The fields were super-sized during World Record Week and December 28th’s special edition of the Million drew a mind-boggling 16,260 players to the felt creating a prizepool of $3,252,000, easily surpassing the $2.5 million guarantee placed on the event in honor of World Record Week. As the tournament neared the end of its fourth hour, 2.475 of those players made the money, with Katja Thater winning the Team PokerStars Pro last-longer, making a deep run that ended in a 134th place finish.

Podarok ended up the final table bubble boy, busting out in 10th place when salmor turned a flush against his flopped two pair. With that, we had our final nine, their stack sizes looking like this:

Seat 1: lp_SakiSaki (31,505,955 in chips)
Seat 2: manifest23 (13,908,936 in chips)
Seat 3: kharak (14,643,069 in chips)
Seat 4: MauryFishant (2,944,989 in chips)
Seat 5: salmor (26,352,162 in chips)
Seat 6: Beufford (13,892,416 in chips)
Seat 7: La_Alvarado (12,286,663 in chips)
Seat 8: AAmerican (35,907,574 in chips)
Seat 9: k0rt (9,458,236 in chips)

Kharak was the first player to exit the final table. After AAmerican opened for 1.5 million with blinds of 250,000/500,000, khrarak moved all in for 10.8 million and salmor called from the big blind. AAmerican gave it up and kharak revealed Ah-Qc to salmor’s 9d-9h. The first race of the final table went to the underpair, as the board ran out Jc-8c-4d-6d-4h, eliminating kharak in 9th place for a $22,764 payday. Next to go was La_Alvarado, who from the small blind shoved over the top of lp_SakiSaki’s 1.5 million opening raise and MauryFishant’s flat-call. Lp_SakiSaki folded but MauryFishant made the call. La_Alvarado was in trouble, his Ac-Td dominated by MauryFishant’s As-Js. La_Alvarado couldn’t catch up on the eight-high board and he hit the rail in 8th place, collecting $32,520.

Nearly 30 minutes would pass before the next elimination. With blinds up to 400,000/800,000, MauryFishant opened for a min-raise to 1.6 million. AAmerican shoved for just over 3.9 million and MauryFishant made the call, showing Qh-Jh to AAmerican’s Ad-5h. A queen hit the flop, though and AAmerican could not improve, finishing in 7th place for $50,406. Four hands later, salmor would get very unlucky against lp_SakiSaki. With the board reading 7c-6s-5c-7h, salmor moved all in on the turn holding As-7d, only to run into lp_SakiSaki’s flopped straight with 4s-8s. The 3d fell on the river and salmor was out in 6th, earning $73,170.

Manifest23 was the short stack as play turned five-handed, and with only seven big blinds left, he needed to make something happen quickly. He moved in on a steal from the cutoff, but Beufford looked him up, showing pocket sixes to his 3c-6c. No help on the board for manifest23 and he collected $97,560 for his 5th place finish.

With the field down to four k0rt broached the subject of a deal, but lp_SakiSaki quickly put the kibosh on it. Then, only about twenty seconds later k0rt was all in against lp_SakiSaki and in great shape, with Kc-Kd vs. lp_SakiSaki’s Ad-Js. Though the flop was a seemingly safe-looking 9h-8c-6c, lp_SakiSaki turned the Qh and rivered the Tc to make a runner-runner straight and sent k0rt to the rail with a one-two punch and $130,080 in his pocket for 4th place.

Beufford was the next to bring up a chop, asking if his opponents wanted to “look at numbers”. With 70 million in chips to Beufford’s 54.2 million and MauryFishant’s 37.3 million, lp_SakiSaki again declined, preferring to play it out for the full amount. Though MauryFishant won a few small pots early on in three-handed play, his stack began to dwindle steadily while lp_SakiSaki turned up the aggression. He may have been tightening up, he may have been utterly card-dead, but when he found 3c-3h on the button, he raised to 4.8 million, only to have lp_SakiSaki move in for his entire 101 million stack from the big blind. MauryFishant made the call, and was crushed to see lp_SakiSaki turn up Kc-Kd. The flop was Jh-7h-4s, and though MauryFishant got a ray of hope on the turn when the 5c fell and he picked up a gutshot straight draw, the 2d on the river sealed his elimination in 3rd place. He earned $162,600 for his finish–which, on a “normal” weekend, would be close to the Million’s top prize.

As lp_SakiSaki and Beufford went heads-up, their chip counts looked like this:

Seat 1: lp_SakiSaki (127,356,568 in chips)
Seat 6: Beufford (35,243,432 in chips)

Lp_SakiSaki began heads-up play with a nearly 4-1 chip lead over Beufford. The two mostly traded small pots, lp_SakiSaki grinding Beufford down to a low of 21.3 million to his 141.2 million, but Beufford was able to double up to 42 million when he made two pair and lp_SakiSaki’s straight draw failed to materialize. Beufford appeared to be gaining momentum and at one point narrowed the gap to a 5-3 chip deficit, but ultimately, it would not be enough to overcome lp_SakiSaki. On the final hand, lp_SakiSaki opened for 2.8 million from the button and Beufford called. Beufford led out for 4.2 million on the 8h-2d-2c flop and lp_SakiSaki came along with a call. The turn was the 4c and Beufford made a massive all-in overbet for his remaining 50.7 million in chips and lp_SakiSaki practically beat him into the pot, showing 2h-8d for a flopped full house! Beufford and his Kd-8c were drawing nearly dead–only the case 8 could end the hand in a tie. The Ts fell on the river, though and lp_SakiSaki took down the largest non-WCOOP tournament ever held on PokerStars, banking $331,378.80 for his win. Beufford earned $227,640 for his runner-up finish.

After playing for huge stakes with no chop of the prize money, here’s what our nine finalists took home:

Sunday Million Results for 12/28/2008
1st place lp_SakiSaki ($331,378.80)
2nd place Beufford ($227,640)
3rd place MauryFishant ($162,600)
4th place k0rt ($130,080)
5th place manifest23 ($97,560)
6th place salmor ($73,170)
7th place AAmerican ($50,406)
8th place La_Alvarado ($32,520)
9th place kharak ($22,764)

For more information on how to register or satellite in to the Sunday Million, hit up the Sunday Million page.

On a weekend laden with free money getting tossed into the ring, why not join PokerStars’ biggest monthly freeroll? For 5,000 FPPs you receive a seat for a shot at a prize pool worth $1 million and a $100,000 first place prize. Tonight’s $1 Million Turbo Takedown featured 9,532 players that “bought-in” or worked the satellite circuit to reach the final nine shown below:

Seat 1: pezi2000 (5,844,901 in chips)
Seat 2: BigDennys (2,745,539 in chips)
Seat 3: plattsburgh (1,939,168 in chips)
Seat 4: krissyb24 (3,374,825 in chips)
Seat 5: lexwilly (865,053 in chips)
Seat 6: Shogu (3,359,768 in chips)
Seat 7: joehenry (1,779,972 in chips)
Seat 8: perky264 (5,434,185 in chips)
Seat 9: GKnight00001 (3,252,589 in chips)

lexwilly had to make something happen early and often to get into the deep money at this final table. Something happened early that negated the often, as six hands into the final table with blinds at 60,000/120,000 ante 12,000 lexwilly found himself open pushing his remaining 1,051,053 from middle position with pocket sixes. He got action from perky264 in the cutoff with Ac-7c who called creating the nearly 2.4 million chip pot. Top two flopped for perky264 on the board of 7d-As-3c-Qc-5d leaving lexwilly hanging in ninth place for $5,500 from his 5,000 FPPs spent.

Three hands later plattsburgh, Shogu, and GKnight00001 got into a three-way hand that would leave one person in eighth place. All three checked the flop of 4s-Ks-Kh, and then on the turned 6s, GKnight00001 led out for 240,000 from the big blind. plattsburgh responded with a shove for 1.3 million and Shogu took some ninja cover as GKnight00001 made the call holding just As-3h for the nut flush draw. Seeing the flush draw and not a king made plattsburgh’s pocket jacks (Js-Jd) very happy. But the river 3s turned that smile upside down as GKnight00001 held the larger flush and collected the 3.7 million chip pot while $10,000 real cash was shipped to plattsburgh for his eighth-place finish.

Short on chips with ever-growing blinds means you must push when you get a chance. joehenry took that chance when the table folded to his button while holding just 361,972 chips (only three big blinds). perky264 folded in the small blind while GKnight00001 could make a math call with any two, but actually held a decent Ac-Ts. Unfortunately for joehenry he did not have the live cards he was hoping for with Th-9c. A flush board for both players ran out 4c-Kc-Ah-6c-2c but GKnight00001’s nut flush toppled the nine kicker flush for joehenry. Slaying another dragon, GKnight00001 knocked off his second opponent and joehenry received $15,000 for his seventh-place finish.

Shogu managed to increase his short-ish stack after netting a nut flush against GKnight00001, knocking him off his steed for once in a 5.1 million chip pot. BigDennys also tried to get out of the short stack hole by putting a squeeze play on perky264’s 319,500 chip raise from the cut-off and a call by GKnight00001 on the button. A push of 2.4 million chips from the big blind with hopes to collect the 933,000 in the middle went south in a hurry for BigDennys’ Ah-6h as perky264 had 6 million chips behind after making the call with As-Qh. Queen on the flop of 3h-Qs-4c left BigDennys gasping for some runner-runner skillet combo, but the Kc and Jh on the turn and river left BigDennys searching for a grand slam breakfast in sixth place but with an extra $20,000 to tip the third shift waitress with.

Chip deals sour quickly when we just can’t all get along. While five-handed the remaining players got the chip-chop numbers but couldn’t form a circle of friendship large enough to split up the remaining prize pool. So, onward they played until pezi2000 found himself calling the all-in push of GKnight00001. Both players formed a 5.4 million chip pot with GKnight00001 leaving only 341,523 chips behind with the blinds at 90,000/180,000 and ante of 18,000. Ac-Jh for GKnight00001 was well ahead of pezi2000’s Ah-7s as a battle of the zeros was won by the gallant GKnight00001 when the board produced 6d-5s-6c-2h-6h and sent pezi2000 home with $25,000 in fifth place.

krissyb24 was the thorn in the side of the deal talks and that proved to be a costly decision as he got short-stacked with 3.4 million chips and blinds at 90,000/180,000 ante 18,000 decided to pushed those chips from the big blind eliciting calls from button perky264 and small blind GKnight00001. With 11 million chips in the middle both perky264 and GKnight00001 checked down the board of Kh-Qd-Ad-Jh-9d to reveal GKnight00001’s pocket black jacks for the set. krissyb24 mucked his hand without showing and was awarded fourth place, good for $32,500.

Shogu would gain some chips for GKnight00001 with a Ac-Kc vs. Ad-6s showdown that chopped into GKnight00001’s stack and gave Shogu 8.3 million chips with the blinds escalating to 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000. Three-handed poker would be played for over 30 hands until GKnight00001 took a couple of nicks to his armor and was blinded down to 2.3 million when perky264 raised to 489,500 from the button and GKnight00001 responded from the small blind with a three-bet to 1.4 million. perky264’s final answer? Let’s play. They formed a 7.7 million chip pot, Kd-Jh for perky264 and Ah-2h for GKnight00001. GKnight00001 looked well on his way back to the round table with the 6c-6h-5d flop, but was sent to the dungeon as the Jc fell on the turn and no ace 9c on the river. $40,000 to save a fair maiden was transferred to our third-place finisher GKnight00001.

perky264 would start heads up play with 19.5 million to Shogu’s nine million as the two had some wiggle room to play for a while and still no deal in place. The two traded blinds for over 20 hands, but perky264 got the bigger pots as he sliced at the ninja’s stack until he pushed all-in from the button with 4.7 million chips left. perky264 with 23.7 million had enough to safely cover and made the call with Kd-Qd. With As-3c for Shogu the race was short and sweet for this month’s $1 Million Turbo Takedown champion. 5h-Kc-2c gave perky264 a big lead but three aces and four fours were out there for Shogu to collect the 9.7 million in the middle.

The ninja left in a cloud of smoke after the 6s and 9d fell on the turn and river handing the victory to perky264.

Here’s the final money tally with no deals, perky264 snagged the entire $100,000!

December $1 Million Turbo Takedown

1. perky264 $100,000
2. Shogu $60,000
3. GKnight00001 $40,000
4. krissyb24 $32,500
5. pezi2000 $25,000
6. BigDennys $20,000
7. joehenry $15,000
8. plattsburgh $10,000
9. lexwilly $5,500

As part of World Record Week here at PokerStars, several tournaments received a money injection into their guarantees. The Sunday Warm-up, normally a guaranteed $750,000, became a $1 million guarantee, and just so people would not confuse this tournament with the “Sunday Million” the marquee weekly PokerStars tournament’s guarantee was bumped up to $2.5 million!

The added guarantee wasn’t necessary as a record 5,836 showed up for the Sunday Warm-up to boost the prize pool to a staggering $1,167,200.

The stars of MTT’s at PokerStars came out swinging as TLB regular BeL0WaB0Ve put in a valiant effort in 21st place. He led with a commanding lead during several portions of the tournament but ran into the force from down under known as Andy McLEOD who defeated BeL0WaB0Ve’s K-Qs with A-To that connected a rivered two pair to overcome BeL0WaB0Ve’s flopped top pair, sending him home. The Aussie has been a force on the TLB standings with Sunday Million final tables, and nearly getting Australia into the World Cup of Poker (being played next month as part of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure).

In Andy-like fashion, he ran over the table with a variety of head-turning plays, and once the table came back to their senses, he was the one standing tall with the most chips. Here’s how the final table started off with aforementioned Andy McLEOD with the final table chip lead:

Seat 1: Andy McLEOD (13,573,358 in chips)
Seat 2: Hr_Herman (3,975,211 in chips)
Seat 3: zmeyer (4,242,287 in chips)
Seat 4: groengras (3,943,729 in chips)
Seat 5: Tehanu (7,989,306 in chips)
Seat 6: KKgeoroAA (2,646,560 in chips)
Seat 7: totaloser (10,787,241 in chips)
Seat 8: Iceman1278 (4,573,710 in chips)
Seat 9: 69CANA69 (6,628,598 in chips)

It took nearly 30 minutes for Andy to claim his first victim, but KKgeoroAA was short-stacked with blinds at 200,000/400,000 ante 40,000, and facing a 800,000 chip raise from Andy McLEOD while in the big blind. KKgeoroAA responded with a push for his remaining 1.2 million behind his big blind with Kh-Tc. A snap call by Andy McLEOD with Ah-Ks proved to be the right one as the aggressive player had the cards to back up the bet this time and the Jc-2d-6c-9d-8d changed nothing. 3.8 million chips to Andy, and KKgeoroAA was the first to fall in ninth place earning $8,170.40

This set off an explosion of action as on the very next hand Andy McLEOD raised from UTG+2 to 800,000 and groengras pushed for 6.8 million from the cut-off. Button and small blind folded but Iceman1278 made the call in the big blind with Ad-Ks for his remaining 4.4 million. Andy McLEOD folded and groengras’ three-bet steal attempt was exposed as he turned over Qd-6s. Neither player hit the 5c-2s-5h-Th-9d board and the 11 million chip pot was shipped coolly to Iceman1278 while groengras was left with 1.9 million. Two hands later groengras tried shoving again but Andy McLEOD was waiting in the wings, dominating the Th-6c of groengras with As-Ts. Andy hit his ace on the board of Js-3h-Jh-Ah-3d sending the aggressive groengras to the rail with $14,006.40 for eighth place.

The very next hand, terminator Andy McLEOD again knocked out a rival as 69CANA69 open-shoved his remaining 2.8 million on the button and with 15 million in chips, Andy McLEOD gambled a bit and made the call with Kd-Jc. It proved to be the right thing as 69CANA69 turned over the dominated Kh-4h. Five cards later, Jd-3c-9s-7c-9d, and the 6.3 million chip pot increased his lead to 19.2 million, nearly double of Iceman1278 in second place with 10.7 million. A seventh-place finish for 69CAN69 earned him $22,176.80

Sixth place was decided in a huge 18.2 million chip pot with the blinds increasing to 250,000/500,000 ante 50,000, when a three-way, all-in preflop chip battle broke out.

Andy McLEOD: Js-Jh
totaloser: Ac-Qh
Tehanu: 6c-5c

Tehanu had 4.1 million and totaloser 6.7 million as Andy covered both as all three pushed all-in to see a flop of 7d-4c-Kc. Tehanu flopped the world with an open-ended straight and flush draws. The turn 2h gave the lead back to Andy McLEOD, but the cruel Qs on the river missed Tehanu’s huge draw and beat Andy McLEOD for the main pot shipping 18.2 million chips totaloser’s way and sending the unlucky Tehanu out in sixth place, earning $33,848.80

In fifth place, and for the first time, Andy McLEOD decided to let someone else do the deed as Hr_Herman started things off with a 1.5 million chip raise UTG and zmeyer to his immediate left three-bet his remaining six million chips. Lucky pocket sevens for Hr_Herman were good enough to make the call as the race was on against zmeyer’s Kd-Qd. The jackpot flop of 3c-6h-7h hit Hr_Herman’s set and left zmeyer drawing dead to a chop. The 5c provided some ooohs and ahhhs but the 8s handed $45,520.80 for fifth-place money to zmeyer.

He might lose sometimes but those sometimes are far less then the ones he wins. Andy McLEOD once again was in the eye of the storm as Iceman1278 tried to push his remaining 6.3 million chips into a 10.8 million chip pot and claim it with the board showing 5h-3c-7d. Andy sniffed out the Ad-8h bluff from Iceman1278 with ace high himself but with a better kicker as his Ah-Kd was in the lead. 2d and Td later and Andy McLEOD landed the 19 million chip pot into his lap and the Iceman1278 was a melted memory in fourth place with $57,192.80

Andy would lose many of those chips to Hr_Herman on a 30 million chip preflop all-in hand with Hr_Herman holding pocket kings (Kh-Kd) and Andy Jd-Td. The board was an enticing 7h-Th-6h-5h…. 3h. Andy McLEOD still held 11 million in chips while totaloser sat in second with 16.3 million.

Pre-flop play dominated the next 20 hands, then totaloser and Andy McLEOD got into a preflop all-in with Andy holding one million behind and the blinds moving up to 300,000/600,000 ante 60,000. Pocket sevens for totaloser and Ad-Th for Andy McLEOD, and the flop provided all the love Andy would need as the Td-4s-3s gave him the lead with top pair. 8d on the turn and an unnecessary Ac on the river for two pair sent totaloser home with an unloser-like $68,864.80 in third place.

“Chop?”, asked Hr_Herman.

Andy politely declined and they played one of the quickest heads up matches seen in the Sunday Warm-up. With blinds still at 300,000/600,000 ante 60,000, and Hr_Herman holding a 35.8 million to 22.4 million chip lead, they played nine hands with the big hand coming on hand number six when Hr_Herman came in for a 1.8 million chip raise on the button and was called to see a flop of 3d-9c-Ac. The 2.4 million chip continuation bet was called by Andy McLEOD as was the 6.6 million turn bet when the 6h fell. After the 7d splashed the river, Hr_Herman splashed the pot with a push that would leave Andy with either the victory or 1.9 million in chips.

Andy got 1.9 million in chips as Hr_Herman turned over Ad-Ts for flopped top pair to overcome Andy’s second pair with Jd-9s. One double up later, the two faced off for the final hand as Hr_Herman’s Tc-4s overcame Andy McLEOD’s Js-6h on the turn when the board played out 3h-6c-9d-Ts-Ks to become this week’s Sunday Warm-up champion!

Both players scored six-figure paydays as Andy McLEOD received $101,546.40 as the runner-up and Hr_Herman got $147,067.20 for the win.

Sunday Warm-up Results 12-28-08

1. Hr_Herman $147,067.20
2. Andy McLEOD $101,546.40
3. totaloser $68,864.80
4. Iceman1278 $57,192.80
5. zmeyer $45,520.80
6. Tehanu $33,848.80
7. 69CANA69 $22,176.80
8. groengras $14,006.40
9. KKgeoroAA $8,170.40

What better way to end a successful year (or slide back into the black) with a nice four to five-figure score from a freeroll? PokerStars rewards its players in many ways, but for the serious SnG players the biggest perk is a free entry into the Battle of the Planets race each month. Even if you were not one of the lucky nine to make it to the final table today, there are weekly prizes to be won regardless of the size of your bankroll. From the $1-$2.99 buy-in Mercury division to the high-rolling $300+ buy-in Jupiter division, size doesn’t matter for the below final nine as they played for bulk of the $50,000 month-end triple shootout freeroll.

klop0007 went out for a six-course meal as he was the first to nail down his seat at a final table (and waited nearly 45 minutes to play) awarding $12,500 to the winner. solody, a former 2006 WCOOP final tablist in Razz got to play Hold’Em with hopes of adding on to the $22,827.20 he won two years ago. doucheburger returned to the final table as he trapped potlogic with pocket aces versus pocket queens. He managed a 6th place finish back in September (link here), and one month later nearly took down the $1 million Turbo Takedown (link here) with a runner-up finish for $52,000.

The last final table seat was decided between Vegas_Matt78 and levaitom, sadly 10th place pays the same as 81st in the triple shootout and it was after a well spirited heads-up match that levaitom fell for the $195 consolation prize in 10th place to set our final table.

Despite two victories to get here, all players started off with the same $1,500 chip stacks and the blinds at an easy going 10/20. Any chance at an early deal was taken off the board by doucheburger:

AdamDay342: do they do table deals at this table?
doucheburger: they do
doucheburger: but i don’t

He may not do deals, but PokerStars does, by now if you have been playing this weekend there are several World Record Week promotions going on. Check out the promo page (link here) for reload bonuses, 10,000 player SnGs, and Milestone hands which can make you a winner just for sitting down and playing cash games!

No blood was drawn early, as AdamDay342 was the first to reach 2,000 chips followed closely by eL cuCut whose connection problems got the table grumbling, but none of the players felt the hurt from the blinds escalating from 10/20 to 15/30. Patient play shown by all the players as 3x big blind preflop raises took the blinds as very little post flop play was seen.

The first push came after a 3X big blind raise from the shortstacked klop0007 from Sleven11 with the blinds at 25/50. But, klop0007 decided to fight another day with his $775 in chips and folded. doucheburger jumped on a raise from Deurdy on his immediate right with a push but much like the prior hand, Deurdy took his $1,600 in chips and passed $150 of them quietly to doucheburger while mucking.

Steal attempt gone wrong, but chips shipped regardless. As the blinds moved up to 50/100, it folded around to doucheburger on the button who pushed with $1,310 chips remaining hoping to snag the $150 in the middle. But, AdamDay342 woke up with pocket nines in the big blind as doucheburger had to show the Qd7d busted steal attempt. The flop Kd-Jh-Ah provided some love for doucheburger for straight outs, the turn 6d added on the flush outs which hit on the cruel 9d river. Despite hitting his set, AdamDay342 fell to doucheburger’s flush and had to settle for $775 in ninth place.

The blinds at 50/100 now represented some problems for the shorter stacks as Vegas_Matt78 and klop0007 managed to double up off doucheburger and eL cuCut respectively to go from short stack to average stack.

At the break here’s how the stacks looked as the players came back to 75/150 blinds:

Seat 1: Sleven11 (1,180 in chips)
Seat 2: eL cuCut (2,465 in chips)
Seat 3: Fosca1 (2,170 in chips)
Seat 4: Vegas_Matt78 (1,580 in chips)
Seat 5: solody (1,300 in chips)
Seat 6: Deurdy (1,600 in chips)
Seat 7: doucheburger (1,655 in chips)
Seat 8: klop0007 (1,550 in chips)

Many all-ins but no one all out as the 75/150 blind level went thru without incident. But, as soon as the blinds bumped up to 100/200, solody and Sleven11 started the rain on all-ins and a call. Leaving $445 in chips behind, solody called the all-in push of Sleven11 from middle position with pocket jacks. Sleven11 was short on chips and short on luck as his Tc-9c never had a chance on the 5d-2d-Qc-Ah-8s board. solody collected the $2,410 chip pot and Sleven11 collected $1,200 in eighth place.

Two hands later, with only $605 left, Vegas_Matt78 open-pushed two off the button and Deurdy followed in suit on the button with a push of his own while holding $1,225 in chips. No “Deurdy” river needed in this race of Deurdy’s Ac-Qc versus Vegas_Matt78’s pocket deuces. The flop hit Deurdy’s ace showing 9d-4d-As and held up through the Td turn and 9c river. Vegas_Matt78 was chatting about $1 SnG and will now be able to play a little higher thanks to the $1,700 he won in seventh place.

Another two hands later, another all-in and a call preflop. This time klop0007’s button push with Ac-7d found himself well behind the big blind Fosca1’s Ad-Ks. No suspense in the outcome as the flop showed Kc-7h-Kh giving Fosca1 flopped trips and leaving klop0007 searching for the remaining sevens in the deck. Td and Qh on the turn and river sent the double agent home for the holidays with an extra $2,200 in his PokerStars account in sixth place.

Most hands this late in the tournament with the blinds at 125/250 ante 25 begin with a push and end with either a fold or call preflop. eL cuCut raised from the button with Ah-Qd to $600 and was facing a push from solody in the big blind for most of his chips saving $1,010 behind. He made the correct call and found himself racing with the pocket deuces on solody. The 3c-Jd-Ks flop added four more outs to the race for eL cuCut, the 8d on the turn did nothing, but the Ts on the river danced eL cuCut to his winning broadway straight and sent solody home with $2,735 in fifth place.

The very next hand produced a very “Deurdy” river. Again it was eL cuCut mixing it up leaving $1,560 in chips behind this time as he called the three-bet push of Deurdy with a suited big slick (Ac-Kc) and Deurdy found himself well behind with Ad-Td. The flop 3h-Tc-3c hit Deurdy hard he now he was dodging clubs and three kings to take the $7,620 chip pot. Js on the turn opened up three more queens for outs, and the “Deurdy” river 6c flushed Deurdy out of the last 2008 Battle of the Planets final table in fourth place earning $3,350.

doucheburger decided to go on the offensive pushing the next three out of four hands but losing most of his chips to Fosca1 when his Ac-3s missed the board, and Fosca1’s Jc-7s connected for a winning pair of sevens. Down but not out, doucheburger with only $730 left won the blinds the next hand but lost the following hand when his 6d-2d could not make up for lost ground against Fosca1’s Ad-2h on the 9c-3c-9h-8h-Ks board. doucheburger did add another impressive finish to his mantle with a third-place finish worth $4,500.

Even with doucheburger out, talks of chopping up the final two places only materialized after the following hands: eL cuCut’s 8,430 to Fosca1’s $5,070 heads up lead would evaporate after 18 hands when Fosca1’s pocket eights overcame the overcard and flush draw of eL cuCut’s Kd-5d on the 2d-4h-Qd-4c-7c board leaving eL cuCut with just $1,460 in chips. But, eL cuCut would battle back to even thanks to a few steals and pocket aces versus Fosca1’s pocket nines brought to gap into deal making range.

After a short wait for the trusty PokerStars Host, our remaining contestants divvied up the $19,500 left in the prize pool. Chip-chop it up!

Fosca1: $10,273.52
eL cuCut: $9,226.48

The players pushed the next two hands and with pocket Tens, eL cuCut held off the Qs-8c of Fosca1 to become the December Battle of the Planets champion!

Here’s how the final table’s share of the prize pool was given out:

December Battle of the Planets
(Based on two-way deal)

1. eL cuCut $9,226.82
2. Fosca1 $10,273.52
3. doucheburger $4,500.00
4. Deurdy $3,350.00
5. solody $2,735.00
6. klop0007 $2,200.00
7. Vegas_Matt78 $1,700.00
8. Sleven11 $1,200.00
9. AdamDay342 $775.00

A whopping 3,837 players took to the field for the last Sunday Warm-up before Christmas in 2008, and 585 of those players found at least $383.70 in their stocking by the end of the day. As the stores began to close on the east coast for shoppers, the final nine players gathered for their shot at the big money, including an impressive $99,762.00 for first place.

As the final table bubble neared, chip leader dan82mur amped up the aggression, taking out several players on the final table bubble to increase his chip lead. After a lengthy hand-for-hand period, etn99 busted in 10th place and the final table was set, with dan82mur taking a big chip lead into the final nine.

Caution was the watchword to kick off the final table, as the players took their time committing chips to the pot. Finally, with blinds at 100,000/200,000 and a 20,000 ante, liverdracon moved all in preflop from late position. He found action in the form of cadillacsa moving all in over the top with As-Qc. Liverdracon tabled Qh-9c, and needed help to stay alive. The board brought a little help, but not enough for liverdracon, as it ran out 6h-5h-3h-Qd-Ad to give cadillacsa two pair and send liverdracon packing in 9th place ($6,599.64).

With the first elimination, the floodgates cracked open and players began to be willing to commit chips to the pot. Next time around, it was eitishoo moving all in preflop with pocket jacks and snowking_85 making the call with Ac-Jh. That cracking sound you heard? That was the sound of an ace on the turn cracking eitishoo’s jacks as the board ran out 4s-7h-2c-As-4c. Aces and fours for snowking_85 was good enough to best eitishoo’s jacks and fours and send eitishoo home in 8th place, good for $9,592.50.

In an ironic 7th-place exit, AhKhQhJh10h moved all in preflop with Ah-Kd and found one caller in jas21, who showed Ac-Qc. The flop was certainly interesting, coming down Js-10c-9d to give both players the inside straight draw. The 4h on the turn was no help for anyone, but the Kh on the river made jas21’s Broadway straight and busted AhKhQhJh10h in 7th place for $15,348.00.

Cadillacsa made a move from early position when he open-shoved with Ac-5c, but he ran into trouble when jas21 made the call with Ah-As. Cadillacsa needed help to stay alive, and the flop left him drawing even thinner when it came down Js-Ad-2c. Jas21 made a set on the flop, and cadillacsa needed running straight cards to survive. The Qc on the turn left him drawing dead, and when the 7d hit the river, cadillacsa was done in 6th, with $23,022.00 for his troubles.

Raising with marginal hands from the button is a tried and true method of increasing your stack late in a tournament, and there was plenty of that on display at the final table. It went wrong for OMGSHIPIT when he shoved all in from the button with Ks-7d, but only because snowking_85 woke up with a real hand in the small blind. Snowking_85 made the easy call with Ah-Kc, and OMGSHIPIT was dominated. The flop brought a pair for both players, as it came down 2c-Qs-Kd. OMGSHIPIT needed a seven to survive, but it was not to be as the turn and river ran out 6d-Qc to send OMGSHIPIT home in 5th place ($30,696.00).

With OMGSHIPIT’s elimination, the remaining four players were very close in chip stacks. Talks of a deal surfaced but were quickly quashed, and play continued. Four-handed play continued for quite a while as the players jockeyed for position, and when the dam finally broke, it was ael1979 headed to the rail in 4th place with $38,370 for his troubles. Ael1979 raised preflop, and snowking_85 made the three-bet in position. After a long think, ael1979 moved all in over the top with Jh-10d. Snowking_85 quickly called with Ad-Qh, and the flop made things even uglier as it came down 2d-10s-As. Ael1979 picked up a pair, but so did snowking_85 with the ace. The Qc on the turn made two pair for snowking_85, and only a ten on the river would save ael1979. It was not to be, as the river brought the 3d, and snowking_85 took a commanding chip lead with three players left.

Dan82mur had built a stack repeatedly by aggressively stealing the blinds and antes and making solid moves in position. Every once in a while, he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and that’s exactly what happened to him when pay got short-handed. After getting called on an all-in shove with 8-6o, he found himself the short stack and needing to make something happen. He made his move from the button with Qh-3h, and jas21 made the call with pocket nines. Dan82mur needed to pick up a queen to stay alive, but the board ran out 2h-Ac-7s-5c-Jh and he was done in 3rd place. $46,044 is a pretty good day’s work, and that’s what dan82mur collected for his 3rd-place finish.

That big hand left the remaining players close to even in chips as heads-up play began, as jas21 and snowking_85 battled it out for the top spot. Heads-up play was a lengthy duel, with jas21 taking a 2:1 chip lead going into the last break of the evening. Snowking_85 wasn’t going to go easy, though, as he climbed back into contention to bring things close again. As the back-and-forth heads-up match continued, it was snowking_85 with the chip lead going into the final big hand. After a raise from snowking_85, the flop came down 10h-Qs-9h. Snowking_85 led out with a bet and jas21 moved all in over the top with Kh-10d for second pair and a straight draw. Snowking_85 made the quick call with 9s-10s for flopped two pair. The 9d on the turn ended all hope for jas21, and when the Ah hit the river, jas21 was done in 2nd place ($69,066.00). Snowking_85 came out on top after a tough back-and-forth heads-up battle, and pocketed $99,762.00 for his first-place finish, with no chop.

Congrats to snowking_85 on a hard-fought victory, and to all the 585 players who cashed in this week’s Sunday Warm-Up!