Imagine tying a brick of cash worth $560,000 on the end of a stick and then dangling it out the window. How long would it take before someone snatched it all up?
PokerStars set the bait and 3,567 blood-thirsty online poker players flocked to Event #40-M NL.They each paid the $1,050 ticket with hopes of winning a SCOOP title, a cool watch, and $560,019 in cash.
Day 1 of Event #40-M ended after 30 levels and the field was decimated from 3,567 to 74. PokerStars Team Pro Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth was one of the fortunate ones to make the cut. Ainsworth battled all day and finished up with 647,951 in chips, which was good for 36/74 overall.
Poland’s husajn54 ended Day 1 as the chip leader with 2,193,865. Meanwhile, Canada’s Rocketmist was not far behind in second with 2,064,103. Rocketmist and husajn54 were the only players who ended Day 1 with more than 2 million.
Sitting ninth in chips is ministerborg, who won a SCOOP title last week in Event #21-H.
Notable players still alive in the mix include Michael “Timex” Macdonald (30th in chips) and Veronica “Princessa” Dabul (42nd in chips).
In case you were wondering, Shaun Deeb a.k.a. the Mayor of SCOOP, failed to cash in this event. I know, I know…. we’re just as shocked as you are. Deeb’s remarkable winning streak — four SCOOP titles this year and five overall — is a feat that will be difficult to replicate. Anyway, Deeb showed a little bit of humility as he bowed out in 1,256th place.
Event #40-M $1,050 NL featured a $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool, which was nowhere close to being in jeopardy, because the prize pool swelled to $3,567,000. Event #40-M attracted 3,567 runners, but only 450 of them would get a cut of the prize pool with $560,019 set aside for first place.
Here’s the final table payouts:
1st place – $560,019
2nd place – $417,339
3rd place – $296,061
4th place – $205,102.50
5th place – $152,703.27
6th place – $115,927.50
7th place – $80,257.50
8th place – $44,587.50
9th place – $28,536
Notables players who cashed on Day 1 included Team PokerStars Pro Martin “AABenjamin” Hubry (213th for $3,138.96), Team PokerStars Pro Viviam Im (324th for $2,104.53), Team PokerStars ProJoão “jomane” Nunes (384th for $1,926.18), and Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov (435th for $1,819.17).
Other noteworthy players who made the money included: AaronBeen (77th), Brian “theczar19” Piccioli (94th), aejones (112th), Jon “Fatal Error” Aguiar (197th), James “mig.com” Mackey (288th), Jason “PBJaxx” Senti (301st), Calvin “cal42688” Anderson (308th), Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde (344th), im2tight (358th), Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo (361st), and Adam “Roothlus”Levy (414th).
Members of Team PokerStars Pro and PokerStars Team Online were well represented in Event #40-M. The majority of them were knocked out during two massive waves of eliminations.
The initial wave of bustouts occurred at the onset of the tournament and some of those early eliminations included Jonathan Duhamel (3,105th), Richard Toth (3,087th), Leo Fernandez (3,071th), Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome (3,060th), Kevin “WizardOfAhhs” Thurman (3,012th), Fatima DeMelo (3,008th) and Theo Jorgensen (3,004th).
A second wave of exits also included: Mikhail “innerpsy” Shalamov (2,979th), Arnaud “frenchkiss” Mattern (2,920th), Vikto “Isildur1” Blom (2,869th), Max LYkov (2,846th), ElkY (2,721st), Eugene Katchalov (2,693rd), Andre Akkari (2,666th), Christophe “chrisdm” de Muelder (2,647th), Vicky Coren (2,622nd), Marcin “Goral” Horecki (2,570th), Lex Velhuis (2,569th), Shane “Shaniac” Schleger (2,567th), Toni Judet (2,480th), Juan “JuanPastor” Manuel (2,420th), Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (2,401st), Freddy “sirfreddy83? Torres (2,388th), George “Jorj95” Lind III (2,382nd), Chad Brown (2,349th), Pius Heinz (2,265), and Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez (2,160th).
After a few hours of play, another flurry of bust outs occurred and several more Team Pros and members of Team Online were knocked out including Angel Guillen (1,802nd), Björn “Bjoerni89” Schneider, (1,755th), Rino Mathis (1,743rd), Nacho Barbero (1,715th), Victor Ramdim (1,704th), Celina Lin (1,680th), Sigge “clarkkent89” Reichard (1,613th), Henrique “Henrique.P” Pinho (1,424th), Sandra Naujoks (1,268th), Stavros ‘IDOLLS’ Kalfas (1,173th), and Diego “vgreen22” Brunelli (1,146th).
The pace slowed down when action drew close to the bubble. A handful of PokerStars players fell short of the mark including Ville Wahlbeck (824th), Matthias “mattidm” De Meulder (767th), Martin Staszko (694th), Randy “nanonoko” Lew (689th), Tyler “Frosty012″Frost (547th), George Danzer (514th), and Dag Palovic (500th).
Unfortunately, PokerStars Team Pro Ana Marquez from Spain busted out just before the money bubble in 459th place. When the money bubble final popped, dyeti from the U.K. unceremoniously became the “Bubble Boy” and busted out in 451st place.
Three members of PokerStars Team Pro made deep runs — Jude Ainsworth, Martin Hruby, and Vivian Im. Only one of them would advance to Day 2.
Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im met her demise when she had her Big Slick picked off. The action was kicked off by loll76, who opened to 10,000. Viviam Im shoved all-in for 37,057, and loll76 called. Im’s A♣ K♥ had loll76’s A♦ 2â™ dominated. Alas, the board ran out 9â™ 7♣ 4♦ 2♦ 8♣ . The 2♦ on the turn sealed Im’s fate. She busted out in 324th place, but earned $2,104.53.
Martin Hruby’s run came to a halt when gnetaren bombed it all-in preflop with K♦ Jâ™ and Martin “AABenjaminAA” Hruby called with A♣ 5♦ . The flop was the Kâ™ Q♣ 3â™ and gnetaren took the lead in the hand. The turn was the 2♣ and the 8â™ fell on the river. Neither card helped Hruby. The Team PokerStars Pro from the Czech Republic hit the road in 213th place, which earned him a $3,138.96 pay day.
Jude Ainsworth’s run was propelled by a clutch hand against wasjaxjev. A raising war was initiated by wasjaxjev, who min-raised to 20,000. Ainsworth bumped it up to 49,856. wasjaxjev four-bet shoved all-in for 233,431. Ainsworth called with J♣ J♦ and wasjaxjev was flipping with A♥ K♥ . The board ran out 9â™ 6♦ 3♦ 8♦ 6♣ . Ainsworth’s Jacks won the race and he chipped up to 500K, while wasjaxjev went busto in 131st.
With 100 players remaining, Cashcid Linc from Germany took over the chip lead with over 1.6 million. Ainsworth was alive with an mid-sized stack of 420K.
With 75 players left, Rocketmist took over the lead with over 2 million and Ainsworth gradually chipped up to 630K, yet still found himself in the middle of the pack.
When play reached the end of Level 30, action was suspended. The top spot was claimed by husajn54, who ended Day 1 as the chip leader with 2,193,865. Rocketmist was second with 2,064,103. Team PokerStars Pro Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth finished up 36th in chips with 647,951.
End of Day 1 – Top 10 Chips – Event #40-M $1,050 NL:
1. husajn54 (Poland) – 2,193,865
2. Rocketmist (Canada) – 2,064,103
3. kingnikki111 (Germany) – 1,948,159
4. Cashcid Linc (Germany) – 1,945,385
5. kangis (Costa Rica) – 1,616,009
6. XuxiSanchez (United Kingdom) – 1,584,405
7. OriQ9s (Israel) – 1,498,595
8. JJ Okocha (United Kingdom) – 1,467,422
9. ministerborg (Denmark) – 1,320,001
10. carrycakes (Mexico) – 1,231,041
Entrants: 3,567
Prize Pool: $3,567,000
Places Paid: 450
Players Remaining: 74
Event #40-M Day 2 will begin at 14:30 ET on Monday, May 21st. Action will re-start at Level 31 with blinds at 10K/20K and a 2.5K ante. The average stack is 723,040 with 74 players remaining. Check back tomorrow with PokerStars Blog for full coverage of the final table.
Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.
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