At last, tournament players are able to discover what their cash game brethren have long known-- the speedy little miracle that is Zoom Poker. Following a successful test run last night, Zoom MTTs had their official premiere today in the MicroMillions 4's fourth event, a $5.50 NLHE tourney that nearly doubled its $75,000 guarantee. At a final table that included the 2012 WCOOP Player of the Series, Yana-11K, a micro-stakes regular and frequent face in PokerStars Women's Club tournaments, took down the title and banked over $10,000 after a deal that saw each of the final four depart with $8,500 apiece.
PokerStars' first-ever Zoom MTT drew 29,792 players, the prize pool topping out at $148,960.00. 3,960 players earned a share of it with $13,801.61 set aside for first place. Seven Red Spades were in the field including Richard "Tzen1" Veenman, Martin Hruby, Shane "shaniac" Schleger, Caio Pessagno, and Kevin "WizardOfAhhs" Thurman. Two of them cashed, Marcin Horecki in 3,500th place and Tyler "frosty012" Frost in 871st.
When we say Zoom, we're really not kidding. Despite the nearly 30,000 starters, this event hit the money only forty minutes after late registration closed. Less than five hours after cards went in the air, ten players remained.
With the blinds up to 400,000/800,000, Blavdes picked up [Kh][Kd] and happily moved in for his last 6.5 million. Der1kuni called from the big blind with [Ah][Ks]. Although Blavdes survived the [Qs][8h][7c] flop, the [As] came on the turn, leaving him drawing only to the case king on the river. Instead, it was the [5h] and Balvdes was eliminated in tenth place, sending us to the final table.
Final table chip counts
Seat 1: Andy447 (18,853,487 in chips)
Seat 2: der1kuni (18,557,959 in chips)
Seat 3: Lovernil_Zzz (7,106,228 in chips)
Seat 4: erikmvs (11,710,772 in chips)
Seat 5: Hotex99 (35,602,006 in chips)
Seat 6: mikal12345 (24,059,428 in chips)
Seat 7: yana-11K (16,410,836 in chips)
Seat 8: Soaffes (9,543,605 in chips)
Seat 9: szil107 (7,115,679 in chips)
Two of three short stacks double, Andy447's sixes sink Lovernil_Zzz
The blinds rose to 500,000/1,000,000 as the final table commenced. With about seven big blinds apiece, short stacks Soaffes and szil107 were naturally the first to shove, the former doubling through Hotex99 with [As][Kd] vs. [Ah][Js] and the latter's pocket eights holding against mikal12345's [Ah][9d]. Lovernil_Zzz wasn't as fortunate. Although he too got his money in with the best of it, his last 4.1 million staked on [9h][9s] against [6h][6c], Andy447 flopped a set of sixes to end Lovernil_Zzz's run in ninth place.
Chips flew around the table eight-handed. Der1kuni flopped his kicker to double through Soaffles, his [Ad][2d] improving to a pair of deuces against [Ac][Ks]. Der1kuni moved up to 32 million, but quickly lost a chunk back after making a small blind shove with [Qh][2s] right into erikmvs's [Ad][Qs]. Soaffes was left with under 4 million after his battle with der1kuni, but doubled back up via a little instant karma, his [Kd][9s] flopping a nine vs. Hotex99's [Ac][Kc].
mikal12345 mauls der1kuni, erikmvs exits eighth
If the screen name mikal12345 seems familiar to you, it's for a good reason. In last year's WCOOP, mikal12345 cashed 15 times, won two bracelets, and earned Player of the Series honors. The Norwegian started the final table second in chips and moved into the lead when his [As][Kh] flopped a king, turned two pair and rivered a boat against der1kuni's [4d][4c]. Der1kuni was left with less than 5 million while mikal12345 doubled to 42 million.
Down to 4.2 million with the blinds up to 700K/1.4M, der1kuni moved all-in from UTG with pocket fours. Erikmvs called with [Ac][9c], but did not improve on the jack-high board. Erikmvs had der1kuni covered by less than 2 million and he put the last of his chips in the middle on the next deal. Unfortunately, erikmvs's [6h][8h] ran into Hotex99's [Jd][Jc] and he exited in eighth place, earning $1,233.38.
yana-11K triples with pocket queens
The dust had hardly settled from erikmvs' elimination when one of the most pivotal hands of the final table unfolded. From under-the-gun, szil107 open-shoved for his last 6.8 million. Mikal12345 three-bet to 12,345,678 on the button and yana-11K moved all-in for 14.8 million from the small blind. Mikal12345 called the additional 2.5 million and the cards went on their backs:
szil107 [Ad][8c]
mikal12345 [Ac][Th]
yana-11K [Qs][Qc]
The board ran out [Jh][Jc][9s][Tc][9d] and yana-11K scooped the main and side pots to the tune of 39.5 million. Mikal12345 slipped to 29.6 million and szil107 was eliminated in seventh place, earning $1,812.84.
Back-to-back bustouts
The next hand saw the action fold around to Soaffes in the small blind. Holding [Js][2c], he moved in for his last 6.7 million and Andy447 called with [Kc][7c] in the big blind. Andy447 flopped a seven and rivered two pair, sending Soaffes to the rail in sixth place with a $2,611.26 score.
On the following deal, yana-11K opened for a min-raise to 3.2 million and der1kuni three-bet shoved for 11.8 million with [As][8s]. Yana-11K called, her pocket nines holding up on the [Jh][6s][3c][2c][Qh] board. That was all she wrote for der1kuni, who took home $3,916 for fifth place.
Four-way chop
As play turned four-handed, yana-11K suggested a deal. "Too much $ at middle for hyperturbo," she wrote.
Her three opponents agreed to discuss a deal. Here's a look at their chip counts when the action was paused:
yana-11K: 43,275,824
mikal12345: 35,976,662
Andy447: 35,418,217
Hotex99: 34,289,297
Chip count chop numbers were presented and although yana-11K and Hotex99 agreed to the shares, Andy447 and mikal12345 had other ideas.
"Even chop or play," mikal12345 declared.
Splitting the remaining prize pool four ways (save the required $1,500 for the eventual einner) gave each player an $8,507.60 share. Unsurprisingly, the trio bunched together with 34-36 million each was in favor of this idea, while yana-11K wanted a little extra for her larger stack. When mikal12345 threatened to torpedo the deal saying he would rather play it out over a chip count chop, yana-11K relented and agreed to the even split. With $1,500 still up for grabs, cards went back in the air.
Hotex99 out in fourth, mikal12345 finishes third
On the first hand back, Hotex99 called mikal12345's three-bet shove, his [Ah][3d] up against pocket eights. Mikal12345 hit a set on the flop and Hotex99 was drawing dead by the turn, the board running out [Ks][8h][4s][9h][2d] to end his run in fourth place.
Mikal12345 moved up to 72 million with that pot and was up to 90 million a few hands later. Hoping to finish off Andy447, mikal12345 called his three-bet shove with [Kh][Tc], only to be shown [Ac][8d]. Andy447 doubled to 50 million, but mikal12345 still held the chip lead with 65 million.
However, four hands later, mikal12345 made a small-blind shove with [6c][Tc] and yana-11K looked him up from the big with [Kd][7d]. Yana-11K flopped a king and doubled to 67.6 million. Mikal12345 did'nt let up and moments later, he moved in for 37.2 million with [Kc][Ts] on the button. Andy447 called with [Ad][9c] in the big blind and rivered a pair of aces, ending mikal12345's hopes of adding a MicroMillions title to his two WCOOP bracelets. For third place, mikal12345 took home $8,507.60.
Heads-up chip counts
Seat 1: Andy447 (78,220,852 in chips)
Seat 7: yana-11K (70,739,148 in chips)
Heads-up play lasted six hands and yana-11K won all but one of them. On Hand #3, yana-11K called a preflop three-bet in position, then called Andy447's 7,587,654 bet on the [Jc][5c][4s] flop. Andy447 check-folded to yana-11K's 11.65 million bet on the [8c] turn, yana-11K flashing [Qh][7s] as she raked in the 30.8 million pot.
All the marbles went in three hands later. Although yana-11K's [Kh][Ts] trailed Andy447's [Ah][9d] until the river, she spiked the [Th] to close out the win:
Congratulations to the Ukraine's yana-11K on her first MicroMillions title and a career-high score of $10,007.60. For his runner-up finish, Andy447 earned $8,507.60.
PokerStars MicroMillions IV, Event #4 ($5.50 NLHE Turbo, Zoom)
Players: 29,792
Prizepool: $148,960.00
Places paid: 3,960
1. yana-11K (Ukraine) $10,007.60*
2. Andy447 (Germany) $8,507.60*
3. mikal12345 (Norway) $8,507.60*
4. Hotex99 (Germany) $8,507.59*
5. der1kuni (Germany) $3,916.15
6. Soaffes (Germany) $2,611.26
7. szil107 (Hungary) $1,812.84
8. erikmvs (Brazil) $1,233.38
9. Lovemil_Zzz (Greece) $725.43
*= reflects the results of a four-way deal that left $1,500 in play for the winner
The MicroMillions 4 is just getting started. Don't miss your shot at big money for a small buy-in. Head over to the MicroMillions page for a full tournament schedule and satellite information.
Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.