Tournament of the Month - PokerStars big tourney in mid-May, the Sunday Million, was a wild adventure that drew 6,947 hopefuls willing to plunk down the $215 buy-in. The final nine were amped up and ready for their shot at a huge six- figure payday, and since he was the short stack, nobody was expecting NORCALonica to emerge as the winner of this intense online poker battle. NORCAL, however, never doubted himself, even though he had only one-quarter the chips of the leader, Jonesie03.
These were the chip counts going into the final table:

Jonesie03 - 12,194,927 
benpatt - 11,818,772
In8desyr - 10,779,680
El_Cañonero - 9,333,776
cainearized - 8,043,904
MBNJR - 5,948,120
fishfinder22- 4,979,860
jkidd1084 - 3,238,585
NORCALonica - 3,132,376

The first to leave the final nine was cainearized, whose last hand took place at the 200,000-400,000 level with a 40,000 ante. From mid-position, cainearized raised to 1,000,255 and Jonesie03 called on the button. The flop came Q-2-5. Cainearized bet 1,725,000 and Jonesie03 confidently called, and the turn came a jack. Cainearized check/called a 1,600,000 bet from Jonesie03. A nine hit the river and after checking to Jonesie03 and being faced with an all-in bet, cainearized called 3,018,649 with Q-10, and held top pair. Unfortunately, he ran into a set of jacks, which Jonesie03 made on the turn thanks to pocket fishhooks. Cainearized was drawing dead and left wishing he had not tangled with a running-hot chip leader.
Quickly afterwards jkidd1084 was out after El_Cañonero raised to 950,000 and jkidd1084 reraised to 2,400,000. El_Cañonero pushed jkidd1084 all-in and he called holding pocket nines, a slight favourite over the queen-jack of El_Cañonero. But it was no contest, as the board exploded with two jacks and a queen and the pocket nines were left naked as a plucked chicken. Goodbye jkidd1084.  
MBNJR ran into a bad break when his pocket aces were cracked by the pocket kings of In8desyr. It was the river that dealt out the statistical injustice as a king hit fifth street and MBNJR was suddenly out in seventh on a two-outer. 
Fishfinder22 was in jeopardy next as NORCALonica could wait no longer and began his tear at the final table. He went all-in for nearly 4 million under the gun and fishfinder22 called all-in for 1,659,860 holding A-6 to NORCALonica’s dominating A-8. Interestingly, his kicker made a set as two eights hit the board and trip eights would easily be the winning hand.
Benpatt was next to say au revoir. He raised to 1,300,000 and In8desyr called out of the big blind. Both checked the 4-9-A flop, but when a five landed on fourth street, I8desyr bet 2,000,000 and benpatt raised all-in for 7,448,772. In8desyr called and showed A-8 and was ahead of the A-6 of benpatt. They both had slow-played their aces on the flop. The jack on fifth street changed nothing other than ensuring one less player at the table, as benpatt was KO’d in fifth place.
And then there were four, and then there was a deal. A pact between the final four guaranteed each the following, with $30,000 left for the eventual winner:

Jonesie03: $152,036
El_Cañonero: $148,769
In8desyr: $135,163
NORCALonica: $133,430

The tension was loosened up a bit after the guaranteed sums had been attained by the top four, and El_Cañonero soon went out in fourth place and In8desyr exited in third.
Heads-up would be between 2.5-to-1 chip leader NORCALonlica up against Jonesie03, whose roles had reversed since the start of the final. 
The battle was a hard-fought one that saw with the chip lead changing hands many times. But NORCALonica showed amazing heart and staying power, going from the short-stacked player at the final table to the top dog. He sealed the deal when the blind levels hit 850,000-1,700,000-170,000. Jonesie03 pushed for 18,361,872 and NORCALonica called holding pocket sevens, ahead of Jonesie03’s 8-2 (clubs). The board didn’t help Jonesie out of his bad situation as it showed K-Q-5-2-5, and NORALonlica completed the heroic comeback and won a very nice $163,430 for his hard work and staying power.

Final Results

NORCALonica – $163,430*
Jonesie03 – $152,036*
In8desyr – $135,163*
El_Cañonero – $148,769*
benpatt – $63,000
fishfinder22 – $48,000
MBNJR – $33,000
jkidd1084 – $18,000
cainearized – $11,625
* four–way deal