Pokerstars are doing 4 novelty April Fools Poker Tourneys, each of them pretty much like something you have never seen or experienced before at the poker table

Mike’s Tourney

When: 15:05 ET - 1st April

In short: Decending blinds

Blinds start at 1500/3000 and go down until level 21 where they then turn and start to go back up again.

It is a $2.20 rebuy event, with 5 min levels, and 4875 starting stack.

Rebuys will get you 4000 chips, and a 6000 chip add-on is available to players with 12000 chips or less.

Fredrik’s Tournament

When: 15:05 ET - 1st April

In short: Mixed PLH and PLO, 2 cent rebuy

$2.20 buy-in. 2500 starting stack. Blinds jump around all over the place and rebuys are available for 2 cents (2500) and add-ons available for 3 cents (6000 chips)

Bryan’s Tournament

When: 15:05 ET - 1st April

In short: Everything to do with 8’s

$2.20 buy-in. 888 starting stack. Blinds and antes jump around between 88, 888, and 888, gradually increasing as a while.

Rebuys gets you 888 chips for 8cents. A massive add-on of 88888 chips is available for 88 cents.

Alex’s Tourney

When: 15:05 ET - 1st April

In short: All-in every hand from Level 10 onwards

$2.20 buy-in. 1000 starting chips. Rebuys are $2 for 1000 chips. Add-on $2 for 1500 chips. The levels are 10 mins each. At level 10 there is a 500 million chip ante, meaning all players will be all-in every hand until there is a winner.

If you would like to take part then signup to Pokerstars and receive a bonus of up to $600

After 2 days of the inaugral event of the NAPT at The Venetian in Las Vegas there are 149 players remaining.  Here are the main leaders:

Andrew Lichtenberger (LuckyChewy)  618700  
Andy Seth (BKice) 602600 
Steve Billirakis (MrSmokey1)   591200 
Jason Dewitt   482900 
Mark Ketteringham   460000  
Tom Marchese   378500  
Men Nguyen (The Master)  378400  
Nam Le   364100
Dwyte Pilgrim   359000  
Jonathan Aguiar   327700 
Fabrice Soulier   321700  
Vanessa Rousso (LadyMaverick) 313600 
Steve O’Dwyer   307100   
Bill Chen  304200 
Danny Wong   296700 
John Cernuto   292500  
Greg Raymer (Fossilman) 242200   

Notable Others:
James Mackey (mig.com) 198800
Jimmy Fricke (Gobboboy) 90100
Jon Turner (Pearljammer) 85100
Blair Hinkle 68000

128 players get paid.  Here is the prize structure:

1 $ 827,648   
2 $ 522,306  
3 $ 309,366  
4 $ 241,064  
5 $ 184,816  
6 $ 144,639  
7 $ 104,461  
8 $ 60,266 
9-10 $ 44,195 
11-12 $ 34,151
13-14 $ 28,526 
15-16 $ 23,303
17-24 $ 20,089 
25-32 $ 18,080  
33-40 $ 16,071   
41-48 $ 14,866   
49-56 $ 13,660   
57-64 $ 12,857  
65-72 $ 12,053  
73-88 $ 11,250   
81-88 $ 10,446   
89-96 $ 9,643  
97-104 $ 8,839   
105-112 $ 8,035  
113-128 $ 7,232  

The NAPT (North Amercian Poker Tour) comprises of 3 events in this the first season.  The next event of the season takes place at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut between 7th April and 11th April.   If you fancy trying to qualify then signup to Pokerstars with a bonus of up to $600.

PokerStars 40th Billion Hand Celebrations

It only seems like yesterday that Pokerstars had a player base of 2 men and a sheep, and now look at it, 150,000 players online 24/7 and rapidly approaching 40 Billion hands played.

To celebrate this milestone Pokerstars have loads of things going on including a $4 million guaranteed tournament this coming Sunday, with $1 million of that guaranteed for the winner.

There are also special F40 SNGs (you see them in pink in the SNG lobby) which are 40-seaters.  Every winner during this week shares in a $40,000 prize.

And one of the biggest things is the milestone hands.  Every million hands on the lead up to 40 Billion they are giving cash out to people playing at the table where the hand is dealt.

For the actual 40 Billionth hand the prize is 400 times the frequent player points you earnt at that table in the preceeding 40 hands.   So this could be anything up to $120,000  (400×7.5×40)

If you fancy getting into the action then signup to Pokerstars with a deposit bonus up to $600

No fewer than 19377 entrants lined up for last nights PokerStars Sunday Million, giving it a astronomical prizepool of $3.875 million.  3150 of those players got paid, with the money starting at $266.03.    After 12 hours of play OX45AL took down the $550,011.29 first prize.  

1st OX45AL $550,011.29
2nd celofyz33 $333,540.00
3rd eMarkM $244,616.42
4th OBVAMENTS $166,270.00
5th S.Takmaziyan $133,016.00
6th Kostya 77777 $99,762.00
7th Gmelkonyan $66,508.00
8th austinlewis $44,227.82
9th hunter10999 $29,928.60

OX45AL has an ABI (average buy-in) of just $13 so this win will no doubt propel him upwards into the bigger buy-in tourneys. Good luck to him

The Sunday Million on PokerStars this Sunday brought a record breaking field to the felt.  A whopping 18283 registered at $215 a pop, making a prizepool over $3.6 million, the largest Sunday Million in history.

There was a 6-way chop before Zadman5311 went on to win the title

1st: Zadman5311 ($282,662.86)
2nd: m8675309a ($200,844.74)
3rd: call110 ($250,037.00)
4th: ZyeD3 ($144,353.10)
5th: waWe ($205,477.38)
6th: Guldlemmen4 ($177,650.76)
7th: The Omaholic ($54,849.00) <- Well known online pro, Mark Roland
8th: MATPOC28 ($32,909.40)
9th: E-Daddie ($21,939.60)

 The tourney took 12 hours and 21 mins to complete

Jovial Gent has just won the 2009 WCOOP Main Event on PokerStars.  He beat Udon Wannit heads-up (final hand below).   There was no chop, and Jovial Gent won $1,715,200 (yes $1.7 million!).

 Final Hand

 PokerStars Game #33135880097: Tournament #200909045, $5000+$200 USD Hold’em No Limit - Level XL (60000/120000) - 2009/09/22 2:46:13 ET
Table ‘200909045 90′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 3: Jovial Gent (36796534 in chips)
Seat 5: Udon Wannit (6083466 in chips)
Jovial Gent: posts the ante 15000
Udon Wannit: posts the ante 15000
Udon Wannit: posts small blind 60000
Jovial Gent: posts big blind 120000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Udon Wannit: raises 120000 to 240000
Jovial Gent: calls 120000
*** FLOP *** [6s Kc 8h]
Jovial Gent: checks
Udon Wannit: bets 240000
Jovial Gent: raises 480000 to 720000
Udon Wannit: raises 5108466 to 5828466 and is all-in
Jovial Gent: calls 5108466
*** TURN *** [6s Kc 8h] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [6s Kc 8h 3s] [4c]
Jovial Gent said, “gg”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Jovial Gent: shows [Kd 6d] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
Udon Wannit: shows [5c 6c] (a pair of Sixes)
Jovial Gent collected 12166932 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12166932 | Rake 0
Board [6s Kc 8h 3s 4c]
Seat 3: Jovial Gent (big blind) showed [Kd 6d] and won (12166932) with two pair, Kings and Sixes
Seat 5: Udon Wannit (button) (small blind) showed [5c 6c] and lost with a pair of Sixes

 A great WCOOP for djk123, winning 2 bracelets (in Razz, and HORSE) and then getting deep in the Main Event.   He ultimately finished 4th in that and easily bagged the Player of the Series.    Possibly a little bit of tilt crept in for the final hand.    First he lost a significant pot here (to a flush draw), to reduce him down to about 10 million chips…

PokerStars Game #33135555487: Tournament #200909045, $5000+$200 USD Hold’em No Limit - Level XXXIX (50000/100000) - 2009/09/22 2:24:17 ET
Table ‘200909045 90′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: reddeevil (5180894 in chips)
Seat 3: Jovial Gent (15601010 in chips)
Seat 4: djk123 (15584625 in chips)
Seat 5: Udon Wannit (6513471 in chips)
reddeevil: posts the ante 12500
Jovial Gent: posts the ante 12500
djk123: posts the ante 12500
Udon Wannit: posts the ante 12500
reddeevil: posts small blind 50000
Jovial Gent: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
djk123: raises 100000 to 200000
Udon Wannit: folds
reddeevil: calls 150000
Jovial Gent: raises 600000 to 800000
djk123: calls 600000
reddeevil: calls 600000
*** FLOP *** [Ad 5c 6c]
reddeevil: checks
Jovial Gent: bets 1100000
djk123: calls 1100000
reddeevil: raises 3268394 to 4368394 and is all-in
Jovial Gent: folds
djk123: calls 3268394
*** TURN *** [Ad 5c 6c] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Ad 5c 6c 4c] [Qc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
reddeevil: shows [Kc Jc] (a flush, King high)
djk123: shows [Jd Ah] (a pair of Aces)
reddeevil collected 12286788 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12286788 | Rake 0
Board [Ad 5c 6c 4c Qc]
Seat 1: reddeevil (small blind) showed [Kc Jc] and won (12286788) with a flush, King high
Seat 3: Jovial Gent (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: djk123 showed [Jd Ah] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 5: Udon Wannit (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

This was followed just 2 hands later by:

PokerStars Game #33135583131: Tournament #200909045, $5000+$200 USD Hold’em No Limit - Level XL (60000/120000) - 2009/09/22 2:26:06 ET
Table ‘200909045 90′ 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: reddeevil (12274288 in chips)
Seat 3: Jovial Gent (13626010 in chips)
Seat 4: djk123 (10291231 in chips)
Seat 5: Udon Wannit (6688471 in chips)
reddeevil: posts the ante 15000
Jovial Gent: posts the ante 15000
djk123: posts the ante 15000
Udon Wannit: posts the ante 15000
djk123: posts small blind 60000
Udon Wannit: posts big blind 120000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
reddeevil: folds
Jovial Gent: raises 161010 to 281010
djk123: raises 563434 to 844444
Udon Wannit: folds
Jovial Gent: raises 955556 to 1800000
djk123: raises 8476231 to 10276231 and is all-in
Jovial Gent: calls 8476231
*** FLOP *** [Jh Kh 4s]
*** TURN *** [Jh Kh 4s] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Kh 4s 3d] [Qc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
djk123: shows [Th Td] (a pair of Tens)
Jovial Gent: shows [Kd Ks] (three of a kind, Kings)
Jovial Gent said, “gg Dan :(”
Jovial Gent collected 20732462 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 20732462 | Rake 0
Board [Jh Kh 4s 3d Qc]
Seat 1: reddeevil folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: Jovial Gent (button) showed [Kd Ks] and won (20732462) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 4: djk123 (small blind) showed [Th Td] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 5: Udon Wannit (big blind) folded before Flop

 WCOOP $25K High-roller Heads-up Event on PokerStars

Iftarii tanked this for over a minute before calling.   Sick slowroll.  A bit unclassy.   stevesbets probably thought he was good for sure here (ie against a draw only)

PokerStars Game #32807124802: Tournament #200909027, $25000+$500 USD Hold’em No Limit - Match Round II, Level III (80/160) - 2009/09/13 17:52:42 ET
Table ‘200909027 16′ 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Iftarii (21579 in chips)
Seat 2: stevesbets (18421 in chips)
stevesbets: posts small blind 80
Iftarii: posts big blind 160
*** HOLE CARDS ***
stevesbets: raises 160 to 320
Iftarii: raises 800 to 1120
stevesbets: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [4s 6d 5s]
Iftarii: bets 1500
stevesbets: raises 15801 to 17301 and is all-in
Iftarii: calls 15801
*** TURN *** [4s 6d 5s] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [4s 6d 5s Qd] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Iftarii: shows [8s 7s] (a straight, Four to Eight)
stevesbets: shows [4c 5c] (two pair, Fives and Fours)
Iftarii collected 36842 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 36842 | Rake 0
Board [4s 6d 5s Qd 7c]
Seat 1: Iftarii (big blind) showed [8s 7s] and won (36842) with a straight, Four to Eight
Seat 2: stevesbets (button) (small blind) showed [4c 5c] and lost with two pair, Fives and Fours

14 hours of poker later and we were all done in WCOOP Event 10 (The 10K Highrollers Event).   Fine displays from Sowerss, BeL0WaB0Ve and SCTrojans (2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively), but ultimately it was Sumpas from Linkoping who triumphed and took down the bracelet and the $611K first prize

Here is the final hand:

PokerStars Game #32548015182: Tournament #200909010, $10000+$300 USD Hold’em No Limit - Level XXVIII (7000/14000) - 2009/09/07 6:34:33 ET
Table ‘200909010 18′ 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Sowerss (780000 in chips)
Seat 4: Sumpas (2210000 in chips)
Sowerss: posts the ante 1750
Sumpas: posts the ante 1750
Sumpas: posts small blind 7000
Sowerss: posts big blind 14000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Sumpas: raises 16000 to 30000
Sowerss: calls 16000
*** FLOP *** [4s Ks 4d]
Sowerss: checks
Sumpas: bets 30000
Sowerss: raises 60000 to 90000
Sumpas: raises 75000 to 165000
Sowerss: raises 583250 to 748250 and is all-in
Sumpas: calls 583250
*** TURN *** [4s Ks 4d] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [4s Ks 4d 7s] [3d]
Sowerss said, “nh gg”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Sowerss: shows [Jh Td] (a pair of Fours)
Sumpas: shows [Kd Tc] (two pair, Kings and Fours)
Sumpas collected 1560000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1560000 | Rake 0
Board [4s Ks 4d 7s 3d]
Seat 1: Sowerss (big blind) showed [Jh Td] and lost with a pair of Fours
Seat 4: Sumpas (button) (small blind) showed [Kd Tc] and won (1560000) with two pair, Kings and Fours

The PokerStars WCOOP $10K buy-in Highroller event attracted 299 entrants, making a prizepool of close to $3 million, and a first prize of $611,455

Here are some notable entrants/players:

T1. John Duthie
T2. teacuppoker, shaundeeb, Soweress, mig.com, Johnny Bax
T3. Iftarii, pbdrunks
T4. gboro780, arbianight, Andy McLEOD, BobbyFi
T5. aakkari
T6. PeteEastgate, ADZ124, agriffrod, UGOTPZD
T7. NoraFlum, TheCleaner11
T8. $tinger
T9.  busto_soon, j.thaddeus, stevie444, Money800, D.Phillips
T10. stevejpa, lilholdem954, bluffblocker
T11. LadyMaverick, #1PEN
T12. ch0ppy, BelowAbove
T13. SvZff, MrSomkey1, takechip, Boosted J
T14. ocrowe, DarusSuharto, SirWatts
T15. t soprano, Moorman1, Roothlus
T16. SCTrojans, USCphildo, jcamby33, KipsterDK
T17. Allingomes
T18. eisenhower1
T19. Elky, PureCash25, Paolo69
T20. Katya Thater, skilled_sox
T21. bigegypt, SNo0oWMAN
T22. gunning4you, apestyles, THE__D__RY, JC Alvarado, Sumpas
T23. gregior
T24. William
T25. westmenloAA, dorinwandy
T27. JoeHachem, AJKHoosier1
T28. Genius28, ZeeJustin
T29. aprilsfool
T30. barryg1, Jovial Gent
T31. RainKhan, thedonator
T32. ElMastermind