Canada's Vanessa 'Niffller' Kade faded a field of 69,876 runners to win PokerStars Sunday Million special 15th Anniversary Party with $12.5 million in guaranteed prizes and $1.5 million set aside to first place. Kade defeated Poland's Talibenes heads-up for the title and sick score. Talibenes banked a cool million as the runner-up. This special Sunday Milly final table included players from Russia, Bulgaria, Norway, Netherlands, Romania, Poland, and Canada.
Ship it to Canada. Heck of a win for Vanessa Kade. Sometimes the poker gods decide to bless someone at the right place and at the right time. And there's nothing like a seven-figure score to change the news flow. Instead of hearing reruns about GGPoker and Kade's dust up, we can all focus on a positive story about a woman from Canada outlasting a minefield of nearly 70,000 entries to win $1.5 million on a live stream for the entire world to see.
"We just beat a field of 69,876 to win $1.5 Million," tweeted Kade. "It feels impossible. This is the best day of my life. It's not close. All the pain was worth it, the dream is real."
PokerStars created the Sunday Million 15 years ago and it's become a main staple of every Sunday grind since then. It's amazing to know that's there's always been one constant throughout the years because on Sunday, there's always the Sunday Million on PokerStars... which was played through holidays, natural disasters, and even the pandemic.
The 15th anniversary special Sunday Million attracted 69,876 total entries, with 24,111 re-entries for this three-day affair. The prize nearly topped $14 million, which surpassed the $12.5 million guarantee. At least seven figures doled out to the top two places with $1.5 million set aside to the champion and $1 million for second place. The top eight places were also awarded at least six figures. Overall, the top 9,971 places won a piece of the $13.9 million prize pool.
After the first day of action, only 12,750 or so players were left in the hunt for the seven-figure booty, but they still had late-reg open for anyone willing to fire another bullet.
By the end of the second day of action, only 65 players remained including Vanessa Kade. Romania's 'Transylvania' bagged the lead with 66M chips.
On Day 3, the action was "fast and furious" and by the time the final nine reached the final table, Holland's Ikkedus led with the big stack and Kade found herself seventh overall. She had a lot of work to do if she wanted to win it all... and she didn't waste any time. The final table also included Talibenes, PanchoVetin, Transylvanian, peu3ep, malinga, kefirchik106, and Vvlankov.
Without a deal in place, the top two won exactly what PokerStars intended. Canada and Poland slugged it out for the title and $1.5 million in cash.
On the final hand, pocket eights held up for Cade against Pawel 'Talibenes' Ladniak's King-nine. Talibenes flopped a gutshot, turned a Broadway gutter draw, but whiffed on the river. Kade's pocket eights held up and Tailbenes busted in second place. Tailbenes won $1,035,358 for first place. Not too shabby, eh!
When the dust settled, Kade banked $1,514,920 for first place. She shipped her first Sunday Million and achieved this special feat live on her Twitch stream for all her followers to see.
PokerStars SUNDAY MILLION 15th Anniversary
Buy-in: $215
Entrants: 69,876
Prize Pool: $13,975,200
Payouts: 9,971
Final Table Results:
1. Vanessa 'Niffller' Kade (Canada) $1,514,920
2. Pawel 'Talibenes' Ladniak (Poland) $1,035,358
3. PanchoVetin (Bulgaria) $707,639
4. Transylvanian (Romania) $483,652
5. peu3ep (Russia) $330,563
6. malinga (Norway) $225,930
7. Ikkedus (Netherlands) $154,416
8. kefirchik106 (Russia) $105,537
9. Vvlankov (Russia) $72,131
