Home / Poker News May 2009 / PokerStars Sunday Million: NORCALonica wins
PokerStars Sunday Million: NORCALonica wins
Posted by: James Carter. - Wed, 2009-05-13 05:06
Player “NORCALonica” came from behind to win 1st place in the PokerStars Sunday Million and the $163,430 prize.
NORCALonica began the final table action as the short-stack, and managed to overcome the odds to shoot to victory, after having bested a monster field of 6,947. The field was all the more impressive on account of the big names who played: Greg Hobson, who ended up in 24th, Tom Schneider who finished 16th and Florian Langmann, who busted out in 10th place as the final table bubble boy.
As the final table action began, NORCALonica had around 3 million chips while the chip leader at that point – Jonesie03 – had more than 12 million. Player “cainearized” who started the final table on about 8 million chips was the first to go. He made a pair of Qs on the flop of a hand against Jonesie03, but lost when the latter made a set of Js on the turn.
Javier Dominguez ejected jkid1084 in 8th place. All the money went into the middle before the flop as jkid1084 held a pair of 9s against Dominguez’s Q,J. The board gave Dominguez a boat and jkid1084 was done.
MBNJR got his pocket rockets cracked next by In8desyr who hit a K on the river to make a set of Ks and to send MBNJR to the rail on a heart-break.
NORCALonica got going by eliminating Fishfinder22 in 6th place. His A,8 caught a set of 8s on the turn and Fishfinder22’s A,6 was no match for that.
In8desyr eliminated benpatt next to cut the field down to the final four. The surviving players then struck a deal and play continued. NORCALonica was still the shortest stack at this stage, but that would change soon, following the eliminations of In8desyr and Javier Dominguez. He began heads-up play with a comfortable chip-lead over Jonesie03, and took full advantage of his edge.
The heads-up was by no means a smooth affair though. The chip lead changed hands several times before NORCALonica managed to strike the final blow on a 7,7 vs 8,2s match-up.
The board did give Jonesie03 a 4-card flush, but it failed to fill up and NORCALonica’s pocket pair held up for the win.
