After 12 hours of poker in this week’s Sunday Million, two tough competitors remained — Damianos “damourinio” Aslanidis and Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy. Playing from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Aslanidis already had over $1 million in tournament winnings on PokerStars. Meanwhile the Russian Troyanovskiy has many years’ worth of big results on PokerStars as well, not to mention nearly $4.2 million in live tournament earnings.
It proved an engaging battle between the pair, but ultimately Aslanidis was the one coming away with the final hand to win this week’s installment of online poker’s most popular weekly $215 no-limit hold’em tournament. Both players would walk away with better than $150K scores, however, thanks a three-handed deal, with Aslanidis pocketing a cool $155,457.64 for the win.
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A total of 6,105 players took part in this week’s Milly, making a $1,221,000 prize pool that once more bested the $1 million guarantee.
It took a little over five hours for the money bubble to burst, and with 900 players left Canada’s Howchman was sitting atop the leaderboard. Fast-forward another five hours and they were down to 18, with Howchman having fallen in 53rd for a $2,124.54 cash and jatekos22 of Hungary on top with more than 8.1 million.
thanibanani (18th), nnhheeoo (17th), and seeebeeek (16th) then each went out, earning $3,418.80 apiece. They were followed by Sibydom (15th), yummylemons (14th), and krokodil.by (13th) who picked up cashes of $5,128.20 each. Thegrandape (12th), treidei3 (11th), and Rusty Punchy (10th) then were successively felted, taking away $6,837.60 each for not quite making the final table.
With sydens of Brazil the new pace-setter with just under 15 million, the final table had begun.
Seat 1: Damianos “damourinio” Aslanidis (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) — 5,167,698
Seat 2: sydens (Brazil) — 14,949,999
Seat 3: Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy (Russia) — 2,111,622
Seat 4: KRab42 (Canada) — 3,046,586
Seat 5: Pökergöt (Germany) — 10,065,329
Seat 6: szaaadi (Poland) — 2,782,353
Seat 7: jatekos22 (Hungary) — 12,130,401
Seat 8: øøøøøøø (Czech Republic) — 4,837,632
Seat 9: TheRocket08 (Canada) — 5,958,380
On just the second hand of the final table, one of the short stacks, KRab42, open-pushed all in from middle position for just over 2.98 million (not quite 10 big blinds), then after jatekos22 reraised over the top from the button the blinds stepped aside. KRab42 had A♠7♣ and jatekos22 A♥ Q♠, and both paired their kickers thanks to the Q♣ 7♦ J♦ flop. The turn was the 3♣ and the river the 4♥ , and KRab42 was done in ninth.
About a half-hour later came the next final table knockout when jatekos22 raised a little more than 2x the big blind to 1.1 million from under the gun, Pökergöt reraised all in for about 5.64 million from the small blind, and jatekos22 called right away, showing A♠K♦ while Pökergöt had 9♦ 9♣ . The 6♠2♥ 6♦ flop was okay for Pökergöt, but the turn was the K♥ to put jatekos22 in front. The 7♠completed the board, and Pökergöt was eliminated in eighth.
Several minutes after that two more eliminations came in successive hands. In the first the interestingly named øøøøøøø had lost a big all-in a couple of hands before to be knocked down under 100,000 (not even a small blind), and after putting those last chips in from UTG with K♦ 3♥ , Damianos “damourinio” Aslanidis pushed with J♦ J♣ , the others folded, and after the 9â™ 7♣ A♦ Q♦ Aâ™ board, øøøøøøø was knocked out in seventh.
Then on the very next hand, Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy raised a little over 2x to 1.05 million from the cutoff, szaaadi shoved all in from the button for just under 3.35 million, and Troyanovskiy called in a flash. szaaadi had K♦ 10â™ but had run into Troyanovskiy’s A♦ A♥ , and five cards later — 6♦ 8♥ 4â™ 3♣ 8♦ — szaaadi’s run was over in sixth.
Then just three hands after that TheRocket08 shoved from the cutoff for about 2.59 million (a little more than 5 BBs), damourinio reraise-pushed from the button, and the blinds folded. TheRocket08 had Qâ™ 9â™ and needed help versus damourinio’s A♥ 10â™ , and the 7â™ 6â™ 4♥ flop did provide a flush draw and some hope for TheRocket08. But the turn was the 6♦ and river the 10♦ , and without having improved TheRocket08 was sent railward in fifth.
The remaining four moved into the next level where the blinds were 300K/600K with a 60K ante. Soon it was sydens open-pushing for almost 5.33 million from the small blind and Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy calling from the next seat. sydens had K♣ J♣ and a good hand versus Troyanovskiy’s K♥ 8♦ , but the board came 2♦ 7♣ 10♦ 9â™ Jâ™ to give Troyanovskiy a straight, and sydens was felted in fourth.
Troyanovskiy had assumed a significant lead with three players left, having accumulated more than 37.7 million with Damianos “damourinio” Aslanidis next with just a touch less than 17 million even and jatekos22 third with about 6.34 million.
Troyanovskiy was still in front when the trio stopped the tournament and agreed to a three-way chop leaving $20K for the winner. Soon, however, Aslanidis would take the chip lead after first winning a big preflop all-in with A♣ 9â™ versus Troyanovskiy’s A♦ 10♣ when a nine came among the community cards, then winning a few more pots to push ahead.
Not long after that Troyanovskiy open-shoved from the small blind and jatekos22 called all in for about 7.36 million showing K♥ 6♦ while Troyanovskiy had Q♦ 9♥ . The 6♠9♦ 2♦ flop gave both players a pair, then the 9♠turn made trips for Troyanovskiy and made the J♥ no matter as jatekos22 was out in third.
Damianos “damourinio” Aslanidis had the chip lead to begin heads-up play with 38,108,130 to Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy’s 22,941,870. Troyanovskiy would take the advantage, though, in a hand that saw all of the chips go in the middle after a queen-high flop, Aslanidis turn over queen-eight, and Troyanovskiy show he’d picked up pocket aces again.
Aslanidis would continue to maintain the lead as the pair pushed on a little past the tournament’s 12-hour mark. Then with the blinds at 400K/800K, a hand arose that saw Aslanidis limp in from the button, Troyanovskiy check, and the flop come single-suited — 9♥ 6♥ 10♥ .
Troyanovskiy led for 800,000, Aslanidis made it 2,528,998 to go, Troyanovskiy reraised to 6,555,555, and Aslanidis called. The turn then brought the J♦ and an all-in shove for 18,122,519 from Troyanovskiy, and Aslanidis called again.
Troyanovskiy had 10â™ 8♥ for a pair of tens and a flush draw, but Aslanidis already had a flush with 4♥ 3♥ . Another heart could still save Troyanovskiy, but the river was the 5â™ and it was all over — Aslanidis had won.
Congratulations to Damianos “damourinio” Aslanidis for besting more than 6,100 opponents to win this week’s Sunday Million, and well done also Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy and jatekos22 for making it to the three-way deal heads-up and also securing six-figure scores.
1/31/16 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold’em) results
Entrants:Â 6,105
Prize pool:Â $1,221,000
Places paid:Â 900
1. Damianos “damourinio” Aslanidis (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) $155,457.64*
2. Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy (Russia) $152,777.59*
3. jatekos22 (Hungary) $112,52.37*
4. sydens (Brazil) $67,155.00
5. TheRocket08 (Canada) $51,282.00
6. szaaadi (Poland) $39,072.00
7. øøøøøøø (Czech Republic) $26,862.00
8. Pökergöt (Germany) $14,652.00
9. KRab42 (Canada) $9,462.75
* = denotes a three-way deal leaving $20,000 for the winner
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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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