Blowout Series: All the news from Day 23
We’re coming to the end of the Blowout Series, but there was one last chance for Lex Veldhuis to show his skills as the biggest events reach their conclusions. Read all about it…
BLOWOUT BULLETIN
The final nine in the Big Blowout
Big Blowout! closes in on champion: All of poker’s biggest stars put in one last effort last night as the final Big Blowout! of this series played down to its final table. The $5 million guarantee was smashed as the tournament registered 6,922 entries of $1,050 apiece (including 1,630 re-entries), putting close to $7 million in the pot and $982K on the line for the winner. Lex Veldhuis gave his fans a brilliant sweat before perishing in 30th place, for $14,029, and when Franciso “Tomatee” Benitez was knocked out in 10th a little while later, the final table was set. It’s a cosmopolitan group, with six nationalities represented, and at least a couple of well-known names. Vlad “dariepoker” Darie, one of Romania’s most prominent players, sits second overall, while Brazil’s Fernando “fviana” Viana, who has more than $5.6 million in documented online cashes, is third. Viana has won during SCOOP, but also picked up the title in the Stadium Series Main Event in August, which earned him more than $820K. Seasoned online poker watchers will also recognise the two-time Sunday Million champion “thx4urm0n3y”, of Canada, who is currently eighth. thx4urm0n3y has already won during this Blowout Series, so is chasing a second title. All of them will need to overhaul “arbaarba”, of Lithuania, who has 37.4 million chips (blinds are at 250K/500K), and the chip lead. Play resumes at 1.05pm ET and will be live on the PokerStars Twitch channel.
On the side: Lex Veldhuis was battling on two fronts last night, running deep in the Big Blowout! and also sitting at the final table of the $5K buy-in side event, added late to the schedule. It was an exceptionally tough line-up in the second of those tournaments, and Veldhuis’s run ended with a fourth-place finish, good for $97,256 — and giving him a six-figure haul for the evening. His departure left Sam “Str8$$$Homey” Greenwood and Estonia’s “DingeBrinker” to do battle with Russia’s tournament supremo “hello_totti“. Although the Blowout Series hasn’t been especially kind to Russian players — they never led the countries leader board, in a break from what’s normal — hello_totti was at his imperious best. Greenwood had to make do with third; DingeBrinker missed out on a second title as he lost heads-up, and hello_totti picked up another $219,546 for the win. hello_totti’s career totals are now beyond $12.3 million.
THE SERIES EXPLAINED | SCHEDULE & RESULTS | ALL BLOG REPORTS
Dealing in the turbo: Only three Blowout Series proper tournaments played to a winner last night, the three buy-in levels of Event #87, which was a no limit hold’em turbo. Buy-ins were $2.20, $22 and $215. The biggest cash winner from all of them was Japan’s “hirocky0226”, who earned $43,202 in the high buy-in event, but didn’t actually win it. hirocky0226 arranged a heads-up deal with Germany’s “stajmak1896” and it was the latter who ended with the title, even though his or her negotiated top prize was $40,408, or three grand less than the eventual runner-up. There was a four-way deal in the medium event, where Brazil’s “_Miazakii_” took the most $22,667, and also ended up winning. Meanwhile, Canada’s “Jlep5” fired two $2.20 bullets in the low event, but overcame a field of 14,152 entries to win a whisker shy of $4K.
LATEST RESULTS
| Event | Entries | Prize pool | Winner | Country | Total prize |
| Event #87-L: $2.20 NLHE, Turbo | 14,152 | $27,738 | Jlep5 | Canada | $3,398 |
| Event #87-M: $22 NLHE, Turbo | 11,621 | $232,420 | _Miazakii_ | Brazil | $22,667* |
| Event #87-H: $215 NLHE, Turbo | 1,606 | $321,200 | stajmak1896 | Germany | $40,408* |
STAT TRACKER
Total entries for Blowout Series tournaments have now passed two million, and first place has paid out more than $10 million. Wow.
Tournaments completed: 258
Total entries: 2,024,685 (inc. 317,912 re-entries)
Total prize pools: $82,211,829
First-place prizes: $10,020,959 (inc. bounties)
Tournaments ongoing: 1
Starting today: 3
Note: Stats refer to completed tournaments only and do not include side events
COUNTRIES LEADER BOARD
With only three tournaments finishing, and only seven more to go, there was very little movement on the countries leader board overnight. The only notable change was that Canada now occupies third place alone, having moved clear of the Netherlands and Russia.
27 titles – Brazil
22 – UK
20 – Canada
19 – Netherlands, Russia
17 – Germany
11 – Austria
10 – Romania, Sweden
8 – Greece
7 – Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine
6 – Ireland
5 – Argentina, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Mexico
4 – Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
3 – Croatia, New Zealand, Norway
2 – Belgium, Japan
1 – Belarus, Chile, Guernsey, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Panama, Phillipines, Slovenia, Turkmenistan, Uruguay, Vietnam.
STARTING TODAY
It’s your last chance to play Blowout Series tonight with the Series Wrap-Up, starting at 3.05pm ET. It’s a nice hyper-turbo, with buy-ins at $5.50, $55 and $530.
Event #88: NLHE, 6-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Series Wrap-Up
Buy-ins: $5.50, $55, $530
Guarantees: $175,000, $500,000, $1 million
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