Sunday Briefing: Dario Sammartino Wins Two PokerStars High Rollers

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Dec 10, 2018 5 min read

Italian high stakes guru Dario “Secret_M0d3” Sammartino may be better-known for his exploits in the live arena, but showed he has what it takes to rub shoulders with the best online poker players by taking down two high roller events at PokerStars on Dec. 9 for a combined $58,667.

PokerStars High Roller Club: $530 Sunday 500

Sammartino’s first impressive victory came in the High Roller Club: $530 Sunday 500 that attracted 244 entries. It wasn’t a tournament that started well for Sammartino as he had to fire three bullets at it, but it proved to be third time lucky for the popular Italian as he triumphed over the star-studded field to lock up $23,459.

It was the talented Finn Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden who was Sammartino’s final opponent. Vousden has a reputation for being highly aggressive and being one of the best no-limit hold’em players in the world. Vousden proved no match for Sammartino heads-up, however, and Sammartino brushed Vousden aside to secure the top prize, resigning Vousden to a $17,617 consolation prize.

Brazil’s “edudrake1987” was the only other player to lock up a five-figure score, collecting $13,231 for their third-place finish.

Earlier at the final table, Connor “blanconegro” Drinan ran out of steam to bust in eighth-place for $3,161.

PokerStars High Roller Club: $1,050 Sunday Supersonic 6-Max Hyper-Turbo

Sammartino’s second win can in the High Roller Club: $1,050 Sunday Supersonic 6-Max Hyper-Turbo which was over in less than two hours, making for an incredible hourly rate of more than $17,600 per hour!

The 171 entrants were whittled to the final six and Uruguay’s “alvaro noble” busted in sixth-place for $8,993 and was the only player at the final table not to secure five-figures.

“PROCHRIS1” of Switzerland ($11,816), Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi ($15,524), and “Pimmss” of Netherlands ($20,397) all departed to leave Sammartino and Canada’s “roo_400” to lock horns heads-up for the title.

No deal was struck despite the rapidly increasing blinds and the near $10,000 difference in prize money, meaning Sammartino bagged $35,208 for his victory while roo_400 netted $26,798 after Sammartino came out on top.

partypoker Sunday Super High Roller

Simon “fren96” Higgins bagged the fourth-largest online cash of his career on Dec. 9 when he topped a field of 94 entrants in the partypoker Sunday Super High Roller, a tournament commanding a $2,600 buy-in. Higgins netted $62,275 for his victory, the largest cash he has scooped at partypoker, to push his lifetime online winnings past the $1.9 million barrier.

Higgins found himself heads-up with Costa Rica’s “IamPEAKing” for the title after the likes of Alexey “toril274” Bilokur (sixth for $12,337” and Mikita “helicopterben62” Badziakouski (fifth for $16,450) had fallen by the wayside..

IamPEAKing proved no match for Higgins who sent his opponent to the rail to collect the $43,475 runner-up prize and securing the $62,275 top prize for himself. Higgins has been in excellent form of late and has climbed to an all-time high of 64th in the world according to PocketFives. With more scores like this, Higgins could mount a charge on those towards the top of the leaderboard.

partypoker Super High Roller

Another $2,600 buy-in partypoker event, the Super High Roller, attracted 90 entrants who created a $225,000 prize pool as a result. This was shared among the top 12 finishers, but it was the British duo of “FMylife” and “orud74” who got their hands on the lion’s share of the prize pool after striking a deal when heads-up.

The eight-handed final table was a star-studded affair with the likes of Andras “”probirs” Nemeth (seventh-place for $9,562), Rainer “PartyRainer” Kempe (fourth-place for $20,250) and Russia’s “PhileasFogg” (third-place for $29,250) all being in contention for the title at some stage.

When only two players remained, they paused the tournament clock and agreed on a deal that aw orud76 net $50,535 and FMylife walk away with $50,714.

*reflects a heads-up deal

888poker $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep

This weekend’s 888poker $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep ended in a three-way chop and the title heading to Lithuania.

Falling early at the final table was Pim “SuprNintend0” de Goede who you may recall finished second in the recent partypoker MILLIONS Online for a huge score of $2,309,994, the second-largest online cash in history. De Goede’s $3,000 score for his seventh-place finish in this tournament was a much more modest $3,000.

The majority of the prize pool was distributed to the top three finishers after the trio struck a deal to bring the tournament to a close. Germany’s “bossamtisch1” collected $13,400 for their third-place finish with Russian pro Roman “EyeofSkadi” Matveychuk banking $14,151 for his runner-up finish. The champion and player who is $17,448 richer is “bomberman115” of Lithuania.

*reflects a three-way deal

888poker $50,000 Sunday Whale

Completing the Sunday Briefing for another week is the $50,000 Sunday Whale that saw a compact crowd of only 46 players buy in. Only the top five finishers received prize money and most of the $50,000 headed to Sweden thanks to having three in the money finishes.

The United Kingdom’s “Hateeeeem” finished fifth for $4,000 before Niklas “tutten7” Astedt crashed out in fourth-place for $5,000. “IHaveNoBoss” of Costa Rica fell in third-place for $7,500 leaving a pair of Swede in “freddaik11” and “SalsaFiesta” to fight heads-up for the title.

It was the latter who emerged victorious to secure the $20,000 first-place prize with the runner-up winning $13,500.

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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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