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For the holidays and to celebrate the last Sunday Million of 2015, PokerStars once again gave the weekly $215 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament a $5 million guarantee, which in turn guaranteed a huge turnout of tens of thousands took part in the event.

At the end of it all -- some 14-and-a-half hours after it had begun -- there were two Brazilians battling at the end, with Internett93o eventually outlasting tutinho for the title and a huge $354,187.08 payday following a seven-handed final table deal. Read on for the story of how Internett93o earned the distinction of ruling internet poker last night.

From 31,335 to 4,671

Suspense over whether or not the $5 million guarantee would be met ended before the first hour of late registration had ended. By the time the doors closed, a huge turnout of 31,335 had bought in, creating a massive $6,267,000 prize pool -- almost exactly the same turnout (31,439) for the $5M guaranteed Sunday Milly that ended 2014.

The scheduled payouts dictated the top 4,671 places paid in this one, with $582,500.49 the original, pre-deal payout for the first-place finisher, again well over the $500K that had been guaranteed to go to the winner.

It took less than four hours for the field to be whittled down to 10,000, at which point holderben had been in the top spot in the counts for some time. Then by the five-hour mark they were down under 5,000 players, with holderben still the frontrunner.

The money bubble burst about 15 minutes later, with azat89126 the unfortunate 4,672nd-place finisher landing one spot outside of the cash and kole100 having edged into the chip lead.

From 4,671 to 9

Right around the six-and-a-half-hour mark, rodrigoGDL and serguny1955 almost simultaneously became the first players to reach the 1 million-chip mark. About a half-hour after that holderben was out (1,318th, $626.70) and they were down to 1,000 players, with Monckeybone the new leader.

Picking things up again at the 11-hour mark, kole100 (227nd, $2,846.67), Monckeybone (169th, $3,814.72), and serguny1955 (68th, $9,014.45) were all out, with rodrigoGDL super short with 50 players remaining. Meanwhile Internett93o had built an enormous chip lead, sitting with more than 28 million when the nearest challenger had less than half that amount.

rodrigoGDL went out shortly after (44th, $12,052.06), then not long after they'd reached the break due at the 12-hour mark. Just just 18 players remained with Internett93o having recently relinquished the lead to MrlonV and tutinho, both nearly even with almost 42 million.

Jokerovios (18th), Iwantbearich (17th), and kirdface (16th) were the next knockouts, with each player earning $21,665.64. stephparo (15th), URAMARK (14th), and Mr. Justice7 (13th) were the next out, cashing for $29,129.64 apiece. Then Highmach (12th), stevo1981521 (11th), and snazzy333 (10th) were successively eliminated, taking away $39,238.31 each from the prize pool.

With tutinho having by then raced way ahead by accumulating a stack of more than 96 million, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: tweeprise (Ecuador) -- 12,206,188
Seat 2: MrIonV (United Kingdom) -- 41,999,529
Seat 3: tutinho (Brazil) -- 96,095,665
Seat 4: haris_at (Austria) -- 15,506,897
Seat 5: Dylan "WhiteRabbito" Honeyman (Australia) -- 17,035,910
Seat 6: Internett93o (Brazil) -- 37,394,802
Seat 7: Inmate10981 (Canada) -- 19,343,429
Seat 8: Nik "Reraiseallin" Persaud (United Kingdom) -- 54,528,259
Seat 9: terabyte11 (India) -- 19,239,321

haris_at halted in ninth, Reraiseallin run out in eighth

On the sixth hand of the final table the blinds were a huge 850K/1.7M when tutinho min-raised to 3.4 million from the cutoff seat, then haris_at reraised all in for just over 12 million from the button. The blinds folded, then tutinho called showing [4s][4c] while haris_at had [Kd][Ks].

A flop of [2h][Kc][5h] appeared all but to seal the hand for haris_at with top set, but the [3h] on the turn provided tutinho an open-ended straight draw. Then came the river -- the [Ah] -- making a runner-runner straight for tutinho, and an abrupt finish in ninth for haris_at.

Shortly after that hand it was Nik "Reraiseallin" Persaud open-raising all in from middle position for about 10.4 million (a little over 6 big blinds), MrlonV reraise-shoving, and everyone else folding. It was Persaud's [As][5h] versus MrlonV's [Qh][Ts], and the [2c][5s][Kc] gave Persaud a pair of fives and kept him ahead.

But the turn was the [Qs], and after the [7h] river MrlonV had a better pair and Persaud was done in eighth. Persaud had started 2015 winning the Super Tuesday back in January, meaning his eighth-place finish here made for a nice score to bookend the year for him.

Nik Persaud

A deal, then Inmate10981 paroled in seventh

It was about this time deal talk began to arise in the chatbox, and before long the tournament was paused so the final seven could discuss possibly redistributing most of the remaining prize money. At that point tutinho was still the chip leader, though with about 61.8 million wasn't so far ahead of Internett93o (56.1 million) and terabyte11 (53.6 million). Meanwhile the other four all sat between 25-42 million.

"ICM"-based payouts were produced -- leaving $50K to the side for the eventual winner -- and all were amenable except Dylan "WhiteRabbito" Honeyman who wanted a bit more added to his total. The others each agreed to give Honeyman $1.5K (except for terabyte11) to ensure the deal was made, and after all seven agreed play continued.

The blinds were up to 1M/2M (with a 200K ante) when Inmate10981 open-shoved from middle position for almost 20.3 million and got one caller in MrlonV from the small blind. Inmate10981 had [Qc][Td] but had run into MrlonV's [As][Ad], and after the board rolled out [Th][6c][9s][4c][3s], Inmate10981's pair of tens wasn't enough and they were down to six.

WhiteRabbito goes down sixth-place hole, terabyte11 bites dust in fifth

Play continued for several minutes, then came two knockouts on back-to-back hands.

In the first, Dylan "WhiteRabbito" Honeyman open-pushed from UTG for just under 20.2 million (then about eight BBs) with [5c][5d], tweeprise reraise-pushed from the button with [Ac][Kh] to scatter the blinds, then the community cards came [Kd][2h][9d][As][Ah] to give tweeprise a full house and end Honeyman's run in sixth.

Dylan "WhiteRabbito" Honeyman

Then on the next hand, terabyte11 raised all in from UTG for about 32.3 million (about 13 BBs) and saw MrlonV reraise-shove to isolate. terabyte11 had [Qd][Ts] and MrlonV [Ah][Js], and five cards later -- [2c][8s][Jc][5s][2h] -- terabyte11 was out in fifth.

tweeprise taken out in fourth, MrlonV rolls on in third

Soon the blinds were 1.5M/3M, and it was tweeprise minraising to 6 million from UTG. It folded to Internett93o in the big blind who was then the chip leader, and after Internett93o reraised all in tweeprise called for almost 43 million total. tweeprise showed [As][3s] and needed help versus Internett93o's [9h][9d], but the [Qd][7d][Tc][Jh][4d] board didn't provide any and tweeprise was eliminated in fourth.

The remaining three played another dozen hands with Internett93o building up over 202 million versus the 65.2 million of tutinho and 45.9 millino of MrlonV. Then came a hand in which MrlonV open-raised that stack all in from the button with [8h][8c] and tutinho reraise-pushed from the small blind with [4s][4d]. The board then brought four diamonds, coming [2d][Ad][Qd][Td][7c], giving tutinho a flush and stopping MrlonV in third.

Internett93o triumphs over tutinho heads-up, wins

That left the two Brazilians, with Internett93o still ahead to start heads-up play with just under 199 million versus tutinhow's 114 million.

Internett93o began chipping up, and by the time the blinds were at 2M/4M had up over 243 million to tutinho's almost 70 million when the final hand took place.

It began with tutinho min-raising to 8 million from the button, then Internett93o pushed all in and tutinho called.

Internett93o: [Ac][Qc]
tutinho: [Ad][5s]

Both had aces, but Internett93o's kicker was best. The flop fell [Jd][Th][Qs] to pair Internett93o's queen, and after the [3c] turn tutinho was hoping to see a king on the river for a chopped pot. But fifth street brought the [9c] and it was all over -- Internett93o had won.

Congratulations to Internett93o for outlasting a huge field to win the last Sunday Million of the year and a big $354,187.08 first prize!

12/27/15 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold'em, $5M Gtd) results
Entrants: 31,335
Prize pool: $6,267,000.000
Places paid: 4,671

1. Internett93o (Brazil) $354,187.08*
2. tutinho (Brazil) $316,380.88*
3. MrIonV (United Kingdom) $271,266.00*
4. tweeprise (Ecuador) $249,072.80*
5. terabyte11 (India) $300,069.51*
6. Dylan "WhiteRabbito" Honeyman (Australia) $225,350.09*
7. Inmate10981 (Canada) $256,839.57*
8. Nik "Reraiseallin" Persaud (United Kingdom) $71,459.46
9. haris_at (Austria) $52,952.38
* = denotes a seven-way deal leaving $50,000 for the winner

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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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