PokerStars’ online tournaments are the big draw every Sunday, with millions of dollars in guarantees spread out over a handful of major tournaments. But sometimes, PokerStars creates live tournaments that encourage players to head out of town. Some are currently in Uncasville, Connecticut, for the NAPT Mohegan Sun, others are in Macau for the Macau Millions, many are wrapping their trip to the EPT Berlin, and yet others are headed to Lima, Peru, for the next LAPT stop. While that may mean a few less registrants for the Sunday Million this week, we’ll chalk that up to travel.
Even so, this week’s $1.5 million guarantee still brought a large field of players to the mix, as 8,273 of them bought in and boosted the prize pool up to $1,654,600.00. And that money was to be distributed amongst the top 1,260 players in the tournament.
Of those paid players, several of them were playing with PokerStars logos next to their names. Representing Team Online were Randy “nanonoko” Lew, who finished in 1039th place, and Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc, who ended his run in 818th. Team PokerStars Pro found members Alex “AllinGomes” Gomes finishing in 1195th, Arnaud “frenchkiss” Mattern in 1117th, Sandra Naujoks in 622nd, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom in 574th, and Andre Akkari in 56th.
Into the ninth hour of play, three tables became two, and with only 15 players remaining, it was discovered that three of them were previous Sunday Million winners – all having taken that title in 2008. Govshark2 was one of them and busted tonight in 14th place, and TherookieQQ9 was another who left in 11th place. That left diegoaiz as the one player left in the field who could repeat.
Meanwhile, the final table neared, and it was during a rather quick hand-for-hand that PokerLuck_AA pushed all-in with J♦ 10♥ against the 4♠4♥ of jimbo1420069 in the small blind. The board came 7♠5♥ 4♣ K♥ 5♠, and that gave jimbo1420069 the full house. PokerLuck_AA ran out of luck and left in tenth place with $8,769.38.
Tonho32 and fishvirus top the list of contenders
Action moved quite a bit faster than most Sundays, and the final table was set in the middle of Level 34, with blinds at 125,000/250,000 with a 25,000 ante. The starting chip counts were as follows:
Seat 1: diegoaiz (7,473,069 in chips)
Seat 2: LennanAlm (2,504,118 in chips)
Seat 3: BOKPOWER (9,307,015 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (15,951,358 in chips)
Seat 5: JCSeelbach (11,047,886 in chips)
Seat 6: Dercampb (4,851,100 in chips)
Seat 7: fishvirus (15,598,642 in chips)
Seat 8: jimbo1420069 (8,486,818 in chips)
Seat 9: kam3047 (7,509,994 in chips)
Players slowed down a bit as they got acquainted at the all-important last table of the night, and caution was in the air. After about 20 minutes, JCSeelbach doubled through fishvirus, and it was the latter who was suddenly relegated to a short stack while JCSeelbach jumped to the top spot on the leaderboard.
Fishvirus went from chip lead to short stack in little time, and the sight of K♠6♥ in the big blind was good enough to go along with tonho32 to see a flop, which came K♦ J♣ J♦ . Both players checked, and the Q♣ on the turn prompted a bet from fishvirus and call from tonho32, who was holding A♠2♣ . The A♥ on the river brought an all-in from fishvirus, but tonho32 caught that ace and called with the better two pair. Fishvirus exited quickly in ninth place with $12,823.15.
After LennanAlm doubled through kam3047, the latter made the decision to push only three hands later. Kam3047 did move all-in from early position with Q♠10♦ , and LennanAlm made the call with K♦ K♠. The 8♣ Q♦ 8♠flop gave kam3047 two pair, though not the best two, and the 9♦ on the turn changed nothing. The K♣ on the river only made LennanAlm a full house, eliminating kam3047 in eighth place with $18,200.60.
Jimbo1420069 doubled through JCSeelbach to stay in the game. And all-ins were becoming more popular.
With that, Dercampb took a risk with A♥ 4♥ , and LennanAlm called from the small blind with 8♦ 8â™ . Dercampb’s game was on the line, but nothing about the 9♣ 3♥ K♥ J♦ 2♣ board helped change his fate. Dercampb departed in seventh place with $33,092.00.
Diegoaiz chases second Sunday Million win
More double-ups were in order, as diegoaiz did it through JCSeelbach, who then doubled through tonho32. By the time of the 10.5-hour break of the tournament, diegoaiz had climbed into top chip position.
JCSeelbach sought another double-up and tried it with A♥ 10♦ . But BOKPOWER came over the top all-in from the small blind, which prompted a fold from the big blind, and then showed A♦ A♣ . The dealer gave them J♣ 6♣ 4♦ 10♠2♠, and the tens were not good enough to double. That meant JCSeelbach was out in sixth place with $49,638.00.
Tonho32 then took the reins and jettisoned into the chip lead.
But it was jimbo1420069 who was having a tough time, and when his initial raise was challenged by an all-in move from LennanAlm, jimbo1420069 called all-in with Q♠Q♦ . But LennanAlm showed the deadly A♣ A♦ , and there was no queen on the 5♠6♦ 6♣ 4♦ 7♦ to change anything. Jimbo1420069 was gone in fifth place with $66,184.00.
Next up was BOKPOWER, who moved all-in with A♣ 3♣ , but powerhouse tonho32 called from the big blind with A♥ 8♣ . The board changed nothing with 4♦ J♣ 10♦ Q♣ 7♠, and the kickers played to send BOKPOWER out in fourth place with $82,730.00.
Three-handed action went on for some time, as diegoaiz tried to make moves with his short stack, but the other two – particularly LennanAlm – played back hard and put him to the test nearly every time. But diegoaiz finally found the right opportunity and doubled up here:
It was LennanAlm on the short stack, and the all-in move came soon with K♦ 10♣ . Tonho32 called with 8♥ 8♠, and the pair held up to the A♥ A♣ 7♣ J♠4♦ board. That left LennanAlm out in third place with $124,095.00 as a substantial consolation prize.
Tonho32 tops diegoaiz to start heads-up play
The final two players were set to battle as follows:
Seat 1: diegoaiz (22,142,946 in chips)
Seat 4: tonho32 (60,587,054 in chips)
Somewhere along the line, diegoaiz found momentum and went on a roll of hands. He took control of the match, as well as a solid chip lead that kept growing.
Finally, a preflop raising war led tonho32 to move all-in with K♦ Q♣ , but diegoaiz quickly called with A♥ A♦ . The cards offered no consolation to tonho32 as they showed J♠6♦ 6♣ 8♣ 10♠, and that left tonho32 out in second place with $177,869.50.
Diegoaiz, who won a Sunday Million back in 2008, added another to his list of online poker accomplishments. The Argentine player took home $243,396.43 for the win. Congratulations!
Sunday Million Results for 04/10/11:
1st place: diegoaiz ($243,396.43)
2nd place: tonho32 ($177,869.50)
3rd place: LennanAlm ($124,095.00)
4th place: BOKPOWER ($82,730.00)
5th place: jimbo1420069 ($66,184.00)
6th place: JCSeelbach ($49,638.00)
7th place: Dercampb ($33,092.00)
8th place: kam3047 ($18,200.60)
9th place: fishvirus ($12,823.15)
For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.
Back to Top
