Pokerstars.com $350,000 Guaranteed - May 1st, 2005

Jon Eaton

May 1st, 2005

2,566 people shelled out $215 for the weekly $350k tournament on Pokerstars this Sunday, making the official prize pool a massive $513,200. First prize was $102k, with a total of 270 players getting paid. The final table lined up like this (chip counts in parenthesis):

Seat 1: mr. burns (445,449 in chips)
Seat 2: MommaGood2 (512,476 in chips)
Seat 3: Buster Love (1,366,746 in chips)
Seat 4: sharkbite09 (793,361 in chips)
Seat 5: Dudley33 (1,104,280 in chips)
Seat 6: chrisnada (264,349 in chips)
Seat 7: jaaj (438,520 in chips)
Seat 8: ramco (572,234 in chips)
Seat 9: C.K. (917,585 in chips)

Blinds were at the usual 20k-40k with a 2k ante for the rest of the event. chrisnada got the table off to a fast start, doubling up with pocket kings against the Qd-Jd of C.K. MommaGood2 tried to do the same with Ad-Qd against mr. burns’ As-9s, but MommaGood2 took ninth when the final board read 9h-2s-Ah-9c-Qs, collecting $6,158.90.

C.K. would keep the action up, moving all-in with pocket aces against the Ah-Js held by jaaj. The aces held up and C.K. doubled up.

sharkbite09 attempted the all-in move and ended up taking eighth place. Dudley33 made the minimum raise pre-flop and sharbite09 called out of the big blind. They both checked the 5h-Tc-Qd flop, and sharbite09 checked when the 8c rolled off on the turn. Dudley33 fired out 160k, and sharkbite09 re-raised all-in for another 145k, which was called by Dudley33. sharkbite09’s Kd-Qs was good, until the 9 peeled off on the river. Dudley33’s pocket jacks made a straight and put sharkbite03 out in eighth place, good for $9,750.80.

chrisnada was the next player to be sent to the rail. ramco opened the pot under-the-gun for 400k, and chrisnada put his last 366k in for the call. ramco’s Ad-Js took down his pocket tens with an ace on the turn. chrisnada took $14,369.60 for their seventh place finish.

From the small bind, jaaj took his last 469k and pushed all-in, which was quickly called by ramco. jaaj had Ac-6d against ramco’s pocket jacks. The flop came down Ts-3s-Qs, helping neither. No more help came for jaaj, cashing out for $19,501.60 for their sixth place performance.

Buster Love would double through a few hands later, making a raise with Ac-Kd and calling the all-in for the rest of his chips from ramco. The As-4d ramco held was in bad shape and no help came, doubling up Buster Love.

Just two hands later, C.K. pushed his last 610k all-in with pocket fives. The fives held up against mr. burns’ Ac-2d, doubling C.K. up. mr. burns’ unusual call led to him pushing his last 75k all-in the next pot with 7h-9h. The 9 on the flop was all he needed to beat Buster Love’s Th-6c, doubling up yet another short stack.

mr. burns’ luck would come to a screeching halt just three hands later, as his Kh-5c fell to C.K.’s Kc-Js. The jack on the turn had mr. burns’ drawing dead, taking $23,607.20 for fifth place.

Four-handed, the action was relatively slow, with few flops seen. Most any raise pre-flop (or subsequent re-raise) was all that was needed to take down the pot.

Finally some action took place, as Dudley33 made his standard minimum raise. C.K. called from the big blind yet again. They got all their chips in the middle on the Js-9d-2c flop. Both players showed K-J off-suit, chopping the 1.7 million chip pot.

Dudley33 didn’t change his style at all, making yet another minimum raise. C.K. would give him action yet again. On the flop of Jh-Ks-3c, Dudley33 bet out 200k after C.K. checked, but C.K. reversed the pressure by re-raising all-in. Dudley33 made a fairly unorthodox call with pocket tens, but C.K. only had a Qs-Td for a straight draw. No straight came for C.K., and one of the most active players was out in fourth. C.K. took home a nice payday of $29,765.60.

Three-handed, some controversy arose. At the time the chip counts were as follows:

Buster Love - 3.1 million Dudley33 - 2.9 million ramco - 265k

After limping in, Dudley33 called a 200k reraise from ramco. On the Ah-3c-Jh flop, Dudley33 checked and then folded for a mere 23k bet. Getting almost 22-1 pot odds, it’s hard to believe anyone would fold their hand in that spot, especially given that knocking out ramco would move them up in the money. Lee Jones, PokerStars.com’s poker room manager, reviewed the situation and said he found nothing out of the ordinary. The suspicions were upheld by many when Buster Love complained that this was the second time something of this nature happened between the two.

Back to the action, ramco and Buster Love got all of their chips in pre-flop with As-6c and Ac-3c respectively. The board brought a chopped pot.

Two hands later, Dudley33 brought it in for a raise to 240k after Buster Love limped in. They both saw the flop of 9d-5s-Tc. Buster Love called the 280k bet and the turn was the Qc.

After Dudley33 checked, Buster Love fired in a bet of 360k, which was called. The river was the 8d, and Dudley33 checked yet again. Buster Love bet 680k,which was called. Buster turned over the Qd-Jd for a straight, and Dudley33 mucked. Buster took down the 3.1 million pot, the biggest pot of the tournament thus far.

After doubling up ramco, Dudley33 pushed all-in from the small blind with a complete bluff, showing the 8d-2s. ramco eliminated him in third place when he called with the Ah-4h, flopping an ace. Dudley33 collected $37,976.80 for their performance.

Heads-up, Buster Love and ramco battled back and forth, with no one getting the better of anyone. Finally after a dozen or so hands, Buster Love’s Ac-Ks took down ramco’s Ad-6d. ramco collected $61,584 for second place, and Buster Love took down the title and the $102,640 first prize.

Final Results:

1st - Buster Love (Alexandria, CA) - $102,640
2nd - ramco (Northampton, England) - $61,584
3rd - Dudley33 (San Diego, CA) - $37,976.80
4th - C.K. (Rio De Janero, Brazil) - $29,765.60
5th - Mr Burns (Springfield, CA) - $23,607.20
6th - jaaj (Boston, MA) - $19,501.60
7th - chrisnada (Ada, OK) - $14,369.60
8th - sharkbite09 (West Paterson, NJ) - $9,750.80
9th - MommaGood2 (Randolph, MA) - $6,158.40