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Home / Uncategorized / Sunday Million: Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks gets win, $133K after four-way deal

We’ve seen Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks of Canada deep in big events on PokerStars before, including winning a Super Tuesday once back in 2010. We’ve also seen him at various live events sponsored by PokerStars where among his cashes he made the final table of the EPT10 Grand Final in Monte Carlo two years ago, finishing seventh.

Now we have another Hicks sighting to report, this time at the final table of the latest Sunday Million where he managed to survive to the final four, strike a deal at that point in which he asked for and received a little extra from his remaining opponents, then go on to win the whole thing for a big final payday of $133,405.67.

The Norwegian JanekJorgman was chip leader at the time of the four-way chop and in fact would take a little more from the prize pool ($135,141.73) before finishing third. But Hicks would be the one scoring the final knockouts of the night, and here’s the story of his triumph.

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Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks
With 5,727 entrants this week that meant a $1,145,400 prize pool, exceeding again the event’s $1 million guarantee. It took almost five hours exactly for the field to play down to 855 players and the money. 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event champion Mike “SirWatts” Watson had been sitting in first position as the bubble approached, and was still in the top five when it burst while Köstritzer83 moved ahead to lead the chip race.

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Mike “SirWatts” Watson
Eventually Watson would fall back to the pack, then be ousted in 218th for a $595.60 cash. A couple of hours after that the field would shrink to under 100 players, with Köstritzer83 still above the average and one last red spade among the counts, Friend of PokerStars Felipe “mojave” Ramos sitting on the first page of the counts inside the top 20.

By the nine-and-a-half-hour mark they were down to just two tables with Ramos still in with a short stack, then soon after getting the last of his chips in with ace-king versus Armani1974’s ace-jack. Alas for Ramos a jack came among the community cards, and the Brazilian hit the rail in 18th place for $3,207.12.

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Friend of PokerStars Felipe “mojave” Ramos
DuTTiFruTTi9 (17th) and Glenn_Dysja (16th) would soon follow, like Ramos earning $3,207.12. Then my1u (15th), artsi888 (14th), and jumbas1 (13th) were knocked out, cashing for $4,925.22 apiece. Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong (12th) and Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov (11th) next went out, picking up $6,643.32 each.

With 10 left, hand-for-hand play followed, then came simultaneous knockouts on each of the five-handed tables.

First it was Krouks all in and at risk with K♥ 5♥ versus eventual winner Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks’s 7♦ 7â™  . A seven on the flop meant Krouks was drawing dead by the turn, with a 10th-place finish equaling a $6,643.32 payday.

Then on the other table mo-big-big appeared in decent shape all in behind Kâ™  K♦ versus JanekJorgman’s 10♣ 10♦ . But a ten came on the turn, and mo-big-big was knocked out in ninth for $8,934.12.

With Köstritzer83 still there (though short), JanekJorgman the new chip leader with more than 20 million, and a seat already empty, the final table was underway.

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Seat 1: empty
Seat 2: _m0ney2_89 (Russia) — 3,217,146
Seat 3: p€troceli (Hungary) — 5,244,080
Seat 4: Armani1974 (Germany) — 3,153,952
Seat 5: Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks (Canada) — 11,635,491
Seat 6: Köstritzer83 (Germany) — 1,065,810
Seat 7: pinkwins (Denmark) — 4,187,316
Seat 8: slayertompa (Sweden) — 8,225,628
Seat 9: JanekJorgman (Norway) — 20,540,577

They were not quite an orbit into the final table when a hand arose that saw Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks open-shove from the small blind, then Köstritzer83 call all in with the almost 1.71 million left after posting a 250,000 big blind.

Köstritzer83 had K♥ Q♣ and two live cards versus Hicks’s 2♣ 2♥ , and the 7â™  8♥ Kâ™  flop hit one of them to put Köstritzer83 in front. But the 2♦ fell on the turn to give Hicks a set, making the 4♥ river no matter and knocking Köstritzer83 out in eighth.

A short while later leader JanekJorgman raised 3x to 900,000 from early position, then it was p€troceli three-bet shoving for about 3.25 million from a couple of seats over. The others folded and JanekJorgman called, turning over A♠ J♠ while p€troceli had K♦ K♣ .

The 3♠ A♣ 2♣ flop was bad for p€troceli, giving JanekJorgman the edge, and after the 6♠ turn and J♥ river, p€troceli was done in seventh.

pinkwins next became the table’s short stack and would be all in for less than a big blind shortly after with 9â™  6♦ and up against _m0ney2_89 in the big blind with Q♥ 9♥ . A K♣ 5â™  3♣ 3♦ 8♦ runout didn’t help pinkwins who was ousted in sixth.

The remaining five played on a short while, then agreed to stop the tournament to discuss a possible deal with JanekJorgman still on top with about 25.5 million, _m0ney2_89 next with 10.1 million, slayertompa third with about 9.1 million, Armani1974 fourth with just over 6.8 million, and Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks the shortest with almost 5.7 million.

“ICM”-based figures were produced (leaving $20,000 for which to play) and all agreed except for Hicks who wanted $10K more than what he was being offered. The others were not interested in considering that, and soon cards were back in the air.

It wasn’t long before Armani1974 had slipped back to become the short stack, then a hand came up that saw the table fold to Armani1974 in the small blind who pushed for about 4.28 million (about eight-and-a-half BBs), and Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks called from the next seat. Armani1974 had 7♦ 6â™  and needed help against Hicks’s Aâ™  Qâ™  , but the 9â™  5♥ Q♣ 10â™  Jâ™  board gave Hicks a flush and ended Armani1974’s run in fifth.

Deal talk immediately began again, and soon the tourney was stopped again with JanekJorgman at almost 30.5 million, Hicks now second with about 9.8 million, slayertompa third with 8.9 million, and _m0ney2_89 fourth with just over 8 million even.

“ICM”-based numbers were presented again (again saving $20K), and once more Hicks asked for more than what he was being offered — specifically $2,500 more from each of the other three. The others agreed this time, Hicks got his extra, and the deal was made.

The final four battled on and after a while Hicks managed to wrestle the chip lead away, then slayertompa grabbed the top spot after doubling through JanekJorgman. The latter then appeared about to go out in fourth, but JanekJorgman doubled up to leave _m0ney2_89 the short stack.

Soon _m0ney2_89 was reraising all in for almost 2.74 million (about 4.5 BBs) over a Hicks UTG open and Hicks called, showing Q♣ J♠ while _m0ney2_89 had 8♦ 8♠ . The board then came 5♣ 7♦ 3♣ Q♥ J♦ to give Hicks two pair and knock _m0ney2_89 out in fourth.

About five minutes later JanekJorgman min-raised to 1.6 million from the small blind, Hicks reraised to 4.8 million from the big, JanekJorgman shoved for about 18.1 million total, and Hicks called.

JanekJorgman had Aâ™  9♦ but Hicks had that dominated with A♦ Q♣ . The board came 7♥ 10♦ 7â™  , then 2♥ , then K♦ , the kickers played, and JanekJorgman’s run was over in third.

With that pot Hicks had a commanding lead to begin heads-up play with 43,771,350 to slayertompa’s 13,498,650. The pair played 17 hands for small pots, with slayertompa getting whittled to just under 10.5 million. Then on the 18th hand between them, the end finally arrived.

With the blinds 400,000/800,000, slayertompa open-pushed for 10,378,650 from the button and Hicks called, and their hands were revealed:

LoneHixx: A♥ 7♦
slayertompa: Q♣ 2♣

The 2♥ J♣ 10♣ flop was great for slayertompa, making a pair and providing a flush draw, and the 8♦ turn card was fine as well. But the river brought the A♠ to give Hicks the better pair, the final pot, and a Sunday Million title.

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Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks
Congratulations to Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks for outlasting more than 5,700 opponents to win this week’s Sunday Million, and kudos as well to slayertompa, JanekJorgman, and _m0ney2_89 for making it to the four-way deal and ensuring themselves handsome cashes as well.

2/28/16 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold’em) results
Entrants:  5,727
Prize pool: $1,145,400
Places paid: 855

1. Kenny “LoneHixx” Hicks (Canada) $133,405.67*
2. slayertompa (Sweden) $100,420.20*
3. JanekJorgman (Norway) $135,141.73*
4. _m0ney2_89 (Russia) $97,384.80*
5. Armani1974 (Germany) $48,106.80
6. pinkwins (Denmark) $36,652.80
7. p€troceli (Hungary) $25,198.80
8. Köstritzer83 (Germany) $14,317.50
9. mo-big-big (Netherlands) $8,934.12
* = denotes a four-way deal leaving $20,000 for the winner

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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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