PokerStars Sunday Million 18th Anniversary: Royal Flush Delivers Bad Beat; Mendes Bags the Title & $1M
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After three days of play, the curtain has been drawn on the PokerStars Sunday Million 18th Anniversary (SMA). Brazil's Mateus “CrossBreed17” Mendes bested the 39,226 entry field and claimed the title and $1 million first place prize.
The tournament fell slightly short of the 40,000 entries required to hit the $8 million guarantee, meaning the SMA featured an overlay for only the second time in its history. It was also the smallest field since 2012.
One of the hands of the tournament transpired on the final day, with "godluck1994" nailing a rare Royal Flush to deliver a bad beat to "yenodthis" with 29 players remaining.
"godluck1994" and "yenodthis" were both all in with ace-king, and the two likely breathed a sigh of relief when the cards went on their backs. But as we all know, nobody is safe from the poker gods. "godluck1994" had a dream flop, picking up the Royal Flush draw to be freerolling his opponent ahead of the turn and river. The 10♠ peeled off on the turn to bring in poker's best hand, which delivered some great reactions from the PokerStars broadcast team.
PokerStars Sunday Million 18th Anniversary Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mateus “CrossBreed17” Mendes | Brazil | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | "Sunday Melon" | Poland | $733,959 |
| 3 | "FcProto10" | Czechia | $526,523 |
| 4 | "themasteryan" | Canada | $377,713 |
| 5 | Jans “Graftekkel” Arends | Netherlands | $270,961 |
| 6 | "Majo360" | Slovakia | $194,380 |
| 7 | "n3v3rw1n88” | Finland | $139,442 |
| 8 | "alxwhitty" | United Kingdom | $100,032 |
| 9 | "nzlking" | New Zealand | $71,759 |
Deep Runs for Hartigan, Hand and Spragg
A trio of PokerStars ambassadors found themselves deep into the tournament. Benjamin "Spraggy" Spragg finished in 219th place for $2,325, while commentator James "J.Hartigan" Hartigan departed just outside of the top 100, falling in 101st for $5,032. Fintan "easywithaces" Hand went the furthest for the spade brand, with his run ending in 78th, which also netted him $5,032.
Final Table Action
En route to the final table, Mendes ousted WSOP Online Main Event winner Bert "girafganger7" Stevens in 25th place. Mendes had pocket kings and saw off Stevens after the latter called off his short stack with top pair on the ten-high flop. Fast forward to the final table bubble, Mendes picked up the Cowboys once more and ousted Juanki "B4NKR0LL3R" Vecino, who four-bet jammed for 28 big blinds with king-ten suited. Mendes collected the pot and came onto the nine-handed FT second in chips.
Short-stacked "talking" was the first to leave the final table after their ace-seven couldn't hold against the king-jack held by "Sunday Melon" after the chips went in preflop. Soon after, chip leader "Sunday Melon" was in the mix again and had "alxwhitty" dominated (AQ vs. A7) in another all-in preflop encounter. A queen on the flop and drama-free turn locked the hand up for the eventual runner-up.
"n3v3rw1n88” lived up to their name and departed in seventh place. They moved all-in for 10 big blinds from the cutoff with jack-seven suited, but "FcProto10" woke up with ace-queen in the big blind and proceeded to make a boat on the runout to bring the tournament to its final six players. "Majo360" quickly joined the eliminated players on the rail after running ace-queen into big slick.
With five players remaining, both Mendes and Jans "Graftekkel" Arends had seen their stacks dwindle and propped up the three other players. The duo collided in a button versus big blind spot, with Mendes being behind with king-queen while Arends held ace-eight suited. The stacks went into the middle, and Arends was at risk. Mendes paired his king on the turn and ended the 2023 WSOP $100K High Roller hopes of the title. King-queen continued to prove fruitful for Mendes, and he found another king on the turn after he was flipping against "themasteryan" and their pocket fives.
At this stage, "Sunday Melon" had a commanding lead, but a mistimed triple-barrel bluff saw Mendes double up to take the chip lead. That lead extended when Mendes' ace-seven eliminated "FcProto10" to set up heads-up play.
Mendes offered his opponent a deal, but "Sunday Melon" refused, and the duo continued to battle it out over the next 90 minutes. "Sunday Melon" briefly regained the lead, but Mendes wrestled it back and went on to widen the gap. "Sunday Melon" kept their head above the water for some time, finding the occasional double to survive during Mendes' onslaught.
The final hand saw "Sunday Melon" get it in with pocket fives after Mendes jammed from the button with nine-seven suited. The turn remained Mendes' best friend, bringing in a nine to give the Brazilian a better pair, and the brick river card confirmed Mendes as the PokerStars Sunday Million 18th Anniversary.
Photo by Mateus Mendes: Instagram
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum's proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.
