Sunday Briefing: Gruissem Leads partypoker's massive MILLIONS Online

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Nov 26, 2018 6 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

The $20 million guaranteed MILLIONS Online event kicked off at partypoker on Nov. 25 and broke the site’s record for the biggest prize pool accumulated in a single day when 1,574 entries (1,332 unique entrants, 242 reentries) of $5,300 each generated a monster-sized $7,870,000 prize pool!

Some 230 players progressed to Day 2 at the first attempt with nobody bagging up more chips than the Team partypoker member Philipp “Phil_Gruissem” Gruissem. The talented German finished Day 1A with a 26,865,379-stack, over 2.5 million more chips than second-placed “hi_all” of Finland who bagged 24,126,018 chips.

Plenty of big names also progressed to Day 2 including Chris “Therealmoorm” Moorman who bagged up 15,374,484 chips, enough for tenth place, and Swedish sensation Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (6,303,392).

Four more starting flights are scheduled for Nov. 29 and Dec. 2-4 so expect more big names to enter as they attempt to get their hands on the $2.5 million first-place prize.

partypoker MILLIONS Online Day 1A

partypoker MILLIONS Online Schedule

partypoker KO Series #38-HR: $300K Gtd [8-Max]

The $10 million guaranteed KO Series concluded on Nov. 25 with a handful of $300,000 guaranteed events, including the partypoker KO Series #38-HR: $300K Gtd [8-Max] that saw 815 players create a $417,687 prize pool.

“Metallist535” of Russia was the last player standing in this event, their first-place finish netting them a total prize of $71,743. This huge sum dwarfed the $26,007 “PhilMcIvey1” collected for their second-place finish thanks to the champion banking $35,374 worth of bounty payments on their way to victory.

The top six finishers helped themselves to a five-figure score for the $530 investment with Chris “Therealmoorm” Moorman banking $10,404 after finishing fifth, a great day for Moorman with him ending Day 1A of MILLIONS Online with a top 10 stack.

partypoker KO Series #39-HR: $300K Gtd [Mix-Max Fast]

After finishing top of the chip counts in the MILLIONS Online Day 1A, Philip “Phil_Gruissem” Gruissem almost took down the partypoker KO Series #39-HR: $300K Gtd [Mix-Max Fast] but had to make do with a second-place finish.

Gruissem walked away with a combined score of $46,801 for this runner-up finish, leaving Hungary’s “ATM_Mage” to secure a $61,784 payday.

The six-handed final table was a star-studded affair with the UK’s “jizonhisniz” finishing in sixth-place for $9,175, Uruguay’s “MoNddLeR” banking $16,538 for their fifth-place finish and “Batdog666” of Germany netting $20,161.

Third-place and a total of $25,261 went to Niklas “Drulitooo” Astedt who also finished third in the PokerStars Sunday Million!

PokerStars Sunday Million

This weekend’s Sunday Million was the biggest in recent weeks after 6,058 players turned out in force to create a $1,211,600 prize pool that was shared among the top $1,106 finishers. A min-cash was worth $331 but this sum increased dramatically to $9,621 by the time the nine-handed final table was set.

Ninth-place went to Diego “Die Ventura” Ventura Chunga, who was the 2015 PCA Main Event runner-up. Chunga netted $9,621 from this online event. Chunga was joined at the final table by a fellow Peruvian in “rmiguel2007” who fell in sixth-place for a $27,840 addition to their bankroll.

Another South American in Peter “pitaufmg” Gabriel busted in fifth-place for $39,671 with “luckyman147” of Poland turning their $215 investment into $56,531.

When play was three-handed, you would have bet your bottom dollar that Sweden’s Niklas “Lena900” Astedt would have swept away the opposition, but this didn’t happen as the Swede crashed out in third place for $80,555.

Astedt’s exit left “4_VaNyA_4” of Moldova and “tikidiii” of Finland to fight for the title. It was the latter who would ultimately emerge victorious, banking a massive $163,574 and resigning the runner-up to $114,788.

PokerStars High Roller Club: $530 Bounty Builder HR

Andras “probris” Nemeth won yet another major online poker tournament on Nov. 25 when he came out on top of a 1,152-strong field in the PokerStars High Roller Club: $530 Bounty Builder HR Progressive KO. The $300,000 guarantee was smashed and $576,000 was up for grabs.

The first of the nine players to fall at the final was Switzerland’s “BAGBAGBAGBAG” who walked away with $3,905 plus $5,551 from the bounty prize pool for a combined score of $9,456. This was approximately $2,500 more than eighth-place Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies collected for his seventh-place finish. Sahamies is a legend in online poker circles thanks to his high stakes cash game exploits.

Malta’s “sitiolibre29” was the first player to lock up a five-figure score, banking $10,381 in total after busting in seventh-place. They were joined on the rail by “hdjgkfgsdl” ($10,469), “eddycadub” ($27,162) and “2Much$4U_08” ($21,501).

Kelvin “Kelvin_FP:AR” Kerber crashed out in third-place and saw $31,426 added to his PokerStars account, which left “compris” of Sweden to lock horns with Nemeth for the title. Nemeth defeated his last opponent to scoop $46,862 from the main prize pool and a cool $42,808 worth of bounties, an inflated amount compared to the other players as this amount included the bounty on his own head.

888poker $100,000 Sunday Sale Mega Deep

888poker had a sale on Nov. 25 that halved the buy-ins of some of its biggest tournaments. One tournament was the $100,000 Sunday Sale Mega Deep that saw it’s $215 buy-in reduced to $109. It was a move welcomed by 888’s players as 1,453 players turned out and smashed the guarantee by $45,300.

Austria’s “23NoraB” took full advantage of the chunky prize pool, coming out on top to secure a $26,488 first-place prize. They defeated Lithuania’s “PiktasVilkas” heads-up to emerge victrious; second-place was worth $18,889.

Two other players walked away with a five-figure score to show for their effort. Russia’s “mne_d0edt1” won $10,897 for their fourth-place finish with “PAS2HOFF” of Ukraine finishing in third-place for $14,530.

888poker $50,000 Sunday Sale Whale

Another cut-price 888poker event was the $50,000 Sunday Sale Whale that cost $530 to enter this week instead of $1,050. Like the Sunday Sale edition of the Mega Deep, this event crushed it’s guarantee when 130 players bought in and created a $65,000 prize pool.

There were some established professionals at the final table. Andrey “ifearpanic” Pateychuk fell in sixth-place for $3,412 with Alessandro “Wadolchimonj” Sarro busting one place later in fifth for $4,225.

Finland’s Niklas “H8ersGnaH8” Viljamaa busted in third-place for $8,450 and was the last player not to collect five-figures from the prize pool.

“SalsaFiesta” of Sweden was the tournament’s runner-up, a finish worth $11,050 which meant “lasochobi” of Argentina to pick up the lion’s share of the prize pool, namely a cool $16,250.

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

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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