The Sunday Briefing: Julian "soydelmillo" Menendez Takes Down Two Sunday Majors

February 06, 2012

Mickey Doft Live Reporter

The New York Giants were not the only ones thrilled with their Sunday result. Reigning LAPT Colombia champion, Julian "soydelmillo" Menendez won not one, but two Sunday Majors. It started with the $109 Sunday Rebuy and finished with the Sunday 2nd Chance. All told, Menendez earned more than six figures for his two wins.

Meanwhile, "MatejK992SLO" won the Sunday Million following a six-handed deal for about $178,000, and Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen took down the Sunday 500.

PokerStars Sunday Million ($1M Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+$15	7,401	$1,480,200

Entering the final table of the Sunday Million with just about twice as many chips as second place, "MatejK992SLO" was in great shape for an excellent result. By the time six players remained, the gap was closed, so a six-handed deal was agreed upon. Everyone was guaranteed at least $76,000, and as a result, play moved along quickly.

Heads-up play followed shortly thereafter as "MatejK992SLO" held about a 1.73:1 chip lead over "m0rtengud." After the lead was further extended, "m0rtengud" shoved with K♠5♦ and was behind "MatejK992SLO's" K♣8♥. The flop came down K♥Q♠5♣ to put "m0rtengud" ahead, but the 8♦ hit the turn to give the lead back to "MatejK992SLO." The river brought the 7♣, ending the tournament with a win for "MatejK992SLO."

To read more about this week's Sunday Million, head over to PokerStarsBlog.com.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	MatejK992SLO	$177,691.93
*2	m0rtengud	$116,420.69
*3	fr0zzy	$113,001.31
*4	C@LLMEM8	$119,780.75
*5	GiegelGagel	$85,118.20
*6	sprenger62	$76,831.97
7	grackhack2	$31,824.30
8	Eskapisten	$17,762.40
9	MeirDa	$11,471.55

*denotes six-handed deal

Notable Finishes: Rick "ThEcLaiMEer" Trigg (27th - $3,448.86), Tim "TurnRiva" Marsters (37th - $2,782.77)

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+$15	3,624	$724,800

It was a good day to be the chip leader of the biggest of the Sunday Majors. "MarinaBalbes" entered the final table of the Sunday Warm-up atop the chip counts and navigated through for the victory. With the chip lead three-handed, a deal was agreed upon, and not long after, "MarinaBalbes" took nearly a 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play.

The tournament came to an end when after an A♥6♥5♥ flop, "ms.bon-bon" called all-in with A♣8♦. "MarinaBalbes" held 5♠5♣ and held through the Q♥ turn and 3♣ river to lock it up.

To read more about this week's Sunday Warm-Up, check out PokerStarsBlog.com.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	MarinaBalbes	$97,939.83
*2	ms.bon-bon	$77,931.43
*3	Leviathan74	$82,521.11
4	Tomascibaz	$41,6767
5	bergeroo	$30,804
6	zackmorris99	$23,556
7	PokerSavage1	$16,308
8	Salsicha	$9,060
9	jenbizzle	$5,798.40

*denotes three-handed deal

Notable Finishes: Matthew "bigace223" Ezrol (35th - $1,630.80), Angel Guillen (36th - 1,630.80)

PokerStars Sunday 500 ($250K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$500+$30	760	$380,000

The Sunday 500 attracted a 760-player field and created a prize pool worth $380,000. The final table of the Sunday 500 was filled with notable players, and topping them all was Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen, earning the outright victory for $68,700.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen	$68,700
2	cheb-achie	$49,400
3	Bolivar "Ramux" Palacios	$37,050
4	thecornerAA	$27,740
5	veera	$19,570
6	Marton "noirduck" Czuczor	$15,770
7	Mamljk	$11,970
8	Roma-Tilt	$8,398
9	Josh "theNorfman" Norris	$4,864

Notable Finishes: Nico "PKaiser" Fierro (19th - $1,824), Javier “El_Canonero” Dominguez (23rd - $1,824)

PokerStars Bigger $55 ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$50+$5	5,942	$297,100

The 5,942 players who entered the Bigger $55 on Sunday created a $297,100 prize pool. A four-handed deal took place at the final table, and "Ares0966" outlasted the field for nearly $35,000.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	Ares0966	$34,149.47
*2	magozepeda	$25,789.05
*3	pescador2409	$32,857.90
*4	kinheim	$28,171.22
5	Bwd26	$12,478.20
6	CoLa7687	$9,507.20
7	GuraPro	$6,536.20
8	matikauskas	$3,713.75
9	Govaa	$2,317.38

*denotes four-handed deal

PokerStars Bigger $109 ($100K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+$9	2,974	$297,400

The Bigger $109 nearly tripled its guarantee on Sunday. "D4nking" earned top honors and nearly $50,000 for the outright triumph.

Place	Player	Prize
1	d4nking	$48,178.80
2	Chaesi	$34,944.50
3	PostFlopPlz	$24,684.20
4	jalman69	$16,654.40
5	China_White1	$13,680.40
6	longdongdave	$10,706.40
7	GM_VALTER	$7,732.40
8	kasspav	$5,353.20
9	Tomatee	$3,241.66

Notable Finishes: Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis (12th - $2,379.20)

PokerStars Bigger $162 ($100K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$150+$12	1,521	$228,150

"MaltLiquor40" and "tpleta" were the two players of the 1,521-player field to make it to heads-up play in the Bigger $162. After a rare heads-up chop, they each took home $35,466.13 for their efforts.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	MaltLiquor40	$35,466.13
*2	tpleta	$35,466.13
3	dragonfish76	$22,815
4	pk420	$17,111.25
5	Marty "TheLipoFund" Mathis	$11,977.87
6	tamborile	$9,696.37
7	treezer	$7,414.87
8	MikiOpasniy	$5,133.37
9	martellmagic	$3,194.10

*denotes heads-up chop

Notable Finishes: Luke "LukeFromB13" Staudenmaier (11th - $2,167.42), João "vovo_leo" Studart (14th - $1,711.12)

PokerStars Sunday 2nd Chance ($125K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+$15	1,253	$250,600

The Sunday 2nd Chance was Julian "soydelmillo" Menendez second Sunday Major title of the day. He won this one outright for just shy of $44,000.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Julian "soydelmillo" Menendez	$43,804.88
2	THEDUTCH4141	$31,826.20
3	GaborMarton	$23,807
4	kelseth	$17,792.60
5	unluckybs	$12,530
6	SivaOOv	$10,024
7	kiwiplayer	$7,518
8	mypokerf	$5,012
9	dksthlm	$2,881.90

Notable Finishes: Giuseppe “Ansgar2000″ Pantaleo (16th - $1,378.30)

PokerStars $109 Sunday Rebuy ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+$9	1,021	$339,200

The first of Julian "soydelmillo" Menendez's Sunday victories came in the $109 Sunday Rebuy, where he topped a tough final table that included Philipp "philbort" Gruissem and Will "molswi47" Molson.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Julian "soydelmillo" Menendez	$62,752
2	Lucas "Bananazoo" Chiciak	$45,452.80
3	tbac1	$33,920
4	pappadogg	$25,440
5	Philipp "philbort" Gruissem	$17,808
6	Will "molswi47" Molson	$14,416
7	guinor	$11,024
8	8r0k34$$	$7,632
9	Banderivets	$4,748.80

Notable Finishes: Scott "PokerToronto" Desveaux (29th - $1,187.20)

PokerStars Sunday Storm ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$10+$1	37,915	$379,150

A heads-up deal took place in the Sunday Storm and "sanex29" outlasted "tobottk" for a little under $31,000.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	sanex29	$30,323.89
*2	tobottk	$26,323.89
3	78hazard89	$15,924.30
4	glu77ps	$12,132.80
5	RodrigoW22	$8,341.30
6	bigbet1992	$5,118.52
7	NeeDWeeD4WiN	$3,507.13
8	marfius14	$2,464.47
9	1zegri1	$1,725.13

*denotes heads-up deal

PokerStars Sunday Kickoff ($75K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+$9	1,617	$161,700

The Sunday Major weekend started with the Sunday Kickoff more than doubling its guarantee. Earning the outright win was "montjeu8" for more than $26,000.

Place	Player	Prize
1	montjeu8	$26,527.11
2	100mile	$19,404
3	Magic Masi	$14,553
4	Clutch Hero	$10,833.90
5	041427	$7,680.75
6	iPUNI$H	$6,063.75
7	nebo_blizko	$4,446.75
8	patey147	$2,829.75
9	daco45	$1,617