The $1,050 Big Blowout Ends in a Three-Way Chop

PokerStars‘ $60 million guaranteed Blowout Series concluded this weekend with the $1,050 Big Blowout. The event featured a $5 million guaranteed prize pool but 6,922 entrants created a $6,922,000 prize pool.

Only the top 975 finishers returned home with prize money to show for their efforts so spare a thought for Brazil’s “Breno2728” who crashed out in 976th place to burst the money bubble.

Each in-the-money players locked up no less than $2,264 in cash. This increased to $57,840 by the time the $1,050 Big Blowout reached its nine-handed final table.

The $1,050 Big Blowout Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	“arbaarba”	Lithuania	$739,976*
2	Fernando “fviana” Viana	Brazil	$771,416*
3	Lonnie “thx4urm0n3y” Hallett	Canada	$646,189*
4	“milanov888”	Bulgaria	$339,831
5	Vlad “dariepoker” Darie	Romania	$238,483
6	Eike “Mr. Havener” Onodera	Brazil	$167,361
7	“adkaf”	Austria	$117,448
8	“xMFPx”	United Kingdom	$82,422
9	“Gordon_dReid”	Canada	$57,841

*reflects a three-way deal

“Gordon_dReid” entered the final table as the short stack and was the first player to bust. He was down to 7.8 big blinds when he open-shoved with Ac-As from the hijack. “arbaarba” called with Tc-Td in the cutoff before flopping a set, which bust the first player of the evening.

Eighth place went to “xMFPx” of the United Kingdom shortly after the first elimination. Fernando “fviana” Viana min-raised to 1,200,000 before xMFPx three-bet to 3,600,000, leaving himself only 241,512 chips behind. Viana set him all-in for those chips and was called. Viana showed Ad-Kc which remained best against his opponent’s dominated As-Jc.

The first six-figure prize of the $1,050 Big Blowout event went to “adkaf” of Austria. Winning coinflips is crucial to success in tournament poker; adkaf couldn’t do that. He min-raised to 1,400,000 with Qc-Qd and arbaarba three-bet from the small blind. His three-bet was enough to set the big blind and adkaf all-in. Vlad “dariepoker” Darie folded his big blind but adkaf called to discover he was flipping against Ac-Ks. The flop was safe for adkaf but a king on the turn resigned him to a seventh-place finish. This finish rewarded adkaf with $117,448.

Only Six Players Remain in The Hunt For $983,291

The finalists received a little more elbow room when Eike “Mr. Havener” Onodera busted in sixth-place. Onodera committed his last 12 big blinds with Qd-Js and eventually found himself up against the Ad-Jh of “milanov888”. Two aces flopped to leave Onodera drawing dead in the $1,050 Big Blowout event.

Fifth place and $238,483 went to Darie, a very talented Romanian online poker player. Even the very best need chips to succeed and Darie was down to 7.7 big blinds before he busted. Darie moved all-in from the small blind with Qs-8h. Viana called with Ah-2d and won the pot when the board ran 2c-7c-6c-3c-9s.

Milanov888 may have pulled in Onodera’s stack earlier, but he didn’t put those chips to good use. Arbaarba min-raised to 2,000,000 on the button, Viana called in the small blind before milanov888 ripped it in for 10,703,480. The initial opened ducked out of the way but Viana called. It was 3c-3d for Viana and Ah-Jd for milanov888. The 4h-3s-Jh flop left milanov888 drawing to running hearts. The 6d turn meant he was now drawing dead.

Deal Struck: $50,000 Left For The Champion

The three remaining players struck a deal based on ICM and left $50,000 more for the eventual champion.

Three-handed play lasted an hour, ending with the exit of Lonnie “thx4urm0n3y” Hallett. Hallett lost all but four big blinds in a clash with arbaarba only moments before their exit. That micro stack went into the middle with Qd-Jd and Viana called with As-4h. A final board reading 2s-Kc-Kh-Ks-Td was enough to send Hallett home in third.

Arbaarba held a monster-sized chip lead over Viana going into heads-up. Their 141,369,108 stack dwarfed the 31,680,892 of Viana. It only took two hands to settle matters.

A raise to 2,400,000 by arbaarba with 7h-7c was three-bet to 7,211,111 by Viana holding Ac-9c. arbaarba responded with a four-bet shove and Viana called off their 32,880,892 stack. A seven on the flop of the Kd-7s-Js-Ad-3h board was more than enough to seal the deal for arbaarba.

Viana, while disappointed not to win, came away with $771,416. The winner won a similar sum, namely $739,976 and the title of $1,050 Big Blowout Champion.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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