GG MILLION$ Won for $1.68 million After Epic Finale
This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was one of the biggest in online poker history, with a top prize of $1.68 million and not one, not two, but three million dollar prizes awarded. The final table featured nine players at different stages of their GGPoker journeys, with some final table regulars and others who were hoping to turn their first appearance at a GGMillion$ final table into life-changing money.
Gierse Can’t Get Going
Commentary this week came from Jeff Gross and co-commentator Jonathan Jaffe, as nine players sat down to battle in the GGPoker streets for a top prize of $1.68 million, one of the biggest in GGMillion$ history. Top of the chipcounts heading into play was controlled by Irish player Michael ‘Mikster’ Dwyer, who began with 92 big blinds. Second in chips was Leonard Maue from Germany, with 66 big blinds to start his sixth final table of the season.
Austrian player ‘xxkfiss’ started with 60 big blinds, while Montenegran Dejan Kaladjurdjevic had 54 big blinds, and German Daniel Smiljkovic, last season’s PokerGO Tour end-of-year champion, went into the action with 39 big blinds. The remaining players in the mix for a chance of a seven-figure score this week included Finnish player Andreas Nasman (37BB), Austria’s ‘idkthp’ (34BB), Belarussian Ilya Anatski (11BB), and short stack Marius Gierse also from Austria, starting with just nine bigs.
The first player to leave the action was indeed the short stack. Gierse was all-in pre-flop with the best hand, holding king-eight, but it was only for his seven big blind stack. Kaladjurdjevic, who had already chipped up to over 120 bigs, called it off with jack-nine of hearts and the board played out J-T-2-Q-7. Gierse never had a chance to get going and went home with $211,297.
Nasman Runs into a Brick Wall
One short stack had gone, and the other looked like they might soon follow. Ilya Anatski raised with ace-ten and called off the raise by Leonard Maue with pocket nines, putting Anatski all in. The board of flop of K-K-8 kept Maue ahead, but after a queen on the turn, another on the river counterfeited Maue and doubled up the fortunate Belarussian.
Finnish player Andreas Nasman shoved pre-flop for 12 bigs with ace-ten but found the worst moment possible to do so, as Austria-based ‘xxkfiss’ woke up with aces and watched as a safe board of K-8-6-9-J arrived. A chunky pot went to the Austrian winner, who nearly doubled his stack, as he sent Nasman to the rail for $273,953.
Anatski had fought bravely, but their run ended in seventh place when they fell to the same Austrian player. All-in with ace-king pre-flop, Anatski lost to ‘xxkfiss’ when the latter turned over pocket queens, a board of Q-J-4-J-2 had the at-risk player drawing dead to the river. Anatski cashed for $355,209 in seventh.
Michael ‘Mikster’ Dwyer took charge over an extended period without any eliminations but that ended emphatically when a large proportion of his chips slipped digitally to his right. Leonard Maue moved with in with pocket sevens and Dwyer’s ace-queen couldn’t hit, meaning the at-risk Maue doubled up to 17 million chips, going from short stack to just a few big blinds behind being the Irish chip leader’s nearest rival.
Six became five when a massive pre-flop flip took out the German player Leonard Maue. All-in with pocket tens, the German was hoping that Kaladjurdjevic wouldn’t hit with his ace-king but a flop of A-4-2 was followed by a five on the turn and six on the river to oust Maue in sixth place for a score of $460,584. Two hours in and there had been just four eliminations.
Dwyer and Kaladjurdjevic Battle for the Glory
Kaladjurdjevic was playing fearlessly and, a few hands later, shoved with pocket fives after a raise by ‘xxkfiss’. The latter called off their stack with ace-jack but didn’t hit on the flop of K-T-3; however, all three cards were hearts, meaning any heart, ace, jack or queen would save the Austrian, and while still behind, he was actually a 61% favorite to win the hand. Kaladjurdjevic had to fade a world of outs on turn and river but did exactly that. The four of spades on the turn was followed by a seven in the same suit on the river.
The Austrian player busted for $597,239 in fifth place and with four left, everything had changed regarding the chips. The overnight leader Dwyer was now the short stack on 19.2m, while Daniel Smiljkovic (20.2m) was some way behind both Kaladjurdjevic (40.5m) and ‘idkthp’ (40.1m) at the top.
The fourth place and final prize that was ‘only’ six figures, went to Daniel Smiljkovic. His ace-queen was all-in pre-flop against Kaladjurdjevic’s pocket jacks. A clean board of K-K-3-9-2 sent Kaladjurdjevic into the chip lead and eliminated Smiljkovic for $774,458. Eight minutes later, play was heads-up. After a raise from Kaladjurdjevic, ‘idkthp’ went all-in with king-queen only to find he was dominated by ace-king. The board ran out clean with a 7-high and ‘idkthp’ was out in third, earning $1,004,282.
Heads-up, Kaladjurdjevic had nearly a 10:1 lead (105m to 15m), but Dwyer had nothing to lose. After doubling up on the very first hand and play continued for 10 minutes before he decided to move in from the button with 7-3 of diamonds. Kaladjurdjevic made the easy call with pocket kings! The flop of 9-8-2 kept the Irishman well behind, but the turn of a ten opened up the straight draw. Any jack or six would double up Dwyer, but it never came, the ace of clubs on the river ending the tournament, sending ‘Mikster’ home with $1.3m, as Dejan Kaladjurdjevic took home $1,688,889 and the title of GG MILLION$ winner!
You can watch all the action play out as it happened in the company of Jeff Gross and Jonathan Jaffe right here on GGPoker’s YouTube channel:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dejan Kaladjurdjevic | Montenegro | $1,668,669 |
| 2nd | Michael ‘Mikster’ Dwyer | Republic of Ireland | $1,302,327 |
| 3rd | ‘idkthp’ | Austria | $1,004,282 |
| 4th | Daniel Smilijkovic | Germany | $774,458 |
| 5th | ‘xxkfiss’ | Austria | $597,239 |
| 6th | Leonard Maue | Germany | $460,584 |
| 7th | Ilya Anatski | Belarus | $355,209 |
| 8th | Andreas Nasman | Finland | $273,953 |
| 9th | Marius Gierse | Austria | $211,297 |
2024 Week 19 2024 Week 21
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.