Pokerstars.com $350,000 Guaranteed - April 10th, 2005

Jon Eaton

April 10th, 2005

2,339 people shelled out $215 for the weekly $350k tournament on Pokerstars this Sunday, making the official prize pool a massive $467,800.. First prize was just under $100k, with a total of 225 players getting paid. The final table lined up like this:

Seat 1: Hoss_TBF (566,002 in chips)
Seat 2: Eric2222 (553,496 in chips)
Seat 3: afsa (341,848 in chips)
Seat 4: ErnestoF (693,472 in chips)
Seat 5: sphynx (581,356 in chips)
Seat 6: jonrasool (373,890 in chips)
Seat 7: dblgutshot (864,334 in chips)
Seat 8: Steve4660 (1,191,535 in chips)
Seat 9: okiecity (681,567 in chips)

dblgutshot was last week’s third place finisher, going for his second straight final table in the $215 tournament.

Action got started with ErnestoF pushing all-in against the 120k bet by Eric2222, who called the last of his 553k stack off with pocket fives. Presto failed to connect, and ErnestoF’s pocket aces took down the 1.1 million pot. Eric2222 took $6,081.40 for 9th place efforts.

ErnestoF got back into action, this time with pocket fives himself. He raised the pot and then called the all-in of jonrasool, who held AQo. The flop was all rags, and the turn brought a king, but the river failed to help jonrasool, who took $9,356 for 8th place.

Once again, ErnestoF was in action. He opened the pot and again, another all-in over the top of his raise. This time it came from afsa, who pushed in for 329k. ErnestoF called holding the A7 of diamonds. afsa held the ATo. The flop was ten high, but the turn and river gave ErnestoF the nut flush, sending afsa home in 7th place with an extra $13,556.20 in his pocket.

Hoss_TFB had a rough going and lost some key pots, and then finally pushed all-in with A8o. sphynx called with pocket sixes out of the small blind, and they were off to the races. No help came until an eight peeled off on the river, and Hoss_TFB doubled up to over 830k.

sphynx, down to just 109k, pushed all-in a few hands later with pocket eights, and Hoss_TFB made a pot-odds call of just 69k (to win a pot of over 180k) with 76o, but obviously his hand was in bad shape against an over pair. No miracles came and sphynx doubled up.

Steve4660 finally got involved in a big pot. After opening under-the-gun for 120k, he called a 330k reraise by ErnestoF on the button. The flop was KQQ, and they both checked. Steve4660 fired out 600k on the turn, and ErnestoF folded. Steve4660 showed KQ of diamonds for a very, very loose call of a reraise. ErnestoF was playing a lot of pots, but he was usually sound on his reraises, though he was making a few loose calls and pushing a lot of marginal hands. Steve4660 was rewarded with a 972k pot and held about 2.3 million in chips.

okiecity finally put sphynx out of the tournament, calling his all-in of 180k. okiecity showed ATo, dominating sphynx’s A6o. A ten peeled off on the flop, and no runner-runner draws came. sphynx took 6th place prize money of $18,244.20.

The table was shaken up on the next big pot. okiecity pushed all-in for 832k under-the-gun with AQo. He was called by Hoss_TFB for all 638k of his stack, and then quickly by Steve4660 on a massive stack. Hoss_TFB showed pocket kings, and Steve4660 managed to pull out two of the last three aces in the deck.

The flop brought Hoss_TFB a set of kings, however. No help appeared for the others. okiecity lost the side-pot of 387k, but the main pot was all sent to Hoss_TFB, and okiecity was eliminated in 5th place. He took home $22,454.40.

No deal could be reached four-handed after the tournament was paused for discussions. After that, we had another elimination. Hoss_TFB opened a pot on the button for 120k, and was reraised to 250k by ErnestoF. Hoss_TFB called and the flop was K-Q-J rainbow.

Hoss_TFB fired 300k into the pot, and was called quickly. The turn was a four of diamonds, putting two diamonds on board. Hoss_TFB pushed the last of his 430k into the pot, and ErnestoF called, showing AT of diamonds. Hoss_TFB held AQo, and was drawing dead to a ten. No ten came and he took 4th place and $28,068.

Hoss_TFB then opened for 120k again, this time out of the small blind. dblgutshot, relatively quiet up to this point (winning small pots and blinds here and there), pushed all-in for a little over 1.1 million. Hoss_TFB made a quick call with kings, and was way ahead of dblgutshot’s A9o.

The flop, turn and river were dry for dblgutshot, taking third place yet again. This time he pocketed $36,956.20, making his two week total now at $99,354.20.

The end was quick, with Hoss_TFB holding over 5 million in chips to Steve4660’s 822k. Hoss_TFB opened on the button, and was called. The flop was A-9-5 rainbow, and Steve4660 pushed all-in for 700k. The pot was only about 250k, so it was a gross overbet. Hoss_TFB made a pretty difficult call with just ATo, but was way ahead when Steve4660 showed a strange play with pocket kings. No king came and Steve4660 pocketed $58,007.20 for 2nd.

Hoss_TFB took the title home and the top prize of $98,238. With no deals, Hoss_TFB is one of the few this year to be able to say they won the full amount.

Final Results:

1st - Hoss_TFB (Bala Cynwyd, PA) - $98,238
2nd - Steve4660 (Chesapeake, VA) - $58,007.20
3rd - dblgutshot (Miami Beach, FL) - $36,956.20
4th - ErnestoF (Kamloops, BC) - $28,068
5th - okiecity (Albq) - $22,454.40
6th -sphynx (Woodland Hills, CA) - $18,244.20
7th - afsa (Aliso Viejo, CA) - $13,566.20
8th - jonrasool (Hamilton, OH) - $9,772
9th - Eric2222 (Hurst, TX) - $6,081.40