GGMillion$ Won by Thomas Santerne for $237,000 – January 5, 2024

The first GGMillion$ final table of the New Year had fans watching online and winning too as Jeff Gross, along with special guest co-commentator Benjamin Rolle, kicked off 2024 in style on GGPoker. A $980,000 prize pool allowed for a whopping top prize of almost a quarter of a million bucks, a fine reward for the $10,300 entry fee, won by French player Thomas Santerne, who started play in third place but ended it as the biggest earner of the night.

Hrabec the Hero as Play Begins

Roman Hrabec is a player who needs no introduction to fans of high stakes poker, with the Czech Republic player having earned over $2.8 million playing live on the felt. As incredible as those live tournament results in raking tournaments are, Hrabec has won even more online, and he began the first GGMillion$ final table of the year with a huge chip lead. Holding 114 big blinds, Hrabec was way ahead of his closest challenger, ‘Promoking’ from the United Kingdom, who held 92 big blinds.

Next in the chip counts: Thomas Santerne (60BB), Thailand’s ‘AMTten’ (40BB) and Chinese player ‘jack chan’ (27BB) featured in the top half of the leaderboard. Cyprus player ‘sohta61’ (25BB), Norway’s ‘A Martirosian’ (25BB), Hungarian Gergely Kulcsar (16BB), and Morocco’s ‘gs2022’ (7BB) brought up the rear.

The first player to depart went after half an hour’s play, as the short stack from Morocco shoved all-in with king-queen offsuit. Called by Kulcsar with pocket aces, the runout of A-Q-2-4-8 sent the Moroccan to the rail for the first final table cash of the year, a chunky $31,536.

Pocket Pairs Count for Fresh Air

While Kulcsar had won a crucial dominating hand, others relied on winning their flips to leap up the leaderboard. Among them was the Cyrpiot player ‘sohta61’, who took a big pot with ace-king against the Chinese player ‘jack chan’ with pocket jacks. Another pocket pair appealed to Kulcsar as he went all-in pre-flop with pocket sevens, but he started and ended his final hand behind the pocket nines of ‘AMTten’, and left for a score of $40,594.

Next to leave was Norwegian ‘A Martirosian’. They three-bet shoved pre-flop with pocket eights and was called by British player ‘Promoking’, who held ace-queen. A flop of A-Q-4 immediately set the Norwegian behind, and a queen on the turn ended matters, an insignificant three on the river confirming their departure in seventh place for $52,254.

An hour had elapsed and the chip leader when play began, Roman Hrabec, now held only a very slim lead from Thai player AMTten. While they battled at the top of the leaderboard, others scrapped for their lives at the bottom, among them China’s ‘jack chan’. They shoved with ace-king of clubs and were called by ‘sohta61’ with pocket sevens, which held through the 9-5-3-9-9 board with only one club. The Chinese player cashed for $67,262 in sixth as the final five now found themselves racing towards the finishing line less than an hour after final table play had started.

A Huge Flip to Win

‘Promoking’ lost a massive pot with king-deuce when ‘sohta61’ found two pairs – aces and tens – to call a massive bluff from the British player on a river when the board had fallen A-4-2-3-T. Soon after, the player from the United Kingdom had cashed for $86,581 when his pre-flop shove with nine-ten of hearts lost to AMTten’s seven-eight of diamonds, a heart-breaking board of 7-5-4-4-5 eliminating the British player before the final four.

Cyprus player ‘sohta61’ had won a nice pot with ace-ten but lost a more crucial one with an even better set of hole cards. Three-bet raising all-in with pocket kings, he was well ahead of Hrabec’s ace-king pre-flop, but after a safe flop of Q-4-2 was followed by a ten on the turn, an ace on the river ended the Cypriot’s hopes of victory in fourth place for $111,448 while catapulting Hrabec into the lead, holding 40% of the chips and only two opponents standing between him and the title.

A huge hand for a chip-leading pot saw play go from three-handed to heads-up. On a flop of J-T-4, ‘AMTten’ shoved with king-jack. Holding just 4,711 more chips than his opponent was Thomas Santerne, who had a big decision with pocket queens. Eventually calling, Santerne was delighted to see that he was ahead and when a three and ten completed the board, he scooped a pot of 6.1 million chips as the Thai player headed to the virtual rail for a third-place score of $143,458.

Heads-up began, with Hrabec now the underdog on 4 million chips. With only 100 minutes of action in the can, it took the best part of another hour’s play to find a winner. Hrabec never managed to take the lead, however, and while he did at one point surface to 4.6 million, he had less that 3.3 million when he called off his stack with ace-king pre-flop. Santerne had pocket jacks and only needed to avoid Hrabec hitting to be crowned champion. A board of 6-3-3-7-7 played out and Santerne had done it, the French player taking victory and the top prize of $237,700.

Watch all the action in the company of regular host Jeff Gross and this week’s special guest Ben Rolle right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Thomas Santerne	France	$237,700
2nd	Roman Hrabec	Czech Republic	$184,662
3rd	‘AMTten’	Thailand	$143,458
4th	‘sohta61’	Cyprus	$111,448
5th	‘Promoking’	United Kingdom	$86,581
6th	‘jack chan’	China	$67,262
7th	A Martirosian	Norway	$52,254
8th	Gergely Kulcsar	Hungary	$40,594
9th	‘gs2022’	Morocco	$31,536

King Kulev Wins GGMillion$ as Rudolph is Beaten Late – January 10, 2024

Bulgarian player Alex Kulev won the top prize of $363,836 as he grabbed the bragging rights at this week’s GGMillion$ final table. In a stunning climax, Alex Kulev got the better of Christian Rudolph in a huge pot with almost all of the chips on the line, as players such as Andrii Derzhypilskiy and Bert Stevens also made the final nine.

Gross and Heath on Comms as Final Starts Fast

With $1.79 million in the prize pool, Jeff Gross was joined by British high roller regular, and former GGMillion$ final table player, Ben Heath to run through the action on a dramatic night at the online felt. Heading into the action, the chip stacks were shallower than in previous weeks, with chip leader ‘lucky chicken’ from China having only 70 big binds. Bulgarian player Alex Kulev was second in chips with 63 big blinds, while German Christian Rudolph (51BB) and Alex Garcia (50BB) weren’t far behind.

Others to make the final table included Mexico-based ‘LevMeAlone’ (43BB), Andrii Derzhypilskyi (38BB), Bert ‘girafganger7’ Stevens (25BB), Nikita Kuznetsov (22BB) and Volodymyr Palamar (12BB) who began the action as the short stack. Palamar may have started shortest, but he wasn’t the first player to leave, as the second hand saw the Russian Nikita Kuznetsov bow out in ninth place for $51,976.

All-in with ace-jack offsuit, Kuznetsov lost to Rudolph as the German’s pocket tens prevailed through a board showing 8-6-6-4-2 sent the Russian player home. That strengthened the German player Rudolph’s cause as he leaped into an early lead. That was still the case as the next thirty minutes of play saw no eliminations, but did have Palamar, the short stack at the start of play, get himself right back into contention, bumping his stack up to 2.6 million, third in chips of the eight remaining.

Stevens Can’t Seal Another MILLION$ Win

Bert Stevens isn’t just a poker legend but a GGMILLION$ legend specifically. Stevens may have won plenty of these events in the past on GGPoker, but he missed out this time. With all the stacks between 1 million (Stevens) and 3.9m (Rudolph), the British player took a shot at an important pot, shoving from the button with pocket sevens after Rudolph had raised with ace-queen. The German called it off and a board of A-8-4-9-Q slew the United Kingdom player, as he slid out in eighth for $66,289.

Another twenty-five minutes passed with the chips moving around the table before Alex Garcia found himself flipping for survival, all-in with ace-king pre-flop. But again, Rudolph sent another to the rail, as he put his opponent to the test with pocket jacks. The flop of 9-6-4 kept him ahead and after a nine turn and four river, Garcia went out in seventh place for $84,544.

As Jeff Gross described, the pot going to Rudolph left the German with “an absolute pile” of chips. Sat on 7.87 million chips, Rudolph’s closest challenger was ‘lucky chicken’, miles back on 2.82m. Although it was unknown then, the broadcast was more than halfway through one of the fastest final tables to date in the GGMillion$, Ukrainian player Andrii Derzhypilskiy was next to bust, opening from first position with pocket eights. A raise from Alex Kulev with pocket queens got all the chips in, and a board of A-K-3-A-2 sent the Ukrainian to the rail for $107,825.

One King to Rule Them All

With five players remaining and only 22 minutes until what would be the end, the overnight leader left the party in dreadfully unlucky fashion. All-in with ace-nine pre-flop for a pot worth 3.3 million – one that would have put them second in chips – Chinese player ‘lucky chicken’ lost out in fifth place for $137,517 to Alex Kulev’s ace-eight. A safe flop of A-A-K was followed by an eight on the turn and three on the river as the Bulgarian was extremely fortunate to add to his stack instead.

Kulev, now up to 6.1m compared to Rudolph’s 8.1m, was on a roll, and took out Palamar in fourth place for $175,385. This time, Kulev had the dominating hand, with his suited ace-ten ahead of Palamar’s suited ace-nine. That wasn’t the case when a nine landed on the flop to flip the script, but there was a sour ending to proceedings for the Ukrainian as no sooner had he gone from needing one of three outs to needing to fade three cards was the situation reversed. A ten landed on the turn to give Kulev the better hand once again and a three on the river confirmed the Bulgarian would be taking another vital pot.

In the very next hand, ‘LevMeAlone’ got it in with pocket threes and was called by Kulev with pocket sevens. A clean board of A-8-2-K-T left play heads up as the Mexico-based player departed for a score of $223,682. With 90 minutes of action only in the bank, a long, protracted heads-up might have been predictable, but instead, it was all over in ten minutes despite the chips being more like a great pizza base – both deep and even.

As the final duel began, Kulev was the leader with 9.71 million to Rudolph’s 8.96 million chips. The Bulgarian had gained a few by the time he bet from the button with king-jack suited in spades. Rudolph raised with a suited king-six of hearts. On a flop of A-K-7, with one heart, saw action continue to the turn which presented a two of hearts. That was enough and Rudolph went for it, tossing in a chunky bet of 2.28 million chips being called by Kulev and leaving the German committed on the river no matter what came. As it happened, an offsuit four didn’t help him, but he bet his remaining 3.4m chips into a pot of 9.39m and Kulev snap-called to win the tournament and the second GGMillion$ title of 2024 for $363,836!

Watch the fast-paced action from this week’s summit meeting of poker legends on GGPoker, brought to you by regular presenting host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Ben Heath right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Alex Kulev	Bulgaria	$363,836
2nd	Christian Rudolph	Germany	$285,278
3rd	‘LevMeAlone’	Mexico	$223,682
4th	Volodymyr Palamar	Ukraine	$175,385
5th	‘lucky chicken’	China	$137,517
6th	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$107,825
7th	Alex Garcia	Mexico	$84,544
8th	Bert Stevens	United Kingdom	$66,289
9th	Nikita Kuznetsov	Russia	$51,976

First GGMILLION$ Title Won by Moldovan Pavel Plesuv for $491k – January 18, 2024

This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was a monster, with a prizepool hitting an incredible $2.43 million. A buy-in of $10,300 saw some excellent players make the final table and in the end it was Pavel Plesuv, a regular at this final table, finally broke through and took down this weekly tournament title.

Ladva Loses Hope

Joining regular presenter Jeff Gross on commentary duties this week was Mike Wasserman and from the start, it was all action. Heading into the final table, Thai player ‘AMTten’ led the way with 66 big blinds, closely followed by Mexico-based Alex Garcia (65BB), Moldova’s Pavel Plesuv (61BB) and Ukraine’s ‘SmartM0ney’ (52BB).

Only a little further back was Anvar Muratov with 45 big blinds, who was followed by Ukrainian Vlad Martynenko (28BB), Hungary’s Gergely Kulcsar (23BB) and Estonia’s Ottomar Ladva (18BB) all chasing a route up the leaderboard. Trailing everyone was the short stack, Brazilian Pablo Silva, with just 7BB.

The bust-outs began almost immediately, as Ladva became the unlucky player to bust first. All-in pe-flop from the small blind with ace-four offsuit, Ladva was swiftly called by ‘SmartM0ney’ with pocket sevens. The flop of T-3-2 offered Ladva a little hope, with a straight draw and backdoor flush draw. A nine of hearts on the turn put the Estonian one card from the flush draw but he bricked the river with a ten of clubs and instead departed, cashing for $61,412 in ninth place.

Four remained, and Plesuv had a strong lead on 8.2 million chips, leading over ‘AMTten’ (7.5m) and Kulcsar (6m), with ‘SmartM0ney’ a little way behind on 3.4m in this thrilling poker game. A board of A-T-6-4-2 saw Silva fold the best hand with only a pair of sixes and no clubs and a board showing four of them. Saving just three big blinds, they all went in from the small blind in the next hand. The jack-three suited was no good against ‘AMTten’s ace-five suited, a board of 8-5-5-8-A giving the latter a full house and sending Silva to the rail for $79,642.

Plesuv Starts to Rise

Ukrainian player Martynenko was the next player to bust as the opening hour of play at the final table closed out with his exit to Hungarian Gergely Kulcsar. All-in from under the gun, Martynenko had ace-ten but Kulcsar called it off from the big blind with ace-king and a board of A-3-2-5-9 ended Martynenko’s hopes, sending him home with $103,283 in seventh place.

Next, it was a Russian player whose hopes ended short of the podium places. Raising from first position with pocket tens, Anvar Muratov wasn’t put off by Pavel Plesuv’s re-raise from the small blind and three-bet shoved. The Moldovan needed to hit to take out Muratov and did so across a board that ran out A-K-4-A-4. It looked over by the flop and was over by the turn. Muratov cashed for $133,941 in sixth.

Early on in the final table, Alex Garcia had shared the lead with Pavel Plesuv, who had now rocketed to the top of the counts. That situation had changed by the time Garcia shoved when short with a suited ace-ten of spades. Plesuv called with king-queen and hit a king on the flop of K-J-4. Garcia was calling for either one of three aces or three queens in the deck to give him Broadway. Incredibly, a queen landed on the turn putting him back in the lead. Amazingly, another queen on the river changed things again, handing Plesuv a full house and sending Garcia to the rail for a score of $173,701 in fifth place.

Crazy End Sees Chips Fly

Four remained, and Plesuv had a strong lead on 8.2 million chips, leading over ‘AMTten’ (7.5m) and Kulcsar (6m), with ‘SmartM0ney’ a little way behind on 3.4m. The Hungarian player Kulcsar slipped to a lot less, calling off his stack correctly for 2.3 million when in the big blind holding AQ suited in spades. ‘SmartM0ney’ made a risky move with the king-deuce of hearts and was rewarded when the board of 9-4-2-5-4 sent Kulcsar home with $225,262.

Down to three, none of the remaining trio had ever won GGMillion$ before, and after a wild period where the chips constantly moved and every player took turns as the short stack and forcing some all-in action, ‘SmartM0ney had lost their lead. The chips had been split between both their opponents. ‘AMTten’ took out the Ukrainian when ‘SmartM0ney’ shoved with ace-ten and the Thai player’s king-six prevailed as a six hit on the river helping him reach heads-up with a big lead over Pavel Plesuv. ‘SmartM0ney’ left with $292,129 in third place.

Plesuv began heads-up at a 4:1 deficit and knew he needed to go on the attack in a big way. All-in with pocket fours, he was called for 5 million chips by ‘AMTten’ holding pocket threes and the board rewarded the bigger pair, Plesuv doubling up to around 40% of the chips in play. Top pair was no good for ‘AMTten’ when Plesuv made a crazy straight and the Moldovan suddenly had a slim lead. When ‘AMTten’ hit a J-T-7 with queen-jack in his hand, he moved all-in, Plesuv called with ace-jack and the Thai player needed either runner-runner straight cards or a queen. An eight on the turn helped him, with any nine or queen representing seven cards that could save him.

None of them came as the king river saw Pavel Plesuv win the GG MILLION$ at long last, claiming the $491,300 top prize and far more importantly the global bragging rights in the high roller community after finally winning the tournament he wanted to land.

Watch the fast-paced action from this week’s summit meeting of poker legends on GGPoker, brought to you by regular presenting host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Mike Wasserman right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Pavel Plesuv	Moldova	$491,300
2nd	‘AMTten’	Thailand	$378,844
3rd	‘SmartM0ney’	Ukraine	$292,129
4th	Gergely Kulcsar	Hungary	$225,262
5th	Alex Garcia	Mexico	$173,701
6th	Anvar Muratov	Russia	$133,941
7th	Vlad Martynenko	Ukraine	$103,283
8th	Pablo Silva	Brazil	$79,642
9th	Ottomar Ladva	Estonia	$61,412

Latest GGMillion$ Crown Goes to German Poker Legend Ole Schemion for $337k – January 25, 2024

This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ saw a fast final table, which ended within two hours as German high roller regular Ole Schemion, claimed another GGPoker title and $337,413, defeating a final table packed with quality. Well known top players including Jans Arends, Niklas Astedt and Samuel Vousden all fell just short, Schemion once again proved how dangerous he is when armed with a big stack.

Stumpf Top of the Charts

Heading into the action, there was a big chip leader in the shape of Matthew Stumpf from Canada, who arrived at the final nine with 113 big blinds. Closely following him was German high roller Ole Schemion with 100 big blinds. Behind those top two, however, no-one had half of the leaders’ chips. Finnish pro Sam ‘€urop€an’ Vousden went into play third in chips with 48 big blinds, while Andrii Derzhypilskyi went into the action with 46 big blinds.

Even further behind was GGMillion$ and online poker legend Niklas Astedt battling with 34 big blinds, with Damir Zhugrain (30BB), Samuel Mullur (24BB), Global Poker Award Best Newcomer nominee Jans Arends (22BB) and Anvar Muratov (18BB) all hoping that a strong start might pave the way to a comeback victory against the odds.

The first player to bust lost his way in a massive three-way all-in where he as desperately unlucky. British player Damir Zhugralin called all-in pre-flop with the best hand in the game, pocket aces. He was met in the pot by Niklas Astedt holding pocket kings and Derzhypilskiy, who had the biggest stack of the three players, with pocket tens. A dramatic flop threw a king onto the board and the case king hit on the river. Astedt was given the unlikeliest of lifelines, trebling his stack while Zhugrain headed home with $48,201.

Overnight Leader Falls from Grace

With eight remaining, the next bust out did not come from Ukraine, as Derzhypilskiy survived the quads, but instead, the Russian player Anvar Muratov, was eliminated. Cashing for $61,475 in eighth place, Muratov was all-in with the best hand, but his pocket fours lost to Stumpf’s ace-three when an ace landed on the turn and the field was reduced to seven.

Another 30 minutes of play passed and the table found it’s way in an all-in three-way all-in again. Both Samuel Mullur and overnight chips leader Stumpf were all-in pre-flop with ace-king. Calling them was Ole Schemion, whose pocket queen were a big favorite due to the aces and kings already out there. A safe board of 6-4-3-4-5 sent Mullur out in seventh for $78,403 and Stumpf home in sixth for $99,994.

With only five left, Schemion suddenly had over half of the chips in play with a stack of 9.6 million in front of him. A wickedly deceptive board of 8-4-2-Q-3 saw Sam Vousden commit his chips on the river with ace-queen, but he had been winning only on the turn as the fifth community card dropped, as Niklas Astedt’s pocket threes tripped the Finn up on the river. Vousden lost the battle of the former GGMillion$ champions and fell in fifth for a score of $127,530.

Swedish Lowballed as Schemion Takes Title

Four remained and Astedt looked like Schemion’s closest challenger. After losing a few pots, however, Astedt was a little short and when Schemion raised from the button with ace-eight. Astedt rightly adjudged that it was the perfect time to shove with ace-jack. Schemion called and the flop of T-9-2 kept Astedt ahead. So too did the jack on the turn which paired the Swede’s own jack. Sadly, it was a queen on the river that dashed Astedt’s hopes and gave Schemion yet another massive pot, sending the Swede home with $162,648 while Schemion sat atop the field with nearly 75% of the chips in play.

As both Arends and Derzhypilskyi battled to reach the top two, hoping to find a few flips to be able to challenge the German chip leader Ole Schemion. On a board showing K-K-8-T with the last two cards being spades, Jans Arends was in a terrific position with ace-king and the king of spades to boot. Schemion’s bet of 632,000 into a pot of 1.75 million with jack-nine of spades got a call from the Dutch challenger. A five of spades on the river spelled doom for the underdog, however, and when Schemion shoved, Arends called off his stack with trip kings and left in third place for $207,437.

That pot gave Schemion an unassailable lead and with a better than 20 to 1 chip lead. And on the second hand of heads-up play, he shoved with king-eight. Derzhypilskiy called with queen-ten. The board ran clean with 9-3-3-5-4 ending the event in Schemion’s favor as he claimed the top prize of $337,413 and yet another GGMillion$ title to add to his others.

Watch all the action with regular host Jeff Gross and co-commentator Jared Jaffe right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Ole Schemion	Germany	$337,413
2nd	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$264,560
3rd	Jans Arends	Netherlands	$207,437
4th	Niklas Astedt	Sweden	$162,648
5th	Samuel Vousden	Finland	$127,530
6th	Matthew Stumpf	Canada	$99,994
7th	Samuel Mullur	Austria	$78,403
8th	Anvar Muratov	Russia	$61,475
9th	Damir Zhugralin	United Kingdom	$48,201

« December 2023  |  February 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.