Sunday Briefing: “555AU” Wins First Cut-Price Sunday Million, Veldhuis Wins Sunday Warm-Up

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Jan 28, 2019 6 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Jan. 27 was the first time PokerStars ran its cut-price Sunday Million after the world’s largest online poker site permanently reduced the buy-in from $215 to $109. Any fears of the $1 million guarantee not being hit were soon quashed after 15,550 players turned out in force to create a $1,555,000 prize pool, one of the biggest in recent weeks.

PokerStars Sunday Million

Everyone at the final table of this weekend’s was guaranteed to turn their $109 investment into a five-figure score, not bad for a night’s work.

“Expert Tver” of Russia was the final table’s first casualty, banking $10,529 for their ninth-place finish. The Russian was joined on the sidelines by “rizseshus” of Slovakia and “simbadac” of Lithuania, who walked away $14,509 and $19,993 richer respectively.

With only six of the 15,550 players remaining, the prizes were growing ever larger. $27,550 was claimed by another Russian in the shape of “Denis XXX007” when their tournament came to an abrupt end in sixth-place.

The final five became four with the elimination of “Hookz” of Canada, that fifth-place finish seeing the Canadian have $37,964 added to their PokerStars account. Hookz was followed to the rail by “AAgoodfold” and “SmallKindB” in fourth and third-place respectively, finishes worth $52,313 and $72,087.

With more than $37,500 difference between first and second-place, you would have forgiven the heads-up duo of “555AU” and “kmarao-Vix” for making a deal to shorten the payouts. No deal was struck, however, so when kmarao-Vix busted in second-place, they collected $99,334 and the Ukraine’s 555AU secured a the $136,892 payout.

PokerStars Warm-Up

Team PokerStars Pro Lex “L.Veldhuis” Veldhuis took down this weekend’s Sunday Warm-Up, outlasting a field of 1,068 opponents to scoop the $34,690 first-place prize.

The popular Dutchman found himself heads-up against one of the United Kingdom’s top online poker tournament players in Jonathan “Proudflop” Proudfoot, but he made short work of the Brit to resign Proudfoot to a $24,942 consolation prize.

Earlier at the final table, three other British players crashed out in positions seventh-through-ninth. Charlie “JIZOINT” Combes busted in ninth-place for $2,477 with Tom “Jabracada” Hall collecting $3,446 for his eighth-place finish. “Dawhiteninja” turned their $215 into $4,793 when their tournament ended in seventh-place.

“MinReraise” of Russia busted in sixth-place and won a $6,666 prize, “chrtinho7” of Slovakia followed them to the rail in fifth-place for a $9,271 score with “corresao” of Argentina becoming a spectator after busting in fourth spot for $12,894.

The penultimate elimination was that of “filusPL” of Poland who scooped $17,933 for their third-place exit.

partypoker Sunday Big Game $1M Gtd

The $1 million guaranteed Big Game ran at partypoker this weekend and hit its guarantee thanks to 211 players exchanging $5,200 for a shot at a first-place prize worth more than $215,000.

Mexico’s “HeavensEdge222” reached the eight-handed final table but didn’t progress any deeper so had to make do with a $24,265 prize. Bulgaria’s “bgigra4” was the next to fall, their seventh-place finish adding $32,705 to their bankroll.

Next to bust was the first of two Team partypoker Pros who reached the final table. The President of partypoker LIVE John “John_Duthie” Duthie busted in sixth-place for $44,310 with his fellow pro Patrick “Patrick_Leonard” Leonard falling two places later in fourth for $82,290.

Sandwiched between the eliminations of Duthie and Leonard was that of Roman “SanityWaterline” Romanovsky whose fifth-place finish banked $58,025.

The top three finishers all walked away with six-figure scores. “Orpenkk” of the United Kingdom scooped $111,302 for finishing in third-place with runner-up “lqq1974” winning $156,140. The eventual champion, “edgybrah” of the UK won an impressive $215,114 and bragging rights over their peers.

partypoker Sunday Super High Roller

The Sunday Super High Roller at partypoker saw a buy-in change from $2,600 to $3,150 and 66 players paid this new pricely sum so they could compete for a share of a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Nine places were paid, with all but two of the eighth-handed final table walking away with a five-figure score.

“IamPEAKing” and Niklas “Drulitooo” Astedt were the eighth and seventh-place finishers, winning $9,000 and $9,500 for their $3,150 investment.

Everyone else was guaranteed at least $11,000, the sum “HeavensEdge222” collected after crashing out of the Sunday Super High Roller in sixth-place. The Mexico-based pro was joined as a spectator first by “ucantrybut” and Sam “bestindabiz51” Panzica, who collected $14,000 and $18,000.

There was a $10,000 payjump for third-placed “WWWpartyC0M” to enjoy, meaning their third-place prize was worth $28,000. Their exit left Sweden’s “haddoken” to lock horns with “aLiNeNok1617” heads-up for the title.

Despite a $20,000 difference in prize money, no deal was struck, so aLiNeNok1617 bagged the $61,000 first-place prize when they sent haddoken to the rail in second-place; the Swede netted an impressive $41,000 consolation prize.

888poker $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep

A field of 513 players turned out for the 888poker $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep, meaning the guarantee was surpassed by $2,600.

Three of the eight finalists called the United Kingdom home, including the eventual champion. “Plomaha” busted in sixth-place for a $4,514 addition to their bankroll with “888topPair” progressing to third-place before busting, a finish worth $11,286.

“Utd879908”, also of the UK, was the last player standing, meaning the $19,853 top prize was theirs to enjoy. The only other player in this tournament to walk away with a five-figure score was the runner-up, “Yattag0” of Brazil who booked a $14,877 second-place prize.

888poker $50,000 Whale

A compact field of 48 entries left 888poker needing to add $2,000 to the prize pool to ensure the $50,000 guarantee of the Whale tournament was hit. It meant only the top five finishers received a slice of the $50,000 pie.

Fifth-place and $4,000 went to “HateH4teHate” of Malta with $5,000 finding its way to the 888poker account of Sweden’s Anton “anteen” Bertilsson when they busted in fourth-place.

“888topPair”, who earlier finished third in the $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep, finished third in this tournament for an additional $7,500.

That left “BeeTheBeagle” of Brazil and “alwayswin111” of Austria to play one-on-one for the title and the lion’s share of the prize pool. The Austrian’s name was quite apt as they swept aside BeeTheBeagle to resign the runner-up to a $13,500 score and to get their hands on the title and $20,000 cash.

_{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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