Sunday Briefing: Six-Figure Score for despedespi33

January 07, 2019

The attention of the poker community may be focussed on the goings on at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in The Bahamas right now, especially with the record-breaking PokerStars Players Championship taking place, but there was plenty of online action at PokerStars, partypoker and 888poker this weekend and some massive scores bagged. Let’s take a look at the biggest results from Jan. 6.

PokerStars Winter Series-High $1,050 NLHE Sunday Warm-Up

There’s a saying that goes “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” and it appears the United Kingdom’s “despedespi33” took that phrase to heart because they took down the Winter Series-High $1,050 NLHE Sunday Warm-Up on their fourth bullet.

Ninth-place finisher “fapk2212” of Brazil was the only final table member not to walk away with a five-figure score; they scooped $7,654. The first player to net more than $10,000 was eighth-place finisher “hylke1980” of the Netherlands who won $10,672.

There were some significant pay jumps as “Black88”, Pedro “gusmaa” Madeira, “Darwinfish” and “josef_shvejk” busted after each other, the latter turning their $1,050 into $40,342. Malta’s “8_Spizzico_9” busted in third-place for $56,250 to leave despedespi33 and “ramastar88” of Uruguay to lock horns heads-up.

No deal was struck despite there being a near $31,000 difference between first and second-place, which meant despedespi33 banked a massive $109,363 top prize when they sent ramastar88 to the rail in second-place, a finish worth $78,433.

PokerStars Winter Series 55-Medium: $109 NLHE Sunday Warm-Up

A huge field of 6,513 entries meant the $300,000 guaranteed prize pool of the Winter Series 55-Medium: $109 NLHE Sunday Warm-Up event was more than doubled and $651,300 was up for grabs.

The bulk of this princely sum was awarded to Germany’s “Elchmutze” who netted a cool $92,548 on their second $109 bullet. Elchmutze took on the Austria grinder “WATnlos” heads-up and emerged victorious to get their hands on the massive prize, resigned WATnlos to a very respectable runner-up prize worth $63,637.

Earlier at the final table, “The_Senseman” of Germany busted in eighth-place and returned home $4,627 richer than they started the day, while “kurtWSOP” and “PatrickRass” secured a payout of $6,728 and $9,785 for their eighth and seventh-place finishes.

“JayyRome” netted $14,229 for their sixth-place finish and they were joined on the rail by “nemesis278” of Russia ($20,693), Jesse “shakentoucan” Johnston of Canada ($30,092) and Poland’s “Bee_Lou81” ($43,760).

The Winter Series edition of the PokerStars Sunday Million saw 306 of the 10,893 players make it through to Day 2. Each of these players is guaranteed $847 for their efforts, but the eventual champion will scoop an incredible $285,310!

An even bigger prize, one worth $359,703, awaits the champion of the $2,100 buy-in WInter Series Main Event. Only 91 of the 1,129 entrants remain. Play in that tournament resumes at 19:00 CET.

partypoker Christmas Freeze #46-HR: $300K GTD PKO

The partypoker Christmas Freeze series came to a conclusion on Jan. 6 with some big guaranteed tournaments. Once such event was the Christmas Freeze #46-HR: $300K GTD PKO that saw 532 players exchange $530 for a shot at a slice of the $300,000 guarantee.

Being a progressive knockout tournament, players in this event could get their hands on cash prizes each time they busted an opponent. Eighth-place finisher Catherine “kaite1406” Ivgi got her hands on $2,387 worth of bounties, almost as much as the $2,629 she won from the main prize pool.

Another player boosting their haul with bounties was fifth-place finisher “BadBony” of Russia who added $3,845 worth of bounties to their $7,055 prize money to become the first player in the event to pad their bankroll with more than $10,000.

The tournament ended in a heads-up chop between two talented players. Robin “petdet3ctive” Ylitalo, the former European Poker Tour London Main Event champion, was the official runner-up. This finish saw Ylitalo walk away with a combined prize of $36,534. Hungary’s “ErzsiASas” is the name credited with being the tournament’s champion, an accolade that also came with a prize weighing in at $44,096.

*reflects a heads-up deal

partypoker Christmas Freeze #45-HR: $200K Gtd

Unlike other online poker tournaments, the partypoker Christmas Freeze events were all freezeouts meaning players had to make their first bite at the cherry count.

“PendulumSwing” of Austria did exactly that and came out on top of a 179-strong field in the Christmas Freeze #45-HR: $200K Gtd event to get their hands on a bankroll-boosting $44,260 first-place prize.

The Austrian defeated Lithuanian pro “MaestroArturs” heads-up meaning the second-place finisher banked $31,800. It was an impressive victory for PendulumSwing, not least because Swedish superstar Simon “HellmuthTheGr8” Mattsson navigated his way to the eight-handed final table before running out of steam to finish in third-place for $23,200.

Mattsson is widely regarded as one of the best online poker tournament players to have ever played the game, but it was PendulumSwing’s time to shine and they were a worthy winner of this big buy-in event.

888poker $125,000 Sunday Mega Deep Bonanza

The 888poker Sunday Mega Deep was given a guarantee boost to $125,000 this weekend, but the 480 entrants meant 888poker had to add $29,000 to the prize pool to ensure the guarantee was met.

“Mosi157” of Germany took full advantage of the added prize money and came out on top to get their hands on $24,062, kicking 2019 off in style. Mosi157 defeated Brazilian star “Yattag0” heads-up to secure the lion’s share of the prize pool, resigning the Brazilian to a $17,812 consolation prize.

Only one other player netted a five-figure score and that was “byyyyy” of Sweden who busted in third-place to scoop $13,437. Fourth-place finisher “idontcareffs” almost won $10,000 by locking up a $9,687 score.

Congratulations to “JoaquinRuiz”, “sitoutguy”, “springsmile” and Canada’s “RedPantRed” who navigated their way to the eight-handed final table.

888poker $20,000 Sunday Challenge

The Sunday Challenge has struggled of late at 888poker but a field of 224 entrants ensure the $20,000 guarantee was surpassed, which could indicate this tournament could be back on the rise.

Those finishing in sixth-place and above turned their $109 investment into a four-figure score with “ImPaulin” of New Zealand locking up $1,120 by busting sixth.

The Kiwi was joined on the rail by a pair of British players. “TopBeaver69” exited the tournament in fifth-place for $1,344 with Richard “ChipsFool” Hoadley winning $1,960 for their fourth-place finish.

It was Denmark’s “skrubsulten” who was the penultimate elimination, losing their chips in third-place for a $2,632 addition to their bankroll. The tournament’s runner-up was “GramNaKartke” ($3,472) who fell at the hands of Malta’s “Mr.Fonzi” who got their hands on $4,816.

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