The prize pool shot through the roof and then some, topping $1.9m and allowing 1,440 players to be paid. That money bubble burst with an intriguing set of names on top of the chip leaderboard – Daniel Negreanu in 1st place, closely followed by Jason Mercier. What a surprise.


Unfortunately the two PokerStars Pros couldn’t go as far as the final table – Negreanu was out in 137th after losing a series of coinflips before Mercier followed a while after, busting in 44th place. Mike “timex” McDonald outdid them both to come 22nd.


Highway51 survived a topsy-turvy final table after arriving at the coveted spot in 3rd place. He won and lost the chip lead several times along the way as a series of huge hands added some drama to an already notable Sunday Million.


Eventually, the match got to heads-up between Highway51 and popimaiorca, both on around 50m, give or take a few big blinds. The first hand of heads-up play was a simple raise/fold pre-flop, but the second…
Four bets were put in before the flop and Highway51 bet out at the 7h-Ad-Qs board. His opponent called and then check-raised all-in on the Ks turn, displaying Kd-Qd for two pair after Highway51’s snap call with Ah-Ac. Ouch – of all the times to get coolered.


The final payouts and placings were as follows:
1st place: Highway51 ($271,241.22)
2nd place: popimaiorca ($197,614.80)
3rd place: Soltari84 ($139,492.80)
4th place: rakeinfools ($96,870.00)
5th place: THE CUBE ($77,496.00)
6th place: jfyjfy6 ($58,122.00)
7th place: SingleFileD ($38,748.00)
8th place: Snort4eva ($19,374.00)
9th place: Klauss8s ($13,174.32) TAGS: Poker News, PokerStars, Sunday, Million, awards, $271, 000