Ben Rolle and Niklas Astedt Battle to Epic GGMillion$ Climax
The latest GGPoker GGMillion$ final table had it all. Massive showdowns, hero calls, fantastic folds, and a thoroughly deserving winner. Nine of the very best did battle on GGPoker, and in the end, a titanic tussle between two of the best online poker players ever had a dramatic finish to thrill poker fans worldwide.
The Norwegian Who Wouldn’t Be King
When play began, regular host Jeff Gross and this week’s special guest co-commentator, Denys Chufarin, brought the action to life. Chufarin, known as ‘SantaZzz’ on the GGTeam, is a very popular content creator whose YouTube channel has over 10,000 subscribers.
When the final nine chose seats at the GGMillion$ Texas Hold’em final table, there was one massive chip leader. Canadian player ‘rivo_john’ kicked off with an incredible 95 big blinds, dwarfing even his nearest challenger. The next best at the table was Swedish online poker superhero Niklas Astedt on 63 bigs. Irish player Jon Proudfoot followed on 57 big blinds, with last week’s winner, Audrius Stakelis, on 42 big blinds.
Others battling for glory included one more Canadian, Pascal Lefrancois, just behind the reigning champ on 41 big blinds, Austria’s ‘If_i_persist’ (27BB), Russian Nikita Kalinin (27BB), and German poker star Benjamin Rolle (19BB), all still in with a great chance.
Less than one orbit into the final table, the Norwegian short stack Joachim Haraldstad, who began with just four big blinds, was unsurprisingly the first to depart. His ace-five was shot down by Kalinin’s jack-ten after a devastating board of Q-8-6-K-9 rivered a straight to the latter and sent the Norwegian home with $51,456.
The Champion is Unseated
Eight became seven in dramatic fashion as, after 45 minutes without an elimination, Rolle’s return to power mirrored Stakelis’ fall from grace. Last week’s winner was at-risk when he got his chips into the middle with pocket jacks and ran into Ben Rolle’s pocket kings. A board of 8-6-3-3-3 sent the Lithuanian to the virtual rail for a score of $65,626 as he made back-to-back final tables but couldn’t make it two victories in a row.
Next to go was Pascal Lefrancois who ran great hole cards into the best possible. All-in with ace-queen, the Canadian was well behind Astedt’s pocket aces. The J-T-5 flop flirted with hope for Lefrancois, but a turn of a three and a seven on the river condemned him to an exit in seventh for a return of $83,698.
Out in sixth was the Austrian player ‘If_i_persist’, who won $106,746 after the cruellest of run-outs propelled him from the competition like an ejector seat into the atmosphere. The Austrian was at risk of losing 98% of his stack with ten-nine of spades against the ace-jack of diamonds for Proudfoot. The flop was a favorable Q-9-3 with no diamonds and one spade. An eight on the turn gave Proudfoot a chance of a gutshot straight that was completed by the ten on the river. Two pair was no good for the Austrian. Left with less than half a big blind, ‘If_i_persist’ busted on the next hand holding an ace-king that fell to Rolle’s six-deuce.
After a dogged battle for nearly an hour, five became four, as a pivotal hand handed Astedt a way back into proceedings while Nikita Kalinin was put to the rail for $136,142. All-in with king-six against king-queen, the at-risk Russian picked up a flush draw but ended up drawing dead, meaning Astedt was now second in chips behind Rolle.
The Closest of Calls
It took nearly two and a half hours for the first five eliminations to happen as the table closed in on the tournament’s final stage. And in less than 8 minutes of action, the final three players would bust to bring the tournament to a heads-up battle. Rolle held the lead with 6.86 million chips, just clear of Astedt’s 6.70m with ‘rivo_john’ on 3.32m and Proudfoot languishing on 1.94 million in last place.
An ill-timed shove from Astedt got lucky as the Swede’s ten-eight of hearts, which started well behind the at-risk suited king-jack held by ‘rivo_john’, caught up quickly. A flop of Q-8-4 paired the Swedish player’s second card. A turned four and rivered three sent play three-handed as the overwhelming chip leader at the start of the final day crashed out for $173,632 in fourth place.
Soon, play was heads-up. Proudfoot, sitting with just seven bigs, shoved with ace-king, and Rolle made the call with a suited seven-five. A board of Q-7-5-K-5 gave the German a full house, and the Irish player busted for $221,445 as Rolle went onto the heads-up with just over 8 million chips. Astedt started in the lead with 10.6m and grew that lead to a 4:1 advantage within eight hands, but it disappeared just as quickly.
Rolle ground some back before he doubled with ace-nine against queen-jack, grabbing the lead. An outkicked top pair of an ace gave Rolle a gusty lead as a board of A-Q-5-J-3 played out. Astedt went all in on the river with ace-eight, forcing Rolle into the tank with ace-nine. Rolle knew if he called and was wrong, he’d be out, but if he was right, he would have a massive lead. A full 2 minutes later he made the hero call and was correct to do so as Astedt’s ace-eight was revealed. The most marginal of calls had given the German a crucial lead of 8:1.
“Sorry, man.” Rolle commented in the chat box. Four hands later, all the chips were in again. Astedt tabled a queen-eight and was dominated by Rolle’s king-queen. A flop of Q-9-5 was no help to the Swede. An ace on the turn was followed by a jack on the river to give Rolle the crown and $360,198. Astedt had to be content with $282,425 as the runner-up.
Watch all the drama play out here with Jeff Gross and Denys ‘SantaZzz’ Chufarin on the GGPoker YouTube channel.
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Benjamin Rolle | Germany | $360,198 |
| 2nd | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $282,428 |
| 3rd | Jon Proudfoot | Rep. of Ireland | $221,445 |
| 4th | ‘rivo_john’ | Canada | $173,632 |
| 5th | Nikita Kalinin | Russia | $136,142 |
| 6th | ‘If_i_persist’ | Austria | $106,746 |
| 7th | Pascal Lefrancois | Canada | $83,698 |
| 8th | Audrius Stakelis | Lithuania | $651626 |
| 9th | Joachim Haraldstad | Norway | $51,456 |
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.
