Sunday Briefing: Sunday Million Ends in a Heads-Up Chop

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Jul 15, 2019 5 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

While the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final tale took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, thousands of poker players were grinding online in the hope they would end the week on a high with a sizeable prize in their accounts.

The prize money on offer may have been nothing compared to that offered in the WSOP Main Event, yet there were still some serious prizes to be won. Let’s take a look who won big on Jul. 14.

$109 Sunday Million at PokerStars

This week’s PokerStars Sunday Million ended in a heads-up chop that saw the final two players from the 10,982 field walk away with a combined prize in excess of $190,000.

All but one of the nine players who reached the final table banked a five-figure prize. “FozoMisiek” of the United Kingdom busted in ninth-place to win $8,669 and was joined on the rail by Austria’s “Vooii1990” who collected $11,946 for their $109 investment.

Uruguayan pro Alex “alex6255” Kontogiannis was the next to fall, his seventh-place exit earning him $16,462. Kontogiannis was followed to the digital payout desk by “Graeme7777” and “DigoLuiz” who locked up prizes of $22,648 and $31,258 respectively before Henrique “Galochina10” Coutinho of Brazil fell by the wayside in fourth-place for $43,073.

The penultimate bust out was that of Julio “JulioFantin” Fantin in third-place, a finish worth $59,353 and an elimination that sent the tournament into the heads-up stage.

Heads-up saw “Jigan7” of Russia and “kolobcheena” also of Russia lock horns for the lion’s share of the prize pool. A deal was struck that left $20,000 to play for, and it was the latter who won that extra cash for a prize weighing in at $108,759; second-place was worth $85,742.

^{*reflects a heads-up deal}

$2,100 Sunday High Roller at PokerStars

A smaller than usual Sunday High Roller took place this week, but it still distributed $94,000 to the top five finishers, and what a final five it was.

Claas “SsicK_OnE” Segebrecht was the first recipient of some prize money, namely $6,785 before fellow Austria-based pro Thomas “WushuTM” Muehloecker crashed out in fourth-place for $10,360.

Muehloecker’s exit was followed by one of two Malta-based grinders. “WhaTisLove” collected $15,819 for their third-place finish, which set up a one-on-one clash between Philipp “philbort” Gruissem and Francis “NoHayMiedo” Cruz who calls the Dominican Republic home and who had fired three bullets at this event.

It turns out it was a case of third time lucky because Cruz busted Gruissem in second-place to resign the Malta-based German to the $24,154 consolation prize and collect the $36,881 top prize for himself.

$100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker

A field of 442 players competed in the $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker on Jul. 14 and they were all outlasted by “_rudinhos_” who scooped the $19,350 top prize. The champion was crowned after defeating Sweden’s “cuadrado12” heads-up, resigning the Swede to a $14,500 runner-up prize.

Third-place finisher “stormtm” was the other player to net five-figures, their exit adding $11,000 to their 888poker bankroll.

Others who reached the final table were ninth-place finisher “n1ck805” who netted $1,750 and Saudi Arabia’s “jayzcc888” who banked $2,400. They were joined in the role of spectator by “Matueselah” and “__APO__1” who scooped $3,400 and $4,400 respectively, before “HellChicKKen” of Belarus and “BehindSpace” fell in fifth and fourth place for $5,700 and $8,250.

$20,000 Sunday Whale at 888poker

The Sunday Whale reverted to its $530 buy-in after last weekend's Sunday Sale, and it was 40 players buy in and play for a share of $20,000.

Only the final five players received any prize money, with “sweet_dr34ms” of Russia being the first player to collect some prize money, padding their bankroll with $1,600. Fourth-place and $2,000 went to “drowzee1” of Canada before Russia’s “Lucky Frutti” crashed and burd in third-place for $3,000.

Heads-up saw Swedish legend Niklas “tutten7” Astedt and “wellyxx” if Finland clash and it was the latter who came out of the battle unscathed and with an $8,000 cash prize. Astedt had to make do with $5,400 this time around.

Sunday Blade 10K at Natural8

The big buy-in Blade tournaments returned to Natural8 this weekend with the Sunday Blade 10K attracting a small but stellar field of 23 entrants who fought for a slice of the $223,100 prize pool.

This princely sum was shared among the top three finishers with India’s “emb3zzle” being the first player to collect some cash, $36,014.

Second-place eventually went to “pihler13” of Ukraine who banked a cool $70,515 but it was Russia’s “Chun Lei Zhou” who secured the largest payout of the night, a substantial $116,569 for their $10,000 investment.

Sunday Blade $5K at Natural8

Twenty-eight players turned out for the Sunday Blade $5K at Natural8, and they were all outlasted by India’s “emb3zzle” who locked up $59,789 in addition to the $36,014 they collected from their Sunday Blade $10K efforts.

The Indian player defeated Natural8 regular “SasukeUchiha” heads-up for the title, resigning the runner-up to $36,746 consolation prize.

Third place and $22,584 went to Canada’s “SpotOnJoe” with another Canadian in the shape of “PyramidOfSkulls” crashing out in fourth-place for $13,880.

There were no partypoker results to talk about this week as the site was hit by connection issues, resulting in the majority of the evening’s tournaments being canceled.

partypoker partner Rob Yong took to twitter to give some context and asked people with complaints to contact him directly, an approach generally welcomed by the community.

_{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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