For Game of Thrones fans they got to see the drama of Jon Snow and Khaleesi (look elsewhere for spoilers) returning after several months wait for the season six premier. For online poker players and fans, the wait for the 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker is only 14 days away to see if Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier can capture another Player of the Series title with $40 million in guarantees across 165 tournaments. The $425,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up will help a few players gather up a bankroll before the race towards those watches. None more than this week's champion, droulis9, who won $70,416.22 after a two-way chop.

Read on below for the full story on droulis9's win.

Matthew "mjw006 Wakeman winner of the Super Tuesday and owner of a World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) bracelet, had eyes set for Sunday Major title nearly eight hours into the Sunday Warm-Up. But, Canibus555 refused to fold a flopped set against Wakeman's unpaired big-slick as Matthew took away $1,435.30 in 23rd place.

Halfway through the eighth hour of play VEK007 would throw in a modest stack with pocket queens staring down at ramondemon77's jacks. When the other two jacks in the deck hit the flop, VEK007 hit the rail in 16th place ($1,713.10).

From there the eliminations picked up quickly as the population was trimmed from 16 to hand-for-hand play in 15 minutes and the last to leave before the final table would wait until after the break.

Unlike the rash of players leaving the tournament ship, it would take a solid ten minutes after the break to determine the final table lineup. With the blinds at 50K/100K ante 10K Canibus555 took aim at staying alive by shoving for 902K as johnnyCASH90 called with pocket eights [8d][8c]. Canibus555 turned up big slick [As][Kc] which blanked on the [3d] [8s] [2d] [Qh] [9s] board starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: ajetopatamat (2788508 in chips)
Seat 2: girlyjack (1588956 in chips)
Seat 3: droulis9 (2187320 in chips)
Seat 4: ramondemon77 (1660793 in chips)
Seat 5: Peter9900 (3197497 in chips)
Seat 6: Bushman (2631819 in chips)
Seat 7: johnnyCASH90 (5290235 in chips)
Seat 8: gorgona66ret (625860 in chips)
Seat 9: ivanvilchez8 (3179012 in chips)

The starting nine itched to get the party going on the first hand. Holding one of the larger stacks ajetopatamat would raise to 230K from UTG as ramondemon77 tried to scare off anyone else by shoving for 1.65 million with pocket eights [8s][8c]. A pair held for johnnyCASH90, would they hold against ajetopatamat's big slick [Kd][As]? They did until the turn [5s] [2h] [2c] [Kh] [3d] as ramondemon77 was forced to cash out in ninth place ($3,935.50).

JohnnyCASH90's stack would continue to grow in the early goings of the final table. Shortly after the break gorgona66ret would shove for 469,860 hoping to score some easy blinds. Instead the chip leader, johnnyCASH90, would make the big stack call with [5s][Js]. Gorgona66ret's pocket fours [4d][4s] would be the second straight pair to lose to overcards on the turn [2h] [9d] [Ts] [5d] [8d]. Gorgona66ret's Sunday Million final table last year ended in eighth place and so would this one earning $6,713.50.

JohnnyCASH90 would min-raise from middle position as girlyjack tried to squirm out of the depth of having under three BBs and called all-in. Both the blinds joined in the party as johnnyCASH90 followed through on the [2h][Qs][7c] flop with only droulis9 staying in. Both would check the turn [8h] as droulis9 bet out 1.25 million on the paired river [7d]. JohnnyCASH90 had too much to say no and called as droulis9 showed deuces full [2s][2c]. Neither johnnyCASH90 nor girlyjack could match the boat, sending girlyjack home in seventh place ($11,343.50).

Five hands later with the blinds moving up to 125K/250K ante 25K Bushman would raise to 625K as ajetopatamat shoved for 1.8 million from the small blind. Bushman holding only 53K left tossed it in holding [Jd][Th]. Not a bad hand facing pocket kings [Kd][Kc] but only one ten [Td] [3c] [6d] [7h] [8s] would show up as Bushman carried away $15,973.50 in sixth place.

Five minutes later with droulis9 now holding over half the chips in play, former chip leader johnnyCASH90 would shove for 2.1 million as droulis9 looked to increase that lead by re-shoving for 10.4 million. Peter9900 wisely folded in the big blind as droulis9 showed [Jd][Ah]. JohnnyCASH90's dominated [Ks][Jh] did not dig out of that pre-flop hole [2h] [Jc] [5h] [9s] [6d] shipping $20,603.50 in fifth place.

Despite the weight of droulis9's stack it would take nearly 15 minutes until ajetopatamat broke the silence. With the blinds moving up to 150K/300K ante 30K ajetopatamat would shove 3.8 million from the button as Peter9900 called all-in for 1.77 million in the big blind with [5h][Ac]. A slight advantage over ajetopatamat's [Ad][3h] but a flopped wheel [2c] [5d] [4c] [7c] [4h] changed all that as Peter9900 earned $27,085.50 in fourth place.

Two hands later ivanvilchez8, fresh off a Super Tuesday win in March, would shove 2.97 million from the button as droulis9 was waiting to call in the big blind with [Ac][3h]. Ivanvilchez8 held [Js][Ts] and was two players away from adding a Sunday Major title. But, ivanvilchez8 could not get past the [9c] [7d] [9d] [4h] [6h] board receiving $39,355.00 for another great run in third place.

Before the first hand of heads-up play ajetopatamat wanted a sidebar for chop discussions which droulis9 agreed. After a productive five minutes and due to the 16.9 million to 6.2 million chip-lead, they nailed down the deal below (leaving $8K for the winner):

droulis9: $62,416.22
ajetopatamat: $57,681.99

Droulis9's lead was too much for a comeback as this heads-up battle would conclude in only eight minutes. With the blinds up to 200K/400K ante 40K and 3.4 million chips already in the pot with the board showing [9c][5d][6d][4h] ajetopatamat checked as droulis9 shoved. Ajetopatamat holding top pair plus straight and flush draws [9d][7d] made the call. With all the draws ajetopatamat was only slightly behind droulis9's queens [Qs][Qc]. The [Th] on the river was not an out for ajetopatamat making droulis9 this week's Sunday Warm-Up champion earning $70,416.22!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results (04-24-2016)

Entrants: 2,315
Prize pool: $463,000.00
Places paid: 342

1. droulis9 (Greece) $70,416.22*
2. ajetopatamat (Czech Republic) $57,681.99*
3. ivanvilchez8 (Argentina) $39,355.00
4. Peter9900 (Denmark) $27,085.50
5. johnnyCASH90 (Germany) $20,603.50
6. Bushman (Canada) $15,973.50
7. girlyjack (United Kingdom) $11,343.50
8. gorgona66ret (Greece) $6,713.50
9. ramondemon77 (Romania) $3,935.50

* Reflects the results of a two-way deal that left $8,000 in play for the winner

Want to play in the Sunday Majors or the upcoming SCOOP series? Click here to get your PokerStars account started!