After a couple of record-breaking weeks, the first Super Tuesday of March drew 580 entrants to play the $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament -- less than last week's all-time high of 614 but still another huge turnout. The $580,000 prize pool nearly doubled the event's $300K guarantee, and after more than 10-and-a-half hours it was Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler of Mexico grabbing the top spot by outlasting Lebanon's LI0NB0Y, with a two-way chop meaning both players earned nearly equal prizes of about $95K apiece.
Bursting the bubble
By the five-hour break the money was in sight as just 76 players remained with Team PokerStars Pro Christian "el grillo" de León having recently hit the rail in 82nd place. Tomás "T 54 T 97s" Paiva led the way at that point with 163,443, with lizet555 (132,809) and sk2ll_m0dR (102,469) the only other players north of 100k.
It took more than half an hour for four more players to fall and the cash bubble to burst, with khanrava the unfortunate 73rd-place finisher after being ousted by acescraps.
From 72 to 9
By the six-hour mark, just 44 were left, with acescraps having chipped up close to 200,000 to pass Tomás "T 54 T 97s" Paiva. An hour after that they were down to just 20 players, with JasonX85 in front with more than 377,000, followed by yurasov1990, AAd@njKK, and T 54 T 97s.
Shortly after returning from the seven-hour break, Paiva knocked out sinergetic69 in 20th, and LI0NB0Y eliminated lizet555 in 19th, with both of the eliminated players earning $3,480 for their finishes.
The final 18 assembled around two tables, and over the course of the next hour and 15 minutes they were reduced to nine, with JasonX85 maintaining the chip lead while pushing out over 600,000.
secky_yuki (18th), myrinho0777 (17th), and BOBAN94 (16th) each earned $4,640 for their finishes. Posterboy13 (15th), hunter_az533 (14th), and Laurence "rivermanl" Houghton (13th) took away $5,800 apiece. And yurasov1990 (12th), sk2ll_m0dR (11th), and A d@n¡ KK (10th) all saw $6,960 added to their PokerStars accounts.
A little over eight hours and 20 minutes after the tournament had begun, the final table was underway.
Seat 1: Ami "UhhMee" Barer (Canada) -- 333,306
Seat 2: Tomás "T 54 T 97s" Paiva (Portugal) -- 139,100
Seat 3: antesvante (Sweden) -- 399,590
Seat 4: LI0NB0Y (Lebanon) -- 465,757
Seat 5: George "gkap13" Kapalas (Greece) -- 343,599
Seat 6: joserivas397 (Venezuela) -- 120,907
Seat 7: FastCarsss (Sweden) -- 239,033
Seat 8: JasonX85 (Netherlands) -- 634,607
Seat 9: Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler (Mexico) -- 224,101
Kapalas's aces crushed, out in ninth
Just a few minutes after the final table began, the blinds were 3,200/6,400 when Ami "UhhMee" Barer opened for 12,800 from early position, antesvante called from a couple of seats over, then George "gkap13" Kapalas reraised to 37,765 from the cutoff seat.
It folded back to JasonX85 who reraised to 75,866, sending antesvante away but earning a reraise-shove from Kapalas for 114,585 total and JasonX85 called.
Kapalas had [Ah][As] while JasonX85 tabled [Th][8h]. The flop then came [Kh][Qh][3s] to give JasonX85 a heart flush draw, and the [3h] completed it. The river was the [4s], and gkap13 was out in ninth.
Paiva eliminated in eighth
JasonX85 would be responsible for the next elimination as well after knocking out Tomás "T 54 T 97s" Paiva.
It was just after the nine-hour break when T 54 T 97s pushed all in from middle position for 122,887 (a little over 15 big blinds) and only JasonX85 called from the big blind.
Paiva had [Ks][Qd], but JasonX85 had [Ad][Qs], and after the community cards came [7s][9d][3d][7d][5c], T 54 T 97s was out in eighth.
Barer bounced in seventh
Over the next few hands, LI0NB0Y grabbed the chip lead away from JasonX85 after winning a 500,000-plus chip pot off of the leader without a showdown.
After that it was Ami "UhhMee" Barer open-pushing for 116,089 from the button, then watching antesvante reraise-shove over the top from the small blind, thereby getting LI0NB0Y to step aside from the big blind.
Barer had [3d][3h] and antesvante [Ac][Qs], and after the [Th][4s][Td] flop and [6c] turn, UhhMee was still in front with his pair of treys. But the river brought the [Qc] to pair antesvante, and Barer was sent railward in seventh.
FastCarsss crashes in sixth
About 15 minutes later, Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler opened with a 2x raise to 18,000 from early position and LI0NB0Y -- now up over 1 million and still leader -- called from the button. FastCarsss then pushed all in for 194,226 from the big blind, Wheeler folded, and LI0NB0Y called.
FastCarsss: [Ad][Th]
LI0NB0Y: [As][Qd]
The board rolled out [6s][Kc][2d][5h][7c], and FastCarsss was was done in sixth.
JasonX85 felted in fifth
Soon JasonX85 had slipped all of the way to the bottom of the counts with five remaining, and with the blinds at 6,000/12,000 JasonX85 was pushing all in from under the gun for 180,870.
Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler called from the next seat, and leader LI0NB0Y called, too, from the small blind.
The flop came [3d][Td][Qh], and when LI0NB0Y led for 36,000, Wheeler let his hand go. JasonX85 showed [5h][5d], but LI0NB0Y had a better pair with [As][Tc]. The turn was the [8s] and river the [4s], and JasonX85's Super Tuesday run had ended in fifth.
joserivas397 finished in fourth
The final four made it to the 10-hour break, at which point LI0NB0Y was in command with 1,758,778, antesvante was second with 622,360, Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler third with 329,576, and joserivas397 fourth with 189,286.
LI0NB0Y kept right on chipping up after play resumed, and soon was again opening with a raise -- this time for 3x to 36,000 from the button -- then the short stack joserivas397 reraised all in for 163,786 from the small blind. jdtjpoker folded, and the remaining two showed their hands.
joserivas397 was at risk with [Ah][Td] and would need help against LI0NB0Y's [As][Kc]. But the flop came [Kh][5d][4c] to pair LI0NB0Y, and the [9c] turn made hte [Qd] no matter.
antesvante vanquished in third
Not long after they began three-handed play, Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler quickly enjoyed two successive double-ups to chip up over 1 million.
The first saw Wheeler double through antesvante when his [Td][Th] held against antesvante's [5d][5c]. Then a couple of hands later Wheeler was all in again with [Qd][Qc] and once more saw his opponent -- LI0NB0Y, this time -- holding [5d][5h], and the better hand won again.
Cripped down to less than 40,000, antesvante was all in on the next hand and saw both LI0NB0Y (small blind) and jdtjpoker (big blind) call the raise.
The flop came [8s][Th][Ah], LI0NB0Y bet 14,000, and Wheeler called. The turn then brought the [Qc] and a bet of 70,000 from LI0NB0Y, and this time jdtjpoker stepped aside.
LI0NB0Y showed [Ac][4c] for aces while antesvante had [Qs][Js] for queens, and after the [Ad] fell on fifth street just two remained.
A heads-up deal, then jdtjpoker tames LI0NB0Y
Heads-up play began with LI0NB0Y still leading with 1,808,274 to Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler's 1,091,726. The pair soon agreed to discuss a possible deal, and after a half-dozen small-pot hands the tourney was paused.
Number were soon produced based on the players' stacks -- $95,020 for LI0NB0Y, $88,929.04 for jdtjpoker, and $6,000 left for which to play -- and both quickly agreed. Soon they were wishing each other luck, and cards were back in the air.
The two players played two dozen hands after which the stacks remained roughly the same, then came a decisive hand in which all of Wheeler's chips found their way into the middle following fourth street with board showing [7s][5s][3s][8c].
LI0NB0Y had [Kd][7h] for sevens, but jdtjpoker had [Ad][Ah], and after the [Js] river, Wheeler had suddenly grabbed the lead with nearly 2.4 million while LI0NB0Y had just over 500,000.
LI0NB0Y immediately began chipping back, and was edging toward 900,000 when a hand arose in which LI0NB0Y limped from the button, jdtjpoker raised 3x to 48,000, LI0NB0Y pushed all in for 881,298 total, and Wheeler called.
LI0NB0Y had [8h][8s] and was hoping the pair would hold versus Wheeler's [Ac][Js]. But the flop came [Kh][Jc][6h] to give jdtjpoker jacks, and after the [6s] turn and [9c] river, Wheeler had won.
Congratulations to Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler for topping another tough (and big) Super Tuesday field. And kudos as well to LI0NB0Y who thanks to the deal with Wheeler comes away with a few dollars more than the winner.
3/5/13 Super Tuesday final table results (*reflects two-way deal):
1st: Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler (Mexico) -- $94,929.04*
2nd: LI0NB0Y (Lebanon) -- $95,020.00*
3rd: antesvante (Sweden) -- $59,160.00
4th: joserivas397 (Venezuela) -- $44,660.00
5th: JasonX85 (Netherlands) -- $31,320.00
6th: FastCarsss (Sweden) -- $24,650.00
7th: Ami "UhhMee" Barer (Canada) -- $18,850.00
8th: Tomás "T 54 T 97s" Paiva (Portugal) -- $13,050.00
9th: George "gkap13" Kapalas (Greece) -- $8,874.00
Entrants: 580
Prize pool: $580,000.00
Places paid: 72
Last weekend's huge 7th anniversary Sunday Million did not disappoint, with a prize pool of $9,857,400 and three players chopping at tourney's end to split nearly $2.5 million. Learn more about winner Andrius "benislovas" Bielskis of Lithuania here.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.