No Cash Games, No Problem as Suarez wins partypoker MILLIONS UK for $1m
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Sweden’s Anton Suarez kicked 2020 off in style by triumphing in the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK Main Event to become the tour’s latest millionaire.
Suarez isn’t particularly known for his tournament prowess, but this victory is the third of his career. The Swede’s first Hendon Mob entry was a victory in a $1,600 buy-in event in Las Vegas in July 2013 worth $27,846. Only last month, Suarez binked the €2,150 No-Limit Hold’em Hyper Turbo Knockout at EPT Prague for $27,967, now he has a seven-figure score to brag about.
Ironically, Suarez didn’t plan to play the MILLIONS UK Main Event as he traveled to DTD hoping to play PLO cash games. There wasn’t a game running when he arrived so he entered a satellite and the rest is history.
2020 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anton Suarez | Sweden | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | Christian Rudolph | Germany | $620,000 |
| 3 | James Romero | United States | $420,000 |
| 4 | James Clarke | United Kingdom | $311,000 |
| 5 | Frederik Andersson | Sweden | $230,000 |
| 6 | Weijie Zheng | Ireland | $170,000 |
| 7 | Jack Hardcastle | United Kingdom | $130,000 |
| 8 | Maria Lampropulos | Argentina | $100,000 |
| 9 | Jaime O’Connor | United Kingdom | $80,000 |
A field of 530 entries ensured the $5 million guaranteed was surpassed by $141,000. The huge prize pool was shared among the top 76 finishers, and the payout list was full of big-name players.
Richard Trigg, Marvin Rettenmaier, Dara O’Kearney, and Joao Vieira were among the first player to see a return on their investment. Reigning WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan, Faraz Jaka, Sergi Reixach, and Adrian Mateos also navigated their way into the money.
As did a host of Team partypoker players. Jeff Gross, Roberto Romanello, Patrick Leonard, and Ludovic Geilich being those sporting the famous orange diamond.
The final day started with 12 players still in contention for the $1 million top prize. John Mooney was the first player to bust before the aforementioned Geilich ran out of steam and fell in 11th place.
Double Elimination Sets Final Table
Tenth and ninth-places were decided on the same hand. Jaime O’Connor raised more than half his stack with ace-ten before calling off those remaining chips when he saw Christian Rudolph move all-in and WSOP bracelet winner Alex Lindop call all-in. Rudolph had made his move with ace-king, Lindop had called with ace-queen, and a king on the turn spelt curtains for the two British pros.
Wait For First Double Champion Continues
Maria Lampropulos won this event in 2017 and was looking to become the first two-time winner of a MILLIONS Main Event. Her dreams were dashed when she three-bet all-in with ace-queen after Jack Hardcastle had opened the betting. Hardcastle called with pocket nines and the rest is history.
Hardcastle then crashed out in seventh-place for a career-best prize of $130,000. Hardcastle won the WPT UK Opener in September for $100,000 but couldn’t get the job done in this tournament.
The young Brit committed his stack with an inside straight draw, flush draw and an overcard against the pocket queens of Rudolph. Unfortunately for Hardcastle, he missed his plethora of outs and was sent to the cashier’s desk.
Next to fall was Ireland’s Weijie Zheng who you may recall won last year’s Irish Open Main Event for €300,000 ($338,902). Zheng’s demise came at the hands of Rudolph who saw Zheng open-shove from the small blind and decided to call with ace-eight. Zheng had made his move with the lowly seven-five and was drawing dead by the turn thanks to an ace making an appearance.
Five became four with the elimination of the eventual champion’s fellow countryman Frederik Andersson. He jammed from the hijack with ace-nine of diamonds and Suarez called with ace-ten. James Romero was in the blinds and the stream showed he folded ace-queen, probably due to ICM implications. The board ran out jack-high and Andersson was no more.
Turning $85 Into $311,000
Local player James “Raggy” Clarke was the next to fall, much to the dismay of the Dusk Till Dawn crowds. Clarke is a popular figure at DTD, a local businessman who loves playing poker. He won his $10,300 seat for a mere $85 in a satellite and everyone was willing him to walk away with the $1 million top prize.
It was a relative cooler that dispatched Clarke in fourth-place for a career-best $311,000. Clarke pushed on a turn having flopped trip fours with five-four suited. Suarez called having also flopped trips but with a better kicker and a heart flush draw. The queen of hearts completed the board and Suarez’s flush and Clarke’s epic run ended.
American James Romero added to his already impressive live winnings tally with a $420,000 score, the second-largest of his sparkling career. A king-high flop saw Romero all-in with king-jack only for him to discover Suarez was laying in wait with a set of deuces. Romero picked up a flush draw on the turn but Lady Luck wasn’t shining down on him and he busted.
Heads-up saw Suarez and Rudolph go at each other hammer and tongs in a frantically paced one-on-one battle. The final hand saw Suarez limp on the button and then snap-call when a short stacked Rudolph jammed all-in. Rudolph’s move with seven-four of hearts left him needing help from the community cards, help that didn’t arrive. An ace on the turn left Rudolph drawing dead and Suarez became the first MILLIONS champion of 2020.
2020 MILLIONS UK Side Events Results
| Tournament | Entries | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| MILLIONS Mini | 1,030 | Nikolay Ponomarev | $150,000 |
| Warm Up | 39 | Paul Siddle | $23,835 |
| MILLIONS Super High Roller | 37 | Kahle Burns | $350,000 |
| DTD500 | 243 | Serkan Ersoy | $25,000 |
| MILLIONS High Roller Finale | 95 | Joao Vieira | $250,000 |
| 200 Bounty | David Johnson | $4,000 | |
| Pot Limit Omaha | Philip Ward | $25,000 | |
| 500 Bounty | Jiayu Ruan | $4,700 |
Lead image courtesy of partypoker / Mickey May
