After three days of play, Canadian poker pro Vanessa Kade was crowned the winner of the PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary for $1.5 million. One of Pokerstars’ most coveted and prestigious online poker tournaments, the event saw a total of 69,876 entries from 45,765 unique players making a total prize pool of $13,975,200.
Despite this edition of the PokerStars Sunday Million Anniversary falling short of last year’s $18,603,200 prize pool, two seven-figure payouts and all the bragging rights were still there for the taking.
One of the big stories of heading into the final day centered around Vanessa ‘Niffler’ Kade, arguably the most well-known poker player to make the final day.
12th of 65 from 70,000 entries headed into Day 3 on @PokerStars, with $1.5 Million to 1st and guaranteed $10k.
What a sick spot.
Unlucky early today KK < AJ for an almost CL spot, but lucky 77 > AA to stay alive.
Thanks for the rail, didn’t even notice till the end there! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/P7JgMiLppj
— Vanessa Kade (@VanessaKade) March 23, 2021
The longtime poker pro, sailed through to the final table, to the delight of her fans.
Regardless of how this ends, I’m hopping on a Just Chatting stream after and we’re going to get very drunk.
— Vanessa Kade (@VanessaKade) March 23, 2021
The 65 players that had survived the first two days of play had already locked up a payday of at least $10,757. Romania’s ‘Transylvanian’ was in pole position to start Day 3, amassing a dominating chip stack of 66,800,871 (84 Big Blinds). It turned out that was enough to get the microstakes grinder to the final table, albeit as the short stack.
The first final table casualty was ‘Vvlankov’. With the blinds at 2.5/5m, they three-bet shoved their 41.6m stack with 
which was called by pre-flop raiser ‘malinga’ who was holding 
. The board ran out 
to send ‘Vvlankov’ to rail in ninth place for a prize of $72,132.
Next to hit the rail was ‘kefirchik106’ who jammed from the cut-off with 
for 47,433,379. Pawel ‘Talibenes’ Ladniak on the button, snapped called with 
. The all-in player did not improve on 
flop. The 
turn gave Ladniak a pair but the river was the last card ‘kefirchik106’ would see. Thus ending their Sunday Million journey for a payday of $105,538.
Ladniak, now with over 700 million in chips, continued to tear up the final table by taking the scalp of former chip leader ‘ikkedus’. In a blind versus blind battle, ‘ikkedus’ ripped it in for 90,075,612 with 
which again was snapped called by the chip leaders 
. The seven’s were outflopped on the 
run out. ‘ikkedus’ finished in 7th place for $154,416.
Kade was the player who sent the next person packing. ‘malinga’ with jammed 76,304,487 in the hijack and was called by Kade from the big blind with 
. Despite being dominated, ‘malinga’ had hope on the 
flop but that was quickly shattered with the turn. The brick was all she wrote for ‘malinga’ who picked up a sixth place finish and a cash prize of $225,930.
The final six, soon became a final five when ‘Transylvanian’ jammed for 76,449,444 from the button and ‘peu3ep’ called off for their stack of 72,124,804.
- ‘Transylvanian’:
- ‘peu3ep’:
The queens were still the favorite on the 
flop. The turn avoided bringing in any backdoor flush draws but the 
gave ‘Transylvanian’ the wheel straight. The heartbreaking river sent ‘peu3ep’ out fifth but the $330,564 prize should be enough to pay for a decent cardiologist.
Kade then got her second final table elimination of the night. Calling off with after the 83,224,248 open jam from the short-stacked ‘Transylvanian’. The at-risk player, holding 
, was dominated. Despite pairing their on the flop, the gave Kade the nut-flush and subsequently, ‘Transylvanian’ was drawing dead. The inconsequential 
river meant it was down to three with ‘Transylvanian’, whose previous biggest online cash on Pokerstars was $8,500, busting in fourth place for a cool $483,652.
The final three payouts combined meant there was still over $3.2 million up for grabs, which would likely make all three players instant millionaires if they decided to come to some sort of arrangement. Shockingly no deals were made and the three remaining players continued to trade chips back and forth for a while.
The tournament soon sparked into life again with Kade and ‘PanchoVetin’ getting into an old fashioned coin flip. Kade, the chip leader, three-bet jammed with 
after ‘PanchoVetin’ opened with in the small blind for 24 million. The snap call was made and it was off to the races with ‘PanchoVetin’ at risk. The pocket fives held on the 
run out to give Kade a massive 7:1 chip lead going into heads up play.
Just two hands later, Kade made her fourth and final elimination to become the winner of the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary. Ladniak limped on the button with 
, Kade with 
put the short stack to the test by going all-in. Ladniak made the call but could not improve on the 
flop. Still, with two over cards to hit and a gutshot straight draw, Ladniak still had plenty of cards to improve on. The 
wasn’t one of them and the 
river sealed the tournament win for Kade who took home the title and career-high score of $1,514,920. Ladniak also secured a seven-figure payday for his second place.
This win may feel like vindication for Kade as it comes at a time when she has been at the forefront of the poker spotlight, leading a charge against mysogyny in poker in an effort to make the game more accessible to women.
We just beat a field of 69,876 to win $1.5 Million.
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. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/D0GKZSRhNl
— Vanessa Kade (@VanessaKade) March 23, 2021
Final Table Payouts
- Vanessa ‘Niffler’ Kade $1,514,920
- Pawel ‘Talibenes’ Ladniak – $1,035,358
- ‘PanchoVetin’ – $707,640
- ‘Transylvanian’ – $483,652
- ‘peu3ep’ – $330,564
- ‘malinga’ – $225,930
- ‘ikkedus’ – $154,416
- ‘kefirchik106’ – $105,538
- ‘Vvlankov’ – $72,132
