The first post-WSOP Sunday Million of 2013 saw another big turnout for online poker’s most popular weekly tournament. A total of 6,714 played the $215 no-limit hold’em tourney, creating a total prize pool of $1,342,800 and thus besting (again) the $1 million guarantee. And after nearly 12 hours it was SoP8800 of tiny Luxembourg triumphing over all to win the title and whopping $204,243.66 first prize.
The travails of Team PokerStars
It took just about five hours for 6,714 to become just 990 and the cash bubble to burst, at which point nofair18 led in the counts as the only player with more than 400,000.
There were a number of red-spade sporting PokerStars team members left in the counts once the tournament made the money. Two Team PokerStars Pros first went out in rapid succession, with Richard Toth going out in 681st and Lex Veldhuis 680th, both earning $375.98 for their finishes. Vivian Im then followed her teammates to the rail shortly thereafter, ending her run in 617th for a $402.84 cash.
Lasting a bit longer were a couple of Team Online members, Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome and George “Jorj95” Lind. Not long after finishing fifth in this week’s Women’s Sunday tournament, Rowsome went out in 510th for a $429.69 payday. Then Lind hung on a bit longer before getting knocked out in 372nd to take away $510.26.
Finding a final table
It was just after the nine-and-a-half-hour break that the tournament had played down to just 18 players gathered around the final two tables, with ekko1 leading all with more than 6.62 million and HustlaHux next in line with just under 6.32 million.
It would take nearly an hour more to play down to nine. Earning $3,759.84 each were PrisonMike89 (18th), ryanryan19 (17th), and cheferlix1 (16th). KomoSK11 (15th), ibluffgold (14th), and McAngus66 (13th) were next to go, each taking away $5,639.76 for their efforts. Then staszeq (12th), jori25 (11th), and nurabsal (10th) successively hit the rail, each seeing $7,519.68 added to their PokerStars accounts.
During that stretch ekko1 had slipped to the bottom of the counts while SoP8800 and squire1888 had risen to the top to start the final table.
Seat 1: Pokerccini (Germany) — 8,505,892
Seat 2: SoP8800 (Luxembourg) — 11,794,045
Seat 3: ekko1 (Canada) — 3,838,648
Seat 4: squire1888 (United Kingdom) — 11,714,212
Seat 5: zOmgtiltz (United Kingdom) — 5,596,941
Seat 6: ace_roth21 (Canada) — 6,899,640
Seat 7: Geggo08 (Norway) — 6,668,376
Seat 8: HustlaHux (United Kingdom) — 5,615,704
Seat 9: 16zzz (Belgium) — 6,506,542
16zzz zapped in ninth
nurasbal’s elimination in 10th coincided with the 10-hand-a-half-hour break, then shortly after the final nine took their five minutes rest it was ekko1 earning a big double-up with Aâ™ A♥ versus the K♦ Kâ™ of 16zzz to return to the top third of the counts.
Shortly after that hand the blinds were 150,000/300,000 when 16zzz open-pushed all in for 2,312,894 from under the gun, then SoP8800 reraised to 5 million from a couple of seats over and everyone else folded.
16zzz had K♥ Q♦ and SoP8800 7♠7♦ . The board came 9♦ 8♠5♠3♥ 6♣ to give SoP8800 a straight and swiftly eliminate 16zzz in ninth.
Eighth for Geggo08
They were in the same level when Geggo08 open-raised all in with a stack of a little over 12 big blinds from the small blind and HustlaHux called from the big blind.
Geggo08 showed A♥ 6♣ and was hoping the hand would hold versus the Kâ™ 8♥ of HustlaHux. But the 2♣ 8â™ 3♥ flop paired HustlaHux once, then the 8♣ fell on the turn to give HustlaHux trips and make the 5♥ river no matter, ending Geggo08’s run in eighth.
Pokerccini’s kings cracked, ousted in seventh
Play continued into the next level with the blinds increasing to 200,000/400,000, and soon it was Pokerccini min-raising to 800,000 from under the gun. SoP8800 then reraised to 2 million from one seat over, and when it folded back around Pokerccini pushed all in for 6,605,892 total and SoP8800 called.
Pokerccini showed K♥ K♦ and appeared to be in excellent shape versus SoP8800’s Kâ™ Q♥ . But the board came J♣ 9♦ K♣ , then 4♥ , then 10♦ , that river ten filling a straight for SoP8800 and knocking Pokerccini out in seventh.
zOmgtiltz sunk in sixth
The blinds were still 200,000/400,000 soon after when zOmgtiltz opened with a big raise to 2 million, leaving only 134,602 behind, then it folded to SoP8800 in the big blind who reraised and zOmgtiltz called with what was left.
zOmgtiltz had Q♥ 10♠and SoP8800 A♥ Q♦ . The board ran out K♦ Q♣ 7♥ 7♦ 8♣ , and zOmgtiltz was sent railward in sixth.
ekko1 eliminated in fifth
A few minutes later they’d reached Level 45, with the blinds 250,000/500,000 and the antes 50,000. That’s when ekko1 open-pushed for 856,016 from UTG, then squire1888 called from a seat over. ace_roth21 then reraised to 2,777,777 from the button, forcing folds from the blinds and from squire1888 as well.
ace_roth21 had A♣ Q♥ while ekko1 needed improvement with 9♦ 6♥ . Alas for ekko1, the five community cards brought no help — coming 4♦ 7â™ K♣ 7♣ J♥ — and they were down to four.
HustlaHux hits rail in fourth
Just a couple of minutes later HustlaHux was open-shoving for 7,364,080 (not quite 15 big blinds) from the button, then chip leader SoP8800 reraised to 14,228,160 from the small blind forcing a fold from squire1888 from the big blind.
SoP8800: A♣ 7♣
HustlaHux: Qâ™ 9â™
The flop came J♣ 8♣ 10♣ , immediately giving SoP8800 an ace-high flush. Suspense having been extinguished, the board ran out 5♦ and A♦ and HustlaHux was done in fourth.
squire1888 squashed in third
Three-handed play continued, with SoP8800 continuing to lead with a stack of more than 36.7 million, ace_roth21 next with about 17.7 million, and squire1888 third with just over 12.6 million.
That’s when SoP8800 raised 3x to 1.5 million from the small blind, squire1888 shoved all in, and SoP8800 quickly called, turning over J♦ J♣ to squire1888’s A♥ Jâ™ .
The board rolled out K♣ 8♥ K♥ 10♣ 10♥ and SoP8800’s hand remained best, knocking out squire1888 in third.
SoP8800 survives back-and-forth battle with ace_roth21
It had taken about 45 minutes for the final table to play down from nine to two, but despite SoP8800’s big advantage over ace_roth21 to start heads-up — 49,465,408 to 17,674,592 — it would take a while longer before the tourney would be decided.
Indeed, ace_roth21 would soon double up to bring the pair’s stacks nearly even, then chipped up to take the lead before SoP8800 doubled up to regain the advantage. By the half-hour mark of the duel both players had been all in multiple times and survived, and with the blinds up to 400,000/800,000 the pair were nearly even again with SoP8800 enjoying only a small edge.
That’s when a hand arose in which ace_roth21 opened with a 2x raise to 1.6 million from the button, SoP8800 came back with a reraise to 3.2 million, and ace_roth21 called.
The flop came 10♣ 6♦ Q♥ and SoP8800 led with a bet of 3.3 million, called by ace_roth21. The turn then brought the 5♠and a bigger bet of 5.5 million from SoP8800. This time ace_roth21 responded by raising all in for 25,793,472, and SoP8800 called.
SoP8800 turned over 10♠9♠for a pair of tens while ace_roth21 had but K♠9♥ for king-high and a gutshot draw. The river was the 4♥ , and SoP8800 had won.
Congratulations to SoP8800 for topping another big Sunday Million field to earn the title and a better than $200K payday!
PokerStars Sunday Million results for 7/21/13
Players: 6,714
Prize pool: $1,342,800.00
Places paid: 990
1. SoP8800 (Luxembourg) — $204,243.66
2. ace_roth21 (Canada) — $151,065.00
3. squire1888 (United Kingdom) — $107,424.000
4. HustlaHux (United Kingdom) — $73,854.00
5. ekko1 (Canada) — $56,397.60
6. zOmgtiltz (United Kingdom) — $42,969.60
7. Pokerccini (Germany) — $29,541.60
8. Geggo08 (Norway) — $16,113.60
9. 16zzz (Belgium) — $10,406.70
MicroMillions 5 is currently in full swing, another installment of the 100-event series that gives players many chances to win a lot for a little. Check out the MicroMillions page for details on the many remaining events.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
Back to Top
