THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 36
GGMillion$ WSOP Online Bracelet Won for $1.9 million as Kid Poker Calls the Action
This week’s GGMillion$ on GGPoker wasn’t just a bumper tournament, it was a World Series of Poker bracelet event. With seven-time WSOP bracelet winner and the only two-time WSOP Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu joining Jeff Gross in the commentary booth for the action, it was a thriller at the online felt. The GGPoker Global Ambassador, known as ‘Kid Poker’, was like a child in a candy shop as the gold was won in dramatic fashion.
Kenjic Leading the Way
With nine players making the final table, the chip leader was Serbian player Jovan Kenjic, who started the final with a massive lead at 124 big blinds. Behind Kenjic was the Australian player James Mitchell on 96 big blinds, and no-one else was close at the start of play. Russian Roman Emelyanov (42BB), Danish player Daniel Petersen (39BB), Latvia’s Aleks Ponakovs (34BB), Chinese professional Jinlong Hu (27BB), German Christopher Nguyen (26BB) and Spanish player Sergio Aido (15BB) all hoped to battle their way to glory, with perhaps only Belarussian Aliaksei Boika needing a miracle, starting the final with just a single big blind.
Sure enough, it was Boika who bounced first in the very first hand. All-in with king-deuce, Boika lost to James Mitchell’s pocket nines, which flopped a nine to also take some from Kenjic, who had called the initial shove with pocket jacks. No help came on the turn or river to save Boika and he cashed for $243,577 in ninth place.
While the final took just over two-and-a-half hours to wrap up from start to finish, providing a second elimination proved time-consuming for the table. Chips changed hands many times over the first fourty minutes of play, which was what it took to send home the Latvian WSOP bracelet winner, Aleks Ponakovs. All-in with pocket jacks against the suited ace-seven belonging to Sergio Aido, the Spaniard’s recent rise in chips meant that he was holding the axe. A flop of Q-9-9 was safe enough for Ponakovs but an ace on the turn, followed by another nine on the river gave Aido a winning full house and sent Ponakovs home with $315,324 in eighth place.
Petersen Pushed Out
Two big hands clashed with seven left to send Christopher Nguyen from the event for a score of $408,366. All-in with pocket jacks on a flop of T-9-7, Nguyen was losing to Daniel Petersen’s pocket queens. Only a jack or an eight would save Nguyen but through the king turn and deuce river, nothing changed, elevating Petersen’s presence at the final table and eliminating the German player.
Down to six players, it was another hour before the Chinese player Jinlong Hu busted out for $529,029 as pre-flop aggression went very wrong. Kenjic raised from the button, and Hu shoved for around eight big blinds with king-ten from the small blind. He was called on a re-raise by Aido holding pocket kings. Kenjic got out of the way before a board of A-Q-7-7-3 sent the China-based player Hu to the rail.
Out in fifth place was Daniel Petersen, who cashed for $685,508 after another thirty minute period free of eliminations was ended in dramatic fashion. All-in with ace-six, Petersen lost to Aido’s ace-ten. A flop of 5-3-2 gave the Danish player hope of a reprieve as the gutshot straight draw was out there, coupled with three sixes. Seven outs missed once on the ace turn, however, before a king on the river gave Aido the big stack and sent Petersen home.
Aido Shoots for the Gold
Down to four, Aido’s lead was a sizeable one, with the Spanish poker legend holding 72.5 million at blinds of 600,000/1,200,000. Kenjic was on 28.4 million, Emelyanov sat on 23.8 million and Mitchell was the furthest behind, on just 16.7 million. From the point where Petersen was busted, it took just under 10 minutes to wrap up the entire event and award over $5 million in prize money and a WSOP bracelet.
Mitchell called off his stack with ace-five of spades but was behind Aido with ace-ten. A flop of K-9-7 kept it that way, while a jack on the turn and queen on the river gave Aido a Broadway straight and sent Mitchell to the virtual rail for $888,436 in fourth place.
Soon, play was heads-up. Emelyanov shoved with ace-ten and was at risk when called by the other short stacked Kenjic with ace-queen of spades. The flop was unfavorable to Emelyanov as it came K-8-3, and a nine on turn and river changed nothing, sending the Russian home in third place for $1,151,60.
Heads-up, Aido had 90 million to Kenjic’ 50 million and it was a decisive shove that won the Spanish player the gold. On just the third hand of heads up play, on a board showing A-T-6-J-5 with 3 spades, Aido shoved with the bigger stack and ace-ten. Kenjic had a tough fold to make with jack-nine including the nine of spades blocker to go along with second pair. His hand proved too strong to lay down and with no time left on his clock to fully think through the decision.
It was all over when Kenjic called giving Sergio Aido the WSOP bracelet and $1.9 million, his second bracelet after the $2 million he won in the summer when he took down the $50,000 High Roller NLHE event, beating Chance Kornuth to the gold.
“I wanna live in Sergio’s shoes just for today!” said Negreanu after the event. “It couldn’t have run better for him. He’s a great player to. That last hand, the time pressure issue was real. Time management is a real thing here in these GG events!”
Here’s how it all worked out
Sergio Aido came into play with just 15 big blinds and a dream. He left it with $1.9 million and the WSOP Online bracelet in the GGMillion$ – what a result!
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Sergio Aido | Spain | $1,935,575 |
| 2nd | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | $1,492,885 |
| 3rd | Roman Emelyanov | Russia | $1,151,601 |
| 4th | James Mitchell | Ireland | $888,436 |
| 5th | Daniel Petersen | Denmark | $685,508 |
| 6th | Jinlong Hu | China | $529,029 |
| 7th | Christopher Nguyen | Germany | $408,366 |
| 8th | Aleks Ponakovs | Latvia | $315,324 |
| 9th | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | $243,577 |
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.