It was another big group playing this week's $215 buy-in Sunday Million on a href="http://www.Pokerstars.com/client/download/?source=12382610" target="_blank">PokerStars, and after playing all day and night the final table was represented by players from Canada, the Netherlands, Romania, Brazil, Japan, and Russia. From that group it was the Russian, needdollarz, who emerged as the victor, claiming a nice $159,387.24 first prize after a three-way final table deal.

There were 5,594 entries this week, building a $1,118,800 prize pool divided among the final 810 finishers. It took a little over 10 hours for that big field to play all of the way down to just 18 players, and with two tables left it was Adrian "bostanu24" Covaciu leading the way with more than 6.5 million.

Cp6uja007 (18th), QuirijndB (17th), and Travis "rookie1609x" Darroch (16th) were the next players eliminated, each earning $3,300.46. Lukas "sukin12" Soucek (15th), Joe Santana (14th), and apocmiguel (13th) were next to go, picking up $4,978.66 apiece. Then sun-of-god (12th), Washka (11th), and Dimitri "gringenkov" Gringenkov (10th) fell, taking $6,656.86 each from the prize pool.

With Adrian "bostanu24" Covaciu still the chip leader after having built a stack of more than 9.6 million, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Brian "bfizz11" Fite (Canada) -- 6,102,910 
Seat 2: Adrian "bostanu24" Covaciu (Romania) -- 9,675,437 
Seat 3: inokun202 (Japan) -- 4,974,132 
Seat 4: NH 1121 NH (Netherlands) -- 4,963,242 
Seat 5: danistheking (Netherlands) -- 7,211,585 
Seat 6: bennybolt (Canada) -- 3,017,460 
Seat 7: THCHunter (Canada) -- 6,694,111 
Seat 8: needdollarz (Russia) -- 8,737,386 
Seat 9: kdrAS (Brazil) -- 4,563,737 

Shortly after the final table began, the blinds were 100,000/200,000 when inokun202 min-raised to 400,000 from the button, danistheking three-bet to 1.34 million from the big blind, and inokun202 called. 

The flop came [8c][Jh][6s]. danistheking led for 800,000 and inokun202 called, then after the [7d] fell on the turn danistheking fired 3.4 million and inokun202 called with the 2,638,132 left behind. danisking had [Js][6c], having flopped two pair, while inokun202 had [9s][8s] for a pair of eights plus a straight draw. The river was the [Qc], and inokun202 was done in ninth.

About 10 minutes later the blinds had bumped up to 125,000/250,000 when it folded around to bennybolt in the small blind who shoved all-in for 1,810,460 with [Kh][8h], and THCHunter called from the big blind holding [Ah][Jh]. The flop came [8c][Js][3s] to pair bennybolt, with the [7d] turn keeping the at-risk player in front. But the [As] fell on fifth street to give THCHunter a better pair, and bennybolt was out in eighth.

The remaining seven players made it through the next break that came at the tournament's 12-hour mark, then soon after play resumed Adrian "bostanu24" Covaciu opened for 550,000 from early position, kdrAS reraised all-in for 4,006,237 from the big blind, and Covaciu called. It was [Ad][Tc] for kdrAS versus Covaciu's [7s][7d] and five cards later -- [9c][7c][5d][3c][7h] -- Covaciu had quads and all those sevens meant a seventh-place finish for kdrAS.

About 15 minutes after that the blinds were up again to 175,000/350,000 when Adrian "bostanu24" Covaciu was again raising, this time to 740,000 from the button, then NH 1121 NH three-bet shoved from the small blind for 3,330,027. It folded back to Covaciu who called, showing [5s][5h] while NH 1121 NH had [Ah][Th]. The [8c][2c][Jc][8d][5d] board then added up to a full house for Covaciu, thereby ending NH 1121 NH's run in sixth.

They continued on another half-hour, during which time danistheking rose to the top of the counts by building up close to 20 million. That's when Brian "bfizz11" Fite opened with a min-raise to 800,000 from the cutoff, then Adrian "bostanu24" Covaciu shoved for 6,788,360 from the button. It folded to THCHunter in the big blind who reraised all-in to force a fold from Fite, and THCHunter showed [Ah][Kc] while Covaciu had [As][Js]. The board rolled out eight-high -- [5c][6c][5s][5d][8h] -- and Covaciu was stopped in fifth.

The final four made it to the 13-hour mark, by which point needdollarz had pushed out in front with more than 26.2 million. needdollarz then open-raised all-in with that leading stack from the small blind holding [Qd][Jd], and Brian "bfizz11" Fite called all-in for 4,333,300 after having posted the 500,000-chip big blind with [Ad][9d]. The [2h][Qh][6c] flop was bad for Fite, giving needdollarz queens, then the [Jh] turn made two pair for needdollarz, making the [7c] river no matter as Fite was done in fourth.

The remaining players swiftly paused the tournament for some deal talk, with needdollarz sitting in firsth with about 31.2 million, danistheking next with a little over 13.9 million, and THCHunter third with just under 10.8 million. They only took a few minutes to agree to the "ICM"-based deal numbers that were suggested, and with $20,000 having been set aside for which to play cards were soon back in the air.

The first hand after the deal saw needdollarz open from the button for 1.125 million, danistheking reraise to 3.25 million from the small blind, needdollarz shove, and danistheking cll with the 10,623,490 left. Both had picked up big hands as danistheking had [Ah][Kh] while needdollarz showed [Tc][Td]. The [Ts][Js][Ad] flop gave needdollarz a set of tens while danistheking had aces plus a straight draw, but the [7s] turn and [2d] river didn't change anything and danistheking hit the rail in third.

That pot pushed needdollarz up to 45,706,470 to start heads-up play, way ahead of THCHunter's 10,233,530. They played a half-dozen small hands with little change to the stacks, then came a hand that saw needdollarz open for 1.125 million from the button, THCHunter call, and a flop come [5d][8d][Tc].

THCHunter checked, needdollarz continued for 828,500, and THCHunter called. The turn was the [4d], and again THCHunter check-called a bet from needdollarz, this time for 2,885,040.

The river brought the [2c] and one more check from THCHunter. needdollarz pushed all-in, and THCHunter called all-in with the 6,419,990 left behind, turning over [Qs][8h] for a pair of eights. needdollarz had that beat, though, with [7s][6h] for a turned straight and it was over -- needdollarz had grabbed the extra 20 thousand dollars and the win.

Congratulations to needdollarz for topping this week's big Sunday Million field to earn a cool $159,387.24, and kudos as well to both THCHunter and danistheking for making it to the three-way deal and ensuring themselves handsome six-figure scores as well.

6/26/16 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entries: 5,594
Prize pool: $1,118,800
Places paid: 810

1. needdollarz (Russia) $159,387.24*
2. THCHunter (Canada) $115,999.87*
3. danistheking (Netherlands) $122,069.02*
4. Brian "bfizz11" Fite (Canada) $63,212.20
5. Adrian "bostanu24" Covaciu (Romania) $47,549.00
6. NH 1121 NH (Netherlands) $36,361.00
7. kdrAS (Brazil) $25,173.00
8. bennybolt (Canada) $13,985.00
9. inokun202 (Japan) $8,950.40
*denotes three-way deal

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