Most of the poker industry is paying attention to the 2009 World Series of Poker, which is well underway in Las Vegas and will continue for another month. But everyone is not able to make it there, and some prefer the online poker action to live action anyway. And to top it off, many of the players in Vegas take their Sundays off to log on to PokerStars and take a shot at the millions of dollars at stake there.
Even so, the overall registration numbers were down somewhat on Sunday, June 7, from the previous week. Summer is kicking into full gear, and warm weather activities do sometimes get in the way of poker. Yet and still, the fields were impressive and the prize pools substantial.
The first of the Sunday tournaments, as usual, was the Sunday Warm-Up with its $750K guarantee. There were 3,996 players interested in the $215 buy-in event, which pushed the prize pool well past the guarantee and set it at $799,200 for the top 585 finishers to split according to their finishes. Once the field thinned past the money bubble and on to the final table, it was EZHOV and jenone with the largest stacks going into nine-handed play at the last table of the evening.
It was mighty pair who left the table first, followed by MrRolex in eighth place and Sarbahcom in seventh. bdm1bdm1 was then sent away by maestroB, the latter of whom succumbed in fifth place to jenone. anenstef then went from the chip lead to the rail when jenone took a big pot and EZHOV finished him off. EZHOV then went on to eliminate bdubs3737 in third.
EZHOV had a significant chip lead going into the final table, and it only took 17 hands to find the two seeing a 
flop. Betting led to the 
on the turn, which resulted in jenone all-in with 
for the flopped trips, but EZHOV showed 
for the same hand with the better kicker. A 
on the river ended the match and gave EZHOV the victory.
1st place: EZHOV ($125,474.41)
2nd place: jenone ($93,506.41)
3rd place: bdubs3737 ($65,934.01)
4th place: anenstef ($45,954.01)
5th place: maestroB ($33,966.01)
6th place: bdm1bdm1 ($25,974.01)
7th place: Sarbahcom ($17,982.01)
8th place: MrRolex ($9,990.01)
9th place: mighty pair ($6,393.61)
By the time the Warm-Up was heating up, the Daily Eighty Grand Sunday Special was in the works with a $200K guarantee in place. A total of 5,504 players bought in for $55, which bumped the prize pool up to $275,200. Only 810 players would be paid in the end, but it was yankeedawg who ended up with the lion’s share of it, taking home $34,950.40 for the eventual victory.
Next up was the Sunday 1/4 Million, and the $11 buy-in garnered a solid field of 29,214 players. The $250K guarantee was surpassed by the number of registrations, which put the pool at $292,140. After the top 4,500 players found themselves in the money, Pasleppa took some momentum all the way to the final table and the win, for which he was awarded $26,292.61 for beating such an enormous field.
Finally, it was time for the highly anticipated Sunday Million, the $215 buy-in event that poker players log in to play from all over the world. The $1.5 million guarantee was set into place, as the 7,196-player field did not garner a bigger prize pool, but an overlay for players is always welcome. The top 1,080 made the money, but it was the final table that became the focus of railbirds’ attention.
Turko_man came into the action with the chip lead, but despite some players being relatively short in chips, no elimination took place for nearly 30 minutes. Finally, the chipleader took out moose4life in ninth place, then TiltandWin fell to Sagittus in eighth and Haz31 took seventh. Turko_man was back to take out Sagittus in sixth, and Chucklo eliminated Bdbeatslayer in fifth, at which point the final four made a chip-chop payout deal. Turko_man then busted crnagora71 in fourth and DGMB in third.
Heads-up began with Turko_man holding a serious chip lead over Chucklo, and three hands later, the match was decided. Chucklo pushed with 
, and Turko_man just happened to wake up with pocket tens for the call. The board came 
, and Turko_man handily won the Sunday Million tournament.
1st place: Turko_man ($221,924.53)
2nd place: Chucklo ($148,130.47)
3rd place: DGMB ($110,000.00)
4th place: crnagora71 ($110,000.00)
5th place: Bdbeatslayer ($61,500.00)
6th place: Sagittus ($46,500.00)
7th place: Haz31 ($32,250.00)
8th place: TiltandWin ($18,000.00)
9th place: moose4life ($11,625.00)
The last tournament of the evening was the Sunday 500, which held a $500K guarantee for anyone willing to put up the $530 buy-in. There were 957 players who chose to do so, which gave them a bit of the overlay when the $500K kicked in as the prize pool. After the last 144 players in the tournament eked into the money, it was Barbarossa_7 who went on to win the tournament and grab $87,400 for the feat.
To get ready now for next Sunday’s world-renowned set of tournaments, download PokerStars now. By simply using the bonus code “Stars50” and marketing code “POKERWORKS” when creating that first account, you’ll qualify for a cash bonus as well as entries into the weekly $2,000 freerolls .