THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 24
GGMillion$ Won by Wonderful Wardska_ Again for $265,000
Although he waited a while for his debut GGMillion$ victory, Austrian Wardska might well already be tired of winning after taking his second GGMillion$ title inside a fortnight on GGPoker. Triumphing at a table packed with talent, the Austrian player came back from entering the final table as the second-shortest stacked player to win the top prize of $265,112. The PokerStars PCA and PSPC star Aliaksandr Shylko joined Jeff Gross in the commentary booth as the final table players battled for the biggest share of the $1,220,000 prize pool.
No Luck for Nolet
Heading into the 9-handed action, Ukrainian player Vlad Martynenko (105 big blinds) was a huge chip leader, with Brazil’s ‘axelroses’ (47BB) as his nearest challenger. Further down in the chip counts were Japanese player ‘Kuromichan’ (44BB), Canadian players Guillaume Nolet and ‘NiceAndSlow’ (both on 43BB), Estonian Ottomar Ladva (26BB), Austrians ‘EEweedm99’ (25BB) and ‘Wardska_’ (19BB), with the short stack position being held by Belarussian Ilya Anatski (15BB).
It took 30 minutes of poker for the first victim to fall in this Texas Hold’em High Roller event, and when it happened, it was a shocking exit. Japanese player ‘Kuromichan’ had started the final table of nine in third place but fell in ninth for a disappointing score of $36,681. Calling all-in with ace-queen of clubs, they lost to Vlad Martynenko’s pocket threes as the overnight chip leader continued to add to his stack.
Next to go was the Canadian player Guillarme Nolet. Having run desperately short in chips, he called off a micro stack pre-flop with nine-three offsuit but lost out to ‘axelroses’ who woke up with pocket aces. The flop came down K-9-6 giving the Canadian hope, but the turn Q and river 4 ended Nolet’s hopes for a miracle and he cashed for $46,970 in eighth place.
‘NiceAndSlow’ Goes Quickly
Estonian player Ottomar Ladva has made many GGMillion$ final tables and earned another good result this week, finishing in seventh place for $60,114. Ladva and ‘Wardska_’ got their chips in pre-flop, and with 1.75 million chips in the center of the virtual felt and only 209,000 left in front of Wardska, it was a huge flip. Ladva’s ace-queen was behind the pocket jacks of ‘Wardska_’ pocket jacks. The board came down 7-6-3-9-9 as the Austrian watched with relief and claimed the chips.
‘NiceAndSlow’ had reached a pivotal phase of their game. Running short to a stack of just five big blinds, they got it all-in pre-flop with king-queen offsuit. Called by Martynenko with king-six, they looked to have a full double-up through the chip leader coming soon. Unfortunately for the at-risk Canadian, the chip leader’s luck held as a six on the flop doomed ‘NiceAndSlow’ who was sent to the rail with a score of $161,690.
“That just feels a little bit cruel.” Said Gross on comms, and he wasn’t wrong. “This guy can’t miss.”
Martynenko already had more than double the stack of anyone else and soon, that lead would increase even more. He hit trips with his suited eight-seven on a flop of 9-7-7. All of the chips found the middle after a 2 appeared on the turn with Austria’s ‘EEweedm99’ committing his stack with pocket queens. An ace on the river condemned the Austrian to the rail with a score of $126,273, while the Ukrainian had built a monster stack.
Wardska_ Wins Yet Again
Four left, and one big leader in this poker tournament. Martynenko had a chip leading stack of 6.2 million chips (just under 50% of the chips in play), with ‘Wardska_’ sitting second with 2.54 million. Anatski was just behind him with 2.36m while ‘axelroses’ was not sitting great with just 1.7m. The short-stacked Brazilian was the next to leave, getting his stack into the middle on the turn of a board showing A-9-5-4 holding ace-four only to be called by ‘Wardska_’ holding ace-five for a better two pair. The river did not bring a four, and the Brazilian went home with $126,273.
Just three players remained, and that pot gave ‘Wardska_’ the chip lead. Soon, play was heads-up, as Ilya Anatski from Belarus, who started the final table in ninth place of the nine, crashed out in third for $161,690. All-in with ace-queen, Anatski was very unlucky to lose against the ace-deuce of Martynenko as the board came J-T-2-7-9 to reduce the field to a heads-up battle.
Martynenko trailed going into the final duel with 6.2m to ‘Wardska_’ with 6.6m. The Austria-based player had only captured his first victory in this event a few weeks ago and was hoping to repeat that trick, while Martynenko hoped that his overnight chip lead would lead him to victory.
The finale pot, just the second of heads-up play, was all ‘Wardska_’ from the deal. A pre-flop raising war ended with a chunky pot of 3.5m in the middle with ‘Wardska_’ holding pocket queens that were ahead of Martynenko’s suited ace-nine. A flop of J-T-8 came down and ‘Wardska_’ bet half pot from position. Martynenko tanked before shoving his chips all in on the straight draw only to be snapped off by ‘Wardska_’. Although ‘Wardska_’ had blockers, the four turn and river king did nothing to help his opponent, earning him a spectacular second win in three events.
You can watch all the action in the company of Jeff Gross and Aliaksandr Shylko right here:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ‘Wardska_’ | Austria | $265,112 |
| 2nd | Vlad Martynenko | Ukraine | $207,041 |
| 3rd | Ilya Anatski | Belarus | $161,690 |
| 4th | ‘axelroses’ | Brazil | $126,273 |
| 5th | ‘EEweedm99’ | Austria | $98,614 |
| 6th | ‘NiceAndSlow’ | Canada | $77,013 |
| 7th | Ottomar Ladva | Estonia | $60,114 |
| 8th | Guillaume Nolet | Canada | $46,970 |
| 9th | ‘Kuromichan’ | Japan | $36,681 |
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.