GGMillion$ Won by Record-Breaking Artur Martirosian Yet Again
The record-breaking Russian was at it again last night as he made the GGMillion$ final table his personal poker playground. Coming into the action in the middle of the ranks and with a long way to go to win his record-extending 12th GGMillion$ title. The Russian pro, who has won more titles in the series than anyone else, was in irresistible form as he cut through the opposition to dominate his way to victory yet again on GGPoker.
Mystery Hand Kicks Off Bust-Out Drama
This week’s action was called in the commentary box by regular host Jeff Gross and Pokercode co-owner and GGMillion$ regular Matthias Eibinger, an Austrian high roller.
As the final table began, the field was led by the massive chip leader, Canadian player ‘Beriuzy’ on 118 big blinds. A long way back was the first of two Belarusian players at the final table, Artsiom Lasouskii, who started with 61 big blinds. Ukraine’s Andrii Derzhypilskyi (43BB) followed, with Spanish poker legend Adrian Mateos and Russian GGMillion$ king Artur Martirosian both on 41 big blinds.
A little further back was Mexico-based Jon Santos, who had 31 big blinds, with Austrian ‘Parox’ (30BB), Malaysia’s Kiat Lee (29BB), and Belarusian Denis Gerasimov (26BB) bringing up the rear with highly playable stacks. The first player to bust, which didn’t happen until 40 minutes had passed, was the victim of a ‘Mystery Hand’, where only one player’s cards are shown as we play along, trying to figure out what the opponent has.
In this case, Canada’s ‘Beriuzy’, sitting in the big blind, had the hidden hand, and he was up against Jon Santos sitting as Under-the-gun. Santos min-raised with pocket jacks and was called by ‘Beriuzy’. The rainbow 8-7-5 flop saw ‘Beriuzy’ bet out one-third the pot, which was called by Santos. A jack on the turn gave Santos top set, but it was ‘Beriuzy’ who again bet out, this time for 40% of the pot. Santos raised behind to nearly 3 times the bet. ‘Beriuzy’, not wanting to give up the lead, re-raised enough to put Santos all-in. Santos snap-called only to discover the bad news. ‘Beriuzy’ had flopped the nut straight with nine-six. A ten on the river changed nothing, and Santos left in ninth place for $50,798.
Mateos Can’t Avoid a Mauling
In the very next hand, Austrian player ‘Parox’ was all-in pre-flop from middle position with king-jack, and shortly found himself in a coinflip situation to survive. Artur Martirosian had pocket eights and made the call, while Adrian Mateos got out of the way with pocket nines. The Russian caller was immediately met with a flop of 8-4-3 that gave him top set. A queen on the turn left ‘Parox’ drawing dead, sending him to the virtual rail for $65,876.
The dominance by ‘Beriuzy’ had been total up to this point when a chink in the armor appeared when he lost a coinflip against Denis Gerasimov. Holding ace-king, the Belarusian called the pre-flop raise against ‘Beriuzy’ holding pocket fours. The J-5-2 flop favored the chip leader and prompted a c-bet that was also called. An ace on the turn prompted a bigger than pot bet from ‘Beruizy’ which was called, and the king on the river meant Gerasimov won the hand and got almost a full double and took a huge chunk out of the player in charge until that point.
While one Belarusian at the bottom managed a double, another at the top was in trouble. Artsiom Lasouskii plummeted from second in chips to out in seventh place for $85,431. All-in pre-flop for his last chips with ace-five, he lost to Martirosian’s nine-six when a board of K-9-4-5-2 denied the at-risk player a chance to get back into the mix.
It had taken 40 minutes to lose the first player at the final table, and less than 10 minutes later, it was down to 6. And it would be 40 more before six would become five. Spanish player Adrian Mateos drifted in a similar fashion to Lasouskii until he was short. In what would be his final hand, Mateos moved all-in from the button with ace-king over Martirosian’s opening bet with ace-six of diamonds. The Russian called, and a cruel board of Q-J-6-J-9 sent the Spaniard home with $110,791 as his dominating hand was defeated by the record-holding GGMillion$ all-time winner.
Deuces Do Beriuzy Dirty
Five rivals remained to battle for all of the chips as they continued to chase a new leader, as ‘Beriuzy’ lost a leg after a big hand against Martirosian. A few hands after the chip lead changed, Andrii Derzhypilskyi four-bet all-in pre-flop with ace-queen but ran into a monster belonging to the new chip leader as Martiroisian woke up with pocket queens. The queens held with ease to send the Ukrainian to the rail with $143,678.
Another mystery hand sent play three-handed, as a fascinating pot built on a board of Q-8-6-Q-2 with three spades on the flop. We could see that ‘Beriuzy’ held ace-nine of spades for the flopped nut flush, but Artur Martirosian’s hand was hidden. On the river, Beriuzy bet, the Russian shoved and got a call. Incredibly, Martirosian held pocket deuces, which had made a full house on the river to deny Beriuzy a double-up and instead send the overnight chip leader packing for a score of $186,328.
With three players left, Martirosian’s stack was more than double that of his two opponents combined, and it was no surprise that the Russian made it to heads-up. His next victim, the Belarusian Denis Gerasimov, was coolered too, three-betting pre-flop only to then call off the Russian’s four-bet. Gerasimov held pocket queens only to run into Martirosian’s pocket kings, and the cowboys shot down his hopes as he settled for a third-place finish worth $241,673, still a fantastic result for the overnight short stack.
Heads-up, Martirosian had a nearly 5:1 chip lead and the most experience of winning GGMillion$ events, as he faced off against the Malaysian Kiat Lee. As it would turn out, heads-up was no simple matter. Lasting almost an hour, Lee improved from having 3.7 million chips to 8.1 million after a series of smallball victories but drifted a little as the constant pressure from Martirosian eventually became too much. King-high over queen-high doubled up Lee to his stack at the beginning of heads-up, but 2 hands later, when he called off Martirosian’s shove, he had the worst of it, holding king-queen to the Russian’s ace-seven. A board of J-4-2-4-5 would never save the Malaysian player, who finished as runner-up for $313,365.
For Artur Martirosian, it was another title, a record 12th in the GGMillion$ series. It’s an incredible achievement, and his top score of $406,384 will be one of the sweetest he has claimed. He came into play fifth of the nine players, including a massive chip leader able to exert pressure on the table.
Watch the final table play out in all its glory here as Jeff Gross and Matthias Eibinger brought all the action to life:
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $406,384 |
| 2nd | Kiat Lee | Malaysia | $313,365 |
| 3rd | Denis Gerasimov | Belarus | $241,637 |
| 4th | ‘Beriuzy’ | Canada | $186,328 |
| 5th | Andrii Derzhypilskyi | Ukraine | $143,678 |
| 6th | Adrian Mateos | Spain | $110,791 |
| 7th | Artsiom Lasouskii | Belarus | $85,431 |
| 8th | ‘Parox’ | Austria | $65,876 |
| 9th | Jon Santos | Mexico | $50,798 |
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.