The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas

Brett Collson Chief Editor

Jan 13, 2014 4 min read

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 0001

Fun in the sun might be the typical way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the Bahamas. But for poker players, Sundays are all about business. And two well-known poker pros made the most of their day on the virtual felt this week by winning Sunday Majors at PokerStars.

Michael Tureniec and Griffin Benger (pictured) didn't find much success at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this month, each failing to cash in the $10,000 Main Event and the $25,000 High Roller. But the two pros won back their buy-ins and then some on Sunday. Tureniec took down the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for more than $106,000 after a heads-up deal, and Benger won the PokerStars Sunday 500 outright for $74,430.

Other winners this week were Wade "ricestud" Townsend (PokerStars $109 Sunday Rebuy), Alexander "Aleseed" Sidorin (PokerStars Sunday 2nd Chance), and Ben "jenbizzle" Jones (PokerStars Sunday Supersonic). The biggest earner on Sunday was "Epiphany77" who secured $201,711 in a three-handed deal at the PokerStars Sunday Million final table. Epiphany77 eventually finished runner-up to "D_DIGGLER99", who locked up $189,044.

Here's a full look at the results from the Sunday Majors on PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, partypoker and WSOP.com:

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 101

Sunday Million ($1M Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+15	7,989	$1,597,800

Place	Player	Prize
1	D_DIGGLER99	$189,044*
2	Epiphany77	$201,711*
3	schmuggel15	$144,511*
4	pixigirl123	$80,529
5	MorrisB1	$63,912
6	crazyalex696	$47,934
7	rashevski2	$31,956
8	holy h3ll	$18,374
9	Sergio "trujustrus" Cabrera	$12,382

_{*Reflects three-handed deal}

Notable Finishes: Vasily "Ravic85" Tsapko (12th - $8,548), Phillip "bergeroo" Huxley (14th - $6,931), Evan "SenorPokes" Jarvis (18th - $4,234), Jonas "Telefonkiosk" Lindlof (19th - $3,515), Nick "caecilius" Petrangelo (20th - 3,515), Joao "joaobarb" Barbosa (34th - $3,195)

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 102

Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+15	3,665	$733,000

Place	Player	Prize
1	Michael "Skämmes" Tureniec	$106,012*
2	Mateus#9	$94,829*
3	bdklizm	$60,472
4	jude187	$42,147
5	Rikimarro	$31,152
6	RerereraiZ	$23,822
7	Hyggemorfar	$16,492
8	Martin "phasE89" Balaz	$9,162
9	sami stan	$5,864

_{*Reflects heads-up deal}

Notable Finishes: Nick "Rounder63" Carillo (11th - $4,398), Charlie "ZIJOINT" Combes (14th - $3,298), Ravi "govshark2" Raghavan (26th - $1,869)

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 103

$250K Guarantee

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+15	1,444	$288,800

Place	Player	Prize
1	LimitPro911	$57,760
2	RedPantPro	$38,410
3	Baden1	$27,436
4	Covish	$20,504
5	daPHUNNIEman	$15,306
6	leopeluca	$11,263
7	silent_0ne69	$8,375
8	argos94	$6,064
9	Alonon7	$4,303

Notable Finishes: Jason "NovaSky" Koon (10th - $2,888), Brian "brianm15" England (20th - $1,155), Peter "breeth" Turmezey (23rd - $1,155)

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 104

Sunday Brawl ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$240+15	1,186	$237,200

Place	Player	Prize
1	TobyDammit	$47,440
2	Matthias "goodvibe" Neu	$31,595
3	StephCute	$22,534
4	barry manilow	$16,841
5	DEX1337	$12,571
6	zegosh	$9,250
7	Langers1990	$6,878
8	rustoopid	$4,981
9	56vn11	$3,558

Notable Finishes: Tom "hitthehole" Middleton (16th - $1,375), Peter "breeth" Turmezey (22nd - $1,019), Nick "PureCash25" Rampone (25th - $1,019)

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 105

200K Guaranteed Sunday

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+15	1,124	$224,800

Place	Player	Prize
1	anjali1986	$43,836
2	TheMoist	$23,266
3	FergieTime5	$14,724
4	HooodFlatter	$12,476
5	Pivovich	$10,228.40
6	OneOfTheseDays	$7,980
7	Flusgd72	$5,732
8	pinktacoeater	$3,709
9	SnipeDonkey	$2,585
10	dkjktif	$2023.20

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 106

Sunday 500 ($300K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$500+30	827	$413,500

Place	Player	Prize
1	Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger	$74,430
2	Niclas "mezzias" Adolfsson	$53,755
3	Crank No1	$40,109
4	peterwhoooo	$29,978
5	gorodski	$20,840
6	gottama	$16,540
7	jose_torro	$12,405
8	Skarvurin	$8,270
9	Simon " pokerbrat13" Charette	$4,962

Notable Finishes: Andreas "gnetaren" Samuelsson (14th - $3,308), Patrick "pmahoney22" Mahoney (17th - $2,481), Mateusz "uczniak" Zbikowski (18th - $2,481), Nick "Rounder63" Carillo (19th - $1,860), John "kleath" Leathart (22nd - $1,860), Elio "smokrokflock" Fox (25th - $1,860)

Get in on the Sunday Majors action yourself by visiting PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and PartyPoker.

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 107

$109 Sunday Rebuy ($225K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+9	1,023	$310,100

Place	Player	Prize
1	Wade "ricestud" Townsend	$57,368
2	Andrew "Drewfus81" St. Jean	$41,553
3	B4d3m3!st3r	$31,010
4	Kent "ForzaVaxholm" Lundmark	$23,257
5	LIKE A G6	$16,280
6	Thomas "GaggleoKings" Ambler	$13,179
7	Sheeeeep	$10,078
8	Michiel "utreg" Brummelhuis	$6,977
9	1337Gambl0r	$4,341

Notable Finishes: Oliver "sk2ll_m0dR" Weis (10th - $3,256), Nicolas "PKaiser" Fierro (16th - $2,015), Daniel "ShippityShip" Neilson (17th - $2,015), John "kleath" Leathart (18th - $2,015), Oleg "Fukuruku" Vasilchenko (19th - $1,396), Daniel "42ayay" Erlandsson (20th - $1,395), Erik "Snusarn" Backlund (24th - $1,395), Mads "MadsMP" Pedersen (26th - $1,395)

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 108

Sunday 2nd Chance ($175K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+15	1,309	$261,800

Place	Player	Prize
1	Alexander "Aleseed" Sidorin	$40,644*
2	Kevin "torino2000" Killeen	$31,183*
3	Jamie "TheChronic420" Rosen	$30,953*
4	akshay21	$18,221
5	Khiem "akia86" Nguyen	$12,959
6	Epiphany777	$10,341
7	dtfmano18	$7,723
8	Dominic "Bounatirou" Nitsche	$5,105
9	JasonX85	$2,879

_{*Reflects three-handed deal}

Notable Finishes: Jakub "Olorionek" Michalak (11th - $2,330), Edison "V_RouNder" Nguyen (19th - $1,099), Matthias "mattidm" De Meulder (20th - $1,099), Manuel "young_diam18" Blaschke (23rd - $1,099)

The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas 109

Sunday Supersonic ($125K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$210.80+4.20	1,451	$305,870

Place	Player	Prize
1	Ben "jenbizzle" Jones	$54,231
2	Darren "darrenelias" Elias	$39,763
3	habalasvegas	$30,587
4	linguisona	$22,940
5	Sheeeeep	$16,058
6	Skarvurin	$12,999
7	aaarman87	$9,940
8	jonwayne69	$6,682
9	Nutter17	$4,282

Notable Finishes: Timothy "highland" Finne (11th - $2,905), Paul "bottswild" Varano (12th - $2,905), Simon "ministerborg" Ravnsbaek (13th - $2,294), Nicholas "Frenzuh" Immekus (14th - $2,294), Maurice "MaurichSch" Schepp (16th - $1,682), Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (19th - $1,039), Tommy "TMoney0209" Miller (20th - $1,039)