This week's Super Tuesday final table was typically full of top talent, with Apostolis "apostolis20" Bechrakis, Rhys "floppinhel" Jones, Davide "GX91" Marchi, and Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois among the final nine. None of those players made it to the heads-up deal struck by Martin "moertelmu" Mulsow and Bryan "bparis" Paris, however, with Paris being the one to go on and win this week's Super Tuesday to claim a $71,210.74 payday.

Paris won the Super Tuesday before a little over two years ago, topping a field of 575 that time to do so. There were 430 entrants in the event this week -- exactly the same as a week ago -- which again made for a $430,000 prize pool that well exceeded the $300K guarantee. 

It took exactly five-and-a-half hours for the field to be carved down to 63 players and the money bubble to burst, at which point kjunia of Japan and ksbomb of South Korea were neck-and-neck for the chip lead.

Just about two hours after that they were down to 18, with kostinio83 having opened up a big lead with more than 1.53 million while the nearest challenger, Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois, was hovering around 880,000.

By then ksbomb had fallen below the average, then just over a half-hour later would slip further to fall in 18th. Lequenden (17th) and ismo

Following them to the exit were Mads "madsamot" Amot (15th), dunny03 (14th), and kathibee488 (13th), each of whom took away $4,300. Then fer_90_1 (12th), Sunday Million winner from last year Marcin "MARCIN123" Milde (11th), and holy h3ll (10th) who also won a Sunday Million in 2015 successively went out, cashing for $5,160 apiece.

With Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois having chipped up into the lead as the only player over 2 million, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Rhys "floppinhel" Jones (United Kingdom) -- 972,867
Seat 2: Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois (Canada) -- 2,085,849
Seat 3: Apostolis "apostolis20" Bechrakis (Cyprus) -- 638,056
Seat 4: Bryan "bparis" Paris (Canada) -- 622,527
Seat 5: cmontopdeck (Germany) -- 1,145,802
Seat 6: kostinio83 (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) -- 1,319,149
Seat 7: Martin "moertelmu" Mulsow (Austria) -- 1,548,923
Seat 8: Davide "GX91" Marchi (Malta) -- 786,680
Seat 9: kjunia (Japan) -- 1,630,147 

About 10 minutes after the final table began, the next knockout occurred in a big three-way all-in hand involving kostinio83, Martin "moertelmu" Mulsow, and Bryan "bparis" Paris.

With the blinds 15,000/30,000, Paris open-raised all-in for nearly 560,000 from the cutoff, kostinio83 reraise-pushed for about 1.15 million from the small blind, and Mulsow called from the big blind while having both covered.

kostinio83: [Kh][Kd]
moertelmu: [Jh][Jd]
bparis: [Ks][Qd]

The [Th][9c][4c] flop and [2h] turn kept kostinio83's kings in front, but the river brought the [Js], making a set for Mulsow which earned the side pot, and filling a straight for Paris to give him the main pot and enabling him to survive. Meanwhile kostinio83 -- who finished fifth in the Super Tuesday just a week ago -- was done in ninth.

A short while later the blinds were up to 17,500/35,000 when cmontopdeck min-raised to 70,000 from the button, Davide "GX91" Marchi reraise-shoved from the big blind, and cmontopdeck called all-in for 683,304 more. Marchi had [6h][6c] and cmontopdeck [Ah][Jd], and the [8h][Td][Tc][6s][7h] board would give Marchi a full house while sending cmontopdeck railward in eighth.

Just a couple of minutes after that it was Apostolis "apostolis20" Bechrakis open-raising all-in from the button for 349,556 (just under 10 big blinds) with [Jc][Td] and was called by Martin "moertelmu" Mulsow in the big blind with [Kh][Qs]. The board rolled out [9d][5s][4s][2c][3c], and Bechrakis was eliminated in seventh.

The final six all made it past the next break and the start of the tournament's 11th hour, then with the blinds 20,000/40,000 it was Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois raising to 90,000 from early position. It folded to kjunia who jammed for 886,397 from the big blind and Lefrancois called right away.

Lefrancois had [Ah][Kd] and kjunia had [Jc][Tc]. The [Ad][Kh][6h] flop paired Lefrancois twice, and after the [6c] turn and [4d] river, kjunia cashed in sixth.

More than an hour passed, with Mulsow pushing up over 4.6 million while the other four players all hovered between 1-2 million.

Soon it was Mulsow opening with a just-over-2x raise to 147,000 from the cutoff, then Rhys "floppinhel" Jones shoved for 1,118,056 from the small blind and Mulsow called. Jones had [Ac][Qd] but had run into Mulsow's [Ad][Ah], and following a [4s][3d][Tc][4h][Ks] runout Jones was out in fifth.

About 15 minutes later Davide "GX91" Marchi had slipped to 916,914 and after posting the small blind open-pushed and got a call from Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois in the big blind. Marchi had [Kc][Ts] while Lefrancois had [As][4c]. The board came [3c][8h][5c], then [4s], then [6d], giving Lefrancois a pair of fours and leaving Marchi with but king-high to finish in fourth.

Martin "moertelmu" Mulsow continued to lead as three-handed play commenced, and while Mulsow asked his two remaining opponents, Bryan "bparis" Paris and Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois, if they were interested in looking at the numbers, but neither responded and play continued.

Soon enough the blinds were 40,000/80,000 when Mulsow opened for 210,000 from the small blind, Lefrancois made it an even half-million to go from the BB, Mulsow shoved, and Lefrancois called all-in for 1,813,911 more.

Lefrancois had [As][9s] and was pipped preflop by Mulsow's [Ac][Ts]. The board rolled out [3s][Ah][5d][6d][5s], and Lefrancois was done in third.

A couple more hands went by then the two remaining players paused the tournament to talk about a possible deal with Mulsow sitting on 6,833,914 and Paris with 3,916,086. 

Before numbers were even produced they'd agreed to a "chip chop" (same as "ICM" heads-up) leaving $5K for which to play, and once the numbers were confirmed the heads-up duel began in earnest.

Paris eventually narrowed the gap, then took the lead by the time the tournament's 12-hour mark arrived. Soon after that Paris had nearly 5.5 million and Mulsow about 5.25 million when the following hand took place.

With the blinds up to 45,000/90,000, Mulsow opened for 216,000 from the button and Paris called, and the players saw the flop come [Qs][8s][4d]. Paris checked, Mulsow bet 188,000, Paris check-raised to 624,420, and Mulsow called. The turn then brought the [3d] and a bet of 1,084,369 from Paris, and Mulsow called again.

The river was the [3h]. This time Paris shoved all-in, and Mulsow called to commit his last 3,323,022. Paris showed [Qh][8h] for queens and eights, and that beat Mulsow's [Qc][Jc] for queens and treys, stopping Mulsow in second and giving Paris the pot, the extra $5K, and the Super Tuesday title.

Congratulations to Bryan "bparis" Paris for another deep run and big score on PokerStars, and kudos also to Martin "moertelmu" Mulsow for taking away nearly what Paris did thanks to the heads-up deal.

6/7/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 430
Prize pool: $430,000
Places paid: 63

1. Bryan "bparis" Paris (Canada) $71,210.74*
2. Martin "moertelmu" Mulsow (Austria) $70,689.26*
3. Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois (Canada) $44,075.00
4. Davide "GX91" Marchi (Malta) $33,540.00
5. Rhys "floppinhel" Jones (United Kingdom) $23,650.00
6. kjunia (Japan) $18,275.00
7. Apostolis "apostolis20" Bechrakis (Cyprus) $13,975.00
8. cmontopdeck (Germany) $9,675.00
9. kostinio83 (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) $7,138.00
*denotes two-way deal

The odds were stacked against him from the start. When George Danzer went into last night's WSOP $10,000 Stud championship, he had fewer chips than any of the remaining players. He could've just as easily been out as quickly as he started. 

Instead, Danzer went to work as few can, and before anyone could see what was happening, Danzer had the chip lead four-handed. By that point David Benyamine and Steve Weiss had busted and left Danzer with Robert Mizrachi, Matt Grapenthien, and Ted Forrest. Mizrachi ended up knocking Forrest out, and then finished off Danzer, too. 

Danzer cashed in third place for $103,230. It marks his first cash of the summer and his deepest WSOP run since 2014 when he won three bracelets. 

By the end of the night, Mizrachi had sent Grapenthien packing in second place. Mizrachi's win earned him his fourth WSOP bracelet and $242,662.

Meanwhile, around the rest of the Rio, Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree cashed in the $1000 Top Up Turbo No-Limit Hold'em event in 29th place out of the 667 entries. Kyle Julius went on to win that one later in the night. 

Today, the WSOP will be hosting the second $10,000 championship events, one of 15 over the course of the summer. The $10,000 Heads Up Championship, which Team Pro Jake Cody once won, can hold up to 512 players and kicks of at 3pm Vegas time. 

Over the course of a poker career that's lasted a bit over three decades, I don't remember all the times I've flopped the nuts. Or "been dealt the nuts" in those dusty evenings of ace-to-five lowball games at Garden City in San Jose.

But I'm pretty sure I'll remember this one. It's been a few months now, and I'll leave the specific venue, even city, anonymous for reasons that will soon become apparent.

It was at that hour when plans for a reasonable night's sleep have vanished and you're thinking that a hearty breakfast sounds good. When the five $1-$2 no-limit hold'em games have become four, then three, then two, and both games are just clinging on - neither getting small enough to justify combining into a single healthy game.

We were five-handed when I got [As][3s] under the gun, and opened to $8. There were two calls including Pat, on the button. Flop came K-Q-4.

All spades.

I've always felt that if you want to win a big pot, you better help build it. I bet $15 and just Pat called. I don't remember the turn card, but it wasn't a spade and it didn't pair the board. I bet $25; Pat raised to $50. 

Well, now.

Pat had started with $350-$400. I had more like $800 (all honestly bought and paid for, along with a bunch I could no longer call my own). I thought that another $100 on this card would commit Pat to the rest of their stack on the river. 

"$150 total," I said, as I slid a stack and a half of nickels toward the center.

"All-in," said Pat, who was sitting in the #9 seat, immediately adjacent to the dealer. Dealer threw an all-in button in front of him/her.

Among my multitude of failings at the poker table, slow-rolling is not one of them. I immediately said, "I call - I have the nuts." And turned up my hand.

Pat goes, "I didn't say 'all-in'."  Ruh-roh.

Dealer says, "I heard you say 'all-in' - thus the all-in button in front of you." Pat says, "Do you think I'm going to go all-in when he has the nuts?" I thought this was a novel debate gambit (not to mention wise poker strategy). The dealer's shoulders slumped as he called the floor.

The floorman listened to the dealer carefully, and asked the others at the table what they heard. At least one person said he heard, "All-in". The floorman told Pat that he/she would have to push their remaining chips into the center.

Pat refused.

I got involved for the first time. "Could we see Pat's hand? Maybe we'd have a better sense if he/she would be likely to ship their stack." Floorman didn't seem to want to go there, so I dropped that line. Floorman was adamant with Pat that he/she had to relinquish all of their chips. Pat absolutely refused to put another chip into the pot.

And I got to thinking, "What's the most important thing here? We've got an ugly stalemate that's going nowhere and just creating a mess for tired players and even more tired staff. And Pat's stack, plus or minus, is never going to change my life."

"Tell you what - just give me the $100 re-raise and we'll call it square."

Floorman thanked me and told Pat that was the best deal going in the whole damn casino at the moment, the $7.99 steak and eggs notwithstanding. Pat told him in no uncertain terms that I was not getting that $100, much less his/her stack. I was pretty sure that the floorman was about to throw Pat out - and Pat was clearly a regular in the room.

"You know," I piped up. "It's all just chips. Push me what's there now and let's get on with the game." I thought both floorman and dealer were going to hug me. Floorman indicated the other game, "I got four seats - y'all go on over there," pointedly leaving Pat out of the invitation.

Here's the thing: I'd come to believe that Pat didn't intend to go all-in. One thing was that I'd been playing with Pat for multiple hours prior to the incident - I had him/her pegged as the tightest player at the table. There are other reasons that I'll leave unspoken, and I don't know exactly what was going on, but I honestly don't think Pat was angling me/us. Look, I'm no saint, but when I added it all up, this wasn't the time or place to bring things to a crashing halt over $300.

A "Believe in karma if you will" postscript... I moved to the other game that was now full. An hour later I won a stupidly large all-in pot, had my opponent drawing dead on the turn, and he didn't contest the chips that doubled me up. Not only was I (miraculously) unstuck, but I had enough profit for steak and eggs at the coffee shop.

Karma or not, though, given the chance to do it again, I'd make the same call at the first table. Sometimes, you just gotta let one off the hook and get on with your life.

Lee Jones first joined PokerStars in 2003 and has been part of the professional poker world for over 25 years. You can read his occasional Twitter-bites at @leehjones

Daniel Negreanu has played for millions plenty of times. But never for billions. Until last weekend!

Before we get too carried away let's be clear that this was for play money. But, as many players have discovered in the past, the play money arena, rather than being a walk in the park, can be a humiliating leap into a bear pit for the uninitiated. 

But before we get carried away even more let's be reasonable. #KidPoker thrived. 

The tournament was a special one hosted to celebrate the release of Daniel Negreanu's documentary KidPoker. 

The Kid Poker documentary is now available on Netflix

And while you might think a play money tournament would leave entry open to anyone, you'd be wrong. With a buy-in of 500,000 this was an exclusive contest with 1,000,000,000 (that's a billion - numbers so ridiculous in length are fun to type) chips guaranteed and a 10,000,000 bounty on Negreanu's head. 

With a field of 306 entries (with 64 re-entries) that meant a big overlay and a reason to follow the action on Twitch, which is exactly what Randy "Nanonoko" Lew found himself doing, playing along until he was eliminated by the eventual winner. 

Nanonoko was on hand with the celebrations

Was that winner Negreanu? Not quite. Bowie825 took honours, while Negreanu finished third, despite taking the chip lead into the final table and at one point beating quads with a straight flush when all in on the flop:

For the record a straight flush beats quads in play money, as well as in real money games

Not a bad way to celebrate the release of KidPoker, details of which you can find here. A great film about arguably poker's greatest player, now available on Netflix.

Not a bad play money player either. 

Less than a month after PokerStars and Jason Somerville jointly hosted the Run It Up Rumble in Atlantic City, Jason did the third installment of his Run It Up event at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada. I was fortunate enough to attend - not as an organizer, but as a representative of PokerStars. So I got to be a participant more than a worker bee - it was absurdly fun. 

To give you an idea of the vibe, I offer this one-minute video from five #RunItUpReno warriors, explaining why they were there.

As I walked in, the seminar was going full force with Jason Somerville and PokerStars Team Pro Online Randy "nanonoko" Lew answering questions for an enthusiastic crowd.

Only for this event, Randy had been renamed "renonoko". 

Obviously.

After the seminar I went to the merchandise table so I could buy my Run It Up buttons. You see, subscribers to Jason's stream on Twitch get a special set of emoji that they can drop in the Twitch chat. Jason's team had those emoji made into buttons which showed up on shirts and hats all over the event.

On the button: Birds & Runways

Jason has a mechanical crow named "Mirko" who is his co-star on the Twitch stream. Mirko is also his poker advisor. When Jason's in a tough poker spot, he says "Mirko - what should I do?" Mirko, the mechanical crow, says "Caw!" "Okay, I caw." The Run It Up Warriors also have a meme called "Feels Bad, Man", that you use when, well, it feels bad, man. One of the buttons at RIU Reno has a picture of Mirko; it's called "Feels Bird, Man."

The four-card PLO event was already going on, but I played the 5-card PLO event two days later. I also got down to the $4-8 mixed cash game that was happening in the poker room. That gave me a chance to play seven, rather than one, games at which I'm tolerably mediocre.

At some point, I realized that Jason himself was playing at an identical game at the next table over. "Hey Jason - let's play each other's stacks." "LeeJones - we're playing razz; I'm not leaving a razz game." "We're playing razz too!"

So we swapped. I promptly got dealt 6-4-A and was on my way to winning a big pot. I won the next (smaller) pot. "Hey Jason - how you doing over there?" "Folding like a pro!" "Cool - I'm shipping pots like an amateur."

Normally, it would be unthinkable for two players in a poker room to just swap places and play each other's stacks. But then again, the dealers saw a lot of things they probably don't see much.

Like Runways.

When a new dealer sat down at the mixed game, somebody would announce, "Okay, Runway." Each player puts out $11 - $10 is their buy-in and the $1's are collected to make a buy-in for the dealer. The dealer deals one four-card Omaha hand to every player, plus one to him/herself (watching the dealer trying to grok dealing themselves a hand was fun). Everybody rolls over one card. The dealer puts out a flop. Roll a second card. Turn card. Third Omaha card rolled up. River card. And everybody rolls up their fourth and final card. Best Omaha hand ships the entire thing, and the dealer's hand is freerolling for the dealer.

One of our runways, I flopped trip 3's and was way in front until the river, when the dealer discovered the case 3 at the bottom of her hand. With a better kicker. That pot was worth $100 to her. Me, I was tickled to death; I would have just spewed the $100 off in a bad call somewhere.

On the button: Not like this!

Just like Run It Up Resorts, the low buy-ins and community made all-in events cause for celebration rather than nail-biting drama. Entire tables would erupt in a series of cheers and groans as unbelievable run-outs would happen, just as they do in poker tournaments everywhere. Only these are more fun.
 

And this generosity of spirit spread throughout the Peppermill. "I wish everybody was as polite and tipped as well as this crowd," said one coffee shop waitress, nodding toward a Run It Up hoodie the next booth over.

On the button: Bear traps

One Run It Up emoji (enshrined on a button of course) features a cupcake, in the center of a bear trap. When Jason has a big hand on-stream and wants to lure an unsuspecting opponent in, he will say, "Let's just put a little cupcake out there..."  Of course, when Jason gets a big hand, cupcake emoji fill the Twitch chat. Wanting to follow the theme, I brought cupcakes into the tournament area on a couple of days. I got to Jason's table and he shrieked "No bear traps on these!"

All too soon, it was Monday evening and everybody was saying their good-byes and wishes for safe travels. The last chance last chance turbo tournament was running, while games of Open Face Chinese Poker and Exploding Kittens (yes, "Exploding Kittens") continued on side tables. Some folks were headed down to the WSOP, others back home. But everybody was talking about the next gathering of the Run It Up legion.

On the button: Party with poker tables

It takes a crowd to have a Run It Up event. Mostly it takes the people who want to celebrate poker and all of its ups and downs. And enough people thought this was a good idea to reach almost 400 buy-ins to the $565 main event - a record for the Reno poker year (bigger than WPT, WSOP Circuit, and HPT). But it was one guy who said, "What if we all get together and have a giant party with poker tables in the middle of it?" 

Feels good, man.

P.S. Big thanks to Drew Amato for allowing us to use his excellent photos from the event in this blog piece.

_/\_

A review of all the major results from the weekend on PokerStars. 

Weekend highlights

* kingarthurcc wins Sunday Million for $132,000 after a three way deal

Round up of latest results

It's not often we get a reference to Monty Python in a Sunday Million report. Actually, I don't think we ever have. So allow this week's to be the first courtesy of Kristin Bihr, who watched kingarthurcc win $132,000 in this week's contest after starting the final table with what appeared to be nothing more than a wet herring. Sometimes the analogy fits. 

Here's that result in full.

PokerStars Sunday Million results
Players: 5,730
Prizepool: $1,146,000.00
Places paid: 855

1. kingarthurcc (China) $132,304.01*
2. carnic777 (Belgium) $140,453.19*
3. nicolasb (Argentina) $129,488.80*
4. BuyMyLunch (United Kingdom) $64,347.90
5. Noogaii (Ireland) $48,132.00
6. Fred.Seg01 (Canada) $36,672.00
7. TomvanNL (Netherlands) $25,212.00
8. Weshero (Poland) $14,325.00
9. Danny "THE__D__RY" Ryan (Mexico) $8,938.80
* denotes a three-way deal

The weekend's top online tournament winners

Elsewhere there was plenty of action over the weekend, with the big winners listed below. 

Click here for the major results on PokerStars for the weekend of June 4 to 5, 2016. 

As always send your questions and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.

"Cut down a tree with a herring? It can't be done." - King Arthur, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

With only 12 1/2 big blinds to start the final table, we may as well have asked the same of kingarthurcc. Not only did he have little to fight with, but was up against the towering chip lead of carnic777 and a worthy rival in Danny "THE__D__RY" Ryan, who was on his own quest to become only the tenth player to win the Sunday Million twice. Ryan's first title came back in November 2008 and at this final table he was by far the most experienced player. Ryan, however, was felled in the early going while kingarthurcc kept sticking around. As his opponents ran pairs into pairs, ace-king into queens, kingarthurcc made it all the way to three-handed play where he struck a deal as the short stack. However, after carnic777 hit a lucky river card to make a flush and eliminate nicolasb, kingarthurcc found himself a contender in the final battle. Kingarthurcc hit a rush early in heads-up play and snatched the chip lead away when he picked up kings against eights at the perfect time. Carnic777 never recovered and kingarthurcc captured the Holy Grail of online tournament victories, a Sunday Million title.

5,730 players bought in to this week's Million, taking the prize pool up to $1,146,000.00. 855 places were paid with $177,630.00 up top.

The blinds were up to 100,000/200,000 and ten players remained when nicolasb limped in from UTG. Noogaii called from the small blind and overflow737 moved all-in for 1.79 million from the big. Nicolasb elected to fold, but Noogaii called. Overflow737 turned over [Ah][9h] and had Noogaii's [As][5s] dominated. Overflow737 was safe through the turn on the [8h][2d][2s][3d] board, but the [5h] spiked on the river, pairing Noogaii's kicker and sending overflow737 to the rail on the final table bubble.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: BuyMyLunch (5,927,072 in chips)
Seat 2: THE__D__RY (5,187,460 in chips)
Seat 3: Fred.Seg01 (5,321,275 in chips)
Seat 4: carnic777 (10,356,963 in chips)
Seat 5: Weshero (7,010,107 in chips)
Seat 6: Noogaii (6,673,830 in chips)
Seat 7: kingarthurcc (2,553,498 in chips)
Seat 8: nicolasb (5,184,721 in chips)
Seat 9: TomvanNL (9,085,074 in chips)

Overflow737's departure left kingarthurcc as the table short stack. However, on the second hand, he three-bet shoved with pocket jacks that held up against Weshero's pocket tens and doubled to 5.95 million. Two more hands passed before THE__D__RY opened for 430,000 and Fred.Seg01 reraised to 1,000,000. THE__D__RY shoved for 5.94 million and Fred.Seg01 called, his [Kd][Kc] trouncing THE__D__RY's [9d][9s]. To top it off, the flop fell [Ad][Kh][6d], making Fred.Seg01 a set of kings and THE__D__RY was left with only a million in chips. THE__D__RY lasted for little more than an orbit before he ran pocket sevens into carnic777's pocket jacks. THE__D__RY needed a miracle to keep his hopes of a second Sunday Million title alive, but they were roundly crushed when the board ran out [Td][9h][2h][Kd][5c], ending his run in ninth place.

Danny "THE__D__RY" Ryan, ninth place

Fifteen minutes later, the blinds were up to 150,000/300,000 and Weshero found [8d][8h]. He moved in for 3.89 million from middle position, but unfortunately for him, BuyMyLunch woke up with [9h][9d] in the big blind. Weshero got no help on the board and exited in eighth place. Later in the same level, Fred.Seg01 four-bet shoved preflop with [As][Ks] and TomvanNL called with [Qc][Qh]. Although TomvanNL flopped a set of queens, Fred.Seg01 flopped an ace-high flush on the [Qs][Js][6s][3h][Tc] board. He moved up to 12.5 million in chips while TomvanNL hit the rail in seventh.

As six-handed play dragged on for more than thirty minutes, short stack nicolasb doubled up twice, first through kingarthurcc when his [Qd][5c] hit running diamonds to make a flush against [7c][8h], then through carnic888 when pocket tens held up against [Ac][3c]. Armed with 9 million now, nicolasb was back in the hunt. Meanwhile, Fred.Seg01's stack dwindled to 4.2 million, and with [As][7d] he three-bet shoved preflop from the big blind. Initial raiser carnic777 called with [Ad][8s], and his eight kicker played on the [Ac][6h][5c][Kh][Qs] board, eliminating Fred.Seg01 in sixth place.

One orbit later, the blinds were up to 250,000/500,000 and Noogaii made a stand with [8d][8s], three-bet shoving for 7.11 million from the small blind. Nicolasb called with [9h][9s] and the larger pair held up to end Noogaii's run in fifth. A short time later, BuyMyLunch made the exact same move with [Ac][Td] and carnic777 looked him up with [Ad][9s]. BuyMyLunch got very unlucky to see the flop fall [9d][5h][3s] and went out in fourth place when he couldn't catch up with carnic777's pair of nines.

Shortly after play turned three handed, carnic777, nicolasb, and kingarthurcc agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's how they stacked up at the time:

carnic777 31,688,818
nicolasb 16,498,914
kingarthurcc 9,112,268

When the host presented the final three with ICM figures, nicolasb told his opponents he would only agree to a deal that gave him his ICM share plus an additional $4k. Carnic777 and kingarthurcc countered with a $1k donation from each of their shares, hoping it was enough to make nicolasb blink. Electing to wait for it was a good decision as nicolasb relented and accepted the deal terms. With $20,000 still on the table, action resumed.

Kingarthurcc chipped up nicely when he flopped top pair on a [4h][3s][2s] board and bet 910,800 from position. Carnic777 called and they both checked the [9h] on the turn. The river was the [Kh] and carnic777 fired 1,654,789. Kingarthurcc smelled a rat and called. Sure enough, carnic777 had only a busted straight draw with [5s][7d] and kingarthurcc took down the 7.1 million pot with [Js][4c].

On the very next deal, carnic777 min-raised to 1.2 million on the button and nicolasb called from the big blind. Nicolasb check-called 1,546,123 on the [Kh][6s][2s] flop and checked again when the [8d] turned. Carnic777 bet 2,654,841, nicolasb raised all-in for 10.1 million and carnic777 called. Nicolasb turned over [Kc][2c] for top and bottom pair while carnic777 revealed [Js][Ts] for a flush draw. Nicolasb would take the chip lead with 26.2 million if he could fade a spade... but the [4s] appeared on the river, sending him home in third place.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 4: carnic777 (43,432,143 in chips)
Seat 7: kingarthurcc (13,867,857 in chips)

Kingarthurcc started heads-up play with a nice rush, winning the first four pots to take his stack up to 22 million. Then, he was fortunate enough to pick up [Kh][Kd] and raise the button only to have carnic777 shove into him with [8d][8h]. Kingarthurcc's kings held and he doubled to 43 million.

One hand later, carnic777 made it 1.2 million on the button and kingarthurcc shoved from the big blind. Carnic777 called, his [Qd][Tc] up against [Ad][Ks]. Kingarthurcc's quest was all but over on the [Kh][Qc][8c] flop that made him top pair. Although carnic777 picked up a gutshot on the turn with the [9s], the river safely fell the [4d] and kingarthurcc locked up his first Sunday Million title.

Congratulations to kingarthurcc on joining the ranks of Sunday Million champions! He banked $132,304.01, but thanks to the three-handed deal, runner-up carnic777 escaped with the lion's share of the prizepool at $140,453.19.

PokerStars Sunday Million results for 6/5/2016
Players: 5,730
Prizepool: $1,146,000.00
Places paid: 855

1. kingarthurcc (China) $132,304.01*
2. carnic777 (Belgium) $140,453.19*
3. nicolasb (Argentina) $129,488.80*
4. BuyMyLunch (United Kingdom) $64,347.90
5. Noogaii (Ireland) $48,132.00
6. Fred.Seg01 (Canada) $36,672.00
7. TomvanNL (Netherlands) $25,212.00
8. Weshero (Poland) $14,325.00
9. Danny "THE__D__RY" Ryan (Mexico) $8,938.80

* denotes a three-way deal