Just like the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed, the PokerStars Sunday Million felt the impact of Labor Day weekend. Only 7,212 players entered this week’s event, creating an overlay of $57,600. As is the case in most Sunday Millions the final payouts were changed after some of the remaining players agreed to a chop. Here’s how the action at the final table went down:

Seat 1: krs528 (5,438,648)
Seat 2: Bury2k4 (3,787,382)
Seat 3: TheRodGuy (14,440,256)
Seat 4: FlopeDeNuts (7,680,933)
Seat 5: diegoaiz (14,567,593)
Seat 6: IamUnlucky (10,497,102)
Seat 7: CodeRedRulez (6,431,828 )
Seat 8: UnbrokeN (5,711,064)
Seat 9: c j mcon (3,565,194)

Eliminated in 9th place: CodeRedRulez

With blinds at 200K/400K (40K ante) action folded around to IamUnlucky in the small blind and he moved all-in for 8,532,102, CodeRedRulez called with his last 3,088,374.

IamUnlucky: Qh 2s
CodeRedRulez: Ah Ks

Flop: 2d 4s Th
Turn: Ts
River: Qd

IamUnlucky flopped bottom pair and then caught top pair on the end and CodeRedRulez became the last player to bust out of the Sunday Million final table with Big Slick.

Eliminated in 8th place: c j mcon

C j mcon moved all-in for 2,209,324 from middle position and it folded around to TheRodGuy on the button who made the call. The blinds both folded.

C j mcon: 6d 6c
TheRodGuy: 8c 8s

Flop: 4s 4d Kh
Turn: Jd
River: Ac

Unable to turn his small pair into a set the night was over c j mcon with an eighth place finish.

Eliminated in 7th place: Bury2k4

Yet another battle of the blinds that resulted in the elimination of a player. When the other five players folded Bury2k4 put his 4,585,714 into the pot from the small blind and krs528 called.

krs528: Ks 9s
Bury2k4: 5c 2s

Flop: Th Qc 6c
Turn: 3c
River: 6d

After moving in with five high, Bury2k4 was unable to find any help on the flop, turn or river and was sent packing in seventh place.

Eliminated in 6th place: UnbrokeN

Diegoaiz picked up his first scalp of the night after raising to 2,400,000 from UTG+1 and seeing UnbrokeN move all-in over the top for 3,712,128. With just over 1,300,000 more to call, diegoaiz did just that.

diegoaiz: Ah Kh
UnbrokeN: 9h 9d

Flop: 9c Qh 8h
Turn: Jh
River: Ac

UnbrokeN flopped top set but the flop gave diegoaiz the nut flush draw. When the Jh fell on the turn it completed the flush and the Ac on the river failed to pair the board eliminating UnbrokeN from the Sunday Million in sixth.

Eliminated in 5th place: krs528

rs528: Qd Qs
FlopeDeNuts: As Ah

Blinds were at 400K/800K (80K ante) and FlopeDeNuts raised to 2,000,000 from the cut-off. Krs528, in the big blind, re-raised all-in for a total of 9,443,346 and FlopeDeNuts called instantly.

krs528: Qd Qs
FlopeDeNuts: As Ah

Flop: Kc Td 7h
Turn: 9h
River: 3h

With no help for his pocket queens the night ended a little bit early for krs528 and FlopeDeNuts found himself with over 40,000,000 of the 72,000,000 chips in play with only four players remaining.

Eliminated in 4th place: IamUnlucky

Being as aggressive as possible with his big stack, FlopeDeNuts moved all-in from the button and was called by IamUnlucky with his last 7,327,619.

Top pair on the flop was good enough for FlopeDeNuts to head to three-handed play with a massive chip lead and prove IamUnlucky’s screen name to be prophetic.

After a number of hands of three-handed action the chip counts were relatively even after FlopeDeNuts was unable to maintain his momentum. After some convincing diegoaiv agreed to see the numbers for a chop based on chip count and the tournament was paused.

The three players agreed to the chip chop, with each player receiving a six-figure prize and $30,000 left to play for. The chop numbers were:

TheRodGuy: $127,912.72
diegoaiz: $118,849.49
FlopeDeNuts: $116,687.79

Eliminated in 3rd place: FlopeDeNuts

Despite coming to three-handed play with 57 million in chips, FlopeDeNuts found the rail in third place. TheRodGuy opened the betting for 2,400,000 and FlopeDeNuts moved all-in from the small blind for 20,232,476; diegoaiz called and TheRodGuy folded.

FlopeDeNuts: 9d 9s
diegoaiz: Tc Th

Flop: Qd Ad 6s
Turn: 6h
River: Js

After running the table over for the first two hours FlopeDeNuts picked the wrong time to run cold. With neither of the two remaining times finding their way to the community cards he was sent home in third place.

Diegoaiz Wins PokerStars Sunday Million

The two remaining players played one of the longest heads-up battles in recent Sunday Million history. With blinds of 1.25M/2.5M (250K ante) diegoaiz raised to 5,000,000 and TheRodGuy called.

Flop: 2c 4s Td

After the flop diegoaiz bets 5,000,000 and TheRodGuy moved all-in for 21,543,344. Taking some time to consider his choices diegoaiz eventually called.

TheRodGuy: Jd 4h
diegoaiz: Th 9d

Turn: 3c
River: 7s

Flopping top pair against the second pair of TheRodGuy, diegoaiz dodged the remaining five outs and took home the extra $30,000 and the title of Sunday Million champion. For complete payout information from all of the Sunday Majors read the Sunday Report.

The lure of Labor Day weekend had numbers across the board in Sunday Majors down significantly. The $750,000 Guaranteed at Full Tilt Poker had an overlay of $105,000 as only 3,225 players stepped up to the plate.

The final table featured one of the hottest players in online poker. Two weeks ago “dubbeemin” came out on top of the Main Event of FTOPS IX for $432,400. Last week he final tabled the $200,000 Guaranteed on UltimateBet.com, coming in fifth for $11,000. This week he took his shot at the $132,787.50 first place prize in Full Tilt’s weekly major. Here’s how the final table played out:

Seat 1: VamosRafael (1,360,328)
Seat 2: Flip This Cup (1,491,498)
Seat 3: Mabbe (473,120)
Seat 4: StevoL_7 (801,178)
Seat 5: prostarins (736,166)
Seat 6: Steveee111 (1,556,052)
Seat 7: grabskia (1,237,880)
Seat 8: oldschool043 (1,561,123)
Seat 9: dubbeemin (457,655)

Eliminated in 9th place: VamosRafael

Blinds were 25K/50K (6K ante) and Steveee111 raised from UTG to 100,000 and VamosRafael re-raised to 296,000 from the hijack. Steveee111 called and the two players saw the flop.

Flop: Kh 8h Tc

Steveee111 moved all-in and VamosRafael called.

Steveee111:Kd Qh
VamosRafael: Ad Ah

Turn: Qd
River: 7d

Suffering the cruelest of all poker fates, VamosRafael managed to get his opponent to commit all his chips with the worst hand only to have the deck wreak havoc. VamosRafael had his aces cracked and finished in ninth while Steveee111 lived to fight another day after turning two pair.

Eliminated in 8th place: StevoL_7

Blinds had jumped to 30K/60K (7,500 ante) and with action folding around to him on the button StevoL_7 moved all-in. Hoping to eliminate his second player in a row Steveee111 called from the big blind.

StevoL_7: Kc 4h
Steveee111: 3h Ad

Flop: 8s Jh 7s
Turn: 5h
River: Ts

The board completely missed both players but the short-stacked StevoL_7 was sent to the rail in eighth place as his king-high was no match for the ace-high of Steveee111.

Eliminated in 7th place: prostarins

From UTG+1 oldschool043 moved all-in for 1,057,598 and it folded around to prostarins who called from the small blind. Steveee111 folded his big blind.

oldschool043 : Ac Qd
prostarins: As Jc

Flop: 6d Kc 5d
Turn: 7h
River: 2s

Way ahead before even the flop was dealt oldschool043 managed to avoid the three jacks that would have kept prostarins alive. Instead he was eliminated in seventh place.

Eliminated in 6th place: Mabbe

One hand after doubling up dubbeemin Mabbe was left with less than two big blinds and stuck in the small blind to start the hand. Oldschool043 opened with a raise to 200,000, Mabbe called off the rest of his stack from the small blind and Steveee111 also called from the big blind.

Flop: 2c 6s 5d
Turn: 6h
River: Ah

After oldschool043 showed Ks Tc for a pair of sixes with a king kicker both Mabbe and Steveee111 mucked. Mabbe’s night was finished and oldschool043 moved closer to Steveee111’s chip lead.

Eliminated in 5th place: dubbeemin

The FTOPS IX champion’s chip stack was up and down the entire night. After catching up to the average chip stack though, dubbeemin took one final beat and was eliminated in fifth place.

Eliminated in 4th place: grabskia

With only four players remaining and blinds of 50K/100K (10K ante) grabskia moved all-in for 992,520 from the button and oldschool043 raised to 3,525,324 from the small blind to isolate.

grabskia: Ac 2d
oldschool043: Kd Ts

Flop: 5d Td 5c
Turn: 4h
River: Th

If the ten on the flop wasn’t good enough, oldschool043 made a full house on the river and eliminated any chance grabskia had of making his three-outer. Settling for a fourth place finish, grabskia’s night was over.

Eliminated in 3rd place: Flip This Cup

On the hand that lead to heads-up play oldschool043 button-raised to 300,000 and Flip This Cup re-raised all-in to 1,026,720 from the small blind. Steveee111 folded his big blind and oldschool043 called

Flip This Cup: Qd Qh
oldschool043: Kd 7d

Flop: 8d Qc 9s
Turn: 5c
River: 6s

Despite flopping top set Flip This Cup was forced to watch as the board ran out giving oldschool043 a runner-runner nine-high straight.

Steveee111 Wins Full Tilt Poker’s $750,000 Guaranteed

Steveee111 started the final hand with 9.25 million of the 9.675 million in play. Blinds were 60K/120K (15K ante) and oldschool043 put his last 411,512 into the middle and Steveee111 called.

oldschool043: 4d Qh
Steveee111: 8d Jd

Flop: 7d 8c 2d
Turn: 9h
River: Ts

Steveee111 continued his hot run at the final table catching a ten on the river for a jack-high straight leaving oldschool043 to console himself with the $80,250 second place prize. For complete payout information from all of the Sunday Majors read the Sunday Report.

WPT Canada’s First Broadcast Set for Monday

The Coast-to-Coast Poker Championships, the first World Poker Tour Canada tournament, will air in Canada on Rogers Sportsnet beginning Monday, September 1. The first of four episodes will feature the $1,000 bounty event including Brad Booth, Gavin Smith, Jody Trainer, Davidson Matthew, Antonio Esfandiari and Kenna James. The second episode will air September 10. The final two episodes will be from the Coast-to-Coast Championships Main Event final table and will feature the standard WPT final table format with six players each vying for the title and the first place prize money.

DoylesRoom Welcomes New Payment Processor

Online poker room DoylesRoom.com now accepts deposits via PICClub, one of the fastest growing payment processors serving the poker industry.

“We are honored that Doyle’s Room will start using our processing services for their players.” announced Chuck Kidd, President and Founder of PICClub. Players can deposit to their PICClub account via most credit cards, bank transfer or MoneyGram. Players can then transfer funds to partner sites or other PICClub members. 

For more information visit www.PICClub.com. 

Michael Phelps Invited to Another Major Poker Tournament 

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps has already been invited to the NBC National Heads-up Poker Championship and the Asian Poker Tour’s Macau stop. Now Betfair has jumped in line and extended an invitation for Phelps to play the World Series of Poker Europe on a freeroll. 

Betfair have offered to allow to let Phelps wear his LZR swimsuit while playing but “fear it may not give him the same competitive edge outside of the pool” according to a statement released by the company.

Phelps indicated in a post-Olympic interview that he was an avid poker player and hoped to play in the World Series of Poker soon. Since that time the invites to major tournaments, on a freeroll, have been coming steady. 

UltimateBet Adds Another Player to ‘Star Players Team’ 

Online poker room UltimateBet.com continues to add players to their newly formed ‘Star Players Team’. Just before the beginning of the 2008 WSOP online poker legend Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy was added to the roster.  

They followed that up by signing James “P0KERPR033″ Campbell as well as Tiffany Michelle, the last woman player remaining in the field at the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Now they’ve added Tracy Scala, a 38-year-old online poker pro who finished ib first season one of Best Damn Poker Show.

Scala’s most recent live cash was for $32,166 in this year’s WSOP Main Event (335th place). Prior to that Scala had not cashed in a live event since November 2006.

John “Razor” Phan is having one helluva ride in 2008. Earlier this summer Phan won his first two bracelets at the World Series of Poker and then followed that up with a fifth place finish at the World Poker Tour’s Bellagio Cup IV.

And early Friday morning Phan continued his amazing run by capturing the WPT’s Legends of Poker championship event, defeating Amit “Amak316″ Makhija in one of the longest and most dramatic heads-up duels in WPT history.

Phan’s win netted him $1,116,428 and pushed his career tournament earnings past the $5 million mark. Although unofficial, Phan should also take the lead in the Bluff Magazine Player-of-the-Year race with the victory when standings are updated early next week.

Phan started the night second in chips behind Makhija, but as the final table progressed his experience paid huge dividends and he began to chip away at Makhija’s chip lead. The first player to hit the rail was Kyle Wilson, who was eliminated when Zachary Clark’s A-J outflopped Wilson’s pocket kings on only the 19th hand of play.

Makhija eliminated Trong Nguyen in fifth place and at that point held more than 50% of the chips in play. Phan then took his turn in the role of executioner taking out Paul Smith in fourth. When three-handed play began Makhija still had a majority of the chips with over 6 million to Phan’s 2.6 million and Clark’s 2.5 million.

The three players played for over three hours before Makhija sent Clark home in third place. When heads-up play began, just before 10 pm PT, Phan was trailing Makhija by 1,680,000 chips. Heads-up play consisted of 63 hands and took nearly 3.5 hours to play. Phan’s rise to the title was the result of a couple of key hands.

On the 12th hand of heads-up play Phan doubled up on an all-in preflop confrontation. Phan held A-K and Makhija was ahead with pocket twos. When Phan paired his king on the river it doubled up to nearly 9 million chips and appeared to be in full control.

Makhija refused to go away quietly and doubled up a few hands later to get close to 4 million and just after midnight he recaptured the chip lead. Phan however had other ideas and soon took the chip lead back for the final time.

The final hand of the night saw Makhija move all-in for just over 2 million with K-7 and Phan call with pocket threes. When the board brought no help for Makhija he was eliminated in second place and Phan captured his first WPT title after coming up short in three previous final table appearances.

Makhija’s runner-up finish earned him $563,320.

Only five players stand in the way of a breakthrough victory for Amit “Amak316″ Makhija at the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker championship event. The online poker superstar stands atop the chip count with 3.225 million as the final table gets set to go Thursday at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.

Right behind Makhija is one of the hottest players on the professional circuit, John “the Razor” Phan, with 2.4 million. After winning two bracelets at the World Series of Poker this summer Phan continued his hot streak by making the final table of the WPT’s $15,000 Bellagio Cup IV and finishing fifth. Should Phan finish fourth or higher he would take top spot in the 2008 Bluff Magazine Player-of-the-Year race, passing Men “the Master” Nguyen.

Another top online poker player, Zachary “nofingclue11″ Clark, has just over 2 million and is running on a hot streak of his own. Earlier this month Clark finished fifth in the PokerStars Sunday Million and recorded four cashes at the 2008 WSOP totalling $42,000.

Another player whose bread and butter is online poker is sitting in fourth is with 1.425 million. Kyle Wilson, once considered a basketball phenom, will be making his first final table appearance on the World Poker Tour. With just over $120,000 in career tournament earnings Wilson could be the dark horse of an otherwise tough final table.

Paul Smith, who lead the way at the start of play Wednesday, will start play Thursday with 1.13 million. With eight players remaining Smith’s stack had started to dwindle, but back-to-back double-ups propelled him to the final table.

Bringing up the rear is Trong Nguyen, the only player with less than 1 million in chips. With 980,000 Nguyen isn’t that far behind the rest of the field.

Taking the role of TV bubble boy was Matt Keikoan. The 2008 WSOP bracelet winner was eliminated by Clark after moving all-in from the small blind with 7d 4s. Clark woke up with Ah Kh and spiked a king on the flop to send Keikoan to the rail.

Other notable bustouts from the fourth day included Layne Flack (8th - $105,620), Lee Markholt (13th - $35,205) and Allen Cunningham (24th - $21,125). Maria Ho, known for being the highest finishing woman in the 2007 WSOP main event, finished just ahead of Cunningham in 23rd ($21,125).

Play will start with at 4 pm PT with blinds of 30,000-60,000 (5,000 ante). The winner will take home $1,116,428 plus the $25,000 WPT Championship seat while sixth place banks $176,035.

After three days of play at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles players are in the money at the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker championship event and Paul Smith leads the way with nearly one million chips.

Smith will start Day 4 at 946,000, just over 100,000 ahead of Amit Makhija who has 842,000. A total of 52 players were eliminated from the 79 that started the day. The final three tables will begin play Wednesday at 2 pm PT.

Mark Seif, who started the day in the top 10, busted out in 38th place, just shy of the money which started with the 36th place finisher. Other notable players eliminated before the bubble burst include David Chiu, Erick Lindgren and Tuan Le, Erik Seidel and Barry Greenstein.

The player busting on the bubble was Ali Eslami, who lead the tournament after the completion of both Day 1’s. Following Eslami’s elimination in 37th place nine players busted out in the money before play ended for the night. Van Nguyen, who won the WPT Invitational last February, Max Pescatori and recent World Series of Poker bracelet winner Matt Graham were all sent to the rail before night’s end. Each player earned $14,085.

But Smith and Makhija have some top players just behind them. Layne Flack, who’s recently taken some criticism in the poker community for his behavior at the recently broadcast $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. final table, sits in third with 807,000 and Lee Markholt is in fourth with 779,000.

1.       Paul Smith - 946,000
2.       Amit Makhija - 842,000
3.       Layne Flack - 807,000
4.       Lee Markholt - 779,000
5.       Matt Keikoan - 744,000
6.       Ron Jenkins - 740,000
7.       Kyle Wilson - 619,000
8.       Denny Lee - 481,000
9.       Takashi Shiono - 461,000
10.     Trong Nguyen - 457,000

Play resumes at 2 pm PT and will continue until the final six players remain for the TV final table, which is to be taped Thursday evening.

Even before the cards are in the air at their latest tour stop, the Asian Poker Tour is ensuring lots of action at the Galaxy StarWorld Casino Resort and Hotel in Macau.

Starting Tuesday the APT Poker Room will be opened and Doyle Brunson will be on hand to sign books and greet fans until 6 pm. Following that is the Celebrity Poker Challange, a charity poker tournament with Caritas De Macau, an organization whose goal is to provide services to the individuals, families, communities and societies in Macau, as the benefactor.

“We are delighted to bring the APT to Macau and really excited about offering Asia’s largest ever guaranteed prize pool,” said Chris Parker, CEO of the APT. “The charity poker challenge will be good fun, and, most importantly, it is an aid of a brilliant charity in Caritas De Macau.”

The charity tournament has already attracted a number of celebrity attendees. Boxer Manny Pacquiao, MTV’s Tila Tequila and Miss Hong Kong winner Tracy Ip will join Brunson in the charity tournament. Following the Celebrity Poker Challenge StarWorld’s famous Whisky Bar will host an exclusive after party.

The $5000 buy-in tournament, which begins on Wednesday with the first of two Day 1’s and runs through Sunday, has a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million US with the winner guaranteed $500,000. Even with a World Poker Tour event underway in Los Angeles, a number of the game’s best players have made their way to the Asian gaming mecca to take part - a testament to the growing strength of the APT.

Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson, J.C Tran, Kenny Tran, John Juanda, Liz Lieu, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Steve Sung, Mel Judah, Huck Seed and APT Manila champion David Saab will all be in attendance.  Earlier this month the APT extended an invitation to American Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to freeroll into the event but he has yet to accept or decline the invitation.

For more information and players profiles and performances catch all the action at www.asianpt.com

After taking the chip lead on Day 1a only to see Ali Eslami soar past him on Day 1b, Adam Weinraub is back on top after the second day of play at the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker.

Weiraub finished Day 2 with 461,900, giving him a clear lead over his closest opponent, recent World Series of Poker bracelet winner Matt Keikoan who has 328,300. Eslami appeared to be in full control through the first five levels of play Monday and held the chip lead until the final level of the night when he lost half of his stack. He finished with 210,500.

The day started with 248 players and through six levels of play, one more than previous days, only 79 players remain. Some of the big names that were eliminated include Scott Montgomery, Dan Harrington, Phil Laak, Vanessa Rousso and Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron.

Erick Lindgren finished the day in 12th place with 221,700 - a decent accomplishment considering he spent a better part of the day hustling to and from his laptop to make his fantasy football picks in a live draft with friends. Tournament organizers would not permit him to have his laptop at the table with him.

Top ten chip counts after Day 2:

1.       Adam Weinraub - 461,900
2.       Matt Keikoan - 328,300
3.       Andrew Shack - 313,000
4.       Mark Wilds - 293,700
5.       Paul Smith - 279,500
6.       Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 258,200
7.       Tan Le - 257,300
8.       Max Pescatori - 246,500
9.       Kyle Wilson - 243,100
10.     Mark Seif - 242,600

The 79 remaining players return to the felt at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles Tuesday at 2 pm PT. Given the fast rate of eliminations players are expected to break through the money bubble Tuesday night.

The biggest weekly tournament in online poker continues to bring in a big enough field to meet the guaranteed $1.5 million prize pool each and every week. Sunday’s event saw 7,557 players push the prize pool to $1,511,400 and a scheduled first place prize of $185,902.20. But as the final table played out, two players cut a deal that each left with a six-figure pay day. The chip counts at the start of the final table were:

Seat 1: es_dame (19,017,280)
Seat 2: Duffs#1fan (19,095,542)
Seat 3: NFrost_10 (15,509,260)
Seat 4: SonnyInMtl (3,531,064)
Seat 5: hidden1s (2,501,824)
Seat 6: kidkanada99 (2,572,780)
Seat 7: lecharentais (6,833,678)
Seat 8: karelli (4,280,972)
Seat 9: afiopeneyes2 (2,227,600)

Eliminated in 9th place: afiopeneyes2

With the blinds at 150K/300K(30K ante) afiopeneyes2 moved all-in for 1,987,600 from the cut-off and NFrost_10 called from the big blind.

NFrost_10: Ad 3d
afiopeneyes2: Kd Qc

Flop: 4s 6d 5s
Turn: 6h
River: 5d

When the board ran without a king or queen NFrost_10 picked up the first elimination of the night sending afiopeneyes2 home in ninth spot.

Eliminated in 8th place: hidden1s

The blinds had moved up to 200K/400K (40K ante) when SonnyInMtl moved all-in for 2,881,064 from middle position. The shortest remaining stack at the table, hidden1s, called right behind him for 841,824 and the remaining players folded.

SonnyInMtl: Ah Kh
hidden1s: Ac Js

Flop: 9c 7h 5c
Turn: Ad
River: 6d

Dominated before the flop, hidden1s wasn’t able to catch a jack to stay alive and SonnyInMtl picked up the pot and sent hidden1s to the rail with an eighth place cash.

Eliminated in 7th place: kidkanada99

Only one hand after losing a big chunk of his stack kidkanada99 was left with less than a big blind and after paying the 40K ante was forced to put his last 351,808 in and es_dame called from the small blind while Duffs#1fan checked his option. The blinds checked on every street.

Flop: Td 3c 4s
Turn: Th
River: 2s

At the conclusion of the hand es_dame revealed Kd-Jc and the other two players mucked their hands and kidkanada99 was the seventh place finisher.

Eliminated in 6th place: lecharentais

The end of the night for lecharentais came courtesy of a brave call by karelli. Blinds were 250K/500K (50K ante) and action folded to lecharentais in the small blind who moved all-in for 3,653,678. Sensing his opponent was making a move karelli called from the big blind.

lecharentais: 8h 6h
karelli: Kc Tc

Flop: Qs 3s 7d
Turn: 5c
River: 5d

Despite picking up an open-ended straight draw on the turn lecharentais was unable to catch any cards to keep him alive and karelli eliminated him in sixth.

Eliminated in 5th place: SonnyInMtl

For the first time at this final table an elimination was not the result a pre-flop all-in confrontation. Blinds were 250K/500K (50K ante) and es_dame raised from UTG+1 to 1,000,000; SonnyInMtl called from the big blind.

Flop: Ts Th 6c

At this point SonnyInMtl lead out for 2,000,000 only to have es_dame raise to 5000000. SonnyInMtl called the bet and was all-in.

SonnyInMtl: Kh Qc
es_dame: Ks 6s

Turn: 5s
River: 7h

Despite having the better hand pre-flop SonnyInMtl was outflopped and when the turn and river produced no help he was the fifth player eliminated from the final table of the Sunday Million.

Eliminated in 4th place: Duffs#1fan

Duffs#1fan fell victim to another elimination hand where players decided to see a flop before getting all the money in. Blinds were still 250K/500K (50K ante), es_dame limped from UTG, Duffs#1fan raised from UTG+1 to 2,150,000 and es_dame called.

Flop: Js 3h 8s

Duffs#1fan bet 3,700,000 and was faced with a min-raised by es_dame to 7,400,000. Rather than call or fold, Duffs#1fan three-bet all in and was called by es_dame.

es_dame: 3d 3s
Duffs#1fan: As 9s

Turn: 5c
River: 2h

The flopped set was good enough for es_dame to eliminated Duffs#1fan from the Sunday Million in fourth place.

Eliminated in 3rd place: karelli

After an increase in blinds to 300K/600K (60K ante) NFrost_10 opened with a button raise to 1,800,000 and karelli re-raised all-in to 10,330,622 from the small blind. NFrost_10, who sat second in chips at the time, called.

karelli: Ac 7s
NFrost_10: As Jh

Flop: 9s 5c Jd
Turn: 7h
River: Td

The jack on the flop sealed the fate of karelli as the third place finisher and sent NFrost_10 into heads-up play with es_dame with nearly even chip stacks. At this point the two remaining players agreed to a deal that saw them split the prize pool (less $30,000 as per PokerStars policy) right down the middle. Each player pocketed $140,900.91 each and agreed to play it out for the $30,000 and the title.

NFrost_10 wins the Sunday Million

The final hand of the night came with blinds still at the 300K/600K (60K ante) level. From the button es_dame raised to 1,800,000 and NFrost_10 called.

Flop: Js 9s 7s

After NFrost_10 checked, es_dame bet 3,000,000 only to have NFrost_10 check-raise all-in; es_dame called and was all-in for his tournament life.

NFrost_10: 9d 8s
es_dame: Jc 4s

Turn: 2s
River: 6h

Both players made a flush when the fourth spade fell on the turn, but NFrost_10’s was bigger and he captured the extra $30,000 and the title of Sunday Million champion. For complete final table payouts check out the Sunday Report.

With just barely enough players to cover the guaranteed amount this week’s installment of Full Tilt Poker’s $750,000 Guaranteed featured a first place prize of $132,858. The final table featured the typical pre-flop all-in confrontations that dominate Sunday Major final tables. Here’s how the final table played out, beginning with the chip counts as play began:

Seat 1: TollBoothBandit (1,125,797)
Seat 2: Ronaldinho (871,940)
Seat 3: hallebeary (1,067,372)
Seat 4: ship hamilton (1,557,327)
Seat 5: WhoAteMyShorts (2,970,975)
Seat 6: Carl Bildt (673,828)
Seat 7: 6speed (1,415,132)
Seat 8: ChAzZz18 (573,060)
Seat 9: Asiandude7 (1,000,569)

Eliminated in 9th place: Carl Bildt

The blinds were 17K/34K (4K ante) and ChAzZz18 opened from UTG+1 for 102,000, WhoAteMyShorts raised all-in to 3,028,975, and Carl Bildt called, forcing ChAzZz18 to fold.

WhoAteMyShorts: 9s 9h
Carl Bildt: As Kh

Flop: 2d 3s Js
Turn: 3h
River: Qs

Unable to win the coin flip Carl Bildt was the first player eliminated from the final table of Sunday’s $750,000 Guaranteed tournament as the pocket nines of WhoAteMyShorts held up.

Eliminated in 8th place: TollBoothBandit

During the next level, 20K/40K (5K ante), 6speed raised to 108,760 from the hi-jack and TollBoothBandit moved all-in for his last 492,437 from the small blind; 6speed called.

TollBoothBandit: 6s 6d
6speed: 5d 5h

Flop: 2d Ac 4h
Turn: 2s
River: 3d

Despite getting it in with a smaller pair 6speed rivered a wheel straight and sent TollBoothBandit home in eight place.

Eliminated in 7th place: Ronaldinho

Not long after he sent TollBoothBandit to the rail, 6speed was back at it. This time his victim was Ronaldinho. From the cutoff 6speed raised to 111,111 and Ronaldinho re-raised all-in to 605,740 from the big blind; 6speed called.

Ronaldinho: Kh Kd
6speed: 7h 7s

Flop: Ac 5c 3h
Turn: 7c
River: 6d

Again, getting all the money in with the worst hand proved out to be a winning move for 6speed who turned a set of sevens to eliminate Ronaldinho from the tournament.

Eliminated in 6th place: ChAzZz18

Despite being short-stacked ChAzZz18  managed to avoid being one of the first players eliminated, at least until he was left with no choice but to put his money in with any two cards. Blinds were 25K/50K (6K ante) when ChAzZz18 moved his last 80,560 into the pot and was called by both ship hamilton and WhoAteMyShorts from the blinds. Both blinds checked it down to the river.

Flop: Ks Jd 3d
Turn: Ad
River: Tc

ChAzZz18: 6d 7s
ship hamilton: Jc 9d
WhoAteMyShorts: mucked without showing

The pair of jacks was good enough for ship hamilton to take down the pot and put ChAzZz18 out of his misery in sixth place.

Eliminated in 5th place: WhoAteMyShorts

With only five players remaining and blinds of 50K/100K (10K ante) ship hamilton and WhoAteMyShorts engaged in a battle of the blinds. Ship hamilton called from the small blind and WhoAteMyShorts checked his option.

Flop: Ts Ah 4c

After ship hamilton checked, WhoAteMyShorts bet 100,000 and ship hamilton check-raised to 234,500 only to have WhoAteMyShorts move all-in for 1,347,533. Ship hamilton called.

WhoAteMyShorts: Ac 8c
ship hamilton: As Qs

Turn: 7s
River: 5h

Rather than raise pre-flop with what he had to guess was the better hand ship hamilton checked and connected with the flop and let WhoAteMyShorts commit his stack with a worse hand and be eliminated in fifth place.

Eliminated in 4th place: hallebeary

Less than a minute later ship hamilton eliminated another opponent, this time in a slightly different manner. From UTG hallebeary raised all-in to 698,420 and ship hamilton called.

hallebeary: Ah Kh
ship hamilton: 9s 9c

Flop: 5d Jd 5h
Turn: Th
River: 2c

For the second time at this final table Big Slick was unable to improve against pocket nines. This time it cost hallebeary his tournament life and ship hamilton collected another scalp.

Eliminated in 3rd place: Asiandude7

Blinds had increased to 60K/120K (15K ante) when the two shortest stacks went to battle. After ship hamilton folded his button 6speed raised to 360,000 and Asiandude7 moved all-in for 1,668,238 from the big blind and 6speed called.

Asiandude7: Ad 9h
6speed: As Ks

Flop: Ah 3h Kh
Turn: Js
River: 2c

Making top two pair on the flop all but sealed the fate of Asiandude7 as a third place finisher and when no other heart came to complete his four-card flush, Asiandude7 was eliminated. 6speed moved on to heads-up play with nearly 3.4 million chips to the 7.7 million ship hamilton.

Ship hamilton wins the Sunday Million

After a lengthy heads-up battle that saw 6speed take the chip lead from ship hamilton, only to have him take it right back. Blinds had grown all the way to 120K/240K (30K ante) when ship hamilton raised to 555,000 and 6speed called from the big blind to see the flop.

Flop: 2h 4s Js

Both players checked to see the turn card.

Turn: 9c

6speed bets 579,879 and ship hamilton called.

River: Tc

After the river card 6speed moved all in for 2,692,667 and sent ship hamilton into the tank. After initially requesting time, ship hamilton made the call.

6speed: Qc 7c
ship hamilton: Th As

With a rivered second pair ship hamilton was able to call the all-in of 6speed and capture the first place prize money and title. For complete payout information from this and other Sunday Majors check out the Sunday Report.

The 2008 Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, is living up to its name. With Day 1a and 1b of the $10,000 buy-in Championship Event in the books a number of the biggest names in poker remain in contention for the World Poker Tour title.

Ali Eslami, an LA-area pro, grabbed the lead after finishing Day 1b with 168,500 chips - 13,750 more than Adam Weinraub, who led after Day 1a, with 154,750. But a look through the top 10 chip stacks reveals some names that even the most novice poker fan would be forced to recognize.

Mark Seif sits in fourth place with 97,000, just ahead of Allen Cunningham (94,025) in sixth and Freddy Deeb (93,000) in seventh spot. Gavin Smith, who has 84,000, rounds out the top ten from the first two days of action.

The field of 373 players is the smallest since 2003 when the then $5,000 buy-in event had 309 entrants. Still the total prize pool of $3,545,738 means the players are playing for a first place prize of $1,116,428 plus the customary $25,000 WPT Championship seat that goes to the winner.

Maria Ho, the last woman standing at the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event, is in contention. With 83,000 chips Ho finds herself on top of Barry Greenstein, who has 82,100 heading into Day 2. Other top names that survived and thrived include 2008 double bracelet winner John “Razor” Phan (83,375), Erik Seidel (81,975), Scott Montgomery of the November Nine (80,400) and 2008 WSOP Player-of-the-Year Erick Lindgren (64,350).

After playing five levels on the first day of play the 140 players who remain will return to the Bike to play six levels on Monday at 2 pm PT. The six-player final table is slated for Thursday.

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) have written an open letter inviting 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps to play in the upcoming APT Macau event on August 27th.

The invitation comes less than a week after Phelps told the Baltimore Sun that he would like to play in the World Series of Poker and that, “it would be cool to meet some of those poker guys.”

The Macau event is the second leg of the APT and will have a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million and a first prize of $500,000.

A number of pros have committed to take part in the $5,300 buy-in main event, including Doyle Brunson, J.C. Tran, John Juanda, Kenny Tran and Nam Le.

Below is the open letter from the APT.

Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino announced this week that the downtown Las Vegas property has signed on to host the 2009 season of NBC’s Poker After Dark.

Sixty episodes of the hour-long show will be filmed Oct. 26 through Nov. 5 at the Golden Nugget’s new event center.

“The Golden Nugget is thrilled to host the fifth season of NBC’s exciting, late-night poker program, Poker After Dark,” said Brett Kellerman, chief operating officer for the property. “The Golden Nugget has been home to several big poker productions, as well as hosted many poker tournaments and events, so bringing a top-rated program like Poker After Dark to the property just seemed like a natural fit.”

The popular nightly program features top pros including Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman, Gus Hansen and Phil Hellmuth.

The fifth season of Poker After Dark begins airing on NBC Dec. 29 at 2:05 a.m. ET/PT, Mondays through Fridays, and Saturdays at 1:00 a.m.

For more information on the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, visit www.goldennugget.com.  For more information on NBC’s Poker After Dark, visit www.nbcsports.msnbc.com.

The BCLC’s third annual Pacific Poker Shootout played last weekend at the Cascades Casino in Langley, British Columbia.

The three event series drew 684 players and a prize pool of $316,800. Vancouver’s David Chu Ming Ao collected $20,000 for winning the first event, a sold out No Limit Bounty Hold ‘em Shootout. Douglas Merrier of Surrey, B.C., also banked $20,000 after beating out 239 players to win the second No Limit Hold ‘em shootout event.

The two-day No Limit Hold ‘em Shootout Main Event was won by Dean Jackson from Victoria. Jackson defeated 143 players to win the $40,500 first prize and said ” “I’m so happy and can’t wait to go home and share this with the family.”

“Congratulations to all the winners” said Darryl Schiewe, BCLC’s Vice President of Casino and Community Gaming. “We are extremely happy with the growing popularity of the Pacific Poker Shootout and look forward to offering more exciting poker tournaments.”