It appears recent October Niner Russell Thomas is not going to be one of those players.
Thomas, who plays on PokerStars as into2ndWind, outlasted 8,407 players to win the Sunday Million for $219,184 yesterday.
Interestingly Thomas actually outlasted more players in the Sunday Million than when he finished fourth in the 2012 WSOP Main Event for $2.8 million. The 2012 Main Event drew 6,598 players.
Apparently Thomas could have won even more if he’d booked a bet with Mike “Timex” McDonald. Thomas Tweeted this after winning the Sunday Million:
Just won the sunday million for 220k.Shoulda bet on myself with timex earlier today.
— Russell Thomas (@RunGoodRussell) March 25, 2013Thomas is still awaiting his first live cash since finishing fourth in the Main Event but there’s a good chance he will break through soon.
The Pennsylvania-native underwent an intense three-month training schedule leading up the Main Event final table with Jason Somerville. You can see some of his training in the YouTube series The Final Table.
Here are the Sunday Million final-table payouts (*Reflects a three-way deal):
1. Russell “into2ndWind” Thomas - $219,184* 2. Ahhh Is It? - $174,095* 3. aakis1990 - $160,913* 4. briemaus - $84,070 5. KARNA1983 - $67,256 6. Dimka19881 - $50,442 7. BEGIMOTS - $33,628 8. purplflowerz - $18,495 9. VinceVegaMFR - $13,030Max Lykov Takes PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for $110k
Thomas wasn’t the only player to take down a Sunday major yesterday.
Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov beat out 3,528-player field in the Sunday Warm-Up to earn an $110k payday.
There were numerous Team PokerStars Pros who entered the event but Lykov and Martin “AABenjaminAA” Hruby were the only ones who made the money.
Hruby went out 99th to leave Lykov as the only surviving Team Pro. Lykov didn’t waste the opportunity, however, as he went on to win the tournament outright.
Earlier this year Lykov stated one of his goals was to win a Sunday major in 2013.
Lykov can rest easy as the Sunday Warm-Up certainly counts as a major tournament.
The Sunday Warm-Up is yet another significant achievement for a player with a WSOP bracelet and an EPT title.
Here’s a look at the final-table payouts:
1. Max Lykov - $110,780 2. Xx-Luxury-xX - $85,555 3. szwindel - $58,212 4. suarez_BG - $40,572 5. rnb333 - $29,988 6. makarios007 - $22,932 7. pupon - $15,876 8. johnxfleming - $8,820 9. dede65 - $5,644Visit www.pokerlistings.com