‘Lucky Ming’ Wins Latest GGMillion$ Crown for Huge $321,000 Win – February 1, 2024

This week’s GGMillion$ final table featured legends of the game including Ramiro Petrone, Michael Addaomo, Pavel Plesuv and Pedro Garagnani. It ended in dramatic circumstances as ‘Lucky Ming’ captured their first GGMillion$ title from nowhere after a gutsy battle to make heads-up. This amazing play my ‘Lucky Ming’ featured an astounding hero call at the exact right time. Presented by regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Jonathan Jaffe, this episode of the GGMillion$ finals took shape with 158 entries. There was a prize pool of $1.58 million and that meant a massive top prize of $321,152.

Early Elimination for Maue as Petrone Remains On Top

Leading the final nine players heading into the second and final day of the tournament was Uruguayan player Ramiro Petrone, who began with 82 big blinds at his second final table of the current season. Brazilian player Rodrigo Selouan was in second place on the leaderboard with 61 big blinds, while Belarussian Aliaksei Boika was third in chips on 59 big blinds.

Australian online and live poker legend Michael Addamo (58BB) was also chasing the leaders hard, with Belgian GGMillion$ regular Pieter Aerts (47BB) not far behind either. Others such as Cambodia-based ‘Lucky Ming’ (45BB), Moldovan Pavel Plesuv (28BB), Brazil’s Pedro Garagnani (21BB) and short stack German Leonard Maue, playing from Austria, who began his fifth final table of the season with just 14 big blinds.

It was no surprise when, 20 mintuues into the stream, Maue became the first player to depart, losing out in ninth place for a score of $45,878. Petrone shoved from the small blind with pocket fours and Maue called from the big blind with king-eight. The flop of A-9-9 was no help to the German player and a seven on the turn and ten on the river sent him to the virtual rail.

Addamo Can’t Assume Control

Brazilian player Rodrigo Selouan was the next player to leave the action, after almost two hours of this week’s GGMillion$ had elapsed. The former GGMillion$ winner was all-in pre-flop with ace-queen of hearts and had to hit to win a flip against Aliaksei Boika’s pocket fours to survive. The flop of T-8-7 with two hearts improved the Brazilian’s chances as he became a 55% shot to win the hand. The three of diamonds on the turn was no good, and a nine of clubs landed on the river to condemn Selouan to an eighth-place finish worth $58,512.

Over the course of the first two hours of play, only two players had busted, but in the background, Australian Michael Addamo had gradually exerted the kind of pressure he is famous for being able to impose on his remaining opponents. Up to over 4 million chips, Addamo led the field as Petrone had slipped down the ranks to just 1.6 million, now the equivalent of 16 big blinds.

An ill-timed shove from Pieter Aerts with a suited ace-deuce of diamonds was called by Petrone who reshoved with pocket queens. A flop of 6-4-2 with one diamond was followed by the five of diamonds on the turn, meaning Aerts could survive with any three, any deuce, any ace or any diamond. None of them came on the river, though. The king of hearts landed and Petrone chipped up to over 2.5 million, as Aerts cashed for $74,625 in seventh.

There was another bust-out the very next hand as Pedro Garagnani, who had largely struggled to get any momentum over the course of the opening two hours of play, crashed out in a premium-vs-premium hand. All-in with pocket queens, Garagnani was behind Addamo’s pocket kings, and stayed there through the ten-high board to cash out for $95,175 in sixth place.

A Bluff Too Far

Aliaksei Boika busted in fifth place for $121,384 as a flurry of eliminations brought about the heads-up battle for victory. With just 14 big blinds, Boika shoved pre-flop with ace-seven and was called by Petrone with ace-jack, holding after a cruel board of 8-6-5-J-7 offered Boika a straight draw on the flop but denied him on turn and river, the crucial jack falling on fourth street to render the seven on the river meaningless.

Petrone had more than double his nearest rival and with the blinds now 60,000/120,000, Addamo was beaten down to just a single big blind, losing his last with 9-5 against the pocket jacks of ‘Lucky Ming’. Addamo cashed for $154,809 and the very next hand, a board of 6-3-3-2-Q led to a crucial pot. Both Plesuv and Petrone had paired the queen, but the Uruguayan’s kicker of an ace far outweighed the Moldovan’s nine and Plesuv cashed for $197,440 in third place.

Going into the heads-up, Petrone had a 3:1 chip lead but a horrible bluff with an offsuit queen-eight on a board showing A-K-K-J-J with three clubs put ‘Lucky Ming’ to the test. Almost an hour into heads-up play, the Cambodia-based player had the best hand, having rivered a flush with eight-five of clubs. But with two kings and two jacks out there, the possibility of a full house or bigger flush for Petrone meant it was a hard call to make, and all his chips would be required to make it. Somehow, he solved the problem and made the call that turned the tables, giving ‘Lucky Ming’ a 2:1 lead.

Just eight hands later, Petrone shoved with ten-six offsuit and ‘Lucky Ming’ called with ace-king suited. The flop of A-7-5 kept him ahead and the deuce of spades on the turn locked it up before an offsuit jack on the river officially ended the event. Ramiro Petrone had held a huge lead, but one bluff later, he was at the mercy of ‘Lucky Ming’, who started the final table as its only player who had not previously won this event. That has all changed now, as they celebrated a win worth an amazing $321,152. Petrone, who held a 3:1 chip lead headed for his fifth GGMillion$ title, will simply have to try again next week as he consoles himself with the second place prize of $251,810.

Watch all the action from this week’s GGMILLION$ final table in the company of Jeff Gross and Jonathan Jaffe right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	‘Lucky Ming’	Cambodia	$321,152
2nd	Ramiro Petrone	Uruguay	$251,810
3rd	Pavel Plesuv	Moldova	$197,440
4th	Michael Addamo	Australia	$154,809
5th	Aliaksei Boika	Belarus	$121,384
6th	Pedro Garagnani	Brazil	$95,175
7th	Pieter Aerts	Belgium	$74,625
8th	Rodrigo Selouan	Brazil	$58,512
9th	Leonard Maue	Austria	$45,878

Former WSOP World Champion Wins GGMILLION$ for $325,217 – February 14, 2024

This week’s GGMillion$ final table was brought to life by Michael Jozoff joining Jeff Gross for the commentary. Nine superb players battled it out for the biggest share of a $1.6 million prize pool. The lineup included notable players such as Mark Radoja, Stoyan Madanzhiev, Artur Martirosian, and Christoph Vogelsang, who was the overnight chip leader. It made for an entertaining final table, culminating in a dramatic finish where the top prize of $325,217 was won.

Martirosian First to Bust

Heading into the final table, Christoph Vogelsang, at his third final table of the season, had a huge lead with 149 big blinds, over 35% of the chips in play, to his name. Second in chips was ‘URJH19’ from Austria with 67 big blinds. The WSOP Online Main Event winner during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stoyan Madanzhiev, had 62 bigs and he was followed in the chip count by Mark Radoja with 42 big blinds.

The rest of the table was filled out by Estonia’s Markkos Ladev (32BB), Latvian Aleks Ponakovs (24BB), Roman Hrabec (23BB), Artur Martirosian (14BB) and, in the smallest stack, Belarussian Yahor Dambrouski with just 4 big blinds. All nine of them had varying degrees of hope that they could overcome the odds and take the championship. The first player to fail in that ambition crashed out within the first fifteen minutes… but it wasn’t the short stack.

It’s fair to say that Russian player Artur Martirosian is a GGMillion$ legend and right at the top of the list of multiple winners of the $10,300 buy-in weekly high roller event on GGPoker. This week did not run out in his favor though. All-in with pocket eights, his ‘snowmen’ were looking good for a crucial double against Ladev’s ace-jack until the river of board showing 7-7-6-K-A fell, knocking out the Russian in ninth place for $46,459.

Last Remaining Champion Ponakovs Pushed Out

A quick exit befell Dambrouski in eighth place for a score of $59,253. Calling off his stack correctly in the small blind for just eight big blinds with ace-five, he was nonetheless overtaken by Madanzhiev’s nine-six of spades when a board of 9-6-4-Q-7 easily helped Madanzhiev capture the pot and brought him up the leaderboard into second place behind Vogelsang.

Two hands later, Czech player Roman Hrabec cashed for $75,570 in seventh place when he was unlucky to lose a flip to Latvian WSOP bracelet winner Aleks Ponakovs. The latter had pocket nines when he called the pre-flop shove from Hrabec with ace-king. One seat around, Madanzhiev had folded ace-nine, one card each that the two all-in players were hoping to hit. But it affected Hrabec more, taking away one of the outs he needed to hit to survive and a board J-4-2-T-6 ended the Czech player’s hopes, and recovering some of Ponakovs’ stack somewhat, it having been short to that point.

A rapid start to the table, had three players gone inside 30 minutes of play. Surprisingly, perhaps, it took another hour to produce a fourth exit at the final table when the Canadian poker professional Mark Radoja “lucked out”. Four-betting all-in pre-flop with pocket queens, he was in a huge race against the ace-king of Madanzhiev and, with a pot of 4.3 million chips in the middle, it was a crucial pot for both players. Sadly for Radoja, he was unable to hold as an ace on the flop boosted Madanzhiev’s stack into the outright chip lead, and the Canadian was eliminated in sixth for $96,380.

The last remaining former GGMILLION$ winner crashed out in fifth place after two hours at the virtual felt. All-in with ace-jack pre-flop, Latvia superstar Aleks Ponakovs needed a lot of help when up against the ace-king of ‘URJH19’ and didn’t get it, a board of A-3-2-7-T dooming Ponakovs to the ranks of past winners rather than present as he busted in fifth for $122,920.

A Set and a Flush

With four players remaining, Madanzhiev was the chip leader with a massive 8.7 million chips. In second place on the leaderboard was ‘URJH19’ with 4.75 million, with the previously powerful Vogelsang (1.98m) and Ladev (1.16m) seriously lagging behind. Powering through the levels, however, was German player Vogelsang, who doubled back into contention and rallied to jump into second place as ‘URJH19’ slipped into the short stack. All-in with pocket deuces, he lost to Madanzhiev’s ace-king and slipped out in fourth place for $156,769.

Three became two very quickly, as the Estonian Ladev shoved pre-flop when at-risk with pocket eights. Calling with pocket nines, Vogelsang was his pair conquer the board as it came Q-J-5-7-T to send play heads-up. The unfortunate Ladev going out in third place for a score of $199,939.

Winning that hand saw Vogelsang pull almost even with Madanzhiev, holding 7.6 million chips to the Bulgarian’s 8.8 million. Vogelsang tried to force his way into a lead with a hero call, but it backfired as on a board of Q-J-8-A-A his eight-ten was nowhere near good enough when Madanzhiev bet with ace-seven for rivered trips.

That pot gave the Bulgarian a better lead and very soon after, it was all over on an incredible board. Madanzhiev slow-played what turned into an ace-high flush on the river. He held ace-six of diamonds and the board landed Q-5-4-3-T, with two diamonds on the flop and another on the turn. The card which doomed Vogelsang, however, was the ten on the river. It matched beautifully with the pair of them he held preventing him from getting away from the rivered set. Calling Madanzhiev’s river shove gave the talented Bulgarian another major win in his ascending career.

Watch the final table play out in the company of Jeff Gross and Michael Jozoff right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Stoyan Madanzhiev	Bulgaria	$325,217
2nd	Christoph Vogelsang	Germany	$254,997
3rd	Markkos Ladev	Estonia	$199,939
4th	‘URJH19’	Austria	$156,769
5th	Aleks Ponakovs	Latvia	$122,920
6th	Mark Radoja	Canada	$96,380
7th	Roman Hrabec	Czechia	$75,570
8th	Yahor Dambrouski	Belarus	$59,253
9th	Artur Martirosian	Russia	$46,459

Pedro Neves Wins GGMillion$ for $289,000 as Santerne Proves Super Second Best – February 21, 2024

It’s hard to not feel sorry for any player who comes second in the weekly $10,300-entry GGMillion$. The final heads-up always provides a huge payout for the winner, and this week was no different, as Pedro Neves won the top prize of $289,015. But on the same day that he won his first-ever major title for over $961,000 in his home country of France, the newest EPT Super High Roller champion Thomas Santerne can only have been delighted with taking down another six-figure score on his laptop.

Salas the Slayer on Top from the Start

There were only eight players making the second day – the final table – this week thanks to a double elimination on the last hand of the penultimate day. It was the Argentinian WSOP Hybrid Main Event winner Damian Salas who led the field with 99 big blinds. His nearest rival at the start of play was some way back, too, as the eventual winner Pedro Neves sat at his first final table of the season on 62 big blinds.

Behind the top two, some terrific professionals in the game of poker lay in wait for any kind of slip-up. Russian regular at the GGMillion$ late stages, ‘spaise411’ was on 50 big blinds, while Finnish end boss Eelis Parssinen (30BB), Ukrainian GGMillion$ crusher Andrii Derzhypilskyi (28BB), Lithuania’s Paulius Vaitiekunas (28BB), Russia’s ‘visomar’ (27BB) and the aforementioned Santerne (22BB) all harbored hopes of victory as they orbited like ever more distant planets around the sun of Salas.

The first player to bust on a night where two hours was enough to wrap up the action was the Ukrainian Derzhypilskiy, who was all-in with ace-nine when short stacked, only to run into Vaitiekunas’ ace-king. The Lithuanian’s ‘Big Slick’ prevailed with a board of K-9-2-J-T coming down to send Derzhypilskiy home with $51,205.

Neves Fills Up as Vaitekunas is Vanquished

It had taken 40 minutes for the first player to bust at the unusually eight-handed final table. The next elimination didn’t take very long at all by comparison, and it was Derzhypilskiy’s conqueror, Vaitiekunas, who had awful luck in bowing out. All-in pre-flop with pocket jacks, he was a favorite to double when Neves called him with ace-ten, but a flop of A-T-8 gave the Portuguese player two pair and after another eight on the turn Vaitiekunas was drawing thin. An ace on the river gave Neves a full house for good measure and the Lithuanian cashed for $65,657 in seventh.

Finnish poker professional Eelis Parssinen was the next player to depart, leaving in sixth place for a score of $83,957. Losing a flip, the Finn had put himself at risk with pocket fives, only to be called by Thomas Santerne with the king-queen of hearts. A flop of Q-J-3 was a disater for Parssinen, and the ten on the turn and nine on the river only improved Santerne’s hand to a straight, eliminating the player known in the online poker community as ‘€urop€an’.

Not long after Parssinen pushed all in only to falter, the Russian ‘visomar’ was at risk too. All-in pre-flop with ace-five, they couldn’t hold from the small blind when Santerne called from the big blind with queen-ten, a board of Q-9-9-7-2 again rewarding the Frenchman’s stack rather than the pre-flop odds favorite, ‘visomar’, who headed to the rail in fifth for $107,506.

A Set and a Flush

With four top poker players left in the hunt, it was still the overnight chip leader Salas who held the initiative. Sitting pretty on close to 6 million chips, Salas was followed in the chipcounts by Pedro Neves on 4.2 million, with ‘spaise411’ (2.4m) and Santerne (1.2m) bringing up the rear. With just over an hour of poker in the bank for the night and just under an hour still to play, a lot changed.

One of the most pivotal pots of the entire tournament played out between the eventual final two as four-handed play saw both Santerne, now almost equal in chips with Pedro Neves, put his Portuguese opponent to the test. On a board that had brought two kings, one on the flop and another on the river, Santerne’s shove with king-nine for a rivered full house. Neves was put to the acid test where the wrong move could leave him with just 1.5 big blinds. Holding king-five for trips, Neves found a superb fold, one of the best ever seen in the GGMillion$ tournament series across both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.

That fold earned Neves a reprieve which he put to excellent use, chipping up steadily over the next 20 minutes to take the chip lead. Santerne put himself in pole position to be Neves’ main challenger, though, when he won after committing pre-flop with pocket aces against the luckless Salas, who had pocket kings. The second best starting hand in poker was shot down early, when an ace hit on the flop ace meaning the Argentinian was drawing thin to running Kings, and was dead on the turn when a nine hit. Salas left the table in fourth place having earned $137,659.

Out in third for $176,269 was ‘spaise411’. Calling off his stack all-in with king-ten on a board showing 6-4-2-K-7, he was dejected to discover that the aggressor, the flawless Neves, had shoved with six-four and flopped two pair, scuppering the Russian’s chances of going to the final battle.

Leading by around 5:1 in chips, Neves had earned the right to use his stack to bully his opponent and Santerne never again had a chance to put Neves in a position where he felt like a fold was necessary. The final hand saw Santerne ship it with ace-jack, only to be called by Neves with king-deuce, backed by a massive chip stack. All seemed well on a dry board for a double-up back into contention for the talented Frenchman Santerne, but a deuce on the river condemned him to defeat and a runner-up finish worth $225,709 as Neves banked the top prize of $289,015.

Join Jeff Gross and his co-commentator Jonathan Jaffe as they break down all the action from an exhilarating final table right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Pedro Neves	Portugal	$289,015
2nd	Thomas Santerne	France	$225,709
3rd	‘spaise411’	Russia	$176,269
4th	Damian Salas	Argentina	$137,659
5th	‘visomar’	Russia	$107,506
6th	Eelis Parssinen	Finland	$83,957
7th	Paulius Vaitiekunas	Lithuania	$65,657
8th	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$51,205
9th	A Tkatschew	Lithuania	$39,989

Vlad Darie Wins GGMILLION$ for $297,000 – February 28, 2024

This week’s $10,300-entry GGMILLION$ was one for the books as a prize pool worth $1.37 million saw nine top players battle for glory at the virtual felt. With regular host Jeff Gross joined on comms by the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event winner, the Bulgarian professional Stoyan Madanzhiev, the action was red hot from the frantic start to fast-paced finish as the action wrapped in a little over two hours on GGPoker.

Eastern Bloc Bullying Rivals

Heading into the final table action, it was the Belarussian Ilya Anatski who led the field and by some margin. Holding 102 big blinds at the top of the leaderboard, there was a big gap back to the second-placed Romanian, Vlad Darie with 63 big blinds. Ukrainian Andrii Derzhypilskyi followed in third place on the leaderboard with 59 big blinds and on his seventh final table of the season.

Elsewhere in the final nine, Moldovan poker star Pavel Plesuv (41BB) was at yet another final table, along with ‘23RUDY23’ (35BB) from Montenegro, Brazil’s Bruno Volkmann (29BB), Daniel Petersen (28BB), Austria’s ‘C3H5N3O6’ (26BB) and Michel Dattani (24BB) as the final table began.

Unsurprisingly, with the short stack well over 20 big blinds, it was nearly 1 hour before before there was the first victim of the final table’s escalating blinds and mounting pressure. Eventually, Ukrainian Andrii Derzhypilskyi busted when he shoved pre-flop from the small blind with king-deuce of diamonds and was called by big blind Brazilian Bruno Volkmann with king-queen of spades.. Three more spades fell by the river for a king-high flush, sending Derzhypilskyi home with $41,192.

Darie Would be (Ace-)King

The other Brazilian was the next to fall, as Michel Dattani crashed out in eighth place for $52,745 to Ilya Anatski. The Belarussian raised from the hi-jack position with ace-ten and called it off when Dattani shoved with pocket nines. A board of K-6-5-A-Q hit Anatski’s ace on the turn and the field was reduced to seven just 3 minutes after the first knockout.

Pavel Plesuv had the most successful record of the nine finalists coming into the last day’s play but busted next for a score of $67,539. Betting pre-flop with ace-five of spades, he was raised by Anatski holding pocket kings, one of them being a spade. Plesuv charged right into the mess, three-bet shoving for over 1.6 million chips and he was snap-called by Anatski, a board of T-8-4-2-2 doing nothing to help Plesuv, short of giving him an inside wheel draw on the turn that missed the river.

Austrian player ‘C3H5N3O6’ was the next to go, losing in sixth when king-seven was dominated and defeated by his countryman Vlad Darie’s ace-king for a result worth $86,482. And five became four when the final Brazilian fell. Once again, Darie had ace-king and had an easy call and win when Bruno Volkmann shoved with ace-jack of diamonds which was drawing dead to a chop to the river, and the Brazilian went home with $110,739.

Arie Dominates Dramatic Final Stages

With four players remaining, Ilya Anatski (5.9m) was the chip leader, with Darie on 4.9 million, and ‘23RUDY23’ (2.1m) and Daniel Petersen (1.1m) both trailing in the wake of the top two.  It wasn’t, therefore, a shock when Danish player Daniel Petersen busted in fourth for $141,799, shoving with king-queen when short-stacked. Petersen was called by Anatski, with pocket nines.

Three-handed, ‘23RUDY23’ lost with ace-nine to Darie’s king-queen when the Romanian flopped a flush draw and then hit a queen on the river. That pot sent the Montenegrin player home with $181,570 and boosted Darie’s stack to a chip leading 8.7 million chips to Anatski’s 5.4 million.

The heads-up battle for the title was a short one, with Darie driving Anatski down to a chip-stack of just over 2.1 million chips, while Darie grew his to over 12 million. In the final hand, Anatski committed his chips with ace-five and was called by Darie with ace-nine. A flop of A-4-2 paired both men’s ace, but also polarized what might come after. Two low cards were not good for Anatski’s chop chances but did add four more outs to the possiblitty of having the winning hand with four threes and three fives still out there. A king on the turn was not one of them and a nine on the river gave Darie two pair to rubber-stamp his victory, and seal the $297,707 top prize at the GGMillion$.

Watch all the drama as it played out with Jeff Gross and WSOP Online Main Event champion Stoyan Madanzhiev on the GGPoker YouTube replay:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Vlad Darie	Romania	$297,707
2nd	Ilya Anatski	Belarus	$232,497
3rd	’23RUDY23′	Montenegro	$181,570
4th	Daniel Petersen	Denmark	$141,799
5th	Bruno Volkmann	Brazil	$110,739
6th	‘C3H5N3O6’	Austria	$86,482
7th	Pavel Plesuv	Moldova	$67,539
8th	Michel Dattani	Brazil	$52,745
9th	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$41,192

« January 2024  |  March 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.