Sunday Briefing: Bulgarians Win Big On June. 9, Ivan Luca Wins High Roller

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Jun 10, 2019 6 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Bulgaria has produced some fantastic poker players over the years including Dimitar Danchev, Simeon Naydenov, and Ognyan Dimov, but it was a trio of relative unknowns who stole the limelight in the online arena on Jun.9, winning events at Natural8, partypoker, and PokerStars.

$109 Sunday Million PokerStars

The PokerStars Sunday Million smashed through its $1 million guarantee only a week after overlaying for the first time since the switch to a $109 buy-in. A field of 11,863 created a prize pool of $1,186,300 that was shared across the top 2,150 finishers.

��U_MoeFugger�� of the United Kingdom busted from the final table first, their ninth-place banking them $9,190. Everyone else at the nine handed final table won at least a five-figure prize.

��DanielLUCKY�� of Sweden, Mexico-based Brit Stephen ��woody1234321�� Woodhead, and ��Kennethmedh�� were the next players to fall, walking away with prizes of $12,664, $17,451, and $24,047 respectively.

Then Toth ��SlyderS�� Bela crashed out in fourth place for a $33,136 haul and was joined on the rail by ��Dil.rus56�� of Russia who turned their $109 into an impressive $45,661.

The remaining three players struck a deal for the remaining prize pool that left an additional $20,000 for the eventual champion. Romania��s ��platin32�� fell in third place for $75,784 to leave ��5 banki�� of Croatia and Bulgaria��s ��Ifkata�� to battle heads-up for an additional $20,000.

It was the Bulgarian who emerged victorious, scooping a cool $109,996 with the Croatian walking away with a still welcomed $84,327.

*reflects a three-way deal

Sunday $2,100 High Roller at PokerStars

A compact field of 69 entries competed in this week��s $2,100 Sunday High Roller and they were all outlasted by the Argentinian superstar known as Ivan ��Negriin�� Luca. Luca came out on top after a heads-up battle with Sweden��s Johannes ��Greenstone25�� Korsar.

Luca got his hands on the $37,247 top prize and resigned Korsar to a $28,315 consolation prize.

Earlier at the final table, Polish pro ��Sphinx87�� busted in eighth place for a $5,464 to their bankroll before Claas ��SsicK_OnE�� Segebrecht ran out of steam in seventh place for a $7,188 prize.

Down to six, ��ROFLshove�� busted from their home in Mexico for $9,456 and was the last player not to win a five-figure prize. $12.439 and fifth pace went to high stakes guru Thomas ��WushuTM ��Muehloecker before Preben ��prebz�� Stokkan claimed the $16,363 fourth place prize.

Germany��s ��skippy109461�� turned their second bullet into a $21,525 score and a third-place finish before Luca sent Korsar to the rail in second place to lock up yet another major online title.

Monster Series #32-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event partypoker

The Monster Series #32-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event partypoker may have only cost $55 to enter but thanks to 4,469 players buying in the prize pool weighed in at $217,545.

Six-hundred places were paid and the least anyone would take home by the time the final table was reached, was $2,064. This is the sum collected by Austria��s ��JOKEbekr.�� The Austrian was joined on the sidelines by ��Tier999111�� before a brace of players from the UK. ��Lasvegasss99�� and ��DiscoPanda8�� lost their stack, the latter scooping $6,689.

Fourth place and $9,732 went to ��ZECAA�� of Brazil before another Brazilian in ��Biro888�� fell by the wayside; third-place was worth $14,945, a great return on $55.

Heads-up saw ��ssn68�� of Russia and Bulgaria��s ��wasTheWalrus�� lock horns heads-up for the title and the lion��s share of the prize pool. It was a fight the Bulgarian won, meaning they locked up the $33,363 top prize, leaving the runner-up to win $23,288.

Monster Series #33-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event PKO at partypoker

The Monster Series #33-H: $200K Gtd Championship Event was a PKO event and some of the bounty payments were quite substantial, leading to large overall prizes.

It was ��anton733555�� who banked the largest prize after topping a field of 4,441 entries. First place netted the Russian $13,263 from the main prize pool and $9,890 worth of bounty payments, including that on the head of runner-up ��raauber�� of Brazil whose second-place finish was worth a combined $17,339.

Each of the eight finalists won more than $1,700 when bounties were taken into consideration. ��Ximilian�� was the eighth-place finisher and they were joined in the role of spectator by ��Soupstyles�� of Colombia, Canada��s ��accountantsrule�� and ��NinjaGhost88�� who calls Sweden home and who banked $4,391 in total.

Fourth place went to ��Lakrime99�� of Ukraine who won $6,124 in total before Dejan ��hellomybabies�� Kaladjurdjevic from Montenegro grabbed the $10,120 third place prize, setting up a heads-up clash between ��raauber�� and ��anton733555��. The latter busted their final opponent and become a Monster Series champion.

$20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker

A field of 257 entries ensured the $20,000 Sunday Challenge hit it��s guarantee again this week, awarding $25,700 to the top 27 finishers.

All but two of the final table won a four-figure prize, with the UK��s Richard ��ChipsFool�� Hoadley being the first player to do so, securing a $1,028 payout for their seventh-place finish. Ukraine��s ��psyhogromor�� fell in sixth for $1,285 and ��DePittserje�� busted one place later and netted $1,542.

Fourth place went to Estonia��s ��No1Est�� for $2,248 with the penultimate bust out being that of ��salamerancio�� who walked away with $3,019. The tournament ended in a heads-up chip between Lithuania��s ��gambler0602�� and ��Murchello384�� of Russia. This deal saw the Russia top the leaderboard and win $4,820 with the runner-up taking $4,688.

*reflects a heads-up deal.

$100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker

The $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep may have missed its $100,000 guarantee but that didn��t bother ��s4f3tyc4r�� who topped a field of 464 entries to get their hands on a cool $19,350 for their $215 buy-in.

Nobody won less than $1,750 from this event with three players securing a payout of five-figures. The champion was one of that trio, as was runner-up ��Steusalz�� of Germany whose second-place finish was worth $14,500. Third-placed ��mike_dolph�� saw $11,000 deposited into their 888poker account.

The fourth-place finisher ��DvaBe�� locked up $8,250, which is still a substantial return on $215 and a few hour��s grinding.

Shout-outs also to ��Nemesis_25��, ��CPU0r��, ��r4ndomr4gs��, ��SteveyBG�� and ��drowzee1�� who navigated their way to the nine-handed final table before busting out in fifth through ninth respectively.

Sunday High Roller 1K at Natural8

The GG network scrapped its Sunday Blade $5K and $10K events this week, presumably because the majority of its high rollers are in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. They still ran a $1,000 buy-in event though and it attracted a 41-strong field.

Bulgaria��s ��fizoka�� was the last player standing and that meant they won the $16,714 first place prize.

Only five players received a payout. ��ME BOII�� was the first player to cash, winning $2,479 and they were followed to the rail by ��NegroBlanco�� of Canada who netted $3,995 then by China��s ��KaiHuang�� who banked $6,437.

The runner-up was ��Joeri_van_Heeten�� who took $10,373 back to the Netherlands.

Sunday Blade $200 Special at Natural8

The Sunday Blade $200 Special saw 331 players buy in and create a $60,904 prize pool that was shared among the top 47 finishers.

That $200 investment became $963 for ��jusuisallin�� when they were the first casualty of the nine-handed final table. Everyone else won at least $1,311 with ��loko88�� of Israel busting in eighth place.

They were joined on the busted list by Canada��s ��Resolve��, ��ms131�� of the Czech Republic, ��airlinesaa�� of China and ��ALLisMine1�� from the Ukraine, the latter winning $4,500.

Third-place went to ��The Future�� of Greece who won $6,125, leaving Sergei ��Johnsonsb4be�� Krasnojon and Canada��s Doug ��HeyMomSend$�� Lang to play one-on-one for the title. Lang no longer needs his mom to send dollars because he banked $9,899 after striking a deal that saw the second place finisher win $9,785.

^{* reflects a heads-up deal}

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