This week’s Super Tuesday final table was typically full of top talent, with Apostolis “apostolis20” Bechrakis, Rhys “floppinhel” Jones, Davide “GX91” Marchi, and Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois among the final nine. None of those players made it to the heads-up deal struck by Martin “moertelmu” Mulsow and Bryan “bparis” Paris, however, with Paris being the one to go on and win this week’s Super Tuesday to claim a $71,210.74 payday.

Bryan “bparis” ParisParis won the Super Tuesday before a little over two years ago, topping a field of 575 that time to do so. There were 430 entrants in the event this week — exactly the same as a week ago — which again made for a $430,000 prize pool that well exceeded the $300K guarantee.

It took exactly five-and-a-half hours for the field to be carved down to 63 players and the money bubble to burst, at which point kjunia of Japan and ksbomb of South Korea were neck-and-neck for the chip lead.

Just about two hours after that they were down to 18, with kostinio83 having opened up a big lead with more than 1.53 million while the nearest challenger, Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois, was hovering around 880,000.

By then ksbomb had fallen below the average, then just over a half-hour later would slip further to fall in 18th. Lequenden (17th) and ismo<3seppo (16th) followed, with those three each earning $3,440.

Following them to the exit were Mads “madsamot” Amot (15th), dunny03 (14th), and kathibee488 (13th), each of whom took away $4,300. Then fer_90_1 (12th), Sunday Million winner from last year Marcin “MARCIN123” Milde (11th), and holy h3ll (10th) who also won a Sunday Million in 2015 successively went out, cashing for $5,160 apiece.

With Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois having chipped up into the lead as the only player over 2 million, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Rhys “floppinhel” Jones (United Kingdom) — 972,867
Seat 2: Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois (Canada) — 2,085,849
Seat 3: Apostolis “apostolis20” Bechrakis (Cyprus) — 638,056
Seat 4: Bryan “bparis” Paris (Canada) — 622,527
Seat 5: cmontopdeck (Germany) — 1,145,802
Seat 6: kostinio83 (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) — 1,319,149
Seat 7: Martin “moertelmu” Mulsow (Austria) — 1,548,923
Seat 8: Davide “GX91” Marchi (Malta) — 786,680
Seat 9: kjunia (Japan) — 1,630,147

About 10 minutes after the final table began, the next knockout occurred in a big three-way all-in hand involving kostinio83 and eventual heads-up opponents Martin “moertelmu” Mulsow and Bryan “bparis” Paris. It would prove a fate-altering hand, enabling Paris to avoid a ninth-place knockout and propelling both he and Mulsow toward their run toward the tourney’s end.

With the blinds 15,000/30,000, Paris open-raised all-in for nearly 560,000 from the cutoff, kostinio83 reraise-pushed for about 1.15 million from the small blind, and Mulsow called from the big blind while having both covered.

kostinio83: K♥ K♦
moertelmu: J♥ J♦
bparis: K♠ Q♦

The 10♥ 9♣ 4♣ flop and 2♥ turn kept kostinio83’s kings in front, but the river brought the J♠ , making a set for Mulsow which earned the side pot, and filling a straight for Paris to give him the main pot and enabling him to survive. Meanwhile kostinio83 — who finished fifth in the Super Tuesday just a week ago — was done in ninth.

A short while later the blinds were up to 17,500/35,000 when cmontopdeck min-raised to 70,000 from the button, Davide “GX91” Marchi reraise-shoved from the big blind, and cmontopdeck called all-in for 683,304 more. Marchi had 6♥ 6♣ and cmontopdeck A♥ J♦ , and the 8♥ 10♦ 10♣ 6♠ 7♥ board would give Marchi a full house while sending cmontopdeck railward in eighth.

Just a couple of minutes after that it was Apostolis “apostolis20” Bechrakis open-raising all-in from the button for 349,556 (just under 10 big blinds) with J♣ 10♦ and he was called by Martin “moertelmu” Mulsow in the big blind with K♥ Q♠ . The board rolled out 9♦ 5♠ 4♠ 2♣ 3♣ , and Bechrakis was eliminated in seventh.

The final six all made it past the next break and the start of the tournament’s 11th hour, then with the blinds 20,000/40,000 it was Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois raising to 90,000 from early position. It folded to kjunia who jammed for 886,397 from the big blind and Lefrancois called right away.

Lefrancois had A♥ K♦ and kjunia had J♣ 10♣ . The A♦ K♥ 6♥ flop paired Lefrancois twice, and after the 6♣ turn and 4♦ river, kjunia cashed in sixth.

More than an hour passed, with Mulsow pushing up over 4.6 million while the other four players all hovered between 1-2 million.

Soon it was Mulsow opening with a just-over-2x raise to 147,000 from the cutoff, then Rhys “floppinhel” Jones shoved for 1,118,056 from the small blind and Mulsow called. Jones had A♣ Q♦ but had run into Mulsow’s A♦ A♥ , and following a 4♠ 3♦ 10♣ 4♥ K♠ runout Jones was out in fifth.

Rhys “floppinhel” Jones About 15 minutes later Davide “GX91” Marchi had slipped to 916,914 and after posting the small blind open-pushed and got a call from Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois in the big blind. Marchi had K♣ 10♠ while Lefrancois had A♠ 4♣ . The board came 3♣ 8♥ 5♣ , then 4♠ , then 6♦ , giving Lefrancois a pair of fours and leaving Marchi with but king-high to finish in fourth.

Martin “moertelmu” Mulsow continued to lead as three-handed play commenced. Mulsow asked his two remaining opponents, Bryan “bparis” Paris and Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois, if they were interested in looking at the numbers, but neither responded and play continued.

Soon enough the blinds were 40,000/80,000 when Mulsow opened for 210,000 from the small blind, Lefrancois made it an even half-million to go from the BB, Mulsow shoved, and Lefrancois called all-in for 1,813,911 more.

Lefrancois had A♠ 9♠ and was pipped preflop by Mulsow’s A♣ 10♠ . The board rolled out 3♠ A♥ 5♦ 6♦ 5♠ , and Lefrancois was done in third.

Pascal “Pass_72” LefrancoisA couple more hands went by then the two remaining players paused the tournament to talk about a possible deal with Mulsow sitting on 6,833,914 and Paris with 3,916,086.

Martin “moertelmu” MulsowBefore numbers were even produced they’d agreed to a “chip chop” (same as “ICM” heads-up) leaving $5K for which to play, and once the recommended payouts were confirmed the heads-up duel began in earnest.

Paris eventually narrowed the gap, then took the lead by the time the tournament’s 12-hour mark arrived. Soon after that Paris had nearly 5.5 million and Mulsow about 5.25 million when the following hand took place.

With the blinds up to 45,000/90,000, Mulsow opened for 216,000 from the button and Paris called, and the players saw the flop come Q♠ 8♠ 4♦ . Paris checked, Mulsow bet 188,000, Paris check-raised to 624,420, and Mulsow called. The turn then brought the 3♦ and a bet of 1,084,369 from Paris, and Mulsow called again.

The river was the 3♥ . This time Paris shoved all-in, and Mulsow called to commit his last 3,323,022. Paris showed Q♥ 8♥ for queens and eights, and that beat Mulsow’s Q♣ J♣ for queens and treys, stopping Mulsow in second and giving Paris the pot, the extra $5K, and the Super Tuesday title.

Bryan “bparis” ParisCongratulations to Bryan “bparis” Paris for another deep run and big score on PokerStars, and kudos also to Martin “moertelmu” Mulsow for taking away nearly what Paris did thanks to the heads-up deal.

6/7/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold’em) results
Entrants: 430
Prize pool: $430,000
Places paid: 63

1. Bryan “bparis” Paris (Canada) $71,210.74*
2. Martin “moertelmu” Mulsow (Austria) $70,689.26*
3. Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois (Canada) $44,075.00
4. Davide “GX91” Marchi (Malta) $33,540.00
5. Rhys “floppinhel” Jones (United Kingdom) $23,650.00
6. kjunia (Japan) $18,275.00
7. Apostolis “apostolis20” Bechrakis (Cyprus) $13,975.00
8. cmontopdeck (Germany) $9,675.00
9. kostinio83 (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) $7,138.00
*denotes two-way deal

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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

 

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