The Sunday Briefing: Jonathan Karamalikis Falls Short of Sunday Million Final Table

Mickey Doft Live Reporter

Jan 16, 2012 4 min read

The 2012 Aussie Millions is officially under way, but that didn't stop one of Australia's best young players from making a deep run on the virtual felts this weekend. Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis came close to reaching his second career final table of the PokerStars Sunday Million, but his run ended just shy of the nine-handed final. Meanwhile, "Ticiz" of the Netherlands took down the lone $200K-plus score of the day.

PokerStars Sunday Million ($1M Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+$15	7,379	$1,475,800

Falling just short of the Sunday Million final table this week was Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis. With 14 players left, a short-stacked Karamalikis shoved his eight-big-blind stack into the middle with 7?5? on the button and was called by "GreenChe" in the big blind with A?8?. The 6?5?3? flop put Karamalikis in the lead, but the turn was a cruel A? to not only give his opponent the lead, but take away some of Karamalikis' outs, too. The 3? river resulted in a 14th place finish for Karamalikis.

As for the final table itself, "Ticiz" began fourth in chips and outlasted the rest. After making a heads-up deal with "roosi88", "Ticiz" battled back from nearly a 2-to-1 starting chip disadvantage to secure the win. The final hand was a flip, with "Ticiz" holding 5?5? to "roosi88's" A?9?. However, the board ran out 8?3?2?J?2? to secure the victory for "Ticiz."

To read more about this week's Sunday Million, head over to PokerStarsBlog.com

Place	Player	Prize
*1	Ticiz	$200,960.99
*2	roosi88	$183,298.27
3	nordlending	$118,064
4	Stunts25	$78,217.40
5	Spencer "UH Big Tex" Hudson	$60,507.80
6	insanocut	$45,749.80
7	BlackMisi	$31,729.70
8	Freund Nase	$17,709.60
9	GM_VALTER	$11,437.45

*denotes heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis (14th - $6,124.57), Dan "dan82mur" Murariu (22nd - $3,438.61), Mike "munchenHB" Telker (41st - $2,774.50), Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll (44th - $2,774.50)

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+$15	3,670	$734,000

"MikiOpasniy" entered the final table as the chip leader and eliminated three players on the path to heads-up play. With about a 2-1 chip lead at the start of the heads-up battle with "FinancialPOK", "MikiOpasniy" further extended it before closing the deal. With A?10?, "FinancialPOK" got it in good against the A?9? tabled by "MikiOpasniy", but the board fell 9?5?5?6?3? to give "MikiOpasniy" the outright win.

To read more about this week's Sunday Warm-Up, check out PokerStarsBlog.com

Place	Player	Prize
1	MikiOpasniy	$115,238
2	FinancialPOK	$85,878
3	LiroLa	$60,555
4	DelarPNZ	$42,205
5	David "Dick_Fosbury" Labchuck	$31,195
6	PIUlimeira	$23,855
7	KVB59	$16,515
8	PatrickCs	$9,175
9	ZISIMO7	$5,872

Notable Finishes: Mark "eppy12588" Epstein (58th - $1,321.20)

PokerStars Sunday 500 ($250K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$500+$30	812	$406,000

The Sunday 500 attracted 812 players �� 44 more than last week �� to generate a prize pool of $406,000. "PSMozak" took it down for $73,080.

Place	Player	Prize
1	PSMozak	$73,080
2	Crisper	$52,780
3	StrungOut1	$39,382
4	trionojnika	$29,435
5	glhf99	$20,462.40
6	vbjishfij	$16,402.40
7	Betudontbet	$12,342.40
8	m.cerqueira	$8,323
9	Orkyd	$5,075

Notable Finishes: Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll (15th - $3,451), James "jcamby33" Campbell (18th - $2,639), Russell "rdcrsn" Carson (21st - $1,867.60), Mike "Timex" McDonald (22nd - $1,867.60)

PokerStars Bigger $55 ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$50+$5	6,207	$310,350

The Bigger $55 drew an impressive 6,207 entrants to crush its $200K guaranteed prize pool. After a four-handed deal, "gittermaster" captured the victory.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	gittermaster	$28,467.28
*2	idvalentina	$30,826.04
*3	Lexi4Bet	$35,693.13
*4	Rennschne925	$29,033.71
5	MVCAR1	$13,034.70
6	yety23	$9,931.20
7	vikkyG85	$6,827.70
8	roarrr1226	$3,724.20
9	winandm	$2,405.21

*denotes four-handed deal

PokerStars Bigger $109 ($100K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+$9	3,020	$302,000

Despite a slight drop in the Bigger $109 field this week, the tournament still generated a prize pool of $302,000. A heads-up deal took place and "mimulenium" came out on top to collect $40,000.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	mimulenium	$40,000
*2	Spraggs	$44,409
3	Artem205	$25,066
4	Marwetz	$16,912
5	Dan "dan82mur" Murariu	$13,892
6	mrAndreeew	$10,872
7	partanet1	$7,852
8	KingOfFilth	$5,436
9	Jonny 4 Hand	$3,291.80

*denotes heads-up deal

PokerStars Bigger $162 ($100K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$150+$12	1,568	$235,200

Mike "Timex" McDonald headlined the final table of the Bigger $162 on Sunday. After McDonald's exit in ninth place, "chopi7" went on to win the event outright for $42,336.

Place	Player	Prize
1	chopi7	$42,336
2	hustla16	$30,576
3	WaGe N Warz	$23,520
4	flysohigh87	$17,640
5	kusskuss21	$12,348
6	Donky McTard	$9,996
7	joaombrito	$7,644
8	Prugi	$5,292
9	Mike "Timex" McDonald	$3,292.80

Notable Finishes: Owen "ocrowe" Crowe (22nd - $823.20), Stefan "random_chu" Chew (25th - $823.20)

PokerStars Sunday 2nd Chance ($125K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$200+$15	1,274	$254,800

"Fratur0" topped the field outright in the Sunday 2nd Chance, besting a final table that included Dylan ��ImaLucSac�� Linde and Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Fratur0	$44,539.04
2	HoesMobil	$32,359.60
3	Dylan ��ImaLucSac�� Linde	$24,206
4	George2Loose	$18,090.80
5	Mackkapackka	$12,740
6	tua133	$10,192
7	dollar5050	$7,644
8	ToxToxTox	$5,096
9	Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan	$2,930.20

Notable Finishes: Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc (28th - $942.76)

PokerStars $109 Sunday Rebuy ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+$9	1,002	$326,000

As usual, the $109 Sunday rebuy final table was loaded with big names. After Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler exited in third place, a heads-up deal was worked out and "OMGitshunt" took down the tournament for more than $56,000.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	OMGitshunt	$56,702.99
*2	WhiteRabbito	$47,291.91
3	Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler	$32,600
4	Patrick "pmahoney22" Mahoney	$24,450
5	Alex21reg	$17,115
6	Mrsgardener	$13,855
7	aabas	$10,595
8	Steve "mcnallyville" McNally	$7,335
9	shevilak	$4,564

*denotes heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Michael "YrrsiNN" Huber (17th - $2,119)

PokerStars Sunday Storm ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$10+$1	38,240	$382,400

For the third consecutive week, no deal was made at the final table Sunday Storm. "No.A112" was the big winner this week, earning the title and $31,021.66.

Place	Player	Prize
1	No.A112	$31,021.66
2	telascambio	$21,414.40
3	Gr1LLz	$14,148.80
4	MBARRATTI108	$10,569.53
5	pavcoco	$7,227.36
6	umatoviy	$4,646.16
7	yaka990	$3,250.40
8	nordan	$2,217.92
9	maarjaara	$1,625.20

PokerStars Sunday Kickoff ($75K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+$9	1,587	$158,700

The Sunday Kickoff saw a slight bump in attendance over last week as 48 more players registered. After a three-handed deal, "AA DOCTOR" emerged with the win.

Place	Player	Prize
*1	AA DOCTOR	$18,275.96
*2	supergorter	$18,439
*3	gregt18	$22,647
4	bertulsons	$10,632.90
5	mddgfc	$7,538.25
6	jack17_at	$5,951.25
7	Bryn "BrynKenney" Kenney	$4,364.25
8	mitata27	$2,777.25
9	OkelaPoka	$1,587