The Sunday Briefing: "benislovas" Wins 7th Anniversary Sunday Million for $848,000

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Sunday Briefing

Sunday marked the seventh anniversary of online poker's most celebrated weekly tournament: the PokerStars Sunday Million. To commemorate the historic event, PokerStars tagged a $7 million guaranteed prize pool to the tournament, with at least $1 million going to the winner. The spectacle attracted more than 49,000 players, making it the third largest Sunday Million ever.

After more than 15 hours of play, Lithuania's "benislovas" was crowned winner. A three-way deal at the final table resulted in "benislovas" earning $848,589. High-stakes cash game player David "sexygee" Gent finished runner-up for $836,324, and Germany's "Kasra84" secured $813,370 for third place.

Other than the 7th Anniversary Sunday Million, the regular slate of Sunday majors took place on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Among the notables collecting big scores were Vadim "vadka" Shlez, Jon "EMSBas" Spinks, Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy, and Brandon "CompleteDonk" Barnes, who made two major final tables and collected more than $110,000 combined.

Here's a look at the results from the Sunday Majors:

PokerStars Sunday Million 7th Anniversary ($7M Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+$1549,287$9,857,400

Only at PokerStars can you win $1.2 million playing a tournament with a $200 buy-in. The PokerStars Sunday Million was massive this week as 49,287 players logged in to play the 7th Anniversary event, creating a prize pool of nearly $10 million. Here's how it compared to the biggest Sunday Millions ever:

TournamentEntrantsPrize PoolFirst-Place Prize
PokerStars 10th Anniversary Sunday Million Special62,116$12,423,200$1,146,575 (after six-handed deal)
PokerStars Sunday Million 5th Anniversary59,128$11,825,600$671,094 (after nine-handed deal)
PokerStars Sunday Million 7th Anniversary49,827$9,857,400$848,589 (after three-handed deal)
PokerStars Sunday Million 4th Anniversary36,169$7,223,800$1,141,510
PokerStars Sunday Million 6th Anniversary33,732$6,746,400$480,761 (after eight-handed deal)

Many notable poker pros made the money of Sunday's momentous event. Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (1,876th - $887) busted when his 10?10? couldn't hold against his opponent's Q?J? when the board ran out A?6?2?J?Q?. Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen (754th - $1,183) fell at the 15,000/30,000/3,000 level. Action folded to Guillen in the cutoff and he committed his last 226,167 with J?10?. The player in the big blind called and tabled a dominating J?J?, eliminating Guillen when the board ran out 6?4?4?5?K?. Nicolas "niccc" Chouity (555th - $1,479) busted in a blind-versus-blind situation, with his 8?8? falling to an opponent's A?K? when an ace landed on the turn.

Others making deep runs were Flavius "puicachamp" Puica (45th - $8,872), Joris "Tyren0" Ruys (101st - $4,732), and Steve "HR_Dub" Williams (266th - $2,859).

The final table was headlined by David "sexygee" Gee, who was looking to add a Sunday Million title to his victories in the Sunday Second Chance and Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) at PokerStars. Gent was chasing chip leader "benislovas" when play began.

SeatPlayerChips
1Dave "sexygee" Gent45,572,147
2rewgr343103,278,786
3n0rflip50,049,172
4Heminsley24,658,844
5benislovas143,157,856
6stradale43030,116,152
7Andrey "2outs4cake" Lidgey20,948,734
8pellompogos28,597,346
9Kasra8446,490,963

After proposals for a nine-way deal were shot down by Gent, "Heminsley" was the first player to hit the rail at the final table. "Heminsley" three-bet all-in preflop with A?Q? and was called by the original raiser, "n0rflip," who was trailing with A?3?.

The Sunday Briefing: "benislovas" Wins 7th Anniversary Sunday Million for 8,000 101
David \"sexygee\" Gent

But the 6?3?2? spelled disaster for"Heminsley" who needed to hit a nonspade queen to regain the lead. The 10? on the turn brought the flush for "n0rflip," and "Heminsley" exited in ninth place.

It took a while for the next knockout to occur, but it began a flurry of eliminations. "rewgr343" exited in eighth place at the hands of "benislovas," and then four players followed in the next seven hands: Andrey "2outs4cake" Lidgey (7th �� $117,303), "stradale430" (6th �� $181,376), "pellompogos" (5th �� $254,321), and "n0rflip" (4th �� $358,809). That left the final three battling for the top payday of $1.2 million, but they elected to make a deal that would ensure each of them at least $700,000 with another $140,000 going to the winner.

With a deal in place, "Kasra84" was the next to go when his K?J? failed to improve against the pocket fives of "benislovas." The Lithuanian held a three-to-one chip lead over Gent when heads-up play began, and it took only seven hands to finish the tournament. With the blinds at 2.5M/5M, Gent min-raised from the button and "benislovas" called to see a flop of 10?Q?3?. "Benislovas"check-called a bet of 10,000,000 and the 4? hit the turn. "Benislovas" checked again, and Gent bet 20,000,000. This time he was met with a check-raise from the Lithuanian, enough to put Gent all in. Gent called with K?J? and needed help against his opponent's 9?10?, but the 10? on the river gave "benislovas" trip tens and the Sunday Million title.

Here's a look at the final table results:

PlacePlayerPrize
1benislovas$848,589*
2Dave "sexygee" Gent$836,321*
3Kasra84$813,370*
4n0rflip$358,809
5pellompogos$254,321
6stradale430$181,376
7Andrey "2outs4cake" Lidgey$117,303
8rewgr343$85,759
9Heminsley$62,102

*denotes three-handed deal

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+$154,595$919,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1LeBronn2333$144,173
2Vadim "vadka" Shlez$107,064
3caicu$75,818
4Tudlenudle$51,924
5zuckmeout$39,058
6wlalex$29,868
7Maksim "MAMOHT_T" Viktorovich$20,678
8kay3000$11,588
9AZAZRLLL0$7,352

Notable Finishes: Joao Mathias ��joaoMathias�� Baumgarten (22nd - $2,288), Melanie "Callisto 5" Weisner (25th - $2,288), Jesper "KipsterDK" Hourgaard (30th - $2,022), Mayu "marocca5" Roca (33rd - $2,022), Martin ""0PIGGYBANK"" Finger (42nd - $1,875)

Full Tilt $350K Guarantee ($350K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+$162,257$451,400
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Jon "EMSBas" Spinks$67,283
*2Brandon "CompleteDonk" Barnes$65,169
*3Luke "magikstick8" Vrabel$54,744
4SamSaymon$31,598
5dedmagor$23,473
6Peter "Belabacsi" Traply$17,153
7Runn Ingod$12,188
8AAStranger88$8,577
9He3Haika$5,868

*denotes three-handed deal

Notable Finishes: Mathew "matfrankland" Frankland (11th - $4,063), Nick "FU_15" Maimone (12th - $4,063), Steve "gboro780" Gross (15th - $2,979)

Full Tilt Sunday Brawl ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$240+$161,194$238,800
PlacePlayerPrize
1George "gkap13" Kapalas$47,760
2liveplz$31,808
3Casey "bigdogpckt5s" Jarzabek$22,686
4heavenwalker$16,955
5Ruben "ruenrtv" Visser$12,656
6ekziter$9,313
7Eiffel$6,925
8jonito21$5,015
9Michael "mossified84" Skomac$3,582

Notable Finishes: Mark "Eppy1" Epstein (11th - $2,388), Clark "Snake8484" Hamagami (25th - $1,027), Bryan "enterthewu19" Piccioli (26th - $1,027)

PokerStars Sunday 500 ($300K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$500+$301,274$637,000
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Andrzejeczek$100,213
*2triathlon4$84,517
3Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy$58,923
4pimmie$43,316
5BubibrokeLeg$31,213
6ricardo_ce$24,843
7Lena900$18,473
8Jakezesnake$12,103
9Isyrider83$6,561

*denotes heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Shyam "G's zee" Srinivasan (15th - $4,141), Yorane "viirusss" Kerignard (24th - $2,548), Rupert "ElRupert" Elder (27th - $2,548)

PokerStars $109 Sunday Rebuy ($225K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$100+$91,357$438,700
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Banderivets$64,632
*2Brandon "TheMatadorCC" Barnes$44,845
*3TopLad14$52,025
*4jxarturo$52,847
5toril274$23,032
6TheBigHound$18,645
7Jordan "Jymaster11" Young$14,258
8BetzPH$9,871
9zugzwang16$6,142

*denotes four-handed deal

Notable Finishes: Nicolas "niccc" Chouity (14th - $3,290), Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (21st - $1,755), Stavros "IDOLLS" Kalfas (24th - $1,755)

PokerStars Bigger $109 ($160K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$100+$94,773$477,300
PlacePlayerPrize
*1KingKaizers$70,487
*2rent82$60,000
3PushItDown$39,377
4arietm$26,967
5iwearsandals$20,285
6billmanth1$15,512
7tone2toni$10,739
8EEE27$5,966
9o23oSyD$3,818

*denotes heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Daniel "DazzleO" Ospina (14th - $2,148), Luke "LukeFromB13" Staudenmaier (31st - $1,050)

PokerStars Bigger $162 ($150K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$150+$122,644$396,600
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Gribnogrib$53,920
*2secky_yuki$55,807
3No.Brains10$33,711
4David "davidv1213" Vamplew$23,201
5log1c7$17,649
6nicodaalmeer$13,683
7Chop_Chop96$9,717
8vinifenomeno$5,751
9Andrew "achen" Chen$3,371

*denotes heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Derek "derek8" Lerner (15th - $2,022.6), Patrick "pmahoney22" Mahoney (16th - $1,467)

PokerStars Sunday 2nd Chance ($175K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+$152,135$427,000
PlacePlayerPrize
*1kenchambon$59,805
*2TerranUser$59,755
3Giuseppe "Ansgar2000" Pantaleo$38,430
4beesweet35$28,075
5nailuj90$20,283
6100mile$15,799
7jezicarabbit$11,529
8OvaPair'dUP$7,473
9skalala$4,270

*denotes heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Michael "mossified84" Skomac (10th - $3,331), David "My Brim Low" Ivers (13th - $2,605)

PokerStars Sunday Storm ($300K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$10+$150,122$501,220
PlacePlayerPrize
*1articchipms$28,484
*2MrAleks1981$22,583
*3lulu.pk70$35,188
4national11$13,443
517monaco77$9,378
6xanid$6,090
7Keiruja$4,260
8sirhornriver$2,907
9Shayahmetov$2,080

*denotes three-handed deal

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