The PokerStars Blowout Series is almost over with the final events of the festival close to crowning a champ.
With $60 million in combined prizes guaranteed across dozens of events, a number of players managed to walk away with six-figure payouts, including João Vieira who recently won the $5,200 NLHE 6-Max High Roller.
Vieira, a native of Portugal, outclassed a 103-entry field to take home $123,068 in top prize. He defeated Swedish pro Niklas Astedt heads-up to capture his first-ever Blowout Series title.
Canadian poker superstar Timothy Adams reached the final table, but unfortunately he was the first player to bust, after losing all of his remaining chips to Astedt with king-queen off-suit against pocket aces. Adams earned $25,205 for finishing seventh.
The next player to go was Mark Radoja and he suffered a similar fate as Adams. He moved all in with king-queen off-suit; Bert Stevens called with ace-queen which improved to pocket aces on the flop. Stevens’ cards held, sending Radoja out of the game in sixth place for $32,829.
Stevens would later follow Radoja to the payout desk after eventually losing a hand against Vieira. He finished fifth for $42,760.
During four-handed play, it was Vieira who was leading the chips with 9.1 million, more than 2 million ahead of this closest rival Astedt. The eventual winner managed to widen the gap after calling a four-bet shove from “GangstaZab” who fell in fourth place with $55,695 in winnings. Vieira proceeded to three-handed play with a significant chip lead.
The next player to go was “millennial” whose chip stack eventually dwindled down to just over 10 big blinds before moving all-in pre-flop holding ace-eight off-suit. A call from Vieira ended the Bulgarian’s bid, settling for a third-place prize of $75,542.
Thrilling Heads-Up
Vieira and Astedt became the final two players who would battle it out in an intense heads-up match. Vieira was ahead in chips when the final action began, however Astedt was able to turn things around, even managing to book a 6:1 lead over his opponent. At that point, it appeared like Vieira was heading for a runner-up finish, but the Portuguese subsequently scored a full double-up, enough to secure a slight lead.
From there, both players would pass the lead back and forth, before engaging in an all-in confrontation – Vieira holding pocket threes, Astedt holding ace-queen. The board ran out 9-8-K-T-2, and Vieira emerged victorious.
Astedt, who won two titles in the Pokerstars series thus far, took home $94,486 for his runner-up finish.
