Maria Lampropulos Wins $1.2 Million in partypokerLIVE Millions

The 2017 partypokerLIVE Millions Dusk Tll Dawn £5,300 Main Event drew 1,240 entries with a £1 million guarantee to the winner and £6 million guarantee prize pool. Five days of action reduced the field to a mostly British final table, led by Stephen Chidwick, but it would be Argentinian Maria Lampropulos earning the seven-figure prize.

“It really feels like a magic moment I’m in right now,” Lampropulos told PokerNews after winning. “It really feels like a magic moment I’m in right now. I’m a little tired after such a difficult final table, but tomorrow I’ll realize what I did.”

Runner-up Jacob Mulhurn turned down a deal with Lamproplos and she said, “He didn’t want to make a deal. He was convinced that he could win. Perhaps because I am a woman and he didn’t want to deal with a woman, but I trusted my game, I just thought, ‘let’s play.’”

“I’m proud of that (£1 million cash) obviously,” said Lamproplos. “It’s wonderful. Every woman here supported me. When everyone changed, I felt so emotional. They were all cheering and smiling because they feel ‘Ok, I can do it too.’”

Chidwick chipped away Sam Trickett’s all-time England money lead with a sixth-place finish that inched his earnings up to $7.35 million. Chidwick picked up his sixth cash in a fifth country since December where he’s picked up scores in a Prague High Roller, two PokerStars Championship Bahamas high Rollers, a win in PokerStars Championship Panama – then squeezed an Aria High Roller final table before cashing at home.

Chidwick busted after three-bet shoving Ac Qh, Mateusz Rypulak called with two black kings and board ran ten-high to end Chidwick’s day.

Neel Murthy was the first player eliminated from the table while on a draw against Lampropulos’ pocket kings. Katie Swift – the second woman of the final table – ran pocket tens into Jeremy Pantin’s pocket queens.

Jon Spinks ran pocket kings into the Ah 7s of Pantin, an ace spiked on the flop and Spinks was eliminated. About an hour later Rypulak flopped middle pair, Lampropulos flopped top pair and the eventual winner stacked him when the turn gave her trips.

Lampropulos check-called Pantin to the river of a Qd 4c 3h Ac 2s board. Pantin’s river bluff-shove with Ks Jh for king-high didn’t get through as Lampropulos made two pair with Ah 3s.

Heads-up play began with virtually even stacks with the match lasting around an hour following an extended dinner break. The final hand was another showdown of monsters with Lampropulos holding pocket kings and Mulhern holding Ah Qc. The board ran all rags with nine-high, Mulhern didn’t improve and was eliminated runner-up.

Just missing out on the final table was Tom Hall (11th), Jake Cody (14th) and Mark Gardner (16th). Igor Kurganov, David Peters, Tobias Reinkemeier and Marvin Rettenmaier also cashed in the event.

The event featured three Day 1 flights online, with Days 1D and 1E live and then the field assembled as one live on Day 2. 

Final Table Payouts

1. Maria Lampropulos – £1,000,000
2. Jacob Mulhurn – £650,000
3. Jeremy Pantin – £450,000
4. Mateusz Rypulak – £320,000
5. Jon Spinks – £220,000
6. Sephen Chidwick – £150,000
7. Katie Swift – £100,000
8. Neel Murthy – £72,395