GGPOKER

GGMILLION$ Won by Vladimir Minko for $284,000

A thrilling final table gave Russia player Vladimir Minko victory in this week’s GGMillion$ as he scooped the $284,669 top prize. At a final table stacked with quality, players such as Justin Bonomo and Michael Addamo failed to make it count as they missed out on over a quarter of a million dollars in the $10,300-entry weekly event.

Addamo the Aggressor

As the final nine prepared to play to a winner, GGPoker regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Mario Mosboeck summed up the action. Going into the final table, it was the Australian powerhouse Michael Addamo who had 83 big blinds at his second GG MILLION$ final of the season. Second in chips was Justin Bonomo, who, playing from Canada, had 78 big blinds at his first final table of the year.

Behind the leaders lay the eventual winner Minko with 60 big blinds. Other to feature included Amichai Barer (59BB), Joao Vieira (28BB), David Peters (26BB), Matthew Stumpf (24BB), Ukrainian Andrii Derzhypilskyi (23BB) and Dimitar Danchev (12BB), as play got underway only a few minutes before the first elimination.

First out was Danchev, who shoved with pocket sevens on a 6-3-3 flop with two hearts and was called by Bonomo with ace-queen with the ace of hearts. An eight of hearts on the turn was followed by the queen of hearts on the river and the Bulgarian busted for a score of $39,388.

Russia and Ukraine Fight at the Felt

A clash between the eventual winner, Russian player Vladimir Minko and his Ukrainian opponent Andrii Derzhypilskyi ended with the latter on the rail with $50,435. All-in with pocket jacks, Derzhypilskyi was dejected to see Minko call with pocket kings, and the board of 8-4-4-3-7 saw the kings prevail to reduce the field to seven players.

It had only taken a quarter of an hour to lose two players, but it would be over an hour before another elimination. When it came, it was one of a trio of players playing from Canada as native Ami Barer cashed for $64,581 in sixth place. All-in with king-queen offsuit against Minko’s ace-jack, the flop of A-Q-9 gave both players a pair but kept the Russian ahead. A deuce on the turn and ten on the river confirmed Barer’s elimination and continued Minko’s domination of elimination hands.

Bonomo was short when shoving from the small blind with a suited queen-eight and Minko was priced in to call with the king-three of diamonds, the same suit as Bonomo’s cards. The board of K-2-2-J-6 had Bonomo drawing dead to the river as he cashed for $82,695 outside the top five. Soon after, a flop of K-3-2 with two diamonds saw Portuguese player Joao Vieira check-shove with the jack-five of diamonds, called by Addamo with pocket nines which held through the off-suit ten turn and seven river to send Vieira to the rail with $105,889.

Minko Makes It Count

Matthew Stumpf picked the worst possible moment to shove when short with a suited ace-three. Called by David Peters’ suited ace-jack, the American’s hand prevailed through the T-T-3-J-2 board and sent Stumpf home with $135,589. That meant the leader was Minko with 7.22 million, with Peters (4.24m) and Addamo (2.14m) hunting him down.

David Peters slid back in the rankings and eventually shoved with pocket threes. Called by Addamo with ace-eight, it was the Australian who made the better hand, a flop of A-Q-T followed by a six on turn and a six on the river to send Peters home with $173,618.

Heads-up, Addamo may have won that hand but had the shortest stack with 4.6 million chips. Minko’s 8.95m was ahead and it took no time at all for the epic finale to be over. On a flop of T-3-2, both players flopped top pair, with Addamo’s T-8 slightly better than Minko’s ten-seven. A seven on the turn gave Minko an incredibly well-disguised two pair and on the river of a deuce, Addamo shoved, Minko called and it was all over, the Aussie winning $222,314 as runner-up and Minko claiming the win for $284,669.

Watch all the drama as it happened in the company of Gross and Mosboeck right here:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Vladimir Minko	Russia	$284,669
2nd	Michael Addamo	Australia	$222,314
3rd	David Peters	United States	$173,618
4th	Matthew Stumpf	Canada	$135,589
5th	Joao Vieira	Portugal	$105,889
6th	Justin Bonomo	United States	$82,695
7th	Amichai Barer	Canada	$64,581
8th	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$50,435
9th	Dimitar Danchev	Bulgaria	$39,388

2023 Week 31                                           WSOP Paradise High Rollers

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.