Many of online poker's top players were at major events in Australia and the U.S. this week, but the action on the virtual felts didn't skip a beat. Most of the Sunday Major tournaments exceeded their guaranteed prize pools, with several big-name players earning big paydays along the way.
Longtime online poker pro Nick "gbmantis" Niergarth absolutely obliterated the PokerStars Sunday Million final table, going wire-to-wire to claim the biggest online poker score of his career ($235,833). With three players left, Niergarth owned 87% of the chips in play and elected not to make a deal despite pausing the tournament for consideration.
Other notables collecting big scores on Sunday were Kevin "Wu_Wizard" MacPhee, Tyler "brainwash" Cornell, Spencer "UH Big Tex" Hudson and Alex "AD_84" Debus. Here's a look at the results from the Sunday Major tournaments on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker:
PokerStars Sunday Million ($1M Guaranteed)
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$200+$15
7,861
$1,572,200
Place
Player
Prize
1
Nick "gbmantis" Niergarth
$235,833
2
LFCRED
$172,942
3
iisZet
$117,915
4
willis59
$79,238
5
NeverMoreCD
$62,888
6
cryboy89
$47,166
7
TheCangorous
$31,444
8
zusa20
$18,080
9
iBert1924
$12,184
PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$200+$15
3,432
$686,400
Place
Player
Prize
1
FOO-92
$107,765
2
Poker Own U
$80,308
3
TheCangorous
$56,628
4
motelli
$39,468
5
powerpokerBR
$29,172
6
CredeExperto
$22,308
7
Y2JKID
$15,444
8
Helst
$8,580
9
kuzman89
$5,491
Notable Finishes: David "dhilton12" Hilton (11th - $4,118)
Full Tilt Poker $350,000 Guarantee ($350K Guaranteed)
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$200+$16
1,803
$360,600
Place
Player
Prize
1
lockitup2487
$56,674*
2
apjpu3l
$45,248*
3
o daskalos
$47,618*
4
strimbeqq
$25,242
5
Spencer "UH Big Tex" Hudson
$18,751
6
Assad91
$13,702
7
56vn11
$9,736
8
KillerAAV
$6,851
9
Eich64
$4,687
Notable Finishes: Matt "Adzizzy124" Marafioti (15th - $2,379), Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick (16th - $1,730)
PokerStars Sunday 500 ($300K Guaranteed)
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$500+$30
853
$426,500
Place
Player
Prize
1
Romidel
$49,198*
2
hamanof
$54,608*
3
Tyler "brainwash" Cornell
$50,180*
4
Paris Dedes
$50,519*
5
barcs69
$21,495
6
Clark "snake8484" Hamagami
$17,060
7
kinabamula
$12,795
8
ESCORPIO1961
$8,530
9
SinKarma
$5,118
*Denotes dour-way deal
Notable Finishes: Jason "jakoon1985" Koon (17th - $2,559), Jim "MrBigQueso" Collopy (18th - $2,559)
PokerStars $109 Sunday Rebuy ($225K Guaranteed)
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$100+$9
986
$318,900
Place
Player
Prize
1
Lime-In-Coco
$58,996
2
heißtercamp
$42,732
3
mayrogata
$31,890
4
camikater
$23,917
5
xalkidas
$16,742
6
Emilohlsson
$13,553
7
moumaife84
$10,364
8
oaktree50
$7,175
9
FYiWin
$4,464
Notable Finishes: Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler (13th - $2,710), Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver (21st - $1,435), Bryan "theczar19" Piccioli (31st - $1,116)