Usually found playing $11 MTTs, according to the PokerStars blog, benislovas worked his way up to the chip lead with 16 players left and managed to find himself there again as they hit the final table of nine.
By the time they were three-handed, though, benislovas found himself on the bottom with former SCOOP champion David "sexygee" Gent from the UK and German Kasra84 -- a usual $3.50 Turbo SNG grinder -- before the three struck a deal ensuring each player over $700k.
Leaving $140k on the table to play for, they ran it out quickly with benislovas defeating Gent for the official title to take home $848,589. Gent earned $836,321 while Kasra84 took home $813,370 as per the deal, making it an extremely successful Sunday for all three.
Nearly $10m in Prize Pool, 50,000 in Field
With $7 million guaranteed for this anniversary edition of the Sunday Million the grinders came out in force from all stake levels and all corners of the globe.
With the normal $215 buy-in, the value was off the charts and 49,287 players came for a piece of it.
The prize pool ballooned to almost $10 million with 6,309 players paid and $1.2 million originally scheduled for first place before the deal was cut.
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Given the substantial pay jumps a lot of pressure was put on the final nine to make a deal but nothing could be settled on until the final three.
PokerStars pro Angel Guillen was the top Red Spade finisher in 754th place.
The official results and payouts below:
1. benislovas (Lithuania) $848,589.33* 2. sexygee (United Kingdom) $836,321.83* 3. Kasra84 (Germany) $813,370.28* 4. n0rflip (Norway) $358,809.36 5. pellompogos (Cyprus) $254,320.92 6. stradale430 (Austria) $181,376.16 7. 2outs4cake (United Kingdom) $117,303.06 8. rewgr343 (Russia) $85,759.38 9. Heminsley (United Kingdom) $62,101.62 *from three-way deal that left $140,000 in play for the winnerFor a full recap of the final-table action, check the PokerStars blog.
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