Ottomar Ladva Wins Third GGPoker Super MILLION$ for $428,000
The Estonian poker professional Ottomar Ladva has won his third GGPoker Super MILLION$ 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: |
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| 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 |