Related Links

• Discuss News
• Signup
• TeamPlay
• Poker School
• Forum
• Texas Hold'em
• Tournaments
• WSOP 2008
• Mac Poker

l00syg00sie Has a Big Honking Payday at the Grand XXV - by Seth Shafer

Jun 5, 2008 Last weekend saw yet another blockbuster edition of PokerRoom’s biggest tournament – the Grand – get underway, with one lucky player taking home $185,800 for 1st place when the dust settled late Sunday night.

962 players signed up for action on Day 1a (Friday) and 1b (Saturday), with the surviving players of each flight combined on Day 2 on Sunday. A combined total of 252 players made it through to Day 2, all angling for a piece of the $1,000,000 prize pool, which guaranteed all final table finishers of the shorthanded event a payday of at least $30,000.

As play progressed past the fifth hour of action on Sunday various players fought their way to the chip lead (including everlasting, katamax, l00syg00sie, and iPodu), only to see one or another lead back into the lead. The action only got more and more tense as the field as a whole moved up the pay ladder, with each player left in the tournament eyeing a bigger and bigger payday.

After a long, exhausting day of poker, a final table of six was finally reached:

Seat 1: l00syg00sie ($1,098,643 in chips)
Seat 3: karat1960 ($2,531,035 in chips)
Seat 4: Jukka S. ($1,527,636 in chips)
Seat 7: NoTilt.Today ($1,055,000 in chips)
Seat 8: iPodu ($1,917,796 in chips)
Seat 10: everlasting. ($1,489,890 in chips)

Jukka S. had the most big tournament cashes of the remaining field but found himself the first to leave, exiting in 6th (worth $30,000) when he shoved his short-stack all-in preflop with 6s 9h and was looked up by NoTilt.Today and his Ah 10h. Jukka S. did flop a 6 and was leading until the river, when the As fell to seal his fate and send him to the rails.

NoTilt.Today was the next casualty, finishing 5th ($40,000) when he and l00syg00sie tangled. With a bet and a call pre-flop, the chips really began to fly on a flop of Ah 9c 4d. l00syg00sie led out, NoTiltToday raised, l00syg00sie re-raised and shoved all-in, and NoTiltToday called off the rest of his chips.

NoTiltToday held top pair with As Jc but was far behind l00syg00sie’s set of 4s, and no miracle cards came for NoTiltToday, with l00syg00sie taking down the hand and a big pot.

karat1960 was bounced in 4th ($60,000) when his Kh 9h ran into iPodu’s Ah Qs. Both players caught a piece of the 9c 3d Qh flop, and got all of their chips in at that point, but iPodu caught a much bigger piece with his top pair top kicker, which held up to give him the hand and eliminate karat1960.

With the field narrowed down to three, here’s what their stacks looked like:

Seat 1: l00syg00sie ($5,060,389 in chips)
Seat 8: iPodu ($2,385,831 in chips)
Seat 10: everlasting. ($2,173,780 in chips)

iPodu was the next to go, finishing 3rd ($80,000) when he came up a bit short after aggressively pushing a draw. He and l00syg00sie got their chips in the middle on a 4s 6d As flop, with iPodu on a flush draw with Qs 10s and l00syg00sie with Ah 3h, praying his top pair would hold up.

The turn was the 2h and the river the 10h, with l00syg00sie’s hand holding for yet another big pot and a sizable lead in heads-up play:

Seat 1: l00syg00sie ($8,051,556 in chips)
Seat 10: everlasting. ($1,568,444 in chips)

everlasting. gave it his best effort but came up short in the end, shoving with As 9h pre-flop but running into a huge hand in the form of pocket queens for l00syg00sie.

No drama materialized on a harmless board that ran out to give l00syg00sie the hand, the victory, and (most importantly), 1st place prize money in the form of an eye-popping $185,800. While everlasting. was likely understandably disappointed in his runner-up finish, 2nd place prize money of $120,000 goes a long way towards curing any lingering disappointment or sadness.

As always, congrats to all the players who turned out to make the Grand XXV yet another huge success, topping both total players and total prize money records.

Let's Get The GSOP 2008 Started! by Liam Clark Nov 21, 2008  With the clock counting down to the start of the Grand Series of Poker , many of Team PokerRoom.com's biggest names are already registered for... More

---

Moblife goes to Las Vegas! by Liam Clark Nov 20, 2008  Last week we showed you some of the great features of PokerRoom.com's Mobile Poker Game by taking it out on the streets of Melbourne during... More

---

DaMachine86 Works His Way To the Aussie Millions Nov 20, 2008  The Aussie Millions online finals on November 16th would make yet another PokerRoom.com player’s poker dreams a reality, with the winner of the... More

---

A Trip to Las Vegas Wasn't Enough for BEATME x by Seth Shafer Nov 18, 2008  The Aussie Millions Online Finals on November 15th wasn't just a sold-out, max capacity turnout, but it was a star-studded affair, with tons of... More

---

cactuscliff, celticchicky, and IljaV Move One Step Closer to a Nokia N82 by Liam Clark Nov 17, 2008  The Moblife Weekly Qualifiers just keep getting bigger and bigger with 106 players turning out on Saturday for their chance to win the... More

---

rocketjim and pylon19 Come Up Big in the Bounty by Seth Shafer Nov 14, 2008  The latest edition of one of PokerRoom's biggest and boldest tournaments -- the Bounty -- was held last Sunday, November 9th, with the usual array... More

---

Upper West S Moving on up to Melbourne for the 2009 Aussie Millions by Seth Shafer Nov 12, 2008  Last Sunday's Aussie Millions online finals on November 9th featured a sold-out field of 45 runners all hoping to finish the day atop the field,... More

---

efroni1 Signs Up for a Second Tour of Team Duty by Seth Shafer Nov 12, 2008  The Team PokerRoom.com roster for the 2009 Aussie Millions continues to swell, with online finals on Saturday and Sunday of last weekend adding... More

---

Moblife goes to Australia! Nov 11, 2008  Hi there poker fans. We have been talking a lot lately about PokerRoom.com's Mobile Poker Game , and we been giving everyone a chance to... More

---