Sunday featured the second largest online poker tournament in history. The PokerStars Sunday Million, which was celebrating its fifth anniversary, saw a monstrous field of nearly 60,000 players turn out. 60,000! The $215 buy-in tournament guaranteed a prize pool of $5 million, but ended up shattering that figure to the tune of nearly $12 million. In the end, a nine-way chop occurred that saw Bdbeatslayer come away with the win, a $671,000 payday, and a brand new sports car.

wrzr123 walked away with the largest cash of the group at $844,000. A $1 million first place prize was guaranteed, but wasn’t given away due to the chop. Still, everyone who made the final table collected at least $263,000. As you’d expect, the history-making tournament drew a boisterous thread in Poker Discussion, where posters monitored the action from 76 players down.

While the nine-way chop was being crafted, one PocketFives.com member explained, “Should be interesting trying to reach a 9-man deal.” Another observer of the Fifth Anniversary Sunday Million jested, “You would think instead of ‘If nobody objects,’ it should be ‘If everyone agrees’ so nobody feels like a jackass for saying no.”

The chop discussion lasted 40 minutes and the group played on for a Lamborghini Gallardo. In the final hand of the tournament, sheppyshape ran pocket sevens into Bdbeatslayer’s pocket nines. The better pre-flop hand held when the board ran out 4-J-6-10-Q and Bdbeatslayer banked the $671,000 top prize along with the Lamborghini.

Given the outcome, the chop sparked a lively debate on PocketFives.com. 93rd ranked Jeremiah Believer82 Vinsant (pictured) called Bdbeatslayer out for what he determined to be a sub-par deal: “[Why would he chop] with his stack against random players that u could pick up almost every pot against. I would never have chopped there… Almost everyone at that ft would play super weak-tight and you could destroy.”

Another poster countered, “Obv he’s the best player, but it’s a Turbo and, with that much money on the line, I snap take the deal. If I’m a baller with $2 million+ in my bank account, I prob play to at least 3-handed. Just not worth the risk getting coolered twice and busting 9th for $40k, or even 6th for $150k, when u can lock up a half-million more.”

Members of PocketFives.com also questioned whether a player could walk away from the game of poker following a monumental score like the ones dished out yesterday on PokerStars. One person argued, “Shipping the WSOP Main Event, yeah u can prolly quit poker. Chopping the Sunday $5 Million, I don’t think so.”

Throwing his two cents in about the chop was longtime PocketFives.com member Daniel B_O_K_E Bokesch (pictured), who has been part of the community since year one. Bokesch explained, “I think most people look at only parts of the big picture. Sure, the difference between 9th and 1st is significant, however it sounded like BBS was content in the deal… He got $670k and car, so it must have been a good deal. No way anyone should have gotten a dime more than him in this chop. Let alone nearly 200k.”

The Sunday Million’s prize pool nearly lapped $12 million, putting it in second place in online poker history to the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event. In that tournament, Tyson POTTER Marks (pictured) walked away with a payday worth $2.2 million after trumping a field of 2,400 players in the $5,200 buy-in contest. The total prize pool was $12.2 million.

In an October interview with PocketFives.com about his seven-figure payday, Marks told us, “I was feeling really confident that week and felt like I was playing my super A-game. Before the WCOOP Main Event, the biggest tournament I had ever played online was the FTOPS Main Event, so I was definitely looking forward to it.”

In case you missed it, here were the results from the PokerStars Fifth Anniversary Sunday Million over the weekend:

1. Bdbeatslayer – $671,094
2. sheppyshape – $465,647
3. wrzr123 – $844,210
4. guccyka – $411,090
5. Syndrome1977 – $799,842
6. zeurrr – $518,402
7. nhar818 – $441,541
8. Jan10004 – $311,023 (Janemann)
9. Battmeister – $263,888

Visit PokerStars for more details. Remember, the site happily accepts players from the United States and offers one of the top VIP programs in the business.