GGMillion$ Won by Dejan Kaladjurdjevic as Wilson Blows Late Lead – April 10, 2024

Tuesday night’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was one for the books as a top prize of over $1.5 million was claimed by Montenegran player Dejan Kaladjurdjevic, who defied the odds and the chips to mount a stunning comeback victory. With the top two places both earning seven-figure prizes, one of the richest GGMillion$ events in recent memory played out in style as one of the best GG MILLION$ final tables, if not the best, came to pass on GGPoker.

Papadakis Pushed to the Rail First

This week’s show was presented by an absolute dream team for poker followers, with regular host Jeff Gross joined by WSOP legend and outspoken poker player Mike Matusow on co-comms. The action was as spectacular as one of The Mouth’s infamous blow-ups, and it all kicked off with the final nine players from a bumper field in the weekly $10,300-entry tournament.

Leading the field was Andrew Wilson of the United Kingdom with 142 big blinds, one of the biggest chip leads in the history of the GGMillion$. Behind him sat Brazil’s ‘LisFlower’ (58BB), Spanish players Juan Dominguez (47BB) and Sergio Aido (28BB) both in the top half of the chip counts. Montenegro’s Dejan Kaladjurdjevic (28BB) was also in hot pursuit.

Lower chip stacks included GGMillion$ legend Artur Martirosian (26BB), Belarussian Ilya Anatski (19BB), the 2023 German PGT Leaderboard winner Daniel Smiljkovic (16BB) and Greek player Antonios Papadakis, who began with just nine big blinds. Unsurprisingly, it was Papadakis who left first, cashing for $201,614 when he shoved pre-flop with jack-ten of hearts and lost to ‘LisFlower’s’ ace-nine offsuit, on a board of K-T-9-9-6 condemning the Greek pro to an early exit.

Russian online poker pro Artur Martirosian is a GGMillion$ end boss but his latest foray to the final table of the event he has won more than a handful of times saw him exit in seventh place for $336,699. All-in pre-flop from the cut-off with ace-ten offsuit, the German had wandered into a big pair as the Belarussian player Ilya Anatski called it off with pocket jacks and held through the K-Q-7-6-2 board.

Russian poker pro Artur Martirosian is a GGMillion$ end boss but his latest foray to the final table of the event he has won more than a handful of times saw him exit in seventh place for $336,699. All-in with ace-jack pre-flop for just over four big blinds, he was called by the chip leader Wilson holding pocket fours. The flop of 8-7-6 kept Wilson in the lead but the turn of a ten gave Martirosian ten outs and over 22% of a chance of survival. Unhappily for Martirosian, another six on the river meant he missed out on the final six places.

An astonishing bust-out came in sixth place, as Anatski imploded to cash for $435,612 as he fell to the chip leader Wilson. Having worked so hard to build his stack into contention for later heroics, a board of Q-9-8-6 saw Anatski bet half-pot with jack-six. Wilson called with pocket aces and that trap was wide open for Anatski to shove the three on the river, which he duly did. Wilson called it off and Anatski became the fourth player from the bottom to be knocked out from when the final table began.

Sergio Aido busted in fifth place for $563,886 shortly after, shoving pre-flop with ace-six and being called by Juan Dominguez with ace-jack. Dejan Kaladjurdjevic actually folded a second ace-jack behind the Spaniard but it didn’t matter. A board of Q-7-3-7-9 sent Aido from the table and reduced the field to a super-talented final four players.

Incredible Finale Ends Event in Style

Heading into the denouement of the drama, Andrew Wilson held a strong lead, with 50.6 million chips, more than double anyone else’s stack. LisFlower’s 25.22 million was marginally ahead of Dominguez’s 25.09 million, with Kaladjurdjevic trailing the top trio on 10.77 million.

Play continued 4-handed for an hour before a brutal board of K-K-7-5-2 with three hearts saw Andrew Wilson bet small with pocket sevens having flopped a full house. Juan Dominguez who had rivered a flush with ten-eight of hearts, raise-shoved on the river. The action was met by a quick call from Wilson as the last remaining Spanish player was sent home with $730,236.

Wilson was dominating the stacks and with over 75 million could afford to call off ‘LisFlower’s’ 20 big blind shove with ace-jack. Wilson’s pocket sixes only had to win one race to go into the heads-up battle with a better than 4:1 lead and so it proved. A flop of 9-8-5 kept Wilson in the lead and the turned three followed by the seven on the river gave Wilson an unnecessary straight as ‘LisFlower’ busted in third place for $945,966.

Heads-up, Kaladjurdjevic began with just 24 bigs while Wilson held 115. Fifteen minutes into heads-up play a monumental hand ended with the stacks level when the Montenegran’s quad deuces got the maximum from Wilson when the British player rivered a straight and paid it all off. Kaladjurdjevic still trailed but with 50 bigs to Wilson’s 61 big blinds, suddenly it was almost level.

Two hands later everything had changed again. On a board of T-4-3-6-8 that included 3 hearts, Wilson raised 3x the pot to put Kaladjurdjevic all in on the river with just queen-four. Kaladjurdjevic watched his clock tick down and with less than 20 seconds in the time bank clock made a sensational call with pocket nines. From nowhere Kaladjurdjevic had climbed back from the brink of elimination to have a massive 6:1 chip lead.
Seven hands later, Wilson shoved with king-four of diamonds and was at risk to Kaladjurdjevic’s king-nine as a dominated hand led to drama at the last. A flop of K-8-6 with only one diamond changed nothing but a five of diamonds on the turn improved Wilson to a 25% chance of winning the hand. Sadly, an offsuit seven landed on the river and it was all over as Kaladjurdjevic made a straight and won his first GGMillion$ title in truly stunning fashion.

“He was the best player. I didn’t see a mistake, did you?”

“He made a massive bet-call with nines on a ten-high board there and that was the hand of the tournament.”

Here’s how one of the best GGMillion$ of all time played out, in the company of Jeff Gross and Mike Matusow.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Dejan Kaladjurdjevic	Montenegro	$1,588,584
2nd	Andrew Wilson	United Kingdom	$1,225,732
3rd	‘LisFlower’	Brazil	$945,966
4th	Juan Dominguez	Spain	$730,236
5th	Sergio Aido	Spain	$563,886
6th	Ilya Anatski	Belarus	$435,612
7th	Artur Martirosian	Russia	$336,699
8th	Daniel Smiljkovic	Germany	$260,427
9th	Antonios Papadakis	Greece	$201,614

Record Seventh GGMillion$ Title Won by Michael Addamo for $402,000 – April 17, 2024

A record-breaker took down this week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ as Australian Michael Addamo sealed his seventh victory in the format. Costing $10,300 to enter directly or a fraction of that amount to qualify via online satellites on GGPoker, the GGMillion$ has become the standard-bearer for high-roller online poker players over the past two seasons of action. And this week’s drama, presented by Jeff Gross, and co-commentated by poker legend Bryan Paris, was of the highest order.

Addamo the Clear Leader

From the first flop, Addamo was in control, having the lead over the final nine players to be seated at the last table of the tournament, with an incredible 119 big blinds. Following him was Swedish player Mathias Joelsson on 82 big blinds, with Finnish legend Samuel Vousden, otherwise known as ‘€urop€an’ on 62 big blinds and Russian regular GGMillion$ crusher Artur Martirosian just behind on 60 big blinds.

With lower-stacked players such as Belarussian Mikalai Vaskaboinikau on 31 big blinds, as well as ‘asunaholic’ (22BB), Spanish three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (19BB), the first-ever WPT World Championship winner Eliot Hudon (10BB) and GGMillion$ German regular, Ole Schemion (7BB), it was an all-star cast that kicked off the action.

Ole Schemion was all-in as early as you might expect, shoving pre-flop on the third hand of the night for just over five big blinds with queen-jack of diamonds. Addamo called with king-three offsuit and a board of A-A-7-T-2 played out to see Schemion – for once – miss out on the really big money, cashing for $57,493 in ninth place.

Vousden Vanquished as Finn Finished by Bad Beat

Addamo was swinging the axe again, calling with pocket aces when Adrian Mateos, sitting on the short stack with only 6.5 bigs, shoved with pocket eights. The Spaniard turned an eight, but only after Addamo flopped an ace as the board ran out A-Q-3-8-4 to send the Mateos home with $73,325 in eighth place.

It took most of the first hour to find a third victim to Addamo, who was running over the table. Almost all-in with ace-eight of spades pre-flop, Hudon was called by Addamo holding queen-ten of diamonds. And of the remaining chips, went in on the Q-6-3 flop. No help came for Hudon and he hit the rail, cashing for $93,517 in seventh.

Next came the defining all-in and call of the tournament as Finnish player Samuel Vousden five-bet shoved with pocket kings and was called by Addamo with ace-king. Over 7 million chips were in the middle and whoever won the pot would have a massive chip lead over the remaining players. Heartbreakingly for Voudsen, it was not the Finn’s hand as he watched in horror as a board of A-J-5-8-2 played out. ‘€urop€an’ crashed out in sixth place for $119,270 as Addamo, who would have been down to a mere 7 big blinds, instead sat as the chip leader once more.

Just a single hand later, Addamo had a huge lead in equally fortuitous circumstances. All-in with ace-king, Artur Martirosian had seemingly found a dream spot as Addamo called the bet with a suited ace-ten. Not only did a ten come on the flop, but by the river, the Australian had made the nut flush to send the Russian – his head surely spinning – to the virtual rail to collect $152,114 in fifth.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

Just four poker players remained and Addamo had over half of the chips. Sitting at the top of the leaderboard on 9.3 million chips, only ‘asunaholic’ (5.4m) had more than half of the Australian’s chips, with Mathias Joelsson (4.0m) and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau (1.8m) lagging far behind. Surprisingly, Joelsson was the next player to bust, winning $194,002 in fourth when his pocket sevens lost to the ace-nine of ‘asunholic’ which found an ace in the window.

Next to leave, just 2 hands later, was Mikalai Vaskaboinikau from Belarus, who was short and shoved with ace-ten, only to run into ‘asunaholic’ who woke up with pocket queens. A board of K-9-4-4-8 sent the Belarussian home and inside 90 minutes, play was heads-up as Vaskaboinikau left with $247,425.

Both players led for periods heads-up but Addamo built a lead and saw it out when his opponent shoved fifty minutes after the start on the river of a board showing K-T-8-7-7 while holding an offsuit Dolly Parton (9-5). Addamo’s jack-eight wasn’t the most powerful bluff-catcher in the world but he made the hero call and in doing so, sealed a record seventh win in the format, winning the $402,456 top prize in style.

Watch all the action as it happened right here as Australian Michael Addamo made GG MILLION$ history:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Michael Addamo	Australia	$402,456
2nd	‘asunaholic’	South Korea	$315,559
3rd	Mikalai Vaskaboinikau	Belarus	$247,425
4th	Mathias Joelsson	Sweden	$194,002
5th	Artur Martirosian	Russia	$152,114
6th	Samuel Vousden	Finland	$119,270
7th	Eliot Hudon	Canada	$93,517
8th	Adrian Mateos	Spain	$73,325
9th	Ole Schemion	Germany	$57,493

GGMillion$ Won by Mark Radoja for $392,000 – April 25, 2024

This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was a bona fide classic. It was won in under three hours after a masterful display of final table poker by the Canadian player Mark Radoja. With players of the caliber of WSOP champions, high roller regulars, and previous GGMillion$ winners, Radoja’s conquering of the bracelet winner Aleks Ponakovs heads-up put the crown on a performance fit for a king.

Brazil Lose Their Star First

This week, regular host Jeff Gross was joined at the mic by Mathias Joelsson, the Swedish professional poker player and streamer known as ‘The CasinoDaddy’. Leading the way into the final eight this week was Chris Brewer, the American playing from Mexico with a stack of 62 big blinds. Second in chips was Mark Radoja (51BB), with Germany’s Alexander Tkatschew (47BB) and Moldovan Pavel Plesuv (46BB) all in close contention.

Into the bottom half of the chipcounts, Czech player Roman Hrabec (37BB), Brazilian Alisson Piekazewicz (37BB), German player Leonard Maue (34BB), and the short stack Aleks Ponakovs (19BB) from Latvia all hope they wouldn’t be the first to leave the action.

As it happened, it was the Brazilian player Alisson Piekazewicz who busted first. Three-bet shoving with ace-king, he flopped a king against the pocket queens of Hrabec after all the chips had gone into the middle pre-flop. Sadly for the South American, a queen on the turn gave the Czech player a set and it was checkmate when an ace on the river ended Piekazewicz’s hopes, his elimination earning him $71,474 for the eighth-place finish.

Brewer Drops Early

Given he came into the action as the chip leader, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Chris Brewer will have been disappointed to crash out in seventh place. Almost an hour had elapsed by the time Brewer, so often a fixture in some of the biggest buy-in poker events in the live arena, committed his chips with ace-queen pre-flop. Roman Hrabec was again flipping and again held with his pair, this time nines. The board of T-6-5-4-8 never really looked like helping Brewer improve and he slid out in seventh for $91,156.

The next player to go was extremely unfortunate to do so. German pro, Leonard Maue three-bet shoved with pocket jacks and was snap-called by his countryman Alexander Tkatschew with pocket kings. The Teutonic battle initially looked to be a simple double-up for the at-risk Tkatschew. A flop of T-8-4 was followed by a three on the turn. But a jack on the river was a sucker punch and took out Tkatschew for $116,258 in sixth, boosting his fellow German in the process.

A thrilling pot with three left saw Radoja all but wrap it up, showcasing the excitement and strategy involved in online poker. Pavel Plesuv shoved all in from the small blind with king-seven and Mark Radoja insta-called from the big blind with pocket queens. A board of Q-T-8-J-T played out as Radoja’s queens full sent the Moldovan home in fifth place for $148,273.

The Final Four

Down to four players, it was the Canadian Mark Radoja who led the way with 8.17 million chips. Trailing him, Maue was closest with 5.47m, with Ponakovs (4.01m) and Hrabec (2.40m) a little further back. Dropping even shorter, Hrabec was down to only four big blinds holding seven-deuce, and on a flop of 7-6-3 got it in good against Radoja’s ace-jack. But a jack on the turn was followed by an innocuous four and all the chips went the Canadian’s way, Hrabec departing for $189,103.

A thrilling pot with three left saw Radoja all but wrap it up. On a board showing K-J-4-K-3, Maue moved with pocket queens only to run into Radoja’s pocket aces, pushing Maue to the rail with a score of $241,177.

Heads-up, Radoja had the advantage and over 75% of the chips, a sizeable lead. That lead continued to grow by the time a flop of J-T-8 provoked Ponakovs to push with ten-nine. Radoja called with queen-eight of spades with two on the flop. The deuce of spades gave him an unassailable flush on the turn. It was a superb win for a dominant Radoja and it earned him a top prize of $392,293.

Watch all the action as it happened in the company of Jeff Gross and Mathias Joelsson right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Mark Radoja	Canada	$392,293
2nd	Aleks Ponakovs	Latvia	$307,591
3rd	Leonard Maue	Germany	$241,177
4th	Roman Hrabec	Czech Republic	$189,103
5th	Pavel Plesuv	Moldova	$148,114
6th	Alexander Tkatschew	Germany	$116,258
7th	Chris Brewer	United States	$91,156
8th	Alisson Piekazewicz	Brazil	$71,474
9th	David Peters	Canada	$56,042

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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.