As this week’s Sunday Million hurtled toward a close, two seasoned opponents went heads-up, each vying for their first major online title. Bazeman11 has over $1 million in MTT cashes on PokerStars including multiple $109+R wins while Sean “wormnorton” Getzwiller won WSOP gold in 2011, outlasting a field of 4,178 players to earn over $611k in the $1,000 NLHE “Stimulus Special.” Wormnorton entered the final table as the chip leader and although Bazeman11 made a late-game surge to get heads-up for the title, wormnorton prevailed and won his first Sunday Million, scoring over $232,000.

7,748 players joined this week’s Sunday Million field, their $215 buy-ins combining to create a $1,549,600 prize pool. 1,170 places were paid with $232,443.87 set aside for first place. The Red Spade contingent was twenty-two strong, including Team Pros Victor Ramdin, Angel Guillen, George Danzer, Marcel Luske, Andre Akkai, Humberto Brenes, and Vanessa Selbst. Three made the money: Joao “jomane” Nunes (937th), Christophe De Meulder (640th), and 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada (257th).

Blinds were up to 125,000/250,000 with ten players remaining and HotzenplOdds was one of the short stacks with only 3.5 million in chips. Dealt 4♠ 4♥ , HotzenplOdds open-shoved from the small blind, but got extremely unlucky to run into wormnorton’s J♣ J♠ in the big. Wormnorton’s pocket jacks turned top set and rivered a flush on the 8♣ 9♣ 10♣ J♥ 5♣ board, ending HotzenplOdds’s run on the final table bubble.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: Buckman88 (9,246,461 in chips)
Seat 2: wormnorton (21,337,556 in chips)
Seat 3: veryking (12,802,880 in chips)
Seat 4: PANAGIOTIS.G (7,344,987 in chips)
Seat 5: Bazeman11 (14,860,382 in chips)
Seat 6: perusfinne (3,289,006 in chips)
Seat 7: Barakiel27 (2,484,702 in chips)
Seat 8: yeres (1,911,624 in chips)
Seat 9: FLUSHKE10 (4,202,402 in chips)

Short stacks succumb

Yeres hung on tight for a few orbits, blinding down to only 726,624 before he open-shoved with 6♣ 7♣ on the button. Buckman88 called an additional 396k from the big blind with J♥ 4♣ , and saw his jack-high hold up on the A♥ 5♠ 5♦ 10♣ A♠ board. Yeres was eliminated in ninth place and collected $12,009.40 for his finish.

Three hands later Barakiel27 moved in for his last 1.18 million and veryking reshoved from the small blind to isolate. Although Barakiel27 had the preflop lead with 8♥ 8♠ , veryking’s A♣ 5♦ turned an ace to end Barakiel27’s run in eighth place ($17,820.40).

Perusfinne doubles, wormnorton finishes off FLUSHKE10

Barakiel27’s elimination left perusfinne as the table short stack, with only 2.54 million left at the 200,000/400,000 level. Dealt 8♣ 9♣ in middle position, perusfinne open-shoved and ran into PANAGIOTIS.G’s A♣ K♦ in the big blind. However, perusfinne hit a boffo 9♥ 9♦ 6♦ flop to take the lead with trip nines. The turn was the J♥ and the river a too-little-too-late K♠ , giving perusfinne a double-up to 5.56 million.

Three hands later, chip leader wormnorton opened for a min-raise to 800,000 and FLUSHKE10 three-bet shoved for 3.78 million from the small blind with K♥ Q♥ . Wormnorton called with pocket eights and hit a set on the K♣ 8♠ 9♠ flop. FLUSHKE10 did not catch up, the turn and river falling the 6♥ and the 3♦ to eliminate him in seventh place ($30,992).

Buckman88 busts perusfinne, PANAGIOTIS.G can’t escape domination

Two hands after that, PANAGIOTIS.G doubled to 4.92 million when his K♣ 10♣ flopped a ten vs. Bazeman11’s pocket sixes. Moments later, PANAGIOTIS.G did it again, this time with A♥ Q♣ flopping a queen against Bazeman11’s 8♦ 8♠ . PANAGIOTIS.G moved up to 11.5 million while Bazeman11 fell to 18.3 million.

Perusfinne was back on the short stack with 3.96 million and open-shoved on the button with Q♠ 2♠ . Buckman88 successfully isolated from the small blind and revealed A♠ 5♦ . Buckman88’s ace-high made aces up on the turn, the board running out 8♥ 9♣ 8♦ A♦ J♠ to send perusfinne home in sixth place ($46,488.00).

With the blinds up to 250,000/500,000, wormnorton made a min-raise to 1,000,000 and PANAGIOTIS.G three-bet shoved for 7.38 million from the small blind. Wormnorton called, his A♠ K♥ dominating PANAGIOTIS.G’s A♣ 9♥ . Wormnorton’s hand held up on the Q♦ 5♥ 2♥ 6♠ 8♠ board and PANAGIOTIS.G hit the rail in fifth place, good for $61,984.00

Bazeman11 traps Buckman88

Bazeman11 scored a coup when Buckman88 opened for 1.95 million from UTG and he looked down at pocket kings. Bazeman11 three-bet to 3.75 million, Buckman88 shoved for 15.5 million and Bazeman11 called off his remaining 8.05 million. Bazeman11 flopped top set vs. Buckman88’s A♠ 9♣ , the board running out K♠ 7♥ 6♥ Q♦ 4♦ . Bazeman11 doubled to 24 million, good for second in chips, while Buckman88 fell to only 3.73 million.

Five hands later, Bazeman11 limped in from the small blind and Buckman88 moved all-in from the big. Bazeman11 snap-called with A♠ A♣ , while Buckman88 turned up Q♥ J♥ . Bazeman11’s A♠ A♣ held up on the K♥ 9♣ 9♦ flop and while Buckman88 picked up a flush draw when the 3♥ turned, he couldn’t find another heart on the river. Buckman44 was out in fourth place, taking home $78,099.84.

veryking dethroned

As play turned three-handed, wormnorton still lead with 40.6 million, Bazeman11 was second with 27.4 million and veryking was the short stack with 9.4 million.

With the blinds up to 300,000/600,000, veryking opened for 1.2 million on the button and wormnorton called from the big blind. Wormnorton checked the J♣ 9♣ 2♦ flop, veryking bet 1,589,000, and wormnorton came over the top for 3,322,000. Veryking shoved and wormnorton called, his J♠ 10♥ dominating veryking’s J♦ 7♦ . Veryking needed to spike his kicker to survive, but didn’t get there, the 5♠ and Q♠ falling to end his run in third place ($116,220.00).

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 2: wormnorton (53,660,474 in chips)
Seat 5: Bazeman11 (23,819,526 in chips)

Wormnorton and Bazeman11 immediately agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Final table host (and Red Spade bounty) Ike Haxton provided them with numbers, leaving the required $20,000 in play. While wormnorton was amenable to the chop, which locked him up a minimum $200,000 payday, Bazeman11 decided he’d rather play it out.

Action resumed and wormnorton chipped away at Bazeman11, the two exchanging small pots until all the money went in on a J♦ 10♠ 2♣ flop. Bazeman11 had second pair with K♠ 10♦ , but was no match for wormnorton’s K♣ K♥ :

Congratulations to Sean “wormnorton” Getzwiller on adding a Sunday Million title to his already-impressive poker C.V. He banked $232,443.87 for the win while runner-up Bazeman11 earned $170,456.00

PokerStars Sunday Million results for 2-23-2014

Players: 7,748
Prizepool: $1,549,600
Places paid: 1,170

1. Sean “wormnorton” Getzwiller (Canada) $232,443.87
2. Bazeman11 (Mexico) $170,456.00
3. veryking (Russia) $116,220.00
4. Buckman88 (Canada) $78,099.84
5. PANAGIOTIS.G (Greece) $61,984.00
6. perusfinne (Finland) $46,488.00
7. FLUSHKE10 (Belgium) $30,992.00
8. Barakiel27 (Israel) $17,820.40
9. yeres (Chile) $12,009.40

Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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