This week we returned to the normal sized $500,000 Sunday Warm-up after kojocki took down eamsie last week in a special $1 million guaranteed edition of the Sunday Warm-up celebrating the earlier start times to accommodate people who like to play poker but would rather not have to call into work the next morning with over $100,000 on the line. While it is still going to take a marathon ten plus hours to award this $101,611.21 sitting at the final table for our champion, our victor will get a little more shut-eye and down a few less Red Bulls at the office after taking down the 3,236 players that punched their ticket for this $215 buy-in event.

Team Online Martin AABenjaminAA Hruby was able to find the right cards while cashing in 324th place ($362.43). Team PokerStars pro Jan Heitmann was found a little higher up the pay ladder but after losing a pair of flips bowed out in 154th place ($679.56). Sebastian Ruthenberg also enjoyed a long run tonight but was stopped by iberbiber as pocket sevens for the UK pro was not able to dodge [Ac][8c] on a [Kd] [Kc] [9d] [Ad] [4d] as Ruthenberg collected $776.64 in 131st place. That left Spanish Team PokerStars pro Juan Maceiras looking to add to his bankroll from the huge €315,000 cash for 5th place at the EPT Madrid Grand Final. With the blinds sitting at 6K/12K ante 1.2K Maceiras would open shove from early position for 218,711 as it folded to BetrThanPhil (who almost snagged a SCOOP watch a few weeks ago in Event #35-L) in the cutoff holding [Ac][Qh] and covering Juan's stack. BetrThanPhil would make the call as Maceiras turned over [Kh][Td]. Despite flopping an open ended straight draw, Macerias would watch the [6d] [Qc] [Jd] [2h] [4s] board end his tournament night in 94th place ($906.08).

Juan Maceiras - 94th place

Just after the nine and half hour mark only ten players and two tables remained as hand for hand play trickled into the 80K/160K ante 16K level. migsgreen was hanging on with just 1.1 million facing a raise to 480,000 chips from Ab4r4 in the cutoff. Holding [Th][Jh] in the big blind migsgreen fired the rest of his missiles into the middle and got a call from ab4r4 who showed [As][4d]. The jack in the door was good for migsgreen but the second card paired up Ab4r4's ace [Jc] [Ad] [4c] [8c] [2h] and held for the 2.3 million chip pot shipping $3,883.20 to migsgreen for tenth place and starting our final table below:

Seat 1: juancito10 (2896654 in chips)
Seat 2: Grizzlypower (8047090 in chips)
Seat 3: iberbiber (1938681 in chips)
Seat 4: mister MH (2964530 in chips)
Seat 5: circuslover (1663584 in chips)
Seat 6: kronkol (3432072 in chips)
Seat 7: BetrThanPhil (6139493 in chips)
Seat 8: Ab4r4 (3613674 in chips)
Seat 9: pastika (1664222 in chips)

It pays to knock out the Team PokerStars players

Two of our final nine got the distinction of knocking out the resident pros. BetrThanPhil was better than Juan Maceiras and iberbiber took down Sebastian Ruthenberg before both players assured themselves $5,177.60 for making tonight's final table.

Ok, maybe it doesn't pay that well to knock out the Team Pros

With the blinds at 80K/160K ante 16K only Grizzlypower and BetrThanPhil held more than 20 big blinds as the rest of the pack would need to pick a spot soon. Iberbiber's spot was holding [Jd][Ad] in the small blind calling the chip leader's shove from the button with 1.6 million chips. Grizzlypower would need some help to add to the chip lead flipping up the dominated [Ah][3c], and that help wasted no time showing up as the first card on the board paired up the trey, holding on the [3s] [4h] [As] [Qc] [8s] board to bump iberbiber out in ninth place ($5,177.60).

1-2-3 DODGEBALL!

The time comes in every tournament where you are sitting with a pocket pair hoping it finds a way to dodge a bunch of outs. Ab4r4's turn to start bobbing and weaving came in the hand below:

RSS readers please click through to view video

All-in preflop for 1.2 million holding pocket sixes [6d][6c] Ab4r4 was looking to parry his way through the board cards as kronkol held [Ac][Qd]. The flop [Jc] [8c] [Tc] added more balls being thrown at the Switzerland player as kronkol picked up straight and flush draws to his overcards. The scoring hit came on the turned [9h] as the [3h] on the river did not salvage a chopped straight and Ab4r4 claimed eight place cash ($8,090.00).

Exiting from the big top

Just two hands later BetrThanPhil was already enjoying a decent stack of chips and facing the short stack 1.1 million chip shove by circuslover in the big blind. BetrThanPhil would make the call as well as the chip leader Grizzlypower for a potentially messy pot. The two chip leaders decided not to prod each other and checked down the [3h][6s] [Ad] [8d] [6h] board. BetrThanPhil was first to show, turning up two pair [Jh][Ah] as Grizzlypower and circuslover could only muck their hands while watching another 3.6 million chips slid over to BetrThanPhil. circuslover ride at the carnival came to end in seventh place ($14,562.00).

Two aggressive big stacks enter only one leaves

As mentioned with circuslover's elimination, Grizzlypower and BetrThanPhil held the chip lead with aggression and both of them got their chips in the middle preflop with the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K for a whopping 12.8 million chip pot. Watch the results below:

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The big hand showed to be a big cooler for Grizzlypower holding big slick [As][Kh] to BetrThanPhil's aces [Ad][Ac]. No miracles [6c] [4d] [6h] [9d] [4c] and no chips for Grizzlypower as the former chip leader's growl became a soft as a whisper exiting the final table cave in sixth place ($21,034.00).

BetrThanAces? Didn't think so

With the blinds holding at 125K/250K ante 25K for a few more hands, BetrThanPhil took a little hit to his massive stack while doubling up pastika but still held an eight figure pile of chips. After kronkol raised it up to 750K from the small blind, BetrThanPhil slyly gave the raise a little bump to 1.25 million. Holding just 219,844 more behind, kronkol called showing a suited ace [Ad][9d]. kronkol would need some diamonds to overcome the pocket aces [Ac][Ah] that seemed to have reappeared in BetrThanPhil's hand. Drawing dead by the turn [Ts] [4c] [Ks] [7d] [Qs] kronkol watched another tournament life fall to BetrThanPhil's aces, finishing in fifth place ($27,506.00). This would be kronkol's second fifth place finish in the Sunday Warm-up equaling his February 2010 feat.

Fans love quick deals (and so do bloggers)

Team Online's Andre Coimbra heeded the call of our remaining four to hash out a deal, and in less time than it took to type this sentence the players took home the below amounts with $10,000.00 set aside for the winner.

pastika: $76,627.71
BetrThanPhil :$74,609.26
mister MH: $55,550.51
juancito10: $51,154.13

Take it on the run baby

Just one hand after splitting up the cash, pastika put the two smaller stacks on the defensive with a shove from the button. juancito10 looked down at a decent [Js][Kh] and made the call for his remaining 3.6 million chips as mister MH folded the big blind. pastika's [Jc][Qh] went searching for a lady and found her quickly on the flop [3h] [Qc] [4s]. Kings managed to stay off the turn [6h] and river [8s] as juancito10 profited almost $14K more from making the deal one hand earlier, taking home $51,154.13 in fourth place.

Too much pastika in the pie

Taking down five of six hands in a row, pastika (which sounds like a rare spice but actually is a tackle and bait shop in Wisconsin) continued to increase the chip lead going into the 150K/300K ante 30K blind level. After min-raising from the button, pastika would call mister MH's 4.5 million chip shove from the small blind. mister MH showed pocket eights [8h][8s] and pastika would need to shake and bake a bit for the win again, as his pocket fives [5c][5s] were dominated. 9.4 million in the middle and all of it would slide to pastika after another two outer spiked, this time with a dramatic five on the river [Qc] [2d] [Th] [Ts] [5h] ending mister MH's night in third place ($55,550.51). The win set up the potential long heads-up battle below.

Potential not reached, winner found quickly

Two aggressive players but both had plenty of chips to fight it out for the extra $10K and title of Sunday Warm-up champion. pastika's 20.6 million to BetrThanPhil's 11.6 would find all of their chips in the middle preflop after just six minutes of heads-up play. BetrThanPhil was ground down to 8.6 million and blinds sitting at 200K/400K ante 40K when the decisive hands played out below:

RSS readers click through to view video

BetrThanPhil [4d][4h]
pastika [Ac][7h]

A race for the win as pastika would need to catch something one last time to deny BetrThanPhil the title. It would wait for the turn but sure enough a seven managed to appear on the [Kc] [Ks] [5c] [7d] [8c] board ending BetrThanPhil's night as the runner-up ($74,609.26) shipping the extra $10K to our champion pastika!

$500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-up results (06-12-11)
(* denotes part of four-way deal)
1. pastika (Czech Republic) *$86,627.71
2. BetrThanPhil (Canada) *$74,609.26
3. mister MH (Netherlands) *$55,550.51
4. juancito10 (Spain) *$51,154.13
5. kronkol (Netherlands) $27,506.00
6. Grizzlypower (Germany) $21,034.00
7. circuslover (United Kingdom) $14,562.00
8. Ab4r4 (Switzerland) $8,090.00
9. iberbiber (Canada) $5,177.60

Read More... [Source: PokerStars Poker Blog :: Tournaments]

For the third Streamer Spotlight, we bring you Jeff Gross and his "PokerFlowShow."

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One week ago today, I stumbled off an American Airlines plane in Montevideo, Uruguay. I wandered blind through the Duty Free shop and into the throng of people in the clamshell airport terminal. My driver held up a sign with my name and a few others on it. One was Mehrassa. John 'tinajohn9" Mehrassa, to be more accurate.

What I didn't know at the time was that Mehrassa was not only set to play the LAPT Punta del Este main event, but he was also in Punta to play for Team Canada in the Americas Cup of Poker. What neither of us knew at the time was that Mehrassa would be among the players who pushed Canada to its second straight Americas Cup win.

"When we raise our kids in Canada, the first thing we teach them is poker," Mehrass joked.

Led by Canadian Team PokerStars Pro Greg DeBora, the Canadian team (DeBora, Mehrassa, Robert Van Thuyl, Henry Wong, and Jason Collins) skunked Team Mexico in the finals to earn the repeat victory and $25,000 in prize money.

"You're part of a team and you're representing your country. Everybody played hard and did well. Once again, Team Canada came through." DeBora said.

Team Canada - 2011 ACP Champions

Seven teams from North, South and Central America battled for two days at the Mantra Resort, Spa and Casino. Here are the final results.

AMERICAS CUP OF POKER FINAL RESULTS

1st: Canada ($25,000)
2nd: Mexico ($20,000)
3rd: Venezuela ($15,000)
4th: Brazil ($12,000)
5th: Argentina ($10,000)
6th: Rest of Latam ($8,000)
7th: Colombia ($5,000)

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Americas Cup]

Gambling magnate Donald Trump spoke out on Barney Frank's online casino bill, saying Internet gambling can't be stopped and should be regulated for the public good.

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The last bit of snow has finally melted here in the northland as spring has finally arrived despite a very bad weather groundhog by the name of Punxsutawney Phil stating the spring thaw was supposed to come early this year. Luckily for the SnG players at PokerStars getting a foot of snow in mid-April will not usually hinder their ability to hit the tables enough to earn a ticket to tonight's $50,000 Battle of the Planets Freeroll. Our champ tonight also had to dig out a path to victory as Hungary's woosewoo started heads-up play with a big chip deficit but fought back quickly to claim this month's $12,000.00 prize. It has been a long time coming for woosewoo who made the very first Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout final table in April of 2008.

Down to the final pairing on Table 8 with Titan-tan trailing 4,709 to 5,791 chips and the blinds up to 125/250 ante 25 wychtor would led with a min-raise from the button as Titan-tan called. [4h][3d][2h] on the flop got Titan-tan to take the lead and bet 430 as wychtor's hand was stuck on the min-raise button and hit it again. Titan-tan three-bet to 2,000 as wychtor's hand moved up to all-in as Titan-tan called with a king-high flush draw [Kh][9h]. wychtor already had a made hand with pocket aces [As][Ac] and after two more small cards laid down [3c] and [4d] Titan-tan would leave with nothing in 82nd place as the remaining 81 players locked up $195.00.

turataika, Hanggy, and Joellos15 quickly snagged their seats and kicked back for a while to wait for the remaining six seats to fill up before playing for $12,000.00. One of those seats was filled by turataika who plays in many of the Sunday Majors and made some cash in the Super Tuesday last year, grabbing $3,234 in 23rd place. After X-fold2u-X was finished off by sTitC at the three hour mark of the tournament it was down to pif-pafdaddy and niclassen18 to fill the final seat. With the blinds at 125/250 ante 25 and pif-pafdaddy behind by 680 chips both players liked their hands enough to get all-in preflop. For good reason too as pif-pafdaddy pulled up aces [Ad][As] and niclassen18 queens [Qs][Qd] and after an all low board [6h] [2s] [7h] [9h] [3h] pif-pafdaddy would collect the 12,820 chip pot and the one after it to start up the final table below:

Seat 1: messier111 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: pif-pafdaddy (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: woosewoo (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: turataika (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: chimera252 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Hanggy (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: sTitCx (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Bredik75 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: Joellos15 (1500 in chips)

Action starts early

Usually during the opening 10/20 blind level the players mainly circle each other to get a scent of each other's play. Tonight we would a major confrontation one hand before the hourly five minute break. sTitCx would raise to 80 from middle position as Joellos15 made the call from the button and both took a gander at the [8d][5d][9s] flop. sTitCx bet for 120 as Joellos15 bumped up to 315 and sTitCx called. [6d] on the turn and sTitCx backed off and checked as Joellos15 tossed in another 340. sTitCx check-raised to 1,195 all-in as Joellos15 called for less holding a flopped set of eights [8s][8h]. Unfortunately the turn gave sTitCx the nut straight [7s][Ts] and with the [7c] on the river Joellos15 earned $775.00 in ninth place.

Sound familiar?

While the 15/30 level was kept all eight players in the game the 25/50 level could not say the same. After a min-raise UTG by turataika both sTitCx and Bredik75 decided to make the call from middle position as three went to see the [6d][Ts][9d] flop. turataika kept up the betting with a 225 chip bet as Bredik75 made it 550 total, turataika was not done and shoved for 1,362 total holding a flush draw [Jd][Ad] hoping Bredik75 would go away. Holding a set of nines [9s][9h] Bredik75 quickly made the call. Much like the flopped set from the previous elimination, the draw got there as the [4c] turn and fateful [5d] river sent Bredik75 down to 41 chips. Four hands later pif-pafdaddy would collect the scraps as Bredik75 exited in eighth place ($1,200.00).

Hung up

Still in the 25/50 blind level chimera252 holding an unfamiliar red badge which proclaims the UK player has earned over 1 million lifetime VPPs at PokerStars next to the seven stars of the VIP Supernova Elite. Able to open in the small blind, chimera252 made it 130 as Hanggy decided [As][Js] and a 1,050 shove was enough to shoo the raiser away. chimera252 only thought about how quickly to call with pocket aces [Ah][Ac]. Despite catching four outs on the flop [Qd] [Qs] [Kd] [7h] [9d] Hanggy's night was done in seventh place ($1,700.00).

Rolling home

Strangely no eliminations in the 50/100 level but things heated up quick in the 75/150 blind level as pif-pafdaddy and woosewoo decided to knot up for a 3,208 chip preflop pot. Check out below to see who stayed and who collected $2,200.00 in sixth place:

RSS readers please click through to view video

pif-pafdaddy's open shove from the small blind with [7c][Kc] got called by woosewoo's small ace [Ah][5s] and with an ace on the flop [8h] [9s] [As] [Qc] [Tc] pif-pafdaddy got whacked in sixth place ($2,200.00).

Monster slayed

The chimera of ancient Greece was a fire-breathing creature. chimera252 of PokerStars just likes to take chips while multi-tabling. Two hands after pif-pafdaddy headed home chimera252 tried to steal the blinds with an open shove from the small blind for 1,525 chips. sTitCx's two facecards [Qh][Ks] were enough to make the call as chimera252 turned over the small connector. The board toyed with the Supernova Elite throwing several extra outs on the [2h] [4s] [4c] [7h] [4d] but could not connect enough to stay alive, finishing in fifth place ($2,735.00).

Half of four is two

And two players remaining was all that was left at the final table after this hand. With the blinds at 100/200 sTitCx set off a chain reaction of bets that would leave turataika and messier111 in a three-way all-in and 7,504 chips in the middle. Watch below as one player skated away with it all:

RSS readers please click through to view video

turataika's pocket tens [Td][Tc] held messier111's sevens [7c][7s] and sTitCx's sixes [6d][6s] at a big disadvantage. However, messier111 covered all bets and nailed a third seven on the [Ks] [7h] [9d] [Qh] [Qd] board taking down the 7,504 chip pot and showing the door to sTitCx in fourth place ($3,350.00) and turataika in third ($4,500.00).

Woo woo!
9,813 to 3,687 chip deficit would only take five for woosewoo to overturn and take down the April 2013 Battle of the Planets title. With the blinds moving up to 125/250 ante 25 and woosewoo flipping the chip advantage towards the Hungarian after winning a big flip of fours against big slick with woosewoo's pocket fours making it through the [9h] [2d] [2c] [5s] [Jd] board for the win.

Seven hands later and woosewoo holding a 9,523 to 3,977 chip lead, the Hungarian would min-raise from the button as messier111 called. [Kh][6c][4c] flop got messier111 to play possum as woosewoo followed through with a 375 chip bet and messier111 sprung to life with a check-raise all-in. Holding a flopped two pair [4h][Ks] woosewoo quickly made the call only needing to dodge a six as messier111 showed [9d][6h]. Evasion successful as the [8d] turn and [Jd] sealed up the $12,000.00 victory for woosewoo!

April Battle of the Planets $50,000 Triple Shootout Freeroll results (04-28-13):

Players entered: 538
Places paid: 81
Buy-in: Freeroll ticket
Prize pool: $50,000.00
First place: $12,000.00

1. woosewoo (Hungary) $12,000.00
2. messier111 (Canada) $7,500.00
3. turataika (Finland) $4,500.00
4. sTitCx (Portugal) $3,350.00
5. chimera252 (United Kingdom) $2,735.00
6. pif-pafdaddy (Ukraine) $2,200.00
7. Hanggy (Hong Kong) $1,700.00
8. Bredik75 (Czech Republic) $1,200.00
9. Joellos15 (Netherlands) $775.00

David Aydt is a freelance contributor

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Battle of the Planets]

After only a week of being fully launched in New Jersey via Atlantic City, PokerStars has jumped to the top of the online poker traffic rankings in the Garden State. ...

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The recession is long over in Macau, where gambling growth is again reaching fantastic numbers and casino revenue is setting records almost on a monthly basis.

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