Sometimes all it takes is one hand to turn it around. Heralove arrived at the final table as the short stack, and little did she know that only seconds later, she'd play the pivotal hand in her tournament. The first deal pitted chip leader Miss AJ's pocket jacks against heralove's pocket kings, and suddenly their roles were reversed. Heralove shot to the top of the pack and rode that wave of momentum all the way to the end, capturing her first Women's Sunday title.
269 players turned out for this week's Women's Sunday, creating a $13,450 prizepool. 45 places were paid with first place set to earn $2,602.69. It was a rare week without a single Red Spade in the field, as many a Team Pro were occupied with live events.
Blinds were 1,250/2,500 with ten players remaining, and SuperLena21 was the short stack, holding only 24,791 in chips. She found [5d][5s] on the button and three-bet shoved over rcgs59's 6,250 raise, but Miss AJ ended that party in a hurry with a cold call from the big blind. Rcgs59 got out of the way and Miss AJ revealed [Qs][Qd]. SuperLena21 did not improve and hit the rail on the final table bubble.
Final table chip counts
Seat 1: MegaLidia (105,297 in chips)
Seat 2: Miss AJ (128,675 in chips)
Seat 3: heralove (59,006 in chips)
Seat 4: 7mango (86,663 in chips)
Seat 5: mtt_baller (76,313 in chips)
Seat 6: Quantic0 (67,991 in chips)
Seat 7: mcsneaky8446 (76,728 in chips)
Seat 8: Jennyfer992 (105,463 in chips)
Seat 9: rcgs59 (100,864 in chips)
heralove doubles, Miss AJ rebounds
Heralove moved off the short stack and into the chip lead on the first hand of the final table, doubling through Miss AJ with [Ks][Kh] vs. [Jc][Jd]. However, Miss AJ recovered in a hurry. Holding [Qc][Js], she opened for a min-raise to 5,000 on the next hand and Quantic0 called from the big blind. Miss AJ made trips on the [Jd][Jh][9d] flop but Quantic0 did her bidding for her, leading out for 3,750. Miss AJ smooth-called, and the [As] hit the turn. Quantic0 checked, Miss AJ bet 12,500 and Quantic0 moved all-in for 58,741. Miss AJ snap-called, Quantic0 revealing [Th][7h] for a stone bluff. The river was the [2d] and Quantic0 was eliminated in 9th place, earning $235.37.
Almost twenty minutes passed before heralove opened for a 3x raise to 9,000 and mcsneaky8446 three-bet shoved for 68,428. Heralove called, her [Ah][6h] leading mcsneaky8446's [Kh][Jc]. The ace-high held on the [8s][5c][3d][9h][2c] board and mcsneaky8446 exited in eighth place, banking $322.80.
rcgs59 bluffs into queens, 7mango's kings cracked
Although rcgs59 arrived at the final table with a six-figure chip count, she couldn't get much traction. With the blinds up to 2,000/4,000, she called MegaLidia's UTG min-raise from the big blind, then check-called 8,775 on the [6h][4s][2s] flop. The turn was the [8d] and rcgs59 check-raised all-in for 54,139 and MegaLidia called, revealing [Qc][Qs]. Rcgs59 tabled [Kh][4h] for third pair and did not improve, the river falling the [5c] to send her home in seventh place.
7mango was the next to fall. The action folded to heralove in the small blind and she opened for a 4x raise to 20,000. 7mango looked down at [Kd][Kc] in the big blind and decided to smooth-call the 15,000, leaving herself 57,000 behind. The flop fell [Ah][9c][6s] and heralove led out for 65,000. 7mango called all in only to discover heralove's [As][Ks] had outflopped her pocket kings. The turn was another ace and heralove took down the 157,000 pot with trip aces, sending 7mango to the rail in sixth place ($591.80).
mtt_baller makes it rain
Meanwhile, Jennyfer992 and mtt_baller had climbed to the top of the chip counts, the former holding the chip lead with 240,000. Mtt_baller, however, knocked her out of the top spot in this hand when her turn check-raise sent Jennyfer992's cards into the muck:
The blinds rose to 3,000/6,000 and Miss AJ opened for a min-raise with [Jc][Tc] on the button. Mtt_baller three-bet to 27,555 from the big blind and Miss AJ called to see the [Qh][Jh][Td] flop. Mtt_baller led out for 18,445 and Miss AJ shipped it in for 138,731 with bottom two pair, possibly hoping to move mtt_baller off a draw. Nevertheless, mtt_baller called with [Kc][Qd] for top pair and an open-ended straight draw. Mtt_baller made Broadway on the turn with the [Ah] and Miss AJ couldn't find another ten or jack on the river, the [7d] falling to end her run in fifth place. Miss AJ took home $766.65 for her efforts while mtt_baller moved into the chip lead with 377,000.
Rivers sink MegaLidia, Jennyfer992
Four-handed play continued into the 3,500/7,000 level, short stack MegaLidia falling to only 58,000 in chips. In [Ks][Td] she finally found a hand to go with and moved all-in on the button, heralove making the call with [Ac][6c] in the small blind. MegaLidia took the lead when she flopped a pair of tens but heralove rivered an ace to snag the pot. MegaLidia was out in fourth, collecting $1,109.62 for her run.
As three-handed play commenced, mtt_baller was still the chip leader with 369,000 while Jennyfer992 and heralove held 224,000 and 213,000 respectively. Heralove found herself in a world of hurt when she called off over 80% of her stack with [As][Qh] after Jennyfer992 four-bet shoved with [Ad][Ks]. The Fin was poised to double up until heralove spiked a three-outer on the river, the board running out [Jd][4s][3s][6h][Qc] to eliminate Jennyfer992 in third place. This was Jennyfer992's second Women's Sunday final table in as many weeks; she finished fifth on April 7 and took home $1,479.50 tonight for third place.
Heads-up chip counts
Seat 3: heralove (441,591 in chips)
Seat 5: mtt_baller (365,409 in chips)
Heralove flopped middle pair and improved to a flush on the river in the first heads-up hand, raking in a 225,400 pot. However, mtt_baller immediately answered by raising all-in on the river on the next hand to recover those lost chips and then some.
Heralove fell to 314,000 before reclaiming the chip lead. On a [As][Jh][6d] flop, heralove led out for 10,000. Mtt_baller raised to 37,555 and heralove called. Both players checked when the [6h] fell on the turn, but heralove led again when the [7s] hit the river. Mtt_baller shoved for 195,500 and heralove relinquished the 628k pot.
Four hands later mtt_baller found her best shot at a double-up, but the board wouldn't cooperate. Her last 216,000 went in the middle with pocket jacks vs. [As][2s], but heralove flopped two pair and rivered aces full to lock up the win.
Congratulations to Norway's heralove on shipping her first Women's Sunday title! She picked up $2,602.69 for the win. Runner-up mtt_baller missed out on her second title, but has now finished first, second, and third in the Women's Sunday, all in less than a year.
PokerStars Women's Sunday results for 4/14/2013
Players: 269
Prizepool: $13,450
Places paid: 45
1. heralove (Norway) $2,602.69
2. mtt_baller (Peru) $1,950.25
3. Jennyfer992 (Finland) $1,479.50
4. MegaLidia (Portugal) $1,109.62
5. Miss AJ (Portugal) $766.65
6. 7mango (Russia) $591.80
7. rcgs59 (Canada) $457.30
8. mcsneaky8446 (United Kingdom) $322.80
9. Quantic0 (United Kingdom) $235.37
Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.