There are plenty of PokerStars players who know a thing or two about staying patient in the face of tough competition. Leandro “leitalopez” Bustillo of Argentina is among their ranks. Having once battled three hours against Roman “RomeOpro” Romanovskyi to win a WCOOP title and nearly $300K along with it, he was more than ready for the final table of this week’s Super Tuesday. leitalopez maintained full composure through four hours of deep-stacked poker against a lineup that included several recent finalists and multiple winners of major titles, reaching heads-up play at a disadvantage before coming from behind to lay claim to his first career Super Tuesday title.

Pimmss, who made the Super Tuesday final three weeks ago and finished fifth, had another strong run this week. The Dutch player enjoyed a stretch as chip leader with four tables left, right about the time that the money bubble popped, but slowly slipped into short-stack status. Pimmss eventually got in ahead on the final table bubble after shoving with A♠ 3♣ in the big blind. deeflame7 called from the small blind with 6♦ 5♠ and caught the 5♣ on the flop, ending Pimmss’s tournament in 10th and setting up our final lineup.

Seat 1: deeflame7 (612,252 in chips) took third in the 8/29/18 Super Tuesday
Seat 2: MaltLiquor40 (341,314 in chips) runner-up in the 5/2/17 Super Tuesday
Seat 3: ButIHasPair (596,803 in chips)
Seat 4: random_chu (917,855 in chips) past SCOOP-High finalist & Sunday Warm-Up runner-up
Seat 5: Santiniii (223,672 in chips)
Seat 6: prophetdream (309,772 in chips) took third for $678K in Sunday Million 10th Anniversary
Seat 7: girafganger7 (1,011,999 in chips) past TCOOP & WCOOP champion
Seat 8: Manu “manuverd0n” Bardón (242,035 in chips) past Sunday Warm-Up champ & Super Tuesday final table bubble finisher
Seat 9: Leandro “leitalopez” Bustillo (419,298 in chips) WCOOP 2016 Sunday Million SE winner

MaltLiquor40 doubled up 10 minutes in after min-raising before the flop with Q♥ Q♠ and then calling all-in when girafganger7 jammed from the small blind with pocket deuces. Manu “manuverd0n” Bardón opened the action all-in from the cutoff seat with J♣ 10♣ three hands later, only to have deeflame7 call in the small blind with K♦ K♠ . manuverd0n flopped a straight draw and got there on the river of the 9♣ Q♥ 9♠ 10♠ K♣ board, but the same card gave deeflame7 kings full of sevens and sent manuverd0n to the rail in ninth. Santiniii followed in eighth three hands later, after check-raising all-in with 9♣ 8♣ for a gutshot draw on the same flop that gave ButIHasPair a set of sevens.

Only 20 minutes had passed and the 6,000/12,000/1,200 blinds and antes and two empty seats suggested that the brisk early pace might slow down considerably. So it did. Other than mucking at showdown in a pot where ButIHasPair’s A♠ Q♦ had paired on the flop, deeflame7’s return to the Super Tuesday final was quiet for most of the next hour. Then the German player was dealt 6♣ 6♠ on the button and committed with those sixes, re-raising all-in on the button after girafganger7 opened in the hijack seat with 8♥ 8♠ . girafganger7 called and won with aces and eights after the board came K♦ A♥ A♣ 4♠ 7♣ , ending deeflame7’s tournament in seventh.

The next hour of play closely resembled the previous hour but it was much less productive for girafganger7. The Belgian player was only able to win four pots, none of them particularly large, during that time and was the table’s short stack when prophetdream opened the action all-in from the small blind. girafganger7 called for 277,383 chips total and had the best of it with K♠ 5♣ against prophetdream’s J♥ 10♥ but was drawing dead by the turn of the 4♠ Q♥ 8♣ 9♦ 6♠ board. prophetdream won the pot with a queen-high straight and girafganger7 departed in sixth. Then prophetdream won a race two hands later with 8♥ 8♦ , beating MaltLiquor40’s A♠ Q♦ to bust the Canadian in fifth.

Taking down that 580,866-chip pot moved prophetdream into second place about 15 big blinds behind leitalopez. The two shorter-stacked players both had slightly more than 20 big blinds themselves, presenting a challenge as they looked for ways back into the game. Both proved to be up for that challenge as the game remained four-handed for the next hour and a half. prophetdream and random_chu both survived multiple all-in situations, while ButIHasPair survived once after flopping two pair against leitalopez in the early going.

Only leitalopez avoided putting the tournament on the line during this stretch. In fact, outside of losing one key pot with A♥ 10♠ for a pair of tens against ButIHasPair’s tens and treys, leitalopez was the most consistent winner at the table. The majority of those wins were small but they provided a solid foundation for waiting out the storm.

When the game finally changed, it changed drastically – and quickly. First prophetdream, who had lost with K♥ K♠ a few hands earlier when random_chu called in the big blind with 6♠ 3♠ and flopped a seven-high straight, opened all-in for 433,799 chips on the button with A♦ 6♠ . leitalopez isolated in the small blind with A♠ 8♥ and made aces and eights on the 4♠ 7♣ A♣ 8♠ 7♠ board, eliminating prophetdream in fourth. Then ButIHasPair opened all-in for 1.04 million from the small blind on the next hand, holding K♥ 10♦ , and random_chu called with A♣ J♥ . The board ran out 4♦ Q♣ 8♦ 2♦ 8♣ , random_chu took the pot, and ButIHasPair left in third.

“glad u made it leita,” random_chu said as heads-up play began. “ur good ppl.” “u 2 mate,” said leitalopez, and the game was on.

leitalopez dropped nearly half his stack in the first 10 minutes before opening all-in with Q♠ 10♦ on the button. random_chu called with A♦ J♥ but lost the 2.1-million-chip pot when the 10♥ fell on the river to keep leitalopez in the game.

Five minutes later the lead finally changed hands after leitalopez limped on the button and called random_chu’s big-blind re-raise; leitalopez called on the flop and checked on the turn before moving all-in over the top of random_chu’s bet on the river of the 6♠ K♣ 4♣ 9♦ 3♣ board. random_chu folded there but quickly went back on the offensive, winning 12 pots in the next 12 minutes. Then the Canadian player took a stand, calling all-in with A♣ 8♦ after min-raising on the button and having leitalopez re-raise all-in. leitalopez made the call and showed A♠ 9♣ , which remained ahead after the board came 10♣ Q♥ 7♠ 5♦ Q♣ to bring an epic final table to its conclusion.

It took a long time but leitalopez’s patience paid off in the end. Congratulations to him on grinding out a win against some tough competition!

12/12/17 Super Tuesday ($1,050 NL Hold’em) results
Entrants: 187
Total prize pool: $200,000
Places paid: 26

1. Leandro “leitalopez” Bustillo (Argentina) $39,702.72
2. random_chu (Canada) $30,170.82
3. ButIHasPair (Germany) $22,927.34
4. prophetdream (South Korea) $17,422.90
5. MaltLiquor40 (Canada) $13,239.98
6. girafganger7 (Belgium) $10,061.30
7. deeflame7 (Germany) $7,645.76
8. Santiniii (Austria) $5,810.16
9. Manu “manuverd0n” Bardón (United Kingdom) $4,415.24

---

Join now, play the Super Tuesday next week. Click here to open your PokerStars account today.

---

Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.

Back to Top