Every year on December 31st, we look back at the previous twelve months and think, “There is no way PokerStars will be able to outdo itself after this year.” Every year, we are proven wrong.

In 2008, PokerStars broke nearly every record on the books. It topped itself in as many ways as it could. Its Team PokerStars Pro members continued to astound, winning events on the EPT, WPT, and at the World Series.

At this point, we could be tempted to proclaim that PokerStars will never have another year that is this good. However, as we have been proven wrong time and again, we think it best just to say, “Wow, what a year.”

Here’s a look back at what happened at PokerStars in 2008.

JANUARY

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier wins 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

It was not uncommon for a winner of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure to become a member of Team PokerStars Pro. John Gale did it. So did Steve Paul-Ambrose. It was something entirely unique to see somebody do it in reverse. In January Team PokerStars Pro Betrand “ElkY” Grospellier won $2 million in the PCA.

Dustin “neverwin” Woolf sinks everyone’s battleship

Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf beats out 64 players to win $48,000 in 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Battleship Poker.

At the time, he said, “I’m not cocky; I’m in the zone.”

Dustin Mele wins PokerStars Passport

Doing well on the PokerStars Tournament Leader Board has always been a significant point of pride. Starting in January 2008, it became something worth quite a bit of money. Just ask Dustin Mele who won the PokerStars Passport. It afforded him the ability to–for nothing out of his pocket–go to ten big buy-in events around the world. For more on Dustin, read his autobigraphical post HERE.

FEBRUARY

18 year-old Mike McDonald becomes youngest ever EPT winner

It had to happen eventually and no one was upset to see nice-guy Mike “Timex” McDonald become the youngest person to ever win an EPT title. It happened in Dortmund, Germany and earned McDonald more than a title. He also picked up €933,600.

Mike “Timex” McDonald

Bigjoe2003 buys house with FPPs

In past years, we saw people buy books, trips, and cars with FPPs. In February of this year, we saw an FPP first. Well-known Supernova Elite Bigjoe2003 bought a house with his Frequent Player Points.

“I grew up in a trailer park, so being able to live in a million dollar house was always a dream of mine,” bigjoe2003 said. “I greatly appreciate PokerStars’ help in allowing me to reach that goal.”

Big Joe’s big house

Tim Vance, a PokerStars qualifier from St Louis wins EPT Copenhagen

In what will probably be the poker tournament quote of the year (”It’s been nice playing with you sir, I call…”), Tim Vance won his first major event. The PokerStars qualifier from St. Louis, Missouri won €834,590.

.net qualifier goes to NBC heads-up event

It’s a wild ride going from a freeroll on PokerStars.net to the $20,000 NBC Heads-Up Championships. That is exactly the ride Alisha Kunze got to take in February after winning a qualifier.

Alisha Kunze

MARCH

Victor Ramdin opens New York Stock Exchange

It’s not uncommon to see a Team PokerStars Pro around a lot of money. It is less common to see one opening the world’s biggest stock exchange.

That’s exactly what Victor Ramdin did in March. And, in his defense, that was a long time before the market crashed, so don’t go blaming him.

Michael Schulze wins EPT Warsaw

Michael Schulze successfully overcame Ricardo Sousa heads-up and was crowned EPT Warsaw Champion. For his efforts he won €609,782.

Michael Schulze

Frequent Player Points turn to gift horse

Just a month before, a PokerStars player turned his FPP points into a house. In March, PokerStars player blego151 decided to take a different path. He turned his points into a pretty good looking horse for his daughter.

The gift horse’s honest to goodness registered name?

Midnight Gambler.

jorj95 becomes 2008’s first Supernova Elite

The race to Supernova Elite only lasted until March when George Lind III, also known as jorj95, became the first player in 2008 to earn a million VIP Player Points. Like all Supernova Elites he earned free entry into the World Championship of Online Poker main event, as well as two big buy-in live events.

Hevad Khan wins Sunday Warm-Up

Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan kicked off his 2008 rush with a win in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for nearly $100,000. The link above takes you to a full interview he did with the PokerStars Blog after his win.

APRIL

Hevad Khan wins again…this time at Foxwoods

Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan let his rush carry him from March to April. Just a few weeks after winning the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up, Khan took down an event at the Foxwoods Poker Classic for more than $100,000.

Battle of the Planets begins

In April, PokerStars introduced its first SNG Tournament Leader Board. The Battle of the Planets is a weekly competition that pays out more than $3 million a year to SNG players. It will begin its first full year in 2009.

Jason Mercier wins EPT San Remo

The second-to-last EPT event of the season gave way to an American PokerStars qualifier from Florida winning the title in San Remo. This was the first year the European Poker Tour had held an event in Italy. Mercier won €869,000.

Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown join Team PokerStars Pro

Team PokerStars Pro grew a lot in 2008. The big time growth began with the introduction of Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown. Both new team members joined just in time for the EPT Grand Final, the same event Griffin had won the year before.

Glen Chorny is crowned the new EPT Grand Final Champion

In an affair fitting of its Grand Final name, the season-closing EPT event in Monte Carlo drew the world’s best players. Canadian Glen Chorny took down the title and the monster €2,020,000 first prize.

Victoria Coren joins Team PokerStars Pro

After many years as a successful player, writer, and broadcaster, Victoria Coren took the next logical step. She signed on with Team PokerStars Pro.

MAY

Julien Nuijten wins first LAPT event

In May, the Latin America Poker Tour kicked off its first-ever event. The event in Brazil marked the beginning of a tour that would see its second season before the end of the year. Nineteen year old Julien Nuijten won the event for $228,000.

Turbo Takedown added to permanent tournament schedule

In February, PokerStars ran a trial version of what would eventually become the Turbo Takedown. The 5000 Frequent Player Point event now runs once a month with a $100,000 prize pool and guaranteed $20,000 first prize.

PokerStars continues support of Life Ball

PokerStars, a longtime supporter of AIDS research, once again helped sponsor Life Ball, a giant fund raiser and gala for the study of an AIDS cure. PokerStars and its players gave their hard-earned money to Life Ball 2008 to the tune of more than €150,000.

PokerStars opens Macau’s first poker rooom

In May, PokerStars once again broke new ground by opening PokerStars Macau, Macau’s first live poker room. The Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino card room kicked off with space for for 160 players. It continues to offer cash games and boast of a pretty nice weekly tournament schedule. See the ribbon cutting on the event HERE.

Valdemar Kwaysser wins LAPT San Jose

He had to travel from Hungary to San Jose to do it, but PokerStars qualifier Valdemar Kwaysser took down the Season 1 LAPT event in Costa Rica. His efforts earned him $280,000.

PokerStars celebrates Moneymaker anniversary

May marked the five-year anniversary of Chris Moneymaker’s revolutionary achievement that set the poker world on a new course. As everyone remembers, Moneymaker used a $39 satellite entry to get into the World Series of Poker and win the entire thing for $2.5 million. To celebrate the anniversary, PokerStars created Team Moneymaker–a special crew of players to go to the 2008 World Series and play for $39.

JUNE

PokerStars players donate to China quake relief

After the tragic earthquakes in China, PokerStars and its players banded together to raise money for quake relief. PokerStars matched every dollar donated by its players and gave it all to the Red Cross to aid the suffering in China.

PokerStars lobbies get new look

Everybody was familiar with PokerStars old lobby and tables. At the same time, there comes a time in everybody’s life when a little change is good. With that in mind, PokerStars began offering a new slick theme for its lobby.

Daniel Negreanu wins fourth bracelet

It was only a matter of time before Daniel Negreanu did it again. He’s won tournament after tournament, and he knew he would pick up his fourth bracelet eventually. He did it during the 2008 World Series. Negreanu won the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event for more than $204,000.

PokerStars sends man to top of the world

PokerStars’ headquarters sits on the Isle of Man in the UK. In June, a police officer from the Isle found himself at the highest point in the world–with a little help from PokerStars. The link above is his story, in his own words.

Barry Greenstein wins World Series Razz bracelet

Barry Greenstein already had two World Series bracelets to his name, but that wasn’t enough. He tore through the Razz at the World Series and picked up his third bracelet.

William Thorson, Marcin Horecki join Team PokerStars Pro

Just in time for the World Series Main Event, two of Europe’s top poker pros joined poker’s most elite team of players. William Thorson and Marcin Horecki hit the ground running in late June.

JULY

PokerStars launches PokerStars.tv

PokerStars has long been an innovator, but in July it did something so spectacular it needed a whole new website. PokerStars launched a brand new web TV platform for video blogs, live coverage of PokerStars events, and replays of online events. You can watch at PokerStars.tv.

Brazil’s Alexandre Gomes joins Team PokerStars Pro

Alexandre Gomes, a 25-year-old lawyer from Curitiba, Brazil, had been leaving behind his profession in law and slowly but surely gravitating toward poker. He finally made the decision to join Team PokerStars in the middle of the World Series. He was the second Brazilian to join the Team (Andre Akkari was the first).

PokerStars throws massive World Series party

PokerStars has always been known for its huge parties, but this year’s World Series party took the cake. Burlesque celebrity Dita von Teese was the star of the show for the thousands of people in attendance.

The PokerStars Six make World Series final table

The World Series had a name for its four-month-delayed final table players: the November Nine. Two thirds of those players came straight from the PokerStars ranks. The PokerStars six left Vegas for four months with $900,000 in their pocket and a chance to play the final table in November.

AUGUST

Jose Miguel Espinar wins LAPT Punta del Este

The first season of the Latin American Poker Tour came to a close in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Spaniard Jose Miguel Espinar took down the final event.

SEPTEMBER

Mats Sundin hits the PokerStars ice

PokerStars has built a great team of poker professionals. In August, it added a hockey legend to its ranks. Mats Sundin signed on with PokerStars as one of its ambassadors.

PokerStars launched biggest WCOOP ever

The World Championship of Online Poker gets bigger every year. 2008 was no different. PokerStars guaranteed at least $30 million in prize money over the 2 1/2 weeks of tournaments. What’s more, tournament organizers added new events this year, including some big high-roller events with event buy-ins as high as $10,000 and $25,000.

Eddie Sabat wins APPT Macau

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour kicked off its second season in Macau. Eddie Sabat helped celebrate by taking down the event and winning $453,851.

British claim first WCOOP bracelet

Folks from the UK have played a lot of WCOOP events. A lot. But they had never won a WCOOP bracelet until Shane147 took down Event #1 of the 2008 WCOOP.

Nam Le wins APPT High Roller event

Everybody in American professional poker knew the name Nam Le. Now, everyone in Asia knows it after he won more than $3.7 million Hong Kong dollars in the high roller event of the APPT’s second season in Macau.

Sebastian Ruthenberg wins EPT Barcelona

Sebastian Ruthenberg was a Shooting Star from Germany before he went to Barcelona. He came out as an EPT champion, winning €1,361,000.

Stevesbets defeats ElkY in $25,000 heads-up event

It’s not very often one finds a $25,000 event online. When PokerStars’ WCOOP ran the the heads-up event for the first time, it saw online phenom stevesbets go up against Team PokerStars Pro Betrand ElkY Grospellier. Stevesbets took it down and won more than half a million bucks.

ckingusc wins WCOOP championship bracelet and $1.26 million

The World Championship of Online Poker was one for the books–the record books–with nearly $40,000,000 in prize money. The biggest money went to ckingusc who picked up $1.26 million for the championship win.

Yoshihiro Tasaka wins APPT Seoul

The second event of the second season on the APPT saw Yoshihiro Tasaka picking up $80,155.

OCTOBER

Chris Moneymaker wins Million Dollar Men TOC

The three PokerStars World Series champions faced off against the PokerStars Six in a single table event for bragging rights. The first of the champions, Chris Moneymaker, took it down.

Michael Martin wins EPT London

Everybody’s favorite nice guy Michael Martin came tantalizingly close to winning the EPT Grand Final in March. In London, he actually took down the title.

Jason Mercier wins…again

Jason Mercier, winner of the EPT event in Italy just a few months earlier in San Remo, went to London and won the Million Pound Showdown for £516,000.

Daniel Craker wins APPT Auckland at home

It’s one thing to win a big event. It’s another thing to win a big event with your hometown crowd around you. That’s exactly what Daniel Cracker did at the APPT event in Auckland.

ElkY wins on WPT

ElkY may not have won a WSOP bracelet this year. He came close to winning a WCOOP bracelet several times. That said, he won an EPT title in January. And then in October, ElkY won on the WPT. He took down the Festa al Lago event for $1.4 million after beating out a field of 368 people. He wrote about it HERE.

Hevad Khan wins $1 million at Caesars

We talked a lot about how Hevad Khan had a great year. It got even better at the end of October when he won $1 million at the Caesars Palace Classic.

NOVEMBER

Ryan Fee wins LAPT San Jose

The second season of the LAPT came before the first season was even a year-old memory. American player Ryan Fee took the short flight to Costa Rica and blitzed his way through the tournament for a victory he called “easy.”

Peter Eastgate wins 2008 World Series

After waiting for months to play the final table of the World Series, Peter Eastgate took down the Main Event bracelet. Eastgate, at 22, became the youngest ever Main Event winner. He won $9,152,416.

Van Marcus wins APPT Manila

Van Marcus has racked up his share of big cashes on the APPT, but he had yet to achieve the title of champion. He did it in Manila.

Joao Barbosa wins EPT Warsaw

Joao Barbosa was already a rising star on the European Poker Tour, but that wasn’t enough. So, he won EPT Warsaw and €367,141.

Negreanu takes down British Columbia Poker Championship

ElkY won a couple of big titles. So did Hevad Kahn. Daniel Negreanu is not one to be outdone. So, he went home to Canada and took down the British Columbia Poker Championships for $371,000. You can read about his victory in his trip report.

DECEMBER

PokerStars sponsored Thiago Camilo

PokerStars is pretty well known for sponsoring some pretty big events. It happened again in Brazil when PokerStars raced around the track with Thiago Camilo.

PokerStars introduces Russian Poker Tour

PokerStars has tours in almost every part of the world, but its empire has not reached capacity. Enter the Russian Poker Tour, a brand new series kicking off in 2009.

Martin Rowe wins APPT Grand Final

The APPT concluded a successful second season in Sydney, Australia. The title went to hometown hero Martin Rowe who won AUD $1,000,000.

Vanessa Rousso wins APPT Tournament of Champions

In mid-December Vanessa Rousso took some time out of her day to take down the APPT TOC and win some big cash for the No Limit, No Profit Initiative, a charity set up to aid cancer research.

World Cup sets live final teams

After a month of qualifying and battle, the PokerStars World Cup of Poker V set its live final teams. They will meet Janaury 6 in the Bahamas to determine the World Cup of Poker champion. For a look at recent World Cup news, click here.

Salvatore Bonavena wins EPT Prague

The EPT season would go on into 2009, but the last event of the year came in December in Prague. The title went to Salvatore Bonavena who won €774,000.

Imric_est wins World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

For the first time, PokerStars turned the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker into a series of events. This year, Imric_est took down the championship title and will be playing at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2009.

PokerStars breaks tons of records

PokerStars hosted World Record week and shattered just about every record it could find. From the biggest ever poker tournament, to the biggest number of players online, to the biggest Sunday Million, to the biggest Sunday Warm-Up, PokerStars broke them all.

***

Thank you all for a great year and your visits to the PokerStars Blog. Happy New Year. We’ll see you in the Bahamas to kick off what is sure to be a fantastic 2009.

Joined by Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater, Team Germany made the finals of last year’s World Cup of Poker, but unfortunately had to say “Auf Weidersehen” in seventh place. Now, after plowing through five teams of their fellow countrymen, Team Germany 1 is set to make a repeat appearance with Thater again as its fearless leader.

Yes, you read that right– five teams. The German player base has grown so much that rather than compete within one of the European divisions, Germany occupies its own division like the United States and Canada. Among our four qualifiers are three amateurs and one rising young pro who will attempt to bring the crown home to the motherland.

20-year old Bastian “mados4k” Wulff is the first to admit that he got extremely lucky in the freeroll qualifying matches that earned him a spot on Team Germany. Only having learned the game recently, Wulff primarily plays freeroll MTTs on PokerStars and the World Cup finals in the Bahamas will mark his first live tournament experience.

Like Wulff, Peter “SmArTdOg1970″ Schmidt is another World Cup finalist whose poker experience is largely confined to playing freerolls. The 38-year old auto mechanic from Esslingen is excited not only to play poker on the world stage but to represent Germany in the process.

“I´m very proud to play for my country and who can say in his life (that he had) the chance to win a world championship!” said Schmidt.

40-year old Georg “josha45″ Geissler earned his spot on Team Germany via his TLB status for 2007. Married for 14 years and the father of three daughters, Geissler works as a marketing VP for a high-tech machinery company. He discovered PokerStars in 2006 and also plays in a live game at the Casino Wiesbaden once a week. Geissler is especially excited to travel to the Bahamas–last year he won a seat to the PCA but was unable to play due to health issues. This year, he looks forward to experiencing the warm weather and will represent Germany in the World Cup with someone special on his mind, his grandmother, who recently passed away.

“She would have (been) too excited about it as she always supported me, loved playing cards as well and taught me this when I was young,” Geissler related.

Our final player is TLB qualifier Thomas Boekhoff who first caught the eye of the poker media with his impressive 14th place finish at the 2008 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, for which he took home €76,000. The 21-year old took up poker in 2006 and dropped out of school shortly thereafter to pursue a career as a poker professional. He can often be found playing up to 40 tables simultaneously.

Boekhoff admitted to us that he isn’t too familiar with the island nation he’s about to experience. “(I) don’t know much about the Bahamas, I actually thought it was somewhere around New Zealand to be honest… just looking forward to have some nice relaxing days,’ said Boekhoff.

Sun. Sand. Crystal-blue water. Fruity drinks. Awesome cash game action. That’s all you need to know.

In the poker year that was 2008, Italy made a lasting impression. Luca Pagano was voted the EPT Player of the Year. Dario Minieri won his first World Series of Poker bracelet and Max Pescatori won his second. San Remo hosted their first EPT event, and though American Jason Mercier took down that title, three Italians went on to make the final table on the tour’s most recent stop in Prague, where Salvatore Bonavena came away with the title, wrapped in Il Tricolore as he posed for his winner’s photo.

Fittingly enough, in a year where Italy had such a significant impact on the poker world, it will represent the continent of Europe for the first time in the World Cup of Poker finals. Two freeroll qualifiers and two Tournament Leaderboard achievers will be heading down to the Bahamas to see if they can add one more title to Italy’s till.

Leading the team into battle will be Team PokerStars Pro and EPT player of the year Luca Pagano. While this will be his first time at the World Cup, his live tournament experience is many years long and could serve his team exceptionally well.

Pennisi “Omaruccio” Omar is a self-described “nice boy from Sicily” who is no stranger to the gambling world. By day he works managing a firm that sells and leases slot machines and by night he feeds his online poker hobby, playing multi-table tournaments on PokerStars.

Though he had a rough start when he first started playing in January 2006, Omar persevered and posted excellent tournament results in 2007, earning him the second spot on Italy’s Tournament Leaderboard. Omar also loves to travel and is not only excited about getting to experience the Bahamas, but is especially intrigued by the World Cup format.
 
“What I find exciting in the Bahamas tournament is the fact that there will be a team work– you play for your own nation and the win depends on every single member of the team. That is very different from other live tournaments,” said Omar. “A World Cup win would be an indescribable emotion and a deep personal satisfaction.”

Michele “mm-mh” Migliori is coy when it comes to his background, preferring to keep a low profile. A recreational player for the last decade, Migliori qualified for Team Italy via her TLB standing. Though he enjoys the online game, Migliori also comes to the table with some significant live tournament experience, having played three WSOP Main Events in addition to cashing in tournaments at the Orleans Open, the Foxwoods World Poker Finals, and the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam.

Joining our TLB duo is freeroll qualifier Valeriano “BILLIKO” Bilancetti. In addition to playing online, the 32-year old often plays live in a private game at the Casino San Remo.

Rounding out the quartet is Gerardo “gvilla2″ Fabrizio, whose road to the World Cup Finals began when he finished in the top nine of a 552 player freeroll qualifier. The 23-year old electrician has been playing poker for three years, but began taking the game seriously only this year when he became an active participant in poker strategy forums. Aside from playing on PokerStars, he also plays frequently in local tournaments.

What’s he looking forward to the most in the Bahamas? “Doubtless the beautiful place!” he replied.

Will the names Migliori, Omar, Fabrizio, and Bilancetti be etched into Italian poker history alongside Minieri and Pagano? Stay tuned…

We may be in the middle of PokerStars’ World Record Week, but this weekend was where the biggest action happened. In just the span of one day, we saw the world’s biggest ever poker tournament, the biggest ever Sunday Million, the biggest ever Sunday Warm-Up, and more than $12 million in real cash tournament prizes awarded to PokersStars players.

Oh…and while we’re mentioning broken records, we should also mention that Sunday around 3:30pm ET, we saw the biggest number of people ever logged into PokerStars. As you can see in the screen capture below, the number topped out at more than 250,500 players (click on the image for a full-size version).

Perhaps the most talked about attraction all week long was PokerStars’ attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest ever poker tournament. The players came through–all 35,000 of them. Not only was it a win for PokerStars, it was a pretty significant win for stan34powa who topped the field of 35,000 to win the Guinness World Record tourney and $30,000.

The Guinness World Record attempt may have been the tournament with the most players, but the PokerStars Sunday Million dwarfed everything with its prize pool. The tourney pulled in a whopping 16,260 players who played for a $3,252,000 prize pool. Not only was it a monster Sunday Million, it was also one where the winner cut no deals and collected a $331,378 prize. Many congratulations go to lp_Saki Saki from Sweden. Read how he did it in the 12/28/08 Sunday Million report.

If that’s not enough broken records (and yes, I’m perfectly aware I’m starting to sound like one), the Sunday Warm-Up eclipsed its largest ever number of players this weekend. When the tournament finally settled on a total number, it looked like 5,836 playing for a $1,167,200 prize pool. Hr_Herman went into the final table with one of the smaller chip stacks but emerged with the victory and $147,067. Read all about it in the 12/28/08 Sunday Warm-Up report.

Oh, that should be enough, right? Well, it’s not. Not only was PokerStars rocking and rolling in the record-breaking department, it was also celebrating the last Sunday of the month (and year). That meant it was time for the PokerStars Turbo Takedown and the Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout. Turbo Takedown honors (and $100,000) went to perky246 (read the full report HERE). In the Battle of the Planets showdown, el cuCut ran the table and came out with the victory (full report HERE).

You think that’s it? Well, it’s not.

This weekend also marked the time when the members of Team PokerStars Pro would face off against each other and determine the team’s captain. Who won? After a tough heads-up battle with Daniel Negreanu, Victor Ramdin walked away with the win. We provided full coverage of the match. You can see the whole live blog HERE or read the Team PokerStars Pro Championship match wrap-up.

You think that’s all? Well, that’s all we have room for here, but there were still tons of other major tournaments on Sunday. For a full breakdown of winners from the big weekend, visit the (12-28-08) PokerStars Sunday Tournament Results page.

Congratulations to PokerStars for its record-breaking weekend. Moreover, congratulations to all the players who raked in the big cash.

PokerStars went for the record books this weekend–the Guiness Book of World Records to be precise, putting together the largest poker tournament in history–a 35,000 player, $10+1 buy-in event with a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000. Selling out days before cards ever went on the screen, the capped starting field hit the felt at 4:30 pm EST and a whopping 8,750 of them hit the money less than three hours later. With a tournament of this gargantuan size, would it surprise you that eighty players were lost during hand-for-hand play on the bubble as the action on 876 tables played out?

As we reached the final table of ten, the stack sizes looked like this:

Seat 1: Goldman007 (9,863,968 in chips)
Seat 2: gustave44 (11,654,326 in chips)
Seat 3: stan34powa (11,516,965 in chips)
Seat 4: Nekochan48 (8,822,692 in chips)
Seat 5: alepolice (9,373,489 in chips)
Seat 6: meiky777 (20,884,333 in chips)
Seat 7: FuFish (6,384,140 in chips)
Seat 8: n0ideahh (7,239,435 in chips)
Seat 9: rumred14 (4,506,500 in chips)
Seat 10: ONE_TIMEE (14,754,152 in chips)

FuFish, who was being cheered on by an enthusiastic bunch of railbirds, was unfortunately the first to be eliminated from the final table. With the blinds at 250,000/500,000 with a 62,500 ante, gustave44 opened for a raise to 1.5 million from middle position, FuFush moved all in for 5.75 million and gustave44 made the call, turning up Kh-Qs to FuFish’s pocket sevens. With a king on the flop and a queen on the river, the overcards outran the underpair and FuFish finished in 10th place, good for $1,500.

Next to exit was ONE_TIMEE, who fell to Goldman007 on a blind vs. blind hand. After open-shoving from the small blind for 6.2 million and getting a call from Goldman007 in the big, ONE_TIMEE was no doubt verbalizing the clarion call of his screen name as he awaited the flop, his Kd-9s trailing Goldman007’s Ks-Js. The flop, though, was Jc-7h-2c, making top pair for Goldman007 and ONE_TIMEE could not catch running cards to improve, ending his long day of poker with an extra $2,000 in his account for his 9th place finish.

After a much-deserved break, the final eight returned to blinds of 500,000/1,000,000 and an ante of 125,000. Stacks were shallow, with the average stack at that point at about 13 big blinds. Even dominant chip leader meiky77 only had 32 big blinds. This action was going to move fast.

Seated under the gun and facing the 1,000,000 big blind on the next hand, alepolice pushed in for 1.6 million. Meiky777 flat-called from UTG+1 and the action folded around to stan34powa, who moved all in for 9.9 million from the small blind. Neckochan48 gave up his big blind and meiky777 mucked as well, leaving their two opponents heads-up. Alepolice’s Ks-9s was dominated by Nekochan48’s Ac-Kc and he could not improve, hitting the rail in 8th place for $2,500.

Four hands later, stan34powa opened for 2.75 million and n0ideahh made his stand, moving in for 3.1 million with Qd-Js. Stan34powa called the additional 385,000 with pocket sevens and they held up to send off n0ideahh in 7th place. Two hands after that, Nekochan48 curiously limped in from UTG and the action folded around to gustave44 in the small blind. He moved all in for 19.6 million only to have stan34powa move all in for 19.9 million from the big blind. Nekochan48 got out of the way and the cards were turned up, gustave44’s Ad-Ts trailing stan34powa’s Qc-Qs. The flop was a tantalizing As-Ks-2s, gustave44 flopping top pair but stan34powa still in it with the nut flush draw. The turn was the 2d, but the river was the 3s, making both players a flush, stan34powa’s the higher one as gustave44 exited in 6th place.

Rumred14 started talks of a chop once play became five-handed, but no one was ready to talk deals yet. He’d be the next player to get action, moving all in pre-flop for his remaining 9.1 million and earning a call from Nekochan48 in the big blind, who had him slightly covered. It was a race situation, Nekochan48 holding pocket sixes and rumred14 the Ad-Ks. The board ran out As-8c-3d-Tc-Jd and rumred14 doubled up, crippling Nekochan48 to only 585,209, all of which was posted in the small blind on the next hand. Nekochan48’s 4d-Ts could not improve against rumred14’s Ah-Td and he was eliminated in 5th place, collecting $7,500.

A dozen unanswered open-pushes later, meiky777 opened for 6 million with blinds of 750,000/1.5 million. Goldman007 reraised to 10.5 million and meiky777 four-bet to 15 million, setting Goldman007 all in. He quickly called and turned up As-Ac to meiky777’s Ah-4h. Though Goldman007 was in one of the best pre-flop situations a player can be in when it comes to hold’em, the flop opened doors for meiky777, coming down 6s-3h-2s. The turn was the Kh, but the river was the disastrous 5d, making meiky777 a six-high straight and bouncing a very unlucky Goldman777 from the tournament in 4th place. Though he came out on the wrong end of that hand, he still managed to turn $11 into $10,000 in the space of eight hours.

Rumred14 asked about a chop again when play was three-handed and the chip counts had evened up. Once again, his suggestions were met with silence from his opponents. Only a few minutes later, rumred14 called meiky777’s 3 million opening raise and they saw a flop of Th-8s-7s. With rumred14 holding Qs-Js for straight and flush draws and meiky777 with 7c-8c for bottom two, it was inevitable that the money would go in the middle. The turn, though was the 8h, making meiky777 eights full of sevens and leaving rumred14 drawing dead. Rumred14 took home $15,000 for a stellar performance.

As heads-up play kicked off between meiky777 and stan34powa, the chip counts looked like this:

Seat 3: stan34powa (37,213,054 in chips)
Seat 6: meiky777 (67,786,946 in chips)

After all the open-shoving that marked most of the play at the final table, the 57-hand heads-up battle was a real back-and-forth chess match, with the lead constantly swinging back and forth between our final two players. Stan34powa wrestled the lead away from meiky777 when he made kings and fives against meiky777’s sevens and sixes, but meiky777 took it back just as quickly after stan34powa attempted a river bluff with ace high and meiky777 called him with two pair. The pendulum kept swinging, with neither player taking more than a 7-3 chip lead, until this hand came up:

Meiky777 limped in from the small blind and stan34powa checked. The flop was 8h-5s-3s and stan34powa checked to meiky777, who bet 2.5 million. Stan34powa raised to 7.5 million and meiky777 shoved over the top for 31.2 million. Stan34powa called, having meiky777 covered and the hands were revealed–stan34powa with 2d-8d for top pair and meiky777 looking to improve with Ac-Kd. The turn, though was the Js, the river was the 7s and it was all over. Stan34powa had outlasted 34,999 opponents to win the world’s largest-ever poker tournament and $30,000 for his performance. Runner-up meiky777 added $20,000 to his bankroll.

With no deals made, here’s how the final table finished up:

Guinness World Record Attempt $500,000 Guaranteed

1. stan34powa $30,000
2. meiky777 $20,000
3. rumred14 $15,000
4. Goldman007 $10,000
5. Nekochan48 $7,500
6. gustave44 $5,000
7. n0ideahh $3,500
8. alepolice $2,500
9. ONE_TIMEE $2,000
10. FuFish $1,500