SHIPP ITT wins 10/10/10 PokerStars Sunday Million

Yesterday was a miraculous day for PokerStars player Mark ‘SHIPP ITT’ Herm as he took down the PokerStars Sunday Million for $229,833. The most fascinating thing about the win is that he won thanks to winning two crucial hands with pocket tens and yesterday’s date was 10th October 2010 (10/10/10) making this something that happens once in a lifetime and making the win even more special.

This weeks Sunday Million attracted 7,661 players to create a prize pool of $1,532,200 with the top 1,170 players all cashed.

Almost 40 Team PokerStars Pro’s participated in this weeks Sunday Million, with Joe Cada being the unlickiest of them after he was eliminated just 18-places shy of the cash – a long grind for nothing! Cada’s elimination only left 4 PokerStar pro’s left and they were: Leo Fernandez, Arnaud ‘frenchkiss’ Mattern, Juan Maceiras and Juan Manuel Pastor however none of them could manage to make it to the final table with Fernandez finishing strongest in 221st place.

When play got down to the final table SHIPP ITT was actually the short stack with just 3,734,120 chips compared to chip leader yourmybread‘s 25,446,682 chips which was almost a third of all the chips in play! SHIP ITT managed to stay in contention however and with four players left one of the most crucial hands of the final table took place.

Oakmeal open-shoved on the button for 2,292,909 with e1mdopp re-raising all-in for 10,133,496 and SHIPP ITT calling from the big blind putting his last 8,650,980 chips at risk. SHIPP ITT was leading preflop holding 1010 meanwhile Oakmeal held A6 and e1mdopp held A5 and the board of 29494gave no help to any player and meant SHIPP ITT now had over 20 million chips, Oakmeal was eliminated in fifth place and e1mdopp was down to less than a million chips and it looked like he was next to go.

However e1mdopp managed to double up thanks to SHIPP ITT and clawed his way back into the tournament. It was repz221 who found himself eliminated in fourth place for $77,222 when AQ failed to hold up against SHIPP ITT’s KJ as the flop came 23J giving SHIPP ITT the edge and with the turn and river being blanks the table was down to three-handed.

Despite being chip leader for the whole duration of the final table, yourmybread quickly crumbled at the hands of SHIPP ITT who began his domination with his pocket 8’s holding up against yourmybread’s AQ and by this point yourmybread and e1mdpp were about even in chips with around 11 million, and SHIPP ITT was sitting comfortably with over 53 million. Yourmybread’s luck against SHIPP ITT continued in his final hand as he held A7 and SHIPP ITT held J9. The board ran T33K and the vital Q on the river crushed yourmybread’s hopes of taking down the victory and he was out in third place for $114,915.

SHIPP ITT had a 5:1 chip advantage going into heads-up play however the chip lead changed a few times until another crucial hand involving pocket tens. Both players ended up all-in with SHIPP ITT holding 1010 and e1mdopp holding AQ. The board ran A10974 giving SHIPP ITT the double up and leaving his opponent with just 2,631,250 with which he was all-in with next hand but it wasn’t to be for e1mdopp, SHIPP ITT took down the victory thanks to two crucial hands holding pocket tens on the 10/10/10. Congratulations SHIPP ITT.

PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results 10/10/10

1st was SHIPP ITT winning $229,833.60
2nd was e1mdopp winning $168,542
3rd was yourmybread winning $114,915
4th was repz221 winning $77,222.88
5th was Oakmeal winning $61,288
6th was CRFer winning $45,966
7th was cyberkanguru winning $30,644
8th was suchthaufen winning $17,620.30
9th was qbgoose winning $11,874.55