The Super Tuesday just keeps getting more and more super. As in super-sized.
The field of 442 players for the 12/20/11 edition of the weekly $1,050 no-limit hold’em tournament marked the largest Super Tuesday field since February 8th when 475 played. It also represented the third straight week there has been a significant jump in the number of entrants (from 373 two weeks ago to 413 last week).
That meant a prize pool of $442,000 — almost three times the tourney’s $150K guarantee — to be divided by the top 54 finishers. And barring any final table deals, the winner would earn a huge payday of $84,819. Since a deal had been made at the final table of that 2/8/11 tourney, tonight’s haul would mark the largest amount earned at a Super Tuesday since 1/18/11 when WithEez1 won $86,849.60 after besting a field of 487.
After four hours that huge field had been reduced to an even 100. At that point three players had increased their starting stacks of 5,000 to more than 60,000 — nemets, 88ROTT88, and fcaler185.
By then three representatives of Team PokerStars had been eliminated: Team Greece challenger Alexis “J0hnny_Dr@m@” Zervos (302nd), Ana Marquez of Team PokerStars Spain (267th), and Anders “Donald” Berg of Team Online (179th). That left just two Team Pros — Johnny Lodden (Norway) and Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth (Ireland) — both of whom were hovering near the 15,000-chip mark.
It would take a little over an hour for the field to be trimmed to 54 and the cash bubble to burst. Shortly after, Ainsworth would be eliminated in 53rd for a minimum cash of $2,210 after his K♣ Q♣ failed to catch up to Gerritss’ 6♦ 6â™ .
Soon 50 remained, led by AoPao (162,030), Joshua “bbbbb33” Weizer (147,746), nemets (117,802), and moneyinbag (107,032). Meanwhile Lodden continued to hang on with a below-average stack, sitting in 35th.
They were closing in on the seven-hour mark when just 18 remained, with Jack “jackellwood” Ellwood having moved in front with more than 306,000, bbbbb33 next with about 287,000, and nemets third with just under 258,000. And Lodden was still there as well, remaining alive in the lower half of the counts.
Lodden would soon begin to add to his stack, and was starting to move up to challenge the leaders as eliminations continued. It would take about an hour more for the next nine to fall — Bryan “bparis” Paris (18th, $3,978), Puntakun (17th, $3,978), e1mdopp (16th, $3,978), Obär89 (15th, $4,862), MO G Kush (14th, $4,862), route666 (13th, $4,862), Paul “paulgees81” Volpe (12th, $5,746), lb6121 (11th, $5,746), and MeatPounder (10th, $5,746).
The final table was set.
Seat 1: KaptianKush — 194,923
Seat 2: anti-durrr — 261,513
Seat 3: jonyctt — 259,122
Seat 4: nemets — 253,139
Seat 5: bbbbb33 — 346,106
Seat 6: jackellwood — 239,002
Seat 7: AoPao — 193,779
Seat 8: sparky522 — 135,948
Seat 9: Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden — 326,468
bbbbb33 sat atop the counts as the final table began, though Lodden was closing in and anti-durr, Jonathan “jonyctt” Concepcion, nemets, and jackellwood weren’t too far behind.
They made it to the eight-hour break, then soon after Lodden was opening from middle position with a min-raise to 9,600. It folded to Jonathan “jonyctt” Concepcion on the button who called, and nemets called as well from the small blind. bbbbb33 then reraised to 35,585 from the big blind, forcing a fold from Lodden. jonyctt, however, responded by shoving all in for 248,922. nemets quickly folded, but bbbbb33 called the shove, leaving himself about 50,000 behind.
bbbbb33 showed A♥ K♦ while Concepcion had A♦ Q♥ . The flop came K♠7♦ J♦ , pairing bbbbb33. The turn was the 2♦ and river the 3♣ , and jonyctt was out in ninth. Meanwhile, bbbbb33 had seized the chip lead, pushing up over 616,000.
About a half-hour later the blinds were 3,200/6,400 when nemets opened for 12,800 from under the gun, then jackellwood reraised all in from two seats over for 120,782. It folded back to nemets who quickly called, showing K♦ K♥ to jackellwood’s Q♣ Qâ™ . Bad timing for Ellwood who was drawing dead by the turn when the board came 9♦ J♥ J♣ Kâ™ 9♥ , sending him out in eighth.
It would take about another half-hour for the next elimination. By then the blinds had moved to 4,000/8,000. The hand began with anti-durrr raising to 16,000 from UTG. Next to act, nemets reraised to 32,000 and the table folded back around. anti-durrr responded with a reraise all in for 167,903 total, and nemets called.
anti-durrr had A♦ J♣ and needed to catch versus nemets’ Q♣ Q♥ . The flop gave anti-durrr one pair, coming 4♦ Jâ™ 2â™ , but the turn was the 10♦ and the river the 4♣ , and anti-durrr was knocked out in seventh.
Twenty minutes later the blinds were 4,500/9,000 when AoPao raised to 19,999 from the cutoff, then Chris “Sparky522” Parker reraised his short stack all in for 24,505. KaptianKush called the reraise from the big blind, and AoPao called as well.
The two remaining players checked down the 3♠6♠K♠Q♦ 6♣ board, then KaptianKush showed 5♣ 3♣ for treys and sixes. The other two mucked, giving KaptianKush the hand and sending sparky522 out in sixth.
Just a few minutes later Joshua “bbbbb33” Weizer opened with a min-raise to 18,000 from under the gun, then KaptianKush reraised to 44,670 from the small blind. nemets folded from the BB, Weizer pushed all in for 251,049, and KaptianKush called.
Weizer turned over A♥ 10♥ while KaptianKush had J♥ J♦ . The community cards came 10♠Q♥ 6♦ 8♦ 5♠, and they were down to four.
At that point KaptianKush had pushed in front with 835,794, with Johnny Lodden and nemets almost dead even with Lodden at 500,691 and nemets at 500,432. AoPao, meanwhile, was fourth with 373,083.
Lodden began to slip a bit, however, and had dipped under 300,000 when the following hand took place.
The blinds were 5,000/10,000, and AoPao opened for 20,000 from UTG. Lodden made it 45,000 from one seat over, then KaptianKush four-bet to 111,255 from the small blind. nemets folded, as did AoPao, but Lodden reraised all in for 288,941 total and KaptianKush called.
johnnylodden: 10♠10♥
KaptianKush: K♥ Kâ™
Bad spot for Lodden. The five board cards came J♣ 4♠7♣ 8♦ 6♠, and Lodden finished fourth.
The tourney had just crossed the ten-hour mark when chip leader KaptianKush — now over 1 million — opened for the minumum from the button, betting 24,000. nemets reraised to 72,000 from the small blind, and AoPao stepped aside. KaptianKush then made it 144,640, nemets pushed all in for 523,207 total, and KaptianKush called.
nemets had A♦ Q♥ , but KaptianKush’s run good had continued as he tabled Aâ™ Kâ™ . The flop paired nemets, coming Q♣ 2♦ 3â™ , but the turn was the 9â™ and river the 4â™ , giving KaptianKush the spade flush and sending nemets out in third.
Heads-up play began with KaptianKush enjoying a comfortable lead with 1,581,367 to AoPao’s 628,633. AoPao battled back, however, and about 20 minutes later had pulled even with KaptianKush. And over the next 20 minutes AoPao would edge in front, eventually building a 2-to-1 chip advantage he’d maintain through the 11-hour break.
The pair battled on, then came two hands in short order that quickly decided the tournament.
In the first a series of bets following a J♦ 10♦ A♥ flop led to KaptianKush committing his entire stack with J♥ 10â™ (bottom two pair) against AoPao’s A♦ 3♦ (top pair, nut flush draw). The turn brought the J♣ , improving KaptianKush to a full house. The river was the 4♦ , giving AoPao a no-longer-good flush, and KaptianKush had retaken the chip lead from AoPao.
Then, just two hands later, AoPao opened with a 2x raise to 40,000 from the small blind/button, and KaptianKush called. The first three community cards came 4♣ 5♦ 10♦ , and once again the flop brought fireworks.
KaptianKush led with a bet of 44,800, AoPao made it 100,000, KaptianKush reraised all in, and AoPao called with the 762,711 he had left.
KaptianKush had 7♦ 6♦ for both a flush draw and an open-ended straight draw while AoPao had J♦ 2♦ for a better flush draw. The turn was the 2♠, giving AoPao deuces, but the river was the 3♥ , giving KaptianKush a straight and the Super Tuesday win.
Congratulations to KaptianKush for winning the biggest Super Tuesday since early February and earning a handsome $84K-plus score!
Super Tuesday results for 12/20/11:
1st: KaptianKush ($84,819.80)
2nd: AoPao ($62,985)
3rd: nemets ($46,410)
4th: Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden ($35,360)
5th: bbbbb33 ($24,752)
6th: sparky522 ($18,785)
7th: anti-durrr ($14,365)
8th: jackellwood ($9,945)
9th: jonyctt ($7,337.20)
Have you read Lee Jones’ reflecting on PokerStars’ 10th Anniversary and the prospects of the 100 billionth hand (due in the coming year)? Check it out.
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