One of my mother's journals described how she and my father used to visit Resorts in Atlantic City for blackjack, back when rules were highly favorable to players:

"Several times a week Mike and I left our little son with a babysitter, rode the chartered bus with our unborn daughter to the first casino in Atlantic City and played blackjack until dawn. We were like machines never varying from the system, playing with no emotion and no hesitation."

My dad remembers taking breaks for oyster stew and clam chowder.

"It was a candy store," he recalls winning about 75-80% of sessions. "They were giving money away to people who played perfect strategy and counted (even a little bit)."

The morning I was born in Philadelphia, doctors told my dad to go relax because I would be fine but wasn't going to be out of the intensive care unit for a bit. So he went to Resorts in AC to play another session.

"It was New Year's Eve after all...and you needed a new pair of shoes," he said.

So I guess AC is in my blood.

In recent years, I've been in AC less frequently because of my role as a PokerStars Ambassador. In between chess trips and events, I've gone to places such as the Bahamas or Monaco for EPTs and to Toronto or Jerusalem to play online.

So I was thrilled when Stars announced its opening date, March 21, and just 60 miles away from my house in Philly. In perfect synchronicity, PokerStars partnered with Resorts, where I played my first American Spin N Go during the soft launch.

At the PokerStars Meet and Greet the same day at the Landshark Grill, I chatted with some of the very first PokerStars NJ players, who had plenty of questions about game liquidity, account setup, and tournament schedules.

One of the most interesting people I met was Stephen Kmet, who recently appeared on the Biggest Loser along with his wife Jacky. I used to watch the Biggest Loser for Jillian's heartfelt rants and diet and fitness inspiration. I introduced Stephen to Lee Jones, who also transformed his life via weight loss about five years ago. When Lee found out Stephen got second, just missing the $250,000 grand prize, he asked "But How Much Did You Lose?", the quintessential poker query.

133 pounds was the answer.

Stephen, who brought cards and chips on set, said that his experience with poker helped him develop survival strategy. He paced himself.

"I didn't want to lose too much weight on a particular week," he said, which might target him for elimination, or make it harder metabolically to lose as much weight the following week. Stephen describes himself as a very serious amateur poker player who works on his game constantly and is excited to get back on PokerStars.

It was also great to catch up with two of my best girlfriends from poker, Jamie Kerstetter and Katie Stone. Of all the people I've met through poker, some of my favorite are right here.

My dad is excited to get back into action himself, and plans to visit Resorts this week, where I'll help him reactivate the screen-name "CageyVeteran."

Go to http://www.pokerstarsnj.com/ to find out more and open your own account.

Following a review of the current business environment and the pricing policies employed across the competitive landscape for online gaming, PokerStars will change its pricing for a select number of games in its shared liquidity market, effective March 28, 2016.

Even after these changes, PokerStars will still have the lowest overall pricing (known as "rake") of any major online poker operator.

The pricing changes apply to certain games while others will remain unchanged. In Cash Games and Sit & Go competitions, PokerStars still has significantly lower rake than competitors.

Key pricing changes include:
• Spin & Go rake will be increased by one percentage point for buy-ins from $1 to $30 (two percentage points in $3 buy-in). $0.25, $60 and $100 buy-ins will not change.
• In multi-table tournaments, PokerStars will match the practices deployed in our closed liquidity markets where rebuys and add-ons incur fees similar to the original entry. These tournaments represent approximately 12% of the current main schedule.
• MTT hyper-turbo rake will be increased to 5%.
• Cap and percentage of rake will be increased in some no limit and pot limit ring games, mainly heads-up. Some rake caps will be lowered. Limit games will not be affected.

As a result of these changes, PokerStars expects that the overall impact will be a rake increase of 4%. PokerStars will continue to monitor its games and make regular adjustments to pricing whenever necessary.

For details on specific changes for cash game rake, visit www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/rake/

For details on Spin & Go rake, visit www.pokerstars.com/poker/spin-and-go/

COMPARISON WITH COMPETITORS
PokerStars has taken a sample of one million ring game hands that were played on PokerStars from January 8, 2016 to March 7, 2016, and applied the rake schedule of several online poker operators to that selection of real data.

The above chart demonstrates the comparative level of rake that would be taken by PokerStars if we used the cash game rake structures of other sites (instead of our own).

The stakes where players benefit from the biggest cost savings (relative to competitors) at PokerStars are also the stakes that have the highest volume of hands played. When the rake is weighted according to the different volumes of games played at different stakes, the current rake at PartyPoker is 7% more expensive than under the new PokerStars rake. The current rake at 888 Poker is 16% more expensive than under the new PokerStars rake. The current rake at iPoker is 19% more expensive than under the new PokerStars rake.

Eric Hollreiser is Vice President of Corporate Communications for Amaya Inc. and PokerStars.

You might have thought that it would look more impressive when it actually happened. About 90 minutes ago, at 12:01am on Monday, March 21st, 2016, PokerStars officially became a regulated online gaming operator in the Garden State of New Jersey. Perhaps you'd have imagined handfuls, maybe dozens, of NJ Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) officials, Resorts Atlantic City executives, and PokerStars bigwigs standing around, leaning over monitors, anticipating the big moment.

In fact, it looked like this at 12:01am:

In the interest of full transparency, I note that every single person in the room, except me, is in this photo.

See, like any good project, by the time it came to "push the button", "throw the switch", or any key activation, the heavy lifting had been done long before. Hundreds of people throughout PokerStars (and Resorts and the DGE) had put in absurdly long days and weeks. Software was modified and tested. Deposit methods were auditioned, rejected, reviewed, improved, and ultimately accepted. Reports were created, run, modified, verified, tweaked, and run again. Geolocation was tested. Re-tested. And tested again.

Then on Wednesday, March 16th, we opened for "soft launch" - an opportunity for up to 500 people to play on the site. So after all that preparation, all that planning, all that testing, everything worked perfectly, right? Hint: if you answered "Yes", then you've never worked on any meaningful software or retail service project. Of course there were problems, glitches, mistakes, and bugs.

But as they'd done for the past years, the people on the project simply solved the problems, tracked down the glitches, corrected the mistakes, and fixed the bugs. One bug at a time, one customer issue at a time. I saw a handful of emails - no doubt a tiny fraction of the total - where "Issue #217" was marked "Fixed".

And all that was for one reason: so that when our friends in New Jersey - old veterans and new acquaintances - logged in, they would say, "Oh man - it's good to see PokerStars here." And so they have. The response, both online and at our meet-and-greet events, has been positive and heartwarming. The New Jersey poker community seems as happy to see us as we are to be back; we will continue to work hard every day to justify that warm welcome.

So now, the literal dawn is coming to New Jersey in a few hours, but the figurative one is here. PokerStars is back in the U.S. for real money poker for the first time in five years. It took a lot of work, a lot of patience, but we're here and ready to deal the cards.

But before you put the blinds up, let me show you what it looks like in the PokerStars office at the Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City right now. After all, these people have been working non-stop for quite a while now. Skipping meals, getting too little sleep, and being away from their families. They deserve a rest.

It's been nearly five years since Americans saw PokerStars shining on their screens inside the United States. It's been five years of watching players from nearly every other country in the world play Sunday tournaments, fun cash games, and satellites to live poker events. It's been five years of wondering just how long it would be before Americans could play the same game as the rest of the world from the comfort of their own home.

For people in New Jersey, that day is today.

Today, for the first time in history, PokerStars has a fully-approved license in New Jersey and is operating at full speed in that state.

"We could not be more proud to bring PokerStars to New Jersey," said David Baazov, Chairman and CEO of Amaya. "Working with our partner, Resorts Casino Hotel, we look forward to providing the most exciting, innovative and secure gaming experience to New Jersey."

This is a big milestone for the company and the industry. Starting today, anyone of legal age in New Jersey will be able to play PokerStars' most popular games, including the ever-popular Spin & Go tourneys which crowned 13 millionaires globally between October and December 2015.

Beyond that, New Jersey will have its own online promotions, bonuses, and live events, and players will be able to grind them all from desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.

PokerStars New Jersey will also offer Special Sunday tournaments, as well as a selection of casino games such as Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, and Slots.

"This is a great day for online gaming, for state players and residents and for Atlantic City," said Morris Bailey, owner of Resorts Casino Hotel. "Resorts has worked diligently to build a home for globally renowned brands in New Jersey and, with the addition of PokerStars, is proud to introduce yet another respected partner."

The PokerStars New Jersey software at www.pokerstarsnj.com will utilize its globally-established age and location verification protections, account segregation, and responsible gaming practices to oversee and control player activity. As one of the world's most regulated online gaming companies with licenses in more than a dozen jurisdictions and more than 100 million cumulative registered customers around the world, Amaya is committed to implementing the highest standards of regulation, safety and security.

Customers who previously held a PokerStars real-money or play-money account are eligible for a welcome offer based on their play history. The free PokerStars New Jersey software is now available for download; players can create a new account using the log-in details from their previously-held account, and are eligible to receive their last held VIP status, Play Money Chips, and StarsCoin. StarsCoin, formerly known as Frequent Player Points, is PokerStars currency that players can use to purchase online tournament tickets, merchandise and even cash rewards from the PokerStars New Jersey VIP Store. This offer will be available until May 31, 2016. Players who set up an account on PokerStarsNJ.com will be able to avail of a first deposit bonus, as well as receiving a ticket into a $25,000 freeroll - freeroll tickets are only on offer for those who sign up within the first seven days.

In the run-up to today, PokerStars held a soft launch period just to make sure everything was working as it should. During that time, it had a cap of 490 players, which it hit last night just before the official opening. Now, all eligible players inside the borders of New Jersey can play.

Welcome back, PokerStars!

A look at all the major stories from this past weekend on PokerStars.

Weekend highlights

* a.urli wins the tenth anniversary Sunday Million
* Mr. Bucis takes down the Sunday Warm Up
* The countdown ends to PokerStars' New Jersey return

Round up of latest results

Well I saw it. Did you see it: More than 55,000 players, more than $11 million in the prize pool, and more than $1 million waiting for the last player standing?

That was a.urli from Canada, who right now, having cashed out with $970,000 after a four way deal, is probably still waking up the neighbours.

Trying to fathom that sort of journey, one that starts so crowded and ends so triumphantly, is practically impossible, and won a.urli himself will need time to absorb. But it's the latest story from one of online poker's institutions, the Sunday Million.

A caffeinated Martin Harris was on hand to witness every step of the final table, culminating in a report which you can read here. A fine win, by a fine player, to mark a decade of the finest tournament online.

Here is that result, along with that of the Sunday Warm-Up, in full:

Sunday Million 10th Anniversary results (3/20/16)
Entrants: 55,059
Prize pool: $11,011,800.00
Places paid: 8,208

1. a.urli (Canada) $970,000.00*
2. mladenova62 (Bulgaria) $650,000.00*
3. prophetdream (South Korea) $678.517.78*
4. canario508 (Argentina) $560,000.00*
5. ThreeBetting (United Kingdom) $318,415.00
6. Superfizzy (Germany) $235,653.62
7. AttiIa88 (Russia) $174,402.68
8. TottiLitti (Finland) $129,071.51
9. Torsvik (Norway) $95,522.96
* denotes a four-way deal leaving $100,000 for the winner

Sunday Warm-Up ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results (3/20/16)
Entrants: 2,903
Total prize pool: $580,600
Places paid: 414

1. Mr. Bucis (Lithuania) $91,445.24
2. mayanfactor (Bulgaria) $68,220.50
3. KHANSTHEWORD (Panama) $48,770.40
4. Mike "MikeyGG3" Gentili (Canada) $33,384.50
5. mr.WanTaim (Netherlands) $25,256.10
6. LucaasAK747 (Brazil) $19,450.10
7. William "hellzito" Arruda (Brazil) $13,644.10
8. TLNo.13 (Romania) $7,849.71
9. Andrija "cynicalfish" Martic (Croatia) $4,935.10

The weekend's top online tournament winners

Other results take a back stage this week, but there were still a few results that caught the eye.

Former WCOOP Main Event winner Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz won the Sunday 6-Max, while Dan "djk123" Kelly won the Sunday Second Chance. The rest of the top ten results are below.

Click here for a complete list of major results on PokerStars for the weekend of March 19 to 20, 2016.

They call it the Jersey Bounce

You can't miss it. There is a definite spring in the step of some people in the PokerStars office this morning. Colleagues linger longer at the water cooler. People say "after you" a lot, to which the reply is "no, after you." People are asking about each other's families and their weekends. Nobody has taken the last banana from the communal fruit bowl and you know what, maybe it's not so bad to be back at work on a Monday morning.

The reason is obvious. Many in the PokerStars office remember what it was like several years ago when PokerStars left the United States. That was a Black day for everyone, more so for our players. So you can imagine how that makes today -- the day PokerStars takes its first step back into the United States, opening its doors to players in New Jersey -- a particularly good one. This must be the Jersey Bounce Ella Fitzgerald used to sing about.

You probably heard this was already in the pipeline, and it's something that PokerStars has been working on for some time now. To have it finally arrive though is a great moment, reward for a lot of hard work behind the scenes, and a lot of patience among players in the States who just want to play the game they love. It hopefully heralds a brighter future for the game in the country it should rightfully call home.

If you happen to be in New Jersey you can open an account in a few easy steps and be playing just like old times in a matter of minutes. If you previously had a PokerStars account we've kept it warm for you. If you're a new player we're glad to have you with us. And there's already a line-up of Sunday Majors to look forward to at the weekend.

It should be enough to put a bounce in anyone's step.

That's everything for another big weekend on PokerStars. As always send your questions and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.

A little over ten years ago PokerStars began what has become a signature tradition on the site, a weekly $215 no-limit hold'em tournament with a $1 million prize pool known as the Sunday Million. Or, more affectionately, the "Milly," the nickname perhaps sounding like something given to a family member or close friend.

The Milly has indeed become a regular part of thousands of poker players' lives over the years, and it only seemed fitting PokerStars would make it something a little more special to mark its 10th anniversary, putting a hefty $10 million guarantee on this week's tournament with at least $1 million of that scheduled to go to the winner (barring a final table deal).

The field was predictably enormous, and after 15-and-a-half hours of poker it was Canada's a.urli claiming the final pot and the victory, earning an incredible $970,000 payday following a four-handed final table deal.

There were more than 22,000 players already seated around 2,500-plus tables when the first hands of the tournament were dealt Sunday afternoon. Three hours later late registration closed along with the re-entry option, a twist added to this special anniversary edition of the Sunday Million (usually a freezeout) that allowed players to enter up to three times.

By then there were a whopping 55,059 entries total for the event. That added up to a $11,011,800 prize pool, making it the third-largest prize pool in a decade's worth of Sunday Millions -- click here for a historical walkthrough of the entire ten years -- with the top 8,208 places paid. In other words, more players cashed this week than typically play in the Sunday Million.

Well over 25,000 were still left at the three-hour mark, and a hour after that the field had been carved down under 14,000. By the early part of the tournament's sixth hour the bubble had burst, and midway through the ninth hour they were down under 1,000 -- still a long way to go.

They'd just crossed the 10-hour mark when the field was carved under 200 players, then by 12 hours there were less than 50. Thirteen hours into the event they were down to just 18 players around the last two tables, with juan_cde55 then leading with close to 80 million.

IsItRoss? (18th), Gary "GaryT20" Thompson (17th), and Jamaikaner04 (16th) were the next players eliminated, each earning $38,936.62. SteRooney93 (15th), camachoycano (14th), and cojiño (13th) followed, picking up $52,416.16 apiece. After losing two big all-ins with pocket sixes, former leader juan_cde55 next was eliminated in 12th, followed by emicos (11th) and silasinho (10th), with those three each cashing for $70,694.65.

With a.urli the new chip leader with more than 177 million and mladenova62 the nearest challenger with just over 95 million, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Superfizzy (Germany) -- 37,841,339
Seat 2: mladenova62 (Bulgaria) -- 95,105,837
Seat 3: prophetdream (South Korea) -- 28,756,039
Seat 4: a.urli (Canada) -- 177,403,220
Seat 5: ThreeBetting (United Kingdom) -- 52,587,466
Seat 6: AttiIa88 (Russia) -- 57,563,515
Seat 7: TottiLitti (Finland) -- 40,403,866
Seat 8: canario508 (Argentina) -- 36,516,940
Seat 9: Torsvik (Norway) -- 24,411,778

Torsvik taken out in ninth

prophetdream survived an early all-in with pocket sevens versus Attila88's ace-jack, then on the following hand canario508 did the same with ace-queen versus a.urli's eight-seven.

On the next hand after that, the blinds were 1.5M/3M when Attila88 open-shoved from the cutoff seat and Torsvik called all-in with the 13,611,778 left after posting the big blind. Attlia88 had [5d][5s] and Torsvik [Ad][Kd], and five cards later -- [7c][Qh][9s][8h][5c] -- Attila88 had a set of fives and Torsvik was out in ninth.

TottiLitti tumbled in eighth

At that point deal discussion began in earnest in the chatbox, but play continued without the tournament being paused. Small pots (relatively speaking) were the norm over the next 15 minutes, then came a hand in which it folded around to TottiLitti in the small blind who pushed all-in with a stack of 40,803,866 (just over 10 big blinds) and canario508 called in a flash.

TottiLitti had but [6c][2d] and was in bad shape as canario508 had woken up with [Ks][Kh]. The board came [2h][Jc][9h][9d][Ts], leaving TottiLitti with a lesser two pair and an eighth-place finish.

Attila88 stopped in seventh

Superfizzy next survived an all-in after chopping a pot with leader a.urli, then prophetdream doubled through canario508, and they reached the next break with a.urli leading by a wide margin with more than 227 million -- well over twice the nearest challenger and just about half the chips in play with seven left.

Soon after play resumed it was Attila88 open-shoving from under the gun for 46,219,254 (just over nine BBs) then watching prophetdream reshove from the button to isolate. Attila88 had [Ah][Jh] and was dominated by prophetdream's [As][Kd]. Five cards later -- [3c][6s][Qd][2h][7d] -- Attila88 had been sent railward in seventh.

Superfizzy fizzles in sixth

Soon it was a.urli limping from the cutoff and ThreeBetting (button) and canario508 (small blind) both calling. Superfizzy then shoved for 6,253,873 total -- just a bit over the 5M big blind -- and all three of the others called.

The remaining trio checked it down as the board came [Kh][Qs][Js][5h][3s]. SuperFizzy had [Ac][2h], but a.urli's [Ad][8s] meant a better kicker and no one else could beat that, thus ending SuperFizzy's run in sixth.

ThreeBetting makes last reraise, ousted in fifth

Five minutes later mladenova62 opened with a 4x raise to 20 million from the cutoff, then ThreeBetting three-bet to 27,121,059 and mladenova62 called right away, turning over [As][Kd] while ThreeBetting had [6s][6c].

The flop was bad for ThreeBetting, coming [Kh][Kc][Js] to give mladenova62 trip kings. The turn was the [8d] and river the [3h], and ThreeBetting was eliminated in fifth.

Doing the deal

A short-stacked canario508 managed another double-up -- through leader a.urli again -- and a few hands later the tournament was paused so the final four could talk about a possible chop. With more than $2.85 million still left in the prize pool to be divided between the four, it was perhaps understandable negotiations wouldn't be simple.

a.urli was still leading with a little over 206 million, prophetdream was next with about 159 million, mladenova62 was third with about 115 million, and canario508 fourth with a touch over 69 million. "Chip chop" numbers were provided (not "ICM") -- leaving $100K aside for the winner -- and this is how those proposed payouts looked:

a.urli: $819,533.38
prophetdream: $730,702.19
mladenova62: $647,931.65
canario508: $560,350.56

a.urli wasn't satisfied, wanting $900K and not ready to budge. When the other three couldn't all agree to that ultimatum, the deal was scuttled and play resumed.

Five small pots were won, and when a.urli typed "870k is fine if you guys wanna deal" during the fifth one the group managed to stop the proceedings once more with the stacks very close to what they were at the previous pause -- a.urli (207.8M), prophetdream (155.2M), mladenova62 (125.7M), then canario508 (61.8M). "Chip chop" numbers were provided a second time, again setting aside the $100K:

a.urli: $821,794.69
prophetdream: $722,787.61
mladenova62: $667,152.78
canario508: $546,782.70

a.urli brought up the $870K figure again, and as that discussion continued canario508 asked to see "ICM"-based figures as well. Leaving $100K for the winner, the "ICM"-based deal looked like this:

a.urli: $773,023.38
prophetdream: $723,750.95
mladenova62: $687,511.87
canario508: $574,231.58

prophetdream agreed to the latter set of numbers, but a.urli said "no deal" and it looked like the group was headed toward another impasse. That's when prophetdream came up with a new set of figures satisfying a.urli's desire for $870K, and the conversation was extended. Here's what those new numbers looked like:

a.urli: $870,000.00
prophetdream: $678,517.78
mladenova62: $650,000.00
canario508: $560,000.00

A four-player chorus heralding "I agree" quickly followed, and the deal was done!

canario508 cut down in fourth

Not long after play resumed, the blinds were 3M/6M when canario508 open-pushed from the button for 46,243,590 holding [Ad][8c], and prophetdream called from the big blind with [Kc][Jd].

The [8d][3c][Qd] flop was okay for canario508 as was the [9s] turn, but the [Ts] river filled a straight for prophetdream, and canario508 was done in fourth.

prophetdream dropped in third

Five minutes after that prophetdream open-raised all-in from the button for 70,487,000 -- about 11.5 BBs -- then a.urli reraised all-in from the small blind and mladenova62 stepped aside.

prophetdream had [Ks][Qs] and needed help versus a.urli's [Ac][7h], and the [3c][9c][4d] flop didn't provide any. But the [Kc] turn did, putting prophetdream in the lead with a pair of kings. Then came the river... the [Qc]!. Two pair for prophetdream, but a club flush for a.urli and prophetdream was out in third.

"Well, did you have a dream that you would prophet $678k?" quipped Lee Jones in the chatbox as prophetdream departed to leave the final two players to play out the tournament's conclusion.

a.urli rolls over mladenova62, grabs extra $100k and win

a.urli had the edge to start heads-up play with 321,470,104 (about 53 BBs) to mladenova62's 229,119,896 (38 BBs). The pair would quickly play 18 hands in six minutes, with a.urli chipping up further to more than 454 million while mladenova62 slipped to just over 96 million. Then at long last the final hand took place.

With the blinds at 3.5M/7M, a.urli shoved all-in from the button and mladenova62 called in response, turning over [4d][4s] and hoping the small pair would hold against a.urli's [Ts][8s].

The [8d][5h][Qh] flop hit the latter's hand, however, and after the [9d] turn and [Ks] river it was all over -- a.urli had won!

Congratulations to a.urli who after buying in just a single time turned $215 into $970,000 -- over 4,500 times the cost to play! And kudos as well to mladenova62, prophetdream, and canario508 for each making it to the four-way deal and carrying off huge paydays as well in this week's Milly!

3/20/16 Sunday Million 10th Anniversary ($215 No-Limit Hold'em, $10M Gtd) results
Entrants: 55,059
Prize pool: $11,011,800.00
Places paid: 8,208

1. a.urli (Canada) $970,000.00*
2. mladenova62 (Bulgaria) $650,000.00*
3. prophetdream (South Korea) $678.517.78*
4. canario508 (Argentina) $560,000.00*
5. ThreeBetting (United Kingdom) $318,415.00
6. Superfizzy (Germany) $235,653.62
7. AttiIa88 (Russia) $174,402.68
8. TottiLitti (Finland) $129,071.51
9. Torsvik (Norway) $95,522.96
* = denotes a four-way deal leaving $100,000 for the winner

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There's an old saying that no plan survives contact with the battlefield. You can prepare however you want, but once you make the final table of a tournament, there's no one path to victory. Sometimes it pays off to be the biggest stack, or to be the most active player at the table, and it often pays to be both. Other times just being at the table and winning a coin flip at the right time is all it takes to catapult a player to a championship. For Mr. Bucis, today's Sunday Warm-Up champion, showing up with a healthy stack and staying out of potential elimination situations during a chaotic early portion of the game set the stage to win a few key hands and a career-best score.

Things kicked off at 11 a.m. PT today, with the field swelling to 2,903 players by the end of the three-hour late registration period. That built a $580,600 prize pool to be split among the top 414 finishers, with more than $91,000 up top. PokerStars Twitch favorite Jaime "jaimestaples" Staples had a strong showing, lasting to 180th place ($580.60), and Challenger winner Stavras "IDOLLS" Kalfas topped out five spots better in 175th place for the same payday, but other than them there were no Red Spades to be found in today's payouts.

By 8:26 p.m. ET these nine players were set to battle for this week's Sunday Warm-Up title:

Seat 1: LucaasAK747 (3,193,858 in chips)
Seat 2: KHANSTHEWORD (6,340,456 in chips)
Seat 3: Mr. Bucis (5,316,040 in chips)
Seat 4: TLNo.13 (1,866,989 in chips)
Seat 5: William "hellzito" Arruda (2,072,578 in chips)
Seat 6: Mike "MikeyGG3" Gentili (2,135,952 in chips)
Seat 7: Andrija "cynicalfish" Martic (2,681,134 in chips)
Seat 8: mr.WanTaim (2,066,825 in chips)
Seat 9: mayanfactor (3,356,168 in chips)

Only two of the first 17 hands went as far as the river, and Mr. Bucis was involved in both of them. The Lithuanian player was on the right side of the first one, driving 2013 TCOOP winner Andrija "cynicalfish" Martic out with an all-in bet on a [3c] [Ad] [9h] [9s] [Qc] board to take down the 1.81M-chip pot. Nine hands later things didn't go as well. Mr. Bucis called with [Ac] [Qs] in the big blind after mayanfactor jammed for 2.95M in the cutoff with [8c] [8h], but the coin flip tilted in mayanfactor's favor with the [9c] [Ts] [8s] flop. Mr. Bucis still had a gutshot straight draw, but the [Kd]-[Ks] turn and river gave mayanfactor the double to 6.13M.

cynicalfish picked up [Jc] [Jh] before the flop on the next hand and opened, but KHANSTHEWORD was lurking on the button with [Ac] [Ad] and re-raised, provoking an all-in bet from cynicalfish. KHANSTHEWORD called and dodged an open-ended straight draw on the river of the [5s] [Th] [Qd] [Ks] [8c] board to send cynicalfish to the rail in 9th place ($4,935.10).

Mr. Bucis got back in the action on the following hand, shoving with [Ks] [9s] in an attempt to steal the blinds and antes. TLNo.13 woke up with [Kc] [Kd] in the small blind and called all-in for 1.4M, becoming a 94-percent favorite to win the pot when the flop came [2h] [5c] [As]. Mr. Bucis caught a break when the [5s] turn and [8s] river combined to make a backdoor spade flush, and TLNo.13 settled for 8th place ($7,849.71).

Another short stack got in as a favorite on the next hand only to be given a rough ride by the deck. This time it was WIlliam "hellzito" Arruda, winner of the 2015 WCOOP Super Tuesday Special Edition, who re-raised all-in for 1.24M with [Ac] [Td] after KHANSTHEWORD opened for 355K in middle position with [Ah] [2h]. The extra 890K was a trivial call for the chip leader, who picked up a flush draw on the flop and cashed it in on the river of the [3h] [7h] [6d] [7s] [6h] board. With that, hellzito bowed out in 7th place ($13,644.10).

That gave KHANSTHEWORD more than twice as many chips as mayanfactor, the nearest competitor with 6.08M, and extended that lead further six hands later. LucaasAK747 opened the action on that hands by moving all-in for 1.98M with [Ks] [Qd] and KHANSTHEWORD, with [Ac] [Kc], was the only caller. The [7d] [6s] [3h] [3] [5h] board didn't come anywhere close to helping, and LucaasAK747 left in 6th place ($19,450.10).

mayanfactor struck the next knockout blow just two hands after that, climbing back above half of the chip leader's stack after calling with [Ac] [Ts] in the big blind following short-stacked mr.WanRaim's all-in bet with [Jh] [8h]. Two pair on the flop of the [As] [5h] [Td] [2c] [Js] board was good enough for mayanfactor to take the 3M chips in the middle, and mr.WanTaim left in 5th place ($25,256.10).

After all that action in a span of just 10 hands, the next 10 went by without a single pot rising to 10 big blinds in value. KHANSTHEWORD was firmly in the lead with 13.1M chips, and mayanfactor was sitting comfortably in second place with 7.92M. That left TCOOP 2016 winner Mike "MikeyGG3" Gentili at 3.38M and Mr. Bucis at 4.54M, and they ended up breaking the relative silence with a heads-up clash.

MikeyGG3 sat in the big blind with [Ad] [Kc] and called when Mr. Bucis jammed on the button with [3d] [3h], leaving 201K behind and putting Mr. Bucis at risk of elimination. Only one Broadway card came on the [Js] [2c] [4h] [6d] [4s] board, though, and it couldn't break the pair of treys. That boosted Mr. Bucis to 8.37M, less than a big blind behind mayanfactor for second place.

Left with a single big blind, MikeyGG3 moved all-in on the button next hand and was called by both mayanfactor and KHANSTHEWORD in the blinds. KHANSTHEWORD's [8d] [3s] made a pair of treys on the [3c] [6s] [4d] [Kd] [As] board to take the 661K-chip pot, and MikeyGG3 was gone in 4th place ($33,384.50).

Three-handed standoff

Mr. Bucis came out firing right away, defending the big blind with [8h] [7c] and check-raising to 842K with the gutshot draw on the [Kh] [5d] [9s] flop after mayanfactor bet 366K. mayanfactor called there and then again for 1.47M on the [3s] turn, showing down [Ah] [As] for the 5.8M-chip win after both players checked the [9h] river.

Despite that quick start and the blazing pace of play that had preceded it, the journey from three-handed play to heads-up wasn't so quick in coming around. It took 10 more hands to get to the next showdown, which featured KHANSTHEWORD and mayanfactor. The former had raised to 875K in the small blind after mayanfactor limped on the button, getting Mr. Bucis to fold, but mayanfactor called to see the [2h] [Ac] [Jh] flop. Both player checked there, mayanfactor called 1.91M on the [4d] turn, and both checked again on the [As] river. KHANSTHEWORD had been chasing the flush with [Kh] [Th], but so had mayanfactor - with [Ah] [9h], which ended up making three of a kind to take the 7.65M-chip pot and move into the chip lead.

Six hands later KHANSTHEWORD suffered another loss, this time to the shorter-stacked opponent. KHANSTHEWORD opened the betting by shoving from the small blind with [Ad] [4d], and Mr. Bucis called all-in 4.24M with [As] [Qd]. The queen on the flop of the [Qs] [Kc] [Jc] [3h] [5s] board was all it took to give Mr. Bucis the 8.55M-chip pot.

Suddenly KHANSTHEWORD had gone from the penthouse to the cellar. The player from Panama was able to double up a few hands later with [Ks] [9h] after flopping top pair against mayanfactor's bottom pair with [Qh] [3c], but after being able to pick up no more than a few blinds and antes here and there, even those gains were gone 25 hands later. Confrontation finally arrived on the 150K/300K/30K level after Mr. Bucis raised to 600K on the button and KHANSTHEWORD, holding [Ac] [7s], moved in for 4.38M. Mr. Bucis wasted no time calling with [Jh] [Js] and caught top set on the flop, then a full house on the turn of the [4h] [6s] [Jd] [4c] [Qh] board, to eliminate KHANSTHEWORD in 3rd place ($48,770.40).

Coming into heads-up play with the chip lead, mayanfactor had already improved on a previous career-best finish in the Sunday Warm-Up, topping a third-place score back in 2014. But the chance of climbing even higher than that came to an abrupt end on just the third hand when both players picked up pocket pairs. Mr. Bucis was already ahead with another pair of jacks - this time [Jc] [Jh] - to mayanfactor's [7d] [7h], but made a king-high straight on the [Th] [5c] [9d] [Kh] [Qd] board to jump to 26.4M chips. That was more than 10 times as many as mayanfactor, who hung on for seven more hands before finding [Kh] [Js]. When Mr. Bucis limped on the button, mayanfactor jammed with it, but it was a trap as Mr. Bucis held [Ac] [As]. Hope was still there on the turn with the board reading [8h] [7d] [8s] [9s], but the [7c] on the river made aces and eights the winner and closed the tournament out.

mayanfactor's take for second place was $68,220.50, almost $24,000 more than that 2014 final table appearance in this tournament. As for the winner, Mr. Bucis of Lithuania, the $91,445.24 top prize sets a new career best here at PokerStars by more than $87,000. Congratulations to both players on their very solid Sunday performances!

3/20/16 Sunday Warm-Up ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 2,903
Total prize pool: $580,600
Places paid: 414

1. Mr. Bucis (Lithuania) $91,445.24
2. mayanfactor (Bulgaria) $68,220.50
3. KHANSTHEWORD (Panama) $48,770.40
4. Mike "MikeyGG3" Gentili (Canada) $33,384.50
5. mr.WanTaim (Netherlands) $25,256.10
6. LucaasAK747 (Brazil) $19,450.10
7. William "hellzito" Arruda (Brazil) $13,644.10
8. TLNo.13 (Romania) $7,849.71
9. Andrija "cynicalfish" Martic (Croatia) $4,935.10

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