The latest installment of the MicroMillions is in the rear view mirror (and hopefully Team Online’s Andre Coimbra has recuperated from playing in all 100 events). Currently, players are flying their respective country’s flags high as the 2012 London Olympics has a hold of nearly everyone’s interest. Soon, especially for online poker players, all that attention focused on Beach Volleyball, Track and Field, and Kayaking will be placed on the 2012 World Championship of Online Poker. With $30 million in guaranteed prize pools starting in 27 days high stakes players are scrambling to finance more than a few shots at a WCOOP bracelet. One way to pay for just about every WCOOP event would be to win a Sunday Major like tonight’s $500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up. Especially when 3,029 players showed up to push the prize pool to $605,800.00 and a first place prize of $95,111.29

Team PokerStars pros seemed to have shaken off the online playing rust from hitting up Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. Lex Veldhuis (403rd place, $327.13), Martin Staszko (317th place, $375.59), Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth (165th place, $636.09), and Matthias De Meulder (119th place, $787.54) all found a little extra something in their PokerStars bankrolls after cashing this evening after finishing in the top 432 places.

Down to two tables, Table 227 was not kind to players as Eek-A-Donk (Mexico), vulcano23 (Austria), PizzicatoXev (United Kingdom) were all eliminated there after the eighth hour of play finishing in 16th thru 18th place respectively all earning $1,968.85. Only john9442 getting caught on a check-raise bluff against MarxVanCrazy’s flopped top pair-top kicker would be knocked out on the adjacent Table number 2 in 15th place ($2,877.55) before the ninth hourly break.

omalos holding 821,281 chips and blinds of 50K/100K ante 10K tried to take down the blinds with an open shove holding J♥ 8♣ . Instead pennyyy sitting to the immediate left re-shoved for just over a million turning up Q♣ K♦ . The flopped queen was not necessary 5♥ A♦ Q♥ 4♣ 6♠ but gave pennyyy a solid 1.8 million chip pot. Unfortunately, four hands later all of those chips (plus 2.2 million from badaboemba) would go to Uncaj5 who found the right time to acquire pocket kings K♥ K♦ after both pennyyy and badaboemba shoved ahead of the Mexican. badaboemba covered both players with pocket nines 9♠ 9♣ and pennyyy tried to work some magic with king-queen again K♠ Q♣ . The queen would flop but the 6.1 million chip pot 7♠ Q♥ 4♥ 6♦ 5♥ went to Uncaj5’s kings knocking out pennyyy in 13th place ($2,877.55).

MarxVanCrazy’s big slick lost to baneris’ deuces which hit a four-flush, earning 12th place cash ($3,786.25) starting the final pay bump until the final table.

bearsfan775 (and likely a Blackhawks fan from the avatar) tried shove a short-stack of 750,310 chips from the button with the blinds increased to 65K/130K ante 13K. However tikidiii saw through the ruse and called from the big blind holding a small ace A♣ 3♣ . 10♠ 7♦ of bearsfan775 never had a chance as tikidiii caught the nut flush 8♣ 4♠ Q♣ 2♠ 4♣ setting up hand-for-hand play.

Yes, there are only eight players at the final table

No, PokerStars did not switch this to a Stud game for the final table tonight but two players decided they did not want to play for ninth place and got frisky on the bubble and caused eliminations on both tables. First, matmatmat would re-shove over hronik81’s 1.4 million chip shove holding big slick A♣ K♦ . hronik81 showed a much smaller kicker 5♣ A♦ and was unable to pull out of the tailspin A♥ 3♥ 8♥ 8♣ Q♥ claiming 10th place due to chip count ($3,786.25).

On the other table Aloysius P57’s 2.02 million chip three-bet shove holding pocket fives 5♠ 5♥ would get looked up by baneris with pocket tens 10♥ 10♦ . Despite a straight sweat on the turn, baneris’ tens claimed the 4.1 million chip pot 9♠ 4♥ 6♥ 3♣ 3♥ as Aloysius P57’s avatar would not be included in the screenshot below in ninth place ($4,846.40).

Seat 1: badaboemba (2412740 in chips)
Seat 3: matmatmat (6014633 in chips)
Seat 4: Banisher666 (1601484 in chips)
Seat 5: UncaJ5 (4551256 in chips)
Seat 6: xal1959 (3213459 in chips)
Seat 7: vladobu6i (3620372 in chips)
Seat 8: baneris (4638398 in chips)
Seat 9: tikidiii (4237658 in chips)

We know Beach Volleyball is on, but there’s nearly $100K on the line!

Shortly after the blinds moved up to 80K/160K ante 16K things got fast in a hurry. Starting with vladobu6i and baneris in a blind versus blind battle that would end with vladobu6i raking in a seven million chip pot, good for the chip lead. Four hands later, baneris would shove the remaining 1.3 million from the once formidable stack as it folded around to matmatmat holding over five million chips in the small blind. 8♠ A♥ was enough to make the call for matmatmat as baneris would not even get two cards with 8♣ Q♦ . Both would hit their eight on the 5♠ K♠ 6♣ A♦ 8♦ board but matmatmat’s two pair would claim the 2.9 million chip pot as baneris earned $7,875.40 in eighth place.

The very next hand vladobu6i would min-raise from early position as badaboemba tried three-betting for 1.97 million all-in with 9♣ A♥ . vladobu6i’s pocket queens Q♠ Q♦ were eager to call and happy to see the 9♠ 5♦ 5♥ 6♠ J♠ board paired the nine and not the ace earning vladobu6i the 4.3 million chip pot as badaboemba took home $13,933.40 in seventh place. badaboemba took advantage of the MicroMillions II last month, nearly claiming Event #66 earning the runner-up paycheck of $2,540.67

Faster than Usain Bolt? Not quite but close.

Two hands after badaboemba said bye-bye to the table we had another elimination courtesy of the video below:

Pocket queens Q♥ Q♦ would be the winning hand once again Banisher666 tried an open shove with a suited connector 9♥ 8♥ that did not quite connect 10♠ 6♠ 4♣ 10♦ J♥ earning $19,991.40 in sixth place.

Finally the players would settle down a bit as even Team Online’s Kevin “WizardOfAhhs” Thuman would quip about the speed of eliminations thus far. But, for the remaining 26 minutes of the ninth hour, our final five would play nicely enough with each other to make it to the hourly break.

35 minutes later…

Two blind levels and 35 minutes of play would have our final five jockeying for that $95K sitting on top of the prize pool. With the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K xal1959 would open for a min-raise as UncaJ5 shove from the big blind for 6.2 million. Holding pocket kings K♦ K♣ and 3.3 million, xal1959 did not hesitate to make the call. UncaJ5’s pocket sevens 7♥ 7♣ looked ready to chop the healthy stack in half. That was until a lovely seven hit the flop 5♠ 10♥ 7♦ Q♣ 6♠ sending xal1959’s kings to the rail in fifth place ($26,049.40).

“Ouch” is right

The Team Online pro would react to watching vladobu6i’s pocket kings go down in flames against matmatmat’s pocket queens after a turned queen gave the Swede the tournament’s largest pot at 18 million chips. But, do not feel too bad for vladobu6i as the Bulgarian found a way to double up twice from 1.3 million lasting long enough for a big hand to erupt between UncaJ5 and tikidiii. With the blinds up to 200K/400K ante 40K tikidiii would open shove from the button for 4.6 million as UncaJ5 in the big blind made the call holding pocket nines 9♠ 9♥ . Sevens 7♣ 7♥ would not pull off another upset tonight as the Q♠ 8♠ 6♦ 6♥ 3♣ board shipped the 9.6 million chip pot to UncaJ5 and tikidiii earned $34,833.50 in fourth place.

Vlad the impaled

Give vladobu6i credit for not giving up after the huge suckout likely cost the Bulgarian the $95K first place prize tonight. Five minutes after tikidiii’s elimination and blinds still at 200K/400K ante 40K matmatmat would lead off with a min-raise from the button as vladobu6i shoved for a now sizable 6.9 million chips. Holding big slick K♦ A♣ matmatmat quickly made the callas vladobu6i would be the one who was dominated this time flipping up Q♥ A♦ . No such reverse in luck tonight as the 7♠ 10♦ 3♣ 2♣ 5♥ board played to the favorite knocking out vladobu6i in third place ($50,293.51).

Not interested in a deal

Heads-up play would take all of four hands as matmatmat started with a decent 21.7 million to 8.5 million chip lead over UncaJ5. UncaJ5 would take down the first hand uncontested after a min-raise from the button. The second hand matmatmat would min-raise as UncaJ5 shoved for 8.9 million with 7♣ K♠ as UncaJ5 made the call holding a low ace 6♠ A♥ . The ace would fail to hold as a seven popped off 2♠ 3♣ 7♥ 8♦ 5♠ giving UncaJ5 the 18 million chip pot and the chip lead.

UncaJ5 would take down the third hand with another min-raise setting up the massive 23.6 million preflop pot below:

No post-flop poker tonight as the players were ready to break for chop talks on the next hand as matmatmat showed Q♠ A♣ and UncaJ5 looking for the title with pocket fives 5♠ 5♣ . Only one broadway card hit the 2♠ 4♦ 9♦ K♠ 4♣ and it did not match matmatmat’s hand as UncaJ5 takes down the Sunday Warm-Up claiming the entire $95,111.29 first place prize!

Players Entered: 3,029
Places Paid: 432
Buy-In: $215.00
Prize Pool: $605,800.00

$500,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up results (08-05-12):
1. UncaJ5 (Mexico) $95,111.29
2. matmatmat (Sweden) $70,878.60
3. vladobu6i (Bulgaria) $50,293.51
4. tikidiii (Finland) $34,833.50
5. xal1959 (Russia) $26,049.40
6. Banisher666 (Poland) $19,991.40
7. badaboemba (Netherlands) $13,933.40
8. baneris (Lithuania) $7,875.40
9. Aloysius P57 (Austria) $4,846.40

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