Anjeyyy is no stranger to big paydays. A third-place finish for $75K in the Sunday Million this April and a runner-up finish in a SCOOP-Medium event in May were just the latest major scores, withcareer winnings of $3.3 million – and that’s just on PokerStars. The largest came in a WCOOP 2015 Super Tuesday Special Edition. The $309K Anjeyyy won back then remains the Ukrainian player’s best cash ever, but it came without a title, reward instead for second place finish after a heads-up deal, and being caught gambling with bottom pair.

Tonight Anjeyyy returned to the Super Tuesday final table and closed out that bit of unfinished business, fighting from behind for two hours, then battling heads-up for another, before finally earning the biggest outright win of an eight-year career.

Anjeyyy’s return to the scene tonight was anything but a given. For almost eight hours Anjeyyy played with an average stack, never getting within sight of the chip lead. (That didn’t come until two-thirds of the final table competition had been eliminated.) This path gave Anjeyy a stack worth only a single big blind more than the average when Argentina’s magnatecapo fell in tenth place, setting up this final lineup with more than $60,000 awaiting the champion:

Seat 1: weebey023 (176,330 in chips)
Seat 2: mamamamama70 (717,159 in chips)
Seat 3: eijseijs (1,578,339 in chips)
Seat 4: Robin “robinho” Ylitalo (591,046 in chips)
Seat 5: smir9david (705,251 in chips)
Seat 6: Proudflop (1,828,748 in chips)
Seat 7: la_benjjjjjj (575,837 in chips)
Seat 8: Anjeyyy (848,189 in chips)
Seat 9: 23noraB (454,101 in chips)

The seventh hand of the final table opened with an all-in raise to 152,330 chips from weebey023, who had picked up Q♣ J♣ in early position. A familiar face flat-called in the cutoff seat: smir9david, who three weeks ago added to a 2017 resume that already included Sunday Million and WCOOP final tables by finishing as runner-up in this tournament. smir9david’s raise left more than 508,000 chips behind, prompting SCOOP 2014 finalist la_benjjjjjj to jam for 490,337 in the small blind with Q♦ Q♠ . smir9david called and won the 1.17-million-chip pot with K♣ K♦ when the board fell 3♦ J♠ 8♠ 9♦ 3♣ , simultaneously knocking out weebey023 in ninth and la_benjjjjjj in eighth.

That put three-time COOP winner Robin “robinho” Ylitalo on the short stack. He called all-in for 294,721 in the big blind a few minutes after returning from the break, a favorite with A♣ 9♠ against the 10♥ 7♠ held by eijseijs, the past Sunday Warm-Up and SCOOP-High finalist who had open-shoved from the small blind. eijseijs made top pair on the flop and dodged a straight draw, taking the pot after board ran out 10♣ 6♣ 8♥ 4♠ J♠ to send robinho to the rail in seventh.

The next 45 minutes saw several other players put their tournament lives on the line. All of them managed to avoid getting in any worse than the A-K side of a coin flip and all of them won when they needed it most, until past Sunday Million and Super Tuesday finalist 23noraB re-raised all-in with K♦ Q♥ . Proudflop, the player from the United Kingdom who took seventh in this tournament two weeks ago and had opened the betting, had the edge with A♠ K♥ and even flopped a pair of aces, but both players had a wheel for a split pot when board ran out A♣ 5♠ 4♦ 3♣ 2♣ .

Proudflop was in the lead with 2.45 million chips five minutes later and first opened the action for a small raise, then called when past Sunday Grand NLHE winner mamamamama70 moved in for 537,738 chips total with Q♦ Q♥ . Proudflop’s 7♣ 7♦ was an even bigger underdog after the 5♦ 9♦ 9♥ flop than before it, but that sub-10-percent chance came home with the 7♥ on the turn. mamamamama70 was left out in the cold in sixth place when the 10♠ hit the river.

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Just when it looked like Proudflop would hold that lead as the calendar turned over from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning ET, eijseijs took over the top spot on the final hand of the hour with the final table’s second double-knockout. Proudflop opened the action with a raise to 74,200 chips under the gun but wouldn’t get to the flop because of all the action that followed. First 23noraB shoved for 575,188 on the button with A♥ 10♦ . Then eijseijs jammed for 1.64 million in the small blind with A♣ K♣ . And finally smir9david called for 980,320 with Q♦ Q♣ in the big blind. eijseijs struck gold on the flop and never looked back, scooping the 2.69-million-chip pot to take the chip lead after the board fell A♠ 8♦ 5♣ 7♦ 3♠ . 23noraB was gone in fifth place, smir9david in fourth, and the remaining three players went on break.

That gave eijseijs the lead when three-handed play began. Anjeyyy took it away five minutes later without showing a card after Proudflop opened for 88,000 on the button, Anjeyyy re-raised to 274,850 in the small blind, and eijseijs made it four bets for 580,205 in the big blind. Proudflop folded and Anjeyyy shoved for 2.02 million, knocking eijseijs off the 1.26-million-chip pot.

Anjeyyy’s lead slowly grew over the next 15 minutes until the Ukrainian player’s 3.76-million-chip stack was equal to the other two players’ stacks combined. Then eijseijs consolidated them, opening with J♦ J♥ on the button and calling when Proudflop re-raised all-in with A♦ 6♣ in the small blind. The board ran out ten-high, Proudflop finished in third, and the heads-up match began with a one-big-blind difference between the two players’ stacks. With both players holding 3.7 million chips and the blinds and antes still at 20,000/40,000/4,000, all signs pointed to a pitched battle ahead – and that’s exactly what came along.

They played through the break when the 1:00 a.m. ET hour rolled around. Small-ball reigned supreme and the pace was blistering, strings of small pots broken up only every now and then by a flopped two pair here or a pocket pair of aces for a double-up there, Anjeyyy’s chance at finally winning the Super Tuesday hanging in the balance all the while.

eijseijs broke through and took the lead after flopping an open-ended straight draw with 5♥ 4♠ in the big blind and getting there on the river. Anjeyyy turned things around eight minutes later, opening with K♠ J♥ on the button and calling to make three kings on the flop when eijseijs re-raised with Q♣ Q♥ in the big blind, but things were back to even within minutes.

That pattern held for a bit before Anjeyyy seemed finally to take over with a couple of wins close together, first flopping a pair of aces with A-T and then getting pocket queens to hold up minutes later on an ace-high board. Then eijseijs won three pots in quick succession and they were back to even again. After an hour of play there was rarely more than a few big blinds’ difference between their stacks for more than a few hands at a time. It took winning three pots in the span of three minutes for Anjeyyy to close out the victory.

The first saw Anjeyyy limp in on the button and then bet after being checked to on a 9♠ 8♠ 6♥ flop; eijseijs check-raised but folded when Anjeyyy moved all-in. Two hands later Anjeyyy shut the door with a value bet on the river of a K♦ 6♥ 3♣ 10♦ J♠ board, forcing eijseijs to folded with a little more than 20 big blinds left. Finally Anjeyyy limped on the button with A♠ Q♠ and made top pair on the 8♠ Q♦ 4♥ flop; eijseijs check-called bets there and after the J♣ turn and 5♦ river, showing down Q♥ 2♠ to bring the tournament to a close.

This is the first Super Tuesday win for Anjeyyy, who came so close back in 2015. It’s also the fifth-biggest cash – but biggest outright victory – of the Ukrainian player’s career here at PokerStars. Congratulations to Anjeyyy on adding another impressive finish to a long and distinguished resume!

10/24/17 Super Tuesday ($1,050 NL Hold’em) results
Entrants: 299
Total prize pool: $325,000
Places paid: 44

1. Anjeyyy (Ukraine) $61,202.83
2. eijseijs (Sweden) $45,487.06
3. Proudflop (United Kingdom) $33,806.98
4. smir9david (Germany) $25,126.07
5. 23noraB (Austria) $18,674.20
6. mamamamama70 (Sweden) $13,879.06
7. Robin “robinho” Ylitalo (Sweden) $10,315.20
8. la_benjjjjjj (United Kingdom) $7,666.49
9. weebey023 (United Kingdom) $5,697.86

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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.