Three high-stakes New Year Series events started on January 8 and concluded last night, with all three being two-day affairs. A $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em PKO, the special edition $109 Sunday Million PKO, and the ever-popular $5,200 Titans Events each crowned their worthy champions.

Those three tournaments paid their champions a combined $318,130; such was the magnitude of their respective prize pools. Which PokerStars players got their hands on huge additions to the bankrolls? Let’s find out.

The $1,050 NLHE PKO event saw 626 players create a $626,000 prize pool, resulting in all but two of those that reached the nine-handed final table walking away with at least a five-figure sum.

Manuel “BigFudge95” Fritz ($9,657), and “BetForNympho” ($8,888) were the first two PokerStars players finding themselves void of chips. Viktor “gimley14” Mechev ($16,299) and Peruvian star Diego “Die Ventura” Ventura ($18,314) joined the long list of busted players before the elimination of “xnrobix” ($17,882) left only four players in the hunt for the title.

Those four became three with the untimely demise of “HardiZ1” ($27,961), with “Manni1822” ($40,713) crashing out in third, sending the tournament into the heads-up stage.

Aliaksei “ale6ka” Boika, the 2016 EPT Malta Main Event champion, locked horns with “jpsalgadocr0” of Brazil in a battle for the title. The one-on-one clash went Boika’s way, and he added $104,202 to his bankroll, leaving his Brazilian opponent to receive a $61,870 consolation prize.

New Year Series 83-H: $1,050 NLHE PKO

“KNtheKid” Takes Down New Year Series Sunday Million

The lure of the PokerStars Sunday Million is still strong, as the 11,882-strong field that bought in this weekend for $109 can attest to. The final table saw prizes between $6,650 and $94,445 awarded, the latter going to Canada’s “KNtheKid” who left 11,881 opponents in their wake.

KNtheKid defeated “bigi87220” heads-up. The final two players guaranteed themselves at least $66,318 from the main prize pool, but the final bounty also tipped the scales at more than $28,0000. KNtheKid got their hands on an additional $28,117 after beating bigi87220 one-on-one; bigi87220 saw $79,911 land in their PokerStars account.

It was an impressive victory for KNtheKid. Not only was the field massive, but the final table also hosted the likes of Shawn “buck21” Buchanan, Alex “AlexGelinski” Gelinski, Vinicius “viniperri” Perri, and Marc “Rowniwn” Radgen.

New Year Series #83-M: $109 NLHE Sunday Millions PKO Final Table Results

CPUrul0r is a PokerStars Titan

Ninety-five players bought into the $5,200 Titans Event, and Austria’s “CPUrul0r” outlasted them all. Their reward? A welcomed $119,483; a great start to the New Year.

As you would expect from a $5,200 buy-in tournament, the field was stack with household names. Dominykas “Mikensonas” Mikolaitis ($15,755), “aminolast” ($19,760), Pedro “pvigar” Garagnani ($25,453), and Christian “WATnlos” Rudolph ($32,936) would have made a worthy champion but it was not meant to be.

Dimitar “KuuL” Danchev‘s ($42,618) exit in fifth left the waters slightly less shark-infested, with the exits of “roo_400” ($55,147) and Roman “RomeOpro” Romanovskyi ($71,359), sending the Titans Event into the heads-up stage.

Austria’s “CPUrul0r” and Germany’s “looserGirl27” were the last two players standing. They butted heads for a while before CPUrul0r got the upper hand and, ultimately the victory. Winning this week’s Titans Event came with $119,483 in prize money, with second place paying $92,337.

New Year Series 85: $5,200 NLHE Titans Event Final Table Results

The WSOP Winter Circuit concluded at GGPoker on January 9 with the $1,700 buy-in Main Event crowning its champion. The Main Event attracted 7,039 entrants, which resulted in an $11,367,985 prize pool, over 10 percent more than the advertised $10 million guarantee. Mexico’s “VeryMerry” was the last player standing once the dust had settled. Their reward for such an impressive victory? A cool $1,184,690 and a WSOP Circuit ring.

Some 862 players navigated their way through to the final day, each locking in at least $3,773 for their efforts. Players such as Barak Wisbrod, Dimitar Danchev, Michael Addamo, Ole Schemion, and Shannon Shorr were early casualties. Jessica Teusl, Andreas Nasman, Linus Loeliger, and Simon Mattsson progressed deeper and reeled in five-figure score. Once “Cocooo” busted in tenth, the final table was set, with all nine heroes guaranteeing themselves more than $100,000 for their efforts.

#18: WSOP Winter Circuit Main Event Final Table Results

Montenegro’s “takemeaway” was the first finalist to find themselves heading for the exits. Their ninth-place finish came with $118,523 reasons to be happy with their performance.

Artem Shaganov busted in eighth for $158,001 before “accurate91” got their hands on $210,646 from their home in Canada. Sixth place and $280,847 went to Austria’s “Touch of Class,” with “Doubledeee” of Singapore seeing their $1,700 investment swell to an incredible $374,646 when they fell in fifth.

Fourth place came with a $499,303 score, which is now in the GGPoker account of Japanese grinder “dynastyfuren.” Heads-up was set when Sergey “z1gzag” Konovalov crashed out in third, a finish good for $665,778.

The one-on-one battle pitted VeryMerry against Pavel “EzzzGame” Plesuv. The heads-up duo didn’t strike a deal despite a near $300,000 difference in prize money. A lack of negotiations meant Plesuv had to settle for the still impressive $887,777 consolation prize, leaving VeryMerry to collect $1,184,690, a WSOP Circuit ring, and the title of champion.

Other WSOP Winter Circuit Results

Four other WSOP Winter Circuit events recently crowned their champions, with three of them banking five-figure scores.

“pedrinhoOo” won $138,725 after taking down the $840 Stocking Stuffer Bounty Superstack, Jianchen “Transurfing” Gong banked $170,151 after winning the $210 New Year’s Mystery Bounty, while Blaz Zerjav scooped $192,329 for his victory in the $1,500 6-Max Championship.

Those prizes are impressive but imagine being Jeremias Mendoza. He busted from the $210 New Year’s Mystery Bounty in 167th place from 17,583 entrants. Mendoza collected $1,390.68 from the main prize pool, but one of the mystery bounties he pulled out was the jackpot: a cool $250,000! Mendoza collected another $2,440 in bounties, for a total haul worth $253,830.68, not bad for a 167th place finish!

*includes bounty payments

PokerGO announced that there wasn’t a willing participant to pay $1.6 million to enter Round 6 of High Stakes Duel III, which means Jason Koon is the game’s official champion.

The GGPoker ambassador paid $800,000 to enter Round 5 against Phil Hellmuth in place of Scott Seiver, who backed out at the last-minute. Koon dominated the match from start to finish and came out victorious.

High Stakes Duel on PokerGO: A Comprehensive Guide

Why Koon Can Cash Out

Despite winning, he wasn’t permitted to immediately cash out. Per High Stakes Duel rules, it takes three consecutive wins before a player can take the money and run. Had Hellmuth won the match, he would have been eligible to quit the series of games with what would have been a $1,250,000 profit.

Koon, however, only played in one match, so he was required to allow Hellmuth an opportunity to challenge him to a rematch. The “Poker Brat” declined to pay $1.6 million to enter Round 6, which left the door open for another player. But there wasn’t anyone willing to pony up the cash to face one of the best players in the world. Thus, Koon will take home the $1.6 million prize pool, an $800,000 overall profit.

This isn’t the end of High Stakes Duel on PokerGO, however. It just means that the current series of games has concluded. High Stakes Duel IV will start with two players buying in for $50,000 each, and then the prize pool doubling in the ensuing rounds, potentially all the way up to $12.8 million.

Koon, who has $42.3 million in live tournament cashes and a 2021 World Series of Poker bracelet, will presumably enter Round 1 of High Stakes Duel IV ($50,000), but that remains to be seen. As for the second player, it could be any of a number of poker players. The date, time and competitors have yet to be determined by PokerGO.

Hellmuth’s Reign on High Stakes Duel

If the December loss to Koon is the last we ever see of Hellmuth on High Stakes Duel, he finishes his run on the show with an impressive 9-2 record and a $450,000 overall profit.

Hellmuth began with three consecutive victories over Antonio Esfandiari, tallying $350,000 in profits after cashing out following Round 3. He repeated the same success against Daniel Negreanu on High Stakes Duel II, ending the contest after Round 3.

High Stakes Duel III was quite different in that he began with a comeback win over FS1 sports talk personality Nick Wright, who declined a rematch. That left the seat open for Tom Dwan, who snapped Hellmuth’s seven-game winning streak in Round 2. The 16-time WSOP bracelet winner then paid $200,000 to enter Round 3 and got revenge.

Dwan was unable to make it to Las Vegas in time for Round 4 (May 2022), and Seiver stepped in to compete for the $800,000 prize pool. Hellmuth beat what some considered to be his toughest opponent on that day, and a rematch was planned for August.

Seiver would inevitably decide to back out, and then Koon entered the game, which was pushed back to Dec. 7. Although it appears his reign on High Stakes Duel is over, it will be tough for anyone to top Hellmuth’s overall performance. He leaves the show up $450,000 total ($250,000 in losses from HSD III, $350,000 wins on both HSD I and II), but would have been up $1,950,000 had he defeated Koon.

Read the Complete High Stakes Duel History

_{*Feature image courtesy of PokerGO.}