PokerStars' Sunday Million - Tournament Results (11.26.06)
(Credit: Flickr.com )
Even though it was $500 + 30 to enter the PokerStars' Sunday Million this week, that didn't stop people from signing up to play. Almost 2800 people entered the event, which shot the prize pool up to almost $1.4 million. You could buy a lot of holiday presents with that kind of cash, right?
Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet, an internet pro, made his move when the action was down to the final two tables. He began amassing quite a sizeable chip lead. By the time he reached the final table, he had about 1/3 of the chips in play, or 9.9 mil. His nearest competitor was the event's eventual winner, Jovial Gent, who held 5.3 mil in chips.
realest8 was the low man on the totem pole and went all-in on the second hand of the final table. apestyles called him with a Kd,Qc. realest8 had pocket 8s which put him a bit ahead, but the flop gave apestyles a winning queen. That means realest8 had to go back to spending Thanksgiving weekend with his family.
Oh no!
apestyles attacked again and knocked Pimplyteen out of the final table. The next elimination was a tough one. grgr333, a frequent finalist at these events, went all-in with Jovial Gent and jesseduke. His pocket queens weren't enough to keep jesseduke at bay. jesse completed a straight with his AQ. Even the other blokes at the table felt bad for grgr333 as he hit the rails in 7th place with $34,227.
GoNoles was left as the short stack with grgr333's departure. He was the next to go all-in with pocket 5s. Jovial Gent flipped his hand. He had pocket queens. This time the ladies held up and that was all GoNoles wrote.
apestyles had increased his chip lead considerably. He now held 16.9 mil. Jovial Gent was still in second place with only 4.1 mil. The 'gent' showed enough good humor to request a chop, which 'apes' politely declined at this point.
With the blinds up to 100k/200k and a 10k ante, JP 5-time made a move. He shoved in his 1.6 mil with a Q8 only to find himself up against tumbleweeds' AQ. JP flopped a gutshot straight but never completed it. He finished in fifth. jesseduke was the next to commit NLHE suicide by pushing his almost 3 mil in chips into the pot with an AQ. Too bad he was up against Jovial Gent's pocket rockets. At least jesseduke made it to 4th place and had over $65k to console him. We bet lukeduke and daisyduke couldn't have done any better.
With the knockout of jesseduke, Jovial Gent moved back into a solid second place. apes still had the chip lead. tumblesweeds and Jovial Gent tried hard to get as many of apestyles' chips as they could. That is 'til tumbleweeds went all-in with his pocket tens. apestyles called with an AQ and made top pair on the turn.
At the beginning of heads-up play, it looked like apestyles was gonna win. He had 20 mil in chips compared to Jovial Gent's 8 mil. The players discussed a chop based on current chip counts, but it didn't come to anything. They resumed play and Jovial Gent evened the score rather quickly.
A few hands later, Jovial Gent had a chip lead and put apestyles all-in. apes' pocket kings were no match for the flop of Qh, 10d, 3s. Why? 'Cuz Jovial Gent had a queen and a ten in his pocket. Uh-oh! The chip leader went from a shoo-in to win to the second place finisher in only a few short hands. At least his 135k will go a long way to providing top-notch therapy to help him get over the shocking loss.
For those of you who keep track of this sort of thing, here are the final table results:
1. Jovial Gent (United States) $250,202.70 2. apestyles (United States) $135,229.60 3. tumbleweeds (United States) $80,327.50 4. jesseduke (United States) $65,239.90 5. JP 5-time (United Kingdom) $53,784.50 6. GoNoles (United States0 $43,307.00 7. grgr333 (United Kingdom) $34,226.50 8. Pimplyteen (United States) $25,146.00 9. realest8 (United States) $16,764.00
The holidays are a-comin', y'all. Don't you wish you could play poker and win some sweet cash to keep you out of debt in the New Year? Well, with PokerStars' Sunday Million you can. Qualifiers are going on now. They start as low as $3.00. What are you waiting for...Christmas?