Not all Sunday Million final tables are created equal. Some remain crowded, the knockouts never come and players try to outlast the blinds and antes. Others are more orderly, players dismissed at regular intervals setting up long heads-up match. Then there are those finals like tonight’s, which saw former Sunday Warm-Up champion WATnlos start with the chip lead and never look back, cruising to another Sunday major title. It took just over an hour.
The path to the final table was dominated by two players. PIPI tapis!, a past winner of the Sunday Warm-Up and runner-up in both the Sunday Warm-Up and Sunday Million, ran things on one table while WATnlos held court on the other. They were sitting 1-2 atop the chip counts when former MicroMillions finalist Tr!pleeeee made a pair of queens on the river, beating renesewa’s flopped pair of treys to reduce the field to a final nine.
Seat 1: John-F69 (290,554 in chips)
Seat 2: Zumi10 (6,505,916 in chips)
Seat 3: PIPI tapis! (15,562,449 in chips)
Seat 4: ¿¿toneecho?? (3,280,308 in chips)
Seat 5: Tr!pleeeee (5,271,128 in chips)
Seat 6: IFIBETIMGOOD (5,866,163 in chips)
Seat 7: WATnlos (16,878,570 in chips)
Seat 8: Iamapoopie (1,571,790 in chips)
Seat 9: rodrigobmz (3,173,122 in chips)
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Three players found their way to the rail in the first orbit alone. Norway’s John-F69 got in for a little more than one big blind with Aâ™ 8♦ on the first hand and three players called. One of them was Zumi10, whose A♣ Q♣ made a pair of queens on the 8♥ 9♥ Q♥ 2♦ J♣ board to knock out John-F69 in ninth.
That pot guaranteed ¿¿toneecho?? a better finish than a previous Sunday Million final table appearance back in 2016, and the second one improved it further. Past Super Tuesday, SCOOP, and TCOOP finalist Iamapoopie opened the action on the next hand all-in for 1.53 million chips with A♥ 10♠in the hijack seat. ¿¿toneecho?? called with 9♣ 9♦ in the big blind and remained ahead, eliminating Iamapoopie in eighth.
Out next was rodrigobmz, who finished eighth in the Sunday Million back in March. Dealt A♣ 8♣ , they opened all-in for 2.69 million chips in the cutoff. PIPI tapis! successfully isolated with A♥ 10♦ in the small blind and flopped a pair of tens. That ended rodrigobmz’s second Milly final of the year in seventh.
A third of this week’s finalists hit the rail in the first orbit.
Several minutes later the action folded to the small blind and past Sunday Million finalist IFIBETIMGOOD min-raised with A♠K♥ , then called when WATnlos shoved in the big blind with 7♦ 7♥ . IFIBETIMGOOD became a 91-percent favorite with a pair of aces on the 2♦ Q♥ A♥ flop. Then the 7♣ hit the turn, locking up the pot for WATnlos with a set of sevens. The meaningless 5♣ came on the river and IFIBETIMGOOD left in sixth.
Zumi10, quiet since knocking out John-F69 on the first hand, survived all-in with pocket fives after IFIBETIMGOOD’s departure. Then Tr!pleeeee survived with A♣ Q♦ against PIPI Tapis!’s pocket sevens before the break.
It took just two minutes after the break to shrink the field further, and once again a coin flip did it. This time ¿¿toneecho?? opened the betting under the gun, moving in for 3.6 million with Q♥ J♥ . PIPI tapis! called in the big blind with 8♣ 8♦ and turned a set, dodging ¿¿toneecho??’s straight draw to eliminate the Brit in fifth.
PIPI tapis!’s bid for another title ended two hands later.
That pot put PIPI tapis! in much better position, and brought the four remaining players to within 28 big blinds of one another. But the bid for another Sunday major title would end two minutes later.
WATnlos opened with a raise to 651,000 under-the-gun, then re-raised to 4.4 million after PIPI tapis! three-bet to 2.1 million from the small blind. PIPI tapis! then jammed for 11.2 million with A♥ Q♦ and WATnlos snap-called with Q♣ Q♥ . After the turn PIPI tapis! picked up a flush draw for 11 outs, but none came. The field shrank to three.
The next 11 minutes constituted the longest stretch without a knockout since the final table began.
Zumi10 was nearly out third after getting his chips in with pocket deuces against WATnlos’s A♥ J♦ , but the flop delivered a set and the turn and river made a full house. Two hands later Zumi10 min-raised on the button with A♦ A♥ and called when Tr!pleeeee re-raised to 2.55 million chips in the small blind, bringing a K♦ 2â™ 10â™ flop. Tr!pleeeee, who had made middle pair with J♥ 10♥ , check-called 1.8 million there and 7.2 million more after the 4♦ turn to end up all-in. The 5♣ was no help on the river and Tr!pleeeee left in third place.
That gave Zumi10 an edge of about five big blinds, but WATnlos got the better of the first few hands to take a small lead. That’s when they decided to look at numbers. Like the final itself, the discussion was as brief. And with $20,000 to lay for the winner was quickly decided.
WATnlos took down the early pots before re-raising to 2.6 million from the big blind after Zumi10 had opened for 750,000 on the button. Zumi10 re-raised to 5.95 million, WATnlos called, and both players checked the 4♣ Q♦ A♦ flop. Zumi10 called WATnlos’s 3.8-million bet on the 5♣ turn but folded when WATnlos open-shoved on the 3♦ river, giving WATnlos the 19.6-million chip pot.
Zumi10 soon doubled up with A♦ A♣ against Q♣ 10♦ to stay alive and finally put it all on the line with 3â™ 3♥ , shoving from the big blind after WATnlos limped on the button. WATnlos called with A♦ 9♦ and made a pair of aces on the flop, which was all it took to bring the this week’s Sunday Million to a conclusion.
Congratulations to WATnlos on adding a Sunday Million title to that Sunday Warm-Up win from 2011, and to Zumi10 for holding on long enough to make a heads-up deal!
11/12/17 Sunday Million ($215 NL Hold’em) results
Entrants: 5,840 (4,741 entries, 1,099 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $1,168,000
Places paid: 1,052
1. WATnlos (Austria) $145,895.91*
2. Zumi10 (Malta) $122,471*
3. Tr!pleeeee (Poland) $77,662.18
4. PIPI tapis! (Malta) $54,500.98
5. ¿¿toneecho?? (United Kingdom) $38,247.21
6. IFIBETIMGOOD (United Kingdom) $26,840.75
7. rodrigobmz (Brazil) $18,836.10
8. Iamapoopie (United Kingdom) $13,218.72
9. John-F69 (Norway) $9,276.60
* – denotes results of a heads-up deal leaving $20,000 for the winner
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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.
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