THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 26
GGMillion$ Won by Vasiliy Meshkov for $243,000 After Dominant Display
This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was won by the Russian player Vasiliy Meshkov after the evenly stacked final five players were utterly dominated by the eventual winner. Meshkov knocked out each of his final four opponents to star at the 60th final table of this season in the GGMillion$, with players such as Canadian Guillarme Nolet and recent online crusher the legendary Japanese professional ‘Kuromichan’ featuring heavily.
Kuromichan Ducks the River
Heading into the action at the final table, which was brought to life by regular host Jeff Gross and guest co-commentator Benjamin Rolle – known as ‘bencb’ to the online poker community – it was the North Macedonian player ‘Ultimatefish657’ who had a big lead with 94 big blinds. Japanese player ‘Kuromichan’ (60BB) was closest in attendance, with Australia’s Joshua McCully (53BB), Canadian Guillaume Nolet (40BB), and Russian Vasiliy Meshkov (40BB) all in the top half of the chip counts.
Austrian ‘Khaanos’ (37BB), Belarussian Yauheni Tsiareshchanka (33BB), ‘d1nzvoz’ from Croatia (24BB), and Austria’s ‘lospob4res’ (11BB) completed the list of nine players aiming to become this week’s champion. Before the show, the 60th production of Season 2, Rolle and Gross looked back at the biggest winners of the GGMillion$ to date, with the Russian player Artur Martirosian on the top 2 titles and $6 million.
While it was a bit of a surprise when the first casualty happened over 30 minutes after the final table started, it was no surprise when it was the Austrian player ‘lospob4res’. All-in for just four big blinds with pocket threes, he lost to Croatia’s ‘d1nzvoz’ who called with a king-ten of diamonds and rivered the victory on an agonizing board of J-8-5-Q-K. ‘lospob4res’ went to the rail with $33,675 in ninth place.
McCully Culled After Lengthy Battle
As long as it took for nine players to be reduced to eight, it took over an hour to produce another exit. When it came, the Australian player Joshua McCully was the victim of the escalating blinds and his own dwindling stack. Raising for most of his six bigs pre-flop with king-queen from first position, he shoved on the Q-4-2 flop only to be snapped off by the only pre-flop caller ‘Kuromichan’, who tabled pocket aces. After a six and a seven fell on turn and river, McCully was ousted for $43,120 in eighth place.
The very next hand, the Japanese player should have had another scalp. Guillaume Nolet shoved pre-flop with ace-jack of hearts, and the initial raiser ‘d1nzvoz’ made the call with pocket nines. The board of K-K-4-3-Q was good for the Croatian and Nolet busted for $55,214 in seventh place. Kuromichan had folded ace-queen and lost a potentially huge pot as the Croatian chip leader pulled further away.
Less than 15 minutes later, ‘Kuromichans’ plummet from nearly being the chip leader was complete as they busted in sixth place for $70,701. It was a bitterly disappointing end to the night for the player who had come into play second of nine players. All-in with ace-king of hearts pre-flop, Belarussian Yauheni Tsiareshchanka held with pocket jacks across a board of T-T-4-5-T to put themselves back in contention for the title, taking second in chips with five remaining.
Meshkov the Monster in Late Slaughter Show
Over the course of nearly the full next hour of play, the chips balanced out to such a degree that the lead changed hands almost as often as the dealer button moved around the table. Croatian ‘d1nzvoz’ was all-in with the best of it, holding ace-king, but he ran out of luck against his opponent, the Russian Vasiliy Meshkov, who held ace-queen. A flop of Q-6-3 was a disaster for the Croatian, and after blanks on turn and river, he left for $90,531 in 5th instead of looking forward to being just 4 bigs behind the chip leader.
Meshkov now had the lead and soon had another player’s chips. Tsiareshchanka shoved pre-flop with king-jack, and Meshkov correctly called it off with ace-nine. The board played out T-5-4-5-7 – no paint – and suddenly Meshkov had a big lead. With over 7 million chips, Meshkov’s two remaining opponents had just over 4.3m combined. Tsiareshchanka, meanwhile, headed to the virtual rail with $115,923.
Meshkov was on a roll and made it three eliminations in a row when the overnight chip leader ‘Ultimatefish657’ got all his chips into the middle on a board showing K-T-4-J while holding jack-ten for two pair. Sadly for the North Macedonian player, Meshkov had been trapping with pocket kings. The top set prevailed to send the at-risk player home with $148,437.
It was time for the heads-up battle, and the last two players, who had started the final table with just 77 big blinds between them, battled it out for the top prize of $243,381. Meshkov led with 8.38 million chips to ‘Khaanos’ with 3.34m, and it didn’t take long for the Russian to wrap it up. Dominated in defeat, ‘Khaanos’ shoved with ace-four and Meshkov called with ace-seven. As the board ran out 6-3-2-9-8, the Russian survived a wheel sweat to stand tall at the close of play, eliminating each of his final four opponents to triumph.
At the start of play, Meshkov had been available at odds of 10.84 to win, and he did it in style, taking home the top prize of almost a quarter of a million dollars after another thrilling week’s action in the GGPoker GGMillion$!
Watch all the action in the company of Jeff Gross and Ben Rolle right here:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Vasiliy Meshkov | Russia | $243,381 |
| 2nd | ‘Khaanos’ | Austria | $190,070 |
| 3rd | ‘Ultimatefish657’ | North Macedonia | $148,437 |
| 4th | Y Tsiareshchanka | Belarus | $115,923 |
| 5th | ‘d1nzvoz’ | Croatia | $90,531 |
| 6th | ‘Kuromichan’ | Japan | $70,701 |
| 7th | Guillaume Nolet | Canada | $55,214 |
| 8th | Joshua McCully | Australia | $43,120 |
| 9th | ‘lospob4res’ | Austria | $33,675 |
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.