THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 13
GGMillion$ Won by Dejan Kaladjurdjevic as Wilson Blows Late Lead
Tuesday night’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was one for the books as a top prize of over $1.5 million was claimed by Montenegran player Dejan Kaladjurdjevic, who defied the odds and the chips to mount a stunning comeback victory. With the top two places both earning seven-figure prizes, one of the richest GGMillion$ events in recent memory played out in style as one of the best GG MILLION$ final tables, if not the best, came to pass on GGPoker.
Papadakis Pushed to the Rail First
This week’s show was presented by an absolute dream team for poker followers, with regular host Jeff Gross joined by WSOP legend and outspoken poker player Mike Matusow on co-comms. The action was as spectacular as one of The Mouth’s infamous blow-ups, and it all kicked off with the final nine players from a bumper field in the weekly $10,300-entry tournament.
Leading the field was Andrew Wilson of the United Kingdom with 142 big blinds, one of the biggest chip leads in the history of the GGMillion$. Behind him sat Brazil’s ‘LisFlower’ (58BB), Spanish players Juan Dominguez (47BB) and Sergio Aido (28BB) both in the top half of the chip counts. Montenegro’s Dejan Kaladjurdjevic (28BB) was also in hot pursuit.
Lower chip stacks included GGMillion$ legend Artur Martirosian (26BB), Belarussian Ilya Anatski (19BB), the 2023 German PGT Leaderboard winner Daniel Smiljkovic (16BB) and Greek player Antonios Papadakis, who began with just nine big blinds. Unsurprisingly, it was Papadakis who left first, cashing for $201,614 when he shoved pre-flop with jack-ten of hearts and lost to ‘LisFlower’s’ ace-nine offsuit, on a board of K-T-9-9-6 condemning the Greek pro to an early exit.
Aido Ousted as Big Staks Dominate
Daniel Smiljkovic continued the trend of short stacks busting when he was sent to the rail for $260,427 in eighth place. All-in pre-flop from the cut-off with ace-ten offsuit, the German had wandered into a big pair as the Belarussian player Ilya Anatski called it off with pocket jacks and held through the K-Q-7-6-2 board.
Russian poker pro Artur Martirosian is a GGMillion$ end boss but his latest foray to the final table of the event he has won more than a handful of times saw him exit in seventh place for $336,699. All-in with ace-jack pre-flop for just over four big blinds, he was called by the chip leader Wilson holding pocket fours. The flop of 8-7-6 kept Wilson in the lead but the turn of a ten gave Martirosian ten outs and over 22% of a chance of survival. Unhappily for Martirosian, another six on the river meant he missed out on the final six places.
An astonishing bust-out came in sixth place, as Anatski imploded to cash for $435,612 as he fell to the chip leader Wilson. Having worked so hard to build his stack into contention for later heroics, a board of Q-9-8-6 saw Anatski bet half-pot with jack-six. Wilson called with pocket aces and that trap was wide open for Anatski to shove the three on the river, which he duly did. Wilson called it off and Anatski became the fourth player from the bottom to be knocked out from when the final table began.
Sergio Aido busted in fifth place for $563,886 shortly after, shoving pre-flop with ace-six and being called by Juan Dominguez with ace-jack. Dejan Kaladjurdjevic actually folded a second ace-jack behind the Spaniard but it didn’t matter. A board of Q-7-3-7-9 sent Aido from the table and reduced the field to a super-talented final four players.
Incredible Finale Ends Event in Style
Heading into the denouement of the drama, Andrew Wilson held a strong lead, with 50.6 million chips, more than double anyone else’s stack. LisFlower’s 25.22 million was marginally ahead of Dominguez’s 25.09 million, with Kaladjurdjevic trailing the top trio on 10.77 million.
Play continued 4-handed for an hour before a brutal board of K-K-7-5-2 with three hearts saw Andrew Wilson bet small with pocket sevens having flopped a full house. Juan Dominguez who had rivered a flush with ten-eight of hearts, raise-shoved on the river. The action was met by a quick call from Wilson as the last remaining Spanish player was sent home with $730,236.
Wilson was dominating the stacks and with over 75 million could afford to call off ‘LisFlower’s’ 20 big blind shove with ace-jack. Wilson’s pocket sixes only had to win one race to go into the heads-up battle with a better than 4:1 lead and so it proved. A flop of 9-8-5 kept Wilson in the lead and the turned three followed by the seven on the river gave Wilson an unnecessary straight as ‘LisFlower’ busted in third place for $945,966.
Heads-up, Kaladjurdjevic began with just 24 bigs while Wilson held 115. Fifteen minutes into heads-up play a monumental hand ended with the stacks level when the Montenegran’s quad deuces got the maximum from Wilson when the British player rivered a straight and paid it all off. Kaladjurdjevic still trailed but with 50 bigs to Wilson’s 61 big blinds, suddenly it was almost level.
Two hands later everything had changed again. On a board of T-4-3-6-8 that included 3 hearts, Wilson raised 3x the pot to put Kaladjurdjevic all in on the river with just queen-four. Kaladjurdjevic watched his clock tick down and with less than 20 seconds in the time bank clock made a sensational call with pocket nines. From nowhere Kaladjurdjevic had climbed back from the brink of elimination to have a massive 6:1 chip lead.
Seven hands later, Wilson shoved with king-four of diamonds and was at risk to Kaladjurdjevic’s king-nine as a dominated hand led to drama at the last. A flop of K-8-6 with only one diamond changed nothing but a five of diamonds on the turn improved Wilson to a 25% chance of winning the hand. Sadly, an offsuit seven landed on the river and it was all over as Kaladjurdjevic made a straight and won his first GGMillion$ title in truly stunning fashion.
“He was the best player. I didn’t see a mistake, did you?”
“He made a massive bet-call with nines on a ten-high board there and that was the hand of the tournament.”
Here’s how one of the best GGMillion$ of all time played out, in the company of Jeff Gross and Mike Matusow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GPfLgJzQe8%20
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dejan Kaladjurdjevic | Montenegro | $1,588,584 |
| 2nd | Andrew Wilson | United Kingdom | $1,225,732 |
| 3rd | ‘LisFlower’ | Brazil | $945,966 |
| 4th | Juan Dominguez | Spain | $730,236 |
| 5th | Sergio Aido | Spain | $563,886 |
| 6th | Ilya Anatski | Belarus | $435,612 |
| 7th | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $336,699 |
| 8th | Daniel Smiljkovic | Germany | $260,427 |
| 9th | Antonios Papadakis | Greece | $201,614 |
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.