5 things you missed from this week’s Sunday Million

Each week we’ll bring you the five most interesting takeaways from the previous week’s Sunday Million.

JUNE 7-8, 2020

• Summer Series 05 PKO edition
• “Brianaki” from Greece wins for $82,145 plus $36,791
• Three-way all-in ends it all
• Top high stakes pros go deep
• Casino streamer switches to poker while ill…and it pays off

Scroll down to watch the Sunday Million final table replay with hole cards.

SUN IS SHINING, SUMMER SERIES IS SWEET

If you’ve missed having bigger-than-normal events to play in the week following the Spring Championship of Online Poker 2020, you’ll have been very happy to spot the Summer Series schedule in the PokerStars lobby.

The Summer Series is running from now until June 21st. Check out daily events in the PS client

The series–which runs from Sunday 7 June to Sunday 21 June and has guaranteed prize pool of $25 million across 151 tournaments–might not share the same prestige as SCOOP, but with more affordable buy-ins it’s a great place to get your big-game fix.

They don’t come much bigger than the Sunday Million, which this past Sunday (June 8) was a $109 Progressive Knock-Out edition, and the fifth event of the Summer Series.

The $1.5 million prize pool was eclipsed, ending up at $1,835,400 after the event received a massive 18,354 entries (12,850 unique, 5,504 re-entries).

There was $82,145 up top for the winner (plus whatever bounties that champ had collected along the way).

GREECE’S “Brianaki” TAKES IT DOWN FOR $118,937

The last player standing after two days of battling was “Brianaki” of Greece, who clinched the top spot and the lion’s share of the bounty prize pool for $118,937 total ($82,145 plus $36,971 in bounties).

Unsurprisingly This is “Brianaki”’s top career score to date. With the money and the prestige of becoming a Sunday Million champion, it’s going to take some beating.
That’s not to say “Brianaki” hasn’t enjoyed success on the virtual felt in the past, though. In January 2020 they finished second in a $1,050 NLO-8 6-Max event for $18,346, showing they’re experienced at higher stakes.

In the past “Brianaki” has also enjoyed healthy cashes in the likes of the $215 Sunday Supersonic (10th – $2,045) and the Hot $109 (4th – $1,877).

THREE-WAY ALL-IN ENDS IT ALL

The final hand of the event was an absolute doozy. Whenever you have a chip lead three-handed, you dream of getting it done and dusted in a single hand with one foul swoop, and “Brianaki” managed exactly that.

With blinds at 1M/2M and a stack of 99M in front of them, “Brianaki” picked up A♦J♦ and made it 4M on the button. Finland’s “tounik” then jammed from the small blind for 18.9M with 8♠8♥.

The final hand

Germany’s “flyingfist” woke up with A♠K♠ in the big blind and four-bet shoved for 64.5M, which “Brianaki” called.

The flop fell 5♥[3♦K♦, giving “flyingfist” top pair but “Brianaki” a flush draw. “Tounik” needed to hit an eight so the 2♠ turn changed nothing, but he’d hit a set on the river.

The problem was it was the 8♦, giving “Brianaki” the flush and the two-player KO.

For second place, “flyingfist” won $82,813 plus $7,012 in bounties, while “tounik” banked $49,400 plus $7,214 for third.

HIGH STAKES PROS GO DEEP

Even if $109 is a relatively low buy-in compared with the events you’d usually play, anyone who’s anyone plays the Sunday Million.

That was certainly evident this past Sunday, with plenty of household names in online poker going deep.

Out of 18,354 entries:

• High Roller crusher Jan “Graftekkel” Arends finished in 20th for $2,536 + $1,123 in bounties
• Two-time Sunday Million champ Paul “pvas2” Vas Nunes finished in 25th for $2,536 + $2,154 in bounties
• High stakes regular “Bomber&Granater” finished in 35th for $1,824 + $1,175 in bounties
• The player with more online tournament cashes than anyone else on the planet, Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt, finished in 66th for $1,311 + $679 in bounties

Clockwise from top left: Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt, Jan “Graftekkel” Arends, and Paul “pvas2” Vas Nunes

CASINO STREAMER FALLS ILL, TURNS TO POKER

We stumbled across an inspiring Sunday Million story on Twitter.

Casino streamer “AyeZee29”, who usually streams himself playing slots on Twitch, was recently taken ill with throat issues. While he was getting better, “AyeZee29” turned to poker instead.

Hey guys,

Whilst I have been sick, I have been playing a lot of poker. I managed to get myself in a huge spot in the Sunday Million Summer Series event tomorrow. Currently 90th out of 152 left with a just below average stack. Unfortunately I lost this huge hand right before day pic.twitter.com/e6gHzZ76mJ

— AyeZee (@AyeZeeCasino) June 8, 2020

He ended making Day 2 of the Milly and chose to stream the session. He’d ultimately finish in 103rd for $924 + $707 in bounties.

WATCH THE FINAL TABLE

Courtesy of Kalipoker TV.