Just a few weeks ago Team PokerStars Pro Jose Barbero would pen a blog post about the recent autumn season not turning out as successful as he would have preferred. Between dropping a lot of buy-ins during the 2013 WCOOP and going busto during the UKIPT high roller, Barbero did not have many kind words for the previous year. Enter tonight’s $500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up with a fresh ledger that was not dripping with red ink, Barbero would enter tonight’s final table with a chance to claim the $113,920.37 sitting up top and send the bad memories of 2013 off into a quiet corner. It was not a win but the $41,227.00 Jose picked up tonight in fourth place is still a huge score. Carster and GAWA9 made a near equal chop of the final two spots and Carster would end up taking win along with $104,300.00 as this week’s champ.

Three Red Spades would enter the seventh hour of play as field of 3,628 was trimmed to under double digits. Team Online’s George “Jorj95” Lind and Team PokerStars Pro Joe Cada would find the seventh hour too difficult to bear as they fell and 68th ($1,233.52) and 58th place ($1,306.08) respectively. That left Argentinean Team Pro José Ignacio “Nacho” Barbero to carry his Red Spade onwards and upwards. Barbero would successfully spin up his stack to over three million chips by the start of the ninth hour of play with the blinds up to 40K/80K ante 8K.

José would join 13 others for the ninth hour of play including Super Tuesday champ dave798111 and chip leader GAWA9 standing tall with over 4.6 million chips. Ysjah would be looking for yet another shot at a Sunday Major title after finishing as the runner-up in both the Sunday Warm-Up and the Sunday Million in back-to-back weeks during November 2013.

It would take 20 minutes until vadir4rek would claim $3,265.20 in 14th place as the players did not tighten up but rather traded chips as Barbero saw his five million chip stack take a big hit after doubling up Carster as big slick failed to overcome Carster’s pocket queens. DSRasmussen claimed a Sunday Million final table in 2012, but could not add Sunday Warm-Up one tonight after falling in 13th place ($3,265.20).

After Chester20o took a seat in 12th place ($4,353.60), Carster continued the tear into the chip leading position after another successful all-in with pocket queens versus gretko’s ace-queen for a 3.1 million chip pot to setup hand-for-hand play as the blinds moved up to 80K/160K ante 16K further pressuring the shorter stacks to act soon.

Both Barbero and Ysjah would be all-in on different tables at the same time, but only one would get a shot at the $113K first prize while the other received a consolation prize of $4,353.60. The heartbreak of the Sunday Majors would continue for Ysjah calling 6.3 million chip shove from Jabracada holding pocket tens 10♣ 10♠ and watching Jabracada magically find a queen on the Q♠ J♠ 5♥ 9♥ J♣ board to match the dominated 10♥ Q♥ and start up the final table shown below:

Seat 1: flopkin51 (3605916 in chips)
Seat 2: Carster (7219077 in chips)
Seat 3: dave798111 (1507499 in chips)
Seat 4: baconbits33 (1740563 in chips)
Seat 5: GAWA9 (4101613 in chips)
Seat 6: 555yull555 (5627458 in chips)
Seat 7: hustla16 (1334365 in chips)
Seat 8: Team PokerStars Pro Jose Ignacio “nachobarbero” Barbero (3025250 in chips)
Seat 9: Jabracada (8118259 in chips)

Three hands, three eliminations

Jose would double up to over three million chips after watching Ysjah take a nasty beat. But, no one slowed down once the spotlights went up on the final table. With the blinds holding at 80K/160K ante 16K on the first hand of the final table Jose would snag the blinds to let everyone know he was not here to just climb a few notches on pay ladder. On the second hand, hustla16 would shove for 1.3 million from middle position as it folded to flopkin51 on the button holding pocket jacks J♣ J♦ . The jacks would call the bet as hustla16 turned over big slick A♣ K♣ . Despite flopping a few more outs 5♠ 2♠ 4♦ 10♦ 4♥ the suited ace-king would fall as hustla16 earned $5,804.80 in ninth place.

On the next hand dave798111 with only 1.21 million chips in play tried to shove from the button with a decent A♥ Q♠ looking for a little action. baconbits33 provided the battle by also shoving with pocket sevens 7♥ 7♦ . Once again the pocket pair would take down the big ace 8♥ 8♠ 6♦ 9♣ 4♣ as dave798111 could not add a Sunday Major tonight to the Super Tuesday title winning $9,070.00 in eighth place.

Long time coming

After the bang-bang start things slowed down considerably for the final table as the next elimination would not take place until the 125K/250K ante 25K level. With just a few minutes left in the blind level Carster, maintaining the chip lead, would min-raise from the cutoff as baconbits33 shoved for 1.39 million. Holding K♦ 7♣ and over 11 million chips, Carster made the call facing off against baconbits33’s A♦ Q♦ . Seven on the flop and seven on the river 6♥ J♦ 7♠ 2♠ 7♦ favored the chip leader as baconbits33 crumbled in seventh place ($16,326.00).

Nacho takes a bite out of the table

Four hands later Cartser would knock the Team Pro down to under two million chips for the first time at the final table after Cartser refused to drop top pair and claimed a five million chip pot. Three hands later with the blinds moving up to 150K/300K ante 30K 555yull555 would try to bully Jose from the small blind with a shove for 1.51 million. Barely covering, Barbero would make the call holding A♣ 4♠ . 555yull555’s suited connector 10♥ 9♥ failed to find any cohesion to the 2♠ J♠ 3♠ 7♥ J♣ board ending the tournament in sixth place ($23,582.00).

Jabracada goes poof!

With the blinds still at 150K/300K ante 30K GAWA9 and Jabracada decided to take things preflop for a hefty 7.2 million chip pot. Check out the action below:

GAWA9 set the blinds all-in from the button holding 10♦ K♦ . Jose decided to pass but Jabracada called with the dominate K♠ Q♠ . The queen kicker looked even more awesome after a turned pair 7♦ 4♠ 8♦ Q♣ . But, the diamond on the river 6♦ sent Jabracada home in fifth place ($30,838.00).

Still no luck for Nacho

Sorry Jose. Tonight should have ended on an up note for the Team Pro after successfully weaving through a huge field tonight and potentially adding a Sunday Major to his 2010 SCOOP title. Instead his demise would end with a groan for now as the blinds held at 150K/300K ante 30K Jose would min-raise from the button as Carster took offense in the big blind and shoved for 17.8 million chips. Holding a little under three million behind, Barbero quickly called with pocket queens Q♠ Q♦ and perhaps seeing a little light as Carster flipped up K♠ 4♠ . The light to the seven million chip pot was extinguished as Carster flopped two spades but did not need them as a king and four hit the turn and river 5♠ 9♠ 8♥ K♦ 4♥ to ship Jose “Nacho” Barbero $41,722.00 in fourth place.

Revving up for a win?

As the blinds moved up to 200K/400K ante 40K Carster continued to dominate holding 25 million to flopkin51’s 4.7 million and GAWA9’s 6.4 million. flopkin51 would find a pair of nines 9♣ 9♦ on the button and shoved that 4.7 million into the middle as Carster made the call from the small blind. GAWA9 correctly folded as the chip leader showed pocket aces A♥ A♣ . A lack of nines on the 7♠ Q♠ 8♦ 4♣ K♣ board would set up heads-up play as flopkin51 took away $59,862.00 in third place.

When in doubt, offer booze

Shortly after the eleventh hourly break GAWA9 would catch a break hitting trip sixes on the river to beat out Carster’s turned top pair and getting max value to level the chip counts enough to warrant a chop discussion.

“Original numbers and I’ll buy first pint and jagerbomb at wpt fallsview” said GAWA9. After several minutes of negotiation GAWA9 finally spoke the language that everyone understands. Alcohol. After a few more minutes GAWA9 gave up a few bucks to as Carster will be buying at the next tournament after this deal below leaving $10K aside for the champ:

GAWA9: $94,515.37
Carster: $94,300.00

The ace takes it

After the 15 minute chop discussion the remainder of the tournament would only take a minute. Carster took over the chip lead quickly after winning a 16 million chip pot on the first hand back. Then two hands later with the blinds at 250K/500K ante 50K the players would trade preflop bets until GAWA9’s 10.2 million sat in the middle with pocket tens 10♣ 10♥ while Carster shot at a win resided with a suited ace 3♣ A♣ . The clubs were not needed as an ace flopped 9♠ A♦ 6♣ J♦ 9♣ sending the Sunday Warm-Up title (minus one jagerbomb) to Carster!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results (01-19-14)

Players entered: 3,628
Places paid: 540
Prizepool: $725,600.00

(* denotes part of two-way deal)

1. Carster (Canada) *$104,300.00
2. GAWA9 (Canada) *$94,515.57
3. flopkin51 (United Kingdom) $59,862.00
4. Team PokerStars Pro Jose Ignacio “nachobarbero” Barbero $41,722.00
5. Jabracada (United Kingdom) $30,838.00
6. 555yull555 (Israel) $23,582.00
7. baconbits33 (Canada) $16,326.00
8. dave798111 (Australia) $9,070.00
9. hustla16 (Canada) $5,804.80

David Aydt is a freelance contributor

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