THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 44
GGMillion$ Won by Volodymyr Palamar for $315,000
Canadian poker player ‘rivo_john’ took down this week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ for over $325,000 after their overnight chip lead was carried through to victory at an exciting final table. Legends of the game, such as Dominik Nitsche, Yuri Dzivielevski, and runner-up Volodymyr Palamar, all outlasted, and it was the dominant stack that won the day on GGPoker.
Yuri Kicked Out Early
This week’s co-commentator was a crusher, but not at the poker felt. Dutch legend Rico Verhoeven is a heavyweight Kickboxing champion who has defeated legends like Peter Aerts, Badr Hari, and Jamal Ben Saddik. With 2.2 million followers on Instagram and 10 title defenses, Verhoeven is used to tasting victory, and his pursuit of greatness was a great backdrop for an entertaining stream all evening.
Canadian ‘rivo_john’ was the monster chip leader heading into the final, bagging 150 big blinds on the virtual felt the night before. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Palamar, no stranger to GGMILLION$ final tables and the reigning champion from last week, began with 83 big blinds in second place. Everyone else had fewer than a third of the leader’s chips, with Canada’s ‘JackJohnson9’ (44BB), Germany’s Dominik Nitsche (37BB), Irish hopeful James Hopkins (26BB), and British online player Andrew Wilson (24BB) the only other player beginning with over 10 bigs.
Brazil’s Yuri Dzivielevski (10BB), Polish player ‘Hotel De Paris’ (9BB), and Australian Joshua McCully (7BB) were hoping to ladder as much as they could. With three short stacks, it didn’t take long to lose one. It was Dzivielevski who was all-in pre-flop for just four big blinds. His hand looked good against Nitsche’s pocket fives and Palamar’s pocket nines when the flop came A-K-8. However, a nine on the turn was devastating for the Brazilian, and Palamar’s bet pushed Nitsche out of the way. A meaningless ace gave Palamar a full house, sending the former global online number one home with $45,100 in ninth place.
Short Stacks Shuffle Out
McCully was the next short stack to bow out, and he was super-short when the time came. Just a single big blind sat in front of his avatar when he was all-in pre-flop with king-five. That lost to ‘rivo_john’s ace-seven as a board of T-9-3-J-J sent him home in eighth place for $57,750.
It took some time, but the last of the trio of short stacks who started the game on 10 big blinds or less busted next. ‘Hotel De Paris’ moved all-in pre-flop with pocket sevens, but that pair was not enough as they busted in seventh place, cashing for $73,948. The Polish player lost to Palamar’s ace-jack when a board came T-9-6-A-Q. Last week’s winner, Palamar, took second in the chip count, not far behind Rivo John at the top.
Within the first thirty minutes of play, nine starters had been reduced to six. It wasn’t long before the first of the two Canadians who made it to the final table lost his tournament life. ‘JackJohnson9’ had started the final table third in chips but left in sixth place for $94,689 when he got his 3 big blind micro stack in with ace-three. He was called by Nitsche and Hopkins, and it was the latter’s hand that eliminated the Canadian. Hopkins held queen-jack as the board of Q-8-2-K-2 left just five at the table.
Palamar Pushes for Glory
Five players were racing to the finish, and soon, the other Brazilian at the virtual felt would hit the rails. All-in pre-flop with ace-six of spades, Volkmann ran into Kravchenko’s pocket queens. He couldn’t overtake the ladies and was forced to the rail with $117,205. Diego Zeiter followed him to the rail just three hands later, shoving with the short stack holding king-jack. He was called by Kutznetsov with pocket nines. The board came down 6-4-3-2-4 to send the Swiss player home with $150,079.
A trio of talented players remained, with Kravchenko leading on 7.9 million chips. Kuznetsov, who had started the day rock bottom of the chipcounts with just 10 big blinds, was on 4.45 million, and Palamar brought up the rear of 2.8 million. Despite these stacks, it all went wrong for Kravchenko, who dropped just behind Palamar before getting it all in bad with ace-ten. Palamar called with ace-jack. There was no help across the board as Kravchenko was sent home with $192,173 in third.
Then There Were Two
Three handed play saw Dominik Nitsche crash out with top pair. Starting the hand with a little over 1 million chips, his trapping play might have worked with lower-stacked players, but on a board of Q-2-2-K, the German’s king-nine priced ‘rivo_john’ into calling. The trapper was suddenly trapped when the river came down a jack, leading to a Broadway straight coming on fifth street. All the chips went in on the river, and Nitsche lost out in third for a prize of $198,800.
Heads-up, ‘rivo_john’ led by 8.9 million chips to Palamar’s 6.6 million as an epic forty-minute duel to decide the winner between a potential first-timer and the reigning champion got underway. After some timid opening exchanges, Palamar took a slim lead but became the victim of a Broadway massacre himself when holding ace-king to the queen-jack of ‘rivo_john’. A board of T-7-5-A-K produced incredible drama as Palamar bet almost half of his stack on the river.
No way! This is a nasty one.” Said Jeff Gross as ‘rivo_john’ pondered his obvious all-in move.
“He’s waiting. He’s thinking as if it’s a hard decision. I love it!” Rico Verhoeven eulogised on co-comms.
‘rivo_john’ eventually bet all-in, and Palamar went into the tank.
“Can you imagine the agony here? You beat all these hands. I don’t see how he can fold.” Gross said, and he was right. Palamar clicked call and lost 95% of his stack. Starting with under 2 big blinds and an ace-seven, the Ukrainian doubled up an amazing four times, but soon enough, it was all over. A flop of Q-9-3 saw both players with a gutshot straight draw, but while Palamar had jack-eight, ‘rivo_john’ held king-jack. Sure enough, a ten landed on the turn, and Gross declared it all over before the chips even went in. The hand virtually played itself as Palamar shoved after a deuce on the river, and ‘rivo_john’ had the title and a top prize of $325,957, denying Volodymyr Palamar back-to-back GGMILLION$ victories.
Watch all the knockout action here in the company of Jeff Gross and Dutch kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven here:
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ‘rive_john’ | Canada | $325,957 |
| 2nd | Volodymyr Palamar | Ukraine | $254,559 |
| 3rd | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | $198,800 |
| 4th | Andrew Wilson | United Kingdom | $155,254 |
| 5th | James Hopkins | Ireland | $121,247 |
| 6th | ‘JackJohnson9’ | Canada | $94,689 |
| 7th | ‘Hotel De Paris’ | Poland | $73,948 |
| 8th | Joshua McCully | Australia | $57,750 |
| 9th | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | $45,100 |
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.