Sunday Briefing: Patience is a Virtue in the partypoker Big Game

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Jan 06, 2020 6 min read

The first Sunday of the new year saw some massive prizes in the online poker tournament world as players flocked to 888poker, Natural8, partypoker and PokerStars in an attempt to kick 2020 off in style.

High Roller Sunday Big Game at partypoker

partypoker was hit with some software problems last weekend but this week ran smooth as silk, much to the delight of the 114 entrants in the $5,200 Big Game. Only the top 16 finishers bagged a cash prize with Team partypoker’s Roberto “R_Romanello” Romanello falling in 18th place, narrowly missing out on an $11,400 cash.

$18,525 was the smallest prize anyone could win at the eight-handed final table, the sum awarded to “MARL0”. They were followed to the rail by “I LOVE BREW”, “Actungdiekurve” and partypoker regular “sims_or_sins...”

Fourth place and $49,875 went to “player_99887766” before “DasIstMirWurst” crashed out in third to set up a heads-up clash between “Lone1” and “patience”. The latter emerged victoriously and banked a massive $139,650, resigning the runner-up to a $99,750 consolation prize.

High Roller Gladiator at partypoker

Some 135 players exchanged $2,100 for the chance to become this weekend’s High Roller Gladiator champion. Half the $276,750 prize pool went on the heads of each entrant, the remaining 50% awarded in the traditional manner.

“eGGplant” was the last player standing, collecting $25,859 for their first-place finish plus an additional $33,304 from the bounty prize pool for a combined $59,163. They defeated “Razorblade Nick” who was blunted heads up and had to make do with a combined prize weighing in at $42,664.

Shoutouts also to the other four finalists. Team partypoker’s Anatoly “NL_Profit” Filatov, Swedish superstar Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar, “onehundredeyez” and “Zevs zevs”.

Winter Series 46-M: $109 NLHE 8-max PKO Sunday Million at PokerStars

This week’s PokerStars Sunday Million had a twist in that it was a PKO event and part of the Winter Series festival. The $109 buy-in and $1 million guarantee remained the same, but this figure was blown out of the water thanks to 17,077 players turning out in force. These create a colossal $1,707,700 prize pool that was split half on each player’s head and among the top 2,463 finishers.

Nobody at the final table busted with less than $14,000 when bounties were included, an impressive return on a $109 investment.

The tournament ended in a four-way deal that saw the last standing quartet bank more than $60,000 each.

United Kingdom’s “darboy72” fell in fourth for a combined $60,246 with “Last port” of Norway netting $68,395. Russia’s “chv89” fell at the final hurdle and padded their bankroll with $74,363 leaving Austria’s “freiwandeln” to collect $98,624 and get their 2020 off to a flying start.

*reflects a four-handed deal

Winter Series 46-H: $1,050 NLHE 8-Max PKO at PokerStars

Another of the Winter Series events, the $1,050 NLHE 8-Max PKO, drew in a 906-strong crowd which meant the $500,000 guarantee was surpassed by $406,000.

Brazilian sensation Pedro “pvigar” Vinicius Garagnani was the main beneficiary of this juicy prize pool as he accumulated all the chips in play and was crowned champion. With bounties added to his main prize pool score, Garagnani walked away with a cool $127,049 and was the only player to net six-figures. He defeated “esha22” of Poland heads-up to leave the runner-up to secure a $77,189 prize.

Earlier at the final table, the talented Italian otherwise known as Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit looked to be going great guns before running out of steam in fifth-place. Kanit turned his $1,050 buy-in into a more substantial $30,839.

$20,000 Whale at 888poker

Across to 888poker now where “SpitOnGraves” took down the $20,000 Sunday Whale. SpitOnGraves always seems to be there or thereabouts when the big money starts flowing on 888poker and they ensured 2020 started well with a $7,161 addition to their bankroll.

The UK-based grinder sent Peter “kiskutya23” Traply to the rail in second-place on their way to victory; Traply banked the $4,603 consolation prize.

Before the champion was crowned, “ANARCHYFTW” fell in seventh place for $920 and was the only player not to win four-figures. “OneToZaFive”, “DosPoochies”, “N33dCoaching” and “alexos888” all crashed out at the final table and won between $1,125 and $4,603.

$100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker

The $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep is very popular at 888poker, partly because it has a great structure but also because it seemingly overlays every, single week! This week was no different with 461 players entering, leaving 888poker with a $7,800 overlay to contend with.

“GanstaGo” wasn’t bothered about the added money as they came out on top and won the $19,350 top prize. Two other grinders netted five-figure hauls. They were “hurikane3” of Canada who finished as the runner-up for $14,500 and third-place finisher “MisterN411” whose third-place exit yielded $11,000.

It was a good result for everyone at the nine-handed finale because they all padded their 888poker accounts with at least $1,750 and as much as $8,250.

WHS #251: $200K Gtd at Natural8

Natural8 is no stranger to hosting big buy-in events and its winter festival helped created some sizable prize pools. The WHS #251: $200K Gtd saw 53 entries of $5,000 create a $251,750 prize pool that was shared among the top seven finishers.

“shroooms” busted in seventh for $10,449 before “HogFish333” exited and booked a $14,475 win. Macau’s “Limitles” raked in $20,052 before Ireland’s “Joeri_van_Heeten” crashed out in fourth for $27,777.

Former partypoker MILLIONS Online winner Jon “brotisserie chicken” Van Fleet took his Natural8 winnings past the $5 million barrier with a $38,478 score in this event. This set up an enticing one-on-one battle between “PerfectDisguises” and “pDNA” for the title and the lion’s share of the prize money.

It was pDNA who walked away with the title of champion and a cool $87,215 to boot. Second-place yielded $53,301 which isn’t to be sniffed at for a few hours of clicking buttons.

High Rollers $2.5K at Natural8

Finally, we take a quick look at the High Rollers $2.5K, which, as the name suggests, is a $2,500 buy-in event at Natural8. The 46 entries ensured the $75,000 guarantee was blown out of the water, with the $109,250 prize pool shared among the top 6 finishers.

“FuTimReilly” was the first to cash, netting $5,225 for their sixth-place exit. “Hiroyuki” then banked $7,779 for fifth-place with Canada’s “ravenoustrashdog” securing the first five-figure prize, namely $11,581, after losing their chips in fourth.

Finnish star Sami “MiMosa1” Kelopuro was the penultimate elimination, his third place seeing him walk away with $17,242. This left “HogFish333” and “IwanToCall” of Mexico to fight it out mano-o-mano for the title.

HogFish, who earlier finished sixth in the $5K, had to make do with second-place in this event. That weighed in at $25,671, which left IWantToCall to scoop $47,749.

_{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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