Well now, this was probably a treat for the 1,201 players who registered early for the Sunday Warm-Up. Due to an unknown error the late registration did not kick in so instead of the normal 3,000+ runners, our shortened field got treated to a massive overlay thanks to the honored $500,000 guarantee. Also a morsel for those who abhor long tournaments, the final table took under eight hours to reach. The final nine would only last a bit more than an hour as KeyserMM profited the most from the huge overlay taking away $85,000.00 as the winner tonight.

$85,000.00 to the winner tonight as a former Sunday Million champ came ever so close to notching another big title. RichieRichZH took down the largest Sunday Million at the time in 2010 for $1.1 million. And to show RichieRichZH was not a one-hit wonder, the Swiss would make it to this tournament’s final table just last month taking sixth place for $27K. Tonight however RichieRichZH would settle for a different kind of notoriety as the Sunday Major winner would be named our final table bubble finisher earning $4,300.00 in tenth place and starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: MRCOLLE (2169739 in chips)
Seat 2: jpgossn (1663497 in chips)
Seat 3: bingogobernd (648190 in chips)
Seat 4: DBerglin (267082 in chips)
Seat 5: Pokerfan89Gr (1531062 in chips)
Seat 6: petter85 (1436248 in chips)
Seat 7: JRL2012 (1272148 in chips)
Seat 8: FeriBo (1067806 in chips)
Seat 9: KeyserMM (1984228 in chips)

That’s a good bingo, clear your cards players for another game

Normally holding 259,082 chips at this point in the tournament would have the player blinding out within a lap around the table. However, tonight with the blinds still at 20K/40K ante 4K DBerglin still had a little wiggle room to play. From UTG DBerglin would shove those 259,082 chips into the middle as it folded around to bingogobernd in the big blind with 1.5 million chips holding Q♦ 10♦ . bingogobernd made the call looking up at DBerglin’s A♥ Q♣ , but the board was forgiving laying out a third diamond on the river 5♥ 2♦ 3♥ 3♦ J♦ to end DBerglin’s run in ninth place ($5,400.00).

Not the first trip here, likely not the last

A couple of players have been to the Sunday Warm-Up final table before but lacked taking away the title. Pokerfan89Gr was one of them earning $40,560.50 in fourth place in January 2013. Tonight Pokerfan89Gr would be looking to improve on that placing as the players enjoyed a more leisurely final table. Up to the 30K/60K ante 6K blind level jpgossn would min-raise from the button as Pokerfan89Gr three-bet all-in for 1.23 million from the big blind. Holding Q♥ A♦ jpgossn covered and made the call. Pocket twos 2♠ 2♣ looked to be a winner for Pokerfan89Gr going into the river, but a lady J♣ J♦ 4♦ 3♣ Q♦ decided to appear making Pokerfan89Gr disappear in eighth place ($9,750.00).

Dauber runs dry

After another blind jump to 40K/80K ante 8K the action heated up despite the players still enjoyed the shortened blinds compared to their stacks. bingogobernd, another former final tablist here hoping to the take title tonight after winning $69,615.00 as the runner-up in June 2013, would pushed a shortened stack of 281,410 from the cutoff. petter85, who was instrumental in shortening bingogobernd’s stack made the call from the button holding A♥ 10♥ . bingogobernd’s Q♥ K♠ would find not one but two kings on the board, but one was the king of hearts which helped petter85’s flush draw K♥ 2♥ K♣ 5♠ 7♥ get there ending bingogobernd’s night in seventh place ($14,750.00).

Action heating up

Just seven hands later as the blinds held at 40K/80K ante 8K KeyserMM and JRL2012 would create a 1.55 million chip preflop pot. Watch below as one of them would walk away to threaten jpgossn’s chip lead, and the other would just walk away:

KeyserMM’s A♣ 10♦ did not need the ten in the door 10♥ 5♣ 5♦ 8♥ 4♦ to defeat JRL2012’s K♦ J♦ but nonetheless it sent JRL2012 home in sixth place ($19,750.00).

Barking up the wrong tree

Five players would make it past the ninth hourly break. Shortly, after the five minute interlude only four would remain. With the blinds up to 50K/100K ante 10K MRCOLLE tried to open shove from the small blind with 1.3 million chips for some easy points. However, jpgossn was not in with the plan to give up the big blind easily and made the call with pocket nines 9♣ 9♦ . MRCOLLE’s 4♠ K♣ would fail to properly hit the 5♥ 2♥ 6♠ 2♠ A♥ board finishing in fifth place ($24,750.00).

jp is the player to beat

After sending MRCOLLE to the sidelines jpgossn was not done rooting out more people from the table. Five hands later still in the 50K/100K ante 10K blind level jpgossn would min-raise from the button as FeriBo, who clung on to a shortstack for most of the final table made a push from the big blind for 1.1 million. jpgossn once again held the goods J♣ A♥ and made the call. Despite catching straight outs on the flop, FeriBo’s 10♣ K♦ could not overcome 7♥ A♦ Q♣ 5♦ 7♠ ending the night in fourth place ($34,000.00).

All for the glory of Westeros?

Maybe the reason for the shortened field tonight was so the Sunday Warm-Up players could enjoy the Game of Thrones season four premiere tonight. Well, our final three tried their hardest to finish off the tournament in haste. With the blinds moving up to 65K/130K ante 13K the tournament would conclude in just three hands. First, KeyserMM would min-raise from the button holding on to a fattened stack of 6.09 million after doubling through jpgossn. petter85 was not intimidated and three-bet to 650,000 from the big blind. KeyserMM called as both players checked the 2♣ 7♠ 7♣ flop. petter85 took a 520,000 chip stab after the A♥ came out on the turn as KeyserMM was not going away and called. 8♦ river and petter85 upped the bet to 1.43 million but again KeyserMM was there and shoved the chip leading stack. petter85 holding A♣ J♦ made the call but saw the unfortunate river hit KeyserMM’s kicker 8♥ A♠ earning petter85 $47,450.00 in third place.

Two hands later KeyserMM would solve the kicker problems for last time in the hand below:

jpgossn had a great chance to dent the 1.88 million to 10.1 million chip deficit holding A♦ J♣ to KeyserMM’s 10♦ A♥ . But, the ten on the flop 3♦ 10♣ 2♠ A♣ 2♣ would hand KeyserMM the Sunday Warm-Up title and $85,000.00!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results (04-06-14):

Players entered: 1,204
Places paid: 171
Prize pool: $500,000.00

1. KeyserMM (Germany) $85,000.00
2. jpgossn (Argentina) $62,500.00
3. petter85 (Sweden) $47,450.00
4. FeriBo (Bulgaria) $34,000.00
5. MRCOLLE (Brazil) $24,750.00
6. JRL2012 (United Kingdom) $19,750.00
7. bingogobernd (Germany) $14,750.00
8. Pokerfan89Gr (Greece) $9,750.00
9. DBerglin (Sweden) $5,400.00

David Aydt is a freelance contributor

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