$$ Cash 4 Seat $$

Vamooooooooooooooooooooo! If railbirds and players were feeling any post-WCOOP hangover they certainly didn’t show it at tonight’s $750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up. With 4,417 players signed up for the $215 buy-in NLHE tourney it smashed the guarantee and created a $883,400.00 prize pool that paid out 630 places with $138,587.80 of it going out the Sunday Warm-up champ. Tonight would have a little extra South American spice to it as Brazilian Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes comes in tonight looking to add a Sunday Major title to his 2008 WSOP bracelet and recent WPT title at the Bellagio World Cup.

Gomes comes into the final table tonight fourth in chips after the final table was set by cabby123. In the deciding bubble hand cabby123 would four-bet TexDuke all-in and get a call as both players had considerable stacks to begin with creating a 13.5 million chip pot, the winner would be the final table’s chip leader. Sure enough both turned over huge hands, cabby123 had pocket aces [Ac][As], and TexDuke was left with deflated pocket kings [Kh][Kc]. The kings never threatened on a small [6h] [9s] [6c] [5h] [2s] board as TexDuke and the Coach K avatar were sent off the court in 10th place earning $5,300.41 as tonight’s bubble boy.

Seat 1: Beto777 (6323501 in chips)
Seat 2: Sn0wb4ll (7680491 in chips)
Seat 3: CoachConrad (2897111 in chips)
Seat 4: krash778 (2557778 in chips)
Seat 5: KenT351 (2175219 in chips)
Seat 6: MVital23 (1734571 in chips)
Seat 7: cabby123 (13874942 in chips)
Seat 8: El ibero (1793338 in chips)
Seat 9: Allingomes (5133049 in chips)

The blinds would start out at 65K/130K ante 13K and KenT351 would make the first big move doubling up on the fourth hand of final table play. KenT351’s pocket kings [Kd][Ks] were plenty to overtake the pocket eights [8s][8h] of Beto777 especially with the flopped set [4c] [Kc] [Td] [7h] [3d] for the 4.5 million chip pot. Five hands later it was El ibero’s turn to double up, taking some of KenT351’s newly acquired chips in a 3.5 million chip pot where El ibero’s [Ah][Td] held up to KenT351’s [7s][Ac] to stay alive.

As the blinds rose to 80K/160K Beto777 and Sn0wb4ll traded raises preflop to see a [Ac] [2d] [4s] flop. Beto777 checked as Sn0wb4ll kept the foot on the gas with a 1.44 million chip bet, Beto777 would check raise all-in for 2.5 million more creating a 11.2 million chip pot. Beto777 flipped up [Qd][Ad] outkicking Sn0wb4ll’s [Tc][As]. The kicker would improve on the [Qs] turn and Sn0wb4ll was drawing dead shoving the huge pot to Beto777 who joined cabby123 in the eight figures club.

At the break before the blinds went up to 100K/200K ante 20K here’s how the nine stacked up:

Seat 1: Beto777 (10985674 in chips)
Seat 2: Sn0wb4ll (2063154 in chips)
Seat 3: CoachConrad (2900611 in chips)
Seat 4: krash778 (1908778 in chips)
Seat 5: KenT351 (2821600 in chips)
Seat 6: MVital23 (1447071 in chips)
Seat 7: cabby123 (12693942 in chips)
Seat 8: El ibero (3047676 in chips)
Seat 9: Allingomes (6301494 in chips)

Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy had the MC’ing duties tonight quipped about Gomes’ large rooting section which included fellow Brazilian Team PokerStars Pro Andre “aakkari” Akkari and Gualter “stockcar99″ Salles.

MVital23 started as a short stack, did manage to double up but with the rising blinds found that stack dwindle down until pushing 1.8 million chips holding [Js][Ac] UTG which looked good for the blinds until KenT351 called from the big blind with [6s][Ad]. Looking for more than the blinds with the big advantage, MVital23’s pulse was very healthy until the [Kc] [Ah] [Th] [6c] on the turn gave KenT351 the advantage. The straight, and higher two pair outs missed on the [2c] river sending our ninth place finisher home with $7,067.21

Alexandre Gomes kept his foot on the gas after MVital23’s elimination and found himself quickly shortstacked. First, losing doubling up krash778 when the preflop raise, flop, and river bets all were called by krash778 holding [Jd][Ad] who rivered a pair of aces [Kd] [5d] [6s] [8h] [Ah] after flopping the nut flush draw, didn’t need the pair as Gomes exposed [9c] [Jh] for the bluff. Five hands later he would double up Sn0wb4ll as both shoved preflop with Gomes covering. Gomes couldn’t get [Kc][Th] past the [Ah][Qh] of Sn0wb4ll which turned the nut flush on the [7h] [6s] [6h] [9h] [5h] board and the 3.9 million chip pot went to Sn0wb4ll.

The very next hand Gomes tried again to get past Sn0wb4ll with a preflop raise of one million which represented almost all his chips but Sn0wb4ll held firm with [Ah][9c]. After the rest of Gomes’ chips hit the middle after the flop, Gomes would expose [7c][Kc] and neither player connected on the [8s] [5d] [Ts] [2d] [Ac] board and the Team PokerStars Pro would have to wait for another time to conquer a Sunday Major as he was out in eighth ($11,042.51).

Sn0wb4ll kept rolling and gaining chips in the process, this time it was CoachConrad adding to the sphere’s chip stack. With the blinds at 150K/300K ante 30K Sn0wb4ll opened for 900K from the button. Holding 2.8 million in chips and [8h][Ah] in the small blind, CoachConrad was going to teach the button raiser a lesson with a three-bet shove all-in. Good lesson, bad timing as Sn0wb4ll snap-called with big slick [As][Kd] and the [3c] [Th] [6d] [2d] [Td] board helped no one as CoachConrad was sent back to the sidelines with seventh place money ($19,876.51).

Eight hands later with the blinds holding at 150K/300K ante 30K former huge stack cabby123 had fallen on hard times and as down to 3.6 million when shoving over the top of an UTG raise of big stacked Beto777. Watch the results of the hand below after Beto777 made the call with pocket jacks [Jh][Jc]:

RSS readers click through to see replay

The [Qh][Ad] of cabby123 couldn’t catch Beto777’s jacks on the [8c] [7c] [Th] [5d] [9d] board as the 7.7 million chip pot shot Beto777 over the 20 million chip mark and cabby123 fare meter was stopped in sixth place ($28,710.51).

At the start of five handed play there were brief talks of a deal but the mix of language barriers and uneasiness of chopping early stopped the discussions as play resumed with blinds going up to 200K/400K ante 40K.

The next two eliminations came in nearly back-to-back. Beto777 led off the betting in the first hand raising from the cutoff to 1.2 million as krash778 three-bet all-in to 3.8 million from the small blind. Not to be out done, KenT351 in the big blind made the call leaving 1.6 million behind as Beto777 decided to keep the rest of the big stack and folded. [Ts][Kh] for krash778 and a suited big slick for KenT351 [Kc][Ac] and on the all wheel cards board [5s] [2d] [2c] [5c] [3h] krash778 hit the wall and ended the night in fifth place ($37,544.51).

Two hands later while chop talks began again El ibero tried shoving 3.4 million chips and pocket deuces [2h][2d] into the blinds of Beto777 and Sn0wb4ll. El ibero would get by the chip leader, but Sn0wb4ll would make the quick call and covered holding pocket jacks [Jh][Jd]. Sn0wb4ll missed broadway on the [Qc] [Td] [Kh] [5s] [4s] board, but the jacks were plenty to eliminate El ibero in fourth place ($49,912.11).

After El ibero exited the final table the remaining three got their heads together for chopping up the remaining prize pool, but with one slight issue. KenT351 left his Russian-English translator somewhere else and the language barrier stopped play for a bit as Tom McEvoy searched headquarters for a suitable translator to help him dole out the numbers. After the Team PokerStars Pro got a few phrases of Russian into the text box a simple “da” and “I agree” from KenT351 and the other two fell in line reach the deal below:

KenT351: $92,161.56
Sn0wb4ll: $93,378.26
Beto777: $118,844.60

$10,000.00 was left out of the deal for the winner as we resumed 3-handed play that was the blinds move up to 250K/500K ante 50K meaning 900K sat in the middle preflop. The play stepped up accordingly as KenT351 made the first move winning a coin flip on the river with [7s][Ad] against the pocket treys [3s][3h] of Beto777 on the [Jd] [2c] [2h] [4s] [7d] board. Beto777 wouldn’t give up the chip lead long, winning six out of the next seven hands.

Despite the resurgence Beto777 would give up a few chips to Sn0wb4ll when facing an all-in raise from Sn0wb4ll on a [9d] [9h] [Jd] [5d] [8d] board Beto777 couldn’t come up with a call and shifted the lead over to Sn0wb4ll. But, the three remained with similar chip stacks.

Nine hands later Beto777 and KenT351 would knock heads preflop again. This time KenT351 led off with a 1.5 million chip button raise with the blinds still at 250K/500K ante 50K as Beto777 shoved all-in from the small blind for just under ten million with pocket sixes [6d][6s]. KenT351 took a few seconds but chose to call with [Ad][4s] and got no help from the [7h] [7d] [9s] flop, nor the [Jc] turn. But, the cruel counterfeiting [Js] hit the river giving KenT351 a higher two pair plus ace kicker as Beto777 will have to enjoy taking home the most money tonight in third place ($118,844.60).

Heads-up play lasted exactly two hands as on the decisive hand KenT351 would min-raise from the button and Sn0wb4ll called to see the [Qs] [2s] [Ad] flop. Sn0wb4ll check the option but KenT351 would bet one million, and… well watch the video below for the answer:

RSS readers click through to see replay

They would trade bets until all the chips were in the middle on the flop. Sn0wb4ll holding [Ac][5s] for top pair and KenT351’s [Ts][Qc] hit middle pair on the [Qs] [2s] [Ad] flop. But, the [Th] turn gave KenT351 two pair which would avoid Sn0wb4ll’s outs on the [7s] river. With the 30.3 million chip pot KenT351 was declared in the winner thus snagging the extra $10,000 to go with the chopped $92,161.56 for a six-figure score as this week’s Sunday Warm-up champion!

Sn0wb4ll’s surge in latter half of the final table nearly added up to a win, but instead the German will take away a hefty sum of $93,378.26 from the chop agreement.

Congrats to all our winners and be sure to check out PokerStars.TV’s wrap up show for all of tonight’s highlights with commentary and the hole cards exposed for your pleasure.

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up (09-27-09)
* denotes part of three way chop
1. KenT351 (Воронеж) *$102,161.56
2. Sn0wb4ll (Hamburg) *$93,378.26
3. Beto777 (S.Paulo - NO CHAT) *$118,844.60
4. El ibero (Valladolid) $49,912.11
5. krash778 (Ростов-на-Дону) $37,544.51
6. cabby123 (verona) $28,710.51
7. CoachConrad (Stamford) $19,876.51
8. Allingomes (Curitiba - BRASIL) $11,042.51
9. MVital23 (Ufa) $7,067.21

After one of the Team PokerStars Pros has a big win, we like to give them a chance to tell us what it was like. Even though he is the newest WPT millionaire, Brazilian Pro Alex Gomes took the time to sit down and tell us what it was like to add a WPT title to his list of wins. Congrats again, Alex, and thanks for taking the time to take us where few have been.

by Alex Gomes

After a long and exausting time in Vegas, where I spent almost 70 days dedicated WSOP tournaments, I had decided not to play at the Bellagio. But I’m a poker lover, and despite being tired and a little bit upset about my results at the WSOP, I decided to play at the event after talking with some friends.

It was really a last minute decision. I arrived at the Bellagio at 3:30pm (the tournament started at noon), with blinds 100 / 200 at the third level. That said, this is a really deepstack tournament. Everyone started with 60.000 chips and 90 minute levels, so my late arrival was not a problem.

This is one of the best structures in poker tournaments. It’s a very long event, with six days of play and a maximum of six levels per day. So, we started playing at noon, and at 8:30pm the day ended. This is very good for players, because we can have a good meal and a nice night of sleep.

But, on the other side, the WPT has one of the toughest fields around, with a lot of well-known professionals. On my first day, I started at a very tough table, with Nenad Medic, Justin Smith, Jon Turner and some internet pros. The table had a lot of action early on, but I didn’t have much success. I finished the day with 39.400 chips with the average sitting around 80,000.

On Day 2, I was seated between Michael Mizrachi and “gboro”, the famous online player. Freedy Deeb was at the table, too. My game finally started to kick in and I ran my stack up to 223,000, well above the 160,000 average. That gave me a lot of motivation to came back next day.

My Day 3 had a lot of ups and downs. I started at a table with my friend from Team PokerStars Pro, Humberto Brenes, and with Kevin Saul, the same man who was at the
final table with me at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure early this year.

After three levels, my stack was really growing and was up to around 350,000. That’s when I had to change tables. I ended up sitting with Jonathan Little and some online kids. I got crippled by Little when there were only 50 players left, all-in pre-flop with a pair of eights against pocket queens. I played the hand badly, and was left with only 60,000. At the time, the average was around 400,000. I somehow managed to double up two times in a row, and by the end of the day I had a short stack of 222,000.

Day 4 started with only 31 players. We needed to lose four players to bust the money bubble. I decided to take advantage of that, and it worked. I played very aggressively (the way I like!) and got up to a 420,000 stack. From that point on, I played the best poker of my career. I finished the day with 1,700.000 with the average around 1,500,000.

Day 5 was the fastest in WPT history. With only 10 players left, we only had to achieve four eliminations before we hit the televised final table. And that happened pretty fast! The short stack busted on the very first hand. It took just an hour and half to get down to six players. Suddenly, I was at a WPT final table. I was the short stack, but had 1,500,000 with blinds at 10,000 / 20,000, more than enough to play fast and loose!

This table was considered by many (Erik Seidel included) to be one of the toughest in WPT history. That was a huge motivator for me. Thank God I kept playing really well. I played loose with no fear of making mistakes and no fear of the other players. With that mentality and disposition, I worked my way up to chip leader with three players remaining. Soon, I was heads up and confident.

It was not easy. I won some coin flips. I lost some coin flips. I lost some hands when I was a favorite, but then bluffed a lit bit and earned some nice pots. You can see all that on TV later this year!

I want to thank all the Brazilians that supported me, not only those who were at the Bellagio, but everybody who spent the night without sleep, cheering the final table on the internet. I am very proud again, to be the first Brazilian to win this very important title.

The World Series of Poker can be discouraging. You can play all month long and barely have anything to show for it. Look at Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes. The best win he came away with in the 2009 Series was a $5,300 cash for an 80th place finish in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event. Not exactly what he was hoping for. Thank goodness he made the decision to go down the street to Bellagio.

A few days ago, while the rest of us were putting the WSOP to bed, Gomes was working his way through the field of 268 players in the $15,000 buy-in event. Last night, he went into the final table of the tournament in last chip position. Just a couple of hours ago, the Team PokerStars Pro from Brazil walked away with his first WPT title and the $1,187,670 first prize.

Gomes, the smiling man from South America, exploded onto the poker scene in 2008 when he won his first WSOP bracelet. Just a few months later, he nearly grabbed his first EPT title when he took fourth place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Now, Gomes has erased any doubt he can close. His win on the WPT gives him a chance to be one of the few people in the world who can claim poker’s triple crown–a win on the WSOP, WPT, and EPT circuits. Now we just have to work on getting Gomes over to Europe and see if he can get it done.

Congratulations to Alex Gomes for this morning’s big win!