Pokerstars.com $350,000 Guaranteed - March 6th, 2005
Jon Eaton
March 6th, 2005
This past Sunday, a record 2,572 players paid $215 or won their way into the weekly $350,000 guaranteed No-Limit Holdem tournament on Pokerstars.com. The prize pool was officially $514,400, with first prize a cool $102,880.
After over 6 hours of play, the final 9 were seated at the final table.
Seat 1 - Tommyboy83 (Skokie, IL) Seat 2 - Ragslumo (Charlotte, NC) Seat 3 - Scoopydo (Deerfield Beach, FL) Seat 4 - Irishdennis (London, England) Seat 5 - Morti (Oslo, Norway) Seat 6 - Easy4you (Kristianland, Norway) Seat 7 - Polly1 (unknown) Seat 8 - Mchern02 (Somerville) Seat 9 - PimpingU2 (unknown)
Scoopydo, the only returning winner, already had two Sunday $215 titles under his belt. Heading into the final table, he was the chip leader by a small margin.
Action didn’t take long to get under way. On the first hand of the final table, the short stack, Irishdennis called all-in for the last 40k of his chips. Morti took the opportunity to isolate him by raising to 200k, and succeeded. Morti’s AQs was enough to beat Dennis’ K6s, missing the J-4-3-9-T board and sending him home with another $6,172.80.
Just two hands later, Easy4you, in the cut-off seat, moves all-in for 247k in chips The short stack mchern02 called his last 62k, and surprisingly, we get a 3rd in the mix-PimpingU2 calls out of the big-blind for another 207k with pocket 8’s. Easy4you showed AJo, and Mchern02 had little choice but to call with his K9c. The board read 6-2-2-T-5, missing everyone and giving the 262k pot to Pimping4u. Mchern02 took home $9,773.60 for his efforts, while Easy4you took $14,403.20, as he started the hand with more chips.
So, after just 4 hands, the table is trimmed to the final 6.
After deal talks finally subsided, we had our first big confrontation with the chip-leader, Scoopydo.
In first position, PimpingU2 opened up for 120k. Ragslumo made it an even 200k, and then Scoopydo moved all-in over the top of both of them for 1.5 million. Pimping4u, in fear of domination and elimination, gets out of the way, salvaging his stack. Ragslumo makes an easy call with queens, but Scoopydo one-upped him and showed him pocket kings. No queen was in sight and Ragslumo took home 6th, making $19,547.
Out from the dark, tommyboy83 managed to take a pot. After PimpingU2 opened the pot up for 160k, Tommy moved all-in for 606k with KJo. Pimping called with pocket 9’s, and we were off to the races.
The first card to peel off was a jack, immediately giving the lead to tommyboy83. The turn and river bricked off, and tommyboy83 was now sitting on a stack of around 1.2 million.
Shortly thereafter, we had another player exit the final table. Polly1, on a short stack of a little over 500k, moved all-in with pocket 3’s, and Scoopydo sent him home with pocket 9’s. Polly1 wasn’t too upset, as he pocketed a cool $23,662.40 for the final table appearance.
Four-handed, players reached a deal of distribution for the prize pool. Play continued slowly until PimpingU2 picked up pocket tens, and moved all-in over the top of Scoopydo’s opening bet. Getting favorable odds, Scoopy called and showed KJo. A king was the first card off, again giving the king-jack the best pair on the flop. However, a ten rolled off right behind the king, giving the lead back to Pimping. No help came and pimping was up to over 900k.
Tommyboy83, still ever quiet at the table (at least, his chips didn’t do much talking), made a play at the next big pot. With only 239k in chips, he took a shot at the 68k in antes and blinds with 25o, but ran into Mmorti, who was conversely on a large stack of over two million.
Morti reraised the all-in with A7o and was at the races when everyone else folded. An ace was the 2nd card off, sending Morti home in 4th with $55,160.61. Now 3-handed, Morti held nearly 3 million, Scoopy about 2.6 million, and PimpingU2 was on a short-stack with a little under 900k.
With A8o, Pimping pushed all-in for about 800k. Morti called a small portion of his chips with ATo, and with no 8 on board, PimpingU2 was done in 3rd place, pocketing $46,569.18.
Heads up, it didn’t take too long. Scoopydo got all of his chips in with A8s and ran into morti’s AQ, and Morti erased any hopes of a third title for Scoopy. Scoopy pocketed $77,477.01, being the beneficiary of having the chip lead when the deal talks started. Morti was credited with the victory and made $53,302.
Final Results:
1st - Morti - $53,302
2nd - Scoopydo - $77,447.01
3rd - PimpingU2 - $46,569.18
4th - Tommyboy83 - $55,160.61
5th - Polly1 - $23,662.40
6th - Ragslumo - $19,547.20
7th - Easy4you - $14,403.20
8th - mchern02 - $9,773.60
9th - Irishdennis - $6,172.80
