First GGMillion$ Title Claimed by Jesse Lonis for $315,000
A stunning wire-to-wire victory for Jesse Lonis gave the American his first-ever GGMillion$ victory on GGPoker this past Tuesday night. With players like Simon Mattsson, Roland Rokita, and Alexander Tkatschew all in the mix, Jesse Lonis dropped low then stacked ‘em high as he dominated the final table for much of the action to claim the top prize of $315,928.
Binder First to Bite the Dust
Regular host Jeff Gross was joined in the commentary booth by legendary YouTuber and Global Poker Award-winning poker legend Joey Ingram. The three-time GPI award-winning content creator was the perfect person to cast shade or to heap praise on this week’s combatants as they took to the felt.
Leading the final nine was Jesse Lonis from the United States with a massive 114 big blinds. With less than half his stack, Austrians Roland Rokita (58BB) and Bernhard Binder (18BB) were at opposite ends of the chasing pack (2nd and 9th, respectively) in terms of chip stacks. German player Alexander Tkatschew (49BB), Swedish regular Simon Mattsson (47BB), and the Peruvian player, ‘TheProjector’ (25BB), all had hopes of winning, along with the Brazilian pair ‘MasesNeto’ (43BB), ‘The Good Doctor’ (24BB), and the effervescent ‘Davi Cola’, who had 33 big blinds.
The first player to exit was an Austrian, as Binder went for it, all-in pre-flop for almost 21 big blinds with ace-queen. Lonis made the call with pocket sixes and was vindicated as a board of J-T-3-4-2 flirted with hitting Binder’s premium cards, but denied the Austrian on both turn and river as Lonis grew his stack. The short-stacked Binder was first to hit the rails, earning $45,132 for the effort.
The Devil You Know
There was a long wait before the next bust out as the chips were passed around the table for over 1.25 hours. ‘Davi Cola’, sitting in the hijack with the short stack, was all-in pre-flop with ace-eight offsuit and needed to win a race against the overwhelming chip leader Lonis, who again held pocket sixes. A flop of K-5-4 was no help to the at-risk player, and a six on the turn meant he was drawing dead to a seven. An ace on the river changed nothing as Lonis’s set of sixes, the so called ‘Devil’s Hand’ (6-6-6), prevailed, and Cola was out of fizz, leaving in eighth place for $57,560.
Next to go was ‘The Good Doctor’, who failed to survive on the table when they ran king-five of clubs into Tkatschew’s ace-king off. The dominating hand won, across a board of J-8-2-6-3 to send the Chinese player home with $73,411 in seventh. Unfortunately for one of the players, 6-handed play wouldn’t last very long.
The lone Peruvian player, ‘TheProjector’ was desperately unlucky to go out. All-in with pocket jacks, he was ahead of Brazilian ‘MasesNeto’ with ace-six of diamonds, but after a flop of Q-7-6 yielded only one diamond, two more fell on the turn and river to complete the Brazilian’s runner-runner nut flush and sent the Peruvian player home with $93,627.
The top five players at the start of the final table were the last five left, and that was the case for over another 1.25 hours of play, during which time Roland Rokita got the better of ‘MasesNeto’ before the Brazilian got some back. He fell short soon after, however, and shoved pre-flop with ace-three of hearts, moving in over Jesse Lonis’ opening bet with – you guessed it – pocket sixes.
“This hand is undefeated today!” Jeff Gross said, and it stayed that way through the slightly tense board runout of K-J-T-5-K to send the Brazilian home with $119,409.
The All-In King
With just four players left, Lonis still had the lead with 7.25 million chips, and his nearest rival hadn’t changed since the final table began, with Austria’s Roland Rokita on 4.15m. Both Alexander Tkatschew (2.65m) and Sweden’s Simon Mattsson (2.34m) had work to do if they wanted the victory. The lone Swede was unable to complete the comeback, moving all-in pre-flop with ace-three offsuit, only to discover he was well behind Jesse Lonis’ pocket sevens. A flop of 9-9-5 was no help to the Swede, and a nine on the turn meant only a nine or ace would save Simon. A six on the river sent Mattsson home with $152,291.
Three-handed, Rokita fell behind Tkatschew and needed to hang in there to make heads-up. The best help came when Tkatschew opened with pocket eights. Lonis raised all-in with king-queen of hearts and the German called it off with the pair. A flip would decide a major pot and a flop of A-Q-3 immediately put Tkatschew at risk. A ten on the turn and seven on the river confirmed the German’s departure for $194,228.
“Was it ever in doubt? He’s an all-in machine!” Joey Ingram said, and Jeff Gross agreed, referencing Lonis’ recovery from a temporary dip five-handed.
Heads-up, a 4:1 chip lead meant Lonis could open wider than the Grand Canyon, and soon, Rokita found himself staring into the abyss. Lonis had seven-eight on a flop of 9-7-2, and when Rokita bet with ace-king, Lonis shoved, Rokita called. He was behind, needing an ace or king to deny the American the victory. A ten on the turn was followed by a nine on the river to give Jesse Lonis his first GGMillion$ win and a top prize of $315,928 while Rokita was consoled with $247,714.
Watch all the action as it happened, with Jeff Gross and Joey Ingram bringing a stunning GGMillion$ final table to astounding life.
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jesse Lonis | United States | $315,928 |
| 2nd | Roland Rokita | Austria | $247,714 |
| 3rd | Alexander Tkatschew | Germany | $194,228 |
| 4th | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | $152,291 |
| 5th | ‘MasesNeto’ | Brazil | $119,409 |
| 6th | ‘TheProjector’ | Peru | $93,627 |
| 7th | ‘The Good Doctor’ | China | $73,411 |
| 8th | ‘Davi Cola’ | Brazil | $57,560 |
| 9th | Bernhard Binder | Austria | $45,132 |
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.