The WCOOP hangover — not that there was that much of one — has most definitely subsided as far as the Super Tuesday is concerned.
After taking nearly a month off for online poker’s most prestigious tournament series, the World Championship of Online Poker, the Super Tuesday returned last week with a field of 514 players — just a little below the average of just under 534 players the event saw from January through August of this year.
Tonight, however, the numbers jumped back up in a big way for PokerStars’ weekly $1,050 no-limit hold’em event with 590 players coming out, and after 11 hours and 17 minutes it was Viking8844 of Israel finishing on top to claim a huge $111,510 first prize after winning outright with no final table deal being made.
Out of 36 Super Tuesdays in 2013, this week’s field of 590 was one of the largest of the year with just a handful of others attracting more participants. The record field this year — and for all-time as far as the Super Tuesday goes — was the 663 who played back on March 19.
This week’s big group meant a $590,000 prize pool — nearly double the $300K guarantee — with the top 72 finishers dividing the loot.
With such a big field, it would take more than five-and-a-half hours for the money bubble to burst, with a couple of Team PokerStars Pros going out just prior to that moment with Angel Guillen being eliminated in 80th and Maxim Lykov in 79th.
With 72 players left it was Charles “Chilax Chuck” Sylvestre sitting in the top spot after having just passed hari bow kid to take the chip lead. Those two were a little north of 130,000 chips while the only other players with a 100,000 at that point were VyruAlus, Germán “Bostero10” Dansker, and Gambler4444.
A little under two hours after that they were down to 18, with Chilax Chuck having dropped to the bottom of the counts and VyruAlus having fallen in 25th for a $3,540 cash. Meanwhile ninoley had risen to the top with more than 400,000, with Gambler4444 in second with just under 295,000 and Bostero10 still in the top five.
It would take about an hour more to play down to nine. yurasov1990 — fresh off a third-place finish in the Sunday Million just two days ago — went out in 18th, followed by cbolt21 (17th) and HetaGunnar42 (16th) with each earning $4,720.
PieniFisu (15th), Germán “Bostero10” Dansker (14th), and three-time Super Tuesday winner Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler (13th) were the next to be eliminated, each taking away $5,900.
And Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver (12th), ActionFreak (11th), and HerrLauti (10th) followed them to the rail, each picking up $7,080 for not quite making the final table.
After almost eight hours and 20 minutes of poker, the final table was underway with Maestro Shao — a one-time SCOOP champ ($1,050 NL 5-Card Draw) — having moved into first position.
Seat 1: ninoley (Brazil) — 395,106
Seat 2: Gambler4444 (Austria) — 431,835
Seat 3: StaceOP (Russia) — 234,556
Seat 4: morans350 (Canada) — 260,494
Seat 5: uknowProsky* (Netherlands) — 350,404
Seat 6: Viking8844 (Israel) — 215,717
Seat 7: Maestro Shao (Argentina) — 652,960
Seat 8: Charles “Chilax Chuck” Sylvestre (Canada) — 114,026
Seat 9: oldchilli (Canada) — 294,902
Just a few minutes into the final table, oldchilli had the misfortune of running Q♠Q♥ into the A♦ A♠of uknowProsky* (whose username features that mysterious asterisk on the end), and when the board ran out jack-high oldchilli was crippled down to just a few big blinds.
oldchilli hung on for a short while, but soon was all in for 24,808 with Q♣ J♠and had run into another monster as Gambler4444 had K♦ K♣ . The board came Q♠4♣ 9♣ 8♥ K♥ , improving Gambler4444 to a set and knocking out oldchilli in ninth.
Meanwhile Charles “Chilax Chuck” Sylvestre had entered the final table as the short stack after having lost a key hand to Maestro Shao with 10 remaining.
That hand had seen Sylvestre call a river shove by his opponent with the board showing 10♥ 5♥ A♠6♣ 4♦ and Chilax Chuck holding A♦ 6♦ for two pair. Alas for Sylvestre, Maestro Shao had 10♦ 10♠to win the big pot and carry the chip lead to the final table.
Chilax Chuck nonetheless battled gamely for nearly 20 minutes at the final table as the blinds moved up to 3,200/6,400. Then a hand arose in which Viking8844 raised to 12,800 from under the gun, then Sylvestre reraised to 30,000 from a couple of seats over.
It then folded to StaceOP on the button who made it 51,890 to go. The blinds got out as did Viking8844, Chilax Chuck reraised all in for 187,327 total, and StaceOP called instantly.
Chilax Chuck: Q♠Q♣
StaceOP: A♦ A♣
Just as had happened to oldchilli, Sylvestre had likewise run queens into aces at the final table, and after the community cards came 8♥ 3♠J♣ 4♣ K♣ they were down to seven.
It would take about an hour for the next player to fall, during which time Maestro Shao continued to lead while building a stack up over 1 million.
Meanwhile the blinds crept up to 6,000/12,000, and a hand arose in which Maestro Shao opened for the minimum with an early-position raise to 24,000, then Gambler4444 reraised to 60,000 from the cutoff seat. StaceOP then four-bet to 96,000 from the button, then morans350 shoved all in over the top for 354,518 from the small blind.
That push chased everyone around to Gambler4444 who called with the 19,286 left behind, and after StaceOP stepped aside morans350 showed 10♦ 10♠and Gambler4444 K♥ 10♥ .
The board came 4♥ 8♦ 8♣ 4♠J♦ , leaving Gambler4444 unimproved and out in seventh place.
The 10-hour break came shortly after that, but not before yet another big queens-versus-aces hand came up that saw ninoley double with A♥ A♦ through chip leader Maestro Shao’s Qâ™ Q♣ to win a 900,000-plus chip pot and carry the chip lead into the tournament’s 11th hour.
As it happened it would be Maestro Shao next hitting the rail in sixth about 10 minutes later. With the blinds at 7,000/14,000, Viking8844 raised to 28,000 from under the gun, Maestro Shao reraised to 55,770 from a seat over, and when it folded back around Viking8844 called. The flop came K♥ 10♣ 5♦ , and Viking8844 check-called a bet of 47,203 from Maestro Shao, then both checked the 4♦ turn.
The river was the 4♣ . This time Viking8844 pushed out a bet of 75,458, and when Maestro Shao raised all in for 282,654, Viking8844 called. Maestro Shao showed 9♠9♣ for nines and fours, but Viking8844 had A♦ 10♥ for a better two pair and Maestro Shao was out.
A short while later they’d moved to the next level where the blinds were 8,000/16,000, and after uknowProsky* raised to 32,000 from UTG it was morans350 shoving for 311,959 from the big blind and uknowProsky* calling.
morans350 was at risk with A♦ J♦ versus uknowProsky*’s Jâ™ J♣ . The board came 8♦ Q♣ 2â™ , then 9♣ , then 3♣ , and morans350 was knocked out in fifth.
The remaining four battled on for 10 minutes more, then paused the tourney to discuss a possible deal. Viking8844 had the lead then with 1,087,433, ninoley was next with 778,998, uknowProsky* was third with 684,075, and StaceOP fourth with 399,494.
Both “chip chop” and ICM figures were provided to the players (in each case leaving $6,000 for which to play), and when Viking8844 responded with a request for more than what was being proposed, the others objected and no deal was made.
They continued on through the 11-hour break with Viking8844 adding more chips to extend the lead. Then with the blinds up to 9,000/18,000 StaceOP opened for 37,800 from under the gun and Viking8844 reraised to 92,250 from the small blind. It folded back to StaceOP who reraised all in for 482,767 total and Viking8844 called.
StaceOP showed Qâ™ J♦ and needed help against the Aâ™ K♣ of Viking8844. The flop came Kâ™ 3♣ 7♦ , however, to give Viking8844 kings. The 9♦ on the turn did give StaceOP straight-making hopes, but the river was the 7♣ and StaceOP’s run ended in fourth.
Chop talk again briefly flared up in the chat box again with three players left, but nothing came of it as the final trio pressed onward. Soon it was ninoley min-raising to 36,000 from the button, uknowProsky* folding the small blind, then Viking8844 raising to 90,000 from the big blind. ninoley came back with a four-bet to 144,000, and when Viking8844 pushed all in ninoley called with the 582,048 left.
ninoley showed A♥ A♣ and appeared in good shape to double up and claim the chip lead with three players left against Viking8844’s Aâ™ K♣ . The flop then came 4♣ J♥ Kâ™ to pair Viking8844’s king, but after the 6♣ turn ninoley only had to fade one of the two remaining kings to score the big double.
Then came the river… the K♥ ! Trips for Viking8844, and ninoley was done in third.
That hand gave Viking8844 a commanding lead to begin heads-up play with 2,414,856 to the stack of 535,144 for uknowProsky*. The latter fought for nearly 10 minutes, though had lost a few chips to Viking8844 by the time the tournament’s final hand arrived.
With the blinds having hit 10,000/20,000, Viking8844 opened with a raise to 40,000 from the button, uknowProsky* pushed for 423,476, and Viking8844 called.
uknowProsky* had A♣ 4♥ and so was hoping to hit an ace as Viking8844 had 4♦ 4♣ . But the board came 10â™ 3â™ 6â™ 9♣ 8♥ , and it was all over. Just like the end of Viking8844’s username, the tourney had ended with a pair of fours.
Congratulations to Viking8844 for topping an especially huge field to win more than $111K — one of the larger first prizes ever awarded in the Super Tuesday!
10/8/13 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold’em) results
Players: 590
Prize pool: $590,000.00
Places paid: 72
1. Viking8844 (Israel) — $111,510.00
2. uknowProsky* (Netherlands) — $81,715.00
3. ninoley (Brazil) — $60,180.00
4. StaceOP (Russia) — $45,430.00
5. morans350 (Canada) — $31,860.00
6. Maestro Shao (Argentina) — $25,075.00
7. Gambler4444 (Austria) — $19,175.00
8. Charles “Chilax Chuck” Sylvestre (Canada) — $13,275.00
9. oldchilli (Canada) — $9,027.00
Have you heard about PokerStars’ new “Carnival of Tournaments” promotion happening from October 13-20 to commemorate the 800 millionth tournament on the site? Click here to read about all of the boosted guarantees and bonus money to be offered to sit-n-go and tourney players during that week.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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