As the WSOP Main Event final table slogged through its first 72 hands and three eliminations, it took less than an hour to play the 102 hands it took to get us from nine players to this week's Sunday Million champion. Shortly before serial EPT qualifier Pierre Neuville busted from the Main in seventh place, Canada's swonnny made good on his second chance at a Sunday Million title. Back in March, swonnny made a deep run, but saw his final table hopes cut short when he was eliminated in 16th place. This time, it was quite a different story. Swonnny made the final table second in chips and took the lead five-handed before finishing off yosim19 in a short, brutal heads-up match in which he dragged every single pot.

5,798 players entered this week's Million, pushing the prize pool up to $1,159,600.00. 855 places were paid with first place set to earn $179,740.79.

The blinds were up to 125,000/250,000 and ten players remained when FrAAnKK Jr. opened for a min-raise to 500,000 out of the small blind. Yosim19 called and they saw a [Tc][2c][2d] flop. FrAAnKK Jr. check-called yosim19's 1,125,000 bet. The [Td] turn double-paired the board and FrAAnKK Jr. checked to yosim19, who moved all-in for 9.56 million. FrAAnKK Jr. called off his remaining 2.3 million and turned over [Ad][Qc]. However, yosim19 had him drawing dead with [Ac][Ah]. The river was the meaningless [4h] and FrAAnKK Jr. hit the rail in tenth place, sending us to the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: sik0tic (2,658,504 in chips)
Seat 2: DUALMTN (8,057,627 in chips)
Seat 3: Aussie_star1 (2,617,426 in chips)
Seat 4: portillo23 (3,365,960 in chips)
Seat 5: jaggalo1231 (7,231,860 in chips)
Seat 6: simbir (4,432,900 in chips)
Seat 7: yosim19 (15,237,578 in chips)
Seat 8: elitesold (1,869,792 in chips)
Seat 9: swonnny (12,508,353 in chips)

Action was swift and brutal right out of the gate. On Hand #3, portillo23 three-bet shoved for 3.16 million with [Ac][9c] and ran straight into yosim19's pocket kings. Portillo23 got no love on the queen-high board and went out in ninth place. Four hands later, elitesold open-shoved for his last 1.3 million with [Ah][9c] and DUALMTN woke up with, guess what? [As][Ad]. No miracle for elitesold on the [Tc][3s][2h][Ac][8d] board and he exited in eighth place.

Two hands later, DUALMTN struck again, calling Aussie_star1's 2.74 million three-bet shove. DUALMTN's pocket tens won the race against [Ac][Kh] when a ten hit the flop and Aussie_star1 had to settle for seventh place. Then, on the very next deal, sik0tic made a stand with [4c][4s] and DUALMTN looked him up with [7s][7d]. The sevens held up and sik0tic hit the rail in sixth place, giving DUALMTN his third KO in a row. After that flurry of eliminations, DUALMTN was up to 17.8 million, but still trailed chip leader yosim19, who had 19.6 million.

The blinds rose to 150,000/300,000 and simbir led off the action with a UTG raise to 750,000. Swonnny called on the button and the flop came down [Jc][Jh][8s]. Both players checked. The turn was the [9h] and simbir led out for 588,000. Swonnny called and they went to the river which fell the [Td]. Simbir checked, swonnny bet 3.6 million and simbir called all-in for slightly less. Although simbir turned up [Kd][Kh] for two pair, they were no good against swonnny's [Js][Tc]-- trips on the flop and jacks full of tens on the river. Simbir went out in fifth place and swonnny tok the chip lead for the first time with 19.77 million.

Two orbits later, DUALMTN was back on the warpath. He opened for 750,000 with [Ad][Qh], only to have jaggalo1231 shove for 6.1 million from the small blind. DUALMTN called and jaggalo1231 turned over a dominated [As][9d]. Jaggalo1231 did not improve on the [Jd][6s][5h][4s][Td] board and departed in fourth place.

As three-handed play commenced the chip counts were relatively even; swonnny held 19.7 million, DUALMTN 19.4 million and yosim19 18.9 million.

The trio exchanged pots for about ten minutes before swonnny had a huge breakthrough. In a pot yosim19 three-bet to 2.4 million out of the big blind, both players checked the [Ks][4c][3h] flop. The turn came the [8c] and yosim19 checked to swonnny, who bet 2.4 million. Yosim19 called and they went to the river, which fell the [9c]. This time, yosim19 led out for 4.96 million and swonnny called. Yosim19 had [Ad][Qs], nothing more than ace high, and swonnny turned over [Ah][4h] to take down the 19.8 million pot with a pair of fours. Swonnny moved up to 36.5 million in chips while yosim19 sank to 11.8 million.

Moments later, DUALMTN opened from the small blind for 1,000,000 and yosim19 called from the big. DUALMTN check-called 2.15 million on the [Qh][Th][5d] flop and checked again when the [3s] turned. Yosim19 moved all-in for 10.5 million and DUALMTN called all-in for less.

DUALMTN [Kc][Ts]
yosim19 [Qs][Jc]

DUALMTN needed a ten or a king to survive, but the [2s] fell instead. Yosim19 took down the 17 million-chip pot with top pair and DUALMTN went out in third place.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 7: yosim19 (22,216,247 in chips)
Seat 9: swonnny (35,763,753 in chips)

Swonnny never let up once in this match. He won the first seven pots, taking his chip count up to 46.2 million. He opened the eighth hand for a raise to 1,000,000 and yosim19 called to see a [Ts][9c][7d] flop. Yosim19 led out for 2,000,000, swonnny moved all-in, and yosim19 called.

yosim19 [Qs][9d]
swonnny [Ac][Ah]

Yosim19 could survive with only a queen, a nine, or running straight cards. But tonight belonged to swonnny and the turn and river complied, blanking with the [4h] and the [5h] to give swonnny redemption, and his first major online title.

Congratulations to swonnnny on joining the ranks of Sunday Million champions! No deals necessary tonight-- he banked the full $179,740.79 for the win while runner-up yosim19 earned $133,354.00.

PokerStars Sunday Million results for 11-8-2015

Players: 5,798
Prizepool: $1,159,600.00
Places paid: 855

1. swonnny (Canada) $179,740.79
2. yosim19 (Israel) $133,354.00
3. DUALMTN (Canada) $93,927.60
4. jaggalo1231 (Czech Republic) $65,111.54
5. simbir (Norway) $48,703.20
6. sik0tic (United Kingdom) $37,107.20
7. Aussie_star1 (Australia) $25,511.20
8. elitesold (Germany) $14,495.00
9. portillo23 (Romania) $9,044.88