming her way to victory at PokerStars.TV, or you could check out her take on the final table in the video below:

As for the maters tonight, because of the large turnout, a prize pool of $917,600.00 was complied with $143,955.23 of it set aside for tonight's champion. Among the 675 cashing this evening and making a deep run were Team PokerStars Pros Andre "aakkari" Akkari (92nd place $1,101.12) and German pro Jan Heitmann (101st place $1,009.36). Down to two tables and 10 players left and after several shortstacks found a way to stay alive by doubling up we had our last elimination before the final table. With blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K and nearly done with the level, ziale who had just doubled-up JoseGuti after getting coolered by holding pocket jacks to JoseGuti's pocket aces, was down to 2.2 million chips and shoved from the cutoff with [6c][Ac]. hafizzle sitting in the small blind holding [As][Qd] made the call as the board spilled out an unnecessary full house for hafizzle [Jd] [Qs] [Jh] [Ks] [Qc] as ziale was done in 10th place ($5,505.60) setting up the final table below:

Seat 1: Xenor30 (2485060 in chips)
Seat 2: JoseGuti (11416720 in chips)
Seat 3: ginofluit (3797761 in chips)
Seat 4: hafizzle (6520597 in chips)
Seat 5: chino285 (3834475 in chips)
Seat 6: jcgoheels (6581772 in chips)
Seat 7: Rigboz (5115080 in chips)
Seat 8: ague007 (3683472 in chips)
Seat 9: thebirdman84 (2445063 in chips)

With the help of the 10 million chip pot taken prior to the final table, JoseGuti came in as only player in eight figures and tonight's chip leader. But, with the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K, the table will need to play fast to prevent getting blinded off. Xenor30 was one of the shortstacks, but managed to slide [Ah][Qc] past the [7c][Ac] of ginofluit for a 4.2 million chip double up in the early goings. However, five hands later, thebirdman84 was not as lucky. After shoving from UTG+1 holding [Jc][Ac], thebirdman84 watched the table fold around to jcgoheels who would call from the small blind with big slick [Kh][Ad]. There was a flush scare on the turn but the favorite held up on the [5c] [9s] [5d] [3c] [Td] board and shipped the 4.8 million chip pot to jcgoheels. After the board was laid out thebirdman84 flew off with 9th place money ($7,340.80).

Two hands later and blinds holding steady at 125K/250K ante 25K we'd start an explosion of action and missing seats as a result. Rigboz started the hand with a standard 3XBB raise, as shortstacked ague007 on the immediate left tried to make something happen with a shove for 2.2 million holding pocket jacks [Jc][Js]. Rigboz covered and quickly made the call with [Ah][Qh]. The race was ended quickly by the [5h] [2c] [Ad] flop as ague007 missed hitting the needed jack on the [7d] turn and [8h] river to finish in 8th place ($11,470.00).

Another two hands later hafizzle found a pair after ginofluit shoved all-in just ahead of him. Watch the results play out below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Another race and another elimination, as this time the pocket pair of hafizzle [Tc][Ts] successfully outran big slick [As][Kd] held by ginofluit. 7.7 million was shipped to hafizzle as ginofluit couldn't handle the sizzle, burning out in 7th place ($20,646.00).

Three hands later (like we said, the action was quick!) we had the biggest pot of the tournament. JoseGuti sitting UTG started off the hand with a raise to 525,555 with the blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K. hafizzle, still stacking the chips made from busting ginofluit, quickly reraised to 1.25 million. Undeterred, JoseGuti still holding the chip lead, would 4-bet to 2.79 million, and hafizzle definitely liking the pocket queens [Qc][Qh] 5-bet all-in. Passed back to JoseGuti holding a suited big slick [As][Ks] would just as quickly make the call. This time the pocket pair was not lucky for hafizzle as the ace would hit flop and an king on the turn gave JoseGuti the winning two pair on the [8h] [3d] [Ad] [Kd] [Jc] board good for the 21.8 million chip pot. hafizzle, well, fizzled out in 6th place earning a little coin on the side ($29,822.00). This isn't hafizzle's first brush with big tournament success, as he sat down with Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier at the Event #38 2009 WCOOP final table and walked away with a cool $93K in 4th place.

Rigboz at least waited eight hands to chop final table down to four. After Rigboz limped in from the cutoff, chino285 would shove his remaining 2.9 million into the pot holding [Ac][7h]. Covering the bet, Rigboz would make the call showing the dominating [Th][As]. No surprises on this hand as both would pair their ace, but the [3s] [5d] [Ah] [2s] [8d] board stayed low enough for Rigboz's ten kicker to play, as chino285 earned a solid $38,998.00 in fifth place.

Finally the players let off the gas a bit as the death trap of the 125K/250K ante 25K level was allowed to move up to 150K/300K ante 30K. A quick blurb asking to see the numbers was ignored as the quiet chat box remained silent throughout the rest of the night.

Down to just 1.6 million, Xenor30 wasn't finding many playable hands and finally found [As][7s] UTG to shove with. Rigboz sitting in the big blind with plenty of chips to spare would make the call holding [Kc][Jh]. A flopped pair of sevens [3s] [7h] [Ts] changed nothing for Xenor30 who's ace held the preflop lead but there was added a cushion with the flush draw negating some of Rigboz's outs. But a turned non-spade king [Kd] spiked and the river was spade, seven, and ace-less [2h] sending our hard-working shortstack Xenor30 out in fourth place ($51,844.40).

Three hands later jcgoheels would steer pocket jacks [Jh][Jd] to a 11.1 million chip pot, slicing into the chip stack of Rigboz who couldn't find an ace to match his [Ah][3c]. About ten hands later jcgoheels would saw off some more chips from Rigboz, this time with [7d][9d] betting the whole way until the river on the [5s] [2c] [Tc] [9s] [7s] board as Rigboz tried a 2.7 million bluff with just king high [Jd][Kh], but had to concede the 8.4 million chip pot after jcgoheels made the call. Five hands later with a depleted stack Rigboz would find himself all-in against the chip leader JoseGuti. Watch below for the results:

RSS readers click through to see replay

No race here as Rigboz's pocket fives [5c][5s] started behind the pocket sixes [6d][6s] of JoseGuti and stayed there throughout the [7c] [4d] [8c] [9s] [3s] paint-free board. $75,702.00 for the third place finisher Rigboz, as we moved on to heads-up play for the six figure pay outs waiting there for our final two.

Starting Heads-Up Chip Stacks
Seat 2: JoseGuti (33638550 in chips)
Seat 6: jcgoheels (12241450 in chips)

JoseGuti would start out with a 3:1 chip lead on jcgoheels as the blinds moved up to 200K/400K ante 40K. And despite only two players remaining, this was the longest the final table went without an elimination.

Over 70 hands were played as the players had reached the tenth hour of this tournament. JoseGuti's big stack was too much for jcgoheels, as JoseGuti continually took the blinds including winning the last six hand of the tournament in a row. As the blinds moved up to 250K/500K ante 50K, jcgoheels was knocked down to just 4.1 million chips and moved over the top of JoseGuti's min raise from the button holding [9h][Ah]. Being priced in and having a huge lead, JoseGuti would call with [Kc][5s]. The lead would only last preflop, as a king would hit the [Ts] [Ks] [2s] spade ladened flop. No one held a spade but there plenty out there for the taking. [2h] on the turn and no ace on the [3d] river meant we had a new Sunday Warm-Up champion! Don't fret for jcgoheels $106,900.40 in second place money was shipped after the hand completed. The biggest chunk of the pie went to our champ, JoseGuti, as the Swede will be getting a deposit of $143,955.23 that certainly beats out a previous Sunday final table best of $2,044 earned a few years ago.

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-Up Results (04-11-10)
1. JoseGuti (Gothenburg) $143,955.23
2. jcgoheels (San Francisco) $106,900.40
3. Rigboz (karlstad) $75,702.00
4. Xenor30 (Baden-Baden) $51,844.40
5. chino285 (madrid) $39,998.00
6. hafizzle (stockton) $29,822.00
7. ginofluit (sint jansteen) $20,646.00
8. ague007 (La Garenne Colombes) $11,470.00
9. thebirdman84 (Mays Landing ) $7,340.80

A slightly smaller crowd settled in for this Sunday's Warm-Up, still crushing the guarantee as 4,314 players built a ginormous $862,800 prize pool. At the end of the night it was vtiger coming from behind to take down the title and $79,664 prize as part of a four-way deal that left runner-up kakagun actually winning the most money on the night, as his dominating chip lead with four players left locked up $127,043 as a reward for his aggressive tournament.

That cracking sound you heard was kakagun cracking Jensefar's pocket kings to send Jensefar to the rail in 10th place and set himself up with a monster stack going into the final table. The disparity from the rich and the poor at the final table was pretty heavy, with kakagun and zefir_max both coming into the final nine with over $10 million in chips, while the short-stacked hummylun and Ruguebye had less than a million each.

After logging one double-up, hummylun got it all in again against Ruguebye and mschili-26, and this time it didn't go so well. Ruguebye and mschili-26 checked down the [6d]-[Js]-[Ah]-[Jd]-[Qc] board, and when the hole cards were revealed, it was Ruguebye with [5s]-[5c] sending hummylun and his pocket [3h]-[3s] to the rail in 9th place ($6,902.40).

Santicua made a bold move at the wrong moment to end his tournament in 8th place ($10,785). With [Ad]-[9c], santicua raised preflop and got action from Proludo, who defended his big blind. The flop came a seemingly-harmless [3c]-[8h]-[7d], and Proludo checked. Santicua moved all in, and Proludo snap-called with [7h]-[7s] for a flopped set. Santicua was drawing dead on the flop, and could only watch as the turn and river came down [2h]-[5c].

Just when you think somebody's on the ropes, the tides can turn. Kakagun's unbridled aggression got him to the final table with the chip lead, but some loose calls and some tough hands put him firmly in the middle of the pack. Until he tangled again with chip leader zefir_max. Zefir_max opened for a raise from under the gun, and kakagun three-bet from the cutoff. Zefir flat-called, and the flop came down [Jc]-[Th]-[5d]. Zefir checked, kakagun bet, and zefir check-raised. Kakagun re-raised, zefir raised again, and kakagun moved all in. Zefir made the call and tabled [Kh]-[Jh], only to see kakagun reveal [Kd]-[Ks] for the overpair. The turn and river came down [2s]-[Td], and kakagun crippled the chip leader and took a dominating chip lead over the rest of the field. With seven players remaining, a brief discussion of a deal broke out, but kakagun's overwhelming chip lead made the numbers untenable, and play continued.

Ruguebye came into the final table as one of the shortest stacks, and he played it well, doubling up several times to stay alive and finally getting it all in with the best of it only to bust in 7th place ($19,413). Ruguebye and mschili-26 traded raises back and forth preflop before all the money finally went in, with Ruguebye at risk but holding the dominant hand. He tabled [9d]-[9h] to mschili-26's [6c]-[6s]. All that went out the window when the flop came down [Td]-[6d]-[4d] to give mschili a set of sixes. Ruguebye wasn't dead yet, he still had two nines and nine diamonds to draw for, but the [5s] on the turn was no help. The [7h] on the river sealed his fate, and then there were six.

But only for a few minutes, as kakagun got back to his old habits of sending opponents to the rail. This time it was former chip leader zefir_max, who had struggled back into contention after losing that massive pot to kakagun earlier. Kakagun raised preflop with [Ad]-[5d], and zefir made the call with [Kh]-[Qh]. The flop hit both players pretty hard when it came down [5s]-[2d]-[Kd]. Zefir checked his top pair, and kakagun moved all in with middle pair and a flush draw. Zefir quickly called, and was ahead as the turn came down the [3h]. But the river was kind to kakagun, bringing the [9d] to complete his flush and send zefir_max home in 6th place ($28,041).

Proludo became the next to exit in the flurry of eliminations, busting at the hands of kakagun in 5th place ($36,669). Kakagun open-shoved for not anywhere near the first time all night, and Proludo called with [Td]-[Ts]. Kakagun showed [Ah]-[Th], and the flop came down [6d]-[Jh]-[6s]. The [9h] on the turn gave kakagun a flush draw, but it was the [Ac] on the river that sent Proludo to the rail. The four remaining players then paused to look at numbers once again. After a brief discussion, the players agreed on the following guaranteed payouts - kakagun: $127,043.14, mschili-26: $81,745.17, vtiger: $69,664.87 and instigator 85: $67,350.13. That deal left $10,000 for the eventual winner, and the players settled in to battle it out for that last ten grand.

Instigator85 was the first to fall, busting in 4th place shortly after the deal was sealed. He moved all in over the top of kakagun's preflop raise with [Ad]-[Td], and kakagun quickly called with [6d]-[6s]. The flop came down with no diamonds and no help for Instigator, as the [Kc]-[4s]-[6h] board made middle set for kakagun. Instigator85 was drawing dead as the turn came down the [7s], and the [Ks] on the river improved kakagun to a full house. Instigator was certainly thrilled on the outcome of the deal, as the $67,350.13 he grabbed in the deal was almost $20K better than the original 4th place prize!

Three-handed play continued for quite some time, until finally the floodgates broke and all the chips went in the middle from all three players in this massive hand! Mschili-26 raised preflop from the button with [Jc]-[Js]. Vtiger moved all in over the top with [7c]-[7s], and kakagun called with [Ah]-[Qs]. Mschili moved the last few chips into the side pot, and kakagun once again called. The flop was a sick [7d]-[Ac]-[9h], giving vtiger a set and kakagun top pair for the side pot. The [Ks] on the turn changed nothing, and the [Qd] river only cemented kakagun's hold on the side pot. Mschili-26 was left out in the cold in 3rd place, good for an $81,745.17 payday.

After that, vtiger doubled through kakagun on the very next hand to grab onto most of the chips in play, and it was just a few hands later that it was all over. With a crazy 20:1 chip disadvantage, kakagun was left shoving with any two cards, and that's what he did with [7h]-[5d]. Vtiger called with [Ks]-[9s], and was ahead going into the [Qd]-[8c]-[Qh] flop. The [Kh] on the turn left kakagun drawing dead, and when the [Ad] hit the river, vtiger had picked up an extra $10,000 and the title of Sunday Warm-Up Champion! Kakagun was still pretty happy with his $127,043 payday for second place, since he ended up the big money winner on the night. Champion vtiger finished with a very handsome $79,664.87 for his win and the chip count chop.

Congratulations to our champion vtiger, all our final table players, and everyone who cashed in this week's Sunday Warm-Up!

After the extracurricular excitement during Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee's one million Euro win at the EPT Berlin, online players returned to the quieter virtual felt for tonight's $750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up. With the buy-in still a scant $215, the prizes continue to reward the players who make the final table in a big way. $144,143.45 slated for tonight's champion as 675 players from the starting 4,594 runners will walk away with at least $312.39.

The EPT Berlin champ was safely behind the controls of his computer tonight, but MacPhee couldn't add a Sunday Warm-up victory tonight finishing in 3,817 place while his shadow and maybe a fan of the online phenom "ImaLucSac" (without the "k") finished a tad higher but still out of the money in 1,964th place.

It would take nine hours to reach the final table tonight after the half hour delayed start due to daylight savings time coming into effect for several players today and not everyone's diligent enough to set their alarm clocks after an all-nighter at the tables. The blinds would reach 100K/200K ante 20K before the penultimate hand before the final table was played. Playing five handed, mega stacked Mur917 was in the big blind facing a 2.2 million chip shove from robbybest. With plenty of chips to call, Mur917 would do so with a modest [8d][Kd] as robbybest was only slightly ahead holding [7s][Ah]. Both players would hit the [Td] [8c] [9c] flop as Mur917 caught bottom pair to take the lead while robbybest now held an open ender with an overcard. [Qc] on the turn helped no one and the river [3s] sent robbybest to the sidelines with $5,512.80 for the tenth place finish setting up our final table below:

Seat 1: CallMeIdiot (4236421 in chips)
Seat 2: emiwarg (2998504 in chips)
Seat 3: F3dOrOv9191 (3118892 in chips)
Seat 4: Mur917 (12936933 in chips)
Seat 5: minisune (2509351 in chips)
Seat 6: King 2307 (2365595 in chips)
Seat 7: lu_tricolor (5472110 in chips)
Seat 8: Mollpan (4684281 in chips)
Seat 9: 1-ronnyr3 (7617913 in chips)

Just eight hands after being seated the blinds would move up to 125K/250K ante 25K further pressuring the short stacks to make a move. minisune was in such a position with just seven big blinds facing a min-raise from 1-ronnyr3 in the big blind. Holding [Ac][6s] minisune would shove 1.7 million into the pot only to get snap called by 1-ronnyr3 with big slick [Ad][Kc]. [4d] [3h] [Qs] [Jh] [5s] was laid out for our final nine to see, as they became eight when 1-ronnyr3's king kicker played and minisune was asked politely to pick up $7,350.40 at the cashier's window for a ninth place finish.

As the blinds moved up to 150K/300K ante 30K, Mur917 retained the commanding chip lead and built on it with nearly seven million more than 2nd place lu_tricolor as shown below with F3dOrOv9191 trying to hang on:

Seat 1: CallMeIdiot (2,192,732 in chips)
Seat 2: emiwarg (4,437,008 in chips)
Seat 3: F3dOrOv9191 (1,091,392 in chips)
Seat 4: Mur917 (16,822,973 in chips)
Seat 6: King 2307 (4,434,146 in chips)
Seat 7: lu_tricolor (9,720,220 in chips)
Seat 8: Mollpan (2,023,860 in chips)
Seat 9: 1-ronnyr3 (5,217,669 in chips)

F3dOrOv9191's decision to tough it out was a good one, after doubling up the short stack, he would watch Mollpan and CallMeIdiot go to war preflop with Mollpan's tournament life on the line. With 5.9 million in the middle and blinds still at 150K/300K ante 30K Mollpan held pocket eights [8d][8s] which were very much behind the pocket nines [9s][9d] of CallMeIdiot. Neither player would touch the [4c] [Jc] [2d] [6d] [2c] board and Mollpan received $11,485.00 in eighth place.

Two hands later after getting a $9K bump in pay, F3dOrOv9191 found [Kh][Qc] on the button after the blinds moved up to 200K/400K ante 40K and moved in for the remaining 1.6 million chips. Mur917 however was in the small blind with [Kd][6h] and with 14.3 million behind made the call. Both would pair their king but Mur917 nailed the six kicker as well on the [3h] [6d] [Kc] flop. No re-suck here for F3dOrOv9191 as the rest of the board [5s] and [Ts] ran dry for the unlucky short stack as F3dOrOv9191 was left to collect $20,673.00 with a bad beat story in seventh place.

This started a huge wave of action as just another two hands later CallMeIdiot was involved in another hand all-in preflop. This time up CallMeIdiot was up against emiwarg, who with just 2.6 million, would shove over the top of CallMeIdiot's 950K UTG raise. Pocket tens [Ts][Tc] made the call easier for CallMeIdiot as emiwarg flipped up [Qs][Ah] to start the race for emiwarg's tournament life. Zero broadway cards hit the [9s] [4s] [8c] [2d] [2h] board as emiwarg missed the board completely to finish in sixth place ($29,861.00). emiwarg added that 29K to an impressive run at the 2008 WCOOP event #9, where he nearly took a bracelet but finished as the runner-up good for $55.9K in the NLHE 4-max event.

Nine hands later with the blinds still at 200K/400K ante 40K it was 1-ronnyr3's turn to take a crack at Mur917 chip fortress. Watch the hand play out below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

No coming from behind needed here, as Mur917's [Ks][Jc] dominated 1-ronnyr3's [Kc][Tc] from start to finish on the [6s] [5h] [6c] [9c] [Ad] board earning 1-ronnyr3 $39,049.00 in fifth place.

The chat box was only filled with Team PokerStars Pro's Gualter Salles' farewells to the departing players as no words like "gg" "nice hand sir" "what did you think of Amazing Race tonight?" "would you like to chop?" ever hit the conversation box as the deathly serious players were now down to four remaining and two six figure prizes still on the table.

Two hands after the 1-ronnyr3 was roped in, King 2307 got a temporary reprieve by doubling up off Mur917 but as stated the temporarly newly found chips quickly exited his stack as shown below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

It take a turned king but lu_tricolor's big slick [Kh][As] would overcome the pocket treys [3d][3s] of King 2307 for the 13.7 million chip pot. While perhaps unappropriately knocked out by a king, King 2307 will be happy to know $51,912.20 is heading toward that sizable bankroll for the fourth place finish.

With that pot lu_tricolor nearly took over the chip lead, then as the blinds moved up to 250K/500K ante 50K, the chromatically named player would hit a big hand as the two chip leaders butted heads. lu_tricolor would start the betting by raising to 1.1 million as CallMeIdiot folded and Mur917 called to see the [6c] [As] [5c] flop. Mur917 led out at the preflop raiser for one million as lu_tricolor made the call. Both would check the [2d] turn to see the [Qd] hit the river. Mur917 pushed out three million this time as lu_tricolor liked the lady enough to raise to seven million. A call from Mur917 and a quick muck after lu_tricolor showed two more ladies [Qc][Qs] taking down the 18.6 million chip pot.

That hand set up the massive chip leader's demise in this hand below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

After 3-betting and a call preflop, both players saw the [2d][3s][2s] flop. Mur917 tried to take down the 5.4 million in the middle with a two million chip bet, but lu_tricolor wasn't going anywhere with [Ks][9s] and shoved over the top of the bet. Pot committed Mur917 was perhaps surprised that he was still a bit ahead with [Ac][Qs]. Until the [Kd] hit the turn and lack of a non-spade ace or queen on the [8d] river meant the mighty chip final table chip leader would be forced to take solace in third place money ($75,801.00).

Three to one chip lead for lu_tricolor as the chat box continued to remain dry as they would start off with 250K/500K ante 50K blinds

Seat 1: CallMeIdiot (10685940 in chips)
Seat 7: lu_tricolor (35254060 in chips)

CallMeIdiot would pull the chip counts much tighter after taking down huge pot with [Qd][9h] that made two pair and managed to extract value to the tune of 17.5 million chips. With the newly found chips both players also found their keyboards and quickly went to work on a deal. Team PokerStars Pro Salles was armed with chip count deal numbers but they were not necessary as the players agreed to an even chop (leaving aside $10,000 to the winner)

lu_tricolor $120,591.82
CallMeIdiot $120,591.82

With the deal in place CallMeIdiot went on a mini-heater, taking down the next six hands in a row and took a slight two million chip lead as the blinds moved up to 300K/600K ante 60K.

That chip lead would evaporate as both players would get their stacks into the middle preflop. [Ah][Qs] for CallMeIdiot was a huge hand to get heads-up but not when set up against pocket queens [Qc][Qh] which resided in lu_tricolor's hand. The board [7h] [8c] [3c] [9s] [Th] stayed ace free in lu_tricolor's favor as the Brazilian pro Salles and Andre Akkari gave their fellow countryman a little "VAMOOO" in the chat for winning the 44.8 million chip pot.

The scraps of CallMeIdiot went in the very next hand as he found himself dominated yet again with [9s][Jd] against lu_tricolor's [9c][Ac]. No catching up happened on the [2c] [Qc] [7h] [4s] [Qs] board and lu_tricolor would take down tonight's Sunday Warm-up and the extra $10,000 as its champion!

Congrats to all our winners this evening, and be sure to check out PokerStars.TV for all the latest live event highlights and a replay of tonight's final table big hands with commentary.

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up Results (03-14-10):
(*denotes part of two-way chip chop)
1. lu_tricolor (Sao Paulo) *$130,591.82
2. CallMeIdiot (Cool,Ne) *$120,591.82
3. Mur917 (Brooklyn) $75,801.00
4. King 2307 (La Venganza) $51,912.20
5. 1-ronnyr3 (bern) $39,049.00
6. emiwarg (tyresö) $29,861.00
7. F3dOrOv9191 (Bratislava) $20,673.00
8. Mollpan (Täby) $11,485.00
9. minisune (Århus) $7,350.00

With the successful opening of the North American Poker Tour last weekend at The Venetian players are back behind their computers for today's $750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up. 4,809 players remembered their logon IDs and ponyed up the $215 buy-in for a shot at the $961,800.00 prize pool. Nearly broaching a million dollars once again today, $150,456.75 was set aside for the soon-to-be-named winner this evening.

Team PokerStars Pro Jose "Nacho" Barbero hot off his $279,330 victory in the LAPT Punta del Este wasted no time signing up tonight, but fell well short of the 720 places paid in 1932th place. However, Team PokerStars German Pro Ben Kang (601st Place $327.01), Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan (534th place $346.24) and Florian Langmann (540th place $346.24) did manage to finish in the money.

After a long stall with two full tables remaining, the action picked up in the 80K/160K ante 16K level as players fell like beer cans during happy hour to reach hand-for-hand play to see who would be excluded from those potential six figure payouts at the final table after nearly nine hours of play. And that player was atito100 who's shortstack of 387,152 chips open shoved with pocket fours [4s][4c] from the small blind just as the blinds went up to 100K/200K ante 20K and was called by hg18l7 in the big blind with pocket tens [Td][Ts]. Those tens were safe on the high [Ac] [Ah] [Qh] [7c] [Kc] board as atito100 would not be receiving a 100K prize tonight but rather $5,722.71 in tenth place.

With atito100's elimination that set up Team PokerStars Pro Steve Paul-Ambrose's welcome to the final table below:

Seat 1: lechuckpoker (6273100 in chips)
Seat 2: hg18l7 (6696892 in chips)
Seat 3: paulitschMC (9949939 in chips)
Seat 4: Dardan0s (5439877 in chips)
Seat 5: CRICED (1169030 in chips)
Seat 6: dav_dau (4369366 in chips)
Seat 7: atcasanova (5438163 in chips)
Seat 8: surrbox (1449458 in chips)
Seat 9: oulendoulen (7304175 in chips)

The final table chip leader is a bit of a rare bird at the final table, paulitschMC is sporting the six stars of a Supernova elite and may have had to close down 20 to 30 tables to concentrate on this potential six figure payout.

13 hands into the final table, shortstacked CRICED was unable to gain any ground with the five big blinds brought to the table and found two cards good enough to call Dardan0s raise to 404,040 on his immediate left. CRICED was all-in for less and surrbox in the big blind made the call to see the [6d] [Qs] [Ac] [9h] [As] board run out after surrbox and Dardan0s checked it down. CRICED was forced to muck after surrbox turned over [Ad][3d] for the winner of the 1.3 million chip pot and exited the tourney in ninth place ($7,694.40).

As the blinds rose to 125K/250K ante 25K surrbox would increase the stack even more after double thru the starting chip leader paulitschMC. Pocket sevens [7h][7s] would outrun the [Ac][Qd] of paulitschMC on the [4c] [Qc] [Ks] [5h] [Jd] board and 5.7 million was shipped to surrbox.

Eight handed, and the chat box already contained potential chop discussions. The poker table is not a democracy however and majority does not rule here as the other six players remained silent in the chat box as play rolled on.

Ten hands after paulitschMC doubled up surrbox, some of those chips lost would return back to the Supernova Elite's stack. With the blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K hg18l7 tried to open shove in a battle of the blinds holding just [4d][3d]. But, paulitschMC covered the 3.08 million chip shove and decided the weak ace [Ad][2h] was ahead enough to make the call. The flop [6s] [5h] [Ah] came out great for both players, paulitschMC still ahead with now a pair of aces while hg18l7 snagged an open-ended straight draw. [3h] on the turn gave hg18l7 a few more outs, but the paint on the river [Js] ended hg18l7's night in eighth place ($12,022.50).

As the blinds moved up to 150K/300K ante 30K lechuckpoker and oulendoulen sat with 10 milliion chip stacks as the rest of the field needed to make some moves to stay ahead of the rising blinds. Unfortunately, those moves sometimes get called as the case of dav_dau's push with [5d][As] shown below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

paulitschMC found [Ad][Js] in the big blind and avoided the suckout after both players hit their kickers on the flop. But, dav_dau couldn't find a second five on the [Jd] [5s] [Kd] [8s] [Jh] board and was released from the final table in seventh place ($21,640.50).

surrbox tried again to get votes for a deal, and this time two players shot down the idea as the blinds moved up to 200K/400K ante 40K with the following stacks remaining and paulitschMC retaining the lead:

Seat 1: lechuckpoker (4722220 in chips)
Seat 3: paulitschMC (12375641 in chips)
Seat 4: Dardan0s (5361674 in chips)
Seat 7: atcasanova (11298257 in chips)
Seat 8: surrbox (4478972 in chips)
Seat 9: oulendoulen (9853236 in chips)

Pappe_Ruk (TeamPro) : My brother is off to bed, he is not joking

As the players waited for the cards to come out after the top of the hour break, Dardan0s announced he was heading to bed still holding 5.8 million chips. Not sure what the "big day" he mentioned in chat implied but it must be worth more than money. Good luck to his vacant stack...

... or not, because as soon as the break ended apparently Dardan0s was back at the table raising all in to take the blinds. Jokes on us! :)

One hand before the blinds moved up to 250K/500K ante 50K shortstacked surrbox tried to add the blinds to his stack by pushing from the button for 2.03 million holding [Ks][5s]. Instead, oulendoulen in the small blind covered easily and made the call with [4c][Ad]. Neither player was helped by the double paired [Qd] [6c] [Ts] [6d] [Qc] board and surrbox had nothing left but the newly acquired sixth place money ($31,258.50).

Players got pushy-shovey after the break with several all-ins preflop including atcasanova's from the cutoff with [9h][7h] for 6.6 million and got called by oulendoulen with [Ah][Tc]. The suited one-gapper found a generous river card [8c] [3d] [Qs] [Qc] [9s] and 14 million chips were shipped to the famous lover.

Dardan0s sleep would came easier once the chip stack was reduced to zero. After shoving from the button with 4.8 million chips left and a weak ace [4h][Ad], Dardan0s was facing a call and atcasanova's [Ac][Tc]. No excitement here to wake the slumbering Dardan0s as the flopped ten put this one to rest early on the [Ts] [7h] [Qs] [8d] [Qh] board. A nice pillow stuffed with $40,876.50 in fifth place prize money makes any Sleep Comfort bed number unnecessary.

Three hands later lechuckpoker was staring down pocket kings as the tournament was restarted since he never agreed to look at chop numbers. Watch what happens below as lechuckpoker shoves and gets called by the seemingly unstoppable atcasanova for a 15.7 million chip pot.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Again atcasanova was behind with [Ah][Jc] but it didn't matter as the ace would spike on the flop and hold thru the [3c] [Tc] [As] [3h] [4s] board leaving lechuckpoker out of the chop talks and home with $54,341.70 in fourth place. No stranger to success, lechuckpoker chopped up 2009 WCOOP Event #21 for $178,768.

Immediately the players got to work on the three-way chop leaving $10,000 to the winner. With a little help from Team PokerStars Pro Steve Paul-Ambrose and some negotiations they came to the following agreement:

atcasanova: $136,854.95
paulitschMC: $102,500.00
oulendoulen: $92,500.00

oulendoulen's night would end quickly after taking the bump in pay. Two hands after the deal was struck, [As][7d] was enough to min-raise with from the button and call the 3-bet shove from paulitschMC. No such luck on paulitschMC playing the bully, as the Supernova Elite flipped up big slick [Kh][Ac]. A bland [Td] [Jc] [8d] [3h] [4s] board and a deal meant oulendoulen's third place finish was worth more than the prize pool listed amount ($92,500.00).

The final two started off nearly even in chips as atcasanova still held the clip lead after paulitschMC took down the 17.7 million chip pot from eliminating oulendoulen.

Seat 3: paulitschMC (22091812 in chips)
Seat 7: atcasanova (25998188 in chips)

Twelve hands into the heads-up play, we had our champion. After the blinds moved up to 300K/600K ante 60K both players found the nine laden board of [9c] [9s] [Ts] [9d] to their liking. With 5.7 million already in the pot watch the hand play out below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

paulitschMC made an all-shove check-raise play but unfortunately atcasanova held the hand the Supernova Elite was representing while turning over [Tc][Ac] for the full house. paulitschMC could only muster [8c][6c] and was drawing very dead. For the runner-up paulitschMC took home the previously agreed to $102,500 as the extra $10,000 went to this week's Sunday Warm-up champion atcasanova who banked $146,854.95 with the win!

Congrats to all our winners this evening as be sure to check in on PokerStars.tv for replay of all the big hands with commentary.

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up
(* denotes part of 3-way deal)
1. atcasanova (Cruzeiro/DF) *$146,854.95
2. paulitschMC (Pluederhausen) *$102,500.00
3. oulendoulen (Ihrhove) *$92,500.00
4. lechuckpoker (Munich) $54,341.70
5. Dardan0s (Nijmegen) $40,876.50
6. surrbox (Cherepovets) $31,258.50
7. dav_dau (Cph.) $21,640.50
8. hg18l7 (Amagansett) $12,022.50
9. CRICED (GOSIER) $7,694.40

This weekend was a huge one for PokerStars, with the NAPT Venetian going on, the EPT Copenhagen wrapping up, and more exploded guarantees in the Sunday major tourneys. But it was the phenomenal 40 Billionth Hand promotion that drove the action online this week. This week's Sunday Warm-Up drew a tremendous field of 5,341 players, creating a prize pool of $1,068,200. The top 765 players took home a piece of that prize pool, with the lion's share going to cumicon, who held a dominating chip lead when a four-way deal was struck. Thanks to his chip lead at that point, cumicon took home over $128,000, while eventually finishing in 3rd place. Our champion homanga, meanwhile, came from one of the shortest stacks when the final table kicked off to claim a final prize of $111,006.50.

It's not often that the final table bubble corresponds to break time, but that's exactly what happened this week. The players came back from break for just a couple of hands of bubble, then the final table was set. The chip stacks looked like this when the final table kicked off -

Seat 1: homanga - $3,374,111
Seat 2: intervnton - $3,729,128
Seat 3: ANIMAL5050 - $6,717,841
Seat 4: APerfectGent - $7,338,237
Seat 5: polpolpol - $1,871,264
Seat 6: alexuuus - $944,126
Seat 7: bigbear17 - $6,944,718
Seat 8: Skryll - $3,812,540
Seat 9: cumicon - $18,243,035

After the final table bubble burst, it took just one hand for the field to be reduced to eight. Intervntion opened for a raise from the button with [5s]-[5h], and polpolpol woke up with [Kh]-[Kc] in the small blind. Polpolpol made the call for the last of his stack, but watched his huge favorite turn into a huge dog when the flop came down [Jh]-[5d]-[8h]. The [4h] on the turn gave polpolpol a flush draw to stay alive, but the [Qs] on the river was no good, and intervntion sent polpolpol packing in 9th place ($8545.60).

Alexuuus quickly followed polpolpol to the rail, busting in 8th place just moments later. On the short stack and in late position, alexuuus shipped it all in when the action folded around to him in the cutoff with [Jc]-[8c]. Cumicon had a dominating chip lead and the big blind, so he made the call with [Kd]-[9s]. The flop was right in cumicon's wheelhouse as it came down [Ks]-[3d]-[5d]. The [Jh] hit the turn to give alexuuus a little hope, but it wasn't enough, as the [6s] came on the river. Alexuuus picked up $13,352.50 for his 8th-place finish.

Play continued 7-handed for a while until cumicon decided it was time to send another opponent to the rail. This time it was intervntion, busting in 7th place for $24,034.50. Intervntion raised preflop from early position, then snap-called when cumicon moved all in over the top from the big blind. Intervntion was in the lead when the cards were revealed, with [Jc]-[Js] to cumicon's [Kd]-[Th]. The players traded places promptly on the flop, though, as it came down [3c]-[Ks]-[Qh]. The [7h] on the turn was no help to either player, and when the [Ac] came on the river, intervntion's run was over.

Skryll was next to fall, finishing a respectable 6th place thanks to a coin flip gone the other way. ANIMAL5050 raised preflop with [8d]-[8s], and Skryll moved all in over the top with [Ac]-[9h]. ANIMAL5050 made the call, then made a set on the [9s]-[8c]-[3d] flop. Skryll needed to catch perfect running cards to stay alive, and when the [Jd] hit the turn, he was drawing dead. The river was an irrelevant [4d], and Skryll headed home with an extra $34,716.50 in his virtual pocket.

Another coin flip, another victim, could be the story of the night as cumicon claimed another victim, busting bigbear17 in 5th place ($45,398.50). The players traded raises back and forth preflop until all the money was in the middle, and bigbear17 tabled [Tc]-[Ts] to cumicon's [Ac]-[Jd]. The flop pretty much ended all speculation when it came down [9d]-[Ks]-[Jh]. Bigber17 needed a queen or a ten on the turn or river to stay alive, but when the rest of the board ran out [5s]-[2d], the field was down to four. The last four players took a brief break to discuss a chop, and after some wrangling agreed to a deal that guaranteed big payouts to all four players.

Chip leader cumicon locked up $128,006.50, while second-place APerfectGent nabbed a guaranteed $109,006.50. Homanga rounded out the six-figure club at $101,006.50, while fourth-place ANIMAL5050 took down $92,006.50. This deal left $10,000 to play for, so the four survivors took a brief moment to congratulate each other, and then re-entered the fray.

As often happens once a deal is struck, the all-ins came fast and furious once the details had been hammered out. It was just a few hands into four-handed play when homanga raised enough from the small blind to put ANIMAL5050 all in with a call. ANIMAL did indeed call, and was slightly ahead with [Ac]-[4d] to homanga's [Kc]-[Js]. The flop helped neither player as it came down [6s]-[8h]-[9c]. Homanga was behind ANIMAL's ace-high even when the turn brought the [Qs], but the [Tc] on the river made the runner-runner straight, and ANIMAL5050 was done in 4th place ($92,006.50).

The player happiest about making a four-way deal had to be cumicon, because after a marathon three-way session, he ended up on the short end and still had the biggest payday of anyone. After losing a few tough hands to APerfectGent, cumicon's demise came at the hands of homanga. With only fumes left in his tank, cumicon moved all in preflop with [Qh]-[9s], and homanga made the call with [Ah]-[8c], and promptly flopped trips on the [3h]-[Ad]-[As] board. With his opponent drawing dead, homanga added insult to injury when he rivered quads on a final board of [3h]-[Ad]-[As]-[6s]-[Ac]. It was pretty hard for cumicon to be upset, though, as he'd locked up $128K for a third-place finish!
Heads up play then ensued between APerfectGent and homanga, who were both mostly concerned with the TLB points at stake, even moreso than the $10,000! They battled back and forth for quite some time, before finally this hand happened.

APerfectGent opened with a button raise, and homanga made the call. The flop came down [9c]-[9s]-[Kh], and homanga led out. APerfectGent raised, and homanga once again flat-called. Homanga checked the [7d] turn, and APerfectGent led out. Homanga called once again, then checked again on the [8d] river. APerfectGent moved all in, and homanga called. APerfectGent showed [9h]-[4h] for trips, but was crushed to see homanga table [Js]-[9d] for trips with a better kicker. After all that heads up play, it all came down to a kicker as homanga picked up an extra $10,000 and the title of Sunday Warm-Up champion!

Congrats to homanga, APerfectGent, and all our final table players for a game well played. Join us next week for more busted guarantees and gigantic payouts!