The Road to 100 Billion hands took over eleven years and tonight marked the final leg of our massive celebration. Nothing says celebration like free money and to keep the party going, PokerStars gave away seven figures in today's $1M Ultimate Freeroll.
This was no ordinary freeroll. In order to gain entry players either had to deposit $50 or more using the bonus code "ULTIMATE" or finish in the top 50 spots in one of 100 trivia freerolls. And even to get into those freerolls, you had to correctly answer a trivia question about PokerStars's history.
When the doors closed on late registration, the field stood at 50,163 players and a remarkable 39,499 of them (78.7%!) would leave with at least a little pocket change for their time on the felt. Making the top 100 was good for $1,050, a trip to the final table guaranteed $3,000 and $50,000 was set aside for first place.
Within the first hour of play, the field thinned to 16,000 and by the end of the fifth hour, only 51 remained. A scant forty minutes later, the field was down to ten, play going hand for hand on the final table bubble. Blinds were up to 500,000/1,000,000, the average stack only 7.5 BB. Holding only 1.57 million, spacely517 had nearly three-fourths of his stack committed in the big blind when glhftywp made a min-raise to 2,000,000 from the small blind. Spacely517 called all-in, his [Qd][6h] leading glhftywp's [3s][Ts]. That changed in a hurry on the [Td][6s][2s] flop as glhftywp flopped top pair and a flush draw. The flush came in on the turn with the [As] and spacely517 ended his run in tenth place, sending us to the final table.
Final table chip counts
Seat 1: 7stol21 (5,071,865 in chips)
Seat 2: glhftywp (10,644,879 in chips)
Seat 3: Econometrist (17,165,647 in chips)
Seat 4: konn999 (20,854,990 in chips)
Seat 5: Newb Guy (7,429,217 in chips)
Seat 6: farrokh674 (6,162,975 in chips)
Seat 7: RRizdevigais (1,397,060 in chips)
Seat 8: sminkstylo (3,310,186 in chips)
Seat 9: Jukka862 (3,207,681 in chips)
Four hands, two KOs
Sminkstylo didn't waste a moment before getting his chips in the middle, open-shoving for 3.2 million from UTG+1 on the first hand of the final table. Konn999 three-bet to 7 million and revealed [Ts][Tc] to sminkstylo's [7h][8h]. Sminkstylo picked up an open-ended straight draw on the [9s][7d][6s] flop but could not fill it, the [4d] and the [3c] falling to eliminate him in ninth place ($3,000).
On the next deal, RRizdevigais doubled to 3.8 million when his [Ah][3h] turned an ace against 7stol21's pocket tens. 7stol21 was left on only 3.52 million, but bolstered his stack on Hand #4 when Jukka862 open-shoved for 1.45 million from the small blind. 7stol21 called from the big and his [Jh][Js] held up against Jukka862's [Jd][6c] to send him home in eighth ($4,000).
glhftywp nabs Newb Guy, Econometrist rocks RRizdevigaise
Newb Guy waited until Hand #12 to make a move, open-shoving for 9.22 million from UTG+1. Unfortunately, Newb Guy's steal attempt with [9h][7h] ran right into glhftywp's [Ah][Ks], the board running out [Qs][4c][3s][6h][Kh] to eliminate him in seventh place ($5,250).
The next hand saw farrokh674 open-shove for 6 million from UTG and glhftywp call on the button with [5h][5c]. Farrokh674 flipped over [As][Ac] and doubled to 14.7 million, cutting glhftywp's stack to 18.1 million.
RRizdevigais continued the pattern on the next hand, open-shvoing for 2.41 million from UTG. Econometrist reshoved from the button and farrokh674 open-folded [Ah][7c] in the big blind. Econometrist's [Kd][Kc] held up against [Qd][Jh] and RRizdevigaise exited in sixth place, earning $6,500.
Five-handed deal a no-go
As the final five discussed pausing the action to run numbers for a potential deal, 7stol21 gave his equity a boost, doubling to 7.25 million through farrokh672 with [Jh][8c] against [3s][5h]. When everyone finally clicked the button and the action paused, the chip counts looked like this:
konn999 - 23,390,176
glhftywp - 16,192,657
farrokh674 - 15,373,856
Econometrist - 13,909,767
7stol21 - 6,378,044
Blinds 700,000/1,400,000
As the first set of chip-count chop numbers came down, fourth-in-chips Econometrist declared that he wouldn't deal for less than second-place money ($30,000), close to $8,000 more than his proposed share. Short stack 7stol21 also expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed payouts and with a unanimous agreement miles away, cards went back in the air.
On the first hand back, chip leader konn999 opened for a 2.8 million min-raise and Econometrist shoved from the big blind. Konn999 called, his [6h][6d] in dire shape against Econometrist's [Ts][Th]. Econometrist kept the lead on the [As][Jc][8c] flop, but saw his double-up slip away when the [6c] spiked on the turn, making konn999 a set. The cruel beat sent Econometrist to the rail in fifth place ($8,000).
7stol21 open-shoved for 6.02 million from UTG on the next hand and farrokh674 called out of the big blind. Farrokh674's [Ks][Th] had 7stol21's [9s][Ts] dominated and it stayed that way on the [Ah][Jc][Td] flop. The turn was the [3d], but the [9h] fell on the river to save 7stol21's tournament life with two pair.
Ready for Round Two?
With 7stol21 still in the running, it was time for Round Two in the deal negotiations. Here's how the final four stacked up when the action was paused a second time:
konn999 - 37,449,943
glhftywp - 14,942,657
7stol21 - 14,856,088
farrokh674 - 7,995,812
Clearly wounded from that last beat, farrokh674 felt it was only fair that he got at least as much as he was offered in the last round of negotiations, despite his poorer chip position.
farrokh674: i hope i get at least 23k from last deal that would be fair
glhftywp: dont forget left something for 1st place :)
farrokh674: you guys be nice and give me the 23k from last deal i deserve it after that ugly 9 river
A chip count chop leaving $1,000 in play for the winner awarded the following payouts:
HostJosephP (Administrator): konn999:$44,342.00
HostJosephP (Administrator): glhftywp:$23,702.57
HostJosephP (Administrator): 7stol21:$23,623.19
HostJosephP (Administrator): farrokh674:$17,332.24
HostJosephP (Administrator): Left To Play for place 1: $1,000.00
Farrokh674 wanted at least $20,000. Desperate to close the deal, konn999 offered him $3,000 out of his share only to have 7stol21 pipe up, declaring he wanted at least $27,000. The Bank of konn999 declared he would not accept any withdrawals that took his balance below $40,000, and 7stol21 relented, saying he'd close the deal if konn999 gave up $1,342. Konn999 agreed to it, but suddenly glhftywp interjected, saying if 7stol21 was going to walk away with $25,000, well he'd better get $25,000 too. Just as the deal was about to implode on itself, farrokh674 suggested splitting the remaining $110k in the prize pool 40k-25k-25k-20k. There wouldn't be anything left to play for, but everyone's demands would be met. Everyone agreed to this plan and with only the title and the glory up for grabs, cards went back in the air.
7stol21 takes the chip lead
On the first hand back, konn999 open-shoved for 37.2 million with [Ts][9s]. Farrokh674 called all-in for 7.8 million with [Js][2c] and 7stol21 called off his last 13.85 million, turning up the best hand with [Kd][Qh]. 7stol21 flopped a pair of kings and took down the 25.7 million main pot and the 13.7 million side pot, eliminating farrokh674 in fourth place ($20,000).
Konn999 was left with 22.5 million and called glhftywp's 12.9 million shove on the next hand. Konn999's [As][3s] held up against [Kc][Js] and glhftywp departed in third place ($25,000).
Heads-up chip counts
Seat 1: 7stol21 (39,307,988 in chips)
Seat 4: konn999 (35,936,512 in chips)
Konn999 won a couple of small pots to move up to 40.5 million, but 7stol21 stormed back when his [Kh][Jc] held up against [4h][6s] in a 69.4 million pot:
That hand left konn999 with only 5.8 million in chips and depsite one immediate double-up it didn't take look for 7stol21 to lock up the win.
Congratulations to 7stol21 on dodging bullets and emerging as the $1M Ultimate Freeroll champion! He took home $25,000 for the win. However, the lion's share of the prize pool went to runner-up konn999, who banked $40,000 thanks to the four-way deal.
PokerStars Road to 100 Billion $1M Ultimate Freeroll results
Players: 50,163
Prizepool: $1,000,000
Places paid: 39,499
1. 7stol21 (Ukraine) $25,000*
2. konn999 (Estonia) $40,000*
3. glhftywp (Russia) $25,000*
4. farrokh674 (Romana) $20,000*
5. Econometrist (Netherlands) $8,000
6. RRizdevigais (United Kingdom) $6,500
7. Newb Guy (Romania) $5,250
8. Jukka862 (Russia) $4,000
9. sminkstylo (Netherlands) $3,000
* reflects the results of a four-handed deal
Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.