Ponakovs Becomes a Titan of PokerStars; Banks $108K

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Oct 04, 2022 4 min read Last updated Oct 14, 2022

The 2022 World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) may be all but done and dusted, with only the rescheduled Main Events awaiting the crowning of their champion, but that does not mean there are not any massive prizes being dished out at PokerStars. The weekend produced some fantastic scores, not least the $107,963 Aleksejs "APonakov" Ponakovs reeled in when he triumphed in the $5,200 Titans Event.

A compact yet stellar field of 77 players bought into the $5,200 Titans Event and fought it out for a slice of the $400,000 prize pool. Only the top nine finishers secured a prize, so spare a though for "P0KERPR02.0" who fell in tenth place and was the last player to go home empty-handed.

The surviving nine players locked in at least $12,470 for their efforts. Estonia's "DingeBrinker" collected this sum when they busted in ninth. Such luminaries as Niklas "lena900" Astedt, "Survern" of Norway, Brazil's "Dih21," and Sunday Million specialists Artem "veeea" Vezhenkov joined the list of busted players.

Bulagrian hero Dimitar "KuuL" Danchev saw his tournament end in a fourth-place finish, with the untimely demise of Joris "BillLewinsky" Ruijs sending the Titans Event into the heads-up stage.

Here, Ponakovs and Pablo "pabritz" Brito Silva locked horns in a clash for the lion's share of the prize pool. Ponakovs was the last man standing once the dust settled, and he helped himself to a $107,963 score, leaving Silva to collect an $80,864 consolation prize.

$5,200 Titans Event Final Table Results

Navarro Comes Out on Top in the $530 Bounty Builder High Roller

The two-day $530 Bounty Builder High Roller tournament is always jam-packed with online poker superstars, and this week's edition was no different. A field of 651 players fought it out over a $325,500 prize pool, and it was Mario "t4t0PAGAU" Navarro who claimed the largest slice of the pie, namely $69,584.

Only 22 of the 651 starters progressed to Day 2, and they were quickly whittled down to the final table of nine. Navarro had to contend with the likes of Patrick "thebigdog09" Brooks, Benjamin "BC1989RF" Chalot, and Vlad "dariepoker" Darie, but came out of those battles unscathed. He faced Brazil's "GUNDIAS" heads-up and made light work of him, reeling in a $20,574 bounty payment in addition to the $24,584 first-place prize. GUNDIAS saw $33,879 head to their PokerStars account.

$530 Bounty Builder High Roller Final Table Results

Peru Has a Sunday Million Champion

Peru's "xXROMmMEOXx" is the latest in a long line of PokerStars players that can call themselves a Sunday Million champion. The Peruvian came out on top of a 9,844-strong field in the PKO edition of the Sunday Million and captured $86,748 of the $1,000,000 prize pool.

Eighty-four players made it through to Day 2, including Matas "bebamis777" Cimbolas and Daniel "dani aziz" Aziz. Each of those 84 returnees can be immensely proud of their performances, but the night belonged to xXROMmMEOXx. They defeated Ireland's "murphfish" heads-up as the clock stuck 10:29 p.m. BST on October 3, for an $86,748 haul, leaving the Irish grinder to net a $57,484 runner-up score.

$109 Sunday Million PKO Final Table Results

Other Notable PokerStars Results

There were several household names that walked away with PokerStars titles this weekend. Matas "bebaimis777" Cimbolas won the $1,050 Sunday High Roller for almost $22,000, while Brunno "botteonpoker" Botteon scooped the Bigger $109 for $11,304. Swedish legend Niklas "Lena900" Astedt claimed the $7,678 top prize in the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up, too.

• Matas "bebaimis777" Cimbolas – winner of the $1,050 Sunday High Roller for $21,977*
• O Vulgo – winner of the $109 Sunday Fenomeno Special for $19,345
• nnanh961 – winner of the $109 Sunday Cooldown for $18,128*
• JamsLaNoche – winner of the $215 Sunday Supersonic for $14,415*
• lukasrimtas – winner of the $109 Sunday Warm-Up KO for $13,749*
• Brunno "botteonpoker" Botteon – winner of the Bigger $109 for $11,304
• Nosnibourbos – winner of the $215 Bounty Builder for $10,542*
• Eccentric_BG – winner of the $1,050 Sunday Cooldown for $9,948*
• xX.TESSERACT.Xx – winner of the $109 Bounty Builder for $9,795*
• Tr!pleeeee – winner of the $215 Bounty Builder for $8,462*
• Niklas "Lena900" Astedt – winner of the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up for $7,678
• deepincidurr – winner of the $109 Sunday Kickoff for $7,019

*includes bounty payments

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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