THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 6
Former WSOP World Champion Wins GGMILLION$ for $325,217
This week’s GGMillion$ final table was brought to life by Michael Jozoff joining Jeff Gross for the commentary. Nine superb players battled it out for the biggest share of a $1.6 million prize pool. The lineup included notable players such as Mark Radoja, Stoyan Madanzhiev, Artur Martirosian, and Christoph Vogelsang, who was the overnight chip leader. It made for an entertaining final table, culminating in a dramatic finish where the top prize of $325,217 was won.
Martirosian First to Bust
Heading into the final table, Christoph Vogelsang, at his third final table of the season, had a huge lead with 149 big blinds, over 35% of the chips in play, to his name. Second in chips was ‘URJH19’ from Austria with 67 big blinds. The WSOP Online Main Event winner during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stoyan Madanzhiev, had 62 bigs and he was followed in the chip count by Mark Radoja with 42 big blinds.
The rest of the table was filled out by Estonia’s Markkos Ladev (32BB), Latvian Aleks Ponakovs (24BB), Roman Hrabec (23BB), Artur Martirosian (14BB) and, in the smallest stack, Belarussian Yahor Dambrouski with just 4 big blinds. All nine of them had varying degrees of hope that they could overcome the odds and take the championship. The first player to fail in that ambition crashed out within the first fifteen minutes… but it wasn’t the short stack.
It’s fair to say that Russian player Artur Martirosian is a GGMillion$ legend and right at the top of the list of multiple winners of the $10,300 buy-in weekly high roller event on GGPoker. This week did not run out in his favor though. All-in with pocket eights, his ‘snowmen’ were looking good for a crucial double against Ladev’s ace-jack until the river of board showing 7-7-6-K-A fell, knocking out the Russian in ninth place for $46,459.
Last Remaining Champion Ponakovs Pushed Out
A quick exit befell Dambrouski in eighth place for a score of $59,253. Calling off his stack correctly in the small blind for just eight big blinds with ace-five, he was nonetheless overtaken by Madanzhiev’s nine-six of spades when a board of 9-6-4-Q-7 easily helped Madanzhiev capture the pot and brought him up the leaderboard into second place behind Vogelsang.
Two hands later, Czech player Roman Hrabec cashed for $75,570 in seventh place when he was unlucky to lose a flip to Latvian WSOP bracelet winner Aleks Ponakovs. The latter had pocket nines when he called the pre-flop shove from Hrabec with ace-king. One seat around, Madanzhiev had folded ace-nine, one card each that the two all-in players were hoping to hit. But it affected Hrabec more, taking away one of the outs he needed to hit to survive and a board J-4-2-T-6 ended the Czech player’s hopes, and recovering some of Ponakovs’ stack somewhat, it having been short to that point.
A rapid start to the table, had three players gone inside 30 minutes of play. Surprisingly, perhaps, it took another hour to produce a fourth exit at the final table when the Canadian poker professional Mark Radoja “lucked out”. Four-betting all-in pre-flop with pocket queens, he was in a huge race against the ace-king of Madanzhiev and, with a pot of 4.3 million chips in the middle, it was a crucial pot for both players. Sadly for Radoja, he was unable to hold as an ace on the flop boosted Madanzhiev’s stack into the outright chip lead, and the Canadian was eliminated in sixth for $96,380.
The last remaining former GGMILLION$ winner crashed out in fifth place after two hours at the virtual felt. All-in with ace-jack pre-flop, Latvia superstar Aleks Ponakovs needed a lot of help when up against the ace-king of ‘URJH19’ and didn’t get it, a board of A-3-2-7-T dooming Ponakovs to the ranks of past winners rather than present as he busted in fifth for $122,920.
A Set and a Flush
With four players remaining, Madanzhiev was the chip leader with a massive 8.7 million chips. In second place on the leaderboard was ‘URJH19’ with 4.75 million, with the previously powerful Vogelsang (1.98m) and Ladev (1.16m) seriously lagging behind. Powering through the levels, however, was German player Vogelsang, who doubled back into contention and rallied to jump into second place as ‘URJH19’ slipped into the short stack. All-in with pocket deuces, he lost to Madanzhiev’s ace-king and slipped out in fourth place for $156,769.
Three became two very quickly, as the Estonian Ladev shoved pre-flop when at-risk with pocket eights. Calling with pocket nines, Vogelsang was his pair conquer the board as it came Q-J-5-7-T to send play heads-up. The unfortunate Ladev going out in third place for a score of $199,939.
Winning that hand saw Vogelsang pull almost even with Madanzhiev, holding 7.6 million chips to the Bulgarian’s 8.8 million. Vogelsang tried to force his way into a lead with a hero call, but it backfired as on a board of Q-J-8-A-A his eight-ten was nowhere near good enough when Madanzhiev bet with ace-seven for rivered trips.
That pot gave the Bulgarian a better lead and very soon after, it was all over on an incredible board. Madanzhiev slow-played what turned into an ace-high flush on the river. He held ace-six of diamonds and the board landed Q-5-4-3-T, with two diamonds on the flop and another on the turn. The card which doomed Vogelsang, however, was the ten on the river. It matched beautifully with the pair of them he held preventing him from getting away from the rivered set. Calling Madanzhiev’s river shove gave the talented Bulgarian another major win in his ascending career.
Watch the final table play out in the company of Jeff Gross and Michael Jozoff right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H85zxXLu5U
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Stoyan Madanzhiev | Bulgaria | $325,217 |
| 2nd | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | $254,997 |
| 3rd | Markkos Ladev | Estonia | $199,939 |
| 4th | ‘URJH19’ | Austria | $156,769 |
| 5th | Aleks Ponakovs | Latvia | $122,920 |
| 6th | Mark Radoja | Canada | $96,380 |
| 7th | Roman Hrabec | Czechia | $75,570 |
| 8th | Yahor Dambrouski | Belarus | $59,253 |
| 9th | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $46,459 |
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.