MicroMillions Day 3: More big fields, more big winners as ‘msxiter’ turns $5.50 into $11,317.96
The MicroMillions 17 train keeps rolling. Yesterday’s route featured 14 more stops and 14 more winners, all of whom spent just a buck or five or so to win hundreds or thousands.
It was another day of huge turnouts — see the talk just below of guarantees. Meanwhile there were a couple of even-bigger-than-usual winners yesterday, including the second five-figure score of the series following the $15K-plus win by “ollinman” back on Day 1.
Talking Tuesday’s biggest MicroMillions winners
Day 3’s largest event was Event No. 29, a standard, no-extra-bells-and-whistles no-limit hold’em tournament with a $50,000 guarantee.
By the time late registration ended there were 23,843 entries in the event (!), and just about 10 hours after the first hands were dealt “msxiter” of Brazil won the last hand to earn a nice $11,317.96 payday following a heads-up deal. Having only entered once, that meant msxiter won 2,057 times what he spent to play.
Also enjoying a very profitable Tuesday was “911Robert” of China who won Event No. 26 ($3.30+R NLHE). 911Robert topped another big 6,528-entry field to win top honors and a $8,269.39 payday.
MicroMillions guaranteeing a good time
As far as the prize pool guarantees have been concerned thus far in MicroMillions 17, the consistently large fields has meant one thing — it’s almost a guarantee the guarantee will be exceeded.
That has happened in every event played so far, and in some cases the actual prize pool has been double or nearly triple the guarantee set on the event.
Take the aforementioned Event No. 29 listed above with a $50K guarantee. With all those players, the prize pool ended up being $116,830.70, the largest of the day.
Indeed, in most cases yesterday’s prize pools were all around 1.5x to 2x the prize pools, with the last couple of events of the night being more than 2x.
Event No. 34 ($1.10 NLHE, 6-Max) had a $2,500 guarantee, and winner “Pagamisse” of Brazil ended up snaring the most from the $5,269.46 prize pool. And Event No. 35 ($5.50 NLHE, 8-Max, Prog KO) had a $15K guarantee, but the prize pool ended up being $32,599.70 with “kuzman_8888” of Russia coming away as champ.
Henrik ‘kingh0lli’ Holtkamp describes his big PLO8 win
Among the day’s other champions was Henrik “kingh0lli” Holtkamp, winner of Event No. 30 ($3.30 PLO8, 6-Max). The software engineer from Ibbenbueren, Germany outlasted a large field of 5,918 entries to claim a MicroMillions title and a $2,478.68 first prize… and a great feeling of satisfaction following a more than nine-hour tourney journey.
“It was six in the morning and I was very tired,” Holtkamp told us not long after his big victory. “There was no energy for the big emotions anymore.” He did manage to celebrate with his poker buddies in a group chat while sharing with them a screenshot of his big triumph.
“I thought the structure would be faster like a turbo tournament, so i didn’t expect that it take nine hours to win!” he explains. “I love the exotic poker variants like 8-Game, H.O.R.S.E. and Omaha High/Low,” he adds.
Holtkamp has been playing poker for some time, and tells of having earned a $7K score once years ago for a runner-up finish in a Big 11 tournament. “But winning a MicroMillions event is a greater success,” he grins.
When asked what style he plays, Holtkamp joked “breathtaking.” Speaking of one breathless moment, after becoming short-stacked early on, Holtkamp battled back and with about 20 players left got involved in a key hand versus the table chip leader.
“I went all in on the turn with the nut low plus an open-ended straight draw versus top set,” he explains. “I rivered the straight and was the new chip leader. At that moment I realized that I can reach the final table. I kept my concentration and pressured the short stacks a lot — it worked!”
Congrats to Henrik Holtkamp. All hail “kingh0lli”!
João Pedro “jppinheiiro” Pinheiro on collecting Event No. 23 title
Also winning a title on Tuesday was João Pedro “jppinheiiro” Pinheiro of Cabo Frio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He took down Event No. 23 ($3.30 NLHE, 8-Max), besting a 5,074-entry field to win $2,125.94.
“I was very happy with the victory,” said Pinheiro afterwards. “Some friends were watching the final table,” he explained, and after winning “the first person I told was my girlfriend.”
He recalls a big successful bluff with king-ten offsuit with 10 players left was a key moment helping catapult him to victory.
The 24-year-old has been playing poker for four years, the last couple of which he has been playing full-time. He describes his style as “balanced,” and notes how the MicroMillions win represents his second-largest cash so far.
For Pinheiro, “having a cheap buy-in and a high prize in relation to other tournaments” makes MicroMillions events especially attractive to play — and he’ll be playing a lot more of them, for sure.
Way to go, “jppinheiiro”!
VAMOOOO! ‘BrasilNinja’ bags the Badugi!
“I realized a 1,900-person Badugi tournament only happens in MicroMillions… I just couldn’t miss my shot!”
That’s what Lucas “BrasilNinja” Hirono told us after winning the extra Event No. 101 on Tuesday, a $3.30 buy-in pot-limit Badugi event sneakily added to the schedule at the last-minute. After nearly eight hours of trying to make Badugis and win pots, Hirono outlasted that big 1,941-entry field to win the title and a $981.57 first prize.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” said Hirono, recalling his emotions after winning. “I just started yelling and dancing for a while… hahahaha! Winning feels goooood!”
Once he reached the final table, he had already gotten ahold of his brother who sat by his side and watched while some other poker buddies railed as well. “And when I won, I yelled a really hard ‘VAMO!’ and hugged him,” said Hirono.
The 21-year-old manufacturing engineering student from Pontal has been playing poker for a few years. He describes himself as competitive. “I love this game and I hate losing, so I just focus and go after the gold.”
Hirono needed that focus at the final table where at one point he went from chip leader to the short stack. “I tilted for a little while, but fortunately it was just for a little while,” he laughed.
While this wasn’t Hirono’s biggest win in terms of the money, “it’s definitely my biggest poker accomplishment,” he explained. “Beating 1,900 players in a different game just makes my love for mixed games grow even more.
Keep an eye out for BrasilNinja at the tables for the remainder of the series. “It is the time we micro-stakers can grind those events with huge prizes,” he said. “It’s my WCOOP hahaha.”
Big congrats from us, “BrasilNinja”!
MicroMillions 17 winners – Day 3
| Tournament | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23: $3.30 NLHE (8-Max) | jppinheiiro | Brazil | $2,125.94 |
| 24: $5.50 NLHE (6-Max, Prog, KO) | no_fun_roll | Belgium | $3,540.25** |
| 25: $3.30 Razz | kobra556 | Russia | $859.75* |
| 26: $3.30+R NLHE | 911Robert | China | $8,269.39 |
| 27: $1.10 6+ Hold’em (6-Max) | y1o2d3a | UK | $902.39 |
| 28: $1.10 NLHE (8-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Prog KO) | felzembahers | Latvia | $1,218.91** |
| 29: $5.50 NLHE | msxiter | Brazil | $11,317.96* |
| 30: $3.30 PLO8 (6-Max) | kingh0lli | Germany | $2,478.68 |
| 31: $1.10 NLHE (8-Max, Win the Button) | fezimA22 | Brazil | $1,212,38* |
| 32: $3.30 NLHE (Turbo, Prog KO) | oReckLess | Russia | $2,820.09** |
| 33: $3.30 NL 5-Card Draw (Prog KO) | Gerkyha | Belarus | $494.84 |
| 34: $1.10 NLHE (6-Max) | Pagamisse | Brazil | $625.83* |
| 35: $5.50 NLHE (8-Max, Prog KO) | kuzman_8888 | Russia | $3,113.94 |
| 101: $3.30 PL Badugi | BrasilNinja | Brazil | $981.57 |
*final-table deal
**includes bounties
MicroMillions Day 4 highlights
There are 13 more events filling up today’s schedule. Here are some of the Wednesday highlights:
- MicroMillions 39 (9:30 ET) – $1.10 NLHE (Heads-Up, Hyper-Turbo, Prog Total KO, Zoom), $7.5K Gtd.
- MicroMillions 42 (13:00 ET) – $1.10+R NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Splash), $35K Gtd.
- MicroMillions 45Â (17:30 ET) – $5.50 NLHE (8-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Prog KO), $25K Gtd.
Click here to view the entire 101-event schedule.
PREVIOUS MICROMILLIONS 17 COVERAGE:Â DAY 1 | DAY 2
Background image: “Guarantee” (adapted), Nick Youngson, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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