THE DAILY SCOOP – Super MILLION$ Season 2023 Episode 17
Danilo Velasevic Victorious in First Super MILLION$ Win for $182k
Serbian poker player Danilo Velasevic won his first-ever GGMillion$ title after a memorable final table of the weekly high-stakes poker tournament. With three Brazilian poker crushers in attendance, the battle was hard-fought, as some of the most successful players on GGPoker clashed at the final table felt.
Two Big Chip Leaders Hunt First Win
The action got underway with nine great players involved with a chance of becoming the champion. Top of the leaderboard heading into the last day was the overnight chip leader Bruno Volkmann from Brazil with 106 big blinds. He was going for his first-ever GGMillion$ title, but so too was the Serbian player Danilo Velasevic, who only had one big blind fewer than the overnight chip leader.
Behind both the two leaders, each with over 25% of the chips in play but no previous wins, lay a raft of players with plenty of experience in this popular $10,300 weekly tournament. The second Brazilian of three at the final table felt and third overall in the chip count was Rodrigo Selouan with two previous final tables and 88 big blinds.
There was a massive gap to Pieter Aerts with 35 big blinds and a win earlier this year, before the short stacks lined up. Russian player ‘spaise411’ (19BB) had already won the Super MILLION$ three times, with Sven Andersson (18BB) similarly decorated. Sebastian Gaehl (13BB) had no previous wins, but Duco Haven (13BB) had two wins, including one this summer already, and Pablo Silva brought up the rear with just 8 bigs, having previously won it on four occasions.
Early Eliminations Change the Picture
Sebastian Gaehl may have started on 13 big blinds, but it wasn’t long before his stack was busted. All-in for roughly the same number a few minutes later with jack-queen from the small blind. Russian player ‘spaise411’ had an easy call with pocket kings and although Gaehl caught a queen on the flop, no more help came and he busted for $25,000, exactly the same amount as the current big blind itself.
Pablo Silva fell short in his bid for a fifth GGMillion$ title soon after. Calling it off on a flop of T-9-4 with just jack-five, ‘spaise411’ had ace-jack and with a three and a deuce falling on the turn and river sent the brilliant Brazilian to the rail. While ‘spaise411’ had eliminated the first two players, they were still sitting short with just 20 big blinds.
Sven Andersson got his stack on soon after, shoving pre-flop with ace-jack, and being called by Velasevic with ace-queen. There were no surprises on the board of 8-6-3-9-K and Andersson crashed out for a score of $40,148.
Velasevic Pushes for Victory
Russian player ‘spaise411’ had already won two low-value all-ins when he moved all-in with his own life on the line holding pocket tens. A double-up from his stack of 635,858 would transform his tournament, but he ran into Volkmann’s pocket kings, and the Brazilian easily held when the board of K-9-5-5-4 gave him an unassailable full house on the turn. A cash of $51,679 was of some consolation to the relentless Russian, who so often is found in the late stages of this tournament series.
Next to go was the Dutchman Pieter Aerts, who lost in dramatic circumstances with the best pre-flop hand to the worst pre-flop hand in poker. Pre-flop, Rodrigo Selouan came along for the ride with seven-deuce and Aerts had pocket aces, and on the flop of K-8-7, the Brazilian called Aerts’ bet of 40,000 chips with just bottom pair. That holding improved considerably on the turn of a deuce and after another check-call, Selouan’s shove on the river was called by Aerts, who busted in fifth place for $66,523.
Selouan had built his stack to almost 1.8 million chips, but in one hand, lost it all. His hard work was undone pre-flop, as he raised under-the-gun with king-eight of diamonds, and Velasevic three-bet with ace-king. Selouan shoved and was quickly called by the Serbian, who won after a dry board of J-J-5-9-T condemned the unfortunate Brazilian to a fourth-place finish worth $85,629. Velasevic took the chip lead with the pot.
Two Big Bluffs Picked Off by the Winner
Three players remained in the hunt for glory in this week’s GGMillion$ and the Serbian player Danilo Velasevic had the lead with 5.6 million. Close behind was the irrepressible Volkmann with 3.89m, while the short stack was miles behind, with Duco Haven having laddered into the podium places with just 621,386 chips.
The Netherlands player Duco Haven was soon on the rail, taking home $110,224 for a run all the way to third place. On a board of J-7-5-2, Haven check-raised with nine-eight against the jack-deuce of Velasevic and got a quick call. The river was a four and Haven bluffed it off, called quickly by the victorious Velasevic.
That pot gave the Serbian a big lead, with his stack of roughly 7 million well ahead of Volkmann with 3 million chips. Again, it was a mistimed bluff, as on a board of 7-5-3-3-9, Volkmann bet big on the turn then shoved the river, being called both times by the winner, Serbian player Danilo Velasevic.
Three Brazilians had made the final table, but none had won, as the Serbian player Velasevic captured his first-ever GGMillion$ crown and the top prize of $182,633. You watch exactly how it played out with commentary from two special guests this week in guest presenter ‘Egption’ and co-commentator ‘Callmelija’.
GGPoker GGMillion$ 4th July 2023 Final Table Results: |
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| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Danilo Velasevic | Serbian | $182,633 |
| 2nd | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | $141,882 |
| 3rd | Duco Haven | Netherlands | $110,224 |
| 4th | Rodrigo Selouan | Brazil | $85,629 |
| 5th | Pieter Aerts | Netherlands | $66,523 |
| 6th | spaise411 | Russia | $51,679 |
| 7th | Sven Andersson | Austria | $40,148 |
| 8th | Pablo Silva | Brazil | $31,190 |
| 9th | Sebastian Gaehl | Austria | $25,000 |