THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 37
Dominykas Dominates GGMillion$ for $339,000
There was a dramatic climax in this week’s GGMillion$ tournament on GGPoker, as Lithuanian Dominykas Mikolaitis came from starting in eighth position to win $339,445 and became the latest weekly champion. On a night of drama where host Jeff Gross and special guest Nick Petrangelo were often stunned by superb play, the chip leader Maksim Vaskresenski blew a 6:1 chip lead heads-up to finish in second.
Online Legends Gather for Final
As the final table of nine returned to the GGPoker felt, Polish player Maksim Vaskresenski was the chip leader on 106 big blinds. The well-known Portuguese player Joao Vieira (81BB) and Moldovan Pavel Plesuv (66BB) were Vaskresenski’s closest challengers, with the chip leader’s fellow Polish player Wiktor Malinowski (42BB) and Germany’s Alexander Tkatschew (41BB) in hot pursuit too.
Also in the hunt for glory but lower in chips were Swedish player Sven Andersson (36BB), Spanish player Sergio Aido (26BB), Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis (25BB), and Portugal’s Rui Ferreira (14BB), though Ferreira was very short and needed early positive movement to get back into the battle.
It wasn’t Ferreira who busted first, as the Polish duo got mixed up with each other only to see the shorter stack of the two online legends bust in ninth place for $48,492. All-in with ace-five of spades pre-flop, the chip leader Vaskresenski was snap-called by his Polish countryman Wiktor Malinowski with pocket kings. A flop of A-8-6 set the chip leader into the lead, and a deuce on the turn followed by a queen on the river to send Malinowski home first, with his native friend reaping the reward.
Mystery Hand Madness
Vaskresenski led at that stage, but as play continued, he was overtaken by the rise of Joao Vieira, the Portuguese professional leaping to the top of the leaderboard after a series of small wins and a full double up
with aces winning over ace-king. Pavel Plesuv was unlucky to leave the event in eighth place for $61,845 when he was all-in with the ace-king of clubs against Vaskresenski’s ace-king offsuit with the ace of spades. Four more spades followed on the board to take out the Moldovan as two other players showed folded spades too.
Next came the hand of the night, as the board showed 7-3-2-4-9 with no flushes. Vaskresenski made a pot-sized bet on the river with pocket threes, only for Joao Vieira to raise half his stack, big enough to commit Vaskresenski if he chose to call.
“This is the most exciting Mystery Hand we’ve had. The most action, the chip leader versus second, a set… what does he have?” asked Jeff Gross. Petrangelo thought there were a lot of ace-deuce, ace-three or ace-four combos that led to a bluff. Vaskresenski made an excruciating fold before we were shown the hand, ace-five, for a turned straight. The hand gave Joao Vieira a big lead, but Vaskeresenki had made a brilliant lay-down, losing the lead but saving millions of chips, and his tournament life, in the process.
“That was a crazy hand,” said Gross. “That’s where I feel safer in the booth sometimes!”
Seven players remained, but not for very long. Sven Andersson shoved pre-flop with ace-four and Rui Ferreira made the correct decision to call with a smaller stack while holding ace-king. A flop of T-8-3 kept the Portuguese player in line for a sizeable double-up, but a four on the turn changed all that. Suddenly, Ferreira was looking for a king to survive. It didn’t come, as an ace confirmed the Portuguese player’s exit for a score of $78,876.
Flush Over Flush
The epic nature of this week’s GGMillion$ was there for all to see, and for the players taking part, it must have been exhilarating. Sven Andersson had previously enjoyed some good fortune, but his exit still came in sixth place for $100,596. All-in when down to just over a single big blind with ace-seven, he lost to Joao Vieira’s queen-deuce with a spade after a cruel board of A-5-3-J-3 had four spades on it, along with the Swede’s top pair.
A vital pot occurred soon after when Dominykas Mikolaitis had the ace-ten of spades while Joao Vieira had the king-queen in the same suit. With three spades on the board by the river, the Portuguese players’ bet was raised by the Lithuanian, who got a full double-up to a massive stack of 11.2 million chips with the other three players scratching half of his chips between them.
The very next hand saw the German player, Alexander Tkatschew go to the rails. All-in with king-queen offsuit, he was crushed by Vieira’s pocket kings. The board came down J-6-2-Q-7 to send the German home with $128,298.
Four was then reduced to three just 25 minutes later. Vieira, playing from the short stack with less than 10 blinds, shoved with ace-four of spades but ran into the pocket queens of Vaskeresenki. The flop came down J-8-2 with 2 spades to give Vieira real hope. Unfortunately for Vieira, the board ran out 8-4 to send the chip leader from just thirty minutes earlier out in fourth for a score of $163,628.
The Great Switch
With three players remaining, Mikolaitis had the lead, but it had been trimmed slightly. The Lithuanian had 8.3 million chips, with Vaskeresenki on 5.6m and Sergio Aido on 3.4m. That all changed, however, when Vaskeresenki made a flush on a board of K-T-6-9-J when the final card joined two spades on the flop to match the Polish player’s seven-nine of the suit. Mikolaitis made a poor choice and shoved on the river with just ace-high, with the ace being in spades.
That pot gave the Polish player as big a lead as Mikolaitis had when four-handed play started. Shortly after, Aido busted to the chip leader, raising with ace-queen then calling off his stack when Vaskresenski shoved with pocket sixes. Across the board, Vaskresenski made quads when it ran out 6-5-3-6-3, and play went heads-up with the Polish player holding a better than 6:1 chip lead.
The final duel was no epic battle, but it switched once more before the title was taken. Mikolaitis got himself level over a series of small pots before the biggest pot of the night in terms of momentum. Vaskresenski only really had himself to blame, holding Q-J off and bluffing repeatedly on a board showing A-5-3-4-9 as Mikolaitis called every street with pocket tens to take the massive 6:1 chip lead himself.
Shortly after the reversal of stacks, Vaskresenski shoved with king-seven of hearts and Mikolaitis snapped it off with ace-nine, including the nine of hearts. A flop of A-K-J paired both players but kept Mikolatis in the lead and only two cards from victory. A deuce on the turn and an eight on the river ended the event in Mikolaitis’ favor as Lithuania prevailed at odds of 14.08 on the GGPoker website. Only the short-stacked Rui Ferreira had been longer odds to win, but it was a brilliant win for Mikolaitis, who used his extensive online poker skills to book a superb win in style.
Watch all the action in the company of regular host Jeff Gross and co-commentator Nick Petrangelo right here:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | $339,445 |
| 2nd | Maksim Vaskresenski | Poland | $266,153 |
| 3rd | Sergio Aido | Spain | $208,687 |
| 4th | Joao Vieira | Portugal | $163,628 |
| 5th | Alexander Tkatschew | Germany | $128,298 |
| 6th | Sven Andersson | Sweden | $100,596 |
| 7th | Rui Ferreira | Portugal | $78,876 |
| 8th | Pavel Plesuv | Moldova | $61,845 |
| 9th | Wiktor Malinowski | Poland | $48,492 |
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.