Sunday Briefing: PokerStars PKO Smashes Guarantee Despite Boycott

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Feb 18, 2019 6 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

It was a massive Sunday for online poker tournament players on Feb. 17 thanks to the partypoker KO Series and PokerStars Turbo Series concluding, 888poker running its RakeLESS events and the Natural8 Blade $10K and $5K events taking place.

One of the stories of the weekend was high stakes tournament player ��girafganger7�� organizing a boycott of PokerStars�� $5,200 buy-in Turbo Series PKO event. The Belgian managed to get more than 200 fellow high stakes pros to promise they wouldn��t play in this event, yet the $750,000 guarantee was still easily met thanks to 187 entries into the event.

partypoker responded to the planned boycott by adding a $5,200 event to their KO Series schedule, one with a massive $1 million guaranteed prize pool. This guarantee was also hit, making it a great day for online poker tournament players around the world.

PokerStars Turbo Series 108: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max PKO High Roller

Russia��s ��needdollarz�� walked away with a $239,695 prize after taking down the PokerStars Turbo Series 108: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max PKO High Roller event, a tournament that saw 160 players battle it out for glory. Twenty-seven reentries made for 187 entries total.

Nobody at the final table won less than $16,554 when bounties were taken into consideration, the prize awarded to ��GamadGADOL�� of Malta who busted in ninth-place.

Two British players followed GamadGADOL to the rail, ��despedespi33�� and Magnus ��Giffordonian�� Martin before Finland��s ��WRUUUM�� busted in sixth-place having not won a single bounty along the way.

Bounties were now massive and boosted the remaining players�� prizes. Fifth-place went to ��pvigar�� of Brazil who netted $42,984 in total with fourth-place finisher ��Pokeryugo�� netting a cool $60,692.

Mexico��s ��tanganantor�� finished in third-place for $85,360 and China��s ��huang33�� turned their $5,200 investment into a combined $91,096. The Russian champion secured $92,742 for finishing in first place and also collected $146,953 worth of bounties to win over 2.6 times what the runner-up did.

PokerStars Turbo Series 109: $1,050 NLHE Main Event High

Former EPT London champion Robin ��robinho�� Ylitalo triumphed in the Turbo Series 109: $1,050 NLHE Main Event High to get his hands on an incredible $322,429 after a heads-up deal with fellow Swede ��jamaica_11��.

The final table members were guaranteed $23,015. Someone had to bank the smaller sum, and that person was ��publier�� of the Netherlands, who was joined on the rail by ��Chrobson�� of Poland, ��MrMaximize�� of Canada, and then Griffin ��Flush_Entity�� Benger. Benger busted when his ace-eight ran into the suited ace-ten of Ylitalo.

Argentina��s Cristian ��progre69�� Sampaoli was the next player to fall, his elimination locking up a six-figure score for the remaining four players.

Canada��s ��carl_nash13�� busted in fourth-place for $125,050 with third-place and $175,426 going to Belgium��s ��Pontois2012��, which left Yliatlo and jamiaca_11 to lock horns heads-up for the title.

The Swedish duo struck a deal that left $40,000 on the table, and this extra money went to Ylitalo when he flopped trip nines and value bet all streets and was called all the way by jamiaca_11��s pocket queens.

partypoker KO Series #74-SHR: $1M Gtd 8-Max

The partypoker KO Series #74-SHR: $1M Gtd 8-Max hit its ambitious guarantee when 206 players bought in for $5,200 to create a $1,050,000 prize pool.

The lion��s share of this impressive sum is now nestled in the partypoker account of Sweden��s ��STORTjavlaGL�� who emerged victorious in the early hours of Feb. 18 with a massive prize worth a total of $193,935.

��PokerBrothersTM�� of Belarus was the tournament��s runner-up and the only other player to secure a six-figure payout, namely $109,982.

Earlier at the final table, Finnish superstars Lars ��LarsLuzak1�� Luzak crashed out of the tournament in sixth-place for a combined score of $35,247 with Canadian high stakes guru ��TIMEXCNT�� busting in fifth-place for $61,060 in total.

partypoker KO Series #74-HR: $500K Gtd 8-Max

Another big KO Series event was the KO Series #74-HR: $500K Gtd 8-Max that saw 1,154 players exchange $530 for the chance of glory and a huge cash prize.

The champion was none other than ��marjanko89�� of Ukraine who got their hands on the $38,828 first-place prize and an additional $37,278 worth of bounty payments. That bounty payment included the scalp of runner-up ��GRRRIZZZLY�� of Belarus who was the tournament��s bridesmaid, a finish worth a combined $54,293 when bounties were taken into consideration.

All but one of the players at the eighth-handed final table won a five-figure score, eighth-place finisher ��hasleloren�� of Sweden was the only one not to; he or she banked $4,761.

888poker $100,000 RakeLESS Sunday Mega Deep

There was a great rags to riches story in the 888poker $100,000 RakeLESS Sunday Mega Deep event as the eventual champion won their place in the $200 buy-in tournament from a $22 buy-in satellite.

Latvia��s Rihards ��Rihard4a�� Dobelis turned that $22 satellite victory into a cool $27,669 by outlasting 731-opponents.

Rihard4a found themselves heads-up against ��kudesnik2012�� of Belarus to lock up the top prize. The Belarusian had to make do with a $20,276 consolation prize when they fell in second-place.

��SkallPer58�� of Sweden and ��OneH1tWodner�� of Austria busted in third and fourth-place respectively to bank $14,932 and $11,272, the only other players to turn their $200 investment into a five-figure score.

888poker $100,000 RakeLESS Sunday Main Event

Russian grinder ��CalmRevolver�� was crowned the 888poker $100,000 RakeLESS Sunday Main Event champion, with first-place worth a cool $21,646. No rake was charged on this $300 buy-in tournament, and no reentries were allowed, making it a big freezeout competition that was hard fought throughout.

The top three finishers turned their $300 into five-figures. The champion banked $21,646, with Russian runner-up ��krakadiller�� walking away with $16,074 to console themselves with. Third-place was worth $11,844 and that went to ��kiskutya23��.

CalmRevolver has a solid record at 888poker having won the $100,000 Mega Deep and an XL Eclipse title previously.

Natural8 Sunday Blade $10K

Natural8 had two massive events this week, one of them being a $10,000 buy-in affair that attracted a field of 31 runners, creating a $300,000 prize pool.

Lithuania��s Laurynas ��LaurisL91�� Levinskas was crowned champion, a finish with a massive $135,177 score after he defeated ��DownswingPete�� heads-up for the title. The British runner-up won $83,079 for their second-place finish, although they did fire three bullets at the tournament.

Both the third-place and fourth-place finishers fired two bullets each, too. ��Pihler13�� of Ukraine finished in third place for $51,060 with ��carsonweltz�� collecting $31,381 when they busted in fourth-place.

Natural8 Sunday Blade $5K

Natural8��s Blade $5K saw 41 entries of $5,000 each and a $200,000 prize pool that was shared among the top five finishers.

After bursting the bubble in the $10K, ��B3ndTheKnee�� of Canada reached the money in the $5k, falling in fifth-place for $12,571. They were joined on the sidelines by ��MiMosa1�� of Finland who collected $19,972 then by ��HE22�� of Mexico whose third-place finish locked up $31,730.

Heads-up saw ��ImLividBuddy�� of Costa Rica and ��HogFish333�� of Colombia fight for an $85,316 top prize, and it was the latter who got their hands on this huge sum, resigning ImLividBuddy to the $50,409 runner-up prize.

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