Event #25 presented players with the alternative "ante up" format in which the blinds hold steady at 5/5 throughout but everyone's antes constantly increase, in this case every 10 minutes. In a way, the format kind of contrasts with the whole "MicroMillions" theme of risking little to win a lot, with players having to commit significant chips up front before battling for each pot.
It's a popular format nonetheless, as evidenced by the huge turnout of 6,258 for this $3.30 buy-in event, and after almost 10-and-a-half hours chenny1986 of Australia had outlasted them all to earn a handsome $2,516.82 prize following a three-handed final table deal.
Finding a final table
That turnout meant a total prize pool of $18,774, crushing the $10K guarantee for Event #25, with the top 810 finishers dividing the cash, at least $111.70 going to those making the final 12, and four-figure scores awaiting the final four.
After seven-and-a-half hours just four tables were left, with Fabios30 leading the final 36 with just over 2 million chips and newpro1984 not far behind with about 1.92 million.
A little less than an hour after that they were down to 18. Both Fabios30 and newpro1984 had slipped back to the middle of the pack by then, while elsoplas had surged in front from more than 6.5 million with chenny1986 the nearest challenger with just over 3.2 million or about half the leading stack.
blackmagicnz (18th), funk banana (17th), and lazam312 (16th) next went out, each picking up $55.38 for their finishes. Jexter13 (15th), capt.NoNamE9 (14th), and jsp01 (13th) then made $83.54 apiece. Then newpro1984 finally fell in 12th, followed by hel10s (11th) and (10th), with those three making $111.70 each for almost making the final table.
After a little over nine hours of poker, just nine players remained.
Seat 1: vigo-ferrari (United Kingdom) -- 1,618,328
Seat 2: cotero_profe (Argentina) -- 2,164,961
Seat 3: Freixo77 (Brazil) -- 3,952,733
Seat 4: elsoplas (Mexico) -- 6,021,255
Seat 5: mysuca (Russia) -- 3,416,600
Seat 6: Aarónx (Chile) -- 1,407,716
Seat 7: chenny1986 (Australia) -- 6,506,701
Seat 8: marko sabic (Serbia) -- 1,923,035
Seat 9: Fabios30 (Portugal) -- 4,278,671
chenny1986 had snuck past elsoplas to move into the top spot to begin the final table, and all nine would stick around for another 10 minutes as the antes ballooned to 80,000.
A-A fails Aarónx, out in ninth
That's when a hand arose that saw a few players limp and then Aarónx raise to 400,000 from the hijack seat. Fabios30 called the raise from the small blind and the others all folded, and the pair watched a flop come [2h][Jd][7c].
At that Fabios30 led with a nearly pot-sized bet -- well more than the 257,706 Aarónx had left -- and the latter called. Fabios30 had [5c][5s], but Aarónx had [Ah][Ad] and appeared in good shape to double up.
The [Th] fell on fourth street and Aarónx was one card away from winning the pot. But the [5d] startingly materialized on fifth street, giving Fabios30 a set of fives and ousting Aarónx in ninth.
vigo-ferrari crashes in eighth
Just a few hands later the antes were still 80,000 when again there were a couple of limpers (for 5 chips), then vigo-ferrari pushed all in for 1,258,318 from the cutoff seat.
elsoplas called from the big blind and the others folded, then turned over [9c][9s]. vigo-ferrari had [Js][8c] and needed help, but the board rolled out [3d][4c][3h][Kh][3c], and vigo-ferrari's run had ended in eighth.
cotero_profe cut down in seventh
The next elimination would find Fabios30 making another set with a pocket pair to reduce the field to six.
The antes had increased to 100,000, and cotero_profe opened with a UTG raise to 700,020. It folded to Fabios30 who called from the big blind, then checked following the [6h][7c][Ts] flop.
cotero_profe then pushed all in for 2,127,563 and Fabios30 called right away, turning over [6d][6s] for a set of sixes. cotero_profe had top pair with [Kd][Td], and while the [2d][Tc] runout improved that hand to trips it still wasn't enough to beat Fabios30's full house, thus sending cotero_profe railward in seventh.
marko sabic makes it to sixth
A little later they were nearing the 10-hour mark as the antes pushed up to 125,000 per hand. Then Freixo77 opened for 390,000 from UTG+1 and watched as it folded to chenny1986 who called from the small blind. marko sabic then reraised all in for 1,969,088 from the big blind, prompting an all-in push from Freixo77 over the top that forced a fold from chenny1986.
marko sabic: [7d][7c]
Freixo77: [Ac][Kd]
marko sabic was hoping for those sevens to hold against an opponent whose username contained "77," but the flop came [6d][9h][As] to steal the lead away. The turn was the [Ts] and river the [6h], and marko sabic was eliminated in sixth.
Fabios30's fab run ends in fifth
The remaining five made it to the last hand before the break when mysuca limped from the cutoff, then chenny1986 raised to 311,495 from the button. Fabios30 called from the small blind and everyone else folded, then the flop came [7s][Ah][4s].
Fabios30 took a stab with a bet of 894,470, and when chenny1986 raised all in with an 8 million-plus stack, Fabios30 called all in with the 4,328,070 left.
Fabios30: [As][9d]
chenny1986: [Ad][Js]
Both had flopped top pair of aces, but chenny1986 had the better kicker, and after the [3s] turn and [7d] river that kicker still played, meaning Fabios30 was done in fifth.
Freixo77 finishes fourth
During the subsequent break the final four began to chat about a possible deal to divide the remaining prize money. At that point chenny1986 held the lead with just under 14.8 million, Freixo77 was next with almost 7 million even, and mysuca and elsoplas were close to each other with around 4.8 million apiece.
Some were amenable to chop talk, but Freixo77 said "think we can play a little more" and so when the break ended play continued.
elsoplas's stack began to shrink, but a needed double-up came with [Ac][Kd] versus the [Ad][8s] of chenny1986. Then on the very next hand the antes were 175,000 when elsoplas opened for 700,020 from under the gun, then Friexo77 reraised all in for 6,303,681 from the big blind and elsoplas called.
Again both players had aces, and again elsoplas had the advantage with [As][Jh] versus Freixo77's [Ac][8s]. The community cards came [Kd][5d][Ad], then [Kc], then [3s], and Freixo77 was out in fourth.
A three-handed deal, then mysuca sunk in third
Suddenly elsoplas had a lead-challenging stack, and soon the final three players did stop the tourney to talk about a deal with chenny1986 in front with 13,574,023, elsoplas just behind with 13,389,732, and mysuca third with 4,326,245.
A division of the remaining money based on "ICM" calculations was performed -- leaving $200 aside for the winner -- and all three promptly agreed to the payouts which guaranteed chenny1986 and elsoplas about $2,300 each and mysuca more than $1,800.
Soon cards were back in the air, and with the antes still 175,000 mysuca open-raised all in for 4,151,245 from the small blind and chenny1986 called from the big blind.
mysuca had [Ad][Jc] while chenny1986 had [Qh][7s], and through the [Kh][Kc][6d] flop and [9s] turn mysuca retained the lead in the hand. But the river brought the [Qd] to pair chenny1986, and they were down to two.
chenny1986 earns elsoplas's chips, wins
chenny1986 began heads-up with the lead with 18,075,268 to elsoplas's 13,214,732, and before too long had edged out further to nearly 24 million to assume about a 3-to-1 chip advantage over elsoplas.
Then with the antes still 175,000 elsoplas checked from the button, chenny1986 made it 350,015 to go, and elsoplas called. The flop came [8s][6c][Qh] and chenny1986 led for 1,050,030. elsoplas responded with an all-in push for 6,877,152, and chenny1986 made the call.
chenny1986 had [Th][8h] for a pair of eights, better than elsoplas's [Kh][4h]. The turn and river brought a couple of nines -- [9d], then [9h] -- and it was all over... chenny1986 had won!
Congratulations to chenny1986 for becoming the latest MicroMillions champion after topping a field of more than 6,200 players to earn the win. And kudos as well to elsoplas and mysuca for making it to the three-handed deal that assured them very nice returns on their $3.30 investments, too.
MicroMillions-025: $3.30 No-Limit Hold'em (Ante Up)
Entrants: 6,258
Prize pool: $18,774.00
Places paid: 810
1. chenny1986 (Australia) $2,516.82*
2. elsoplas (Mexico) $2,311.34*
3. mysuca (Russia) $1,845.39*
4. Freixo77 (Brazil) $1,060.73
5. Fabios30 (Portugal) $797.89
6. marko sabic (Serbia) $610.15
7. cotero_profe (Argentina) $422.41
8. vigo-ferrari (United Kingdom) $234.67
9. Aarónx (Chile) $150.19
*= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $200 in play for the winner
We're only a quarter of the way through the 100-event MicroMillions 7 series. Check the MicroMillions 7 web page for the full schedule of remaining events.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.