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In the raging battle between the Davids and Goliaths of the poker world... David scored another point this week. Brazil's PLF111 doesn't have a long list of final tables or major tournament victories. His screen name has never been mentioned in one of these recaps. But with patience, solid play, and a well-timed late rush, PLF111 left his more experienced opponents in the dust. One of them, maximilian74, has banked over $815,000 lifetime in PokerStars MTTs. Another, WhatIfGod, won two WCOOP bracelets in two weeks for a combined $98k score. Although those victories loomed large when the final five were negotiating a deal, PLF111 still came away with enough to still claim the lion's share should he win heads-up and claim the extra $20k still in play. PLF111 went on to do just that and snagged his first major title along with a $114k bankroll infusion.

5,755 players bought in to this week's Million, creating a $1,151,000 prize pool. 855 places were paid out with first place set to earn $178,405.00.

The blinds were up to 125,000/250,000 and ten players remained when south2 picked up pocket tens and check-raised all-in on a [4s][4s][5d] flop. Unfortunately for him, maximilian74 snap-called with [Kd][Kc] and left south2 on only 178,000 in chips. Moments later, south2 was eliminated in tenth place when his [Jd][2h] did not improve against maximilian74's [Kh][Qc].

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: Svarenko723 (8,109,612 in chips)
Seat 2: maximilian74 (14,381,620 in chips)
Seat 3: FellipeNunes (1,348,370 in chips)
Seat 4: Rychu1971 (7,133,046 in chips)
Seat 5: WhatIfGod (3,272,618 in chips)
Seat 6: PLF111 (13,448,980 in chips)
Seat 7: susie00 (3,429,912 in chips)
Seat 8: fijis aek (3,215,030 in chips)
Seat 9: WascllyWabit (3,210,812 in chips)

FelipeNunes hung on for a few orbits and fell to 700,000 in chips. With 250,000 already committed in the big blind, FellipeNunes called all-in vs. WhatIfGod's 2.6 million open-shove from UTG+1. WhatIfGod's [Ad][Kd] held up against [Kc][Ts] and FellipeNunes hit the rail in ninth place.

It appeared as if WascllyWabit would follow him out the door when he ran pocket eights into fijisaek's [Jd][Js]. The jacks held and WascllyWabit was left with only 471,000. However, he nearly quadrupled up two hands later when his [2c][6s] flopped a pair of sixes againstPLF111's [Qs][Jh]. WascllyWabit raked in 1.7 million from that pot, chipped up to 3.42 million over the next eight minutes, and doubled again when he check-shoved on a [7d][4c][3c] flop vs. maximilian74. WascllyWabit's top pair with [7h][8h] held up against [Ad][4d] and he moved up to 7.2 million in chips.

Meanwhile, fijis aek fell to 2.8 million, but woke up with [Qs][Qd] when WhatIfGod open-shoved for 3.56 million from middle position. WhatIfGod turned over [Ac][Qh]... but flopped an ace to snap off fijis aek's queens and eliminate him in eighth place. WhatIfGod doubled to 6.46 million on that hand and was up to 8.17 million when the blinds rose to 250,000/500,000. However, WhatIfGod was knocked back on the short stack when maximilian74 moved in for 4.58 million with [Kc][Qc]. WhatIfGod called with a dominating [Ah][Qs], but maximilian74 turned a king-high straight on the [Jc][9c][6s][Td][3c] board, leaving WhatIfGod on 3.53 million.

On the next deal the action folded to susie00, who moved all-in for 3.37 million from the small blind. WascllyWabit called from the big, his [Kc][7s] up against [Jh][Tc]. WascllyWabit flopped two pair and rivered aces full on the [Ac][Ad][7d][8h][Ah] board, ending susie00's run in seventh place.

The action didn't let up and on the next hand WhatIfGod enacted a bit of revenge and doubled back through maximilian74 when his [Jd][9s] flopped a pair of jacks v.s [Ad][9h]. Moments later, Rychu1971 found [Ac][Td] and open-shoved for his remaining 3.59 million. WascllyWabit called with [Kh][Jd] and flopped a jack, sending Rychu1971 home in sixth place.

WhatIfGod, already having survived some major swings at this final table, had to weather another when he ran pocket deuces into PLF111's pocket queens for all but 208,000 of his chips. He quadrupled and then some on the next deal when his [Ks][6c] flopped a six and turned kings up against PLF111's [Qs][9c] and doubled again two hands later when his [Ks][Qh] held up against maximilian74's [4c][7c]. WhatIfGod was up to 2.06 million after that hand but the drama was far from over. On the next hand, WascllyWabit opened for 1,020,000, Svarenk723 flat-called and WhatIfGod shoved for 2.02 million. Both opponents called and checked down the [Ks][4h][3c] flop. The [Qd] turned and WascllyWabit made it 1.5 million to go. Svarenk723 called. The river fell the [Th] and both players checked, only to watch WhatIfGod roll over [As][Jh]. Thanks to running cards, WhatIfGod finished with a Broadway straight and raked in the 6.55 million pot.

At this juncture, the final five thought it best to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's how they stacked up at the time:

Svarenko723 - 16,601,708
maximilian74 - 13,023,576
WascllyWabit - 11,931,636
PLF111 - 9,919,368
WhatIfGod - 6,073,712

Despite his 10BB stack, WhatIfGod gave his opponents fair warning that an ICM deal wasn't going to cut it for him.

WhatIfGod: just saying, I´m gonna need more than ICM cause I imagine my number will be quite small...
WhatIfGod: and i was just button.
WhatIfGod: so if noone wants to give up something we can keep playing

Indeed, when final table host Marc-Andre "FrenchDawg" Ladouceur rolled out the ICM numbers, WhatIfGod immediately piped up and said he needed $91,000 ($10,500 more than his $80,500 share) in order to make a deal. Perhaps it was the spectre of his two WCOOP bracelets hanging large, but a surprising number of his opponents were willing to give up money to make that happen. WascllyWabit donated a little over $2,000, Svarenko723 relinquished $3,500, and PLF111 gave up $1,000, leaving maximilian74 as the lone holdout. After some prodding, maximilian74 gave up $1,000, bringing WhatIfGod's share up to $88,126. It wasn't $91k, but it was enough of a raise that WhatIfGod agreed to the terms. The deal closed with all five players guaranteed somewhere between second and third place money, even accounting for the $20,000 still up for grabs.

Once cards went back in the air, WhatIfGod wasn't long for this tournament. He picked up [Ah][7c] and open-shoved for 5.95 million and WascllyWabit quickly called with [As][Jh]. WascllyWabit's dominating hand held up on the [Qh][Th][3c][Qc][6s] board and WhatIfGod went out in fifth place. Thanks to his shrewd negotiating skills, the $88,126.29 he took home was nearly $40,000 more than the published fifth-place prize.

The blinds were up to 400,000/800,000 when WascllyWabit three-bet shoved for 11.8 million from the small blind with [Kh][9c] and PLF111 called with pocket sevens. PLF111's pair held up on the jack-high board and WascllyWabit burned a trail to the rail in fourth place.

When three-handed play commenced, PLF111 held the chip lead with 30.2 million, maximilian74 was second with 17.2 million and Svarenko723 was the short stack with 10.1 million. PLF111 played his rush and won five of the next seven pots, taking his chip count up to 39 million while both maximilian74 and Svarenko723 fell below 10 million. Down to 5.92 million, Svarenko723 open-shoved with [Qd][7s] on the button, but maximilian74 looked him up from the small blind with [Kd][Js]. Maximilian74 flopped a pair of kings on the [Kc][Tc][9c][As][5c] board and Svarenko723 went out in third place, taking with him the largest share of the deal at $110,000.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 2: maximilian74 (15,787,686 in chips)
Seat 6: PLF111 (41,762,314 in chips)

After five uneventful heads-up hands, it was all over on the sixth. PLF111 opened for a min-raise to 1.6 million, maximilian74 moved all-in for 15.62 million and PLF111 called.

PLF111 [Ah][Jh]
maximilian74 [Kc][Jc]

PLF111 hit an ace on the flop and hung on through the [As][Tc][7s][9h][6c] board to lock up his first Sunday Million win.

Congratulations to PLF111 on joining the ranks of Sunday Million champions! He banked $114,745.98 for the win, while runner-up maximilian74 earned $104,099.38.

PokerStars Sunday Million results for 12-20-2015

Players: 5,755
Prizepool: $1,151,000.00
Places paid: 855

1. PLF111 (Brazil) $114,745.98*
2. maximilian74 (Cyprus) $104,099.38*
3. Svarenko723 (Norway) $110,000.00*
4. WascllyWabit (Bahamas) $100,000.00*
5. WhatIfGod (Sweden) $88,126.29*
6. Rychu1971 (Poland) $36,832.00
7. susie00 (United Kingdom) $25,322.00
8. fiji aek (Greece) $14,387.50
9. FellipeNunes (Brazil) $8,977.80

*= reflects the results of a five-way deal that left $20,000 in play for the winner

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