A total of 4,526 players posted the $215 buy-in for this week’s Sunday Warm-Up, creating a $905,200 prize pool. The top 675 finishers would be seeing a profit, with $142,009.00 due the last one standing.

It took nearly four hours for the money bubble to burst. With 676 left and the tourney being played hand-for-hand, seven players were eliminated across the tables. Six of those seven cashed for $307.76, with kovi99 of Austria — a final tablist at the 2008 WCOOP Main Event (finishing 9th) — the only one to end the day empty-handed as he had the fewest chips of the seven when the hand began.

AtrophiedFin then enjoyed the chip lead with more than 350,000, about five times the chip average at the time. Also, when the bubble burst, Team PokerStars pro George Danzer was still alive, sitting in 148th of the 669 remaining. The German pro continued to accumulate chips thereafter, but suddenly parted with nearly all of them after running pocket nines into spank01’s pocket queens. On the next hand, mastermk took the last of Danzer’s chips, sending him out in 533rd.

After seven-and-a-half hours of play, just 30 players remained. AtrophiedFin was still there (in 24th), and undershade80 had moved to the top of the leaderboard with more than 4 million chips, followed by Ringelsdorf and govshark2. Soon came a huge hand between undershade80 and lexa0702. A ten-high flop sparked a series of bets, with lexa0702 eventually all in for 2.38 million. Both players had paired their tens, but undershade80 had the better kicker, and when the hand held, lexa0702 was out and undershade80 had surged up past 6.8 million — more than twice his nearest foe.

At the eight-hour mark, 20 players were left. Leader undershade80 had increased his stack to 8.42 million, still well clear of Ringelsdorf’s second-place stack of 4.49 million. A half-hour later they were down to 10. undershade had slipped back to the middle of the pack — along with AtrophiedFin — while cotrim333 had cruised into the top spot with more than 11.8 million. Finally undershade80 knocked out rsca03 in 10th, and the final table was set:

Seat 1: cotrim333 — 11,970,255
Seat 2: zweisieben — 1,616,362
Seat 3: teaspoon4582 — 2,790,558
Seat 4: undershade80 — 2,905,812
Seat 5: Ringelsdorf — 9,417,906
Seat 6: joojeh816 — 5,475,258
Seat 7: AtrophiedFin — 2,869,563
Seat 8: SirSwish6 — 4,550,186
Seat 9: dr.greenish — 3,664,100

About a dozen hands into the final table, with the blinds 65,000/130,000 (ante 13,000), leader cotrim333 raised 269,999 from middle position, then teaspoon4582 pushed all in from the cutoff for 1,672,558. It folded back to cotrim333 who made the call, showing K♦ K♣ to teaspoon4582’s A♥ 2♠ . The board came Q♠ J♠ 3♥ 4♦ 10♠ , and teaspoon4582 was out in ninth.

About an orbit later it was undershade80 open-shoving all in from the button for 1,965,812 and getting a caller in joojeh816, who had just over 4.1 million in the big blind. undershade80 appeared to have picked a decent spot with A♠ 6♦ , as joojeh816 showed A♦ 5♥ . However the flop came 9♦ 5♦ A♣ , and undershade80 was searching for a saving six. The turn was the 8♦ and the river the 2♥ , and undershade80 hit the rail in eighth.

Over the next few hands, cotrim333 pushed further in front, moving up near the 18-million chip mark. The blinds had moved up to 80,000/160,000 (ante 16,000) when Ringelsdorf — still in second place with just over 9 million — opened with a raise to 444,999 from the button, and AtrophiedFin reraised all in for 2,922,563 from the big blind. Ringelsdorf called, showing 10♦ 9♦ versus AtrophiedFin’s Q♥ 6♥ . The flop brought a ten — 10♥ 2♠ 4♠ — and the turn 2♦ and river 2♥ made a boat for Ringelsdorf, bouncing AtrophiedFin in seventh place.

SirSwish6 was the next short stack to push all in, opening from the button by going all in for 1,460,320 with K♠ 2♠ and getting called by cotrim333 in the big blind with J♥ 8♠ . The community cards came A♥ 8♥ 7♥ J♠ 3♦ , and cotrim333 took the pot with two pair, appropriately sending SirSwish6 out in sixth.

Soon after, dr.greenish opened from under the gun by pushing all in for 1,445,433, and it folded to Ringelsdorf who raised to isolate. The others folded, dr.greenish showed K♦ Q♥ , and Ringelsdorf A♣ 7♣ . The board came 10♥ 9♦ 6♦ 9♣ 10♣ , and dr. greenish was gone in fifth.

At that point the remaining players began talking about a possible deal, but zweisieben — then the short stack — quickly said he was not interested.

Ringelsdorf said, “unusual that smallstack says no^^”
joojeh816 said, “I KNOW”
cotrim333 said, “thats ok np”

Interestingly, it wasn’t long after that discussion that the two chip leaders — cotrim333 and Ringelsdorf — soon found themselves in a huge, tourney-changing hand. The blinds having reached 100,000/200,000 with a 20,000 ante. Ringelsdorf opened from UTG with a raise to 600,000, then cotrim333 reraised to 1.6 million from the small blind. zweisieben folded, and Ringelsdorf made the call.

The flop came 9♦ 5♠ A♥ . cotrim333 led for 1.2 million, Ringelsdorf raised to 3.4 million, and cotrim333 called. The turn was the 5♦ , pairing the board. cotrim333 checked, then Ringelsdorf pushed all in for 6,117,381. cotrim333 made the call, showing A♦ 8♦ for aces. Meanwhile Ringelsdorf had been making a move with Q♥ J♥ — he was drawing dead! The river brought a meaningless 9♥ , and Ringelsdorf was out in fourth.

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Just a few hands later, cotrim333 opened with an all-in raise from the small blind, and zweisieben called from the big blind with his last 5,659,055. zweisieben showed 9♠ 9♦ and cotrim333 J♣ K♣ . The flop came 5♣ Q♠ K♠ , putting cotrim333 in front. The turn was the 6♦ and river the 8♠ , and after nearly nine-and-a-half hours of play just two players remained.

The tourney was paused and the final pair discussed a possible deal. cotrim333 had a huge lead, with 39,277,179 to joojeh816’s 5,982,821. They could not reach an agreement, and play resumed.

It took just six hands to end it. joojeh816 open-shoved for 5,007,821 from the small blind/button with K♦ J♥ , and cotrim333 called with J♦ 10♥ . The flop brought cotrim333 his needed ten — 10♠ Q♥ 2♣ — and after the 4♣ turn and J♠ river, cotrim333 was the champion.

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Be sure to tune in to PokerStars.TV for a weekly wrap-up show covering all of the Sunday Majors.

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up Results (12-13-09)

1. cotrim333 — $142,009.99
2. joojeh816 — $105,455.80
3. zweisieben — $74,679.00
4. Ringelsdorf — $51,143.80
5. dr.greenish — $38,471.00
6. SirSwish6 — $29,419.00
7. AtrophiedFin — $20,367.00
8. undershade80 — $11.315.00
9. teaspoon4582 — $7,241.60

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