It was a busy day last Sunday in the digital card rooms as the WCOOP wrapped up its final tournaments and kicked off the main event. Quite possibly because of the “can’t miss” series championships, numbers were driven higher across the board in nearly all of the Sunday majors. Here is your “Sunday Funday” recap of the big wins of the weekend.

$2,100 WCOOP HORSE Event #63 – PokerStars
Buy In: $2000+100 Entrants: 165 Prize Pool: $330,000 USD

As we might expect in a high buy in mixed game event, a good bit of those that went deep are names we know, but what is surprising is where they finished.  Eugene Katchalov and Viktor “IsIdur1” Blom hit the rail in 8th and 7th respectively, leaving the field and the big prize money for some relative unknowns.  “vachette17” took home the win and $71,775.  Outside of the final table, some other deep runs included Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick (12th – $7,425), Paul “padjes” Berende (15th – $5,775), Daniel Negreanu (17th – $4,125) and Bryn Kenney (20th – $4,125).

WCOOP Event #62: NLHE Super KO ($1 Million GTD) – PokerStars
Buy In: $337.50+337.50+25 (buy in, bounty, rake)  Entrants: 2,467  Prize Pool: $1,665,225

Everyone loves making almost half their buy in back for a KO, don’t they?  Of course, Luke “ValueFolding” McLean loves it $104,173 more than the rest of the field as he came away with the best of a 4 way deal in this bounty bash-up.  The event busted the guarantee and made sure at least (statistically) about 1200 people went home with a refund in their pocket.  Big finishes include Alexander “RedIceRap” Gerlach (11th – $5,661), Ignat “0Human0” Liviu (12th – $5,661), Felipe “Improved” Montenegro (24th – $2,664), Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad (27th – $2,664).

*denotes a deal/chop 

Full Tilt Poker Sunday $250,000 GTD

Buy in: $200+15  Entrants: 1,614  Prize Pool: $322,800

FTP appears to be back in the swing of things and experiencing a nice uptick thanks to WCOOP traffic (otherwise known as degen flocking.)  After a 3 way deal, Gavin Ball was edged out for the top prize by BlackBrahman.  While the final table itself has some evident talent (see below) there were some deep runs by some repeat offenders at the top of the tournament leader boards like Brandon “norajean” Meyers (13th – $2,388), Jason “NovaSky” Koon (14th – $2,388), Mickey “Mement_mori” Petersen (18th – $1,775), Calvin “Cal42688” Anderson (26th – $1,291).  It should be noted that “Memet_mori” was also busy making it through Day 1 (and deep into the money) of the WCOOP Main Event at the same time.

*denotes deal.

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl ($200,000 GTD)
Buy-In: $240+15  Entrants: 1500  Prize Pool: $300,000

A nice round number of entrants in the Brawl left Geoff Rasmussen with a nice round $60,000 first prize when the dust settled.  A handy chunk of change for besting 1499 foes, don’t you think?  On the way there he had to run down a few well known players, including John “BlackFours” May (10th – $3,000), Mathew “matfrankland” Frankland (12th – $3,000) and Pratyush “Shane Gamble” Buddiga (27th – $1,200). 

PartyPoker $200,000 Guaranteed Sunday
Buy In: $200+15  Entrants: 1,134  Prize Pool: $226,800

Back at the newly orange painted Party Poker we saw a week over week jump in numbers with 1,134 players creating a $226,800.  Taking home the lion’s share in an out and out win was JVierra114 for $44,226 besting Rhys Jones heads up.

Sunday 500 ($300,000 GTD) – PokerStars
Buy In: $500+30  Entrants: 1,160  Prize Pool: $580,000

The final table of the “Big Race” on Poker Stars saw David Baker snatch up a nearly $100,000 prize from an active and talent filled table that include another live and online veteran, Darryl Fish.  No deals were made, no quarter given as a final table full of regulars fought it all the way out for the glory and the prize here. 

$109 Sunday Rebuy ($225K Guaranteed) – PokerStars
Buy in: $100+9 (rebuy) Entrants: 1,391 Prize Pool: $437,900

The Sunday Rebuy saw accomplished live and online grinder Connor Drinnan best almost the whole field and come to an even cash chop with Marcelosrf as they split the top prizes but sent Drinnan home with the title and $68,268 dollars.  Talented virtual feltster John May came in 7^thand a field of great grinders just missed this coveted Sunday final table, including Joe “bigegypt” Elpayaa (14th – $3,284), Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis (16th – $2,408) and David “SexSeen” Sands (31st – $1,138).

Sunday 2^nd Chance ($175,000 Guaranteed) – PokerStars
Buy in: $200+15  Entrants: 1,780  Prize Pool: $356,000

JC Alvarado scored a big one here over the 1,780 runner field and a final table that included the likes of Dan Colpoys and deep finishes by Dan “Danny98765” Smith (19th – $1,424) and Jamie “TheCronic420” Rosen (21st – $1,424).  Dan Smith was also busy putting together a deep run in the WCOOP Main Event. #MustBeNice

Sunday Supersonic ($125,000 GTD) – PokerStars
Buy In: $210.80+4.20 Entrants: 1,704  Prize Pool: $359,203

While the title of this tournament always has me singing 80s hip-hop themes in my head, the final table names were not ringing any bells.  (Though that Tomatee guy might run good.)  Did I get it wrong?  Tweet me @mcwaldron and tell me how dumb I am!  Maybe I’ll feel as chagrinned as poker superstuds Darren Elias (17th – $1,796) and Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko (28th – $790) who made deep runs here but missed the big paydays.