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Home / Uncategorized / Sunday Million: CaptainGant steers way to victory, nearly $138K after four-way deal

Germany was well represented at the final table of this week’s Sunday Million with three players, while Russia also had two among the final nine. Near the end, however, it appeared Ukraine’s **Geka**555 might be the one earning the victory in the $215 no-limit hold’em event. But late-night chip swings added up to a win for CaptainGant of Russia who earned $137,944.12 following a four-way chop.

It wasn’t a bad consolation prize for **Geka**555, however, who by virtue of having the chip lead at deal-making time made a little more — $142,000 — to claim the largest share of this week’s big $1,307,600 prize pool. Here’s the story of how CaptainGant navigated to victory over a field of 6,538 in this week’s Milly.

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It took about five hours for the money bubble to burst, and with 990 players left Georgios “ZISIMO7” Zisimopoulos sat in the top spot with Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann next in line. Within a couple of hours, though, Zisimopoulos would be out in 342nd ($523.04), Heitmann would slip from the top 100, and TheKhopMan would ascend to the top of the counts with James “Andy McLEOD” Obst sitting in second position.

By the eight-and-a-half-hour mark of the tournament exactly 50 players remained, with alwayswin222 the new chip leader, TheKhopMan still there in 37th position, James “Andy McLEOD” out in 69th ($1,882.94), and Heitmann gone as well in 134th ($941.47). Heitmann’s fellow Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez also lasted a relatively long time to cash in 116th ($1,085.30), while another red spade still had chips as Eugene Katchalov sat in 38th position.

Unfortunately for Katchalov he would soon lose the majority of his stack with pocket nines versus Baderdun’s pocket tens, and soon after that he fell in a three-way hand won by diegui dekk to finish in 48th ($2,275.22).

alwayswin222 would keep adding chips over the next hour as the field was trimmed to 18 players, moving up close to 10 million while the chase pack hovered around half that amount.

SiniaaBoroda (18th), Mamelcity (17th) and Hatuma1 (16th) were the next to go, each earning $3,661.28. clausdorf4 (15th), super80 (14th), and RandomOrder1 (13th) followed them to the rail, picking up $5,491.92 apiece. Then diegui dekk (12th), rerenano (11th), and Adam “Roothlus” Levy (10th) were successively eliminated, cashing for $7,322.56 each.

With TheKhopMan back on top with more than 14.1 million, the final table was underway.

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Seat 1: TheKhopMan (Ireland) — 14,153,069
Seat 2: ShaiStar (Israel) — 4,708,800
Seat 3: Tenebrus321 (Germany) — 9,843,957
Seat 4: CaptainGant (Russia) — 5,456,346
Seat 5: justnl2 (Cyprus) — 9,475,888
Seat 6: alwayswin222 (Germany) — 3,547,683
Seat 7: **Geka**555 (Ukraine) — 8,055,224
Seat 8: PAULMARCKO (Russia) — 5,206,766
Seat 9: kackvogel84 (Germany) — 4,932,267

Shortly afterwards ShaiStar opened from early position with a min-raise to 500,000, then **Geka**555 pushed all in from the cutoff. It folded back to ShaiStar who called all in with about 4.1 million behind, turning over 10♣ 10♦ to **Geka**555’s A♥ K♣ . The J♥ 3♦ Aâ™  flop gave **Geka**555 a pair of aces, then after the Qâ™  turn and 10♥ river ShaiStar had made a set of tens but **Geka**555 filled a Broadway straight, sending ShaiStar out in ninth.

About 15 minutes later CaptainGant raised 2x to 600,000 from the cutoff then a short-stacked alwayswin222 called all in for just over 315,000 after having posted the small blind. CaptainGant had A♣ 5♣ while alwayswin222 had Q♥ 8♦ , and when the board brought no help to the latter alwayswin222 was done in eighth.

It was almost 15 minutes after that hand when the blinds had moved up to 200,000/400,000 and PAULMARCKO opened with a raise to 1 million from middle position. It folded around to Tenebrus321 in the small blind who reraise-shoved for more than 10 million, and when action got back PAULMARCKO called all in with the almost 4.3 million left.

PAULMARCKO had A♦ Q♥ and needed to improve against Tenebrus321’s Kâ™  K♣ , and the 9♣ A♥ 5♥ flop did just that by giving PAULMARCKO the better pair. But then the K♦ dropped on fourth street to put Tenebrus321 back ahead, and after the 4â™  river it was PAULMARCKO on the rail in seventh.

Shortly after that a big three-way hand developed that saw **Geka**555 min-raise to 1 million, kackvogel84 three-bet push for almost 3.9 million, then TheKhopMan call for just over 3.9 million. It folded back to **Geka**555 who called, and the three players showed their hands:

**Geka**555: Q♣ 10♥
TheKhopMan: 7♥ 7♦
kackvogel84: Q♦ Q♥

The community cards came 3♦ 5♦ 10♠ 9♣ J♥ , meaning **Geka**555 won the small side pot, kackvogel84 won the big main pot, and TheKhopMan was knocked out in sixth.

The remaining five played on until the break marking the 11-and-a-half-hour mark arrived, and during the break in play they decided together to pause the tournament to talk about a possible deal. At that point **Geka**555 led with about 21.8 million, kackvogel84 was next with just over 12.1 million, Tenebrus321 was third with about 11.7 million, CaptainGant fourth with just under 11.4 million, and justnl2 fifth with a bit more than 8.3 million.

“ICM”-based figures were produced, leaving $20,000 for which to play, and after much back-and-forthing no deal could be reached and play continued.

With blinds getting bigger and the stacks shallower, the all-ins started coming frequently as players switched places on the leaderboard. Finally a hand arose in which justnl2 min-raised to 1.6 million from the button, **Geka**555 shoved over than for more than 16 million, then when folded back to justnl2 called with about 11 million behind.

justnl2 had 9â™  9♣ and **Geka**555 K♣ J♦ , then the flop came a dazzling Kâ™  K♦ 9♦ to give **Geka**555 trip kings and justnl2 a full house. The turn and river then brought two sixes — coming 6â™  , then 6♦ — and **Geka**555 had made a better full house to knock justnl2 out in fifth.

Soon came another pause and another deal discussion, with **Geka**555 the new leader with about 29.7 million followed by Tenebrus321 (14.3 million), CaptainGant (12.1 million), and kackvogel84 (just under 920,000). Again numbers were produced, and after some tweaking of the suggested figures an agreement was made with all four players locking up six-figure wins. Cards soon went back in the air with $20K still on the line.

They’d nearly made it to the 12-and-a-half-hour mark when **Geka**555 open-shoved from the small blind and with Qâ™  10â™  and kackvogel84 called all in right away for just over 9 million with Aâ™  K♣ . The community cards remained low, but the 2♦ 4â™  3♣ 2â™  8â™  board added up to a flush for **Geka**555 and the end of kackvogel84’s run in fourth.

Just a couple of minutes after they returned from the break **Geka**555 min-raised to 2 million from the button, Tenebrus321 reraised all in for just over 20.1 million from the small blind, CaptainGant called all in for almost 19.2 million from the big blind, and **Geka**555 folded.

Tenebrus321 had A♦ 7♣ and was behind CaptainGant’s 9♣ 9♥ , and after the board came 7♦ Qâ™  4â™  6â™  4♣ CaptainGant’s nines had held as Tenebrus321 had finished third.

That hand gave CaptainGant a big lead to start heads-up play with about 50.2 million to **Geka**555’s 15.1 million, but a quick double-up by the latter soon evened things up between the pair. Then **Geka**555 moved out in front, and appeared on the verge of victory when the tables quickly turned.

First **Geka**555 three-bet shoved over a CaptainGant open and CaptainGant called, turning over A♥ 9♠ while **Geka**555 had 9♥ 5♥ . The better hand held, and suddenly CaptainGant had nearly 60 million while **Geka**555 was back down to about 5.5 million.

Then **Geka**555 pushed all in from the button on the next hand with 9♥ 3♥ and CaptainGant called with Kâ™  5♥ . The board rolled out K♦ 3♣ 8♥ Qâ™  6♦ and it was all over — CaptainGant had won.

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Congratulations to CaptainGant for taking down this week’s Sunday Million for a cool prize of nearly $138K, and kudos to the other three players involved in the four-way deal including **Geka**555 whose $142K represented the biggest takeaway of any of the 6,538 participating in this week’s tournament.

4/19/15 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold’em) results
Entrants: 6,538
Prize pool: $1,307,600.00
Places paid: 990

1. CaptainGant (Russia) — $137,944.12*
2. **Geka**555 (Ukraine) — $142,000.00*
3. Tenebrus321 (Germany) — $124,774.76*
4. kackvogel84 (Germany) — $117,802.22*
5. justnl2 (Cyprus) — $54,919.20
6. TheKhopMan (Ireland) — $41,843.20
7. PAULMARCKO (Russia) — $28,767.20
8. alwayswin222 (Germany) — $15,691.20
9. ShaiStar (Israel) — $10,133.90

*= reflects the results of a four-way deal that left $20,000 in play for the winner

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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