The biggest online tournament proves online poker is thriving

Despite the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act a little over a month ago, the online poker industry is still chugging along full steam ahead. We might have lost the largest online poker room (PartyPoker), but that’s only increased the business at the new big two, PokerStars & Full Tilt Poker. UltimateBet has seen a surge in customers as well, though to a lesser degree. No other tournament proves that online poker is still healthy than the PokerStars Sunday Million. Today the buy-in was increased from the usual $215 to the monthly $530 to close out November. A total of 2,794 players ponied up the cash, bringing the prize pool up to $1.397m. After over nine hours of play, the final nine assembled for the final table. The chip counts were as follows: Seat 1: grgr333 (1,741,928) Seat 2: Jovial Gent (5,279,470) Seat 3: apestyles (9,853,459) Seat 4: GoNoles (1,470,520) Seat 5: jesseduke (2,382,330) Seat 6: Pimplyteen (2,305,147) Seat 7: JP 5-time (2,817,756) Seat 8: realest8 (707,106) Seat 9: tumbleweeds (1,382,284) Action began around 1:30a eastern, with the blinds at 50k-100k with a 5k ante. Like most major events online, the names were pretty much all unknown to the poker community… with the exception of apestyles, a very well known and high-volume online tournament player. Jovial Gent’s PokerStars resume was definitely the second most noteable, with over $130k in cashes. Play picked up quickly on the second hand, when action folded to realest8 in the cutoff position. They took a stand and shoved in for their last 697k. Everyone remaining folded to apestyles in the large blind, who made the call with KQ. ape won the race when a queen peeled off on the flop, busting realest8’s pocket eights. For ninth place they took home $16,764. ape quickly began to build his chip lead up. He began chipping away at small pots, holding a monster lead over the table. A few orbits later, with the blinds now at 60k-120k with a 6k ante, ape opened for 320k from mid position. It folded over to PimplyTeen in the small blind, who decided that AT was good enough to shove their last 1.4m in chips into the middle. apestyles called with sixes and won yet another race, increasing his stack to a massive 15.7m. For eighth place, PimplyTeen took home a cool $25k and change. To get a full grasp of how large apestyle’s chip lead was at this point, here’s the chip counts seven handed: Seat 1: grgr333 (1,860,928) Seat 2: Jovial Gent (2,928,470) Seat 3: apestyles (15,734,712) Seat 4: GoNoles (1,121,520) Seat 5: jesseduke (1,845,330) Seat 7: JP 5-time (2,426,756) Seat 9: tumbleweeds (2,022,284) I’m sure at this point apestyles really felt this was his tournament to lose. He was the most accomplished player on PokerStars at the table and had a massive chip lead. However, just like the New York Giants found out earlier today against the Tennessee Titans, a big lead doesn’t mean anything if you don’t finish it off… apestyles did trade some chips around the table for a bit, but he still mantained most of his mountain of chips. Finally we lost another player shortly later. With the blinds at 80k-160k with an 8k ante, Jovial Gent opened under the gun for 420k. jesseduke then shoved from the cutoff for 1.6m total. grgr333 then made a call for all of their remaining 1.1m from the small blind, prompting Jovial Gent to fold his cards. grgr333 held a big lead with pocket queens, but jesseduke managed to spike broadway on the river and won with his AQ, knocking out grgr333 in seventh place. For their efforts grgr333 was awarded $34,226. GoNoles was the next to go home, shoving 1.4m all in with two fives. It folded to Jovial Gent in the big blind who made the easy call with two queens. Presto failed GoNoles, giving them $43,307 for sixth. A deal was jokingly discussed shortly later, with apestyles suggesting an even chop. Someone took the bait, asking “are you serious?” apestyles of course dropped the bad news that they were being sarcastic. Even more bad news for the rest of the table was how unbelievable his chip lead had become. With six left, the chips stood as follows: Seat 2: Jovial Gent (2,756,470) Seat 3: apestyles (16,465,192) Seat 4: GoNoles (1,507,040) Seat 5: jesseduke (2,874,258) Seat 7: JP 5-time (3,106,756) Seat 9: tumbleweeds (1,230,284) The blinds would increase yet again, now up to 100k-200k with a 10k ante. Short stacked, JP 5-time would shove from the button for 1.6m with Q8, only to run into tumbleweeds AQ. JP flopped a gut shot to go with his draw for a pair of eights, but neither came up and they were out in fifth, earning $53,784. On an all in binge, jesseduke shoved yet again for 2.6m chips with AQ. It looked like an okay move… until he was called by Jovial Gent with pocket aces. No miracle for jesseduke meant we were now down to three. jesseduke took home $65,239. Jovial Gent had made a huge step up in the chip count standings, now at a little over 7m chips. apestyles still held the lead with 17.5m. tumbleweeds was the crumbum three handed, with just 3.2m. tumble would take a few pots early in three-handed play, but it wouldn’t be enough. A few pots later, apestyles raised then called the subsequent all in from tumbleweeds. apestyles AQ would outrun the pocket tens of tumble, turning an ace. Third place was good for $80,327 for tumbleweeds. Heads up, apestyles asked Jovial Gent if he was interested in a chop. Lee showed them the numbers, and the Gent politely declined. Most would be guessing Jovial Gent might get the PokerStars “no chop curse” and apestyles would take it down… but there’s a reason they call it poker, and that’s because it’s unpredictable (to say the least). ape held 19.6m to Gent’s 8.2m. However, after a series of raises and a subsequent fold by apestyles, the chips were damn near even, with Jovial Gent taking a slight lead after winning the very next small pot. The very next hand, Jovial Gent raised from the button to 640k, and apestyles made it a total of 2.16m. Jovial made the call, and the flop was Q T 3. ape bet out 2.4m, and Jovial Gent shoved all in. ape beat him in the pot with pocket kings, only to see the bad news that Jovial Gent flopped two pairs with QT. The turn was a four, and a jack on the river meant that Jovial Gent was our champion! apestyles dominated the final table, but couldn’t close the deal. He did manage to win $135,229, and for the victor, Jovial Gent cashed for $250,202. 1st – Jovial Gent $250,202 2nd – apestyles 135,229 3rd – tumbleweeds 80,327 4th – jesseduke 65,239 5th – JP 5-time 53,784 6th – GoNoles 43,307 7th – grgr333 34,226 8th – PimplyTeen 25,146 9th – realest8 16,764