There are barometers for a poker player’s abilities. Most of these benchmarks are left for tournament play since the tournament rankings tend to be much easier to measure than asking a player to post their spreadsheets from every cash game they have played live and online. Tonight’s $500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up champion has a World Series of Poker bracelet (last year’s Event #36 winning $368K). And now, Craig “mcc3991” McCorkell can claim a Sunday Major victory as well, after taking down $80,203.81 in tonight’s tournament after a five-way chop. Read below for his path to the win.
Some tournament big hitters remained in the field with three tables left. Denmark’s vmnielsen has been at the final table of Sunday Warm-Up before and came close a second time last April still holding an average stack. Supernova Elite Ankush “pistons87” Mandavia already has a WCOOP and SCOOP victory and scored a side event victory at the EPT Prague in December for €19,600 would take a bit of a beat with kings versus Al Magellan’s jacks when a jack flopped and all the money went in on the turn knocking Mandavia down to under 200,000 chips with blinds at 20K/40K ante 4K.
Ten minutes later with the blinds up to 25K/50K ante 5K clerckyTD would start the bidding with a raise to 100,800 as Ankush would shove a stack of 379,944 from the cutoff holding pocket sixes 6♦ 6♣ . clerckyTD called with Q♣ A♣ and was greeted with two clubs on the flop and an ace on the turn 7♣ J♥ 2♣ A♥ Kâ™ to take down the 879,888 chip pot ending Mandavia’s run in 25th place ($1,723.80). Following Mandavia closely out the door was 2011 EPT Berlin champ Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky in 24th place ($1,723.80) whose story about the successful online and live tournament player’s struggles by Brad Willis last month is something everyone should read.
Despite 17 players receiving a quick five minute nap after the ninth hour of play, the first two hands back featured Vampboy and redislav making quick exits in 16th and 17th place both earning $2,028.00 for their efforts.
vmnielsen would fall short of another Sunday Warm-Up final table after doubling up two players and losing a 1.6 million chip pot holding Aâ™ J♥ against NigDawG’s Kâ™ 10♣ . All in preflop, vmnielsen was safe on the flop Qâ™ 4♥ 7♦ but not on the turn K♣ and claimed $3,042.00 in 13th place after the 3♣ stopped the return trip for the Dane.
Three-way action would burst the final table bubble tonight. 25 minutes into the ninth place with the first hand at the new 65K/130K ante 13K blind level, LilFishAtL would shove for 1.21 million, akb1 fresh off doubling up Quentin73 joined the party for 351,245 chips, and |__Pr@nK__| covering both players called with big slick Kâ™ A♥ . akb1’s J♥ 10♥ would find a ten and two hearts on the flop 2♥ 9♥ 10â™ but blanked the rest of the rest as LilFishAtL’s set of nines 9â™ 9♦ collected the full 2.9 million chip pot and started up the final table below:
Seat 1: |__Pr@nK__| (6308197 in chips)
Seat 2: Quentin73 (3175304 in chips)
Seat 3: mouksli (8320373 in chips)
Seat 4: NigDawG (2576999 in chips)
Seat 5: clerckyTD (2189704 in chips)
Seat 6: mcc3991 (3703038 in chips)
Seat 7: LilFishAtL (2912927 in chips)
Seat 8: Al Magellan (1963174 in chips)
Seat 9: pirlo3625 (2650284 in chips)
Needed some shelter
After doubling up clerckyTD, pirlo3625 became the hunted player at the final table slipping to under 500,000 chips and blinds at 65K/130K ante 13K. Five hands after the double up and down to 317,580 chips in the big blind, pirlo3625 would call all-in after Al Magellan raised from the small blind. pirlo3625’s Q♣ 10♦ looked good after hitting top pair on the flop 3♦ 7♥ 10♥ against Al Magellan’s A♦ 6♣ . However the turned ace A♥ and blank river J♦ shipped the million chip pot to Al Magellan leaving pirlo3625 to explore other tournaments in ninth place ($5,408.00). After snagging third place in MicroMillions III Event # 29 for $6,642.13, we will likely see the Columbian here next week for the start of MicroMillions IV.
Flushed out
Watch below as NigDawG and LilFishAtl both hit the club flush but only one player is happy about it:
With the blinds moving up to 80K/160K ante 16K NigDawG’s 10♣ 9♣ needed some help against LilFishAtL’s J♣ A♣ . Help came on the K♥ A♦ 4♣ 8♣ 5♣ board, but since LilFishAtL’s flush was slightly higher, NigDawG headed home earning $8,450.00 in eighth place. Chris “NigDawG” Brammer will add this Sunday Major final table to his $64K Sunday Tuesday victory in 2011.
Quick exit for Quentin73
Just the second hand back from the tenth hourly break with the blinds up to 100K/200K ante 20K, Quentin73 open shoved for 1.6 million chips as two chairs over clerckyTD followed suit and also shoved for 2.57 million holding J♥ A♦ . Quentin73’s 10♣ Qâ™ would find nothing to help on the nine-high 3â™ 4♣ 5â™ 9♥ 2â™ board taking home $15,210.00 in seventh place.
Only slightly less expedient departure for Al Magellan
The very next hand, despite pleas for a deal from Al Magellan that started on the previous hand, Al Magellan would shove for 2.16 million and was immediately called by |__Pr@nK__| holding Q♥ A♦ . Al Magellan would try to navigate the five card board with pocket tens 10♦ 10♠and take home the 4.75 million tournament chips. During the last the stop of the journey an ace appeared 2♥ 3♠9♠4♣ A♣ sending Al Magellan to a watery (and costly) tournament grave in sixth place ($21,970.00).
Negotiations: completed
Al Magellan’s exit ramped up the chop talks for our five remaining players. After some squabbles about the small amounts the final five would lock up the majority of funds according to the breakdown below leaving $10,000.00 for our champ tonight.
mcc3991: $70,203.81
|__Pr@nK__|: $65,775.53
LilFishAtL: $57,282.87
mouksli: $54,180.26
clerckyTD: $51,151.53
No prank here
Down to 848,325 chips in the hijack seat and blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K, mouksli would open shove finding callers in clerckyTD and |__Pr@nK__| in the big blind. After a 925,887 bet from |__Pr@nK__| and a call after an ace-high flop Q♣ A♠6♠, the players dialed down the aggression and checked down the K♥ turn and 2♠river. |__Pr@nK__| showed the flopped pair of aces 7♥ A♦ and everyone else mucked including mouksli who claimed $54,180.26 from the five-way chop in fifth place.
Tournament death with extreme prejudice
Winning a coin flip late in a tournament happens every week. Ace-something hits an ace against the small pocket pair or the pair weaves through the board unscathed. Tonight’s big flip for a 10.1 million chip pot preflop would pit |__Pr@nK__|’s 10♥ A♥ against LilFishAtL’s pocket sixes 6♥ 6♦ . LilFishAtL would notch a full house on the final board thanks to the three of a kind showing. Unfortunately, four those cards on the 3♣ 10â™ 10♣ 10♦ Aâ™ board matched the ones in |__Pr@nK__|’s hand as the quad tens kicked LilFishAtL to the curb in fourth place ($57,282.87).
Misclicked the exit button
clerckyTD said “wow misclicked again” after handing over an 18 million chip pot to mcc3991 after pushing on the turn with an inside straight draw.
|__Pr@nK__| was at least two tabling after replying “im playing sm“. “sm” stood for the Sunday Million and |__Pr@nK__| was very much still in with 172 players left out of 8,755 runner and a sizable $257,572.10 up top and a possible double Sunday Major final table still in play.
Two hands later with the blinds up to 125K/250K ante 25K clerckyTD would three-bet a small blind raise by mcc3991 as mcc3991 came back with a four-bet all-in. Holding 6.6 million chip left and covered by mcc3991, clerckyTD made call with A♠8♠. mcc3991 held one pip higher and also suited A♥ 9♥ as both players hit two pair on the 9♦ 10♥ 8♣ 7♦ A♦ board. $51,151.53 for clerckyTD in third place left |__Pr@nK__| in a unique position to grab both the Sunday Warm-Up and Million titles in the same night!
Craig “mcc3991” McCorkell says no double tonight
10 hours and 45 minutes of play in this tournament and |__Pr@nK__| was still going strong in the Sunday Million with an above average stack and under 150 players remaining. $10,000.00 was on the line in this heads-up match against mcc3991 who held 27.3 million chips after clerckyTD seemed to donate them. |__Pr@nK__| would need to use any and all skills after surviving over seven hours in the Sunday Million and being only one player away from victory here but under a big chip deficit holding 6.49 million chips.
Four minutes into heads-up play with the blinds moving up to 150K/300K ante 30K and |__Pr@nK__| now down to 3.2 million chips and facing a bullying all-in raise by mcc3991, |__Pr@nK__| found an ace 6♥ Aâ™ in the big blind and made the call facing off against mcc3991’s K♥ 9♥ . Watch below for the results:
A nine on the flop and a king on the river J♥ 10♠9♣ 2♣ K♣ to seal the $80,203.81 Sunday Warm-Up victory!
$500,000 guaranteed Sunday Warm-Up results (03-10-13)
(* notes part of five-way chop)
Players entered: 3,380
Places paid: 495
Buy-in: $215.00
Prize pool: $676,000.00
First place: *$80,203.81
1. mcc3991 (United Kingdom) *$80,203.81
2. |__Pr@nK__| (Russia) *$65,775.53
3. clerckyTD (Belgium) *$51,151.53
4. LilFishAtL (Mexico) *$57,282.87
5. mouksli (F.Y.R.O.M) *$54,180.26
6. Al Magellan (Ukraine) $21,970.00
7. Quentin73 (Germany) $15,210.00
8. NigDawG (United Kingdom) $8,450.00
9. pirlo3625 (Colombia) $5,408.00
David Aydt is freelance contributor
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