Event #21’s internet splash attracted a lot of things.

Before any card was even dealt, the $2.22+R 3x-Turbo Saturday Splash Special Edition tournament attracted the largest guarantee of the MicroMillons yet: $150,000.

The tournament also attracted a lot of players, 22,306 to be exact. After the 90-minute rebuy and late registration had closed, these players had purchased 80,054 rebuts and 9,617 add ons for a total prize pool of $226,193.54.

Around 14 percent, 3,150 players, would cash, and first place would take home a hefty $22,635.35, the largest MicroMillions prize yet.

A large number of PokerStars Team Pros were also attracted to the smell of money created by this Saturday Splash.

STAR-STUDDED FIELD

A total of five PokerStars Team Pro and two PokerStars Online Pros decided to take their shot at the largest prize pool the MicroMillions has offered so far.

Bryan Huang, Marcin Horecki, Maxim Lykov, Jude Ainsworth and Lex Veldhuis would would all register and rebuy in this crazy 3x-Turbo, but only two of them would see a payday.

Still, two out of five isn’t bad when you have to outlast more than 19,000 players to make the money. That’s some hard-earned bacon right there.

Out of these five live-tournament connoisseurs, Bryan Huang would be the first to go.

With 2,000/4,000 blinds and a 400 ante, Huang was facing a 4,000 raise from ivanciv. Huang, from the button, decided to move all in for 42,230.

icanciv made the call and showed A♥ Q♣ , ahead of Huang’s K♦ J♥ .

The board ran 8♣ 7♠ 4♦ 2♠ 10♦ and Huang was eliminated in 7,587th place.

Marcin Horecki would be the next to go in 5,524th. He’d be followed by our last PokerStar Team Pro to miss out on some of that sweet prize pool, Maxim Lykov, who exited in 2,861st place.

Both Jude Ainsworth and Lex Veldhuis would represent Team Pro in the money; Ainsworth would finish 1889th for $24.88, while Veldhuis would last a little longer, making it to 557th for $65.59.

Despite having fewer players, Team PokerStars Online would have better numbers than their Team Pro counterparts.

Online tournaments are their specialty though, and it showed.

Fifty percent of the online pros would cash for a total amount of $655.96.

Their team consisted of Freddy “sirfreddy83” Torres and Shane “shaniac” Schleger. sirfredd83 would be the unfortunate 50 percent of team to not cash. His tournament ended soon after the end of the rebut period, busting out in 6,178th.

shaniac, on the other hand, would go deep.

Real deep.

SHANIAC’S ASCENT

shaniac broke into the top ten chip counts with around 100 players left.

He then managed to pole vault from ninth to second in chips in a single hand:

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After that, shaniac the cards didn’t seem to favor shaniac as much as they had. He was slowly chipped down towards the bottom of the field until he got a timely double up.

The blinds were 1.4MM/2.8MM with a 280,000 ante and NelidovoCity called from early position. Smirnii.llia also decided to make the call from the small blind and shaniac moved all in for 15MM from the big blind.

NelidovoCity reshoved and Smirnii.llia decided to get out of the way.

shaniac showed K♠ Q♣ and was flipping against NelidovoCity’s 2♦ 2♣ .

The flop was good to shaniac, giving him a K♣ in addition to a 10♠ and a 10♣ . The turn was a 4♦ and a 3♠ came on the river, giving shaniac the double up.

This put shaniac back in the game as the tournament entered its final three tables.

And shaniac would put those chips to good use.

Play slowed down when we reached the bubble for the final two tables, but shaniac knows how to burst a thing or two.

In this case it was one thing, a player: kejsi 14.

shaniac raised to 6.4MM, two times the big blind, and the short-stacked kejsi 14 moved all in for his remaining 10,184,000.

shaniac called and showed A♠ 9♠ , a favorite against K♥ Q♠ .

The 8♠ K♦ A♦ flop hit both players, but aces trump kings and kejsi 14 was eliminated in 19th place.

Team PokerStar Online, Shane Schleger.

This hand put shaniac at 56MM, good enough for second in chips with 18 players to go.

The massive blinds encouraged lots of pre flop all ins, and we know when that happens, players get eliminated.

With 14 players left, play slowed considerably (Well, slow for a 3x-Turbo).

SHANIAC’S DESCENT

shaniac’s fight to the top was a difficult and tedious, but his downfall was quick and simple.

The blinds were 2.5MM/5MM with a 500K ante.

This qualified berni66688, who had 12,845,229, as a short stack. Being an official short stack, berni66688 did what most short stacks do: go all in.

shaniac reshoved from the small blind for 52MM. There was only one player to act, hungnguyen83 in the big blind.

hungnguyen83 was also the only player at the table who had shaniac covered.

He called.

berni66688: 3♣ 3♠
shaniac: A♠ 7♠
hungnguyen83: A♣ K♥

The 5♦ 9♠ K♠ flop was a killer for both the short stacks.

The A♦ on the turn brought little help for those at risk. shaniac still had hopes for a flush while berni66688 was hoping for a third three.

But both players missed as a 4♥ came on the river, putting an end to both players’ deep run.

shaniac finished in 13th place, adding $655.96 to his online resume.

If you have to see it to believe it, here you go:

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to see replay

If you have to see it to believe it, here you go:

THE RISE OF HUNGNGUYEN83

shaniac’s fall led to the hungnguyen83’s reign of terror.

The double elimination had put him in an enviable position.

After the hand, Hungnguyen83 grabbed a commanding chip lead with 151MM, double the amount of the closest contender.

Hungnguyen83 used his chips to his advantage, winning pots and knocking out another player. By the time the final table rolled around, hungnguyen83 had nearly a third of the chips in play, 176,172,799.

Here’s how the poker gods decided to arrange the final table of Event #21.

THE FINAL TABLE

Seat 1: wero999 – 70,184,589
Seat 2: Miiitta – 74,118,169
Seat 3: smirnii.llia – 89,848,482
Seat 4: AFERSOM – 19,851,680
Seat 5: shawnk555 – 51,404,771
Seat 6: Substantia – 32,412,032
Seat 7: Specpro_tect – 55,521,772
Seat 8: leocir – 24,425,706
Seat 9: hungnguyen83 – 176,722,789

FIVE HANDS, THREE POCKET ACES, TWO ELIMINATIONS

This final table started of with a splash. Well, a bang. A bang that created a giant splash.

Specpro_tect took down the first hand by moving all in, everyone got out of his way.

The blinds were huge at this point, 3MM/6MM with a 600K ante.

When action folded to hungnguyen83, he raised to 12MM from the cutoff. Smirnii.llia, who was second in chips, called from the big blind.

The flop came Q♣ 2♠ K♦ and Smirnii.llia decided to move all in for his remaining 76MM.

hungnguyen83 seemed to call almost instantly, and his hole cards explained why.

hungnguyen83 flipped over A♠ A♣ and Smirnii.llia showed K♣ 6♣ .

The turn brought a 10♦ , eliminating Smirnii.llia’s hope of a flush and a J♣ came on the river, eliminating Smirnii.llia in 9th place for $1,357.16.

The next hand went to Miitta, who moved all in from the button and took down 13.8MM in blinds and antes.

hungnguyen83 raised to 12MM the next hand and Miiitta moved all in again, this time from the cutoff.

AFERSOM made the call and hungnguyen83 got out of the way.

Miiitta are the call and showed A♠ 8♦ , but AFERSOM also had an ace, the A♥ ; that ace came with a buddy, the A♣ .

The board ran Q♦ 9♠ 3♦ 6♣ 10♣ and AFERSOM doubled up to 54MM while Miiitta saw his stack shrink to 63MM.

But the intensity didn’t stop there!

The very next hand saw all four aces hit the virtual felt.

leocir raised moved all in from under the gun for 21,475,706 and Miiitta put his stack in as well.

There were no other callers and the players showed their hands.

leocir showed A♦ Q♣ , but this time Miiitta showed the double aces, A♠ A♣ .

The flop brought a 9♣ and a J♥ , along with the final ace in the deck: A♥ .

The turn was an 8♦ and leocir was drawing dead. The 2♦ on the river sealed the deal and leocir was eliminated in 8th place for $2,035.74.

TAKING IT EASY

Turbos go fast enough, a wave of pocket aces made it go even faster.

After that madness, action slowed down a bit. It’s hard for poker to maintain a rate of three pocket aces per every five hands.

Three hands passed by with any flop action, but then we had a battle of the blinds.

Miiitta moved all in from the small blind 88MM and AFERSOM called with his remaining 51MM.

Miiitta showed Q♦ 8♦ and AFERSOM flipped over a pocket pair, 6♠ 6♣ .

The flop gave Miiitta a Q♣ and that was good enough to send AFERSOM from the virtual felt to his virtual home in 7th.

There was another three-hand lull before we had more action.

Substantia, the table short stack, moved all in for 17,762,032 and wero999 made the call in the big blind.

Substantia showed K♦ 8♥ and was looking for some help.

That help wouldn’t come until a K♠ hit on the river and Substantia got the double up.

This made wero999 the table short stack and he decided to make a move the next hand.

wero999 moved all in for his remaining 31MM from the small blind. Miiitta called from the big blind.

This time, it was wero999 who needed some help, his K♠ 4♠ had to outdraw Miiitta A♦ 2♦ .

But the 10♦ J♦ 8♥ 7♥ 7♦ fell in Miiitta’s favor and his flush knocked wero999 out in 6th place.

This hand bumped Miiitta’s 219MM, making him the first person to come close to hungnguyen83’s 246MM.

As if it were clockwork, there were another three hands of relative passivity before the fireworks.

Substantia moved all in for just under 30MM and hungnguyen83 called from the small blind.

Substantia Q♣ 6♣ and was dominated by hungnguyen83’s K♥ Q♥ .

There was no help for Substantia and he was eliminated in 5th place.

There would be 12 minutes of downtime before we got down to our final three players.

shawnk555 was the table short stack with 30MM and moved all in from the small blind. Specpro_tect called from the bling blind and showed K♠ 6♦ .

He was in a good position to beat shawnk555’s 5♥ 4♥ .

The board fell J♣ 8♠ 9♣ K♣ 3♠ and shawnk555 was eliminated in 4th place.

THE FINAL THREE

As soon as they were down to three players Specpro_tect suggested a deal.

The other two players spoke with their silence, they were playing to a winner.

Play stalled considerably when there were three players left. Players passed around the blinds for a bit, and then, with a timely double up, Miiitta finally took the chip lead away from hungnguyen83:

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Soon after that, Specpro_tect would find his tournament come to an end.

With a stack of 53MM, Specpro_tect found himself shortstacked with 5MM/10MM blinds and a 1MM ante.

He moved all in from the button and Miiitta called from the big blind.

Miiitta showed a pair of queens, and Specpro_tect found himself begging for an ace with A♦ 2♣ .

But the board ran 6♦ J♠ K♣ 8♣ 3♦ and Specpro_tect would be eliminated in 3rd.

HEADS UP

Hungnguyen would enter the heads up match as the tournament short stack with 245,704,092. Being a short stack wasn’t something he was used to at the final table, considering the fact that he came into it with almost a third of the chips in play.

Miitta started using his stack to an advantage and he slowly chipped hungnguyen83 down to about 73MM. The blinds were still at 5MM/10MM with a 1MM ante.

hungnguyen83 had to make a move, and he did.

WIth less than 10 big blinds, hungnguyen83 moved all in from the button. Miiitta made the call and showed J♥ 10♣ .

hungnguyen flipped over A♠ 7♠ , it would be the last hand he’d be dealt this tournament.

The flop fell heavily in Miiitta’s favor. K♦ A♣ Q♠ gave Miiitta the straight and a K♣ along with a 6♠ on the river gave him the win.

hungnguyen83 was eliminated in 2nd place while Miiitta took the win.

MicroMillions Event #21 $2.22+R 3x-Turbo Final Table Results

1st: Miiitta – $22,635.35
2nd: hungnguyen83 – $16,808.44
3rd: Specpro_tect – $11,309.67
4th: shawnk555 – $9,047.74
5th: Substantia – $6,785.80
6th: wero999 – $4,523.87
7th: AFERSOM – $3,187.01
8th: leocir – $2,035.74
9th: Smimii.llia- $1,357.16

There’s still plenty of MicroMillions action to go. Check out the MicroMillions page for a schedule and see if any of these events are any that tickle your fancy. Remember, player of the series wins a seat to the 2013 PCA. Why aren’t you playing in the MicroMillions.

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