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.

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