THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 34
Thrilling GG MILLION$ Finale Sees Déjà vu for $414,000
An exciting climax to this week’s GG MILLION$ on GGPoker saw the same two players battle it out for victory one week after duelling in the decider for last week’s GG MILLION$ title. Both ‘EEweedm99’ and Dominik Nitsche made the heads-up as they did seven days earlier as once again, the Austrian prevented the German from taking home the top prize. Regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Daniel Dvoress called the action as it happened on a dramatic night on GGPoker.
Early Exit for Theologis
The final nine assembled with Belarussian Nike Mihao in charge on 81 big blinds, with New Zealand’s David Yan not too far behind on 78 big blinds. German Dominik Nitsche followed on 65 bigs with Bulgarian Ognyan Dimov also well in contention on 52 big blinds. Last week’s champion, the Austrian player ‘EEweedm99’ started with 47 big blinds, while Greek player Alex Theologis wasn’t far behind on 37 bigs. Bringing up the rear were three poker powerhouses with fewer chips but no less chance of coming up trumps, with Brazil’s Rodrigo Selouan (25BB) Dutch player Duco Haven (25BB) and Germany’s Leonard Maue (20BB) were all hoping to avoid being the first to leave.
Happily for that trio, they did all avoid that early fate, as Theologis was the first player to bust, claiming $51,809 in ninth place. All-in with pocket tens pre-flop, he lost to David Yan’s king-queen of diamonds with 3.5m chips in the middle pre-flop and a board of K-J-4-2-8 sending the Greek player home.
Soon, the field was down to seven players. Leonard Maue came into the final table as the shortest stack and he had returned to that position by the time he was all-in with king-jack against EEweedm99 with seven-five of diamonds. The flop of A-Q-J kept Maue in the lead but had two diamonds and while the seven on the turn was an offsuit seven, the river was the four of diamonds and Maue was flushed out in eighth for $67,187.
The Rise and Fall of David Yan
Seven remained in contention but not for long. Selouan won another big pot to take a huge lead when his pocket aces bettered Ognyan Dimov’s pocket kings, and the Bulgarian sunk to just eight big blinds. Soon, he was all-in with a worse pair – pocket sixes. Called by Nitsche with ace-ten, a board of A-K-5-5-8 ended Dimov’s run for a result worth $87,131.
Six remained for some time, during which the overnight leader became the player at most serious risk of elimination. David Yan shoved from the small blind with ace-ten and was called by Nike Mihao with pocket eights. Both men were short but Mihao’s tournament life was on the line, and a board of K-6-4-J-5 with the first four cards being hearts matched perfectly with the ace of hearts in Yan’s hand to give the New Zealander the win before the river fell, sending Mihao home with $112,996 in sixth place. While Yan won that hand, he couldn’t keep hold of the chips, as play moved into a fourth hour with five players still in their virtual seats.
Within 30 minutes, the event would be over, however, as play ramped up in speed and aggression.
All-in with ace-seven – again of hearts – Yan was ahead of his caller Duco Haven when he shoved, the Dutch player holding ace-five of clubs. A board of 7-4-4-6-3 with three clubs by the turn ended Yan’s hopes of adding to his tally of GG MILLION$ victories as he crashed out for $146,537 and the field was reduced to four with Haven holding a slight lead.
Thrilling Finish Produces Fireworks
With four players left, Haven’s stack of over 6 million chips was the biggest but all three of his opponents held over 4 million, with the stacks close in size. Rodrigo Selouan lost virtually all of his chips when king-ten of diamonds was out-flipped by pocket eights belonging to Dominik Nitsche and his last went into the middle with ten-six, mopped up by Nitsche’s pocket deuces which held to send the Brazilian home with $190,036.
Nitsche had a big lead, but the script got a rewrite when the German shoved from the small blind with six-four of spades. Calling it off with pocket eights for his tournament life, last week’s winner EEweedm99 held with ease to grab an easy double-up to take the chip lead.
Duco Haven busted in third place for $246,446 when his king-queen couldn’t hit against the pocket sixes of the fearless EEweedm99 as the Austrian – last week’s winner – went for back-to-back glory. Taking a 2:1 chip lead into the final duel, EEweedm99 had the chance to win running GG MILLION$ titles for the first time ever on GGPoker, as Dominik Nitsche bid to win his first.
Just one hand into the final duel, EEweedm99 shoved with ace-nine and Nitsche called it off with pocket fours. Just one clean board stood between the Austrian and back-to-back victories against the same heads-up opponent and that was exactly what he got, as the German failed to hold when an ace landed on the flop and no help came on the turn or river of a A-T-5-Q-J board to give EEweedm99 the victory and $414,471, even more than he won last week against the same opponent.
Watch all the action take place in the company of Jeff Gross and Daniel Dvoress right here:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | EEweedm99 | Austria | $414,471 |
| 2nd | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | $319,601 |
| 3rd | Duco Haven | Netherlands | $246,446 |
| 4th | David Zan | New Zealand | $190,036 |
| 5th | Rodrigo Selouan | Brazil | $146,537 |
| 6th | Nike Mihao | Belarus | $112,996 |
| 7th | Ognyan Dimov | Bulgaria | $87,131 |
| 8th | Leonard Maue | Germany | $67,187 |
| 9th | Alex Theologis | Austria | $51,809 |
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.