Seat 1: Gunslinger3 (9100597 in chips)
Seat 2: OCTAGONS (6690528 in chips)
Seat 3: RBC* (8574216 in chips)
Seat 4: Octavian_C (2774774 in chips)
Seat 5: exomil (7786435 in chips)
Seat 6: M.nosbocaJ (12196632 in chips)
Seat 7: bastinho06 (9941299 in chips)
Seat 8: Neab (7644299 in chips)
Seat 9: x-13 (11801220 in chips)
No overwhelming chip leader tonight and with the final table blinds starting at $200,000/$400,000 ante $40,000 the fast and furious preflop game may be the key for the winner this evening. X-13 made the first big move of the final table after calling a 1,000,000 chip opening raise from exomil in the big blind and check-raising all-in after exomil’s 1.6 million continuation bet off a flop of 6h 8c 9h. Flashing pocket sevens, X-13 showed the pair and open-ended straight draw to take down a five million chip pot and move into the chip lead with nearly 15 million chips.
About twenty hands later x-13 would give up his chip lead while attempting to knock out bastinho06. A pre-flop all-in race with x-13 holding the pocket pair of nines against bastinho06’s Ace-King. The bookend Kings on the board with no nines in the middle, gave bastinho06 trip Kings and the 15 million chip pot. After a break, we were still at nine players moving into $300,000/$600,000 ante $60,000 blinds and the player’s stacks growing ever tighter to the increasing blinds, talks of nine handed deals floated about but nothing grew out of them.
Octavian_C did not overcome his starting short stack, but he did not leave quietly either. Chipping up to nearly 4.3 million after starting with just 2.7 million and facing a sizable raise from OCTAGONS he shoved his pocket jacks only to see an insta-call by the pocket Kings of OCTAGONS. A board of 4c Tc 6d 4h 6h gave both players two pair but shipped the near 10 million chip pot to OCTAGONS while crippling Octavian_C. RBC* would deliver the final blow to Octavian_C’s tourney run and our ninth place finisher received $10,711.40
Just seven hands later an all-in pre-flop blind versus blind battle broke out between exomil and M.nosbocaJ. Exomil shoved his 3.5 million from the small blind with A2o while M.nosbocaJ held nearly 13 million covered the bet easily and called with A7. Hoping for a split in the chat box, exomil got a worthless pair of Aces instead as M.nosbocaJ’s seven kicker played sending exomil home with $17,597.30 in eighth place.
Card death at the final table is never pretty, and even worse with hundreds of thousands on the line. Neab held out for as long as he could with a short stack and no cards he made a necessary move with blinds at $300,000/$600,000 ante $60,000 and holding only three big blinds and A8o in his hand facing a button raise from bastinho06. Unfortunately for Neab, bastinho06 did not have stealing on his mind as he turned over pocket tens. Fours and Jacks showed on the board, but still did not change the pre-flop advantage as Neab took $26,778.50 back to Peterborough.
Just six hands later the biggest pot of the tourney had three players shoving all their chips into the middle pre-flop.
x-13 (all-in): TsTc
RBC* (all-in): KcKh
Bastinho06: JcJd
By the turn the board read Ad 6s 8s 9s giving X-13 straight, flush, and straight flush outs to go with the two that he started the hand with. A tepid 6h shipped the main and side pots to RBC* who took over the chip lead at 23 million chips and sparked deal talks while knocking x-13 out in sixth place.
The size of the blinds compared to their stacks had the final five quickly agreed to the chip count chop:
RBC*: $121,197
Gunslinger3: $110,921
M.nosbocaJ $89,013
bastinho06: $88,441
OCTAGONS: $83,907
The chip chop turned out to be a blessing for RBC* as just two hands after the chop he ran pocket Kings into Gunslinger3’s pockets Aces for a massive 41 million chip pot. With just 3.5 million in chips left, RBC* would storm back with while surviving all-ins against OCTAGONS and bastinho06 to claim second place as the final five are playing for the $30,000 set aside from the chop.
Flopped straights look pretty, but Texas Hold Em’ requires five cards to be set out on the community board. Bastinho06 called the push of OCATGONS from the big blind holding QdTd versus OCTAGONS As8s. A perfect flop of Kh As Jd had OCTAGONS drawing dead, kinda, sort of, since he could not win with anything the turn, OCTAGONS needed running cards for help. He got help with the board pairing twice as the Jh and Ad gave OCTAGONS a full house and crippled bastinho06. Fifth place and a chopped win of $88,441 for bastinho06 as the steamroller of Gunslinger3 got the last of bastinho06’s chips on the next hand.
RBC* with 16 million in chips was the only player that could hurt the Gunslinger3’s chip lead of nearly 44 million chip, so his attempt to resteal all-in with Jd8d after an opening raise from Gunslinger3 had some weight behind it. But, Gunslinger3 held pocket nines and wasn’t letting them go. After a board of 3h Qs 2s 7h Td Gunslinger3 shot down another opponent sending RBC* home with the chopped $121,197 in fourth place.
The domino effect of the remaining players falling to Gunslinger3 was swift, as OCTAGONS called the small blind raise of Gunslinger3 for all of his chips holding just four big blinds and Js9c. Once again, Gunslinger3 had some more then air in his holster as his pocket fives won the race sending the lover of geometry (or maybe mixed-martial arts) home in third place with the chopped $83,907.
The chip counts for the tilted heads-up battle for the remaining $30,000:
Gunslinger3 67,026,854
M.nosbocaJ 9,483,146
After Gunslinger3 won the first three hands in a row pre-flop, M.nosbocaJ would push back a little bit by reclaiming the lost chips over the next three hands. There would be no miracle run for M.nosbocaJ however, as his pocket fives went up against the JcTd of Gunslinger3 on the seventh hand of heads up play. The flop of Kd 2d Jh gave Gunslinger3 a huge lead in the pre-flop race that he would not relinquish as the 7h 9c played out the remainder of the board.
With his pair of jacks, Gunslinger3 got his chopped $110,921, the $30,000 for first place, and the title of this week’s PokerStars Sunday Million Champion!
Congratulations to all the cashers and final tablists tonight, here is the final table payout including the five-way chop:
1. Gunslinger3 $140,921.00
2. M.nosbocaJ $89,013
3. OCTAGONS $83,907
4. RBC* $121,197
5. bastinho06 $88,441
6. x-13 $39,020.10
7. Neab $26,778.50
8. exomil $17,597.30
9. Octavian_C $10,711.40
by Adam "STUDstood" Roberts
If you didn't spend last month under a rock, you probaly know PokerStars had a bit of a promotion (read: its biggest ever) during the month of the July. The end of the PokerStars 2X promotion saw tons of people win tournaments that bumped up their PokerStars VIP Club level.
Another Sunday, another massive field in the Sunday Million, and another $1.5 Million guarantee shattered. This week 8,236 players built a prize pool of $1,647,200.00, with the top 1260 players taking home a piece of the pie. After nine hours of play, the final nine competitors gathered ‘round the final table, all vying for the title and the $199,475.92 first prize.
