THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 30
Juan Dominguez Wins GGMillion$ for $1.4 million
With a total prize pool of $8.86 million, a top prize of over $1.4m, and nine of the best poker players in the world, this week’s GGMillion$ showdown had it all. With commentary from regular host Jeff Gross and his special guest Mike Wasserman, there was a surprise ending to the event won by Juan Dominguez, which, as ever, brought some of the biggest names in the poker world to the virtual felt on GGPoker.
Special K in the Lead
Heading into this week’s nine-player final table, Montenegro player Dejan Kaladjurdjevic had the chip lead with 107 big blinds, his stack not too far ahead of Spanish player Juan Dominguez (93BB) and Alisson Piekazewicz from Brazil on 85 big blinds. From the top trio, a large gap existed to regular player and one of Israel’s finest, Barak Wisbrod (42BB), Moldovan Pavel Plesuv (33BB), Brazil’s ‘Levistraus’ (28BB), Austrian ‘hazuzukaa’ (22BB), Russian Alexander Zubov (18BB) and the short stack, Swedish player Simon Mattsson, who began with just 14 big blinds.
The first player to leave the action, which occurred nearly half an hour after the start, was indeed Mattsson, who busted in ninth place for $171,291. The Swede called off his stack from the small blind with ace-eight offsuit, but the move was poorly timed as Piekazewicz called with ace-jack of spades from the button. The board provided no help for the Swedish player and the field was reduced to eight.
Next to go was ‘Levistraus’, who, more than an hour later, got it in bad with Barak Wisbrod. The latter shoved from the button with ace-nine of clubs, and ‘Levistraus’ called it off with ace-eight of diamonds but fewer chips. Calling it off for around 14 big blinds, the Brazilian had no luck across the Q-Q-Q-3-2 board, which flirted with “chopportunities” in the words of co-commentator Mike Wasserman.
Dominguez on the March
Over 90 minutes of the final table had passed with just two eliminations, but another six exits were crammed into just over an hour that remained, starting just 3 hands later. With a board of A-A-K-J-T on display, with three of the first four cards being hearts, a potential Royal Flush was out there. Overnight leader Kaladjurdjevic shoved with ace-eight but was called after a lengthy tank by Juan Dominguez with queen-jack of spades. The straight won the hand, and the Spanish player, having the larger stack, knocked the Montenegran to the virtual rail in seventh for $285,345 after starting the final table with the largest stack.
With six players left, the blinds were escalating quickly and racing through the players’ stacks. Soon, the second Brazilian bust, as Piekazewicz moved in with queen-jack of clubs and was in a coinflip against Wisbrod with pocket sevens. The board landed 6-3-3-9-9, and the chips were sent to Wisbrod. Cashing for $368,856, Piekazewicz’ exit meant that of the top three stacks coming into play, only Dominguez remained in the hunt for this week’s latest GGMillion$ title and the $1.4m top prize.
Pavel Plesuv ran short over the extended period of play without an elimination as Juan Dominguez and Barak Wisbrod dominated the other three players. When Plesuv took a stand, his stack of thirteen big blinds was actually the third biggest stack at the table. His shove with ace-nine of diamonds from the big blind ran into Dominguez’ pocket jacks, and the ‘fishhooks’ held with ease through the Q-8-3-K-Q board to add to the Spanish player’s lead.
Zubov’s Ladder
With four players left, Dominguez’ stack of 57 million chips dwarfed all his challengers, with Wisbrod closest on 21.7 million. Wisbrod was significantly ahead of ‘hazuzukaa’ (6.7m) and Alexander Zubov (3.1m). With Dominguez able to exert pressure in virtually every hand on at least two of his opponents, it was ‘hazuzukaa’ who fell first, busting in fourth for $617,609. All-in with queen-jack, ‘hazuzukaa’ was up against it when Dominguez’s call was revealed with pocket queens. A jack on the flop was only false hope as play quickly moved three-handed.
Wisbrod at least had a sweat story to take home with $799,751 in third. First, he lost a coinflip to Zubov to level their stacks in pursuit of Dominguez. Then he called off his stack with pocket aces on a board showing 6-4-2-7-Q against the Spanish player, but Dominguez had shoved with two-pair, sixes and sevens, to take a strong 7:1 lead into the final duel.
Zubov needed a quick double-up to get back into contention, but with only 15 big blinds, he didn’t have long to wait. Holding nine-eight on a flop of 9-7-5, Zubov raised Dominguez’s c-bet with pocket queens and called off the Spaniard’s shove. A king on the turn and five on the river ended it all as Juan Dominguez won the $1,421,680 top prize, with the $1,035,959 runner-up prize won by the laddering Zubov.
Watch all the action play out as three hours took us from overnight leaders to a sick sweat at the death in the company of Jeff Gross and Mike Wasserman here:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Juan Dominguez | Spain | $1,421,680 |
| 2nd | Alexander Zubov | Russia | $1,035,959 |
| 3rd | Barak Wisbrod | Israel | $799,751 |
| 4th | ‘hazuzukaa’ | Austria | $617,609 |
| 5th | Pavel Plesuv | Moldova | $477,158 |
| 6th | Alisson Piekazewicz | Brazil | $368,856 |
| 7th | Dejan Kaladjurdjevic | Montenegro | $285,345 |
| 8th | ‘Levistraus’ | Brazil | $220,948 |
| 9th | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | $171,291 |
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.