Sunday Briefing: Bulgarians Win Big On June. 9, Ivan Luca Wins High Roller

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Jun 10, 2019 6 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Bulgaria has produced some fantastic poker players over the years including Dimitar Danchev, Simeon Naydenov, and Ognyan Dimov, but it was a trio of relative unknowns who stole the limelight in the online arena on Jun.9, winning events at Natural8, partypoker, and PokerStars.

$109 Sunday Million PokerStars

The PokerStars Sunday Million smashed through its $1 million guarantee only a week after overlaying for the first time since the switch to a $109 buy-in. A field of 11,863 created a prize pool of $1,186,300 that was shared across the top 2,150 finishers.

“U_MoeFugger” of the United Kingdom busted from the final table first, their ninth-place banking them $9,190. Everyone else at the nine handed final table won at least a five-figure prize.

“DanielLUCKY” of Sweden, Mexico-based Brit Stephen “woody1234321” Woodhead, and “Kennethmedh” were the next players to fall, walking away with prizes of $12,664, $17,451, and $24,047 respectively.

Then Toth “SlyderS” Bela crashed out in fourth place for a $33,136 haul and was joined on the rail by “Dil.rus56” of Russia who turned their $109 into an impressive $45,661.

The remaining three players struck a deal for the remaining prize pool that left an additional $20,000 for the eventual champion. Romania’s “platin32” fell in third place for $75,784 to leave “5 banki” of Croatia and Bulgaria’s “Ifkata” to battle heads-up for an additional $20,000.

It was the Bulgarian who emerged victorious, scooping a cool $109,996 with the Croatian walking away with a still welcomed $84,327.

*reflects a three-way deal

Sunday $2,100 High Roller at PokerStars

A compact field of 69 entries competed in this week’s $2,100 Sunday High Roller and they were all outlasted by the Argentinian superstar known as Ivan “Negriin” Luca. Luca came out on top after a heads-up battle with Sweden’s Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar.

Luca got his hands on the $37,247 top prize and resigned Korsar to a $28,315 consolation prize.

Earlier at the final table, Polish pro “Sphinx87” busted in eighth place for a $5,464 to their bankroll before Claas “SsicK_OnE” Segebrecht ran out of steam in seventh place for a $7,188 prize.

Down to six, “ROFLshove” busted from their home in Mexico for $9,456 and was the last player not to win a five-figure prize. $12.439 and fifth pace went to high stakes guru Thomas “WushuTM “Muehloecker before Preben “prebz” Stokkan claimed the $16,363 fourth place prize.

Germany’s “skippy109461” turned their second bullet into a $21,525 score and a third-place finish before Luca sent Korsar to the rail in second place to lock up yet another major online title.

Monster Series #32-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event partypoker

The Monster Series #32-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event partypoker may have only cost $55 to enter but thanks to 4,469 players buying in the prize pool weighed in at $217,545.

Six-hundred places were paid and the least anyone would take home by the time the final table was reached, was $2,064. This is the sum collected by Austria’s “JOKEbekr.” The Austrian was joined on the sidelines by “Tier999111” before a brace of players from the UK. “Lasvegasss99” and “DiscoPanda8” lost their stack, the latter scooping $6,689.

Fourth place and $9,732 went to “ZECAA” of Brazil before another Brazilian in “Biro888” fell by the wayside; third-place was worth $14,945, a great return on $55.

Heads-up saw “ssn68” of Russia and Bulgaria’s “wasTheWalrus” lock horns heads-up for the title and the lion’s share of the prize pool. It was a fight the Bulgarian won, meaning they locked up the $33,363 top prize, leaving the runner-up to win $23,288.

Monster Series #33-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event PKO at partypoker

The Monster Series #33-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event was a PKO event and some of the bounty payments were quite substantial, leading to large overall prizes.

It was “anton733555” who banked the largest prize after topping a field of 4,441 entries. First place netted the Russian $13,263 from the main prize pool and $9,890 worth of bounty payments, including that on the head of runner-up “raauber” of Brazil whose second-place finish was worth a combined $17,339.

Each of the eight finalists won more than $1,700 when bounties were taken into consideration. “Ximilian” was the eighth-place finisher and they were joined in the role of spectator by “Soupstyles” of Colombia, Canada’s “accountantsrule” and “NinjaGhost88” who calls Sweden home and who banked $4,391 in total.

Fourth place went to “Lakrime99” of Ukraine who won $6,124 in total before Dejan “hellomybabies” Kaladjurdjevic from Montenegro grabbed the $10,120 third place prize, setting up a heads-up clash between “raauber” and “anton733555”. The latter busted their final opponent and become a Monster Series champion.

$20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker

A field of 257 entries ensured the $20,000 Sunday Challenge hit it’s guarantee again this week, awarding $25,700 to the top 27 finishers.

All but two of the final table won a four-figure prize, with the UK’s Richard “ChipsFool” Hoadley being the first player to do so, securing a $1,028 payout for their seventh-place finish. Ukraine’s “psyhogromor” fell in sixth for $1,285 and “DePittserje” busted one place later and netted $1,542.

Fourth place went to Estonia’s “No1Est” for $2,248 with the penultimate bust out being that of “salamerancio” who walked away with $3,019. The tournament ended in a heads-up chip between Lithuania’s “gambler0602” and “Murchello384” of Russia. This deal saw the Russia top the leaderboard and win $4,820 with the runner-up taking $4,688.

*reflects a heads-up deal.

$100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker

The $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep may have missed its $100,000 guarantee but that didn’t bother “s4f3tyc4r” who topped a field of 464 entries to get their hands on a cool $19,350 for their $215 buy-in.

Nobody won less than $1,750 from this event with three players securing a payout of five-figures. The champion was one of that trio, as was runner-up “Steusalz” of Germany whose second-place finish was worth $14,500. Third-placed “mike_dolph” saw $11,000 deposited into their 888poker account.

The fourth-place finisher “DvaBe” locked up $8,250, which is still a substantial return on $215 and a few hour’s grinding.

Shout-outs also to “Nemesis_25”, “CPU0r”, “r4ndomr4gs”, “SteveyBG” and “drowzee1” who navigated their way to the nine-handed final table before busting out in fifth through ninth respectively.

Sunday High Roller 1K at Natural8

The GG network scrapped its Sunday Blade $5K and $10K events this week, presumably because the majority of its high rollers are in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. They still ran a $1,000 buy-in event though and it attracted a 41-strong field.

Bulgaria’s “fizoka” was the last player standing and that meant they won the $16,714 first place prize.

Only five players received a payout. “ME BOII” was the first player to cash, winning $2,479 and they were followed to the rail by “NegroBlanco” of Canada who netted $3,995 then by China’s “KaiHuang” who banked $6,437.

The runner-up was “Joeri_van_Heeten” who took $10,373 back to the Netherlands.

Sunday Blade $200 Special at Natural8

The Sunday Blade $200 Special saw 331 players buy in and create a $60,904 prize pool that was shared among the top 47 finishers.

That $200 investment became $963 for “jusuisallin” when they were the first casualty of the nine-handed final table. Everyone else won at least $1,311 with “loko88” of Israel busting in eighth place.

They were joined on the busted list by Canada’s “Resolve”, “ms131” of the Czech Republic, “airlinesaa” of China and “ALLisMine1” from the Ukraine, the latter winning $4,500.

Third-place went to “The Future” of Greece who won $6,125, leaving Sergei “Johnsonsb4be” Krasnojon and Canada’s Doug “HeyMomSend$” Lang to play one-on-one for the title. Lang no longer needs his mom to send dollars because he banked $9,899 after striking a deal that saw the second place finisher win $9,785.

^{* reflects a heads-up deal}

_{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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