Ilia Streltsov Wins Bumper $1.6m GGMillion$ Top Prize
Russian player Ilia Streltsov won the latest GGMillion$ top prize of $1.66 million this week as a final table packed with players of legendary reputation battled for glory. With not one but two seven-figure scores on offer, one of the biggest GGPoker events of the year so far played out in fine style as a big chip leader saw their lead disappear and one man rose through the ranks to conquer the game.
A Huge Chip Leader, a Massive Prize Pool
This week’s special guest on the show was the German tournament crusher Fedor Holz. Holz has over $50 million in lifetime earnings just from live tournaments, putting him 11th on the all-time money list. The GGTeam member has two WSOP bracelets, despite taking several periods away from the game to focus on business and personal development, called the action alongside Gross, and revelled in the role.
Heading the top nine as play began at the final table was ‘dafaniu’ from Austria, who began with a massive 120 big blind stack. Also from Austria, ‘If_i_persist’ was second in chips a long way back on 54 big blinds, with Russians Nikita Kalinin (46BB) and Ilia Streltsov (41BB) still within range.
Some way back were the rest of the Texas Hold’em field, who had less than 25% of the leader’s chips. Polish player Mariusz Golinski (29BB), Germany’s Alexander Tkatschew (27BB), Costa Rican ‘FUGG’ (24BB), Spanish player Juan Dominguez (19BB), and short-stacked French player Emilien Pitavy (13BB) completed the line-up.
It wasn’t long before Pitavy busted. All-in pre-flop with ace-deuce, they ran into ‘If_i_persist’ with ace-ten. The Austrian player prevailed as a flop of J-3-3, which was followed by a six on the turn and a ten on the river for good measure. That pot sent Pitavy home with a score of $196,689.
Persistence Wins the Hour
Nearly an hour later, ‘If_i_persist’ scored the second elimination of the night. Taking out the unfortunate ‘FUGG’, who might have exclaimed something similar when he effectively shoved with pocket jacks but ran into pocket aces. The board of 7-4-2-5-3 gave the Austrian an unnecessary wheel straight and sent ‘FUGG’ home with $255,121 in eighth place.
The prizes were so big at this week’s final table that in seventh place, German player Alexander Tkatschew won $330,901, as much as the winners get on an average week. Losing a massive flip with pocket nines to Juan Dominguez’s king-queen, Tkatschew had very little left when he shoved from the small blind with ace-ten in the next hand. Streltsov called with queen-jack and a cruel board of K-T-5-J-J as Tkatschew flopped the nut flush draw but was sent the German home on the running jacks.
All-in two hands later for three big blinds with a suited ten-seven, Nikita Kalinin lost to Mariusz Golinski’s king-ten, a board of A-K-8-A-3 had the Russian drawing dead before the river. Kalinin cashed for $429,175 in sixth place.
Thirty minutes passed before he was joined on the rail by ‘dafaniu’, who risked it all with ace-queen and was called by a resurgent Ilia Streltsov with pocket eights. It was a coin flip to claim the chip lead. The flop of 9-5-2 offered the at-risk overnight chip leader no hope. A jack on the turn and six on the river saw the player who came into the action with more than double their nearest challenger out in fifth place for $556,621.
Streltsov Wins the Day
With four players left, Streltsov’s lead was massive, with 70 million chips, over 60% of the chips in play. His closest rival, Juan Dominguez, was sitting with 19 million, while Golinksi and ‘If_i_persist’ had just 11.1 and 11.8 million chips respectively. Despite the stacks, Dominguez was the next victim, as a long period without anyone busting saw the Spanish player all-in with queen-eight, losing to Streltsov’s ace-deuce. The board of J-5-2-9-5 flirted with a flush for Dominguez but failed to get there, sending him home with $721,898.
Three-handed, Golinski shoved with ace-eight and was called by Streltsov holding ace-queen. Not the easiest of boards played out as a flop of K-9-6 was followed by a seven on the turn. A second king on the river ended the matter in the chip leader’s favor, and Golinksi departed with $936,235.
Heads-up began with Streltsov holding a massive lead of 98.2 million to 13.8 million chips, and soon, the Russian had them all. The very first hand of heads-up play, Streltsov shoved with king-seven and ran into the ace-jack of ‘If_i_persist’. The board favored the leader, though, with it coming down K-8-6-5-2 to end the event as Ilia Streltsov won the $1,661,695 top prize while ‘If_i_persist’ had to be consoled by the $1,214,195 runner-up prize.
Watch all the action with Jeff Gross and Fedor Holz right here:
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Ilia Streltsov | Russia | $1,661,695 |
| 2nd | ‘If_i_persist’ | Austria | $1,214,195 |
| 3rd | Mariusz Golinski | Poland | $936,235 |
| 4th | Juan Dominguez | Spain | $721,898 |
| 5th | ‘dafaniu’ | Austria | $556,621 |
| 6th | Nikita Kalinin | Russia | $429,175 |
| 7th | Alexander Tkatschew | Germany | $330,901 |
| 8th | ‘FUGG’ | Costa Rica | $255,121 |
| 9th | Emilien Pitavy | France | $196,689 |
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.