The World Series of Poker is well underway in Las Vegas and SCOOP is still in the rearview, but that didn’t stop a big field from turning out for this week’s Sunday Million, online poker’s most popular weekly tournament. The $215 buy-in event saw 6,733 players take part, and after nearly half a day’s worth of poker it was Germany’s ATHIED87 taking down the title after an even chop with Donkab0mber of India.
Coming near the end of a lengthy heads-up battle, the pair had nearly equal stacks when agreeing to the deal, with each guaranteeing $168,157.25 at that point and ATHIED87 earning another $20K on top for the win.
That turnout meant a total prize pool of $1,346,600, well above the $1 million guarantee. The top 990 finishers made the money this week, and there were a handful of red spades among those who profited this time around, including Team PokerStars Pros Jose “nachobarbero” Barbero (634th, $390.51), Christophe “chrisdm” de Meulder (618th, $403.98), and Johnny Lodden (601st, $403.98).
Following that trio to the virtual rail were Team Online member Caio Pessagno (509th, $430.91) and PokerStars Challenger winner Stavros “IDOLLS” Kalfas (343rd, $525.17).
By the time they were approaching the seven-and-a-half-hour mark just 100 players remained, led by Lars Erik “KaSTeL83” Isaksen with just over 2.5 million, with KaÅ¡pirovskis and Poeira4 occupying the next two spots in the counts.
Two hours after that they were down to 18, by which point KaSTeL83 had slipped to fall in 72nd ($1,939.10) and Kašpirovskis went out in 28th ($2,814.39), but Poeira4 had pushed up into first position with just under 10 million chips.
It would take another 45 minutes to whittle down to nine, with afflynn2000 pulling out in front by building a stack of more than 15 million.
santpablo509 (18th), FizzimeiBua (17th), and FOREVER_RU (16th) each earned $3,770.48. Velouxiotis (15th), PESCANCO (14th), and sirtenzoe (13th) took away $5,655.72 apiece. And d1rdyharry (12th), SsicK_OnE (11th), and g.karolis (10th) each saw $7,540.96 added to their PokerStars accounts.
The final table had begun.
Seat 1: Lyngman (Denmark) — 4,485,401
Seat 2: afflynn2000 (United Kingdom) — 15,876,093
Seat 3: Donkab0mber (India) — 11,662,577
Seat 4: big_pockett (Australia) — 5,022,569
Seat 5: Ässnacke (Sweden) — 3,918,149
Seat 6: ATHIED87 (Germany) — 3,457,084
Seat 7: Poeira4 (Portugal) — 9,967,998
Seat 8: Diego “Die Ventura” Ventura (Peru) — 6,156,541
Seat 9: politm69 (Romania) — 6,783,588
It took 15 minutes before any final table eliminations took place, at which point three occurred in short order.
The blinds were up to 125,000/250,000 when afflynn2000 raised 3x to 750,000 from the cutoff, then it folded to Ässnacke in the big blind who shoved for 2,808,149 and afflynn2000 called.
Ässnacke had A♥ 7♣ and afflynn2000 6♥ 6♦ , and when the flop came 10♣ 7♥ J♣ Ässnacke seized the advantage with a better pair of sevens. The turn brought the 4♥ and Ässnacke one step closer to doubling up, but the river was the 6♣ , giving afflynn2000 a set of sixes and sending Ässnacke out in ninth.
Just a few minutes later Lyngman was open-raising all in with K♦ 8♥ from the small blind for 1,168,317 (just under five big blinds), and afflynn2000 called from the big blind with Q♠J♦ .
The flop came A♠Q♥ 8♣ to give both players pairs but afflynn2000 the better one, then the J♠fell on fourth street to give afflynn2000 a second pair. The river was the 4♦ , and Lyngman was done in eighth.
Just two hands after that, Donkab0mber raised 2x to 500,000 from the button, then big_pockett pushed for 3,412,569 from the small blind. ATHIED87 folded from the big blind, and Donkab0mber called.
big_pockett had 10♣ 10♥ and Donkab0mber A♦ Kâ™ , and the 5♣ 4♦ Aâ™ flop quickly improved Donkab0mber to take the lead. The turn was the 8♦ and river the 8♣ , and big_pockett’s Sunday Million run had been stopped in seventh.
The final six continued, and the tourney was approaching the 11-hour mark when a big hand took place between politm69 and ATHIED87 that resulted in another elimination and a new chip leader.
Donkab0mber got the hand started with a min-raise to 800,000 from under the gun, then ATHIED87 reraised to 1,824,555 from a seat over. It folded to politm69 in the small blind who pushed all in over the top for 7,317,542. The big blind and Donkab0mber both folded, but ATHIED87 called instantly.
politm69: K♠K♥
ATHIED87: A♥ A♦
A tough spot for politm69, and after the board came ten-high — 2♥ 7â™ 8♥ 10♦ 9♦ — ATHIED87 had grabbed the lead as politm69 hit the rail in sixth.
Shortly thereafter ATHIED87 won another big pot to increase the chip lead. Then Donkab0mber earned a big double up with Aâ™ Q♥ through ATHIED87’s 10♣ 10â™ to grab the advantage with five left when the turn and river brought a queen and an ace.
Meanwhile afflynn2000 had slid down under 5 million, and with the blinds at 200,000/400,000 a hand arose that saw afflynn2000 open-raise all in for 4,488,420 from the small blind and new leader Donkab0mber call from a seat over.
Donkab0mber had A♦ Q♣ again while afflynn2000 needed help with A♥ 4♠. But the board rolled out Q♥ 6♥ 10♦ J♠6♠, and afflynn2000 was knocked out in fifth.
Two more knockouts swiftly followed to set up heads-up play. First came a hand in which Donkab0mber min-raised to 800,000 from the button, Poeira4 reraised all in for 7,702,443, and Donkab0mber called.
Poeira4 had Aâ™ 8â™ and needed help versus Donkab0mber’s J♥ J♣ . The community cards came 9♥ 6â™ 2♥ , then 3♣ , then 10♥ , and Poeira4 was eliminated in fourth.
Just a few hands later the blinds had increased to 250,000/500,000 when ATHIED87 opened for 1 million from the button, Diego “Die Ventura” Ventura pushed for 7,379,082 from the small blind, Donka0mber folded, and ATHIED87 called.
ATHIED87 had 5♥ 5♣ versus Die Ventura’s J♣ 10♥ . The flop came Q♥ 4♣ 5♦ , giving ATHIED87 a set. The 10â™ then fell on the turn, improving Ventura to a pair but also leaving him drawing dead as the 6♥ inconsequentially fell on fifth street. Die Ventura was out in third.
The remaining two players then quickly stopped the tournament with Donkab0mber sitting with 40,092,292 and ATHIED87 27,237,708 to talk about a possible deal to divide the remaining prize money. The discussion was brief, with the host Joshua starting things with a presentation of “chip chop” figures for a possible deal:
HostJoshuaC (Administrator): Donkab0mber:$171,338.87
HostJoshuaC (Administrator): ATHIED87:$164,975.63
HostJoshuaC (Administrator): Left To Play for place 1: $20,000.00
ATHIED87: im fine
Donkab0mber: 1 min
Donkab0mber: 174 and i’ll deal of i ;ole
Donkab0mber: if u like
Donkab0mber: 20 to play for
ATHIED87: no sorry
ATHIED87: lets pla
ATHIED87: y
Donkab0mber: ok lets go
ATHIED87: gl
Donkab0mber: u2
With no deal having been made, heads-up play soon began in earnest.
It didn’t take too long for a decisive hand to develop between the pair that saw them exchanging bets on every street as the board rolled out 2♣ 3♣ 9♥ 2♦ K♣ . On the river Donkab0mber raised all in over a leading bet from ATHIED87 and the latter called, flipping over 10♣ 8♣ for a club flush while Donkab0mber had but Q♣ 8♥ . Take a look:
That hand put ATHIED87 well out in front, and the chipping away continued to decrease Donkab0mber’s stack further. But a double-up and some battling by Donkab0mber followed, and soon the pair were nearly even again.
That’s when play was paused a second time to talk chopping, with Donkab0mber sitting behind a stack of 33,897,952 and ATHIED87 with 33,432,048. Again the discussion was brief, only this time a deal was struck.
Donkab0mber: nos?
ATHIED87: ok
Donkab0mber: even?
ATHIED87: ok
Donkab0mber: cheers
ATHIED87: thx u 2
Donkab0mber: Yea just give us even chop with 20 left to play ffor
HostJoshuaC (Administrator): ATHIED87:$168,157.25
HostJoshuaC (Administrator): Donkab0mber:$168,157.25
HostJoshuaC (Administrator): Left To Play for place 1: $20,000.00
Donkab0mber: I agree
ATHIED87: i agree
Donkab0mber: Cheers and GL. Ur tough man
After a few more words and more exchanges of “gg” and “gl,” play resumed once more with $20,000 still on the line.
Donkab0mber quickly jumped out to a lead, but ATHIED87 doubled back with K♦ J♣ versus Donkab0mber’s A♦ 4♥ — a king flopped — to even things once more. Then ATHIED87 took a big lead after flopping trip sixes and getting value on all three post-flop streets.
Finally, almost 12 hours after the tourney had begun, the final hand took place.
The blinds were 400,000/800,000 when ATHIED87 open-shoved from the button and Donkab0mber called all in for 10,311,944. It was Kâ™ 4♣ for ATHIED87 and A♣ 10♦ for Donkab0mber. The flop fell K♦ 5♥ 2â™ to hit ATHIED87’s king, and after the 5♦ turn and J♣ river it was all over!
Congratulations to ATHIED87 for earning the win and also to Donkab0mber for making it to the two-way deal, with both players earning handsome returns on those $215 buy-ins.
6/2/13 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold’em) results (*reflects two-way deal)
Players: 6,733
Total prize pool: $1,346,600.00
Places paid: 990
1. ATHIED87 (Germany) $188,157.25*
2. Donkab0mber (India) $168,157.25*
3. Diego “Die Ventura” Ventura (Peru) $107,728.00
4. Poeira4 (Portugal) $74,063.00
5. afflynn2000 (United Kingdom) $56,557.20
6. politm69 (Romania) $43,091.20
7. big_pockett (Australia) $29,625.20
8. Lyngman (Denmark) $16,159.20
9. Ässnacke (Sweden) $10,436.15
That 100 Billionth hand on PokerStars is edging ever closer. Read all about the milestone and all of the associated giveaways here.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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