The Sunday Briefing: Griffin Benger and Michael Tureniec Win Majors in Bahamas
Fun in the sun might be the typical way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the Bahamas. But for poker players, Sundays are all about business. And two well-known poker pros made the most of their day on the virtual felt this week by winning Sunday Majors at PokerStars.
Michael Tureniec and Griffin Benger (pictured) didn't find much success at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this month, each failing to cash in the $10,000 Main Event and the $25,000 High Roller. But the two pros won back their buy-ins and then some on Sunday. Tureniec took down the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for more than $106,000 after a heads-up deal, and Benger won the PokerStars Sunday 500 outright for $74,430.
Other winners this week were Wade "ricestud" Townsend (PokerStars $109 Sunday Rebuy), Alexander "Aleseed" Sidorin (PokerStars Sunday 2nd Chance), and Ben "jenbizzle" Jones (PokerStars Sunday Supersonic). The biggest earner on Sunday was "Epiphany77" who secured $201,711 in a three-handed deal at the PokerStars Sunday Million final table. Epiphany77 eventually finished runner-up to "D_DIGGLER99", who locked up $189,044.
Here's a full look at the results from the Sunday Majors on PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, partypoker and WSOP.com:
Sunday Million ($1M Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 7,989 | $1,597,800 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | D_DIGGLER99 | $189,044* |
| 2 | Epiphany77 | $201,711* |
| 3 | schmuggel15 | $144,511* |
| 4 | pixigirl123 | $80,529 |
| 5 | MorrisB1 | $63,912 |
| 6 | crazyalex696 | $47,934 |
| 7 | rashevski2 | $31,956 |
| 8 | holy h3ll | $18,374 |
| 9 | Sergio "trujustrus" Cabrera | $12,382 |
*Reflects three-handed deal
Notable Finishes: Vasily "Ravic85" Tsapko (12th - $8,548), Phillip "bergeroo" Huxley (14th - $6,931), Evan "SenorPokes" Jarvis (18th - $4,234), Jonas "Telefonkiosk" Lindlof (19th - $3,515), Nick "caecilius" Petrangelo (20th - 3,515), Joao "joaobarb" Barbosa (34th - $3,195)
Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 3,665 | $733,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael "Sk?mmes" Tureniec | $106,012* |
| 2 | Mateus#9 | $94,829* |
| 3 | bdklizm | $60,472 |
| 4 | jude187 | $42,147 |
| 5 | Rikimarro | $31,152 |
| 6 | RerereraiZ | $23,822 |
| 7 | Hyggemorfar | $16,492 |
| 8 | Martin "phasE89" Balaz | $9,162 |
| 9 | sami stan | $5,864 |
*Reflects heads-up deal
Notable Finishes: Nick "Rounder63" Carillo (11th - $4,398), Charlie "ZIJOINT" Combes (14th - $3,298), Ravi "govshark2" Raghavan (26th - $1,869)
$250K Guarantee
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 1,444 | $288,800 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LimitPro911 | $57,760 |
| 2 | RedPantPro | $38,410 |
| 3 | Baden1 | $27,436 |
| 4 | Covish | $20,504 |
| 5 | daPHUNNIEman | $15,306 |
| 6 | leopeluca | $11,263 |
| 7 | silent_0ne69 | $8,375 |
| 8 | argos94 | $6,064 |
| 9 | Alonon7 | $4,303 |
Notable Finishes: Jason "NovaSky" Koon (10th - $2,888), Brian "brianm15" England (20th - $1,155), Peter "breeth" Turmezey (23rd - $1,155)
Sunday Brawl ($200K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $240+15 | 1,186 | $237,200 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TobyDammit | $47,440 |
| 2 | Matthias "goodvibe" Neu | $31,595 |
| 3 | StephCute | $22,534 |
| 4 | barry manilow | $16,841 |
| 5 | DEX1337 | $12,571 |
| 6 | zegosh | $9,250 |
| 7 | Langers1990 | $6,878 |
| 8 | rustoopid | $4,981 |
| 9 | 56vn11 | $3,558 |
Notable Finishes: Tom "hitthehole" Middleton (16th - $1,375), Peter "breeth" Turmezey (22nd - $1,019), Nick "PureCash25" Rampone (25th - $1,019)
200K Guaranteed Sunday
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 1,124 | $224,800 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | anjali1986 | $43,836 |
| 2 | TheMoist | $23,266 |
| 3 | FergieTime5 | $14,724 |
| 4 | HooodFlatter | $12,476 |
| 5 | Pivovich | $10,228.40 |
| 6 | OneOfTheseDays | $7,980 |
| 7 | Flusgd72 | $5,732 |
| 8 | pinktacoeater | $3,709 |
| 9 | SnipeDonkey | $2,585 |
| 10 | dkjktif | $2023.20 |
Sunday 500 ($300K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $500+30 | 827 | $413,500 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger | $74,430 |
| 2 | Niclas "mezzias" Adolfsson | $53,755 |
| 3 | Crank No1 | $40,109 |
| 4 | peterwhoooo | $29,978 |
| 5 | gorodski | $20,840 |
| 6 | gottama | $16,540 |
| 7 | jose_torro | $12,405 |
| 8 | Skarvurin | $8,270 |
| 9 | Simon " pokerbrat13" Charette | $4,962 |
Notable Finishes: Andreas "gnetaren" Samuelsson (14th - $3,308), Patrick "pmahoney22" Mahoney (17th - $2,481), Mateusz "uczniak" Zbikowski (18th - $2,481), Nick "Rounder63" Carillo (19th - $1,860), John "kleath" Leathart (22nd - $1,860), Elio "smokrokflock" Fox (25th - $1,860)
Get in on the Sunday Majors action yourself by visiting PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and PartyPoker.
$109 Sunday Rebuy ($225K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $100+9 | 1,023 | $310,100 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wade "ricestud" Townsend | $57,368 |
| 2 | Andrew "Drewfus81" St. Jean | $41,553 |
| 3 | B4d3m3!st3r | $31,010 |
| 4 | Kent "ForzaVaxholm" Lundmark | $23,257 |
| 5 | LIKE A G6 | $16,280 |
| 6 | Thomas "GaggleoKings" Ambler | $13,179 |
| 7 | Sheeeeep | $10,078 |
| 8 | Michiel "utreg" Brummelhuis | $6,977 |
| 9 | 1337Gambl0r | $4,341 |
Notable Finishes: Oliver "sk2ll_m0dR" Weis (10th - $3,256), Nicolas "PKaiser" Fierro (16th - $2,015), Daniel "ShippityShip" Neilson (17th - $2,015), John "kleath" Leathart (18th - $2,015), Oleg "Fukuruku" Vasilchenko (19th - $1,396), Daniel "42ayay" Erlandsson (20th - $1,395), Erik "Snusarn" Backlund (24th - $1,395), Mads "MadsMP" Pedersen (26th - $1,395)
Sunday 2nd Chance ($175K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 1,309 | $261,800 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander "Aleseed" Sidorin | $40,644* |
| 2 | Kevin "torino2000" Killeen | $31,183* |
| 3 | Jamie "TheChronic420" Rosen | $30,953* |
| 4 | akshay21 | $18,221 |
| 5 | Khiem "akia86" Nguyen | $12,959 |
| 6 | Epiphany777 | $10,341 |
| 7 | dtfmano18 | $7,723 |
| 8 | Dominic "Bounatirou" Nitsche | $5,105 |
| 9 | JasonX85 | $2,879 |
*Reflects three-handed deal
Notable Finishes: Jakub "Olorionek" Michalak (11th - $2,330), Edison "V_RouNder" Nguyen (19th - $1,099), Matthias "mattidm" De Meulder (20th - $1,099), Manuel "young_diam18" Blaschke (23rd - $1,099)
Sunday Supersonic ($125K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $210.80+4.20 | 1,451 | $305,870 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben "jenbizzle" Jones | $54,231 |
| 2 | Darren "darrenelias" Elias | $39,763 |
| 3 | habalasvegas | $30,587 |
| 4 | linguisona | $22,940 |
| 5 | Sheeeeep | $16,058 |
| 6 | Skarvurin | $12,999 |
| 7 | aaarman87 | $9,940 |
| 8 | jonwayne69 | $6,682 |
| 9 | Nutter17 | $4,282 |
Notable Finishes: Timothy "highland" Finne (11th - $2,905), Paul "bottswild" Varano (12th - $2,905), Simon "ministerborg" Ravnsbaek (13th - $2,294), Nicholas "Frenzuh" Immekus (14th - $2,294), Maurice "MaurichSch" Schepp (16th - $1,682), Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (19th - $1,039), Tommy "TMoney0209" Miller (20th - $1,039)
$15,000 Weekly Sunday Guarantee (Nevada)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 68 | $15,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | rprops | $4,350 |
| 2 | foxylilangel | $2,550 |
| 3 | KBWSOP | $1,800 |
| 4 | TimTebow | $1,500 |
| 5 | chequesplay | $1,200 |
| 6 | underrolled | $1,035 |
| 7 | Maxine | $885 |
| 8 | Forthekids | $735 |
| 9 | nevada | $525 |
Special thanks to Stanislav Serov
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