PokerStars Lottery SNG $1 million jackpot strikes twice in one weekend
After absorbing endless criticism from serious online poker grinders, the success of PokerStars’ Spin & Go lottery SNG tournaments has spoken for itself. Last weekend, just days after the controversial new Lottery SNG format unleashed it’s very first $1,000,000 prize, two more members of PokerStars became millionaires playing $5 Spin & Go SNG’s.
On Monday, January 12th, during the wee hours of the night in South Russia, one extremely lucky member of PokerStars going by the screen name “sss66666” won the very first $1mm Spin & Go. It was a momentous occasion for the world’s largest online poker room, and an unforgettable, life-altering moment for the 33 year old handyman who won it.
But amidst the celebration, many online poker players complained over the extensive time frame. Lottery SNG tourneys were first introduced in PokerStars’ regulated markets in July 2014, then were installed on the operators’ global platform in September of last year, resulting in a rather long waiting period for a 7-figure jackpot to strike.
As one online poker player now famously commented on his Twitter feed, “It’s probably the last one, too.”
Boy was he wrong! Just a few days later, a second $1mm jackpot Spin & Go winner emerged, and yet a third on the very next day. If you lost count, that’s three million dollar winners in 7 days.
On Saturday, January 17, a member of PokerStars residing in the Czech Republic known as “Tornado111” bested the table of three to win the enormous $1,000,000 jackpot. Then, on Sunday, January 18, online poker player “anushan_2323” did the very same thing, taking down another million dollar prize.
Tornado111 wins PokerStars 2nd $1mm Lottery SNG
As Tornado 111 took his seat at the $5 Lottery SNG alongside “RusGreen” and “newmann”, the prize wheel spun its way to an incredible, maximum prize of $1.2 million. All knew they would receive either $100k or $1mm by the time it was over, and as fortune would have it, Lady Luck was clearly residing upon the shoulder of the Czech.
Tornado111 started off by eliminating “newmann”, who had the clear advantage with A♠-K♣ over A♣-10♣ when they both pushed all-in pre-flop. The board brought another 10, and that was all for newmann.
On the final hand, with A♥-2♥ underneath, “RusGreen” pushed the rest of his stack, amounting to less than 4 big blinds. Tornado111 made the call with just 6♥-5♦, but Lady Luck struck again, rounding out a straight on the river to give him the $1,000,000 win. “RusGreen” and “newmann” earned $100k apiece just for participating.
Anashun_2323 wins PokerStars 3rd $1mm Lottery SNG
The very next day, Canadian online poker player “anashun_2323” joined “ChipsMongot” of Sweden and “jukeox72” of Germany at another $5 Spin & Go table. After a series of all-in shoves that kept the lead swinging like a pendulum in a tsunami, the tide finally took a decisive turn when anashun_2323 eliminated jukebox72 on A♥-10♣ over A♣-8♥.
The lead then went back and forth between the Canadian and Swede for several hands. In the end, it was anashun_2323’s A♣-K♦ that put an end to ChipsMongot’s (8♥-8♠) run for the 7-figure prize. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers still split the lucrative $200k remainder of the lottery SNG prize pool.
