For a while leading up to the final table of tonight's Super Tuesday -- the weekly $1,050 no-limit hold'em event that consistently brings out poker's best and brightest -- it looked as though the most recent European Poker Tour Main Event champion, Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell, might be adding another title to his collection as he challenged for the lead then continued to battle with six players left.

But Farrell would fall shy of that finish, knocked out in sixth by the player who would eventually go on to win this week's tournament -- Re8uZ of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (population about 2 million). Re8uZ earned an even $88,000 for the win following a three-way deal, and here's the story of how Re8uZ did it.

There were 504 players total in this week's Super Tuesday, meaning a $504,000 prize pool that bested the recently-boosted $450K guarantee. Just after the five-and-a-half-hour mark they made it to the money with 63 players left, and not long after that chikka21 was well out ahead of the pack with more than 220,000 while the nearest foe was hovering around 140,000.

About two hours after that they were down to 18, with chikka21 still the chip leader with just a touch over 300,000 and Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell -- less than three weeks removed from his win in the EPT12 Malta Main Event -- only a big blind or so behind in second position.

Bruno chato (18th), vander9279 (17th), and Pauli elTopo (16th) were the next players eliminated, earning $4,032 each. Then Kozlikin23 (15th), T-Macha (14th), and after having slid back to the pack chikka21 (13th) were successively eliminated, taking away $5,040 apiece. Bernardo "bedias" Dias (12th), Samuel "SamuelBT" Tsehai (11th), and David "dpeters17" Peters (10th) followed them to the rail, each cashing for $6,048.

With eventual winner Re8uZ having by then ascended into first position with nearly 550,000, the final table had begun.

Seat 1: Ramiro "ramastar88" Petrone (Argentina) -- 320,573
Seat 2: Andy "wiisssppppaa" Taylor (United Kingdom) -- 153,159
Seat 3: Pokerger1337 (Netherlands) -- 286,320
Seat 4: IgorKarkarof (Denmark) -- 83,398
Seat 5: talonaquiles (United Kingdom) -- 148,852
Seat 6: Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell (United Kingdom) -- 466,698
Seat 7: nathkpk (Canada) -- 276,494
Seat 8: Re8uZ (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) -- 545,549
Seat 9: Matias "Festivuss" Gabrenja (Mexico) -- 238,957

The final nine made it through the tournament's nine-hour break, then soon after Andy "wiisssppppaa" Taylor open-raised all in from under the gun for just under 98,000 (about 13-and-a-half big blinds) and got one caller in Pokerger1337 sitting a seat over. Taylor had [Ah][Kd] and was racing Pokerger1337's [Qc][Qs]. The board came [Ts][7s][Jh][8s][6d], and having failed to improve Taylor was out in ninth.

About a half-hour later the blinds were 4,500/9,000 when Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell opened for the minimum from UTG, Re8uZ called from a couple of seats over, then Matias "Festivuss" Gabrenja three-bet to 43,434 total. It folded back to Farrell who stepped aside, but Re8uZ called.

Both remaining players checked the [5s][3s][Td] flop, then after the [7s] turn Re8uZ led for 85,336 and Gabrenja called. The river brought the [Kh] and an all-in push by Re8uZ which Gabrenja called with his last 170,707. Gabrenja turned over [Ad][As] for an overpair, but Re8uZ had flopped a set with [3h][3c], and Gabrenja was done in eighth.

Five hands later it was talonaquiles open-raising all in for 110,264 from early position, getting one caller in Farrell sitting in the next seat. talonaquiles had [Ah][Jc] and Farrell [8h][8s]. The community cards came [6c][Ks][3d][Tc][7s], the eights had held, and talonaquiles was out in seventh.

A little while later they had just crossed the 10-hour mark when Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell opened with a 2x raise to 24,000 from the cutoff, Re8uZ reraised to 68,400 from the small blind, Farrell four-bet all in for 404,816 and Re8uZ called.

Farrell had [Ac][Qh] but Re8uZ had [Ad][Kc], and five cards later -- [Js][3c][7c][8s][9h] -- Farrell's Super Tuesday run had ended in sixth.

Just five hands after Farrell's knockout, IgorKarkarof open-pushed for just over 110,000 from the cutoff and Re8uZ reraised from the small blind to isolate. Each had an ace, but IgorKarkarof's [Ac][3s] was outkicked by Re8uZ's [Ah][Jd]. Then the flop came [9c][Ks][Jc] followed by the [Jh] on the turn, giving Re8uZ trips and making the river no matter as IgorKarkarof was sent railward in fifth.

Nearly 20 minutes after that Ramiro "ramastar88" Petrone opened with a big 6x raise to 84,000 from UTG, Re8uZ reraised all in from the big blind, and Petrone called all in with the 52,174 he had left. Petrone had [Kd][Jd] and was drawing versus Re8uZ's [As][9c], but the [9h][Ad][9s] flop swiftly put a huge damper on those plans, giving Re8uZ a full house. The [2s] turn sealed it, and Petrone cashed in fourth.

Soon the tourney was paused for a deal discussion, at which point Re8uz led with 1,362,789, Pokerger1337 was next with 781,217, and nathkpk third with 375,994. Both "chip chop" and "ICM"-based figures were produced (leaving $8,000 for which to play), and after discussion proceeded a short while they were interrupted when a player unticked the deal box and play was resumed.

A few minutes later they were back in talks, with the stacks having changed a bit to Re8uZ 1,545,672, Pokerger1337 601,584, and nathkpk 372,744. The two sets of numbers were again proposed, and after some back-and-forthing that saw nathkpk agree to give the two bigger stacks a bit more to the "ICM" figures, a deal was struck and play resumed.

Very soon it was nathkpk opening from the button with a min-raise to 32,000, Pokerger1337 reraising all in from the big blind, and nathkpk calling all in for almost 345,000 total. Pokerger1337 had a pair with [6h][6s] while nathkpk had [Ac][Jh], and after the board came nine-high -- [2s][9d][3s][4s][3h] -- they were down to two.

Re8uZ had the advantage to start heads-up play with 1,569,672 to Pokerger1337's 950,328. About two dozen hands later Re8uZ had widened the lead, chipping up close to 2.23 million while Pokerger1337 was knocked back to just over 290,000.

That's when a hand arose that saw Pokerger1337 min-raise from the button to 32,000, Re8uZ three-bet to 72,800, and Pokerger1337 call. The flop came [8d][Jc][Qc], and after Re8uZ led with an all-in shove, Pokerger1337 thought for a couple of beats before calling all in for 216,037.

Re8uZ: [8c][2c]
Pokerger1337: [Kd][Tc]

Both players were on draws with Pokerger1337 having an open-ender and Re8uZ gunning for a club flush, meaning Pokerger1337's king-high was momentarily in front. But the turn brought the [2s] to pair Re8uZ's deuce, and after the [6s] river it was all over -- Re8uZ had won.

Congratulations to Re8uZ for winning the extra $8K following the deal for a nifty $88,000 payday, and kudos as well to Pokerger1337 and nathkpk for making it to the three-handed deal and ensuring nice paydays for themselves, too.

11/17/15 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 504
Prize pool: $504,000.00
Places paid: 63

1. Re8uZ (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) $88,000*
2. Pokerger1337 (Netherlands) $69,280.00*
3. nathkpk (Canada) $60,700.00*
4. Ramiro "ramastar88" Petrone (Argentina) $39,312.00
5. IgorKarkarof (Denmark) $27,720.00
6. Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell (United Kingdom) $21,420.00
7. talonaquiles (United Kingdom) $16,380.00
8. Matias "Festivuss" Gabrenja (Mexico) $11,340.00
9. Andy "wiisssppppaa" Taylor (United Kingdom) $8,366.40
* = denotes a three-way deal leaving $8,000 for the winner

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