MicroMillions 8: koka77 pairs Sunday Million title with a MicroMillions win in Event #78 ($5.50 NLHE [6-Max, 2x Chance])

Not only does koka77 know a thing or two about winning a major online tournament, he understands what it takes to do it with a short stack. Back in March 2012, koka77 went from seventh in chips to the top of the podium in the Sunday Million and won over $124,000. Tonight, he had to start from the very bottom of the pack at this six-handed final table, but doubled up early on to move into safer territory. Koka77 hit his rush at the perfect time, flopping quads against ace-king, picking up A-A vs. K-K and making one final river suckout heads-up to add a MicroMillions title to his growing poker C.V.

Event #78 drew 18,137 players, their 9,486 rebuys pushing the prize pool up to $138,115.00. 2,400 places were paid with first place set to earn $17,780.75. Team Online’s Tyler “frosty012” Frost was the lone Red Spade in the field, but he missed the money by only a few tables, finishing in 2,460th place.

The blinds were up to 250,000/500,000 on the final table bubble when a preflop raising war broke out between Girl_PT and SFL28. Girl_PT made it 1,000,000 to go from the small blind, SFL28 three-bet to 3,187,500 and Girl_PT came back over the top for 5,375,000. SFL28 called and they saw a 8♠ 5♠ 2♦ flop. Girl_PT bet 2.75 million and SFL28 called. The turn came the A♠ and Girl_PT fired another 8.25 million. SFL28 raised to 16.5 million and Girl_PT called off her remaining 3 million. Unfortunately, Girl_PT’s K♠ K♥ were cracked on the turn by A♣ 3♠ and the river nine sent her to the rail in seventh place.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: yamma 5 (9,210,532 in chips)
Seat 2: noname1255 (13,484,778 in chips)
Seat 3: zoki83 (30,373,850 in chips)
Seat 4: Machadada RS (19,752,814 in chips)
Seat 5: koka77 (8,905,885 in chips)
Seat 6: SFL28 (56,387,141 in chips)

yamma 5 takes sixth place

Short stack koka77 caught an early break when Machadada RS open-shoved from the small blind with K♣ 2♣ and ran into his K♦ Q♣ . Koka77 hit a pair of queens on the flop and doubled to 15.6 million.

Then, on the next hand, yamma 5 moved all-in for 10.4 million from UTG and SFL28 called from the big blind. SFL28’s A♥ Q♥ held up against A♣ 8♦ and yamma 5 hit the rail in sixth place, collecting $1,633.90.

koka77 flops quads, eliminates Machadada RS

Machadada RS doubled his stack to 15.7 million when his A♠ Q♦ held up against noname1225’s K♠ Q♥ in a preflop all-in. Next, koka77 four-bet shoved 15.6 million with A♠ K♥ and SFL28 called with K♣ 10♣ . Koka77 survived the J♣ 9♥ 2♠ 2♣ 4♠ board and doubled to 32.5 million while SFL28 retained the chip lead with 50 million.

Moments later, zoki83 opened for a min-raise to 1.6 million and Machadada RS shoved for 13.9 on the button. Koka77 looked down at J♥ J♣ and reshoved for 31.3 million, folding out zoki83. Machadada RS turned over A♣ K♠ , but it was all over on the flop as it fell J♦ J♠ 4♠ , making koka77 quads. For fifth place, Machadada RS picked up $2,578.60.

zoki83 runs kings into aces

The dust had barely settled from Machadada RS’s elimination when a blind vs. blind battle ended with zoki83 all-in preflop vs. koka77. It was the ultimate cooler, zoki83’s K♣ K♦ up against A♠ A♦ . Koka77’s aces held on the 10♣ 4♥ 3♠ 10♠ 8♥ board and zoki83 was suddenly on the rail in fourth place ($4,488.73).

A three-way deal

When three-handed play commenced, koka77 was up to 75.9 million, SFL28 was second with 52.5 million and noname1255 was the short stack with 9.7 million. Holding A♥ 7♦ in the big blind, noname1255 three-bet shoved but small blind raiser SFL28 was lying in wait with A♠ K♦ . Noname1255 was a 3 to 1 dog to survive the hand, but flopped a seven on the Q♥ 7♥ 3♥ J♦ Q♦ board and doubled to 26.2 million.

Shortly thereafter, the final three agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here’s how they stacked up when the music stopped:

koka77 73,414,492
SFL28 37,238,698
noname1255 27,461,810

The trio quickly agreed to a chip count chop and with $1,500 still up for grabs, cards went back in the air.

koka77 takes out SFL28 in third

Noname1255 again doubled through SFL28, all the money going in on a A♣ J♦ 7♣ flop. Noname1255’s A♥ 8♥ held up against J♠ 6♠ , the turn and river falling the 8♠ and the 3♥ to give him the 41.5 million pot. SFL28 was left with only 3.12 million and although he doubled up on the next hand when A♦ K♦ rivered trips vs. noname1255’s Q♦ 7♦ , he couldn’t make it two in a row. On the next deal, SFL28 moved in for 6.25 million on the button with 7♠ 8♠ and koka77 called from the big blind with 8♦ 9♠ . Although SFL28 paired his seven on the 10♠ 7♦ 2♥ flop, koka77 picked up an open-ended straight draw and filled it on the turn when the 6♣ came. The 10♥ river improved koka77 to a ten-high straight and SFL28’s run came to an end in third place ($11,811.56).

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 2: noname1255 (37,780,568 in chips)
Seat 5: koka77 (100,334,432 in chips)

Heads-up play took only one hand but it was a doozy. Noname1255 picked up Q♣ Q♠ on the button and raised to 2,000,000, koka77 shoved with K♥ J♥ and noname1255 snap-called. Koka77 snatched away the lead when he made two pair on the K♦ J♠ 10♣ flop, but noname1255 made a king-high straight on the turn when the 9♠ fell. However, koka77 still had one bit of run-good left and rivered the J♣ , locking up the win with jacks full of kings.

Congratulations to Russia’s koka77 on going from short stack to a MicroMillions champion! He banked $16,400.18 thanks to the three-way deal, while runner-up noname1255 earned $10,976.82.

MicroMillions-078: $25.50 NL Hold’em [6-Max, 2x Chance]
Entrants: 18,137
Rebuys: 9,486
Total prize pool: $138,115.00
Places paid: 2,400

1. koka77 (Russia) $16,400.18*
2. noname1255 (Ireland) $10,976.82*
3. SFL28 (Canada) $11,811.56*
4. zoki83 (Germany) $4,488.73
5. Machadada RS (Brazil) $2,578.60
6. yamma 5 (United Kingdom) $1,633.90.

*= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $1,500 in play for the winner

Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.