Poker News

Sunday Million winner Bdbeatslayer, aka Luke Vrabel, pocketed a record $671,093.81 and a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 yesterday - without having to play a single hand on the final table.  

PokerStars guaranteed a $5 million prize pool and $1,000,000 to the winner - about four times the size of the usual first place pay-out.

But the tourney shattered expectations when a huge field of 59,128 players paid the $215 to play the 5th anniversary event.

That created an enormous prize pool of $11,825,600, with 7,450 players finishing in the money.

Such was the scale of the prize money involved that, with $1,655,629.38 for first place and $1,182,560 for second, when play reached the final table the nine players agreed to chop the prize money – although not the Lamborghini.

The winner, after 14 ½ hours at the table and blinds at 3,000,000/6,000,000, was Luke ‘Bdbeatslayer’ Vrabel, 25, from Connecticut, USA, who drives off with the 5.2 litre V-10 sports car, and a first prize of $671,093.81, his share of the chop.

That chop meant all 9 players who made the final table received at least $260,000 – roughly the equivalent of a regular weekly Sunday Million win.

Sports fan Vrabel said afterwards: "I had been struggling a lot lately.

"A lot of people felt since I was the most experienced player I should not make a deal.

"But it was far more important to me to secure myself financially for the future than to try and be a hero and gamble in such a fast structure for millions of dollars.

"This changes my life drastically. It increases my bankroll a lot."

Until his win, Vrabel was a smalltime pro with a handful of rebuy wins and a single $1k Super Tuesday victory to his name.

Sheppyshape, from the UK departed in second place, collecting $465,647.02 as runner-up, while third placed wrzr123 took the biggest share, collecting $844,209.87.

The field shattered multiple records, including the previous best field in the PokerStars.com Sunday Million which was 36,169, set during last year’s fourth anniversary event, won by ‘RichieRichZH’ who earned $1.1 million.

The fifth anniversary event stands as the second largest online prize pool ever, second only to the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, which, with a buy-in of $5,200, amassed $12,150,000.

* To play in the Sunday Million yourself, click HERE to download the PokerStars software and claim a first deposit bonus of up to $600