Sunday Briefing: Picasso16 Wins Almost $550,000

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Dec 16, 2019 5 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

How was your weekend? Did you spend it partying, or did you choose to relax in the mad rush to Christmas? However good your weekend was, “Picasso16”’s was definitely more profitable as they scooped almost $550,000 over at Natural8.

Blade $25K Invitational Only at Natural8

Natural8 continues to run $25,000 buy-in Super High Roller tournaments throughout the week and these invitation-only events have captured the imagination of the poker community. Picasso16 is also a fan, or you would think so, judging by how they won this one on December 15 for a massive $297,371.

Picasso16 defeated “fishssssssss” of Macau heads-up to bag the gargantuan prize, resigning the runner-up to a $182,764 prize.

Only two other players received a slice of the $661,500 prize pool because there were only 27 entries. “ImLividBuddy”, a Natural8 high stakes regular, finished fourth for $69,036 while “NOMAMES” of Malta walked away with the $112,327 third-place prize.

Blade $25K Invitational Only at Natural8

Most players would have been happy with a near-$300,000 score and called it quits for the day. Not Picasso16 because they jumped into another $25,000 Blade Invitational Only event and walked away with another title and a cool $250,804.

This particular edition of the Natural8 Super High Roller saw a smaller field of 21 entries create a $514,500 prize pool. This was shared by three players, “LaurisL91” collecting $83,055 third-place money and “Hiroyuki.T” securing the $180,639 second-place prize after losing heads-up to the seemingly unstoppable Picasso16.

$530 Bounty Builder High Roller at PokerStars

With Christmas just around the corner, the PokerStars $530 Bounty Builder High Roller crowned a champion with an apt alias. Step forward Josh “Elf Kicker” Platz.

The Canadian came out on top of a 938-strong field to walk away with a combined prize worth $72,902. A large chunk of that princely sum was a bounty on the head of runner-up “josip1313” of Croatia who had to make do with a $33,932 consolation prize.

Earlier at the final table, “DotComRicher” and “IsnapUcry” busted out to leave the remaining players guaranteed a five-figure score. One of those prizes went to Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver who banked $11,591 for his fifth-place finish. Oliver now has almost $9 million in cashes at PokerStars alone!

Another well-known player in Pedro “pvigar” Vinicius Garagnani fell in fourth for $21,686 before Lithuania’s “Stakelis24” became the third-place finisher, a result worth $26,086.

Half Price Sunday Warm-Up at PokerStars

This weekend’s Sunday Warm-Up had its $215 buy-in slashed to $107.50 and it proved immensely popular with 3,683 players turning out for it. This meant the $125,000 guarantee was blown out of the water when a $368,300 prize pool was created.

The top five finishers padded their bankrolls with prizes over $10,000. Russia’s “Kazeev S.S.” was the first player to bank a five-figure prize, namely $12,778. They were joined on the rail by “Freakstah” of the Netherlands who earned an early Christmas present worth $18,209.

A deal was struck when the tournament was three-handed and that trio certainly stuffed their Christmas stocking with bundles of dollars. “Politm69” of Romania won $34,328 for finishing in third, “PREVED-_-I” from the Ukraine fell at the final hurdle and won $34,019, leaving Denmark’s “FlaskeW” to be crowned champion and haul in $47,268.

*reflects a three-handed deal

partypoker MILLION at partypoker

The partypoker MILLION overlaid for the seventh consecutive week, making it by far the best value high buy-in online poker tournament right now. Some 4,455 entries were processed, leaving partypoker to add $109,000 to the prize pool. How long they are prepared to continue doing this is anyone’s guess.

None of the 600 players who reached the money places were bothered about the overlay as it meant extra value or them. Some of the prizes at the final table were huge, with all but one player, “PhatToad”, scooping five-figures and they almost did with a $9,490 score.

By the time only three players remained the minimum any of them could take home was $68,700. This is the prize won by third-place finisher “AzAgHal”.

No deal was made despite the difference between first and second-place being almost $50,000. This meant “upagain” collected $107,500 when they fell at the final hurdle and “MStaplesDonk” banked an impressive $153,350 and the title of champion.

Sunday Big Game at partypoker

A field of 82-entries ensured the Big Game surpassed its $300,000 guarantee by $110,000. “HappyHarry66” was the main beneficiary of this juicy prize pool as they outlasted all 81 opponents to bank the tournament’s only six-figure prize, one worth $108,650.

HappyHarry66 defeated “BtchByTrade” to secure the title and resign the second-place finisher to a $75,850 consolation prize.

Others who reached the eight-handed table were “Vamoos”, “SpankyMcfarland” and “MoStack” who won $14,350, $17,425 and $21,525 respectively.

“Player_1234” helped themselves to the $28,700 fifth-place before “dollar007” got their hands on the $36,900 fourth-place prize. “BierKapitaen” netted $53,300 when they busted in third.

$20,000 Whale at 888poker

Over at 888poker, the $20,000 Whale hit its guarantee courtesy of 68 players paying the $320 buy-in. Ivan “F1SHRAP1ST” Gacina of Croatia walked away with the lion’s share of the $21,080 prize pool, namely $7,378, after sending “Suic1deKing” to the rail in second-place, a finish worth $4,743.

The top seven finishers saw a return on their investment. 888 regular “kiskutya23” fell in seventh for $948 with “Royaltriss” scooping $1,159. Swedish star Andreas “Zaniacmaniac” Johansson helped himself to the $1,581 fifth-place prize before “Limperfish” of Romania turned their $320 into $2,108.

“DaFuucha” collected $3,162 for their third-place finish from their home in Costa Rica.

$100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker

Finally, we take a look at the $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep that saw “AceBluff88” of Germany walk away with an impressive $19,350 after topping a talented field of 430 entrants.

The Sunday Mega Deep tends to overlay and this week’s was no different with $14,000 added to the prize pool by 888poker.

In addition to the champion, two other players locked up at least $11,000. Third-place finisher “miiniads” was the third-place finisher and they scooped $11,000 exactly, while the runner-up, “SpiderMonk03” added $14,500 to their lifetime winnings tally.

_{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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