THE DAILY SCOOP – Super MILLION$ Season 2023 Episode 15
Pieter Aerts Wins First-Ever Super MILLION$ for $291,000
The Belgian poker player Pieter Aerts won his first-ever GGPoker Super MILLION$ event and a prize worth $291,188 as he navigated through a difficult final table in under three hours on Tuesday evening. The final table included three former double Super MILLION$ winners, but Aerts got the job done with a dominant performance as he rose from the middle of the pack like the joker in his avatar picture to end up the ace in the deck.
Palamar Starts as Pacesetter
With nine players at this week’s final table, it was the Ukraine-based player Volodymyr Palamar who began as the chip leader, with 79 big blinds. Next in the rankings was Nick Maimone, with 76 big blinds, who was also trying to earn his first win in this popular $10,300-entry weekly tournament.
A little further back, ‘Pyra lubi sos’ had 60 bigs, with ‘Achterinde Tram’ (44BB), the aforementioned Aerts (43BB) and ‘yyyyy96’ (31BB) all aiming for glory from the middle of the pack. Three shorter stacks each had two previous Super MILLION$ titles to rely on for encouragement, with Belarussian Aliaksei Boika (24BB), Pablo Silva (16BB) and David Yan (10BB) all hoping a big comeback would lead to their third title.
It was the Belarussian player Boika who busted first, making a move early in the action with ace-five. He was called by Aerts with ace-king, and although the 9-2-3 flop gave Boika a ‘wheel’ draw, he could find neither a four or a five as jacks fell on both turn and river. Boika, whose recent record in Super MILLION$ events is incredibly good, cashed for $40,290.
Yan Dealt Dutch Defeat
Chinese player ‘yyyyy96’ was all-in and at risk next, down to a super short stack and in serious trouble. Electing only to min-raise pre-flop with seven-eight, the flop of Q-T-7 was good enough to get it all into the middle. But his caller, Dutch player ‘Pyra lubi sos’ had queen-three. A deuce on the turn was followed by an unnecessary queen on the river too in order to send the Chinese player home with $51,590.
The Brazilian Pablo Silva was tested on a dramatic board as the commentary team of regular host Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Bert ‘girafganger7’ Stevens called the action with Aerts’ cards hidden, trying to establish what the chip leader held.
All the chips went in the middle with the action on 4th street and 431,000 chips in the middle. Aerts had shoved for 3.5 million with Silva only having 182,507 back. The board read 4-4-2-A and Silva called with ace-nine. He saw the bad news as he was well behind with Aerts holding five-three for the turned straight. Stevens picked the hand as a logical one for Aerts to have. A ten on the river sent play six-handed, with Silva crashing out for $66,060.
Six became five when David Yan shoved his short- stack with ace-ten. Called by ‘Pyra lubi sos’ with ace-king, the New Zealand player needed a lot of help but got none on the J-6-2-J-7 run-out, cashing for $84,588 instead.
Aerts Imitates Life
With five players left, Aerts still led with 4.2 million chips, but it was no cakewalk, with overnight leader Palamar holding 3.8 million, Nick Maimone sitting with 2.2 million, and both other opponents over a million in chips. One Dutch player was thriving as ‘Pyra lubi sos’ momentarily took the lead, but ‘Achterinde Tram’ was not. All-in preflop from the dealer position with pocket sixes, he lost a flip to Aerts’ ace-nine when an ace landed on the turn. Tram got off at the next stop, on the rail(s) with $108,314 as Aerts regained the chip lead.
Another ‘Sweat with Aerts’ hand produced an elimination, with Palamar shoving on the river with six-five on a board showing J-7-3-6-J. Aerts had to think about it with a paired board and flush draw out there, but eventually made a brilliant call with five-four, a turned straight the best hand, sending Palamar home with $133,694.
Three-handed, Aerts had as many chips as both his opponents combined. Nick Maimone was the next player to leave, departing in third place for $177,594 when his ace-king of hearts was good enough to call off a five-bet shove from Aerts with pocket eights. It was a classic flip, and the run-out of 7-6-5-9-T was brutal for the Canadian, a turned straight ending his hopes.
Aerts had all the momentum and, having been picked to win by the impressive Stevens, who was an excellent co-host throughout, used his 4:1 chip lead to devastating effect. Soon, Aerts had 12.2 million to the Dutchman’s 1 million chips, and Aerts’ queen-four of diamonds was facing king-eight for ‘Pyra lubi sos’. The flop of 8-6-6 with only one diamond looked great for a Dutch double-up, but the turn of the deuce of diamonds preceded a king of diamonds on the river, leading to Aerts making his flush and winning his first-ever Super MILLION$ event, and in doing so claiming the top prize of $291,188.
“You could see the table in general was very tough,” said Stevens about his fellow poker player. “He misplayed zero hands which is almost impossible to do. It’s so hard to play close to perfect. It looks easy when you can see the cards, but it’s not. It’s very impressive. I’ll have to consider my ‘Best of Belgium’ tag. I might be second best!”
After a thrilling victory where he put on a clinic in final table strategy, it’s hard to disagree. Pieter Aerts is a major star and a name to watch out for in the coming years.
You can watch the final table in full, with analysis and the usual hi-jinks from Gross and Stevens, right here.
GGPoker Super MILLION$ 20th June 2023 Final Table Results: |
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| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Pieter Aerts | Belgium | $291,188 |
| 2nd | ‘Pyra lubi sos’ | Netherlands | $227,406 |
| 3rd | Nick Maimone | Canada | $177,594 |
| 4th | Volodymyr Palamar | Ukraine | $133,694 |
| 5th | ‘Achterinde Tram’ | Netherlands | $108,314 |
| 6th | David Yan | New Zealand | $84,588 |
| 7th | Pablo Silvq | Brazil | $66,060 |
| 8th | ‘yyyyy96’ | China | $51,590 |
| 9th | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | $40,290 |