Second PokerStars The Big Blowout Title for the Netherlands Goes to "Gwolde" for $721,692
After almost four hours of play on Day 3 of the PokerStars Blowout Series: $530 NLHE [8-Max, The Big Blowout!], the second Big Blowout title has been captured for the Netherlands as "Gwolde" defeated "Escapemissio" heads-up after agreeing to a deal.
The Dutch player laid claim to $721,692 for their victory in the 12,938-strong entry field which had a prize pool of $6,469,000 which easily surpassed the $5,000,000 that was set for this tournament.
"Gwolde" is no stranger to success on the PokerStars tables as they have won the Sunday Kickoff in the past for example. The Dutch player also came out victorious in Event 20-M: $109 NLHE Deep Stacks Freezeout on January 3 for $35,856 so must be having a great start of 2021 on the PokerStars virtual tables.
They started the day second in the counts and hovered at the top of the counts for most of the night with a few dips in between. In actual fact, of the top ten players at the start of the day, only two of them didn't make the final table with Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro bubbling the last table of the day and "sp3edy14" falling in twelfth place.
Blowout Series: $530 NLHE [8-Max, The Big Blowout!] Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Gwolde" | Netherlands | $721,692* |
| 2 | "Escapemissio" | United Kingdom | $680,231* |
| 3 | Mathias "mdf92" Duarte | Uruguay | $415,895 |
| 4 | "end2end17" | Canada | $296,465 |
| 5 | "DrawindDead" | Poland | $211,331 |
| 6 | Andrew "dawhiteninja" Wool | United Kingdom | $150,644 |
| 7 | "Kudgel" | Germany | $107,385 |
| 8 | Andras "probirs" Nemeth | Hungary | $76,548 |
| 9 | "Uivelo88" | Finland | $54,566 |
*reflects a heads-up deal
Battle to the Final Table
Sixteen players returned to compete for the original first-place prize of $818,484 but Marc-Andre "FrenchDawg" Ladouceur had an uphill battle ahead of him as the shortest stack. He couldn't make things work as he busted within the first ten minutes of the day to Mathias "mdf92" Duarte. Even though he was ahead when they both flopped a pair, Duarte hit the river for trips to bust the Canadian as the first player of the day. A few minutes later, "Pharmo81" was next to go thanks to "Escapemissio".
It would take almost 45 minutes filled with double-ups before "FivebetGAMER" lost their last chips to "sp3edy14" before "Aalexxs" was taken out by "Gwolde". "sp3edy14" couldn't keep hold of their chips and they lost them all to the Day 2 chip leader, "DrawindDead" with the lower kicker. Shortly after, "taartjekomt" was taken out by Nemeth to get the tournament down to the final table bubble.
In the end, it would be Kelopuro who would be kicked to the curb by Duarte when he called the three-bet shove of the latter with aces. Duarte's ace-deuce suited rivered the flush to get everyone else combined onto one final table.
Duarte's Demise, "Gwolde"'s Gain
Duarte led the final table, followed by "DrawindDead" and "Gwolde" as the only players to have a stack above the 50 million mark. What followed was 30 minutes of the shorter stacks doubling up before "Uivelo88" was eliminated by Duarte who by then held an even bigger chip lead holding almost double of what "DrawindDead" had. Nemeth's stay at the final table was tumultuous, in the end, he fell in eighth place with pocket sixes to the ace-king of "DrawindDead".
Another 30 minutes of double-ups ensured before "Kudgel" busted in seventh place to "Escapemissio". Andrew "dawhiteninja" Wool had doubled up a few times too before falling victim to "Gwolde" for his biggest score ever. "Escapmissio" clashed twice with Duarte to wrestle the chip lead away before bluffing most of it away against "Gwolde". "Escapemissio" shoved a missed straight draw smack dab into "Gwolde"'s nut-flush to hand the latter a huge chip lead.
"DrawindDead" didn't do too well on the final table and ended up finishing in fifth place thanks to Duarte with "end2end17" falling to him too. But the Uruguayan player didn't manage to make it to the heads-up battle as he first lost a chunk to "Escapemissio" before tripling up his short stack and then still losing it all to "Gwolde".
The two players agreed to a deal with "Escapemissio" holding a chip lead of 6 big blinds to continue heads-up play for the $50,000 that was set aside. "Gwolde" quickly took the chip lead and kept the pressure on their opponent without having to show any hole cards. Eventually, "Escapemissio" called the turn-raise of "Gwolde" on the trey-five-jack-six board as they had flopped top pair with jack-eight. But "Gwolde" held six-five for two pair and held when the deuce completed the board for the win and the extra $50,000.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage for this week's Big Blowout but we'll be back for the PokerStars Blowout Series: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, The Big Blowout!] on Sunday, January 17 at 6:05 p.m. GMT which also features a whopping $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool so make sure to come back for all the exciting updates right here.
, "Escapemissio" checked and "Gwolde" continued with a bet of 4,207,500. "Escapemissio" raised to 12,600,000 which "Gwolde" called.
and "Escapemissio" bet 12,000,000 for "Gwolde" to raise enough to put "Escapemissio" all-in who called for the 52,880,690 they had behind.
instead for them to bust as the runner up for $680,231 after having agreed to a deal while "Gwolde" walks away with $721,692 and the second Big Blowout title for the Netherlands. 
, "Escapemissio" check-folded to the 11,328,448 bet of "Gwolde". 
for Duarte to pick up the gutshot to a straight but the river completed the board with the 
instead for Duarte to bust in third place.
, they all checked to the 
on the turn. It was checked to Duarte who bet 2,745,000 for "end2end17" to shove for 17,331,368 which only Duarte called.
on the river as Duarte held with the turned pair of tens.
for Duarte to hold with the higher kicker to eliminate the Day 2 chip leader in fifth place.
, "Gwolde" checked again. This time, "Escapemissio" bet 14,000,000 for "Gwolde" to make the call.
and Duarte barreled a bet of 2,865,984 over the line. "Escapemissio" raised to 12,000,000 for Duarte to call but muck when "Escapemissio" tabled the 
to not help Nemeth either as he busted in eighth place.