This week’s Super Tuesday, the weekly $1,050 no-limit hold’em tournament at PokerStars that routinely draws many of the toughest players in online poker, saw another big field of 504 participate. That group created a total prize pool of $504,000 (well over the $300K guarantee), and after almost 10-and-a-half-hours it was the Lithuanian Karolis “g.karolis” Grybauskas emerging as the lone survivor to claim the win and a nifty $95,760 first prize.
Bubble tension
At the five-hour break that big field of 504 had played down to 64 and reached the stone bubble, as only the top 63 finishers would be making the cash. David “d.quang” Quang went to that break with the chip lead having build a stack of over 152,000, with Bonglim sitting with just over 130,000 as the only other player with a six-figure stack.
Meanwhile Vladimir “GVOZDIKA55” Shchemelev was sitting in 64th place with less than 2,000 (i.e., not two big blinds), but the Russian would manage a double-up on the first hand back to earn a little breathing room.
A few hands later it looked for a moment like the bubble would burst after a hand arose on another table in which bearsfan775 was all in before the flop with K♣ K♥ against the A♠10♣ of jennyfuchs, then an ace came on the flop. But the turn brought the K♦ to save bearsfan775, and hand-for-hand play continued.
While Shchemelev continued to fold hands as the big blind crept back around, a hand arose on another table that saw N1clasM raising 2x to 2,400 from early position, pasha 1986 calling from a seat over and Thiago “XTheDecanoX” Nishijima calling as well from the big blind.
The flop came K♥ 5♣ Q♦ , and when checked to N1clasM bet 4,330 and only Nishijima called. Then the 9♣ fell on the turn and XTheDecanoX led for 5,555, with N1clasM calling. The river then brought the Q♠and an all-in shove of 22,503 from Nishijima that N1clasM called right away.
Nishijima had turned a straight with J♥ 10♣ , but N1clasM had rivered quads with Q♣ Q♥ and Nishijima was the unfortunate 64th-place finisher. Take a look:
From 63 to 9
Two hours later the field had been whittled down to just 18 players, with Vladimir “GVOZDIKA55” Shchemelev (55th, $2,217.60), bearsfan775 (33rd, $2,772), and Bonglim (21st, $3,024) among those hitting the rail in the interim.
Meanwhile Magardan — who just won the Super Tuesday four weeks ago — had moved into the chip lead not long after the bubble burst and had lead for much of those two hours. Indeed, with just two nine-handed tables left Magardan was sitting in first position with more than 444,000 chips at a time when the closest challenger (jennyfuchs) had but a little over 214,000.
It would take nearly another hour-and-a-half more for the next nine to fall, with Magardan continuing to hold onto a big lead throughout.
pokerturo (18th), antesvante (17th), and N1clasM (16th) each earned $4,032 for their finishes. JMDA Y SALO (15th), WaGe N Warz (14th), and steve3331 (13th) were the next to go, all picking up prizes of $5,040. Then Christopher “NigDawG” Brammer (12th), KingKenas (11th), and Igor “Lechuckpoker” Kurganov (10th) successively went out having made $6,048 apiece for not quite making the final table.
Just nine remained.
Seat 1: daskalos20 (Cyprus) — 234,043
Seat 2: Magardan (Germany) — 632,015
Seat 3: caicu (Portugal) — 182,906
Seat 4: pasha I986 (Belarus) — 216,489
Seat 5: David “d.quang” Quang (Canada) — 83,459
Seat 6: jennyfuchs (Germany) — 466,532
Seat 7: FruStark1 (Sweden) — 430,132
Seat 8: Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler (Mexico) — 74,157
Seat 9: Karolis “g.karolis” Grybauskas (Lithuania) — 200,267
Three short stacks fall
Shortly after the final table began, the blinds were 3,200/6,400 when jennyfuchs min-raised to 12,800 from under the gun, then it folded to David “d.quang” Quang in the big blind who shoved all in for 94,859 and jennyfuchs called.
Quang had 3â™ 3♥ and was hoping the small pair would hold versus jennyfuchs’s Kâ™ Jâ™ . But alas for Quang the board came J♥ 4♦ J♦ Qâ™ 10♥ to give jennyfuchs trip jacks and knock d.quang out in ninth.
An orbit-and-a-half later caicu was raising 2x to 12,800 from early position, then jennyfuchs called from a couple of seats over. The flop came 6♥ 5♦ J♣ . caicu checked, jennyfuchs bet 12,800, caicu check-raised to 70,400, jennyfuchs shoved all in, and caicu called with the 64,806 left behind.
caicu had Q♣ Q♦ , but jennyfuchs had the bigger pair with K♦ K♣ , and after the 6♠turn and J♠river, caicu was gone in eighth.
Shortly after those two eliminations, one of the familiar names in the counts — Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler — had slipped below the 50,000-chip mark, although that didn’t dampen Wheeler’s spirits much.
jdtjpoker: gonna be funny when i come back and win this
Magardan: that would be quite an epic story
jennyfuchs: why not…everything is possible
Magardan: a chip and a chair^^
daskalos20: exactly lets hope you will not make it..:)
jdtjpoker: i mean me and this tournament hang out a lot so i’m still kinda liking my chances
Indeed, Wheeler has won the Super Tuesday multiple times — most recently in April of this year — thus further encouraging his optimism.
Alas for Wheeler, another Super Tuesday win wasn’t in the cards this week for him as soon he’d be opening with a 4x raise to 28,800 from early position, daskalos20 would reraise to 50,400 from the cutoff, then jdtjpoker would call all in with the 16,357 he had left.
It was K♣ 7♣ for Wheeler and A♣ 9♦ for daskalos20. The board came 3â™ 3♦ 10â™ 8♥ 10♦ and daskalos20’s ace kicker went best with the two pair on board, ending Wheeler’s run in seventh.
From 6 to 2
The remaining six battled on to reach the nine-hour break, at which point FruStark1 had grabbed the lead with more than 778,000 while Magardan had slipped back to sixth of six with nearly 131,000.
The blinds moved up to 4,000/8,000, then Magardan raised to 16,000 from the button. pasha I986 made it 36,850 to go from the small blind, and after jennyfuchs folded in the big blind, Magardan reraised all in for 129,718 total and pasha I986 called.
Magardan had the preflop edge with A♣ K♦ versus pasha I986’s Aâ™ Q♦ . But the flop came 10♥ Q♥ 4â™ to swing the advantage over to pasha I986. The turn was the 7♥ and river the 4♥ , and Magardan had to be satisfied with a sixth-place finish after winning the Super Tuesday last month.
Over the next half-hour jennyfuchs would assume the chip lead with more than 1.1 million while daskalos20 slipped back to last position with less than 100,000. Then a hand arose in which jennyfuchs min-raised to 20,000 from the cutoff seat, Karolis “g.karolis” Grybauskas reraised to 35,000 from the small blind, then daskalos20 reraised all in for 67,910 from the big blind. jennyfuchs folded, but Grybauskas made the call.
g.karolis: A♦ 8♥
daskalos20: K♠10♦
The board came 2♣ 2♦ Q♦ 4â™ 7♥ , meaning Grybauskas’s hand was best and daskalos20 was eliminated in fifth.
Next it was FruStark1 growing short and then open-pushing a stack of 104,687 (a little less than nine big blinds) from the small blind and getting called by Karolis “g.karolis” Grybauskas in the big blind. FruStark1 had Q♣ 10♥ and g.karolis K♥ 8♦ , the board came 4♥ 7♦ 7♣ 4♦ Kâ™ , and g.karolis’s two pair were best as FruStark1 hit the rail in fourth.
The final trio battled onward through the 10-hour mark with g.karolis moving out in front while pasha I986 fell back. Then with the blinds 7,000/14,000 pasha I986 pushed all in for 165,214 from the button and only jennyfuchs called from the small blind.
pasha I986 had J♥ 10♣ and jennyfuchs A♣ 10♠. The board ended up hitting both players, coming 10♥ K♣ J♦ Q♠8♥ . That made two pair for pasha I986, but it also added up to a Broadway straight for jennyfuchs, and pasha I986 was out in third.
Heads-up: Grybauskas grabs victory
Heads-up play began with Karolis “g.karolis” Grybauskas enjoying a lead over jennyfuchs with 1,396,087 to the latter’s 1,123,913. The pair did stop the tournament briefly to discuss a possible deal, and while jennyfuchs was amenable to the proposed figures, Grybauskas needed more than what was being offered and so they decided to press onward without chopping.
Soon after play resumed g.karolis immediately began carving away at jennyfuchs’s stack, and after 20 hands had chipped up over 2 million while knocking jennyfuchs down under 450,000.
Then with the blinds 8,000/16,000, Grybauskas raised to 32,000 from the button and jennyfuchs called, and the pair saw the flop come 9♠10♥ 3♥ . jennyfuchs checked, g.karolis bet 36,720, jennyfuchs pushed all in for 399,172, and Grybauskas called.
As it turned out, both players had flopped draws. jennyfuchs had a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw with Q♥ 8♥ while g.karolis had an open-ended straight draw with Q♣ J♣ . The turn then brought the 6â™ and river the 4â™ , meaning neither player completed a draw and g.karolis’s queen-high hand with a jack-kicker was best.
Congratulations to Karolis “g.karolis” Grybauskas for topping another tough, 500-plus player field to win this week’s Super Tuesday and a handsome $95,760 payday!
7/23/13 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold’em) results
Players: 504
Prize pool: $504,000.00
Places paid: 63
1. Karolis “g.karolis” Grybauskas (Lithuania) — $95,760.00
2. jennyfuchs (Germany) — $70,560.00
3. pasha I986 (Belarus) — $51,660.00
4. FruStark1 (Sweden) — $39,312.00
5. daskalos20 (Cyprus) — $27,720.00
6. Magardan (Germany) — $21,420.00
7. Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler (Mexico) — $16,380.00
8. caicu (Portugal) — $11,340.00
9. David “d.quang” Quang (Canada) — $8,366.40
The Super Tuesday costs $1,050 to enter, but the MicroMillions 5 series features numerous events with buy-ins as low as a buck and five-figure first prizes, and there’s still nearly a week’s worth of events to go in the popular series. Check out the MicroMillions page for information about the remaining schedule.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
Back to Top
