The end of MicroMillions 5 is looming. Tomorrow’s $22 MicroMillions Main Event and $11 Sunday Storm Special Edition will have $1.3 million in guaranteed prize money between them, wrapping this series up on a high note. Both are hold’em tournaments, which made today a good day to practice since the Saturday schedule was packed with a wide variety of two-card events. Among them was Event 84, an $8.80 freezeout with a $50,000 guarantee.

Even with a slightly higher buy-in than most of the other hold’em freezeouts on the MicroMillions 5 schedule – or perhaps because of it – Event 84 drew a sizable field of 10,289 players. That built an $82,312 total prize pool that would pay out 1,350 players, with $11,760.99 going to the winner. After exactly nine hours the field had been culled to the final nine players, with blinds and antes at 150K/300K/37.5K and the chips arranged like this:

Seat 1: siggisieg (11,673,402 in chips)
Seat 2: cookie_41190 (2,202,036 in chips)
Seat 3: TurgonNoldor (8,035,165 in chips)
Seat 4: TimW22 (6,887,047 in chips)
Seat 5: ydra (1,028,324 in chips)
Seat 6: p_soosmar (8,034,070 in chips)
Seat 7: slinkyshop (5,646,406 in chips)
Seat 8: login_st (3,480,928 in chips)
Seat 9: AAp_OL (4,457,622 in chips)

The first player to make a significant move was Iran’s p_soosmar, who had the button on Hand #3 of the final table and called a raise to 600K from the Czech Republic’s TurgonNoldor. The flop came 7♠ 8♣ 6♥ and TurgonNoldor led out for 1.2M into the 1.98M-chip pot, only to be raised to 6.87M by p_soosmar’s all-in bet. After going into the time bank for a bit, TurgonNoldor found a fold and p_soosmar chipped up to 10.05M, good for second place at the table.

Short-stack whack-a-mole

At the other end of the spectrum was Greece’s yrsa, whose already short stack had been reduced to 690K by a small blind and five antes by Hand #5. That’s when the Greek player picked up A♣ 8♥ and moved all-in. Canada’s slinkyshop made a minimum raise to 1.08M on the button and cleared out the players on the button and in the blinds, then turned up A♥ Q♠ . Help never arrived on the 3♣ J♦ 2♦ 7♦ 10♥ board and ydra was out in 9th place ($576.18).

Australian player cookie_41190 was now the owner of the shortest stack at 2.01M and had the big blind on Hand #6. Dealt A♠ 6♥ , cookie_41190 called after the action folded around to the small blind and Germany’s siggisieg moved all-in for 11.14M with 10♣ 9♦ . The favorite stayed ahead on the 4♥ K♣ K♦ flop but was left with just three outs after the 10♦ came on the turn. The 7♣ then hit the river, sending cookie_41190 to the rail in 8th place ($905.43).

The next five hands went by without seeing a flop before Russia’s login_st picked up 7♥ 7♠ and moved all-in for 2.65M from the button. Canada’s AAp_OL moved in from the small blind for 464K more with A♥ 6♥ , which ran siggisieg off in the big blind to get heads-up. The 6.06M-chip pot went to login_st after the board came J♠ 8♠ 5♥ 3♠ 9♣ , leaving AAp_OL with just over one big blind.

That sum went in the middle from the button on the next hand with K♥ J♣ , and both siggisieg and TurgonNoldor called from the blinds. They checked down the Q♣ 10♣ K♣ 8♣ 4♦ board and AAp_OL won the 1.59M-chip pot with a club flush. The Canadian player was able to steal a round of blinds and antes to stay alive but ended up moving all-in from the button for precisely that amount on Hand #20. Instead of getting two flat calls, this time siggisieg moved all-in for 11.89M and TurgonNoldor called all-in for 5.68M. AAp_OL held Q♠ 5♠ , siggisieg A♦ 8♠ , and TurgonNoldor A♣ K♠ ; none of them improved on the 3♣ 4♣ 10♣ 2♠ 7♠ board, TurgonNoldor seized the chip lead with the 13.3M-chip pot, and AAp_OL left in 7th place ($1,646.24).

Under siggisiege

siggisieg had 6.16M left after paying the 50K ante on the next hand, which saw the German player catch a bit of good fortune after getting in behind:

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Losing out there after getting in as nearly a 3-to-1 favorite left slinkyshop with just 571K. With the 400K big blind looming large, the Canadian player moved that sum in from under the gun on the next hand with 6♣ 5♥ . Both the United Kingdom’s TimW22 in the small blind and p_soosmar in the big blind called and then checked the 8♥ 8♦ 6♠ flop. TimW22 check-called an 800K bet on the 2♠ turn but bailed to a bet of 2M on the 2♥ river. p_soosmar turned up K♦ 8♣ for eights full of deuces and slinkyshop exited in 6th place ($2,469.36).

Four hands later, with the blinds and antes now up to 250K/500K/62.5K, the two short stacks at the table would clash when login_st moved in for 3.33M under the gun with K♦ J♣ and TimW22 called in the big blind with 6♥ 6♣ . TimW22 stayed ahead on the 2♦ 8♦ 7♣ flop but fell behind on the J♦ turn. The Q♠ on the river gave login_st the 7.23M-chip pot and left TimW22 in rough shape with 2.09M.

As it turned out login_st would be the next player to bust. The Russian player opened the betting on Hand #30 by moving all-in for 7.29M on the button with A♣ A♦ and got a quick call from siggisieg in the small blind with Q♠ Q♥ , only to see the flop come 7♥ Q♣ 6♣ and give siggisieg top set. The 8♣ on the turn left 11 outs going to the river, but the 3♦ hit and login_st was gone in 5th place ($3,292.48).

TimW22 goes up, must come down

siggisieg’s good fortune gave the German player 23.22M chips and a big advantage over the other three remaining players. Most distressed of them all was TimW22, who held just 2.65M. The blinds and antes had whittled that down to 1.65M four hands later when the player from the U.K. moved all-in under the gun with 4♥ 2♥ . siggisieg called with the dominating A♠ 2♣ , but TimW22 promptly stacked up to 4.05M after flopping a straight and having the board run out A♥ 5♣ 3♥ Q♦ Q♣ .

Three hands later TimW22’s run would come to an end after moving all-in for 3.11M from the button with J♥ 9♦ . p_soosmar moved all-in from the small blind to isolate with 6♣ 6♠ , siggisieg folded in the big blind, and the flop came 6♦ 3♦ 8♠ to give p_soosmar middle set. TimW22 needed running cards to a straight to win the pot, but those evaporated on the 8♣ turn. The river was the meaningless K♣ and TimW22 finished in 4th place ($4,115.60).

Tur-gone

The table was now three-handed with the chips distributed like this:

Seat 1: siggisieg (22,138,524 in chips)
Seat 3: TurgonNoldor (12,909,524 in chips)
Seat 6: p_soosmar (16,396,952 in chips)

There was a lull in major confrontations for a little while the blinds and antes rose to 300K/600K/75K. siggisieg maintain roughly the same stack and TurgonNoldor switch places with p_soosmar in the chip counts. Then the German player moved further ahead at TurgonNoldor’s expense on Hand #56:

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On Hand #57 TurgonNoldor looked to be in good position to more than make up for that loss after opening the betting for 1.37M with A♦ 7♦ and calling after p_soosmar shoved for 9.43M total with K♠ 3♣ . The 8♥ 5♥ 10♣ flop was safe but the K♦ came on the turn and TurgonNoldor suddenly needed one of the three remaining aces to avoid being crippled to less than 10 big blinds. But the 10♥ hit the river and p_soosmar won the 19.09M-chip pot.

The tournament came to an end for TurgonNoldor on the very next hand after the Czech player moved in from the button with K♥ 8♠ and ended up facing p_soosmar, who held A♥ 8♣ . Without any help from the 2♠ 5♦ 10♥ J♣ 10♠ board, TurgonNoldor was eliminated in 3rd place ($6,128.12).

p_soosmar closes it out

Siggisieg held a lead of about six blinds entering heads-up play with 27.62M chips to p_soosmar’s 23.81M. The German player took three of the first four pots before p_soosmar responded by winning the next six in a row to move in front with 30.41M, mostly via well-timed post-flop bets. siggisieg managed to push back a little, but the most significant pots went to p_soosmar, including this one on Hand #74:

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Just four hands later p_soosmar picked up 3♦ 3♣ on the button and opened for a minimum raise to 1.2M. siggisieg jammed for for 16.45M total and p_soosmar didn’t waste too much time making the call. The German player held A♠ 6♥ , which was 45 percent to win a pot that would turn the tide of the heads-up match. That percentage dipped on the 2♦ Q♥ 7♠ flop and 7♣ turn, bottoming out after the 5♠ hit the river to bring the tournament to an end.

Despite coming in with the chip lead and catching a few pretty big breaks, siggisieg came up just short of the title in second place. The $8,642.76 prize, a career best, should be soothing in that regard. As for p_soosmar, who became the second Iranian player to win an event in MicroMillions 5, the win was worth $11,760.99, good for a spot in the top 25 among all players during the series. If there weren’t already enough incentive to play all the events tomorrow, a newly flush bankroll should do the trick.

MicroMillions 5 Event #84: $8.80 NL Hold’em
10,289 entrants
$82,312 prize pool
1,350 places paid

1st place: p_soosmar (Iran) $11,760.99
2nd place: siggisieg (Germany) $8,642.76
3rd place: TurgonNolder (Czech Republic) $6,128.12
4th place: TimW22 (United Kingdom) $4,115.60
5th place: login_st (Russia) $3,292.48
6th place: slinkyshop (Canada) $2,469.36
7th place: AAp_OL (Canada) $1,646.24
8th place: cookie_41190 (Australia) $905.43
9th place: ydra (Greece) $576.18

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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