Pokerstars.com $350,000 Guaranteed - April 17th, 2005

Jon Eaton

April 18th, 2005

2,350 people shelled out $215 for the weekly $350k tournament on Pokerstars this Sunday, making the official prize pool a massive $470,000. First prize was just under $100k, with a total of 225 players getting paid. The final table lined up like this (chip counts in parenthesis):

Seat 1: SaveMySkin (164,072)
Seat 2: Garfield70 (1,051,788)
Seat 3: collins3 (585,480)
Seat 4: danxxx1 (1,995,077)
Seat 5: Pharoah61 (387,171)
Seat 6: ~US&Co;~ (748,000)
Seat 7: Boldeagle (137,240)
Seat 8: The Dream (344,478)
Seat 9: brainwash (461,694)

~US&Co;~ was last week’s tournament leader board winner. He will face off with Tom McEvoy before next Sunday’s $215 tournament. As usual, the blinds started at the non-changing 20k-40k with a 2k ante.

The action was fast and furious very early. On the first hand at the final table, collins3 opened in middle position for his whole 583k stack. ~US&Co;~ came over the top all-in and everyone else folded. It was a race, with collins3’s pocket nines holding up against the Ac-Kc. He raked in the massive 1.2 million pot. ~US&Co;~ would begin moving his stack into the middle to steal the blinds for the next few hands, uncontested each time.

The Dream pushed all-in later from the button and got a call from SaveMySkin, who had only an extra 42k. SaveMySkin only had a Qs-2d to show for it, which went down to The Dream’s Ah-6c on the ace-high flop. SaveMySkin took ninth place and collected $6,110.

Extremely short-stacked and out of time, Boldeadle went all-in for the last 47k he had in first position with As-8c. Garfield70 called him with pocket nines, but an ace on the flop doubled Boldeagle up. He won the 170k pot when no nine appeared on the turn or river.

~US&Co;~ would be the next to risk all his chips. danxxx1 opened for 160k in the cutoff, and ~US&Co;~ reraised all-in for 344k. He was called by danxxx1’s As-8s, putting danxxx1 in bad shape against the Ah-Qd. A queen on the turn sealed the deal and ~US&Co;~ was back in the hunt.

Boldeagle would push his luck again, this time all-in to the tune of 98k with the As-7h. It was just another 58k for danxxx1 to call with his Ks-7c. Unfortunately for Boldeagle, the three-outter fell on the turn as the Kd left him drawing for his own three-outter. No ace appeared and Boldeagle collected $9,400 for eighth place.

~US&Co;~ would be the next to sail into the sunset. On a flop of 5h-7d-6h, after raising before the flop, ~US&Co;~ made a huge bet, almost twice the size of the pot. danxxx1 sensed weakness, and pushed in another 450k, almost enough to put ~US&Co;~ all-in. The two got their stacks in the middle and danxxx1 was way behind with just pocket fours for an open-ended straight. ~US&Co;~ showed pocket fives for a set, but the turn and river were a three and eight, giving danxxx1 the winning straight. ~US&Co;~ took home $13,330 for their seventh place finish.

The very next pot, Garfield70 raised on the button with As-Qc, and was put all-in by danxxx1, which he called. danxxx1 held pocket kings, and no help appeared on the board for Garfield 70, taking $18,330 for sixth place.

The Dream would be our next to depart. He was short-stacked and pushed with Kh-Th. Unfortunately for The Dream, collins3 awoke to a pair of jacks and took all of his chips. The Dream finished fifth and collected $22,560.

brainwash tried to get a deal going four-handed but was unsuccessful. Shortly after, he would be the victim of more bad luck for him, as his Ad-Jc fell to danxxx1’s Ac-6h. The six on the flop was all danxxx1 needed to add another victim to his list. brainwash took home $28,200 for his fourth place finish.

Three-handed, deal talks arose. However, the chip counts weren’t coming into play with the proposed deals. Pharoah61 tried to offer a straight $60k chop for each player with the remaining prize pool being given to the winner. Obviously, with a mountain of chips, danxxx1 didn’t agree and talks dragged. collins3 and Pharoah61 continually tried to pry out unfair numbers from danxxx1. For those unfamiliar with tournament chops, generally chip stacks dictate your chances of winning, therefore giving you leverage as to how much money you are entitled to. With a massive stack, they were giving danxxx1 bad deals and short-changing him every time they tried to work a deal.

Finally the players decided to play it out. collins3 had just said that he would take no less than $55k (when 3rd is only $37k, and danxxx1 held over 70% of the chips) when he bit the dust. Pharoah61’s As-Ks made the nut flush against his Ac-Jh. collins3, who had just turned down an offer of $47k, ended up in 3rd with just $37,130 to show for it.

Heads-up the two agreed to chop the money. The winner would take an extra $8,980. danxxx1 was running the show when the stacks got evened out with his Kd-Qd missed the board against Pharoah61’s Ac-Jh.

After a back and forth battle for a short period, the stacks were in Pharoah61’s favor when they got them all-in on the flop. The board read Ks-7c-Tc, and Pharoah61’s Kd-3h held up against danxxx1’s Ah-Td.

Final Results:

1st - Pharoah61 (Red Car) - $78,980
2nd - danxxx1 (St. Louis, MO) - $78,000
3rd - collins3 (Birmingham, AL) - $37,130
4th - brainwash (San Clemente, CA) - $28,200
5th - The Dream (Bossier, LA) - $22,560
6th - Garfield70 (Bregenz, Austria) - $18,330
7th - ~US&Co;~ (Unknown) - $13,630
8th - Boldeagle (Fishers, IN) - $9,400
9th - SaveMySkin (Brooklyn, NY) - $6,110