Online Action Update: Isildur1 and The Sunday Million
After a relative lull over the holiday season, the high stakes online poker action picked up in a big way on the first weekend of the new year. Isildur1 competed in his second SuperStar Showdown last night – this time against fellow table talker Tony G. Simultaneously, PokerStars was playing host to its usual bevy of big weekend guaranteeds including the Sunday Warm-Up, the Sunday 500 and the Sunday Million. Full Tilt Poker also posted big numbers at their Sunday Brawl and $750K Guarantee.
We’ll start with the heads-up action over at the SuperStar Showdown. For two weeks, Isildur1 has been licking his wounds after his first opponent, Isaac Haxton, handed him a $41,701 loss. Last night Isildur1 was determined to avenge himself, and Tony G’s bankroll paid the price. Though Tony G was up as much as $63,000 early in the competition, Isildur1 bided his time and eventually broke the man down, though that didn’t stop the smack talk.
After 2500 hands across two NL Hold’em and two PL Omaha tables, Isildur1 finished the second SuperStar Showdown with a $44,280 win, effectively erasing his earlier loss with a couple grand to spare. Tony G alternated between insulting and praising his opponent, even calling the rules of the SuperStar Showdown a “total freak show” and a “FARSE” at one point in the competition. All told, it’s clear that Isildur1 is a far more gracious winner than loser, telling Tony G he “really did have heart” whereas all he would credit Haxton with was luck.
Over at the tournament tables, it was another night of deals. The Sunday Warm-Up and Sunday 500 at PokerStars both finished with deals as did Full Tilt Poker’s $750K Guarantee and Sunday Brawl. In the latter tournament, second place finisher Docdog1 actually pocketed almost $20k more than winner neker2018. The PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up pulled its highest numbers in almost a full year with 5,046 players contributing to create a $1,009,200 prize pool; it was the first time in a long time that it out-moneyed the Sunday 500 which offered its field of 1,122 a total prize pool of $561,000.
The big tournament news came of course from the PokerStars Sunday Million. This week’s Million drew in a whopping 9,466 players for a total prize pool of $1,893,200. One player that didn’t wimp out and take the deal was Sunday Million winner He77_Razor, and he’s $270,353.82 richer for betting on himself.