This past weekend was Labor Day in the United States. As such, the fields of the major online poker tournaments were down significantly. However, the guarantees of each tournament remained the same, meaning a considerable amount of value existed on sites like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Bodog; in fact, one tournament held over the weekend had an overlay that was larger than $250,000. Let’s take a look at all of the action from the holiday weekend and some of the enormous overlays that existed for players to take advantage of.
Any discussion of major online poker tournaments has to begin with the PokerStars Sunday Million. Sporting a $1.5 million guarantee, the Sunday Million actually had an overlay this weekend, one of the first times that I can ever remember the Web’s marquee poker event falling short of its guarantee. There were 7,212 players who entered the $200 buy-in tournament, meaning the overlay was nearly $60,000. In the end, diegoaiz pocketed $184,500 for first place, edging out TheRodGuy heads-up; second place was worth $124,950. FlopeDeNuts (third for $84,000), IamUnlucky (fourth for $69,000), krs528 (fifth for $54,000), UnbrokeN (sixth for $39,000), Bury2k4 (seventh for $26,250), c j mcon (eighth for $17,250), and CodeRedRulez (ninth for $10,500) also saw healthy paydays. Look for the number of entrants in the Sunday Million to rebound in the future.
The Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars had its guarantee increased this week to $1 million, making it the second largest prize pool offered online. Like the Sunday Million, the Warm-Up also saw an overlay this week. There were 3,627 entrants, which meant that the tournament fell a whopping $275,000 short of its guarantee. That size of an overlay is unheard of for the world’s largest online poker room and is indicative of how much the site still depends on U.S. players. Canadian player AWice took down the Sunday Warm-Up for $135,000, defeating lrdvoldemort, who finished second for $95,000. Rivvie took third for $65,000. World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion Annette Obrestad, who plays as Annette_15 on PokerStars, finished sixth and took home $31,000. The Warm-Up has a buy-in of $200.
The PokerStars Second Chance attracted a field of 1,309 entrants, which made for an overlay of nearly $40,000 in the $200 buy-in event. Emerging victorious in the tournament was freezeplay, who cashed for $54,480. RiggsB took home second place and a $39,600 consolation prize. Rounding out the top finishers were Patonius2000 (third for $30,000), DesertQuest (fourth for $22,500), efmike (fifth for $15,750), tuck64 (sixth for $12,750), glennbrooke (seventh for $9,750), Masterhp (eighth for $6,750), and mcnallyville (ninth for $4,200). The Second Chance has a $300,000 Guarantee.
Finally, no discussion about a weekend at PokerStars would be complete without taking a look at the results of the $530 buy-in $250,000 Guaranteed tournament. Because it is a richer buy-in tournament than its counterparts on PokerStars, it generally sees a much more talented field. The winner this weekend was Titantom32, who took home $91,250 for his efforts, muscling through the field of 998 entrants. In second place was thugmoneymkr, who pocketed $66,450. Moorman1 finished third, taking home an even $50,000. The top 144 spots paid out in the $250,000 Guaranteed.
Next weekend should mark the return of larger fields to the Sunday major tournaments. On PokerStars, the World Championship of Online Poker will kick off on Friday. The two week affair guarantees at least $30 million total.