GGMillion$ Won by ‘basjorke5’ for $390,000 – September 4, 2024

The latest GGPoker high roller winner took home $390,260 on a night of drama as ‘basjorke5’ won this week’s GGMillion$ title. There were nine online poker greats who made the final table, and, in the end, it was the aforementioned ‘basjorke5’ who impressed as regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Andrew ‘Lucky Chewy’ Lichtenberger.

Bruno Won’t be King

Kicking off the action in the lead was Russian player Nikita Kuznetsov, who began with 91 big blinds, just a raise ahead of Austrian ‘basjorke5’ on 90 big blinds. A long way behind the two chip leaders was Roger Tondeur from Montenegro on 55 bigs, with Danish player Daniel Petersen (49BB) and the Spanish pro Juan Dominguez (37BB) trailing him. Brazilian player Bruno Volkmann began on 31 big blinds, with Ukrainian Andrii Novak (23BB), Belarussian Mikita Badziakouski (14BB), and, in the short stack, the Mexico-based American Corey Thompson (11BB) who needed to get off to a fast start.

Perhaps predictably, it was Thompson who was the first to bust, and it didn’t take him long to depart in ninth place for $55,751. All-in from the small blind with eight-five suited on the third hand, Thompson ran into Novak’s ace-six offsuit. An ace in the window was trouble for Corey and after a jack on the turn, he was drawing dead to the river, whereupon a ten heralded his departure from the virtual felt.

Next to go in eighth place was Bruno Volkmann as the Brazilian was unable to survive a brutal all-in where he had by far the best of it when the chips went in. Shoving pre-flop with ace-queen, ‘basjorke5’ got lucky when Volkmann called with the far superior pocket kings only for a board of A-Q-7-3-4 to land and destroy the South American’s chances of victory as he departed for $71,103.

Badziakouski’s Bad Beat

Mikita Badziakouski was the next player to go, as he got incredibly unlucky to bust in seventh for $90,684. Novak, with pocket Jacks, raised pre-flop and Badziakouski called with pocket aces. Then, on a flop of T-9-6, all of the remaining chips got into the middle. A four landed on the turn, changing nothing. Badziakouski almost in the clear, watched in horror as a jack fell on the river as the two-outer knocked him to elimination.

A blind-on-blind shove and call took place next as Juan Dominguez busted in sixth place for $115,656. All-in from the small blind with ten-four of clubs, the Spanish professional was called by ‘basjorke5’ with king-six of diamonds. A board of A-8-6-Q-J landed without a single club to take out Dominguez and boost Novak, who had been one of the short stacks when the final kicked off, up to third in chips with five remaining.

A little while later, Danish player Daniel Petersen was short enough to shove pre-flop with pocket fives for just under eight big blinds. He was called by ‘basjorke5’ with ace-seven, and the Austria-based player won the coin flip. A board of K-T-3-8-7 with four diamonds saw ‘basjorke5’ win with the nut flush to eliminate Petersen in fifth place for $147,504.

Kuznetsov Falls Just Short

With four players remaining, ‘basjorke5’ held most of the chips, with 10.68 million of them dwarfing his opponents, who between them had less than the leader. Roger Tondeur (3.42m) was the closest, with Novak (3.35m) and Nikita Kuznetsov (2.58m) significantly further behind.

Only 90 minutes into play, the action continued with little movement for the next 15 minutes, as ‘basjorke5’ lost some of his lead as everyone grabbed a piece of his stack. Novak made a brave move on a board of A-9-3-6-7 where all three cards on the flop were hearts. Novak had Q-8 with the queen of hearts, but his bluff was snapped off by ‘basjorke5’ with nine-seven for two pair and Novak cashed for $188,123.

The top three players heading into the final table were the top three players at the start of the final table. Continuing that theme for 40 minutes, it was the third-placed Roger Tondeur, whose exit for $239,927, came after all three players saw a flop of A-Q-9. Tondeur called a bet on the flop with ace-three, and repeated the action after a seven landed on the turn. On the river of a four, Tondeur shoved but ‘basjorke5’ had flopped two-pair with queen-nine and called it off to take out another opponent.

Heads-up, ‘basjorke5’ had 13.8 million chips to Nikita Kuznetsov’s 6.2m as the Russian looked to come back from behind to win his first-ever GGMillion$ title. Up against a possible repeat winner in ‘basjorke5’, however, that proved impossible as the Austrian player continued to increase their lead. Eventually, with less than 8 bigs, Kuznetsov’s snap-called the pre-flop shove with king-eight only to be met by the ace-seven of ‘basjorke5’. A flop of K-T-Q put Kuznetsov into the lead, and an innocuous three on the turn kept it that way, but the comeback was not to be. An ace on the river gave ‘basjorke5’ the win and a top prize of $390,260 as Kuznetsov, who had begun the final table just ahead of ‘basjorke5’, had to settle for a runner-up score of $305,997.

“He fought through a lot of adversity and applied pressure,” said Octopi Poker co-creator and poker legend Andrew Lichtenberger in his post-match analysis. “He bobbed and weaved appropriately and never took his foot off the gas.”

Watch all the action at this week’s GGMillion$ final table in the company of regular host Jeff Gross and ‘Lucky Chewy’ right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	‘basjorke5’	Austria	$390,260
2nd	Nikita Kuznetsov	Russia	$305,997
3rd	Roger Tondeur	Montenegro	$239,927
4th	Andrii Novak	Ukraine	$188,123
5th	Daniel Petersen	Denmark	$147,504
6th	Juan Dominguez	Spain	$115,656
7th	Mikita Badziadouski	Belarus	$90,684
8th	Bruno Volkmann	Brazil	$71,103
9th	Corey Thompson	Mexico	$55,751

Dominik Nitsche Denied GGMillion$ Title and $353,000 – September 11, 2024

This week’s action on GGPoker has been red hot, and the GGMillion$ final table was another perfect example of how action-packed it has been. With nine of the best online poker players, a top prize of $353,673 was on offer as there was drama from the first card to the last. A stunning conclusion to the action saw the German 3-time WSOP bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche just miss out on the top prize after a cold deck ended dreams of glory in this week’s GGMillion$ finale, presented by Jeff Gross with Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates in the co-commentator seat. 

Top Players Leading the Way

The final nine were being steered to the action by the ironically named Canadian player ‘Come2Brazil’ with 68 big blinds, but there was no runaway chip leader. Moldovan poker professional Pavel Plesuv (58BB), German poker legend Dominik Nitsche (56BB), and perennial GGMillion$ crusher Israel’s Barak Wisbrod (51) were all in contention for the win. 

Others to feature this week included Austria’s ‘EEweedm99’ (40BB), Bulgarian Alex Kulev (35BB), Ukrainian Andrii Derzhypilskyi (21BB), Belarussian Ilya Anatski (20BB), and Germany’s Leonard Maue (13BB), all of whom were hoping to get off to a fast start at the final table. One player who did the exact opposite was Derzhypilskyi, who, on the seventh hand of the evening, was all-in with queen-jack of clubs. He fell short to the chip leader, as ‘Come2Brazil’ holding the ace-king of spades saw a safe board of K-4-2-3-A play out as the Ukrainan busted for $50,524.

Out next was the Belarussian player Anatski, who shoved pre-flop with king-queen of spades and was called by Alex Kulev, who had raised almost all of Anatski’s stack-size with pocket eights. A flop of A-J-3 gave Anatski ten outs to chase on turn and river, but an eight on the turn reduced those outs to the four tens in the deck. A river of the deuce of clubs sent Anatski home for $64,437.

Maue Mauled, Kulev Crushed

There was an all-German showdown in seventh place as Alex Kulev opened with ace-jack, Dominik Nitsche – behind the laptop again – raised with pocket sixes and his compatriot Leonard Maue shoved for around 14 big blinds with ace-queen. Only Nitsche called it off and it was a coinflip. A board of K-6-5-6-2 more than helped Nitsche stay ahead as one German hit quads to eliminate the other for a score of $82,182. 

Alex Kulev got short and when he picked up ace-eight with under five blinds. He raised pre-flop and was reraised by Nitsche with ace-king. The Bulgaria made the call but couldn’t survive, a clean board of 9-5-3-7-J helping the German to more easy chips while Kulev exited for $104,813. The top five starting stacks were the final five, but drama was to pounce and upset the order of the final runners. 

Israel’s Barak Wisbrod has become accustomed to finishing in the upper echelons of the GGMillion$ leaderboard seemingly every week, and this week was no different. All-in with pocket nines pre-flop on the hand immediately after Kulev’s departure, Wisbrod’s hopes were crushed when Pavel Plesuv called with pocket tens and easily swiped aside another rival. The board ran out J-7-4-7-7 sending the Israeli home with a score of $133,676.

An Agonizing Fold

Down to four, Plesuv’s recent pots had given him the lead, with a pile of 8.75 million chips to his name. Behind him, only Nitsche, with 5.44 million, seemed likely to challenge, with Austria’s ‘EEweedm99’ at 2.39m and ‘Come2Brazil’ at 1.59m. While the Canadian player lasted for some time, they were next to go. ‘Come2Brazil’ got it in with a flush draw on the flop of 9-4-2 with two clubs while holding the queen-six of the same suit. Plesuv made the call with nine-three of diamonds for top pair. The board ran out 10-A, offering no help to the at-risk player, and the Canadian went home with $170,486 as play moved three-handed.

Plesuv was in great shape to challenge for the title, but on a board of Q-7-6-J-4 with three clubs, Plesuv bet big with five-eight for the straight. Nitsche shoved 

“I think this a rough fold. I think this is a fold.” Said Dan ‘Jungleman Cates. Gross agreed that it was tricky. 

“I’ve seen a lot of mystery hands, but this might be one of the best.”

Nitsche showed only the six of clubs for the rubdown. A few hands later, Plesuv was all-in with jack-nine of clubs only to lose to the ace-jack of ‘EEweedm99’ which flopped Broadway on the board of K-Q-T. Offsuit cards followed to send the Moldovan to the rail to collect $217,434 in third place. 

Heads-up, Nitsche’s lead was stark, with his 12.8 million well ahead of his opponent’s 5.3 million. However, ‘EEweedm99’ pulled it back to almost level before a board of Q-6-5-K-J with four spades came, with the Austrian underdog holding pocket fours including the four of spades. Nitsche got away from it but he no longer had the lead. 

Nitsche moved all-in soon after with ace-ten of spades, and ‘EEweedm99’ had an easy call with ace-jack of diamonds to go along with marginally more chips. A flop of 9-8-3 came safe for the Austrian. A jack on the turn made ‘EEweedm99′ the 81% favorite, and a deuce on the river handed him the title as Dominik Nitsche fell just short of glory in one of the cruelest ways possible. 

Watch all the action in the company of Jeff Gross and legendary guest co-commentator Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	‘EEweedm99’	Austria	$353,673
2nd	Dominik Nitsche	Germany	$277,310
3rd	Pavel Plesuv	Moldova	$217,434
4th	‘Come2Brazil’	Canada	$170,486
5th	Barak Wisbrod	Israel	$133,676
6th	Alex Kulev	Bulgaria	$104,813
7th	Leonard Maue	Germany	$82,182
8th	Ilya Anatski	Belarus	$64,437
9th	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$50,524

Thrilling GG MILLION$ Finale Sees Déjà vu for $414,000 – September 18, 2024

An exciting climax to this week’s GG MILLION$ on GGPoker saw the same two players battle it out for victory one week after duelling in the decider for last week’s GG MILLION$ title. Both ‘EEweedm99’ and Dominik Nitsche made the heads-up as they did seven days earlier as once again, the Austrian prevented the German from taking home the top prize. Regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Daniel Dvoress called the action as it happened on a dramatic night on GGPoker.

Early Exit for Theologis

The final nine assembled with Belarussian Nike Mihao in charge on 81 big blinds, with New Zealand’s David Yan not too far behind on 78 big blinds. German Dominik Nitsche followed on 65 bigs with Bulgarian Ognyan Dimov also well in contention on 52 big blinds. Last week’s champion, the Austrian player ‘EEweedm99’ started with 47 big blinds, while Greek player Alex Theologis wasn’t far behind on 37 bigs. Bringing up the rear were three poker powerhouses with fewer chips but no less chance of coming up trumps, with Brazil’s Rodrigo Selouan (25BB) Dutch player Duco Haven (25BB) and Germany’s Leonard Maue (20BB) were all hoping to avoid being the first to leave.

Happily for that trio, they did all avoid that early fate, as Theologis was the first player to bust, claiming $51,809 in ninth place. All-in with pocket tens pre-flop, he lost to David Yan’s king-queen of diamonds with 3.5m chips in the middle pre-flop and a board of K-J-4-2-8 sending the Greek player home.

Soon, the field was down to seven players. Leonard Maue came into the final table  as the shortest stack and he had returned to that position by the time he was all-in with king-jack against EEweedm99 with seven-five of diamonds. The flop of A-Q-J kept Maue in the lead but had two diamonds and while the seven on the turn was an offsuit seven, the river was the four of diamonds and Maue was flushed out in eighth for $67,187.

The Rise and Fall of David Yan

Seven remained in contention but not for long. Selouan won another big pot to take a huge lead when his pocket aces bettered Ognyan Dimov’s pocket kings, and the Bulgarian sunk to just eight big blinds. Soon, he was all-in with a worse pair – pocket sixes. Called by Nitsche with ace-ten, a board of A-K-5-5-8 ended Dimov’s run for a result worth $87,131.

Six remained for some time, during which the overnight leader became the player at most serious risk of elimination. David Yan shoved from the small blind with ace-ten and was called by Nike Mihao with pocket eights. Both men were short but Mihao’s tournament life was on the line, and a board of K-6-4-J-5 with the first four cards being hearts matched perfectly with the ace of hearts in Yan’s hand to give the New Zealander the win before the river fell, sending Mihao home with $112,996 in sixth place. While Yan won that hand, he couldn’t keep hold of the chips, as play moved into a fourth hour with five players still in their virtual seats.

Within 30 minutes, the event would be over, however, as play ramped up in speed and aggression.

All-in with ace-seven – again of hearts – Yan was ahead of his caller Duco Haven when he shoved, the Dutch player holding ace-five of clubs. A board of 7-4-4-6-3 with three clubs by the turn ended Yan’s hopes of adding to his tally of GG MILLION$ victories as he crashed out for $146,537 and the field was reduced to four with Haven holding a slight lead.

Thrilling Finish Produces Fireworks

With four players left, Haven’s stack of over 6 million chips was the biggest but all three of his opponents held over 4 million, with the stacks close in size. Rodrigo Selouan lost virtually all of his chips when king-ten of diamonds was out-flipped by pocket eights belonging to Dominik Nitsche and his last went into the middle with ten-six, mopped up by Nitsche’s pocket deuces which held to send the Brazilian home with $190,036.

Nitsche had a big lead, but the script got a rewrite when the German shoved from the small blind with six-four of spades. Calling it off with pocket eights for his tournament life, last week’s winner EEweedm99 held with ease to grab an easy double-up to take the chip lead.

Duco Haven busted in third place for $246,446 when his king-queen couldn’t hit against the pocket sixes of the fearless EEweedm99 as the Austrian – last week’s winner – went for back-to-back glory. Taking a 2:1 chip lead into the final duel, EEweedm99 had the chance to win running GG MILLION$ titles for the first time ever on GGPoker, as Dominik Nitsche bid to win his first.

Just one hand into the final duel, EEweedm99 shoved with ace-nine and Nitsche called it off with pocket fours. Just one clean board stood between the Austrian and back-to-back victories against the same heads-up opponent and that was exactly what he got, as the German failed to hold when an ace landed on the flop and no help came on the turn or river of a A-T-5-Q-J board to give EEweedm99 the victory and $414,471, even more than he won last week against the same opponent.

Watch all the action take place in the company of Jeff Gross and Daniel Dvoress right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	EEweedm99	Austria	$414,471
2nd	Dominik Nitsche	Germany	$319,601
3rd	Duco Haven	Netherlands	$246,446
4th	David Zan	New Zealand	$190,036
5th	Rodrigo Selouan	Brazil	$146,537
6th	Nike Mihao	Belarus	$112,996
7th	Ognyan Dimov	Bulgaria	$87,131
8th	Leonard Maue	Germany	$67,187
9th	Alex Theologis	Austria	$51,809

wsop online Main Event won by Moritz Dietrich on GGPoker for $4 million – September 25, 2024

A total of over 6,100 entries built a prizepool of $29.1 million and the biggest prize in online poker history in this week’s WSOP Online Main Event, which took the place of GGPoker’s traditional weekly $10,000 GGMillion$ tournament. The buy-in was just $5,000 as a thrilling final table was eventually won by Moritz Dietrich as records tumbled and the Austrian took home over $4 million after some astonishing late stage drama.

Rolle Unable to Beat the Baron

This week, the GGMillion$ regular host Jeff Gross was joined by the iconic poker legend Phil Laak as the very special guest co-commentator brought the action to life with a WSOP bracelet and over $4,000,000 on the line for the winner! The chip leader when the final table of nine began was the Russian, Evgenii Akimov, starting on 86 big blinds. Behind him, in second, was the Portuguese player Rui Ferreira (67BB), followed by Austria’s Moritz Dietrich (57BB), Belarussian Ilya Anatski (43BB) and America’s sole representative at the final table, Isaac Baron (34BB). 

The remainder of the field, all holding on to a chance of glory included China’s Hai Pan (30BB), Lithuania’s Audrius Stakelis (20BB), Portugal’s Diogo Coelho (16BB) and Germany’s Benjamin Rolle, who began as the short stack with just 14 big blinds. 

Over minutes passed before the first knock out and, as the cards fell, it was the Lithuanian Audrius Stakelis who busted in ninth place for $502,771. All-in pre-flop with ace-king, he lost to Isaac Baron when the American’s pocket queens survived a clash of premium hands. The ladies held through the board that ran out J-8-3-T-9 to make an unnecessary straight for the winner. 

Three hands later, Ben Rolle was still short and busted for $651,921. All-in pre-flop with an offsuit ace-queen, he lost to Baron whose pocket nines were good enough for the American player to win the pot. A flop of 9-8-6 was a heartsinker for Rolle and a six on the turn meant he was drawing dead. A meaninless ace came on the river as the German slid out of contention and Baron continued his hot start.

Ferreira Fires Away

Hai Pan departed in seventh place when he got it all in pre-flop with pocket 8’s. He called the all in by Moritz Dietrich who held queen-six of diamonds. The flop held only bad news for Hai Pan as a queen appeared giving Dietrich a bigger pair. The turn ten and river 4 did nothing for Pan as he headed to the rails with $845,342. 

Baron now held a huge chip leader at the final table with over 111 big blinds, nearly 50 more than the second place poker player, Evgenii Akimov. Dietrich and Rui Ferreira were both hovering around 45 bigs while Ilya Anatski and Diogo Coelho were sitting short with 24 and 16 big blinds, respectively. 

A big clash between the two short stacks left Anatski very short (under 5BB) when his Ace-King failed to improve against Coelho’s cowboys right before the break. It was just a matter of time before The Belarussian was all in, thankfully he had a premium hand with ace-jack of diamonds, unfortunately it was on a flop of 7-6-3 and Baron was the caller with a pocket pair of twos. The deuces were ahead and hoping to hold. The board laid a 2 on the turn, ensuring that the Belarus player was drawing dead to the river, which came down with a meaningless ten, as he left with $1,096,180.  

Five handed play continued for over 2 hours with the chips flowing around the table. Eventually, Portuguese player Diogo Coelho committed his chips from the big blind with king-ten of clubs but ran into Rui Ferreira, who was the chip leader, holding pocket tens. The all-Portugal clash ended in the initial raiser’s favor when a board of J-7-7-3-Q eliminated Coelho from the competition for a score worth $1,421,478.

Four players remained, with Ferreira now the man in charge on 160 million chips. Moritz Dietrich (85m) was his nearest challenger, with Evgenii Akimov (71m) and the now short-stacked Baron (49m) significantly further back. Over the next half hour, however, Akimov was the big mover, taking the chip lead after a series of pots went his way and applying continuous pressure.

The Ultimate Runner-Runner

Akimov had the stack to call off when Baron shoved with pocket kings. Akimov only had six-four off and it looked like Baron would double when a flop of K-J-7 gave him top set. A five on the turn opened up the backdoor straight draw, and a sensational runner-runner straight was complete when an eight came to slay Baron’s hopes as he fell in fourth place for $1,843,337.

They’d come about the final three in odd circumstances but the final three were the top three at the start of play and Akimov continued his reign of terror. Ferreira was all-in with ace-king and Akimov had six-four again, this time with the six of spades. A flop of A-K-3 with two spades was interesting. The five of spades on the turn set up a 34% shot for Akimov and a fourth spade, the three, appeared on the river.

“Again, it’s six-four!” yelled Laak in sheer disbelief. With 307 million, Akimov had a huge 5:1 chip lead over Moritz Dietrich, but the Austrian player was undeterred, building back to level thanks to a rivered set of 5’s. 

The beginning of the end was signalled on a hand 20 minutes into heads up play. A board of A-8-5-K-J helped Akimov river two-pair with king-jack to induce a shove from the Russian. It was met with a snap-call coming from Dietrich who had rivered Broadway with queen-ten. 

“That was crazy… truly crazy!” said Gross on comms. 

With a big lead, Dietrich chipped away at Akimov and finally wrapped it up when his eight-deuce was good enough to call on a board showing K-8-6-3 when Akimov bluff-shoved with just nine-five. No seven or nine came on the river and Moritz Dietrich was the WSOP Online Main Event champion! Watch all the action right here in the company of a thrilled Jeff Gross and Phil Laak.

 

 

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Moritz Dietrich	Austria	$4,021,012
2nd	Evgenii Akimov	Russia	$3,099,896
3rd	Rui Ferreira	Portugal	$2,390,418
4th	Isaac Baron	United States	$1,843,337
5th	Diogo Coelho	Brazil	$1,421,478
6th	Ilya Anatski	Belarus	$1,096,180
7th	Hai Pan	China	$845,342
8th	Benjamin Rolle	Germany	$651,921
9th	Audrius Skakelis	Lithuania	$502,771

« August 2024  |  October 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.

---

Edited by Shawn A.