Sunday Briefing: Sunday Million Ends in a Heads-Up Chop

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Jul 23, 2018 6 min read

This weekend’s PokerStars Sunday Million ended in a heads-up chop that saw the final two players walk away with more than $270,000 between them. Let’s take a look how the final table went down.

PokerStars Sunday Million

Poland’s “blackaces93” reached the final table of the PokerStars Sunday Million four years ago, and was part of a three-handed deal before they busted in third-place. Fast forward to the present and the Polish grinder found themselves at the final table of online poker’s biggest weekly tournament once again. This time, he or she got the job done.

Ukraine’s “regina83h” went into the nine-handed final table nursing a five big blind stack so it was unsurprising to see them fall in ninth-place. The Ukrainian found themselves all-in with seven-three and losing to blackaces93’s pair of red kinds.

Eighth-place went to “RagnarZDead?” of Serbia, who had their aces cracked by the pocket sevens of “keksi_sn” courtesy of the latter spiking a set on the flop. RagnarZDead was then joined on the sidelines by “STAS80K” whose ace-six may have improved to a pair of sixes, but it was not strong enough to beat the black sevens in the hand of Joao “jricardosc” Fernandes.

Despite picking up that pot, Fernandes was the next player to exit from the Sunday Million. He first has kings cracked by the pocket eights of “jaydog321” and he then check-raised all-in with a pair of queens on a five-four-five flop only to run into the seven-five of blackaces93.

“Identity K” then busted in fifth-place when their three-bet shove with king-queen was called by keksi_sn who had initially opened with a raise holding a pair of queens. Those ladies held and the player count was reduced by one.

The players gained more elbow room a few minutes later when jaydog321 three-bet all-in with queen-jack from the big blind after keksi_sn had opened from the button with ace-jack. Keksi_sn called and caught an ace on the flop and a jack on the turn to leave only three players in the hunt for the title.

“luckyEVever” of Germany busted in third-place after calling all-in when blackaces93 shoved on them from the small blind. luckyEVever showed ace-five of clubs, blackaces93 revealed queen-deuce of hearts and the latter turned a queen-high straight to send the tournament into heads-up.

The heads-up duo played on for a short while before pausing to strike a deal that left $20,000 for the eventual champion. That champion turned out to be blackaces93 who pushed all-in from the button with king-six and was called by the dominating king-jack. Keksi_sn looked set for a double up, but a cruel six of diamonds landed on the river to bust them in second place and leave Poland’s blackaces93 to be crowned this weekend’s Sunday Million champion.

^{*reflects a heads-up deal}

PokerStars Sunday High Roller: $100K Gtd

The $2,100 Sunday High Roller saw a star-studded final table that was the home to a who’s who of online poker. A larger crowd of 89 entries took part in this week’s edition and a $178,000 prize pool was created.

Team PokerStars Pro Igor “IgorKurganov” Kurgaov was the first player to cash, he busted in 13th place for $4,450. By the time the nine-handed final table was set, the least anyone was taking home was $5,178.

This is the sum “imluckbox” of Thailand secured after they busted in ninth-place. They were followed to the rail by Swedish superstar Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, Switzerland’s “AnyTw0_Card$” and Thomas “WushuTM” Muhlocker of Austria; the latter being the first player to secure a five-figure payout.

Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell busted in fifth-place for a $13,876 addition to her bankroll before Russia’s “helllo_totti” crashed out in fourth-place for $18,323, doing so with their second bullet of the tournament.

Another player who fired two $2,100 bullets was third-place finisher “AceSpades11”. Their exit left Parker “tonkaaaa” Talbot and Daris “DEX888” Pedes of Germany to play one-on-one for the title and the $42,184 top prize. This top prize is now nestled in the PokerStars account of DEX888 which meant Talbot picked up the $31,947 consolation prize.

partypoker 1K Sunday Big Bounty Hunter-HR

“MOTHERSMATT” turned $1,050 into more than $40,000 by coming out on top of partypoker’s 1K Sunday Big Bounty Hunter on Jul. 22. A field of 196 entries competed for a share of $200,000 that saw half divided up among the top 34 finishers and the other half reserved for bounty payments.

“Rdcrsnn” was the final table’s first casualty and they were joined in the payout table by “justkot”, “pelicangirl” and “andstar555”; the latter’s exit left four players in contention for the victory.

Team partypoker’s Patrick “Patrick_Leonard” Leonard then fell in fourth-place, a finish worth $7,584 from the prize pool and an additional $6,305 worth of bounties. Leonard soon found “guydeet39” keeping him coming on the sidelines after they busted in third-place for $10,347 and $7,483.

Heads-up saw “Dextered” and MOTHERSMATT lock horns in a battle for the $19,259 top prize plus a huge bounty as you win your own bounty if you take down a PKO tournament. MOTHERSMATT came out on top to bank the $19,259 top prize plus a cool $21,523 worth of bounty payments.

partypoker Super Sunday High Roller

This week’s Super Sunday High Roller saw partypoker slap a $100,000 guarantee on the prize pool with everyone now returned from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. It certainly helped the number of entrants as 51 entries were processed and the guarantee surpassed by $27,500.

“Ad_Finem” took full advantage of the swollen prize pool and emerged victorious to secure a cool $44,625 for their $2,600 investment. Ad_Finem had to defeat “barrm111” heads-up to get their hands on the title and the chunky first-place prize, meaning barrm111 had to make do with the still substantial $29,962 runner-up prize.

The top four players all secured a five-figure score. Fourth-place and $11,475 went to “ImagineKing” before “omgitsgiraf” busted in third-place for $19,125.

Next weekend’s Super Sunday High Roller is already in the partypoker lobby and again has a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.

888poker $60,000 Whale

It was a Swedish one-two in the 888poker $60,000 Whale this weekend with Johannes “TrollKonst8” Korsar walking away with the lion’s share of the $67,000 prize pool.

Last week’s champion, “Farrugia_1” of Malta was the first player to cash. They busted in sixth-place and collected $3,685.

Swedish star Niklas “tutten7” Astedt fell in fifth-place before “WAFAL” of Denmark saw their tournament come to an abrupt end in fourth-place. Third-place and $10,500, the first five-figure score of the night, went to Slovenia’s Alessandro “ZeroNineee” Valli, which left “cuadrado12” and Korsar to battle heads-up for the title.

It was a battle at Korsar came out on top of so the $24,790 prize was his. Fellow Swede cuadrado12 netted $16,750 for their runner-up finish.

888poker $80,000 Sunday Mega Deep

Five of the eight final tablists in the 888poker $80,000 Sunday Mega Deep hailed from the United Kingdom or Norway, but it was a Brit who triumphed over the 450-strong field to secure a $17,550 score.

“Youler” was the first UK player to bust from the final table, their tournament ended in eighth-place, a finish worth $2,250. The second Brit, “J0hnmccl3an” exited in sixth-place for $3,600 before the Norwegians busted in fifth and third-place.

“Velkommeninn” was the fifth-place finisher with “Urindeepshit” exiting in third-place.

This left Brazil’s “EduardoGaria” and “Turrrrible” to play one-on-one for the title. The British grinder dispatched of their Brazilian opponent to leave them to collect the runner-up prize of $13,050 and lock up the $17,550 top prize for themselves.

_{The Stars Group is a majority shareholder in iBus Media}

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