David Yan Wins Second Super MILLION$ Title for $428,624 – May 4, 2023

This week’s GGPoker Super MILLION$ was one of the quickest in recent memory, as New Zealand’s David Yan went wire-to-wire, becoming the latest double winner of the prestigious weekly tournament. Players such as Niklas Astedt, Eelis Parssinen, and Barak Wisbrod all missed out on the chance of glory as Yan’s superb temperament counted for plenty at a final table that concluded in less than two hours.

Frantic Action Kicks Off Final 

With $2,120,000 in the prize pool, New Zealander David Yan began the final table with the chip lead, but it was a slim advantage. Across the last nine, the chips were fairly evenly spread, with Yan holding 74 big blinds, a touch clear of Brazilian ‘BrunoBernardino’ with 66 big blinds. Yan was a previous winner of the event, along with Niklas Astedt, who was going for title #3 with 58 big blinds to start with.

Another former two-time winner, ‘mamasherlock’ was playing off 49 big blinds from Mexico, with the other former champions, Pablo Silva (44 big blinds), triple winner Barak Wisbrod (33 big blinds) and Eelis Parssinen (14 blinds) having very different approaches to how they needed to start the final table.

It was a very short opening to the final table for the Finnish former champion Eelis Parssinen, who didn’t even make it five minutes into proceedings before crashing out in ninth place for $53,578. He was followed from the felt soon after by the Czech Republic player Roman Hrabec, whose ace-queen was in dire trouble pre-flop after Barak Wisbrod called the shove with pocket queens. They held with ease to send Hrabec home with a score of $69,482.

Astedt Ousted to Deny Triple Win 

Mikalai Vaskaboinikau was at risk when he shoved from the small blind with ace-seven of clubs. Called by Barak Wisbrod with king-jack of hearts, Vaskaboinikau remained ahead after the T-8-7 flop with two clubs, but a nine of diamonds on the turn changed all that, giving Wisbrod the straight. The Israeli player faded the world on the six of spades river, meaning Vaskaboinikau cashed for $90,107 in seventh place.

Brazilian player ‘BrunoBernardino’ came into play with plenty of chips but committed his last of them, behind in the odds. All-in with king-queen, he needed to hit against his fellow countryman Pablo Silva, who called with ace-jack. The flop of K-T-6 was a good one for the at-risk player, but despite the turn being safe, the river wasn’t, as BrunoBernardino cashed for $116,854 in sixth place.

Niklas Astedt was aiming for his third Super MILLION$ title, but although he ran deep, he never managed to impose himself on the final table. All-in with ace-king in the small blind, he lost out to the eventual winner David Yan, whose queen-ten hit to deny the Swede victory. Astedt, so often the man who controls the final table in this format – and more generally online – was unable to reach the promised land of heads-up, cashing in fifth for $151,541.

Yan Takes Charge, Wins Three-Way All-In

The final stages of the dramatic final table kicked off with a massive three-way all-in that went a long way to deciding the winner. Pablo Silva shoved with the shortest stack with pocket deuces, David Yan called with ace-six, then, to everyone’s surprise, ‘mamassherlock’ from Mexico called with nine-seven offsuit, holding a slightly bigger stack than Silva. The flop of 8-5-5 kept Silva ahead and gave the Mexican a gutshot, but after the ten on the turn made it even more likely ‘mamassherlock’ would win, an ‘ace from space’ landed from nowhere on the river to give Yan the pot and two eliminations.

While Yan won that pot, it didn’t put him in the lead for a heads-up match against Barak Wisbrod. The Israeli held 11.5 million chips to Yan’s 9.6 million, and as ‘mamassherlock’ won $254,861 to Silva’s $196,525, the heads-up match got underway. Wisbrod was going for his third title while Yan was aiming for his second Super MILLION$ win.

The match was decided in fairly short order, as Wisbrod fell behind and then faced a decision for his tournament life with a board showing 5-4-3-K-4. Yan bet around three-quarters of the pot with king-queen, and Wisbrod shoved with jack-five. Yan had to call for the win and did so, taking home the $428,624 top prize, with Wisbrod winning $330,514 in second place.

This week’s special guest co-commentator was Anthony Venturini, who alongside regular host Jeff Gross did a sterling job bringing the action to life. Check out the full final table replay right here:

GGPoker Super MILLION$ 2nd May 2023 Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	David Yan	New Zealand	$428,624
2nd	Barak Wisbrod	Israel	$330,514
3rd	mamassherlock	Mexico	$254,861
4th	Pablo Silva	Brazil	$196,525
5th	Niklas Astedt	Sweden	$151,541
6th	BrunoBernardino	Brazil	$116,854
7th	Mikalai Vaskaboinikau	Belarus	$90,107
8th	Roman Hrabec	Czech Republic	$69,482
9th	Eelis Parssinen	Finland	$53,578

Ottomar Ladva Wins Third GGPoker Super MILLION$ for $428,000 – May 11, 2023

The Estonian poker professional Ottomar Ladva has won his third GGPoker Super MILLION$ title after a thrilling final table concluded with him outlasting a swathe of great players in stunning fashion. Ladva, who began the final table third in chips, managed to overcome poker greats such as the chip leader and former winner Wiktor Malinowski, German high roller and two-time champion Ole Schemion, and Spanish poker phenomenon Adrian Mateos along the way.

Early Levels Bring Exciting Clashes 

The final table could hardly have been more stacked than it was this week in the Super MILLION$, with no fewer than nine titles between the nine players who assembled to battle for the top prize and bragging rights in the elite circles that only nosebleed players inhabit. The Polish player Malinowski began with 129 big blinds, Ole Schemion was closest to him on 84 bigs and Ladva began with 73 bigs as he bid to become a three-time Super MILLION$ winner, sharing that hope with Schemion and Mateos, who started 4th with 53 big blinds.

Everyone else started the action with under 30 bigs, and several were much shorter than that. This was the ‘World Festival’ edition of the Super MILLION$ and with that change of name came even more prize money. One of those was Rodrigo Selouan, and the Brazilian couldn’t spin it up, cashing for $53,578 in ninth place. With ace-king offsuit on the fourth hand, he couldn’t win a flip against Malinowski’s pocket jacks, as all the chips got in the middle pre-flop. The J-8-5 flop put Selouan in huge trouble and no help arrived on turn or river to reduce the field to eight.

Next to go, just 2 hands later was the Austrian player Bombacha Veloz, whose seven big blinds quickly went into the middle. Unfortunately, their ace-jack was no match for Schemion’s ace-queen as they slumped to defeat, cashing in eighth for $69,482.ss

Milly Falls Short of His Surname 

With Malinowski taking control, while Ladva, Mateos, and Schemion grappling for a position behind his chip mountain, the three short stacks all had less than six blinds. The very next hand, the 7th of the night, Canada’s John Milly attempted to spin it up with king-ten of spades but couldn’t get there against Romanian player ‘MY1980’ who was ahead with ace-queen offsuit pre-flop. All the chips went in before the 9-4-3 flop, and after the jack turn and five river, play was six-handed “Ten minutes into the show” in the words of regular host Jeff Gross.

Schemion had a chance to move second in chips, but as guest Mike Jozoff picked Andrii Novak in the weekly ‘loser buys the meal’ bet between Gross and his co-commentator, that seemed a doomed deal. The Ukrainian was quickly all-in and at risk against Schemion, who held ace-king of hearts. Novak needed to hold with pocket eights, heading to the flop with all of his chips on the line. An ace was in the window, but right behind it was an eight, giving Novak bottom set which eventually improved to a full house on the river for a full double up.

Over the next 90 minutes of play, without any eliminations, the chips became more evenly spread. It was the Estonian player Ottomar Ladva who had worked his way into the lead as a huge pot developed between him and the Spanish poker legend Adrian Mateos. Ladva raised pre-flop from the small blind with king-jack of hearts and was re-raised by Mateos with pocket aces. Ladva called and the flop of Q-9-8 included two hearts. Checking to Mateos, Ladva saw the Spaniard bet around a third of the pot, and quickly made the call.

The turn was a six of diamonds, no good for Ladva’s flush and this time he check-called a bet of 1.25m chips, meaning there was more in the pot heading to the river than both Mateos and Ladva’s remaining stacks combined. The river was a five of hearts. Ladva had made his flush and his shove on the river gave Mateos a horrendous decision, and he couldn’t find the fold, eventually calling to his doom, crashing out in sixth place for a score of $116,854.

Ladva Lights It Up 

With five players remaining, Ladva had amassed an important lead, and he wasn’t letting it go. When ‘MY1980’ shoved pre-flop with king-queen of clubs, Ladva re-shoved with ace-queen and held with ease through the 7-3-3-A-6 board, sending ‘MY1980’ home with $151,541. That gave Ladva well over 14.3 million, with Schemion (3m), Malinowksi (2.1m) and Novak (1.5m) trailing in his wake.

It was a surprise exit in fourth place, as Ole Schemion crashed out after losing an ill-advised flip. Ladva raised from the small blind with pocket sixes, Schemion shoved with ace-queen and the run-out of 5-2-2-K-3 saw Ladva slay another superstar opponent. Jozoff declared this to be exactly the reason he picked Ladva.

“This is what I’m saying, he’s gonna win the tournament so often!” said Jozoff, causing much mirth for Gross despite the possibility of it costing him dinner. Ladva had almost all of the chips, and when Malinowski shoved with jack-queen, Gross’ last hope for a free meal went as Ladva’s pocket tens survived to send play heads-up.

“How sick is this for Novak? You’re doing backflips right now. He got to sit in spectator mode for $330k!” Jozoff said. The popular young player was one of the GGPoker Super MILLION$’ best ever co-commentators and soon after that previous hand, it was all over.

Novak had bounced back from 1 million chips to over 5 million but bluffed it off at the last hand. On a board of A-4-2-Q-Q, Novak piled it in on the river with nine-three of spades, and Ladva, holding ace-deuce, called it off with ease and claimed his third Super MILLION$ title and the top prize of $428,624.

You can watch all the action of a pulsating final table with Jeff and Mike below.

GGPoker Super MILLION$ May 9th 2023 Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Ottomar Ladva	Estonia	$428,624
2nd	Andrii Novak	Ukraine	$330,514
3rd	Wiktor Malinowski	Poland	$254,861
4th	Ole Schemion	Germany	$196,525
5th	MY1980	Romania	$151,541
6th	Adrian Mateos	Spain	$116,854
7th	John Milly	Canada	$90,107
8th	Bombacha Veloz	Austria	$69,482
9th	Rodrigo Selouan	Brazil	$53,578

Ognyan Dimov Wins Third Super MILLION$ Title for $460,000 – May 17, 2023

The Super MILLION$ saw another dramatic final table conclude with Russian professional Ognyan Dimov capturing his third title after beating Dutch player Jans Arends heads-up. With Jeff Gross in the chair as the regular host, he was ably assisted this week by the owner of Chip Leader Coaching, and multiple major tournament winner, Chance Kornuth.

Over the course of the first 10 weeks of Super MILLION$ action in Season 2023, there have been many ups and downs, with the all-new Super MILLION$ leaderboard currently looking like this:

Doberman Gets Bitten by Lady Luck

When play began, the chips were split into a five player group with plenty of chips, and four player group that definitely didn’t. Of the nine, four were previous winners, with Romania’s ‘EzzzGame’ already a double Super MILLION$ winner as they kicked off the action with the chip lead holding 82 big blinds. Second in chips was Thailand-based ‘Sakooh’, who began with 68 big blinds and the Russian two-time winner Ognyan Dimov on 61 big blinds. Behind the top three, both the German player Benjamin Rolle (52 big blinds) and Dutchman Jans Arends (45 big blinds) were chasing for the win, with Rolle being the only one of the two who had already achieved that goal.

Short stacks who kicked off with less than 20 big blinds featured Russia’s ‘Mr-Doberman’ (19 bb), ‘Philbort’ (18 bb), ‘SoyBoyCuck’ (18 bb), and Theo Arnold, who had the least chips to start, with just 17 big blinds, although he was also vying for Super MILLION$ title #2.

‘Mr-Doberman’ became the first player to hit the rail, and was unlucky to do so. His final chips ended up in the idle pre-flop when he shoved with pocket queens, but although he started the hand favorite to double through his caller and countryman Ognyan Dimov, that wasn’t how the story unfolded. Dimov’s suited ace-jack immediately struck gold on the A-5-4 flop, and after the king turn and six river fell, ‘Mr-Doberman’ was muzzled and would snap his jaws no more, cashing for $57,621 in ninth place.

It was a tale of the chips making all the play next, as ‘SoyBoyCuck’ cashed for $74,726 in eighth. All-in pre-flop with ace-queen, SoyBoyCuck was flipping against the initial under-the-gun bettor in the hand and overnight chip leader ‘EzzzGame’. They had pocket nines and the made hand remained in the lead through the board of   K-7-3-2-K as the rich got richer and the chip-poor headed to the rail early on in the final table.

Hand of the Tournament Stuns Benjamin Rolle

Theo Arnoldi had begun the action at the nine-handed final table with the lowest stack and despite laddering two places, he couldn’t get his way back into contention. All-in pre-flop with pocket eights, his timing was awful, shoving into the raise of Benjamin Rolle with pocket nines. The flop of K-7-6 changed nothing and another six on the turn was equally ineffectual. A five on the river meant the Canadian would slide to the rail, cashing for $96,907.

Philbort picked the worst time to try to spin up his short stack with queen-ten. Rolle once again had the better hand with pocket queens and held with ease through the board of J-7-5-2-4, vaulting to over 4.5 million chips. It was at this key middle stage of proceedings that Jans Arends enjoyed the best period, taking the lead and building a stack of 9.9 million chips, more than 2.5 times anyone else’s stack.

Rolle may have looked the likeliest threat at that moment, but a short time later, he was most certainly not after the hand of the tournament. Dimov bet with pocket nines in the first seat round from Rolle’s big blind and Rolle called with ace-six to see a stunning flop of A-6-6 give him a full house. Dimov min-bet, Rolle called and a nine on the turn gave Dimov an incredibly well-disguised better full house.

On comms, Gross and Kornuth went crazy, busting out some moves that Mick Jagger would have been proud of. Dimov’s chunky bet was raised by Rolle and Dimov called, both men believing they were setting the perfect trap. Rolle shoved the river for 70% of the pot and Dimov had the easiest call in the world to scoop the pot and send Rolle short. Soon after, Rolle lost what little chips he had left with a suited jack-nine downed by Arends’ pocket queens despite the former flopping an open-ended straight draw. Rolle, surely disconsolate, busted in fifth for $162,978.

Overnight Leader Loses Out in Fourth Place

‘EzzzGame’ had led the field with nine remaining, but their dreams of making it a glorious third Super MILLION$ triumph were shot down in unfortunate fashion. All-in pre-flop for 3.6 million with ace-king, the Romania-based player was been delighted to see Dimov shove with king-queen. After the safe flop of J-6-6 dropped, a queen on the turn doomed ‘EzzzGame’ to the exit door, as a seven on the river changed nothing, sending them home with $211,357.

Arends held the lead, but a tricky pot went against him when his pocket tens looked good until the river against Dimov’s queen-jack. The board came 9-5-4-K-5, but an inspired shove from Dimov on the river saw Arends fold the best hand and with it give away the lead.

Dimov had 12 million chips to Arends’ 6.3 million, and Sakooh of Thailand was on around a third of Arends’ stack and needed a miraculous recovery. All-in for his last with ace-king, he couldn’t catch Arends’ pocket jacks as the board came T-8-3-Q-2 and sent the Thai player home for $274,096.

Dimov Gets Third Title

Arends was shooting for his first title, Dimov his third, but the chips were far from level. Dimov held the lead with 13.7 million, with Arends on 9 million chips. The early skirmishes went to the Dutchman, and he took a marginal lead early in the heads-up battle. That turned into a big lead soon after, but it could have been so much worse for Dimov.

A board of 8-6-5-7-3 had built to a pot of 8.6 million by the river, with both men having almost equal stacks behind. Arends shoved with ace-nine for the turned straight, but Dimov had pocket jacks, a massive overpair to the board and his fold was one that showed true class. Earlier in the final, he had shoved with air to win another crucial pot and he was pulling out some truly astonishing professional moves in a brilliant battle of wits brought to glorious life by Gross and Kornuth.

Arends had control of the match, but it slipped away in a painful hand, as on a board of K-9-2-4-4, he called the river shove of Dimov, who held king-queen. Arends only held pocket eights, but in an attempt to hero call to victory, he handed the initiative to his Russian opponent.  A short time later, Dimov shoved with ace-deuce and Arends called it off with queen-jack. A stunning flop of 3-4-5 gave Dimov the wheel straight and a four on the turn assured his win.

Arends missed out on the chance to become a Super MILLION$ winner for the first time, instead banking $355,458 in second place. It was the decisive Dimov who took the title after some stunning plays at the final table and was crowned champion for a third time, taking home the top prize of $460,973 in the process.

You can watch all the action as it played out below.

GGPoker Super MILLION$ 16th May 2023 Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Ognyan Dimov	Russia	$460,973
2nd	Jans Arends	Netherlands	$355,458
3rd	‘Sakooh’	Thailand	$274,096
4th	‘EzzzGame’	Romania	$211,357
5th	Benjamin Rolle	Germany	$162,978
6th	‘Philbort’	Brazil	$125,673
7th	Theo Arnoldi	Canada	$96,907
8th	‘SoyBoyCuck’	Macau	$74,726
9th	‘Mr-Doberman’	Russia	$57,621

Joni Jouhkimainen Wins His First Super MILLION$ for $438,000 – May 17, 2023

With nine superstar players, millions of dollars ready to be won and the blinds rising sharply from the first deal, whoever won this week’s GGPoker Super MILLION$ was going to have done it the hard way. The $438,733 top prize from a starting prize pool of $2,170,000, was taken home by Finnish player Joni Jouhkimainen, who captured his maiden Super MILLION$ title while playing from Cyprus, the current home of the Triton Poker Series.

Gruissem Leads as Final Table Begins 

Coming into the action with the chip lead was German professional Phil Gruissem, whose recent efforts have already seen him make a Super MILLION$ final table already this month. He began with 93 big blinds as he looked to bag his second title, with a considerable lead over the Bulgarian Dimitar Danchev (50 big blinds) and Russian player ‘kolayruss1978’, who started with 44 big blinds. Both of ‘Philbort’s’ nearest challengers were vying for their maiden wins.

Another sizeable stack belonged to a Super MILLION$ legend. Thomas Muehloecker already had three Super MILLION$ victories in his back catalogue and started with 37 big blinds as he attempted to make it number four. Yuri Dzivielevski, another legend, was also in the action searching for his fourth Super MILLION$ victory, but he only had 19 big blinds to his name.

Early Elimination for Mikolaitis as Jouhkimainen Jumps

A former winner busted early as the Lithuanian player Dominykas Mikolaitis ran into a cold deck like passengers on the Titanic. Mikolaitis four-bet all-in pre-flop with pocket jacks and Joni Jouhkimainen made the call with pocket queens. An ace-high board with no paint meant Mikolaitis busted, cashing for $54,841.

Jouhkimainen was running away with it and had a huge lead with six players remaining, showcasing the competitive nature of online poker. A lead that was lost soon after when Yuri Dzivielevski’s ace-jack hit a jack on the flop when committed pre-flop against Gruissem’s pocket tens. With that hand, Gruissem had lost the chip lead to Jouhkimainen but there was much less difference between top and bottom stacks than there was at the start of play.

A full hour of play elapsed without any eliminations as the chips moved around the table seemingly in rotation. The only constant seemed to be Phil Gruissem losing chips, but he was not to be the next player ousted. That was Austrian player SmillethHero, who was desperately unlucky on the river. All-in with ace-deuce, he started his final hand behind Jouhkimainen’s ace-queen and the flop of A-9-8 did not help. A miraculous deuce jumped up on the turn putting him in the lead but this hope was quashed immediately by the arrival of a queen on the river. The Finnish player won the hand and took out his opponent as the Austrian cashed for $71,120.

Dzivielevski Unable to Add to Impressive Record 

With seven players remaining, the Brazilian former Super MILLION$ winner Yuri Dzivielevski crashed out for $92,232. Playing from the short stack with just 2BB, Yuri Dzivielevski put it all-in with ace-seven off-suit but he lost to Thomas Muehloecker’s king-queen. While the flop came down safely, the king on the turn set him behind for the last time and the jack on the river sent him to the rail for the day. Currently ranked #8 on the Super MILLION$ leaderboard, Dzivielevski will try again next time no doubt.

Jouhkimainen was running away with it and had a huge lead with six players remaining. Joni’s 9.2 million chips dominated the nearest challenger, Muehloecker, on less than 4 million. Tim Dunken lost a big flip against the Bulgarian Dimitar Danchev and busted soon thereafter. He was unlucky to do so, calling off his stack with ace-king on a board of J-8-3 when Jouhkimainen, who had bet, holding a nine-seven for a gutshot straight draw. The ten on the turn filled in that straight and play was down to five.

Two hours into the action, Dimitar Danchev hit the rail. All-in with ace-ten, Muehloecker’s pocket jacks were good enough to seal victory in the hand, with the Bulgarian going home with a cash of $155,115. He was followed from the table by the overnight chip leader Gruissem, who lost almost his entire stack with ace-jack to Muehloecker’s ace-queen. Gruissem’s final chips went in the next hand but his ace-jack failed to hold against the king-queen from Jouhkimainen, who finished the job.

Jouhkimainen Seals Victory

With three left, ‘kolayruss1978’ was a real outsider holding only 5% of the chips in play and the Russian couldn’t find a way back into contention. Down to just 6 big blinds, he shoved all-in with ace-ten pre-flop. Unfortunately, his run ended as he lost out to Jouhkimainen’s jack-nine on the board of K-8-7-T-4, handing the Finnish player a straight and the lead going into the final duel.

Jouhkimainen’s advantage was better than 2:1, but the tide turned Mouehloecker’s way, as the Austrian garnered his own advantage heads-up.

Jouhkimainen had to battle back and he did so, being down as low as half of the Austrian’s chips. After regaining the lead, Jouhkimainen started pounding the pre-flop raises, he established a 4:1 lead and there was no coming back for Muehloecker.

An undramatic ending saw all the chips go in with Muehloecker holding a suited jack-queen and Jouhkimainen calling with ace-deuce. An ace and a deuce landed on the board, and that was all as Joni Jouhkimainen finally celebrated becoming a Super MILLION$ champion. Watch the action here with commentary from Jeff Gross and special guest Rob Mizrachi right here.

GGPoker Super MILLION$ May 23rd 2023 Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Joni Jouhkimainen	Finland	$438,733
2nd	Thomas Muehloecker	Austria	$338,309
3rd	kolayruss1978’	Russia	$260,872
4th	Phil Gruissem	Germany	$201,160
5th	Dimitar Danchev	Bulgaria	$155,115
6th	Tim Dunken	Norway	$119,610
7th	Yuri Dzivielevski	Brazil	$92,232
8th	SmilleThHero’	Austria	$71,120
9th	Dominykas Mikolaitis	Lithuanian	$54,841

« April 2023  |  June 2023 »

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.