Last week, the 'PokerStars LIVE Macau' poker room completed ACOP Platinum Series XII attracting festival totals of 725 players and more than HK$2.8 million in prize money.

Taiwanese poker pro Jack Wu had a monster week with 2 wins and 3 final tables. Wu biggest victory was in the HK$5,500 Main Event where he defeated a 241-player field for the HK$260,850 top prize.

Jack Wu

In total, 27 players cashed for a share of the HK$1,087,030 prize pool in the two-day event.

Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang and Sparrow Cheung both made deep runs but ultimately fell in 19th and 24th place. Ultimately, it was American Duy Ho as the last man standing in the way of Wu's first main event title and that challenge would last just 15 minutes.

The critical hand came with both players going through a series of pre-flop raises that put Wu all-in with [ad][9h] -- dominating Ho's [ah][8d].

The hand would hold as the board ran [js][7h][qd][4s][2s] leaving Ho crippled with 100,000 chips remaining, while Wu's double up soared his stack to 2.3m.

The very next was another predictable all-in pre-flop.

Wu: [ah][ks]
Ho: [8c][9h]

Ho appeared in good shape for a double up on the flop of [2s][8h][jh] for a pair of eights but the turn and river of [qc] and [tc] respectively gave Wu the nut straight to clinch the title.

The incredible week was particularly satisfying for Wu who has never had a live event win despite plenty of cashes since 2012. Now the 33-year old has two titles in just a single week. Wu's results now climb him up from No. 136 to No. 5 on the Asia Player of the Year rankings.

MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE RESULTS

1. Jack Wu (Chinese Taipei) HK$260,850
2. Duy Ho (USA) HK$168,380
3. Jiaxiu Liu (China) HK$108,600
4. Chin Yu Pai (Chinese Taipei) HK$87,000
5. Alex Lee (Singapore) HK$68,500
6. Taiping Chen (China) HK$54,400
7. Chuwen Zhou (China) HK$43,500
8. Chao Li (China) HK$35,300
9. Li Chen (China) HK$27,200

For complete results of ACOP Platinum Series XII please click here.

For the 2016 Asia Player of the Year rankings please click here.

The next special event at PokerStars LIVE Macau is ACOP Platinum Series XIII which takes place from April 19-24. For more information please visit www.PokerStarsLIVEMacau.com

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

Weekend highlights

* João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio wins more than $213,000 in the Sunday Million
* miki21221 takes down the Sunday Warm-Up

Round up of latest results

A brief Easter update of the action on PokerStars. The extended weekend brought everyone out to play, many benefitting from a free holiday on Monday to throw caution to the work day wind and stay up late.

As such the Sunday Million had a boost in turn out. Not quite the 55,000-plus players of the tenth anniversary edition last weekend, but the 7,124 was higher than usual, making for a prize pool in excess of $1.4 million.

As Martin Harris reported, the top share went to João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio of Brazil, who picked up a whopping $213,724 after a deal-free finale. He beat the sensibly named Canadian extragloves to the title, although second place paid an equally enticing $157,255. The report is well worth a read for all the detail in between.

Meanwhile in the Sunday Warm-Up David Aydt reported on miki21221's win. A four way deal in that one meant a first prize of $58,000 to the Israeli, ahead of Eccentric_BG of Bulgaria. Not bad considering he'd been at a disadvantage chip wise at deal time.

Here are those two results in full:

PokerStars Sunday Million results (3/27/16)
Entrants: 7,124
Prize pool: $1,424,800.00
Places paid: 1,080

1. João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio (Brazil) $213,724.92
2. extragloves (Canada) $157,255.17
3. gimpshow (Canada) $113,984.00
4. LStrelec (Russia) $75,514.40
5. Matt "OffTh3Radar" Davenport (United Kingdom) $58,416.80
6. rodloiola (Brazil) $44,168.80
7. navebit83 (Israel) $30,633.20
8. omeriko (Israel) $17,097.60
9. Calaviero (Netherlands) $11,042.20

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results (3/27/16)
Entrants: 2,414
Prize pool: $482,800.00
Places paid: 360

1. miki21221 (Israel) $58,000.00*
2. Eccentric_BG (Bulgaria) $47,000.00*
3. SELOUAN1991 (Brazil) $51,068.92*
4. neverfoldQ5 (Austria) $46,789.48*
5. Hope_Flooky (Germany) $21,484.60
6. luchowin (Chile) $16,656.60
7. Eddy "eddymaksoud" Maksoud (Lebanon) $11,828.60
8. LAWLSHOVE (Mexico) $7,000.60
9. RuSSkiY.F (Russia) $4,103.80

The weekend's top online tournament winners

Click here for a complete list of major results on PokerStars for the weekend of March 26 to 27, 2016.

That's everything for this short round-up from the Easter weekend on PokerStars. As always send your questions and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.

The Sunday Million returned to normal this week after last week's huge 10th anniversary bash that saw over 55,000 take part. Of course, "normal" is still something special, and this week's installment of the $215 no-limit hold'em event on PokerStars was extra special for João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio of Brazil. That's because after battling for more than 11-and-a-half hours on Sunday, Otávio had accumulated every last chip and had earned a handsome first prize of $213,724.92. Here's the story of how he did it.

There was a 7,124-player field for this week's Milly, meaning the total prize pool of $1,424,800 well exceeded the event's $1 million guarantee.

The top 1,080 finishers made the money, a milestone that occurred shortly into the tournament's sixth hour. Later, near the end of the 10th hour they were down to 18, with Lucas "Sh0w3rs4u" Blanco and Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa then battling for the chip lead with about 9.5 million each.

Mor Havoc (18th), haidari13603 (17th), and bluffeverytm (16th) were the next knockouts, earning $3,989.44 apiece. AroNah (15th), banana0008 (14th), and xulescux (13th) followed, each cashing for $5,912.92.

They crossed the 10-and-a-half-hour mark, then after having slipped in the counts Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa was ousted in 12th, then Lucas "Sh0w3rs4u" Blanco also became short and was knocked out in 11th. toha_toha was next out in 10th -- like Koplimaa and Blanco earning $7,836.40 -- and with gimpshow the new chip leader, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: extragloves (Canada) -- 5,420,000
Seat 2: LStrelec (Russia) -- 13,278,282
Seat 3: navebit83 (Israel) -- 3,003,123
Seat 4: rodloiola (Brazil) -- 3,885,021
Seat 5: gimpshow (Canada) -- 19,313,258
Seat 6: omeriko (Israel) -- 2,574,346
Seat 7: Calaviero (Netherlands) -- 1,057,120
Seat 8: Matt "OffTh3Radar" Davenport (United Kingdom) -- 5,283,225
Seat 9: João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio (Brazil) -- 17,425,625

On just the third hand of the final table, Calaviero open-shoved from under the gun for 967,120 (a little over three big blinds) then watched navebit83 reraise-push from late position to isolate. Calaviero had [Qd][Ts] and navebit83 [As][Js], and following a board of [6c][Kc][3c][8d][2d] Calaviero was out in ninth.

Just four hands after that, a hand arose that saw omeriko open-push from the hijack for 2,604,346 (not quite 8 BBs) with [6h][6s] and get called by João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio who had been dealt [Kd][Ks] on the button. The board came [2h][4h][7d][Ad][5d] and omeriko was done in eighth.

About an orbit later navebit83 was the one open-raising all-in from early position for 3,700,243 (a little more than 12 BBs) and getting called by extragloves in the big blind. navebit83 had [Kd][Qd] but extragloves had woken up with [Ad][Kh]. Five cards later -- [7s][Js][Ac][Kc][Qs] -- both had two pair, but extragloves' were better and navebit83 was sent railward in seventh.

The final six battled another 15 minutes as Matt "OffTh3Radar" Davenport and João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio moved out in front and led with around 25 million each. Then a short-stacked rodloiola open-pushed from middle position for 1,065,021 -- just 2.5 BBs -- and was called by both gimbshow (cutoff) and extragloves (big blind).

The latter two checked it down as the board came [9c][Jh][2d][3d][Qc], then extragloves showed [Qh][5h] for a pair of queens. That was good as both rodloiola and gimpshow mucked, and rodloiola was out in sixth.

Five minutes after that the blinds were 250,000/500,000 when Matt "OffTh3Radar" Davenport open-pushed for 7,902,900 from the small blind and João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio called from the big blind. Davenport had [Ks][Th] and Otávio [As][Kh], and after the [5s][Td][9c] flop and [Jc] turn Davenport was in front. But the [Qc] river made a straight for Otávio, and Davenport's run had ended in fifth.

A few hands later gimpshow min-raised to 1 million from UTG and LStrelec called from the big blind, then following a [Td][2d][Qh] flop LStrelec shoved all-in for 785,677 and gimpshow called. LStrelec had [8h][7c] and gimpshow [Kd][Jh], and after the [3d] turn and [Ad] river gimpshow had improved to a flush while LStrelec had but ace-high to finish fourth.

Another 15 minutes passed with João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio moving well out in front with nearly 44 million while extragloves and gimpshow hovered around the 14 million-chip mark.

Then came a hand in which Otávio min-raised to 1.2 million from the button, extragloves called from the small blind, then gimpshow shoved all-in for 13,232,151 from the big blind. At that Otávio chose to reraise all-in over the top, and extragloves stepped aside.

gimpshow had [6s][6h] but Otávio had [7s][7c]. The board came [Ts][Qs][9c], then [8h], then [2s], and the curtain fell on gimpshow in third.

That boosted Otávio's lead even further, giving him 58,355,022 to start heads-up play versus extragloves' 12,884,978.

The pair played 20 hands after which Otávio sat with nearly 61 million and extragloves had dipped to just over 10 million. That's when extragloves open-pushed from the button and got a call from Otávio, and the final showdown soon came.

extragloves had [Jh][Td] and though behind Otávio's [Ah][Kh] did have two live cards. The board came all small, however -- [6d][6h][2d][5s][3s] -- and it was all over. Otávio had won.

Congratulations to João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio for beating out this week's huge Sunday Million field to earn a nice $213,724.92 payday.

3/27/16 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 7,124
Prize pool: $1,424,800.00
Places paid: 1,080

1. João "XxJoaoFeraxX" Otávio (Brazil) $213,724.92
2. extragloves (Canada) $157,255.17
3. gimpshow (Canada) $113,984.00
4. LStrelec (Russia) $75,514.40
5. Matt "OffTh3Radar" Davenport (United Kingdom) $58,416.80
6. rodloiola (Brazil) $44,168.80
7. navebit83 (Israel) $30,633.20
8. omeriko (Israel) $17,097.60
9. Calaviero (Netherlands) $11,042.20

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With so many Sunday Majors on the agenda it is easy to downplay how much these players are vying for at the start of each week. Take for the example the Sunday Storm, which has a small buy-in of $11 but on the April 17th 5th Anniversary Edition there's a $1 million guarantee and a possible $100,000 going out to the winner. On the higher stakes side, lands the $425,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up which saw four players managed to lock-up the majority of the prize pool. Miki21221 did not have the most chips during the chop, but a little fortune and timely play, ended taking away the title this week earning a total of $58,000.00.

Read on below for the full final table story.

With the knockout of taartjekomt in 18th place ($1,786.36), BOOGANDEHAH would take over the chip lead with two tables remaining. BOOGANDEHAH has plenty of late-game experience during Major tourneys here including two late runs at a Super Tuesday title in January and February to along with a SCOOP watch from the 2013 series (Event 35-L).

Rens02 would be the next to fall in 17th place, failing to capitalize on a shot of owning a Sunday Warm-Up title alongside of the Sunday Million win from 2011.

BOOGANDEHAH might have a headache in the morning from the spiraling exit. First, losing a sizable pot to LAWLSHOVE after flopping a boat and losing to a runner-runner higher boat. Then, on the last hand of the eighth hour of play, BOOGANDEHAH would flop the nut straight only to lose to a turned nut flush, exiting the tournament in 13th place ($2,462.28).

AlKn1 and IsseG would lose their final chips on the first hand back from the break bringing up hand-for-hand play.

Six minute in with the blinds up to 50K/100K ante 10K LAWLSHOVE would raise to 350K putting Kelvin_FP:AR all-in from the big blind. Kelvin_FP:AR was pleased to call with [Jh][Ad] but less than happy to see LAWLSHOVE's [5s][3s] get there with a five on the turn [Qd] [7h] [Qs] [5c] [6d] starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: LAWLSHOVE (5116655 in chips)
Seat 2: Eccentric_BG (2302902 in chips)
Seat 3: miki21221 (1066392 in chips)
Seat 4: Hope_Flooky (1037854 in chips)
Seat 5: neverfoldQ5 (5444139 in chips)
Seat 6: RuSSkiY.F (1069830 in chips)
Seat 7: SELOUAN1991 (2731167 in chips)
Seat 8: luchowin (1050690 in chips)
Seat 9: Eddy "eddymaksoud" Maksoud (4320371 in chips)

In the mist of several big pots together two players would not be able to continue. Twenty minutes into the final table with the blinds moving up to 65K/130K ante 13K miki21221 would shove a million chips from middle position holding [Jh][Qh]. RuSSkiY.F was ready in the big blind with a little less tournament funds but better cards [Jd][Ad] to make the call. A queen on the flop [6s] [3s] [Qs] [9d] [Jc] would send RuSSkiY.F home in ninth place ($4,103.80).

On the next hand LAWLSHOVE, who came to the table second in chips, and now down to 1.55 million, would shove from UTG folding around to neverfoldQ5 who also shoved from the cutoff. LAWLSHOVE's [Qh][Ah] would be looking up at the chip leader's [Kh][Ac] all the way through the [Tc] [7d] [9h] [As] [Th] board. What could have been a high five-figure score would end in eighth place ($7,000.60).

Eddy "eddymaksoud" Maksoud's name pops up online and during live reporting from the European Poker Tour (EPT) doing well with both mediums. The Sunday Warm-Up has been kind to him taking home sixth place here back in October and making another final table here. However, Maksoud's stack would take a beating after losing a key flip against miki21221. Four hands after the confrontation, his remaining 216,235 chips and [Qd][6d] would need to find a way to beat neverfoldQ5's [9c][Qh]. Despite a six in the door [6c] [Jc] [9h] [Kd] [Kh] the nine at the end of the flop sent Maksoud out in seventh place ($11,828.60).

Shortly before the ninth hourly break with the blinds moving up to 100K/200K ante 20K luchowin would shove 1.88 million from the small blind as Eccentric_BG made the call from the big blind holding [Jc][Ac]. Bad news for luchowin's [Js][9s] as both players notched a straight on the [Ks] [Td] [7c] [Jd] [Qh] board. Luchowin's lower straight would earn $16,656.60 in sixth place.

After the break neverfoldQ5 went to hunt for chips after losing the chip lead to SELOUAN1991. Hope_Flooky, a SCOOP champion from 2013's Event #5-M, would push all-in from the small blind for 1.54 million holding pocket sixes [6s][6c] as neverfoldQ5 called from big blind with [9d][Ah]. A nine on the flop [Qc] [5d] [9c] [4c] [8d] ended Hope_Flooky's run in fifth place ($21,484.60).

15 minutes into the 10th hour of play our players would take around 15 minutes to hash out the deal shown below after neverfoldQ5 generously donated five dollars to the cause:

SELOUAN1991: $51,068.92
miki21221: $50,000.00
Eccentric_BG: $47,000.00
neverfoldQ5: $46,789.48

That five spot unfortunately did not buy a lot of positive karma a few minutes later. With the blinds up to 150K/300K ante 30K neverfoldQ5 would shove 2.84 million from the small blind holding a suited ace [6s][As]. SELOUAN1991 would make the call with lower spades [9s][Qs] but a nine on the flop made the suits irrelevant [9h] [3c] [4c] [2c] [2s] as neverfoldQ5 took away $46,789.48 from the deal in fourth place.

Mid-way through the hour SELOUAN1991's luck would change. First, after tangling with miki21221 pre-flop 13.6 million chips would sit in the middle as SELOUAN1991's queens tried to knockout miki21221's ace-queen. But, an ace in the door would knock SELOUAN1991 down to 11 BBs after the loss. Seven hands later SELOUAN1991 would try to get those missing funds back pushing all-in with [As][4h] and getting a call all-in from Eccentric_BG's similar stack and pocket sixes [6c][6d]. No ace on the [2s] [Th] [7d] [Jd] [Qc] sent SELOUAN1991 down to under a big blind. Miki21221 would pick up the scraps two hands later as SELOUAN1991's third place finish earned $51,068.92.

While miki21221 came in with a sizable lead (17 million to seven million) there was room and time for improvement. But, miki21221 came out firing winning two big pots in the first three hands upping the lead to 20.1 million against Eccentric_BG's 3.95 million.

Six minutes later Eccentric_BG failed to carve out a comeback story. With the blinds up to 200K/400K ante 40K Eccentric_BG, who nearly claimed a Super Tuesday victory this month, would shove for 4.69 million holding [5c][Jc]. Miki21221's stack-size and [9h][As] made the call and managed to hold through the [Th] [6d] [Ad] [5d] [8s] river as miki21221 claimed $58,000.00 and this week's Sunday Warm-Up title!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results (03-27-16)

Entrants: 2,414
Prize pool: $482,800.00
Places paid: 360

1. miki21221 (Israel) $58,000.00*
2. Eccentric_BG (Bulgaria) $47,000.00*
3. SELOUAN1991 (Brazil) $51,068.92*
4. neverfoldQ5 (Austria) $46,789.48*
5. Hope_Flooky (Germany) $21,484.60
6. luchowin (Chile) $16,656.60
7. Eddy "eddymaksoud" Maksoud (Lebanon) $11,828.60
8. LAWLSHOVE (Mexico) $7,000.60
9. RuSSkiY.F (Russia) $4,103.80

See a Sunday Storm, Sunday Warm-Up, or Sunday Million victory in your future? Click here to get a PokerStars account.

Approaching the end of the first week of online poker in New Jersey for some time, it almost feels normal. Work behind the scenes to get PokerStars back in the United States had been so central to the company that now we're finally there it feels like we never left - although a few behind the scenes staff, exhausted, might think differently.

But that does mean we can say this for the first time since 2010: there will be Sunday Majors in the United States this weekend.

That felt pretty good.

Obviously they might be a bit smaller than their foreign cousins - and let's not forget that there are 56 tournaments running every day - but one step at a time. What does that schedule look like?

16:00 ET: $50 Sunday Warm-Up ($10,000 Gtd)
17:00 ET: $10 Sunday Storm ($5,000 Gtd)
18:00 ET: $200 Sunday Special ($50,000 Gtd)
19:00 ET: $500 Sunday High Roller ($15,000 Gtd)
22:00 ET: $75 Sunday Supersonic ($5,000 Gtd)

Get all the details on the PokerStars NJ homepage.

While that kicks off a new era of online poker in the United States, it's business as usual elsewhere with the usual roster of weekend majors, capped off with the Sunday Million.

Last weekend was the Tenth Anniversary edition, won by a.urli who dominated the final table to take away a first prize of $970,000 after a four-way deal. You can read Martin Harris's report from the final table here.

That was last week. What can you expect from this long Easter weekend?

CardHunt

Our new promotion is now under way. We wrote about it earlier this week so it's best if you check out that post for how it works, because I'm not sure I could get it right a second time. Suffice to say you can win up to $5,000 each day for the duration of the promotion by winnings with particular hole cards that match a 16-20 piece puzzle that you'll find in your challenge window. Match them all and win money immediately. Check out all the details on the CardHunt homepage.

EPT Not Live

The latest episode is now available. We'll let the team introduce it...

"Joe continues to enjoy the LA lifestyle, although he's starting to feel the pinch (as revealed in an impromptu game of 'How Much Does It Cost?'). Jason Mercier joins the boys to talk about his deep run in last year's EPT Grand Final - as documented in the latest TV episode - and his experience of playing on PokerStars in New Jersey. James is shocked (in a good way) at how many people have qualified for Monaco via Spin & Gos. Joe has some great stories about Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Hellmuth from a recent TV shoot in Las Vegas. And, after listening to this week's edition of 'Superfan vs Stapes', you'll probably conclude that Sam Worger from Sheffield regrets choosing 'Friends' as his specialist subject! James and Joe are taking a short Easter break. The next episode of #EPTNotLive will be released on Thursday 7th April 2016."

Links:

http://www.soundcloud.com/eptnotlive
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/ept-not-live/id970248920?mt=2
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ept-not-live

Looking ahead

As we announced this week there's $4 million up for grabs during the Mountain Series which starts next month. The ten-event series takes place over four days between April 7-10, 2016, each with increased buy-ins from Mount Sugarloaf ($11) all the way through to Everest ($2,100).

Then there's the new UKIPT season, the sixth, which starts in London next month. Satellites are already under way, but you can get all the details of this new festival by reading our post from this week. The Hippodrome Casino plays host once more. It should prove venue for the first festival of the year.

That's everything. Play well on PokerStars this weekend, whether you're in New Jersey or anywhere else. As always send any thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.