They did it again. PokerStars can't let a Sunday Million anniversary slip by without noting it somehow, and by slapping an $8 million guarantee on this week's $215 no-limit hold'em tournament a huge turnout was assured -- as were some huge paydays. After almost 15 hours of poker stretching well into Monday morning, it was a couple of players from Germany reaching heads-up to make a nearly even deal, then DrUPSWING outlasting hdjgkfkgsdl to earn the extra $160,000 and an eye-popping $1,038,540.31 for the win.
The number of entrants was already cruising past the 24,000-player mark when the first hands were dealt at 14:30 ET on Sunday afternoon with three hours of late registration yet to go. Within a half-hour more than 30,000 had registered. Then by the one-hour mark they'd already reached the 40,000 entrants, thereby meeting that $8 million guarantee.
Eventually the adding of still more players would slow its pace to settle at 46,586 entrants at registration's close, thus creating a monstrous prize pool of $9,317,200. The top 5,997 finishers would divide the money, with everyone making the final table scheduled to earn at least six-figure scores. In fact, finishing seventh or better landed a prize equal to or better than a typical Sunday Million first prize. And of course everyone was eyeing the $1,108,760.98 originally scheduled to go to the winner, well above the $1 million guaranteed first-place prize.
From 46,586 to 18
By the four-and-a-half-hour break the field had been chopped down just under 10,000 players, with *TheHOOD80* having stormed into the lead with nearly 370,000. More than an hour after that the money bubble had burst, and as the field shrunk towards 5,000 players rorschach550 had pushed into first position with more than 550,000.
They'd crossed the seven-and-a-half-hour mark when the field was carved down to 1,000, with srckymn on top with more than 1.85 million. Among the cashers by then were Team Online members Roy "GodlikeRoy" Bhasin (5,782nd, $465.86), Katerina "katerina289" Malasidou (2,954th, $559.03) and Marc-Andre "FrenchDawg" Ladouceur (1,834th, $745.37), the vanquisher of the latter collecting a special $215 bounty. Team PokerStars Pro Andre "aakkari" Akkari ousted shortly thereafter in 989th for $838.14.
Meanwhile one last red spade-sporter remained in the counts, on the first page, in fact, as Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer had secured a place within the top 25. An hour later there were less than 500 left, with Danzer having moved up into the top five behind new leader SSchiko who had just over 4.8 million.
About an hour after that, however, Danzer became crippled after losing with [As][Qs] versus valica19's [Kh][Qd] when a king appeared among the community cards, then was outsted by Nur1ck shortly thereafter in 230th place ($1,397.58). And just after the 10-and-a-half-hour break they were down to less than 100 with dsquirrels the new leader with more than 22.6 million.
From 18 to 9
Two more hours passed and they were down to just 18 players gathered around the last two tables, with the appropriately-named DrUPSWING having leaped ahead of the field with nearly 75 million at a time when the nearest challenger was just shy of 40 million.
By the time they had crossed the tourney's 13-hour mark nine more had fallen. FranksFine (18th), NPenfold (17th), and elof24 (16th) each earned $44,349.87 for their finishes, with elof24's elimination coming after taking [Ad][Ah] up against leader DrUPSWING's [Kc][Kh] then watching a king fall among the community cards to increase DrUPSWING's lead even further.
kathigitis13 (15th), Mike790 (14th), and kradic (13th) were next to go, each taking away $66,524.80, and after RaiseInYourF (12th), SSchiko (11th), and missoon (10th) hit the rail, cashing for $88,699.74 apiece, the final table was underway with DrUPSWING still the overwhelming chip leader.
Seat 1: Kukoc69 (Croatia) -- 17,167,656
Seat 2: hdjgkfkgsdl (Germany) -- 78,068,042
Seat 3: pads1161 (United Kingdom) -- 27,624,738
Seat 4: MRJ1111 (Estonia) -- 33,033,856
Seat 5: cynfarAA (Netherlands) -- 47,223,789
Seat 6: temp0r2k (United Kingdom) -- 20,178,258
Seat 7: pinkfinger (Switzerland) -- 28,442,897
Seat 8: DrUPSWING (Germany) -- 198,172,806
Seat 9: Uninc157 (Germany) -- 15,947,958
hdjgkfkgsdl takes out three
The stacks were deep although with the blinds at 1m/2m everyone but DrUPSWING and hdjgkfkgsdl was relatively short to begin the final table.
They'd play an orbit, then suddenly the knockouts started to come in earnest with pads1161 the first to go in ninth. That hand saw the table fold around to hdjgkfkgsdl in the small blind who raised enough to put pads1161 all in with the latter calling with the 21,344,738 left. hdjgkfkgsdl had [Qd][9s] and pads1161 [Ah][Qh], then the flop fell [Qs][9h][Ts] to give hdjgkfkgsdl two pair. The turn was the [3s] and river the [Ks] and they were down to eight.
Just two hands later the blinds were still 1m/2m when Uninc257 open-pushed for 11,267,958 from middle position and hdjgkfkgsdl reraised all in to isolate. It was Uninc157's [As][Kc] versus hdjgkfkgsdl's [Td][Ts], and when the board rolled out [4h][7c][2h][6d][Tc] Uninc257 was done in eighth.
Three hands after that hdjgkfkgsdl was at it again with a min-raise to 4 million from under the gun. It folded to pinkfinger on the button who reraised all in for 28,322,897 and after the blinds got out, hdjgkfkgsdl called.
hdjgkfkgsdl again had [Tc][Td] and was once more racing against [As][Kd]. The board ran out favorably one more time for hdjgkfkgsdl, coming nine-high -- [7h][8s][9s][4d][5s] -- and pinkfinger was out in seventh.
Time runs out for temp0r2k, out in sixth
Two hands later it was cynfarAA raising to 4 million from UTG then temp0r2k reraising all in for 20,498,258 from a seat over. Everyone else folded and cynfarAA quickly called, tabling [Kc][Kh] while temp0r2k had [Ah][Qd].
The five community cards came [3h][4d][Jh], then [8h], then [Qc], and temp0r2k was knocked out in sixth.
Kukoc69 KO'd in fifth
Three more hands were played, then came yet another knockout to reduce the field to four after it folded to Kukoc69 in the small blind who shoved for 15,775,312 and got a caller in hdjgkfkgsdl in the big blind.
Kukoc69 had [Tc][9c] and needed help against hdjgkfkgsdl's [Kh][9d], but the board came [Ac][4h][5s][3d][Qs] and Kukoc69 fell in fifth.
MRJ1111 mowed down in fourth
The 13-and-a-half-hour break arrived, during which the remaining four players decided to talk about a possible deal with DrUPSWING still leading with over 281 million, hdjgkfkgsdl next with more than 98 million, cynfarAA third with about 68 million, and MRJ1111 fourth with about 17.5 million. Both "ICM" and "chip chop" figures were shared with the players, in both cases leaving $160,000 for which to play, but hdjgkfkgsdl quickly said no to both deals and the cards were back in the air.
Soon with the blinds up to 1.25m/2.5m it was the short stack MRJ1111 open-shoving for 8,357,712 from under the gun and getting two callers in cynfarAA (button) and hdjgkfkgsdl (big blind). The latter two checked down the [As][Ts][8h] flop, [9d] turn, and [Kc] river, and when hdjgkfkgsdl showed [Th][4h] for tens the other two mucked and MRJ1111 was out in fourth.
cynfarAA sunk in third
Deal talk was renewed three-handed between DrUPSWING (323,554,846), hdjgkfkgsdl (106,714,371), and cynfarAA (35,590,783). Again both sets of figures were produced, and this time both DrUPSWING and cynfarAA quickly asked for more with hdjgkfkgsdl making clear no such compromise was suitable. A bit more talk followed, then play resumed once more with no deal struck.
The blinds moved to 1.5m/3m, and after DrUPSWING open-pushed with [7c][7h] from the button, cynfarAA called all in from the big blind for 14,640,783 with [Ac][8c]. The board came [6d][2d][6s][4s][6h], and they were down to two.
A deal, then DrUPSWING finishes on top
Just the two Germans were left. Heads-up play began with DrUPSWING well ahead with 392,547,633 to hdjgkfkgsdl's 73,312,367. There was no deal talk, but there was a little chat:
hdjgkfkgsdl: gl
DrUPSWING: gratz
DrUPSWING: gl
DrUPSWING: i want million
Eyeing that seven-figure prize up top, DrUPSWING was of course delivering an homage of sorts to 2012 WCOOP Main Event winner Marat "maratik" Sharafutdinov of "i wont million" fame.
However hdjgkfkgsdl earned a quick double with [Ad][Ks] versus DrUPSWING's [3h][3s] when a king came on the board. Then hdjgkfkgsdl doubled a second time to pull even with DrUPSWING in a hand that saw all the chips go in following a [9h][5h][5c] flop with DrUPSWING holding [8s][8d] and hdjgkfkgsdl [Kc][9s]. The latter's hand held, and soon after they were pausing the tourney once more with DrUPSWING sitting with 235,310,532 and hdjgkfkgsdl 230,549,468.
The pair quickly agreed to a nearly even division of the remaining prize money, again with $160,000 still left for which to play. With DrUPSWING's guaranteed prize of $878,540.31 and hdjgkfkgsdl's $877,090.19, that meant the winner would still be earning a rare seven-figure payday.
Play resumed and by the 14-and-a-half-hour break DrUPSWING had again regained the advantage with more than 331 million to hdjgkfkgsdl's stack of just over 134 million. They pushed on nearly 15 minutes more with DrUPSWING maintaining that edge, then with the blinds at 2m/4m a hand arose that saw hdjgkfkgsdl raise to 8 million from the button and DrUPSWING call.
The flop came [2s][2h][Ah], prompting a check from DrUPSWING, a bet of 7,654,345 from hdjgkfkgsdl, a raise to 21 million by DrUPSWING, an all-in shove for 145,906,454 from hdjgkfkgsdl, and a call from DrUPSWING.
DrUPSWING: [Jd][2d]
hdjgkfkgsdl: [Kh][Qh]
DrUPSWING had flopped trips but hdjgkfkgsdl had outs with a flush draw. The turn brought the [Kc] to pair hdjgkfkgsdl and add more possibilities for survival. But the river was the [Jc]... DrUPSWING had won!
Congratulations to DrUPSWING for topping a huge field of 46,586 to win this week's special Sunday Million and a seven-figure score! And kudos as well to hdjgkfkgsdl for making it to heads-up and earning that $877K-plus cash, and to all of the many others who earned handsome paydays in this week's tourney, too.
3/2/14 Sunday Million 8th Anniversary ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Players: 46,586
Prize pool: $9,317,200.00
Places paid: 5,997
1. DrUPSWING (Germany) -- $1,038,540.31*
2. hdjgkfkgsdl (Germany) -- $877,090.19*
3. cynfarAA (Netherlands) -- $554,373.40
4. MRJ1111 (Estonia) -- $374,458.26
5. Kukoc69 (Croatia) -- $283,522.39
6. temp0r2k (United Kingdom) -- $221,749.36
7. pinkfinger (Switzerland) -- $172,647.71
8. Uninc257 (Germany) -- $137,242.35
9. pads1161 (United Kingdom) -- $110,874.68
*= reflects the results of a two-way deal that left $160,000 in play for the winner
Five hundred hopefuls applied to become the newest members of Team Online this year, with three having been chosen. Read and see who they are.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.