Stadium Series Freezeout Grand Final - Medium: $530 NLHE [8-Max], $2M Gtd
Day 3 Completed
2020 PokerStars Stadium Series
Stadium Series Freezeout Grand Final - Medium: $530 NLHE [8-Max], $2M Gtd
Day: 3
Level 51
: 2,000,000/4,000,000, 500,000 ante
It wouldn't even take four hours for the final table of the 2020 PokerStars Stadium Series Freezeout Grand Final - Medium: $530 to come to an end with Brazilian grinder Caio "pessagno" Pessagno claiming the victory over Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu heads-up. They agreed on a deal three-way with "RB Tiger" as the third player for Pessagno to walk away with the biggest share of the $2,117,000 prize pool which was created by the 4,234 entries. Pessagno won $266,006 for his efforts over the past three days.
The former PokerStars Team Online member scored his biggest online cash in this event as his previous personal best on PokerStars came when he finished in second place back in 2013 in a Super Tuesday for $66,548. Marcu is also not new to the online poker felt with over $1,000,000 in online cashes.
Rodrigo "digopapel" Semeghini, "luckyluck653", "hanji", Fernando "ferdahouse" Santos, "KKing James", and "The_Senseman" joined them at the final table.
The 2020 PokerStars Stadium Series Grand Final - Medium: $530 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caio "pessagno" Pessagno | Brazil | $266,066* |
| 2 | Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu | Romania | $202,586* |
| 3 | "RB Tiger" | United Kingdom | $202,935* |
| 4 | Rodrigo "digopapel" Semeghini | Brazil | $109,518 |
| 5 | "luckyluck653" | Estonia | $78,068 |
| 6 | "hanji" | Canada | $55,650 |
| 7 | Fernando "ferdahouse" Santos | Brazil | $39,669 |
| 8 | "KKing James" | Brazil | $28,277 |
| 9 | "The_Senseman" | Germany | $20,157 |
*denotes a three-way deal
From Nine to Five
"hanji" quickly won three in a row where they eliminated "The_Senseman" in the last one to jump into the chip lead with a turned nut-flush. A few hands later, "KKing James" was kicked out of the tournament by Day 2 chip leader Marcu who rivered the higher pair before the players could go for their first break. Santos left the final table soon after when his ace-queen couldn't beat the ace-five of "luckyluck653" who flopped two pair.
Six-handed play lasted an hour with several double-ups and big pots going back and forth before "hanji" was halted Pessagno. "luckyluck653" was next to go when they got their eleven big blinds in with ace-jack. They were ahead against the jack-ten of Semeghini but the ten on the flop spelled the end of their tournament run.
Getting Down to a Deal
Pessagno first doubled through Semeghini for the chip lead and kept the pressure on to add more chips to his stack. The latter then doubled up "RB Tiger" before losing the rest of his stack to Pessagno when he ran his treys into the tens of the chip leader.
"RB Tiger" then doubled through Marcu before the tournament was paused and a deal was discussed with Pessagno holding almost 60% of all the chips in play while the other two had almost even stacks. The deal was agreed upon and play resumed immediately. Three-handed play lasted about 40 minutes with "RB Tiger" downed in the third place when they called the three-bet shove of Marcu for the 21 big blinds they had behind with ace-seven suited. The kings of Marcu held to get the tournament into the heads-up phase.
Heads-Up Battle
The heads-up battle started with even stacks with only one big blind between them but soon Marcu took a 2:1 chip lead when he caught Pessagno's bluff. Pessagno's got down to 31 big blinds which he shoved and doubled up with to get the stacks back to almost even. A four-bet and call later, it would be Pessagno with the 2:1 chip lead.
In the final hand of the night, Pessagno called Marcu's raise preflop and flopped a straight flush. He check-called Marcu's continuation-bet who had hit a set of aces. They both checked through the turn when Marcu improved his hand to a full house for Pessagno to check-raise the bet of Marcu. Marcu then shoved to see Pessagno call for the tournament to be over and done with.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event. Thank you for following the updates and see you at the next one!
Level 51
: 2,000,000/4,000,000, 500,000 ante
Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu raised to 8,000,000 from the button and Caio "pessagno" Pessagno made the call.
The flop came 
, Pessagno checked for Marcu to continue with a bet of 8,500,000 which was called.
The turn was the 
and both players checked for the 
to complete the board. Pessagno checked for the last time. Marcu bet 10,200,000 for Pessagno to raise it up to 55,920,000. Marcu shoved for 151,248,288 in total for Pessagno to snap-call with the bigger stack.
Marcu tabled 
for the flopped set of aces and turned full house but Pessagno held 
for the flopped straight flush to bring the tournament to an end. As they agreed to a three-handed deal, Marcu collects $202,568 for finishing in second place while Pessagno wins $266,006 and the title.
A recap of the final table is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
423,400,000
138,038,288
|
138,038,288 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level: 51
Blinds: 2,000,000/4,000,000
Ante: 500,000
Level 50
: 1,750,000/3,500,000, 450,000 ante
Caio "pessagno" Pessagno called on the button and Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu three-bet to 14,000,000. Pessagno responded with a four-bet to 43,435,000 and was called.
The flop came 
, Marcu checked and then folded when Pessagno continued with a bet of 26,250,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
285,361,712
68,390,000
|
68,390,000 |
|
|
138,038,288
-68,390,000
|
-68,390,000 |
|
|
||
Level 50
: 1,750,000/3,500,000, 450,000 ante
Caio "pessagno" Pessagno limped in on the button and Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu raised to 14,000,000 for Pessagno to shove for 108,035,856 which Marcu called.
Caio "pessagno" Pessagno: 
Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu: 
The flop came 
for Marcu to stay ahead but the on the turn gave Pessagno top pair. Marcu picked up the gutshot to a straight though but bricked the on the river as Pessagno doubled up to almost even stacks.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
216,971,712
83,085,856
|
83,085,856 |
|
|
206,428,288
-83,085,856
|
-83,085,856 |
|
|
||
Level 50
: 1,750,000/3,500,000, 450,000 ante
Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu raised to 7,000,000 from the button and Caio "pessagno" Pessagno three-bet to 24,850,000 which Marcu called.
The flop came 
for Pessagno to continue with a bet of 16,698,000 which Marcu called again.
They both checked through the 
on the turn to the 
on the river. Pessagno bet 25,900,000 and got called again. Pessagno tabled for Marcu to scoop the pot with 
for two pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
289,514,144
79,298,000
|
79,298,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
133,885,856
-79,298,000
|
-79,298,000 |
Level 50
: 1,750,000/3,500,000, 450,000 ante
Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu completed his small blind and "RB Tiger" raised it up to 10,500,000 from the big blind. Marcu responded with a three-bet shove with the bigger stack for "RB Tiger" to make the call for the 74,035,564 they had behind.
"RB Tiger":
Alexandru "JustPray" Marcu: 
The flop came 
for "RB Tiger" to hit top pair but for Marcu to improve his kings to a set.
The turn was the which meant that "RB Tiger" was drawing dead as the 
completed the board. "RB Tiger" finishes in third place for $202,935 after the deal.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
213,183,856
22,680,000
|
22,680,000 |
|
|
210,216,144
48,755,564
|
48,755,564 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 50
: 1,750,000/3,500,000, 450,000 ante
A few raises and folds and three-bets later, more chips have gone to Caio "pessagno" Pessagno while "RB Tiger" is still the shortest stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
190,503,856
21,125,000
|
21,125,000 |
|
|
161,460,580
-7,387,500
|
-7,387,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
71,435,564
-13,737,500
|
-13,737,500 |
Level: 50
Blinds: 1,750,000/3,500,000
Ante: 450,000