The Sunday Million is the crown jewel of the PokerStars Sunday majors, a tournament that each online grinder aspires to overcome someday. It is not rare to peer familiar faces a number of the final table lineup, chasing one of the vital biggest prize money offered all week. But on this week's Million Dollar Sunday edition the table featured only one player we've come to understand well in PokerStars events. Otherwise it was stocked with players less well-known but still fully equipped to wwithin the tournament - and to win career-changing money in the process.
The $5,000,000 guarantee in this edition of the Sunday Million brought out seemingly everyone with the bankroll to sustain a shot at Sunday major glory. By the point late registration ended the sphere had swelled to 26,925 players, building a complete prize pool of $5,385,000 and scheduling a primary prize worth $484,650.
Off and running
The top 4,500 players were paid out, with everyone who made the overall two tables taking home a minimum of $10,770 and everybody on the final table earning no less than $26,925. Russia's three-time MicroMillions champion Alfons777999 was among that group, which included these other eight players:
Seat 1: sincinaty118 (66,521,792 in chips)
Seat 2: bdklizm (25,192,451 in chips)
Seat 3: FLasHBa3k (76,884,426 in chips)
Seat 4: Alfons777999 (15,755,851 in chips)
Seat 5: elastobert (18,183,792 in chips)
Seat 6: zet1981 (10,278,162 in chips)
Seat 7: socke2506 (18,462,863 in chips)
Seat 8: Mr.Hazard70 (13,893,276 in chips)
Seat 9: dadoferal (24,077,387 in chips)
Austria's zet1981 was the quick stack with 10.27M at the 850K/1.7M/170K level and had the misfortune to land within the small blind at the second hand of the overall table. The Austrian player needed to call with A♥ 4♠ when Germany's elastobert moved in from the small blind with J♥ 9♥, however the 4♦ 2♠ J♠ flop turned things the other way up. zet1981 now needed an ace, a four, or running spades or straight cards to stick alive. The 3♠ at the turn kept both draws alive however the 7♣ at the river was no help, sending zet1981 to the rail in 9th place ($26,925).
Two hands later the landlord of the second-shortest stack on the table would also get in ahead. Finland's Mr.Hazard70 moved in for 11.51M from the small blind after socke2506 raised to 3.4M at the button, and the German player called with A♥ 5♦. That trailed the Finn's A♦ 8♦ from the beginning and did not atone for the J♣ A♠ 6♣ 7♥ 2♣ board, giving Mr.Hazard70 the 26.08M-chip pot.
Hand #5 saw socke2506 attempt to make up for the loss by jamming for 9.32M within the cutoff. Everyone folded except Ireland's sincinaty118, whose big stack allowed a decision with J♥ T♥. The Irish player could have been a bit of surprised to be prior to 9♠ 8♥, but any shock wore off once the board came A♠ 7♥ 4♦ T♦ T♣, giving sincinaty118 the 20.86M chips within the middle and knocking out socke2506 in 8th place ($40,387.50).
The table managed to head for 6 hands with none direct confrontations, all of the pots being taken down before the flop, before another short stack was all-in. This time it was Montenegro's dadoferal, who jammed for 17.78M within the small blind with J♥ J♦ after Mr.Hazard70 opened at the button for 3.8M. The Finn called with 8♥ 8♦ but couldn't atone for the 3♦ A♥ K♦ A♣ 6♣, and suddenly elimination loomed large once again.
Another six uncontested pots passed before Mr.Hazard70 tried to pick out up the blinds and antes, jamming at the button with K♠ 8♦. sincinaty118 called with K♦ 5♠ and remained behind after the flop fell 9♠ Q♦ K♣. The K♥ gave both players trip kings with Q-9 they usually were set to cut the pot, however the 5♥ at the river gave sincinaty118 kings stuffed with fives, ok to send Mr.Hazard70 packing in 7th place ($53,850).
The next short stack to stand elimination would accomplish that with the blinds and antes as much as 1M/2M/200K. MicroMillions triple champion Alfons777999 shoved for 9.71M with 6♥ 6♠ within the big blind after elastobert opened for 4M under the gun and faced a coin flip when the German turned up A♥ K♣. The T♦ T♥ 8♥ hinted on the danger of counterfeiting, however the 4♠ was safe and Alfons777999 was one card from getting a foothold to transport higher up the pay ladder. However the A♣ at the river brought all that crashing down and sent the Russian out of the tournament in 6th place ($80,775).
Time for a deal
With the table now all the way down to five the chip stacks gave the impression of this:
Seat 1: sincinaty118 (91,220,544 in chips)
Seat 2: bdklizm (13,262,451 in chips)
Seat 3: FLasHBa3k (87,224,426 in chips)
Seat 5: elastobert (35,937,805 in chips)
Seat 9: dadoferal (41,604,774 in chips)
FLasHBa3k and sincinaty118 were 1-2 atop the tournament when the overall table began and remained there, though in reversed order. The others had 20 big blinds or less and were hoping to catch a large hand or make a deal. And after this hand, FLasHBa3k was in the same situation:
Within only some hands the five remaining players had agreed to speak over a deal. sincinaty118 held a commanding chip lead and was set for the most important share of any agreement. When everything have been sorted out the Irish player was guaranteed $321,971.88. Everyone else got a minimum of $229,450.46, with another $100,000 left at the table for whichever player managed to outlive to the end.
dadoferal was the primary to finish up all-in, jamming from the button with A♥ 2♥ and being called within the small blind by sincinaty118, who held A♦ 3♥, however the 6♦ 4♠ K♣ J♥ 5♦ board split the pot between the 2. Five hands after that FLasHBa3k retook the lead way to this pot:
sincinaty118 was right down to 71.34M after that but struck back immediately. The Irish player three-bet to 12M with 8♦ 8♥ at the button after elastobert opened for 5M under the gun after which called when the German moved in for 32.87M with A♠ Q♣. Back-to-back losses would have left sincinaty118 in big trouble with just 38.21M, however the board fell 2♠ 6♦ 3♦ 6♠ 3♠ and the eights held up. That gave sincinaty118 the 70,74M chips within the middle and knocked elastobert out in 5th place.
That gave sincinaty118 a slim lead of 108.9M to 102.3M over FLasHBa3k, while both dadoferal and Norway's bdklizm had lower than 13 big blinds to work with. Those two found themselves in a coin flip three hands later, dadoferal's A♠ T♥ against bdklizm's 4♠ 4♥, with dadoferal's tournament hanging within the balance. The Montenegrin came out the winner after a 8♣ 3♣ 7♦ T♣ 9♥, dropping bdklizm to simply 1.7M. The Norwegian was dealt K♣ 6♥ at the button at the next hand and moved in, only to run into FLasHBa3k's A♠ K♠. That 2♥ 3♦ 4♣ Q♠ T♥ board was n help either, and bdklizm left in 4th place.
FLasHBa3k and sincinaty dominated three-handed play, winning 13 of the primary 14 pots. Nearly all of those went to FLasHBa3k, however the last of them saw sincinaty118 show down A♣ T♥ for 2 pair on a J♣ T♣ J♠ 8♦ K♣ board to win a 43.5M-chip pot and move sooner than FLasHBa3k by about six big blinds. The very next hand saw dadoferal take a bit out of both players with no need to turn down:
That actually moved dadoferal into second place by a margin of lower than one small blind, but there wasn't any time to celebrate. THe Montenegrin player picked up A♥ 5♥ at the very next hand and opened for 6M within the small blind. sincinaty118 re-raised to 13.86M within the big blind, to which dadoferal responded by four-betting to 27.72M. sincinaty118 then shoved and after dipping into the time bank dadoferal came up with a call, only to stand sincinaty118's dominating A♠ Q♦. The board ran out T♦ 4♥ 6♠ J♦ K♦, giving sincinaty118 a Broadway straight and knocking dadoferal out in 3rd place.
Head to go for $100K
The battle for the last $100,000 at the table started with the chips distributed like this:
Seat 1: sincinaty118 (188,567,282 in chips)
Seat 3: FLasHBa3k (80,682,718 in chips)
With blinds and antes at 1.5M/3M/300K there has been no time to dally, so FLasHBa3k got right to work. The Israeli player won the primary hand uncontested at the river of a Q♠ 8♦ 7♠ J♥ 7♦, picking up a 35.06M-chip pot, after which took two of the following three besides. sincinaty118 responded by taking down a 23.72M-chip pot uncontested at the river of a 7♦ Q♣ 3♥ Q♦ 8♠, but then FLasHBa3k went on an unprecedented run, winning 11 pots in a row, including this one, to take over the lead:
That left sincinaty118 with just over 13 big blinds and a large mountain to climb. The adventure began with a coin flip, with 7♦ 7♠ hitting a collection to stick prior to A♣ T♠ on a 7♥ 3♣ 8♠ K♣ J♠ board. That 80.73M-chip pot was enough to get sincinaty118 back into the match, and with a pair more wins the Irish player was back on track.
Hand #97 of the general table would prove to be the turning point. FLasHBa3k opened for 8M at the button and sincinaty118 called to peer a 9♥ 8♠ 2♥ flop. The Irish player checked before raising FLasHBa3k's 8M-chip bet to 18M. FLasHBa3k came back with a three-bet to 92M, which sincinaty118 called with T♣ 9♦ for high pair. FLasHBa3k also held top pair but with 9♣ 4♥ for a worse kicker. The turn and river came A♥ Q♠, giving sincinaty118 the 201M-chip pot.
Just six hands later the tournament would come to a detailed after FLasHBa3k limped at the button with K♣ 7♦ and called all-in for 65.37M after sincinaty118 moved all-in with 2♦ 2♥. The deuces were a slim favorite going to the flop nevertheless it came Q♣ 8♥ 2♠ to transport them well into the lead. Then the 2♣ came at the turn to finish all hope for FLasHBa3k, and the 9♥ river put an official end to the proceedings.
FLasHBa3k's take from the deal was $261,359.81 - probably a little bit a letdown considering it might was $100K more, but still a jump prior to the Israeli player's previous best cash of $7,349. As for sincinaty118, the additional cash at the table for the winner made for a complete score of $421,971.88. The Irish player's previous best score was $14,120 from a third-place finish in a $109 tournament back in 2012, so this win represents an immense leap forward. Congratulations to both players for making their way through a huge Sunday Million field to earn a major bankroll boost.
12/8/13 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 26,925
Prize pool: $5,385,000
Places paid: 4,500
1. sincinaty118 (Ireland) $421,971.88*
2. FLasHBa3k (Israel) $261,359.81*
3. dadoferal (Montenegro) $230,028.85*
4. bdklizm (Norway) $229,450.46*
5. elastobert (Germany) $240,595.50*
6. Alfons777999 (Russia) $80,775
7. Mr.Hazard70 (Finland) $53,850
8. socke2506 (Germany) $40,387.50
9. zet1981 (Austria) $26,925
* - denotes result of a five-way deal
Jason Kirk is a contract contributor to PokerStars Blog.
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Sunday Million]
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