Bigoots wins big in Sunday Million with nearly $250K in holiday cash

At the height of this holiday season, people around the world are preparing for family get-togethers, packing for travel, and shopping for gifts. Some are even working on their New Year's resolutions, as less than two weeks remain in 2010.

Poker players are among those wrapping up the year, and all of them who entered the Sunday Million on December 19 hoped to end it on the highest of notes - a win in one of the most prestigious tournaments in online poker and potentially life-changing money. To enter 2011 with a fresh six-figure payday is surely a positive start to the poker year.

The tournament began with a solid field of 8,486 players, all of whom were prepared to take a shot at the $1.5 million guarantee, but when the $215 buy-ins were tallied, the prize pool was set at $1,697,200. After several frantic hours of action, the money bubble broke, and the last 1,260 players found themselves guaranteed a minimum of $305.49 in their accounts.

Some of those who added some holiday cheer to their poker accounts included Team PokerStars Online members George "Jorg95" Lind, who finished in 1242nd place, as well as Dusty "Leatherass9" Schmidt in 690th and Jorge Arias in 550th place. Team PokerStars Pro represented well, too, with the following finishes: Martin "AABenjaminAA" Hruby in 799th place, Nuno Coelho in 722nd, Liv Boeree in 648th, Theo "Theo J" Jorgensen in 538th, George Dancer in 468th, Christian "el grillo" de Leon in 321st, Ruben "rubenrtv" Visser in 178th, and Celina Lin in 147th place.

The remainder of the field thinned as the tournament played on, and it was just into the tenth hour of play that hand-for-hand action finally produced an elimination that sent a player home before the final table. Padjes had become the short-stacked player of the final ten, and the all-in move finally came amidst a raising war with nineallday00 in a battle of the blinds. Padjes had J?9? in the small blind, but nineallday00 showed A?Q? in the big blind. The board came 2?Q?8?A?5?, and the two pair eliminated padjes in tenth place with $8,995.16.

Nineallday00 leads all nine players

It was a tough table in the making, but it was finally set in Level 36, with blinds at 200,000/400,000 and a 40,000 ante. The starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: STREWO (10,076,487 in chips)
Seat 2: ardad333 (6,394,781 in chips)
Seat 3: JerryCZech (3,543,166 in chips)
Seat 4: nineallday00 (17,803,225 in chips)
Seat 5: vsempzd (13,611,846 in chips)
Seat 6: viking47 (6,346,152 in chips)
Seat 7: matate (9,834,244 in chips)
Seat 8: spencerman3 (4,183,766 in chips)
Seat 9: bigoots (13,066,333 in chips)

Play started with some caution on the part of most players, and the pots remained fairly small, though nineallday00 didn't hesitate to use the chip lead to take a few pots.

JerryCZech soon got involved with ardad333 and vsempzd to see a flop of T?3?J?. JerryCZech made the first bet, and vsempzd check-raised while ardad333 check-folded. JerryCZech responded with an all-in call for his last 1,083,166 chips holding Q?K? for the straight draw, but vsempzd showed K?T? for the pair of tens. The 7? on the turn changed nothing, and the J? on the river only made two pair for vsempzd. That eliminated JerryCZech in ninth place with $13,153.30.

The next half hour saw ardad333 double through nineallday00, while spencerman3 doubled through vsempzd and then again through STREWO.

Matate then attempted the same feat, though the hand started innocently enough with matate and bigoots going to see a flop of Q?K?A?. Bigoots bet 600,000, and matate called for the remainder of his stack with 5?5?. Bigoots showed Q?6? for the pair of queens, though, and the A? turn and J? river card allowed bigoots to scoop the pot. Matate left the table with $18,669.20 for the eighth place finish.

A few hands later, it was ardad333 all-in holding A?K? and bigoots there to compete with J?J?. The flop of K?5?J? gave bigoots the set of jacks, and the 5? on the turn made that hand into a full house. The 9? on the turn did nothing to change that, and ardad333 had to leave in seventh place, which was good for a $33,944.00 payday.

Bigoots challenges nineallday00 for top spot

It seemed that a new player had jumped into the top position on the leaderboard, and there was no stopping bigoots. Already above the 23 million-chip mark, when viking47 wanted to tangle, bigoots was ready to go along for the ride. After the T?5?2? appeared, bigoots led out with a bet, and viking47 check-raised all-in for nearly 4.2 million chips. Bigoots called with K?T?, and viking47 turned over A?2? for bottom pair and the lead. The 5? on the turn didn't change anything, but the K? on the river gave bigoots the better two pair, eliminating vikind47 in sixth place with $50,916.00.

But nineallday00 missed the chip lead. This double-up through bigoots changed that and put nineallday00 back on top:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Three hands later, nineallday00 was looking to gather more chips, and when vsempzd made the initial raise, nineallday00 pushed all-in. Vsempzd called for his tournament life with A?Q?, and nineallday00 showed a dominated A?5?. But the board came 6?3?4?7?9?, giving nineallday00 the seven-high straight. Vsempzd was forced to leave in fifth place with $67,888.00.

A few double-ups - STREWO through nineallday00 and spencerman3 through STREWO - allowed the shorter stacks to play awhile longer.

But spencerman3 was ready to try again. When nineallday00 opened, spencerman3 called all-in for his last 4,430,128 chips with A?T?, and nineallday00 showed only 4?2?. But the board of 5?2?Q?K?9? gave nineallday00 the pair of deuces, and that was all it took. Spencerman3, winner of two past WCOOP events, wasn't able to add a Sunday Million title to his resume. He settled for $84,860.00 for the fourth place finish.

STREWO was next to be at risk, putting a little over 9 million chips all-in with A?Q? against the A?T? of bigoots. But the flop of T?5?4? hit bigoots with the pair of tens, and the 7? turn and A? that finished the board only gave bigoots another pair. STREWO was forced out in third place with $127,290.00.

Battle of the big stacks

The two players who fought for the chip lead throughout the duration of the hour-long final table thus far were prepared to fight for the win. They quickly decided not to attempt chip-chop talks, and they got underway with the following chip counts:

Seat 4: nineallday00 (50,252,089 in chips)
Seat 9: bigoots (34,607,911 in chips)

Nineallday00 came out of the gate with strength, but bigoots pushed back. And when the time was right, this hand produced a life-saving double-up and put bigoots in the chip lead:

RSS readers click through to see replayIt didn't take long for nineallday00 to be relegated to a three-to-one chip deficit and forced to move. The time came when nineallday00 held A?7?, but the all-in move was met by a call and A?9? from bigoots. The board came A?6?2?T?4?, and bigoots held the better kicker to go with the aces. Nineallday00 accepted second place and the $182,449.00 that went with it.

Bigoots became the latest Sunday Million champion, which was worth a nifty title and $249,662.80 in prize money. Congratulations!

Sunday Million Results for 12/19/10:

1st place: bigoots ($249,662.80)
2nd place: nineallday00 ($182,449.00)
3rd place: STREWO ($127,290.00)
4th place: spencerman3 ($84,860.00)
5th place: vsempzd ($67,888.00)
6th place: viking47 ($50,916.00)
7th place: ardad333 ($33,944.00)
8th place: matate ($18,669.20)
9th place: JerryCZech ($13,153.30)

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

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Turbo Takedown: gmd68 enjoys holiday present winning Audi TT after four-way chop

Besides the people in the Lexus commercials with the brand new luxury car wrapped up in a bright red bow out front of their house, there are not many who get a brand new car as a gift for the holidays. There are ways however to make this happen and does not require knocking over a bank, enter the final $1 million Turbo Takedown for 2010 where it cost no monetary funds, just 3,000 Frequent Players Points to set yourself up against 17,012 other players looking to celebrate Boxing Day with a flourish and an Audi TT (ribbon not included). One million dollars would be divided up between 5,000 players and $60,000.00 to tonight's champ.

Despite the $100.00 bulls-eyes on the backs of our Team PokerStars players, a few of them managed to make a little cash themselves this evening after the ironically named luckky6 busted in 5,001st place. Among the team members winning cash, Matthias De Meulder (1951st place, $110.00), JP Kelly (1656th place, $115.00), Veronica "Princesa" Dabul (646th place, $200.00), Joao Nunes (600th place, $200.00). Team Online pro Anders Hoyer "Donald" Berg got the closest to placing that Audi TT in his garage but finished a ways off the final table in 408th place ($260.00).

Anders "Donald" Berg - 408th place

Fast forwarding to the final ten players, the final table bubble would last nearly an entire blind level as short stacks doubled up and no one wanted to give away the shot at that car and it would take a double elimination to get there. Another blind level nearly went by as the shortstacks stayed alive until two of them went all-in on the same hand. First, chahlala sing his last notes after shoving from UTG with just 702,976 and blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K but holding a decent pocket pair of eights 8?8?. luckycrazy29 on the immediate left made the call holding 9?A?. The coin flip would be decided on the flop as an ace would peel off and hold thru the J? T? A? T? Q? board sending chahlala out in tenth place ($8,000.00). But on the adjacent table, leandroltb would shove 1.23 million chip from the button holding A?6? as chilenocl in the small blind covered easily and made the call holding K?J?. chilenocl caught fire on the flop by nailing a flush 2? T? 6? as leandroltb was drawing dead by the Q? turn. Offically leandroltb made the final table, just won't show up on the pretty screen shot below, finishing in ninth place ($10,000.00).

Click image for larger picture

Seat 2: NasseNøffff (11390175 in chips)
Seat 3: chilenocl (7379830 in chips)
Seat 4: gmd68 (5042620 in chips)
Seat 5: rowang (3032164 in chips)
Seat 6: luckycrazy29 (10393057 in chips)
Seat 7: xoriguer458 (2639313 in chips)
Seat 8: NvrMnd (3923721 in chips)
Seat 9: sporic13 (7235120 in chips)

Nevermind I've gotten better things to do

In the final table's fifth hand with the blinds still at 125K/250K ante 25K NvrMnd tried to take down the blinds quickly by shoving from the small blind for 3.5 million. However, sporic13 covered and snap called after finding big slick A?K?. A dominated A?J? for NvrMnd was rooting for a queen after the 2? T? K? flop. But, the T? turn and 4? river left NvrMnd looking for other activities on a Sunday night after taking eighth ($12,500.00).

X needs an A to pass

It's not your day when you find big slick and it's behind before the flop even comes out. Check out xoriguer458 journey with big slick below:

RSS readers please click thru to view video

Moving up to 175K/350K ante 35K blinds xoriguer458 would raise to 1.05 million from UTG +1 folding to chilenocl on button who side stepped any fancy three-betting numbers and shoved for 6.8 million covering xoriguer458's stack. The blinds folded quickly as xoriguer458 made the call holding a suited big slick K?A?. Usually a powerful hand when it's not facing off against aces or kings. In this case chilenocl held the kings K?K? and with a distinct lack of aces on the Q? Q? 4? T? 9? board xoriguer458 was crossed off the final table in seventh place ($15,000.00).

rowang rowang rowang Rawhide!

As the blinds moved again to 200K/400K ante 40K the players started noticing the jump and decided to become less selective with cut out a certain amount chips and just shoved preflop. gmd however bucked the trends and made a 1.2 million chip raise from the hijack and rowang called all-in from the cutoff for 1.11 million as the blinds folded. Both held an ace but gmd68's 8?A? had the better kicker than rowang's 3?A?. A pair of nines on the flop offered a ray of hope for a chop, but the 9? 2? 9? 5? 7? board did not comply and rowang was put out to pasture in sixth place ($17,500.00).

The "turbo" part of the Turbo Takedown kicks in

The very next hand NasseNøffff was looking to take down the blind and antes by open shoving from the small blind for 1.6 million. chilenocl had plenty to spare with over 11 million chips and made the call holding 6?Q?. NasseNøffff turned over two live cards 7?8? with hoping of attaching them to the board. Nasse which is slang for a gas mask could not cover the odor of his cards after the A? 4? T? 2? 6? board spilled out and NasseNøffff took leave in fifth place ($20,000.00).

Break out the Excel spreadsheet and formulas for this deal

Chip chopping did not end well so our final four went back to using ICM figures and a little on the side to play for making the deal below:

gmd68 $37,868.42
luckycrazy29 $36,845.31
chilenocl $36,619.31
sporic $33,667.05

These figures left $5,000.00 for first (plus the Audi TT of course), $3,000.00 for second, $2,000.00 for third, and some late night programming with no added money for fourth.

Crazy part down pat, lucky part, not so much

With the blinds continuing to climb up to blind ceiling of 250K/500K ante 50K, luckycrazy29 fell to just 3.6 million in chips and tried to shove those in from the cutoff to grab the blinds and antes. But, sporic13 made the call with pocket fives 5?5? as luckycrazy29 was pleased to see it was a coin flip holding 9?6?. A spade-less 2? J? T? 2? 8? board rolled out ending luckycrazy29's night with the figures from the chop in the fourth place ($36,845.22).

sporic sporked

Immediately after doubling up gmd68, sporic13 still had a little more than seven million in chips and raised from the small blind to 1.5 million. Over to the chip leader chilenocl he would shove all-in forcing sporic13 to call for his tournament life. The decision was easier than it sounded as sporic13 rolled over... watch the video below to find out:

RSS readers please click thru to view video

Big slick A?K? for sporic13 who needed chips after doubling up gmd68, and a dominated 8?A? for chilenocl. Both would catch an useless ace on the flop, but found the eight on the turn much more interesting A? 6? 9? 8?. Finishing with the T? on the river sporic13 received the extra $2,000.00 from the four-way chop for the third place finish ($35,667.05).

Proud Audi TT owner soon-to-be named

We thought it would be chilenocl after the cards were flipped up after the flop:

RSS readers please click thru to view video

But the poker gods say nay. With a flop of Q? 6? 8? chilenocl pushed out a 3.5 million chip bet and got gmd68 to shove all-in for 18.9 million. Snap call with aces A?A? for chilenocl and gmd68 was needing help with Q?J?. 7? on the turn and gmd68 lost another out but the Q? on the river extended the match as gmd68 took in the 42.9 million chip pot leaving chilenocl with just 8.1 million chips.

No escape this time

21 minutes after beginning heads-up play and a little more than ten hours after being given their 3,000 starting chips we would have a champion. gmd68 would slyly min raise from the button as chilenocl tried to pounce on the weakness by shoving all-in for 14.5 million chips holding Q?A?. It was a set-up for a big cooler however as gmd68 snap called with aces A?A?. Unlike when chilenocl was one card away from the Audi TT with aces, this time there was no such sweat down the 5? 2? 9? 8? 3? board as gmd68 drove away in the Audi TT with the last 2010 Turbo Takedown victory and $42,868.42!

December 2010 $1 Million Turbo Takedown results (12-26-10)
(* denotes four way chop leaving money for top three places)
1. gmd68 (Lübeck) *$42,868.42 + Audi TT
2. chilenocl (Las Vegas) *$39,619.31
3. sporic13 (ATHENS) *$35,667.05
4. luckycrazy29 (Yenakievo ) *$36,845.22
5. NasseNøffff (Skien) $20,000.00
6. rowang (Oslo) $17,500.00
7. xoriguer458 (palma) $15,000.00
8. NvrMnd (Sofia) $12,500.00
9. leandroltb (Goiânia) $10,000.00

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