Sunday Briefing: 'G0spRaf0' Wins GGMasters; Francisco Benitez Banks $167k

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Feb 10, 2020 5 min read Last updated Feb 14, 2020

February 9th saw dozens of massive poker tournaments take place online at 888poker, GGPoker, and PokerStars and they created some huge prizes.

Nobody won more from a single tournament that Uruguay’s Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez who triumphed in a $5,200 Bounty Builder High Roller event at PokerStars for almost $168,000.

Bounty Builder Series 089: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max High Roller at PokerStars

Some 141 players turned out for the $5,200 Bounty Builder Series 8-Max High Roller meaning the $500,000 guarantee was smashed out of the ballpark by $205,000. This results in first and second-place banking $65,634 plus any bounties they accumulated along the way.

Such high buy-in tournaments attract the biggest names in poker and this was the case in this tournament.

Double SCOOP Main Event champion Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza reached the final table but his stay was short-lived, busting in eighth-place for a combined prize worth $15,453.

Speranza was joined on the rail by Finnish star Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden who collected $29,049 thanks to winning more in bounties than eighth-place awarded.

“OYHEMAMUT”

Any of the final three players would have made a worthy champion. “elmerixx” of Finland ran out of steam in third-place for a cool $67,407, setting up a one-on-one battle with Niklas “Lena900” Astedt and Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez.

It was Benitez who emerged victorious and he padded his bankroll with $167,606, almost $100,000 more than Astedt who scooped $71,571.

$215 Sunday Million at PokerStars

Swedish online poker legend “eisenhower1” confirmed his status as one of tournament poker’s greats by triumphing in this week’s Sunday Million.

Eisenhower1 fired two $109 bullets at this week’s massive event and it was a good job he did because it resulted in a $111,769 score. The Swede defeated Brazil’s “EricBolis” heads-up to bink the competition, leaving the Brazilian to secure the still welcomed $81,103 runner-up prize.

All but one of the finalists won five-figure prizes. Those big winners included a brace of British players. Andy “Scouse_AA” Aspinall banked $30,996 for his fifth-place exit while “seegul65” padded their bankroll with $58,586 after falling in third.

GG Masters $150, $300K Gtd at GGPoker

The $300,000 guaranteed GG Masters saw this week’s title head to Croatia when “G0spRaf0” came out on top of a 2,064-strong field to get their hands on $39,962. That prize could have been more substantial but the Croatia struck a deal with Argentina’s “Bullet-proof” that saw the runner-up net $36,809.

Everyone who reached the nine-handed final table won almost $3,000 each for the $150 investment.

Israel’s “kahe1” and China’s “tl9841” were the first casualties of the final table, winning $2,988 and $4,191 respectively.

“whoyesdoor?” and “Felipe Ramos” joined them in the role of spectator and won $5,880 and $8,249, the latter being the final player not to win five-figures from this tournament.

“JusstRelaxx” scooped $11,572 after falling in fifth-place before the deepest-running British player “Specknacken” fell by the wayside in fourth-place and reeled in $16,234.

Russia’s “LUCKYFISH567” exited in third for $22,775 before G0spRaf0 beat Bullet-proof heads-up to bink the tournament and claim plenty of points towards the yearly GG Masters Player of the Year leaderboard.

*reflects a heads-up deal

Phased: High Rollers $250 at GGPoker

Phased tournaments, or multi-day, tournaments are increasing in popularity and it’s easy to see why when a $250 buy-in tournament creates a $277,840 prize pool.

The top five finishers in the Phased: High Rollers $250 at GGPoker secured prizes in excess of $12,000 and shared a cool $127,850 between them.

Estonian pro “EestiSuperStaar” locked up the lion’s share of the juicy prize pool, namely $43,907, after becoming the last player standing. The Estonian defeated China’s “Huaicheng” in a ferocious one-on-one encounter to resign the runner-up to a $31,863 addition to their bankroll.

The other trio who won a five-figure prize were Germany’s “Eye0fAfrica” ($12,177), fourth-place finisher “Y0UWILLLOSE” of the United Kingdom ($16,780), and third-place finisher “HONEYDETECTED” ($23,123) also of the UK.

$20,000 Whale at 888poker

Over to 888poker now where the Sunday Whale sneaked into its $20,000 guarantee by $100. Only the top seven finishers saw a return on their $320 investment due to the compact 67-strong field.

“xFink_Ploydx”, “carmen.1957”, and “M9yM9so” all busted in succession before Finnish pro “wellyxx” saw their tournament end in fourth-place for a $2,010 score.

888poker pro Dominik “888Dominik” Nitsche busted in third-place for $3,015 which set up a heads-up clash between Preben “prebzzz” Stokkan and “Timmys3”. The latter became the tournament’s champion to get their hands on $7,035, leaving Stokkan to bank $4,522.

$20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker

This week’s $20,000 Sunday Challenge saw its guarantee hit as 888poker continues to enjoy a change in fortunes.

Those finishing in the top six places saw a four-figure return on their $109 buy-in.

Russian duo “M9yM9so” and “89rhino89” secured payouts of $1,050 and $1,260 before Peruvian grinder “Yoshiaki97” crashed and burned in fourth spot for $1,837 Third-place and $2,467 went to Malta’s “wh4tishat3”, which left 888poker regular “Fukuruku” and “Maracuyasour” of Sweden to fight for the largest prize.

It was the Swede who came out on top, turning their $109 into $4,515. The tournament’s bridesmaid banked $3,255.

Unfortunately, there are no partypoker tournaments to report on in this week’s Sunday Briefing. The site was plagued with connection problems that resulted in dozens of tournaments being cancelled, including the partypoker MILLION that, ironically, hit its $1 million guarantee for the first time since its launch several months ago.

_{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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