With thanksgiving behind us, many
people spent the last few days traveling and trying to forget that they ate
entirely more than was good for them. Yet amongst the rush and confusion, there
were a few brave souls who decided to tempt fate on Sunday and take a shot at
winning nearly $200,000 at the PokerStars Sunday Millions.
With 2008 winding down, this
tournament was one of the last few chances for players to make a push at
challenging for the Top Shark Player of the Year for MTT’s. Though ckingusc has
a commanding lead, there is still time for players to both cash in and climb
the charts.
The tournament featured 8001
entrants, one of the largest fields ever, and carried with it a total prize
pool of $1,600,200. Several famous poker professionals were once again part of
the enormous field, including Daniel “ KidPoker ” Negreanu, Barry “ Barryg1 ” Greenstein, Hevad “
RaiNKhaN ” Khan and many others. Yet none of these professionals even came
close to the money, with Bertrand “ ElkY ” Grospellier coming closest in the
1906th spot, nearly 800 places from the money.
The battle for the money lasted
about four hours, and kobeshomie exited the tournament as the bubble boy in
1171st place. It took another four hours to reach the final two
tables, and the final table was reached just a half hour later when martyyy
pushed the last of his 1.6 million chips with Ad-9h and lost to the As-Jh of
PureProfiFo, ending martyyy’s day in 10th place and $8,001 for his
effort.
The final table began with svansa
and fratzl in the lead with 19 million and 17 million in chips respectively,
and had twirlpro holding down 3rd place with just over 12 million
chips. The first of the short stacks to hit the rail was omba when he called
the re-raise of NewsKool for all his chips. Omba turned over As-Js and soon saw
he was crushed by NewsKools’s Ah-Qs, and as the board was no help to either
player, omba exited the tournament in 9th place with $11,201.40 in
prize money.
The next player to exit the
tournament was PureProfitFo when he re-raised all in with his pocket jacks and
was called by the As-Kh of svansa. As a king hit the flop PureProfiFo was all
but done, and with no help on the turn or river, PureProfitFo, who was one of
the big stacks at the table, hit the rail in 8th place and
$18,402.30 for his trouble. Just a few hands later, the new short stack ankolo
pushed in pre-flop with pocket jacks and was called by the Ks-Qs of fratzl.
Once again the pocket jacks were crushed as a queen hit the flop, and with no
help the rest of the way ankolo left the table in 7th place yet
$28,003.50 richer.
1bobbyl, who had been battling back
from a crippling position, managed to grow his stack to over 8 million chips
before trying to bluff twirlpro by raising all in from the big blind with
10h-5h. The problem for 1bobbyl was that twirlpro was holding Ac-Qh and called
the all-in raise without hesitation. The flop hit for both players as a queen
and five came, but with blanks on the turn and river, 1bobbyl was sent packing
in 6th place and $40,805.10 to show for his terrific run.
Twirlpro’s luck continued as he called the 6 million-chip all-in
of Terkel1 with Kc-7s. Terkel1 turned over Ad-6d and was dominating going to
the flop. But as we said twirlpro was running hot and hit two pair, ending
Terkel1’s day in 5th place, with $56,807.10 for his effort.
The final four players battled
extensively, as each shot stack managed all in wins that kept them firmly in
the tournament. At this point svansa asked the rest of the table if they wanted
to deal, but the request fell upon deaf ears. Finally, svansa, who was holding
Ad-6c, hit top pair when the flop came 7d-9s-Ah, and went all in for his last 7
million chips. Twirlpro, who was holding bottom pair and a straight draw with
8s-7s, called, and hit a 10s on the turn and a 5s on the river for a runner
runner flush to eliminate svansa in 4th place with $72,809.10.
NewsKool was the next player to
attempt a deal, but as no answer was once again received, he called the all-in
raise from twirlpro for his last 8 million chips. NewsKool turned over Ah-5h
and quickly saw that he was dominating the Kc-6c of twirlpro. Yet once again
twirlpro hit runner runner flush on the turn and river to eliminate NewsKool in
3rd place with a huge payday of $89,611.20, not bad at all for 10
hours of work.
The heads-up battle showed fratzl
ahead of twirlpro 42 million chips to 37 million chips, but this was certainly
either player’s tournament to win. After several hands, twirpro regained the
chip lead, and grew his stack to just over 50 million chips before the final
hand was dealt. With just over 20 million chips left, fratzl push all-in
pre-flop with Ac-Qd and was quickly called by the pocket kings of twirlpro. The
flop came 2c-Qh-Jc, and gave fratzl a glimmer of hope before a Kh on the river
gave twirlpro a set and ended the tournament. Fratzl’s day was done in 2nd
place, and he ended his thanksgiving weekend winning $132,176.52 and certainly a lot to be thankful for.
Twirlpro’s amazing run never let
up, and he came out on top winning one of the largest PokerStars Sunday Millions
ever, taking home $196, 024.50 and the title PokerStars Sunday Millions
Champion.
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