Zimmy41 claims Sunday Million win, Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier 3rd

After playing for nine hours and passing out money to 1,170 players we reached the final table bubble with Isabelle tip-toeing to the betting line like an elephant, not backing down from huge chip leader Zimmy41 with constant raises and prudent folds. With blinds swelling up to 125K/250K ante 25K, she would grab an eight million chip pot from kenydalglish when her pocket tens T♣T♦ bested the 9♦A♠ of kenydalglish then the very next hand she would set up the final table by calling the 2.2 million chip shove of padjes from the small blind with J♠A♠. padjes rolled over pocket sixes 6♠6♦ and watched as the flop 3♠ 2♦ 5♠ hit Isabelle hard with the nut flush draw and two overcards, cooled a little bit from the 7♥ turn, but padjes received walking papers with the K♠ on the river giving NoMercy her flush and final table ticket while padjes had to settle for tenth place ($8,251.85).

Seat 1: Zimmy41 (18859019 in chips)
Seat 2: oncecajun (7813499 in chips)
Seat 3: kenydalglish (2001050 in chips)
Seat 4: labbedorval (4907008 in chips)
Seat 5: DrunkkkYoda (10426806 in chips)
Seat 6: SLYEYES35 (4525734 in chips)
Seat 7: arsenal46 (12798088 in chips)
Seat 8: NoMercy (10906842 in chips)
Seat 9: awkward_clam (4881954 in chips)

EPT founder John Duthie was on hand to MC tonight's final table and cheer on his fellow Team PokerStars Pro as DrunkkkYoda would get the party started taking in the first 20 million chip pot of the night as pocket queens Q♠Q♣ held up against arsenal46's Q♦A♦ on a sailboat full board 4♦ 4♣ 4♥ 9♣ 8♦ to vault the alcoholic jedi master into the temporary chip lead.

But it was labbedorval five hands later that would end the party for our ninth place finisher. In a blind versus blind battle, kenydalglish tried to make something happen by shoving a stack of 1.9 million holding J♥T♦ from the small blind into similarly short stacked labbedorval. With blinds just increasing to 150K/300K ante 30K, labbedorval made the call with K♣Q♣, and the call was rewarded on the Q♠ 4♥ T♠ 6♣ A♦ board as the pair of queens was enough to send kenydalglish home in ninth place ($11,953.61).

Rising blinds and shortened stacks means for faster play as four hands later, Zimmy41's big stack led out from UTG for 834,200 folded around to SLYEYES35 who would shove for 4.4 million in the cutoff with pocket nines 9♥9♠. Unfortunately the big stack was not bullying and made the quick call with pocket queens Q♣Q♥. Queen on the T♣ Q♦ 8♦ flop actually gave SLYEYES35 more outs, but no jacks visited the board as the 5♣ and 7♣ fell instead sending SLYEYES35 off in eighth place ($17,737.61).

Fast bust-outs continued in the 150K/300K ante 30K level as just seven hands after SLYEYES35 left the table, labbedorval and oncecajun hooked up preflop for a big 15 million chip pot. Watch the hand play out below:

Once again the pocket queens Q♥Q♠ would flop a set and hold as labbedorval neared the chip lead with the double up that crippled oncecajun. arsenal46 would pick up oncecajun's spicy crumbs two hands later when A♣T♠ was more than enough to overcome the 3♣7♦ of oncecajun. With seventh place and $30,848.01 in hand oncecajun exited the table as the Team PokerStars Pro inched closer to the Sunday Million victory but short-stacked with nine million chips.

The price of poker stayed the same with blinds at 150K/300K ante 30K but the number of players at the final table would be reduced from seven to six as labbedorval would raise to 1.5 million UTG with A♣T♠ and short stacked arsenal46 found pocket jacks J♥J♠ awaiting in the cutoff as 4.5 million would get thrown into the pot. Having the bet well covered, labbedorval made the call and caught a bit of luck on the A♠ A♦ K♠ flop and ran those trips through the 3♦ turn and 8♥ river for the 9.7 million chip pot giving $46,272.01 to arsenal46 in sixth place.

awkward_clam stayed quiet for most of the final table until forced to start shoving gathered four out of seven pots for the short stack as the blinds rose to 200K/400K ante 40K. But, those short stack shoves will eventually get called as labbedorval snagged A♠Q♦ in the small blind while the awkward_clam attempted a blind steal shoving for 5.1 million chips from the cutoff with A♦2♦. The diamonds never came into play on the 3♠ 3♣ 6♠ 5♠ A♥ as the awkward_clam sunk to the bottom of the sea with an extra $61,696.01 in fifth place.

With Isabelle lingering in fourth place holding six million chips and blinds still at 200K/400K ante 40K, labbedroval and DrunkkkYoda would play for the first 30 million chip pot of the tournament. Watch the action play out below:

Even with the 3-bet preflop the players would wait until the flop to shove their chips in and with the cooler for DrunkkkYoda's big slick K♠A♦ , labbedorval's flopped two pair holding A♣9♣ would hold on the A♥ 9♠ 2♦ 6♣ 6♠ board for the huge pot and sent DrunkkkYoda in a sober cab back to Dagobah err... London with $77,736.97 in fourth place.

The players would break for five minutes as short stacked Mercier was looking up at the below towering stacks and blinds going up to 250K/500K ante 50K:

Seat 1: Zimmy41 (31336508 in chips)
Seat 4: labbedorval (39829250 in chips)
Seat 8: NoMercy (5954242 in chips)

The wait for action from the Team PokerStarsPro was about a nano-second after play resumed as she would shove those 5.9 million chips into the middle the first hand back from the break holding T♠Q♥ on the button. Zimmy41 did not have to deliberate long holding Q♣A♠. Isabelle's shock of domination would turn into delight on the T♦ Q♠ J♦ flop, hitting two pair to take the lead. But, the K♥ on the turn quickly turned the tables giving Zimmy41 the straight thus leaving NoMercy looking for the case queen or two tens on the river. The river did not deliver as the 2♠ hit the virtual felt with a thud ending the Team PokerStars Pro's night in third place good for her second largest tournament cash at $115,680.01

Heads-up play would start fairly even with labbedorval holding just a slight lead:

Seat 1: Zimmy41 (37840750 in chips)
Seat 4: labbedorval (39279250 in chips)

Holding nearly 80 big blinds apiece the two deep stacked players would battle back and forth each scoring a few shots but only Zimmy41's check raise on the flop of J♦ 9♣ 3♦ stood out as the 11.1 million chip pot slid in Zimmy's direction to stretch the lead to 49 million to 27 million.

Four hands later a complete and shove from labbedorval got Zimmy41 to call as the two would race for the nearly 60 million chip pot and potential win for Zimmy41. Watch Zimmy41's pocket sevens 7♣7♠ go up against labbedorval's A♠Q♥ below:

The pocket sevens would score an unnecessary straight by the river as Zimmy41 won the race, and became $231,360.01 richer winning this week's $1.5 Million Guarantee Sunday Million! For the runner-up $169,664.01 goes out to labbedorval who took a meager beginning final table stack into a big six figure payday.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow as PokerStars.Tv will be re-broadcasting the action from the final table with all the hole cards exposed.

$1.5 Million Guarantee Sunday Million Results (07-12-09)
(*denotes Team PokerStars Pro)

1. Zimmy41 (Ann Arbor) $231,360.01
2. labbedorval (Opasatika) $169,664.01
3. *Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier $115,680.01
4. DrunkkkYoda (London) $77,736.97
5. awkward_clam (vancouver) $61,696.01
6. arsenal46 (Clinton) $46,272.01
7. oncecajun (Burkburnett) $30,848.01
8. SLYEYES35 (Whitewater) $17,737.61
9. kenydalglish (Birmingham) $11,953.01