Sunday Briefing: Michael Soyza and Igor Kurganov Secure Titles

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Sep 30, 2019 7 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

It has been a fantastic couple of weeks for Michael ��Michael Soyza�� Soyza over at Natural8. Only last week, Soyza finished third in a $25,000 buy-in GG Series event and banked almost $250,000. This week, he went two places better and became a GG Series champion.

GGS: Blade Turbo $25K

Natural8 must not have been expecting a big crowd in the GGS: Blade Turbo $25K event because it set the guarantee at $150,000. A massive $1,274,000 prize pool was created, however, when 52 entries were processed.

This colossal sum was shared among the top six finishers with Netherlands�� ��Joeri_van_Heeten�� busting in sixth place for a $60,930 prize. The Dutch star was joined on the rail by ��LuckyChewyFan69�� who banked $90,714 and was the last player not to collect a six-figure prize.

The first six-figure haul weight in at $135,056 and was given to ��pihler13�� of Ukraine for their fourth-place exit. The Ukrainian got some company on the sidelines in the form of Hungarian superstar Andras�� PokerBluff1�� Nemeth who turned his $25,000 investment into $201,075.

This set up a heads-up clash between the UK��s ��StacknNvrSlackn�� and Soyza. The difference between first and second place was a massive $187,494, but no deal was struck. This meant Soyza banked a huge $486,858 when he emerged victoriously from the one-on-one battle, leaving the Brit to pad their bankroll with the $299,364 consolation prize.

GGS #476: Blade $200K Gtd

Anther big Natural8 tournament was the $10,000 buy-in GGS #476: Blade $200K Gtd event that saw 38 players compete for a slice of the $368,600 prize pool. It was the Russian ��Chun Lei Zhou�� who got their hands on the largest slice of the pie, namely $113,627 after a heads-up deal with ��pihler13�� of Ukraine. Second place, after the deal, weighed in at $136,516.

Only three other players got their hands on some cash for their $10,000 investment. Michael Soyza busted in fifth-place for $23,169 taking his total winnings past half a million dollars in a single day!

Fourth-place and $36,808 went to Colombia��s ��HogFish333�� before ��brotisserie chicken�� saw their tournament come to an abrupt end in third-place for $58,478, setting up the heads-up clash that ended in a chop.

^{*reflects a heads-up deal}

$2,100 Sunday High Roller at PokerStars

Team PokerStars pro Igor ��IgorKurganov�� Kurganov took down the $2,100 Sunday High Roller this week after navigating his way through an extremely tough final table. Any of the last nine would have been a worthy champion, but it was Kurganov who shone and got his hands on $46,086.

Earlier at the final table, Ole ��wizowizo�� Schemion busted in ninth for $5,579 before ��x_zola25�� of Denmark ran out of luck and had to make do with the $7,264 eighth-place prize. Netherlands�� Jorryt ��TheCleaner11�� van Hoof and Michael ��imluckbox�� Addamo were the next casualties; they collected scores of $9,458 and $12,315 respectively,

The UK��s ��Bonglim�� ran out of steam to bust in fifth place for a $16,035 prize and was joined on the payout table by 888poker ambassador Dominik ��Bounatirou�� Nitsche whose fourth-place finish yielded $20,878.

Ukraine��s Paul ��Remi Lebo-10�� Kolinkovsky was the penultimate elimination of the tournament. They banked $27,184. This left Kurganov and Luke ��Bit2Easy�� Reeves to fight it out for the lion's share of the prize pool. It was a battle Kurganov would ultimately win, leaving Reeves to secure the $35,395 second-place prize.

$109 Sunday Million PKO at PokerStars

This week��s Sunday Million reverted to a progressive knockout tournament, and it proved popular with 14,446 entries turning out in force for it. $1,444,600 was shared half among the top 2,582 finishers and half to each player in the form of a bounty on their heads.

Nobody at the final table won less than $6,097, the prize awarded to ��sound-ks�� of Germany who fell in ninth-place; the prize included bounty payments. Azerbaijan��s ��Rashad 42412�� collected plenty of bounties on their way to an eighth-place finish meaning they banked a total prize worth $14,801. This was slightly larger than the $13,377 won by ��Dancer King�� of Russia.

��Koenig30�� of Denmark and ��Bolko�� of Germany were the next players to fall by the wayside. The former walked away with $18,845 with the latter securing a $21,761 payday.

Portugal's ��P.Borba77�� (playing from Malta) crashed out in fourth-place for $30,687 before ��ispLashcrans�� saw their tournament come to an abrupt end in third-place for a combined $45,256.

Heads-up saw the Portugal's Tom��s "T 54 T 97s" Paiva and Canada��s Steve ��HR_Dub�� Williams lock horns in a battle for the biggest prize. It was the Canadian who emerged from this fight unscathed and with $95,946 in their PokerStars bankroll. The runner-up hauled in $54,232.

Sunday High Roller Gladiator at partypoker

With the KO Series out of the way, partypoker��s usual array of big Sunday tournaments resumed with the Sunday High Roller Gladiator being the pick of the bunch. The $2,100 buy-in PKO event saw exactly 100 players buy in and create a $205,000 prize pool.

��DontDo_IT�� won the most significant prize, a cool $51,639 after defeating ��El_Cucuy�� heads-up for the title. Second-place, with bounties included, was worth $29,897.

The top four players won five-figure prizes. Third-place was worth $15,540 to ��SleevePatrol�� while ��CarpeIscis�� collected $20,014 for their fourth-place exit. The reason for the difference in prize money was the fact CarpePiscis won $10,696 worth of bounty payments, only the champion and runner-up secured more from this prize pool.

Before this happened, ��Venustraphobia�� fell in eighth-place for a combined $7,825. ��Tigerbluff�� scooped $6,926, and high stakes regular ��NewYorkJimmY�� netted $6,951. ��Madgenius111�� walked away with a $9,089 haul after busting from this event in fifth-place.

Sunday Gladiator at partypoker

The $320 edition of the Sunday Gladiator saw a $263,032 prize pool created when 854 players took to the partypoker virtual felt. This far exceeded the $150,000 advertised guarantee.

It was ��nagraniec�� who was crowned champion, first place weighing in at $39,289 when bounties were included. The winner defeated ��Bbbounty�� heads-up for the title, which resigned the runner-up to a $25,710 consolation prize.

Two other players netted five-figure prizes. Third-place finisher ��eze94k�� won $11,730 for their third-place exit, which was padded with $5,533 from the bounty prize pool for a $17,263 total prize. Fourth-place went to ��Kroat..�� whose overall prize weighed in at an impressive $10,544.

$20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker

Over at 888poker, the $20,000 Sunday Challenge broke its guarantee when 259 players turned out and created a $25,900 prize pool. This was shared among the top 27 finishers, with the prize money at the final table starting at $518.

This is the sum awarded to Felipe ��fcbbadotti�� Badotti of Brazil. ��GusKi14�� then won $777 for finishing in eighth, the last player not to collect a prize containing four figures. The first $1,000 plus prize went to ��Mvenger1234�� of Germany, namely $1,036. They were initially joined by ��Magnif1cious�� of Lithuania and then by the UK��s ��jacktar21�� who won $1,295 and $1,554 respectively.

Another German in ��Grozzorg�� collected $2,266 after busting in fourth-place before ��n0sferatv�� of Peru ended their deep run in third place, a finish worth $3,043,

Peru still had a player in the heads-up battle, too. ��Gr34rrrr�� and Belarus�� ��chainsawfish�� were the last standing players, and it was the latter who got their hands on the top prize of $5,568. Second place was not to be sniffed at as it was worth $4,014.

$100,000 Sunday Mega Deep at 888poker

Our last tournament in this week��s Sunday Briefing is the $100,000 Sunday Mega Deep that saw 469 entries fight for a share of the $100,000 prize pool.

It was ��eltxupacabra�� who was the last player standing, raking in the $19,350 top prize and earning the title of champion. They defeated ��Hanvim99�� of the UAE in the heads-up part of the tournament, which resigned the second-place finisher to a $14,500 consolation prize.

Third-place and $11,000, the only other five-figure prize, went to ��JonnyJamz�� of Canada. The Canadian won an XL Eclipse event a couple of weeks ago and continued their impressive form in this tournament.

The nine-handed final table had two legitimate superstars seated at it, both Swedes. Former WSOP Main Event champion and 888poker ambassador Martin ��MJacobson888�� Jacobson was the final table��s first casualty, ninth-place weighing in at $1,750. Fellow Swede Niklas ��tutten7�� Astedt progressed a few places deeper, falling in sixth for $4,400.

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