The Sunday Million, the weekly $215 no-limit hold’em tournament that serves as the marquee event among the many Sunday tournament offerings on PokerStars, once again drew a big field of 6,051 this week, making for a $1,210,200 prize pool that easily bested the $1 million guarantee. It would take more than 11-and-a-half hours for those 6,051 to play down to just one, and it was Colombia’s darluna who was the player claiming all of the chips and the biggest share of that prize pool.

darluna earned $159,483.14 for the win following a four-handed final table deal, having taken the lead once they were down to two tables and kept it for much of the final table on the way to the win. Here’s the story of how darluna did it.

It took exactly five hours to play down to 900 players and the money bubble to burst, at which point Joakim2k of Norway was the one leading the counts.

Just under two-and-a-half hours later 100 players remained. By then Joakim2k had slipped in the counts to be eliminated in 439th for a cash of $435.67, while untouchble10 of Moldova had elevated to the top of the counts.

A little more than two hours after that they were down to 18, with untouchble10 still there with a below average stack and Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer among the players knocked out in the interim (57th, $1,924.21) after spending much of his Sunday on Twitch.

 

Another great sunday comes to an end on a 57th place in the sunday million. Good night twitch.

— George Danzer (@trickyscarfy) January 18, 2016

Meanwhile, by then darluna was leading the way with a stack of nearly 8.3 million.

madpete2 (18th), dinammo (17th), and Karakousis (16th) were the next players out, earning $3,388.56 apiece. isinm2006 (15th), CristiHot (14th), and Chirkov77 (13th) followed, taking away $5,082.84 each. thejoka59 (12th), Saitek00 (11th), and Ms/Phillmore (10th) then each were knocked out, with each of them cashing for $6,777.12.

With darluna still in front and the tournament having crossed the 10-hour mark, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Nairam “marjanko89” Kim (Ukraine) — 6,220,263
Seat 2: Allwill move (Russia) — 2,568,962
Seat 3: Toroo13 (Costa Rica) — 7,573,300
Seat 4: dulek_jason (Poland) — 2,351,899
Seat 5: darluna (Colombia) — 16,857,574
Seat 6: doublefish87 (China) — 1,652,490
Seat 7: Eat_U_Up_ha (Canada) — 12,958,648
Seat 8: untouchble10 (Moldova) — 5,179,253
Seat 9: Mpa3yka (Russia) — 5,147,611

On the very first hand of the final table, untouchble10 picked up pocket aces and managed to double through Eat_U_Up_ha’s ace-king to jump up into second position. Then on the second hand of the final table came the next knockout.

The blinds were 125K/250K with a 25K ante, and after darluna raised to 525,000 from late position, doublefish87 three-bet all in for just over 1.6 million and darluna called. It was A♦ 10♦ for doublefish87 and A♣ J♣ for darluna. The flop came A♠ 10♣ K♣ to give doublefish87 two pair but also a flush draw for darluna. Then the J♥ fell on the turn to give darluna the better two pair. The river was a blank — the 2♥ — and doublefish87 was out in ninth.

Just a half-dozen hands after that, Allwill move open-raised all in from middle position for almost 1.6 million and Eat_U_Up_ha reraise-pushed from the small blind to isolate. Eat_U_Up_ha had Q♣ Q♠ while Allwill move had A♠ 10♦ , and after the board rolled out 5♥ J♣ 5♦ 3♣ 9♦ , Allwill move was done in eighth.

A few minutes after that, darluna raised to 525,000 from early position, Mpa3kya called from the button, and the flop came K♦ 5♠ 7♦ . darluna checked, Mpa3yka bet 608,000, darluna shoved, and Mpa3yka called all in with the almost 300,000 left. darluna had 8♥ 6♦ and an open-ended straight draw while Mpa3yka had top pair with K♣ J♣ . The 4♠ then fell on fourth streeet to fill darluna’s straight and make the 6♥ river no matter, and Mpa3yka was out in seventh.

The last six players pushed on a bit longer, then came a couple more knockouts on consecutive hands.

The blinds were up to 200K/400K, and in the first Eat_U_Up_ha open-raised all in for about 3.7 million from UTG and got one caller in untouchble10 from the next seat. Eat_U_Up_ha had 2♠ 2♣ and was hoping the small pair would hold against untouchble10’s A♠ K♥ . But the community cards came 9♥ 4♠ 4♥ K♦ 4♣ , giving untouchble10 a better full house and ending Eat_U_Up_ha’s run in sixth.

The on the next hand it was Nairam “marjanko89” Kim open-raising all in for about 4.65 million from UTG with Toroo13 reraise-pushing from the next seat to clear the field. Kim had K♦ J♣ and Toroo13 10♠ 10♦ . The 5♥ 3♦ 2♥ flop changed nothing, but the 10♥ turn gave Toroo13 a set and left Kim drawing dead to finish fifth.

At that the final four soon stopped the tournament to talk about a possible deal, with darluna still on top (22.36 million), untouchable10 next (18.98 million), Toroo13 third (11.94 million), and dulek_jason fourth (7.23 million). They quickly agreed to an “ICM”-based chop of the remaining prize pool — saving $20K for which to play — and continued onward.

A little while later the blinds were 250K/500K when dulek_jason opened for 6.5 million from the cutoff, leaving just under 160,000 behind, and when untouchble10 reraised from the big blind, dulek_jason called off the rest, showing K♦ 9♥ to untouchble10’s A♦ J♥ . Five cards later — 7♣ 3♠ J♣ 5♦ 8♠ — dulek_jason was out in fourth.

untouchble10 enjoyed the lead at three-handed for a while, right up through the break that came at the 11-and-a-half-hour mark of the tournament. But then darluna managed to double-up with a flush through untouchble10 to grab back the advantage, and it didn’t take much longer after that for a winner to be decided.

With the blinds at 300K/600K, untouchble10 raised to 1.272 million from the button/UTG, leader darluna reraised to 3 million even from the big blind, and untouchble10 called. The flop came 6♥ 2♥ 8♣ , darluna led for 2.4 million, and untouchble10 called. The turn then brought the K♦ and a check from darluna. untouchble10 fired 4.2 million, then darluna pushed all in and untouchble10 called with the 9.26 million behind.

untouchble10 had K♠ J♠ for kings, but darluna had A♦ A♥ for aces, and after the 2♠ river untouchble10 was out in third.

That pot put darluna at 47,663,168 to start heads-up versus Toroo13 who had 12,846,832. They played eight hands with darluna winning all but one of them to push up close to 58 million while Toroo13 dropped down to 2.53 million.

Then Toroo13 open-raised all in and darluna called. Toroo13 had 6♦ 4♣ while darluna had 8♠ 4♦ , and after a runout of 2♥ Q♥ 2♣ 3♠ K♦ , it was all over — darluna had won.

Congratulations to darluna for outlasting more than 6,000 opponents to win this week’s Sunday Million, and kudos also to the other three players who made it to the four-handed table deal to ensure themselves handsome paydays as well.

1/17/16 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold’em) results
Entrants:  6,051
Prize pool: $1,210,200
Places paid: 900

1. darluna (Colombia) $159,483.14*
2. Toroo13 (Costa Rica) $105,505.94*
3. untouchble10 (Moldova) $128,463.80*
4. dulek_jason (Poland) $90,147.18*
5. marjanko89 (Ukraine) $50,828.40
6. Eat_U_Up_ha (Canada) $38,726.40
7. Mpa3yka (Russia) $26,624.40
8. Allwill move (Russia) $14,522.40
9. doublefish87 (China) $9,379.05
* = denotes a four-way deal leaving $20,000 for the winner

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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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