Samuel Mullur Wins GGMillion$ High Rollers Championship for $2.72 Million and WSOP Bracelet – December 12, 2023

This week’s GGPoker GGMILLION$ didn’t take place online at GGPoker for the usual $10,300. Instead, the price was $25,000 to play and the prizepool grew to over $13 million. The top prize was a juicy $2.72 million… but the location was the biggest win of all. Taking place as part of the WSOP Paradise festivities on Atlantis Island in The Bahamas, this week’s GG MILLION$ winner was an Austrian superstar in the making who will look back on the event as the biggest moment of his poker career so far – Samuel Mullur.

Power Play in Paradise

A mammoth field of players provided thrills and spills throughout in the GGMILLION$ this week, as 533 entries put up the $25,000 buy-in to take part in one of the biggest events on the poker calendar. That prizepool, which officially stood at $13,325,000 saw some of the biggest names in the game take part. Anyone who made Day 2 was in the money, with 80 players being paid.

These included smaller cashes for players such as 2022 WSOP Main Event winner Espen Jorstad (71st for $42,200) and 2021 WSOP Main Event winner Koray Aldemir (64th for $46,100), with second place on the All-Time Money List Justin Bonomo (58th for $46,100) and regular GGMILLION$ presenter Jeff Gross (50th for $52,700) making a great profit but missing out on the final table. GGPoker Global Ambassador Daniel Negreanu made it all the way to 26th place for a score of $77,000.

Once the final nine had been reached, there was a minimum payout of $208,300 for the next players to bust. As it happened, that player was Ukrainian Renat Bohdanov, who moved all-in with ace-three and was called by German player Daniel Smiljkovic with ace-queen. The hand held with ease as the final eight players confirmed, that’s where the action ended on the penultimate day. The remaining eight would return for a showdown, all vying for the $2.7 million top prize and the most coveted WSOP bracelet of the WSOP Paradise series so far.

Slaying the Matador

Smiljkovic ended Day 2 with an elimination, and began Day 3 the same way. Canadian GGMILLION$ regular Matthew Stumpf busted with the same hand as Bohdanov, moving all-in with ace-three. This time, Smiljkovic had ace-jack instead of ace-queen, but the outcome was the same. A board of A-Q-4-9-2 condemned the Canadian to an eighth-place finish worth $267,500 as the German player rocketed up the leaderboard.

With seven players left, it was a big player who busted next, as Spanish professional Adrian Mateos who has celebrated WSOP glory in his past on multiple occasions, crashed out for $349,400. All-in for just eight big blinds with pocket fours, Mateos, often nicknamed El Matador, needed to dodge either an ace or jack that would pair Smiljkovic’s ace-jack. The flop of T-6-2 seemed safe but a queen on the turn and king on the river completed an unlikely Broadway straight that sent Mateos to the rail.

Next to go was the Austrian player Klemens Roiter, who lost to his countryman Mullur, doubling up the eventual winner as Roiter’s king-jack couldn’t hold against Mullur’s queen-nine. Roiter was out in sixth place but earned $463,700 as Mullur pushed up the leaderboard in pursuit of glory.

Five! Four! Three!

Lithuanian player Arunas Sapitavicius was the next out in fifth place, earning $625,400 when he was also ousted by Mullur, this time with an ace-deuce against the Austrian’s pocket tens. That pot put Mullur in the box-seat with four left and the Austrian, who is part of Fedor Holz’ Pokercode stable, was the man to beat.

Actor Frank Brannan next eliminated the 2020 ‘hybrid’ world champion Damian Salas. The Argentinian shoved with king-queen but found himself dominated and defeated by Brannan’s ace-king. No help came on the eight-high board for Salas and he made his way to the cash desk for a fourth-place score of $856,800.

German player Daniel Smiljkovic had so much early momentum in the final, having scored a couple of early elimination to boost his own chances of lifting the bracelet but it was not to be. He shoved with king-nine and lost to Brannan’s ace-four. The board of J-T-5-6-2 saw Brannan make the heads-up as Smiljkovic went home in third with $1,192,300, the first million-plus result of the event.

Heads-up, Mullur had the chip lead with 86.3 million chips, while Brannan’s stack of 46m while not small, was the short stack. That switched round at one stage as Brannan made early ground to take the lead but a fatal call occurred when Brannan called off his stack hoping to seal victory with a turned top pair of jacks only to have been trapped by Mullur with pocket kings.

Soon, Mullur himself was king. Brannan shoved with a suited queen-ten and Mullur had the easiest of calls once more with pocket kings. Those cowboys shot Brannan down in flames on a K-8-8 flop, and the match was over after the turn revealed a six, as Brannan made do with 1,684,500 and Sam Mullur celebrated his first-ever WSOP bracelet – and the top prize of $2,726,300 – with a raucous rail at Atlantis on Paradise Island in The Bahamas.

You can watch all the action here.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Samuel Mullur	Austria	$2,726,300
2nd	Frank Brannan	United States	$1,684,500
3rd	Daniel Smiljkovic	Germany	$1,192,300
4th	Damian Salas	Argentina	$856,800
5th	Arunas Sapitavicius	Lithuania	$625,400
6th	Klemens Roiter	Austria	$463,700
7th	Adrian Mateos	Spain	$349,400
8th	Matthew Stumpf	Canada	$267,500
9th	Renat Bohdanov	Ukraine	$208,300

Alexey Borovkov Bullies His Way to GGMILLION$ Victory for $300k – December 20, 2023

A stunning display of big stack play gave Alexey Borovkov victory in the weekly GGMILLION$ showdown as he beat ‘Samu Sabu’ of Austria to claim the $299,880 top prize. Back on GGPoker after an excursion to WSOP Paradise last week, this week’s $10,300 buy-in ‘Millions’ had the prize pool grow to $1,380,000 and provided many thrills and spills along the way as the dominant Borovkov made the most of his opportunity to capture the major online poker title.

Chip Leader in Charge

With the final nine players sitting down at one of the quickest final tables in recent history, the Russian player Alexey Borovkov – playing from Argentina – held a massive lead over the rest of the field with 137 big blinds. His closest challenger was Chris Rudolph with 92 big blinds, and who had reached the seventh final table of 2023 in the GGMILLION$ event series.

Behind them were some massive names in the game with ‘Samu Sabu’ (65BB), Daniel Petersen (27BB), Pieter Aerts (21BB), ‘sohta61’ (19BB), Ilya Anatski (18BB), ‘Audrii’ (17BB) and the Russian legend ‘spaise411’ (12BB) all in the hunt. The Russian ‘spaise411’ was at his seventh final table and managed to navigate the early exchanges with his short stack.

One player who didn’t was the Austria-based ‘Audrii’. All-in with pocket fours on hand 2, they were up against Alexey Borovkov’s ace-king, and a flop of A-6-5 immediately set the at-risk player behind. A jack on the turn was no help for the Austrian and – chasing only a four – the king on the river merely confirmed Borovkov busting his opponent for $41,492 to grab the initiative early in the action.

Petersen Picked Off

The final eight players weren’t to battle for long before another of their number hit the rail. All-in with king-jack of spades, Belgian player Pieter Aerts couldn’t survive against Borovkov’s ten-four of clubs as the flop came down A-K-3 all clubs. A five on the turn and six on the river meant that Aerts was left on the rail as he cashed for $53,130.

Next to go was ‘spaise411’, as his micro-stack of 307,200 chips, less than eight big blinds, was committed from the big blind with king-queen offsuit from the button. It was rough timing, with Anatski calling it off with ace-jack from the big blind, surviving after a nine-high board with four hearts saw neither player holding one. The Russian went to the rail with a score of $68,032 – a fine amount, but no late run for one of the GGMILLION$ event series’ most popular and successful players.

The reverse of the last two hands occurred when Daniel Petersen shoved with ace-jack and was called by Brovkov holding king-queen. Only the Russian had a diamond so the all-diamond flop of K-T-3 was a disaster for Petersen, whose only hope of overcoming his opponent was to hit an offsuit ace or a queen for Broadway in the remaining two streets. A four and a six landed to send Petersen to the rail with $87,114, the last five-figure result of the tournament.

Borovkov Triumphs After Late Drama

Down to just five players, everyone was in line for a 6-figure payday from now on. The next hand, ‘sohta61’ was all-in with pocket sevens but couldn’t crack Anatski’s pocket tens for $111,547. Incredibly, less than 45 minutes at the final table had elapsed and five players had been eliminated.

Twenty minutes later, Anatski shoved for 709,262 with ace-queen of hearts and two players called him – ‘Samu Sabu’ with pocket sevens and Borovkov with pocket fours. The flop of A-Q-4 was harsh on Anatski, and ‘Samu Sabu’ let go of the hand as Borovkov’s bet pushed the Austrian out of the way. After kings fell on both the turn and the river, Anatski left with a score of $142,034.

Chris Rudolph was the next to go, the German beat in third place for $182,898. He ran into the coldest deck imaginable, all-in pre-flop with ace-king, he ran into Borovkov’s pocket aces. The superior hand won and was stacked with 10.53 million to Sabu’s 3.77 million chips, Borovkov was one big pot away from glory.

It was just 70 minutes to narrow the field to heads-up play which took 45 additional minutes to resolve. The start of heads-up saw ‘Samu Sabu’ start to chip up, but he never achieved parity and spent most of the time surviving with between 1m and 3m chips. On the final hand, with a board of Q-4-4-2-9 where two clubs came on the flop and another landed on the river, there was only 1.5 million in the pot when Sabu bet 1.27 million. Borovkov raised all-in and Sabu called it off, showing the second nut flush with king-seven of clubs. Borovkov, however, had the nut flush with ace-jack of clubs and claimed victory for just under $300,000.

Watch all the action as it happened in the company of regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator David Yan from New Zealand.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Alexey Borovkov	Russia	$299,880
2nd	‘Samu Sabu’	Austria	$234,194
3rd	Chris Rudolph	Germany	$182,896
4th	Ilya Anatski	Belarus	$142,834
5th	‘sohta61’	Cyprus	$111,547
6th	Daniel Petersen	United Kingdom	$87,114
7th	‘spaise411’	Russia	$68,032
8th	Pieter Aerts	Belgium	$53,130
9th	‘Audrii’	Austria	$41,492

Thomas Santerne Wins Christmas GG MILLION$ for $289,000 – December 28, 2023

A yuletide spectacular saw French player Thomas Santerne wins the Christmas GGMILLION$ for $289,015 as he defeated a stubborn Shyngis Satubayev in second place to claim the crown in the weekly $10,300-entry online poker spectacular on GGPoker.

Santerne Leads from the Finish

Heading into the action, it was the French player Thomas Santerne who led the field at his third final table of 2023. With 68 big blinds, it was not the biggest chip leader stack of the past 12 months, and in fact may have been one of the smaller. His lead was slim to the second in chips player, Argentinian Pure Mateine with 56 big blinds, with Montenegro’s ‘pokanuktus’ third in chips on 54 big blinds.

Another six players were chasing the leaders, each with highly playable stacks. Thailand’s ‘Haiyaaaa’ (44BB), Canadian Mark Radoja (42BB), Russian Giya Yakobishvili (35BB), Kazakhstan’s Shyngis Satubayev (32BB), German Christian Rudolph (31BB) and short stacked American Michael Jozoff (30BB) all had a great chance of turning their last final table of the year into a win worth more than a quarter of a million dollars for a $10,000 entry fee.

The two first players out lasted around half an hour before busting within seconds of each other. ‘pokanuktus’ had a disaster, busting in ninth place for $39,989 when his shove with pocket queens ran into Santerne’s pocket kings. An ace-high board with no queen and an insignificant king on the river sent the Montenegran home. Soon after, Haiyaaaa was all-in for 11 big blinds with pocket nines only to fail to hold against Radoja’s ace-queen. A flop of A-K-2 saw the Thai player fall behind and he couldn’t catch a nine on turn or river, busting in eighth place for $51,205.

Jozoff is Off in Seventh

Mike Jozoff has blended a fine 2023 in the live poker streets with some shrewd backing of other players on PokerStake and cashed in seventh place for $65,567. Jozoff was all-in with jack-nine on a board showing J-9-6 and was ahead with his caller, Giya Yakobishvili, holding jack-queen. Drawing to running spades or a queen, a queen on the turn flipped the script and the Russian, who would have been left with three big blinds had he lost that hand, soared to 2.85 million chips, as Jozoff crashed out with an hour of the final table in the books.

Canadian Mark Radoja failed to find any callers when he shoved pre-flop with pocket aces, and in the next hand, got it all-in again, this time with ace-ten. Called by Yakobishvili with ace-king, it was all over for the Canadian when a board of A-Q-J-5-9 sent Radija to the rail, as he cashed for $83,957 in sixth place.

Down to 14 big blinds, Argentina’s Pure Mateine shoved from the small blind with eight-ten of diamonds and was called by Germany’s Christian Rudolph in the big blind with ace-seven of spades. As the final table ticked past two hours, Mateine saw an ace land on the turn to end his hopes and was eliminated for $107,506.

Satubayev Clubbed to Defeat

Four great players remained but only one could be champion. Sitting on 5.6 million, Santerne led, with Rudolph (3.92m) aiming for an appropriately festive finish to proceedings. Yakobishvili (2.12m) and Shyngis Satubayev (1.65m) both still harboured genuine hopes of victory.

First to lose all their hopes of glory was Yakobishvili, who shoved from the small blind with ten-nine of clubs for 14 big blinds. They ran into Santerne’s pocket aces and the board of 7-4-2-Q-5 saw the Russian drawing dead to the river as they busted for a score of $137,659. Moments later, play was heads-up, as Rudolph couldn’t make it to Santa’s top table, making $176,269 in third place when his king-queen lost to Santerne’s ace-ten, an ace coming on the flop.

Heads-up, Santerne had a big lead, with 11.7 million to Satubayev’s 1.98 million. The Kazakhstan player had laddered brilliantly to the final duel but fell short of glory by one place. All-in with pocket kings on a queen-high board with three flopped clubs and a six of spades on the turn, Satubayev was crushed when his shove was called by Santerne with ace-king of clubs for the flopped club nut flush!

The insignificant fourth king in the deck landing on the river ended matters, Shyngis Satubayev winning $225,709 as runner-up and Santerne going wire to wire as the chip leader to take home a very big Christmas present of the $289,015 top prize.

Watch regular host Jeff Gross and recent GGMILION$ Live WSOP Paradise Main Event Samuel Mullur dissect the drama in this full final table replay of the action:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Thomas Santerne	France	$289,015
2nd	Shyngis Satubayev	Kazakhstan	$225,709
3rd	Christian Rudolph	Germany	$176,269
4th	Giya Yakobishvili	Russia	$137,659
5th	Pure Mateine	Argentina	$107,506
6th	Mark Radoja	Canada	$83,957
7th	Michael Jozoff	United States	$65,567
8th	‘Haiyaaaa’	Thailand	$51,205
9th	‘pokanuktus’	Montenegro	$39,989

« November 2023  |  January 2024 »

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.