Sunday Briefing: Michael Soyza and Igor Kurganov Secure Titles

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Sep 30, 2019 7 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

It has been a fantastic couple of weeks for Michael “Michael Soyza” Soyza over at Natural8. Only last week, Soyza finished third in a $25,000 buy-in GG Series event and banked almost $250,000. This week, he went two places better and became a GG Series champion.

GGS: Blade Turbo $25K

Natural8 must not have been expecting a big crowd in the GGS: Blade Turbo $25K event because it set the guarantee at $150,000. A massive $1,274,000 prize pool was created, however, when 52 entries were processed.

This colossal sum was shared among the top six finishers with Netherlands’ “Joeri_van_Heeten” busting in sixth place for a $60,930 prize. The Dutch star was joined on the rail by “LuckyChewyFan69” who banked $90,714 and was the last player not to collect a six-figure prize.

The first six-figure haul weight in at $135,056 and was given to “pihler13” of Ukraine for their fourth-place exit. The Ukrainian got some company on the sidelines in the form of Hungarian superstar Andras” PokerBluff1” Nemeth who turned his $25,000 investment into $201,075.

This set up a heads-up clash between the UK’s “StacknNvrSlackn” and Soyza. The difference between first and second place was a massive $187,494, but no deal was struck. This meant Soyza banked a huge $486,858 when he emerged victoriously from the one-on-one battle, leaving the Brit to pad their bankroll with the $299,364 consolation prize.

GGS #476: Blade $200K Gtd

Anther big Natural8 tournament was the $10,000 buy-in GGS #476: Blade $200K Gtd event that saw 38 players compete for a slice of the $368,600 prize pool. It was the Russian “Chun Lei Zhou” who got their hands on the largest slice of the pie, namely $113,627 after a heads-up deal with “pihler13” of Ukraine. Second place, after the deal, weighed in at $136,516.

Only three other players got their hands on some cash for their $10,000 investment. Michael Soyza busted in fifth-place for $23,169 taking his total winnings past half a million dollars in a single day!

Fourth-place and $36,808 went to Colombia’s “HogFish333” before “brotisserie chicken” saw their tournament come to an abrupt end in third-place for $58,478, setting up the heads-up clash that ended in a chop.

^{*reflects a heads-up deal}

$2,100 Sunday High Roller at PokerStars

Team PokerStars pro Igor “IgorKurganov” Kurganov took down the $2,100 Sunday High Roller this week after navigating his way through an extremely tough final table. Any of the last nine would have been a worthy champion, but it was Kurganov who shone and got his hands on $46,086.

Earlier at the final table, Ole “wizowizo” Schemion busted in ninth for $5,579 before “x_zola25” of Denmark ran out of luck and had to make do with the $7,264 eighth-place prize. Netherlands’ Jorryt “TheCleaner11” van Hoof and Michael “imluckbox” Addamo were the next casualties; they collected scores of $9,458 and $12,315 respectively,

The UK’s “Bonglim” ran out of steam to bust in fifth place for a $16,035 prize and was joined on the payout table by 888poker ambassador Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche whose fourth-place finish yielded $20,878.

Ukraine’s Paul “Remi Lebo-10” Kolinkovsky was the penultimate elimination of the tournament. They banked $27,184. This left Kurganov and Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves to fight it out for the lion's share of the prize pool. It was a battle Kurganov would ultimately win, leaving Reeves to secure the $35,395 second-place prize.

$109 Sunday Million PKO at PokerStars

This week’s Sunday Million reverted to a progressive knockout tournament, and it proved popular with 14,446 entries turning out in force for it. $1,444,600 was shared half among the top 2,582 finishers and half to each player in the form of a bounty on their heads.

Nobody at the final table won less than $6,097, the prize awarded to “sound-ks” of Germany who fell in ninth-place; the prize included bounty payments. Azerbaijan’s “Rashad 42412” collected plenty of bounties on their way to an eighth-place finish meaning they banked a total prize worth $14,801. This was slightly larger than the $13,377 won by “Dancer King” of Russia.

“Koenig30” of Denmark and “Bolko” of Germany were the next players to fall by the wayside. The former walked away with $18,845 with the latter securing a $21,761 payday.

Portugal's “P.Borba77” (playing from Malta) crashed out in fourth-place for $30,687 before “ispLashcrans” saw their tournament come to an abrupt end in third-place for a combined $45,256.

Heads-up saw the Portugal's Tomás "T 54 T 97s" Paiva and Canada’s Steve “HR_Dub” Williams lock horns in a battle for the biggest prize. It was the Canadian who emerged from this fight unscathed and with $95,946 in their PokerStars bankroll. The runner-up hauled in $54,232.

Sunday High Roller Gladiator at partypoker

With the KO Series out of the way, partypoker’s usual array of big Sunday tournaments resumed with the Sunday High Roller Gladiator being the pick of the bunch. The $2,100 buy-in PKO event saw exactly 100 players buy in and create a $205,000 prize pool.

“DontDo_IT” won the most significant prize, a cool $51,639 after defeating “El_Cucuy” heads-up for the title. Second-place, with bounties included, was worth $29,897.

The top four players won five-figure prizes. Third-place was worth $15,540 to “SleevePatrol” while “CarpeIscis” collected $20,014 for their fourth-place exit. The reason for the difference in prize money was the fact CarpePiscis won $10,696 worth of bounty payments, only the champion and runner-up secured more from this prize pool.

Before this happened, “Venustraphobia” fell in eighth-place for a combined $7,825. “Tigerbluff” scooped $6,926, and high stakes regular “NewYorkJimmY” netted $6,951. “Madgenius111” walked away with a $9,089 haul after busting from this event in fifth-place.

Sunday Gladiator at partypoker

The $320 edition of the Sunday Gladiator saw a $263,032 prize pool created when 854 players took to the partypoker virtual felt. This far exceeded the $150,000 advertised guarantee.

It was “nagraniec” who was crowned champion, first place weighing in at $39,289 when bounties were included. The winner defeated “Bbbounty” heads-up for the title, which resigned the runner-up to a $25,710 consolation prize.

Two other players netted five-figure prizes. Third-place finisher “eze94k” won $11,730 for their third-place exit, which was padded with $5,533 from the bounty prize pool for a $17,263 total prize. Fourth-place went to “Kroat..” whose overall prize weighed in at an impressive $10,544.

$20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker

Over at 888poker, the $20,000 Sunday Challenge broke its guarantee when 259 players turned out and created a $25,900 prize pool. This was shared among the top 27 finishers, with the prize money at the final table starting at $518.

This is the sum awarded to Felipe “fcbbadotti” Badotti of Brazil. “GusKi14” then won $777 for finishing in eighth, the last player not to collect a prize containing four figures. The first $1,000 plus prize went to “Mvenger1234” of Germany, namely $1,036. They were initially joined by “Magnif1cious” of Lithuania and then by the UK’s “jacktar21” who won $1,295 and $1,554 respectively.

Another German in “Grozzorg” collected $2,266 after busting in fourth-place before “n0sferatv” of Peru ended their deep run in third place, a finish worth $3,043,

Peru still had a player in the heads-up battle, too. “Gr34rrrr” and Belarus’ “chainsawfish” were the last standing players, and it was the latter who got their hands on the top prize of $5,568. Second place was not to be sniffed at as it was worth $4,014.

$100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker

Our last tournament in this week’s Sunday Briefing is the $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep that saw 469 entries fight for a share of the $100,000 prize pool.

It was “eltxupacabra” who was the last player standing, raking in the $19,350 top prize and earning the title of champion. They defeated “Hanvim99” of the UAE in the heads-up part of the tournament, which resigned the second-place finisher to a $14,500 consolation prize.

Third-place and $11,000, the only other five-figure prize, went to “JonnyJamz” of Canada. The Canadian won an XL Eclipse event a couple of weeks ago and continued their impressive form in this tournament.

The nine-handed final table had two legitimate superstars seated at it, both Swedes. Former WSOP Main Event champion and 888poker ambassador Martin “MJacobson888” Jacobson was the final table’s first casualty, ninth-place weighing in at $1,750. Fellow Swede Niklas “tutten7” Astedt progressed a few places deeper, falling in sixth for $4,400.

_{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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• Tags 888 888poker Dominik Nitsche Igor Kurganov Jorryt van Hoof Martin Jacobson Ole Schemion Online Poker partypoker Poker Tournaments
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