GGMillion$ Won by Matthew Stumpf for $286,000 – November 2, 2023

This week at the GGPoker GGMillion$ saw another late switch as the player heading for victory suffered a loss they couldn’t recover from. There was $1.3 million in the prizepool, and in the end it was one of the shortest starting stacks, Canada’s Matthew Stumpf, who triumphed over back-to-back runner-up Pavel Plesuv in heads-up play.

Plesuv Shooting for Runner-Up Revenge

A talented final table was led by the man who finished as last week’s runner-up. This week, Moldovan Pavel Plesuv began with 91 big blinds as he bid to finish one place higher at his sixth final table of 2023.  He was miles clear of his nearest challengers, Swedish online phenomenon Niklas Astedt, who began with 52 big blinds at his fifth final table of the year.

Behind the top two lay seven more opponents, each of them posing a difficult problem to anyone wishing to be crowned champion. Argentina’s Ivan Luca (50BB) was at his second final table, with Pablo Silva (48BB) at his sixth. Silva’s fellow Brazilian ‘Depaulainspt’ (41BB) was at their second final table this year, while Carl Green (40BB) was making his debut at this level.

Matthew Stumpf (30BB) was at his fourth final table, with British player ‘SuperSolid’ (25BB) making it two in a back-to-back appearance after finishing fifth last week for $86k. The short stack of the nine was Russian player Konstantin Maslak who began with just 14 big blinds at his third GGMillion$ final table of the year.

As the action got underway on the live GGPoker YouTube stream, regular host Jeff Gross was joined by Matthew Waxman in the co-commentator’s position. As they bartered for picks in the usual ‘dinner date bet’ for a meal in a nice restaurant, the short stack Maslak was under pressure. Lasting 30 minutes, he seemed to have made a solid start, but shoved from the button with king-seven and lost to Pablo Silva’s ten-eight that made a pair of tens on the river, sending the Russian home with a cash of $39,688.

Swedish Superstar Too Solid for British Hopes

British player ‘SuperSolid’ got off to a great start last week, eventually parlaying that momentum into a fifth-place finish worth over $86,000 at his first final table of 2023. One week on, he wasn’t able to repeat the trick, busting instead in eighth place for $50,820. All-in pre-flop with ace-king, he lost a classic ‘coinflip’ to Sweden’s Niklas Astedt, who, with five previous GGMillion$ titles to his name over the first two seasons of this $10,300-entry weekly event, held with pocket queens to reduce the field to seven.

Next to go was ‘Depaulinspt’ who had the same runout as the British player ‘SuperSolid’. All-in with ace-king, the Brazilian couldn’t hit against Pavel Plesuv’s pocket queens, meaning they too hit the rail, albeit for a slightly higher prize of $65,074. It took 45 minutes to lose the first 3 players, including one Brazilian, and 30 minutes later the other Brazilian was ready to head to the hills. Pablo Silva got it all in with ace-king on a board showing A-J-8-J. There again was Plesuv again, this time with king-jack to eliminate another South American, this time with trips, and for $83,326.

Carl Green waited no time at all when getting two blinds into the middle in the next hand holding jack-ten of hearts. Called by Astedt, with ace-queen, the board of K-Q-4-8-5 couldn’t save Green and he bowed out with the first six-figure score of the tournament, cashing for $106,697 in fifth.

Stumpf Stumps Plesuv

A stunning ‘Mystery Hand’ came ahead of the next elimination, where viewers could play along as one player in the hand, without knowing what the other held until showdown. Swedish star Astedt bet around 40% of the pot on the river of a board showing T-5-4-T-Q with three diamonds including on turn and river. Holding ten-eight, Astedt was pushed to a decision for all of his chips, when Mystery Hand holding Ivan Luca shoved. Astedt folded trip tens and while he’d have to wait for the bad news, Luca’s hand was revealed to viewers as a bluff with king-nine of hearts.

One rotation later, Astedt was gone. All-in with king-three off, he was called and lost to Stumpf’s queen-nine of spades, cashing for $136,624 in fourth place. After playing 3 handed for 30 minutes, Ivan Luca ran short and shoved all-in with queen-ten of hearts. He was called – and eliminated – by Stumpf with pocket queens, cashing for $174,944.

Heads up, Stumpf’s stack of 7.15 million chips was ahead of Pavel Plesuv’s 6.55 million, but the final duel was to be no quick kill. The final table had already been running for two hours and seven players had been eliminated, but it would take another full hour to find a winner. Ten minutes into heads up play, with Stumpf looking at Kings, they managed to get all the chips in on a board of Q-3-8-2. Unfortunately for him, Pavel Plesuv had been dealt a pair of threes giving him a set. The river blanked out and Pavel had over 70% of the chips in play.

Play continued for over 30 more minutes with Stumpf holding around 3 million chips to Plesuv’s 11 million until they got it all in pre-flop with Stumpf’s A-9 spades being at risk against the 4-4 of Plesuv. The flop came down 9-9-Q rainbow and a dry ending nearly balanced out the chips. This led to a swap putting Stumpf in the 10 million chips range and Plesuv in the 4 million.

All the chips found there way in yet again with Stumpf holding pocket 4’s against the superior pocket 10’s of Plesuv. The 10’s held and again the stacks were rebalanced to how they were when the final battle began.

Stumpf had built a solid lead when the final hand sucker-punched Plesuv to the floor for the final time. On a board showing J-9-7-2-6 with the final three cards being diamonds, Stumpf shoved with jack-nine and was eventually called by Plesuv with jack-four including the blocker jack of diamonds. That gave the Canadian victory and a top prize of $286,842. For Plesuv, it was the same story as last week – an honorable runner-up result that was a congratulations on an incredible feat.

Watch all the action as it happened in this week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ right here.

GGPoker GGMillion$ October 31st 2023 Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Matthew Stumpf	Canada	$286,842
2nd	Pavel Plesuv	Moldova	$224,012
3rd	Ivan Luca	Argentina	$174,944
4th	Niklas Astedt	Sweden	$136,624
5th	Carl Green	Russia	$106,697
6th	Pablo Silva	Brazil	$83,326
7th	‘Depaulinspt’	Brazil	$65,074
8th	‘SuperSolid’	United Kingdom	$50,820
9th	Konstantin Maslak	Russia	$39,688

Latest GGMillion$ Won by New Zealand’s Finest David Yan for $297,000 – November 16, 2023

Coming into this week’s GGMillion$ final table, New Zealand’s David Yan had three wins from 30 runnings this year on GGPoker. He made it four at his fifth GGMillion$ final table of 2023, overcoming a final table featuring beats of the online felt such as Bert Stevens and Benjamin Roller along the way.

Ladev Loses Out After Lengthy Battle

Heading into the final nine, there was a massive chip leader, and it wasn’t David Yan. Mexico-based ‘Tedwina Slowsby’, a regular in these events, came into their fourth GGMillion$ final table of the year on a massive 160 big blinds for one of the biggest final table leads in this event’s glorious history. Now into the second season of the $10,300-entry event on GGPoker, it was Yan who followed the leader, with 76 big blinds.

Others at the final table felt included Norway’s ‘TimDunken’ (36BB), Juan Dominguez (33BB), Markkos Ladev (29BB), Benjamin Rolle (23BB), ‘Waylan’ (21BB) and Bert ‘girafganger7’ Stevens (21BB), with the short stack being Thomas Santerne owning just seven big blinds. Despite starting so short, Santerne survived the early skirmishes, with Markkos Ladev of Estonia the first to depart.

Ladev, who has $266,000 in live ranking event winnings, is even more of an online superstar, and his latest cash adds to his winnings, albeit disappointing him in the moment. All-in with ace-eight offsuit, Ladev was crushed both pre-flop and post-flop, as Spanish player Juan Dominguez called with pocket aces and held through a nine-high board to send Ladev to the rail for $41,192.

Stevens Goes on a Tear

Eight remained and Santerne grew short again. Making his move pre-flop from early position with king-queen of hearts, He was called by a fellow short stack, Bert Stevens, holding a marginally stronger hand. The United Kingdom player, known to millions of poker fans as ‘girafganger7’ had the best of it with ace-queen and held, the French player Santerne sliding out of contention in eighth for $52,745.

German player Benjamin Rolle cashed in seventh place for $67,539. He was down to just over ten big blinds with king-jack offsuit and shoved on a pot raised by Bert from middle position. Stevens called with ace-jack and a board of A-5-4-A-8 saw ‘girafganger7’ win big. As Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator, WPT champion and TV writer extraordinaire Matt Salsberg, called the action, Salsberg said “Bert’s run up quite a stack from crumbs, this is interesting. When you go from 600k to 4 million, your adrenaline means you can get spewy. You get overly confident gain and run into it.”

Gross agreed as the next hand saw Stevens give some back with queen-jack suited to Slowsby’s pocket aces. Stevens had solidified his stack, however, and only Slowsby remained ahead of him. The British player would take out the next opponent too, Dominguez shoving with ace-nine and Stevens calling it off with pocket queens.

“It must be nice!” eulogised Salsberg. “He’s getting a premium every three hands.”

Those queens held, and a jack-high board send the Spanish player Dominguez home for a score of $86,482. The hand put Stevens just a three-bet off the lead, a stunning show from the player who had begun with a stack just one eighth the size of the chip leader.

It was nearly an hour before the next person, Chinese player ‘Waylan’, busted, and again it was Stevens who struck the fatal blow. All-in with ace-five, ‘Waylan’ saw Stevens call with ace-jack. The board ran out 8-2-2-K-6 sending the Chinese player home, and Stevens became chip leader as ‘Waylan’ cashed for $110,739.

Two River Bets Drown the Leader

Four players were racing towards a conclusion and of them, Yan was the one who bagged biggest during their opening exchanges. Norway’s ‘TimDunken’ was the next to leave, cashing for $141,799 in fourth place. All-in with ace-eight, he lost when ‘TedwinaSlowby’s’ jack-six of hearts flopped a jack and faded turn and river to elevate his stack to 4.42 million. Marginally ahead of Stevens with 4.35m, the overnight chip leader was now behind David Yan, however, who sat with 5.22m at the top of the leaderboard.

It was Stevens who first grew short in a perilous position. Drifting down to 2 million chips, he called off his stack in the big blind with king-queen of diamonds when ‘TedwinaSlowsby’ shoved with ace-eight from the small blind. A flop of K-J-6 initially made Stevens the new favorite to win the hand and double up, but an ace on the turn changed that and a seven on the river sent the Brit home with $181,570.

Going into the final battle, ‘TedwinaSlowsby’ had 9.2 million chips to Yan’s 5.1 million. Everything changed in one hand, as Yan waited until the river to hit the king-high flush and snap-called the former chip leader’s shove with ease. That flipped a script even the great Matt Salsberg would have been proud of and now holding a chip lead of around 5:1, Yan sealed the deal in style.

‘TedwinaSlowsby’ once again made an error on the river to lose it, as his ten-five suited only hit bottom pair on the flop that came A-8-5. A king on the turn didn’t help Yan, but he didn’t need it holding pocket jacks and when a six on the river landed, the shove from Yan was called by ‘TedwinaSlowsby’ and David Yan was once again the champion – an “absolute monster” at the online felt according to regular host Jeff Gross.

Watch all the action as it took place on GGPoker’s YouTube channel right here.

GGMillion$ 14th November 2023 Final Table Results

Position	Player	Country	Prize
1st	David Yan	New Zealand	$297,707
2nd	‘TedwinaSlowsby’	Mexico	$232,497
3rd	Bert Stevens	United Kingdom	$181,570
4th	‘TimDunken’	Norway	$141,799
5th	‘Waylan’	China	$110,739
6th	Juan Dominguez	Spain	$86,482
7th	Benjamin Rolle	Germany	$67,539
8th	Thomas Santerne	France	$52,745
9th	Markkos Ladev	Estonia	$41,192

All-Russian Heads-Up Sees Thrilling GGMillion$ Won for $357,000 – November 22, 2023

A truly rapid final table took place in this week’s GGMillion$, the popular poker tournament that takes place weekly with a $10,300 buy-in on GGPoker. Featuring some of the biggest names in the game, this week saw an all-Russian final battle produce a very well-known winner as legends of the game such as David Peters and Wiktor Malinowski fell just short of glory as they starred at the final table.

Chip Leader Off to Dominant Start

Heading into the final table, it was the Russian poker pro Artur Martirosian who did so with the chip lead and what a stunning lead it was. Sitting on 136 big blinds at the start of the final day, it was only the multiple GGMillion$ winner’s third final table in 2023 but he aimed to make the most of it. A long way back but still in second place was one of the GGMillion$ most consistent performers in the last twelve months. Brazilian player Pablo Silva was at his sixth final table starting with 53 big blinds as he vied for yet another title.

Behind the top two, players such as David Peters (35BB), Ilya Anatski (31BB), Wiktor Malinowski (27BB), ‘SuperSolid’ (24BB), Giya Yakobishvili (22BB), ‘spaise411’ (21BB) and Alexander Tkatschew (17BB) were all in the hunt, as the race to catch up with the runaway chip leader began.

Martirosian was the aggressor in most hands as you might imagine, and he scored the first knockout just 20 minutes in. All-in from the small blind with queen-six offsuit, he got a call from short stack Tkatschew in the big blind, whose stack of five blinds was put at risk with seven-eight of spades. The K-J-T flop kept Martirosian ahead, and after a deuce on the turn, Tkatschew needed only a seven or and eight to survive. Instead, a five came on the river and the field was reduced to eight as the German player cashed for $51,105 in ninth place.

Peters and Malinowski Mown Down

David Peters shoved with pocket jacks and ran into a monster both in terms of chips and cards. Martirosian called with pocket aces and the Russian slayed one of the most experienced foes he faced at the final table felt, Peters sliding out in eighth for $65,178 after an eight-high board played out.

As Martirosian and Pablo Silva battled it out for the chip lead, the Polish crusher Wiktor Malinowski and British player ‘SuperSolid’ – both of whom have excellent records overall in the GGMillion$ – took each other on in a battle of the short stacks. Malinowski was at risk with ace-nine of spades and he couldn’t overtake SuperSolid’ pocket tens as the board of J-8-6-5-3 failed to help the online poker legend Malinowski, who bowed out in seventh for $83,127.

Russian players were everywhere at the final table, with three of the remaining six coming from the country. One such player, and a consistent performer at GGMillion$ final tables was ‘spaise411’, who took out another opponent on his way up the leaderboard. British player ‘SuperSolid’, themselves a stand-out GGMillion$ player in recent final tables, having reached three in the past few weeks, was all-in with pocket tens, but ‘spaise411’ held pocket jacks and the Russian’s flopped top set eventually made a full house on the turn to send ‘SuperSolid’ to the rail with a very solid $106,018.

An all-Russian tussle provided the next elimination as Giya Yakobishvili lost to ‘spaise411’ to reduce the field to four. Cashing for $135,212 in fifth, Yakobishvili was all-in with a dominated ace-ten as their countryman ‘spaise411’s ace-jack prevailed with all the chips committed pre-flop. A jack on the flop and river were overkill, and that meant the chip leader Martirosian (6.73m) was followed in the counts by his fellow Russian ‘spaise411’ on 6.35m. Shorter stacked were Pablo Silva (3.13m) and Ilya Anatski (1.97m).

A Race to the Line

After 90 minutes play, four players still remained. Within half an hour, the champion would be crowned as a frantic finale brought about the newest GGMillion$ winner in the $10,300 weekly event on GGPoker. A thrilling ‘Mystery Hand’ saw presenter Jeff Gross and guest co-commentator Roman Hrabec guess what Belarussian Ilya Anatski had when he was about to call Martirosian’s river shove with top pair. Anatski had wrongly hero-called with just bottom pair and left in fourth for $172,446.

A similar situation scuppered the chances of another Brazilian victory in a year which has seen many of the GGMILLION$ finals won by talented South American players. Pablo Silva faced a shove from Martirosian on a board showing Q-9-2-3-6, and ended up making the call for his tournament life with ace-nine. He was wrong to do so, however, with the Russian’s king-queen good enough to send play heads-up. Silva, so close to a second GGMILLION$ win this season, was out in third for $219,933.

Into the final battle, and spaise411 had 6.37 million chips to Martirosian’s 11.9 million. When ‘spaise411’ almost levelled the stacks after turning trip jacks on a wet board, things looked good for the underdog. It was not to be, though, as a cooler froze out ‘spaise411’ and gave Artur Martirosian a record-breaking victory. Martirosian raised with pocket aces after his countryman raised with a suited king-jack and ‘spaise411’ three-bet to 1.1 million. Martirosian four-bet to 2.2m which was called. The 8-8-4 flop gave ‘spaise411’ two hearts to match those in his hand. The chips went all-in and another eight on the turn meant ‘spaise411’ was drawing dead as Artur Martirosian won a record-breaking eighth GGMILLION$ title. No one has more than the irrepressible Russian as he went wire-to-wire in almost complete control as “one of the best players in the world”. As Jeff Gross said, Artur Martirosian “put on a world-class show”.

Watch the final table action right here.

GGMillion$ 14th November 2023 Final Table Results

Position	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Artur Martirosian	Russia	$357,739
2nd	‘spaise411	Russia	$280,497
3rd	Pablo Silva	Brazil	$219,933
4th	Ilya Anatski	Belarus	$172,446
5th	Giya Yakobishvili	Russia	$135,212
6th	‘SuperSolid’	United Kingdom	$106,018
7th	Wiktor Malinowski	Poland	$83,127
8th	David Peters		$65,178
9th	Alexander Tkatschew	Germany	$51,105

GGMILLION$ Won by Vladimir Minko for $284,000 – November 30, 2023

A thrilling final table gave Russia player Vladimir Minko victory in this week’s GGMillion$ as he scooped the $284,669 top prize. At a final table stacked with quality, players such as Justin Bonomo and Michael Addamo failed to make it count as they missed out on over a quarter of a million dollars in the $10,300-entry weekly event.

Addamo the Aggressor

As the final nine prepared to play to a winner, GGPoker regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Mario Mosboeck summed up the action. Going into the final table, it was the Australian powerhouse Michael Addamo who had 83 big blinds at his second GG MILLION$ final of the season. Second in chips was Justin Bonomo, who, playing from Canada, had 78 big blinds at his first final table of the year.

Behind the leaders lay the eventual winner Minko with 60 big blinds. Other to feature included Amichai Barer (59BB), Joao Vieira (28BB), David Peters (26BB), Matthew Stumpf (24BB), Ukrainian Andrii Derzhypilskyi (23BB) and Dimitar Danchev (12BB), as play got underway only a few minutes before the first elimination.

First out was Danchev, who shoved with pocket sevens on a 6-3-3 flop with two hearts and was called by Bonomo with ace-queen with the ace of hearts. An eight of hearts on the turn was followed by the queen of hearts on the river and the Bulgarian busted for a score of $39,388.

Russia and Ukraine Fight at the Felt

A clash between the eventual winner, Russian player Vladimir Minko and his Ukrainian opponent Andrii Derzhypilskyi ended with the latter on the rail with $50,435. All-in with pocket jacks, Derzhypilskyi was dejected to see Minko call with pocket kings, and the board of 8-4-4-3-7 saw the kings prevail to reduce the field to seven players.

It had only taken a quarter of an hour to lose two players, but it would be over an hour before another elimination. When it came, it was one of a trio of players playing from Canada as native Ami Barer cashed for $64,581 in sixth place. All-in with king-queen offsuit against Minko’s ace-jack, the flop of A-Q-9 gave both players a pair but kept the Russian ahead. A deuce on the turn and ten on the river confirmed Barer’s elimination and continued Minko’s domination of elimination hands.

Bonomo was short when shoving from the small blind with a suited queen-eight and Minko was priced in to call with the king-three of diamonds, the same suit as Bonomo’s cards. The board of K-2-2-J-6 had Bonomo drawing dead to the river as he cashed for $82,695 outside the top five. Soon after, a flop of K-3-2 with two diamonds saw Portuguese player Joao Vieira check-shove with the jack-five of diamonds, called by Addamo with pocket nines which held through the off-suit ten turn and seven river to send Vieira to the rail with $105,889.

Minko Makes It Count

Matthew Stumpf picked the worst possible moment to shove when short with a suited ace-three. Called by David Peters’ suited ace-jack, the American’s hand prevailed through the T-T-3-J-2 board and sent Stumpf home with $135,589. That meant the leader was Minko with 7.22 million, with Peters (4.24m) and Addamo (2.14m) hunting him down.

David Peters slid back in the rankings and eventually shoved with pocket threes. Called by Addamo with ace-eight, it was the Australian who made the better hand, a flop of A-Q-T followed by a six on turn and a six on the river to send Peters home with $173,618.

Heads-up, Addamo may have won that hand but had the shortest stack with 4.6 million chips. Minko’s 8.95m was ahead and it took no time at all for the epic finale to be over. On a flop of T-3-2, both players flopped top pair, with Addamo’s T-8 slightly better than Minko’s ten-seven. A seven on the turn gave Minko an incredibly well-disguised two pair and on the river of a deuce, Addamo shoved, Minko called and it was all over, the Aussie winning $222,314 as runner-up and Minko claiming the win for $284,669.

Watch all the drama as it happened in the company of Gross and Mosboeck right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Vladimir Minko	Russia	$284,669
2nd	Michael Addamo	Australia	$222,314
3rd	David Peters	United States	$173,618
4th	Matthew Stumpf	Canada	$135,589
5th	Joao Vieira	Portugal	$105,889
6th	Justin Bonomo	United States	$82,695
7th	Amichai Barer	Canada	$64,581
8th	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$50,435
9th	Dimitar Danchev	Bulgaria	$39,388

« October 2023  |  December 2023 »

About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.

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Edited by Shawn A.