ACR Team Pro takes down $1.5 million first-place prize for biggest career score
A whirlwind month for Americas Cardroom Team Pro Vanessa Kade now includes the biggest day of her poker career.
Kade took down the PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary tournament, clinching the win Tuesday for a $1,514,920 payday. Kade outlasted a field of 69,876 entries to emerge with the biggest tournament score of her career.
Kade began the final day 12th in the chip counts among the final 65 players. The newly-signed ACR Team Pro outdueled ‘Talibenes’ (2nd - $1,035,358) in heads-up play to come away with the seven-figure win.
PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary event final table results
| Finish | Player Name | Playing From | Prize |
| 1 | Vanessa ‘Niffller’ Kade | Canada | $1,514,920 |
| 2 | ‘Talibenes’ | Poland | $1,035,358 |
| 3 | ‘PanchoVetin’ | Bulgaria | $707,639 |
| 4 | ‘Transylvanian’ | Romania | $483,652 |
| 5 | ‘peu3ep’ | Russia | $330,563 |
| 6 | ‘Malinga’ | Norway | $225,930 |
| 7 | ‘ikkedus’ | Netherlands | $154,416 |
| 8 | ‘kefirchik106’ | Russia | $105,537 |
| 9 | ‘Vvlankov’ | Russia | $72,131 |
Kade scores career-high payday in special Sunday Million event
The Sunday Million 15th Anniversary tournament raised the prize pool to $12.5 million in honor of the 15-year run of the weekly tournament. The massive turnout for the $215 buy-in event pushed the final prize pool to $13,975,200, with million-dollar-plus prizes awaiting the top two finishers.
Kade went into the final table seventh in chips, with just over 20 big blinds to play with. About two hours after the final table began, however, Kade went heads-up against ‘Talibenes’ with more than a six-to-one chip advantage.
With many in the poker community cheering her on via social media, Kade sealed the win after only two hands of heads-up play.
“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,” Kade tweeted after the victory.
Poker world reacts to Vanessa Kade’s $1.5 million win
Kade’s last two weeks included being dropped from an affiliate deal with GGPoker, as part of an ongoing disagreement between Kade and the poker network about GGPoker’s signing of Dan Bilzerian as an ambassador.
Just five days ago, Americas Cardroom announced the signing of Kade to the Team ACR pros. Within a week of that announcement, Kade added the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary tournament win to her resume and $1.5 million to her bankroll.
Kade’s win sparked overwhelmingly positive reactions from her poker peers:
“This is one of those series of events where scripting it out like this would just be too ridiculous. Just unreal,” tweeted Andrew Neeme.
“Wow! What a story! I don't believe karma gets it right often enough, but this sure feels like an exception. Enjoy every minute of it!” commented Jennifer Shahade.
“Amazing to witness someone's life change. Congratulations. Enjoy your moment, Vanessa, and may this only be the beginning of even more amazing things to come,” tweeted Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski.
Those comments are just a sample from Kade’s Twitter thread, which was at 4,600 likes and counting as of the publication of this article. Check back with Poker.org for an upcoming interview with Kade.
Featured image source: Twitch
