GGMillion$ Won by First Time Winner as Astedt Outlasted for $291,000
This week’s GGMillion$ was a classic, as some of the best-known online poker players clashed in a battle for glory on GGPoker. When the last elimination crowned a winner, it was ‘IamBusinessman’ from Russia who finally ended his long wait for a GGMillion$ title, claiming the top prize of $291,188.
Kovalski Walks into a Cooler
This week’s GGMillion$ finale saw regular host Jeff Gross joined by Stoyan Obreshkov in the commentary booth as players battled towards the top prize of $291,188. A thrilling race to the finish line began with Russian online boss ‘IamBusinessman’ on top with 75 big blinds. Second in chips was the Belgian Pieter Aerts (63BB), with Brazilian ‘axelroses’, followed by Swedish player and four-time champion Niklas Astedt, both on 53 big blinds.
The German poker professional Dominik Nitsche sat only marginally further back on 51 big blinds, with Brazil’s Fabiano Kovalski (32BB), Finnish pro Casimir Seire (29BB), British poker player Owen Messere (23BB) and Russian Ilia Arkhipov (21BB) hoping an early boost to their stack would put them right back into contention.
The first player to bust was a surprising one, as Fabiano Kovalski almost shoved the river with ace-eight on a board showing 8-5-5-6-8, with three clubs. Owen Messere had checked across the board and indeed on the river but raised by enough to put the Brazilian at risk of elimination and when Kovalski snap-called with the full house, he was stunned. Messere had expertly slow-played seven-four of clubs for the perfect trap, a straight flush! Kovalski was out in ninth for $40,290.
Astedt Bows Out as Only Former Winner Falls
Finnish player Casimir Seire has become an online poker star recently, and once again reached the final table here in the GGMillion$. In the small blind, he raised Dominik Nitsche’s opening bet, shoving for 17 big blinds with ace-king. Brazil’s ‘axelroses’ re-raised all-in with pocket kings, and after the German Nitsche got out of the way, Seire called it off. A board of T-8-5-6-9 saw Seire exit in eighth for $51,590, but it was Nitsche who was left ruing his luck, as his fives would have made bottom set and given him the chip lead if he’d made the ‘wrong’ call pre-flop.
Seven players remained, with Niklas Astedt the only former winner, the Swede having won it four times, with everyone else at the table yet to experience the feeling of becoming GGMillion$ champion. It was a cold deck that sent Russian player Ilia Arkhipov home in seventh for $66,060 as the player who had come into play bottom of the pile laddered two places but no further. On a board showing K-K-5-3, Belgium’s Pieter Aerts bet 155,000 into a pot of 621,000. Arkhipov shoved with queen-jack of diamonds, drawing to a flush from the flop, but an offsuit nine ended the Russian’s hopes of victory as Aerts, a supremely consistent MTT player, took the outright chip lead.
A few hands later, and just under two hours into proceedings, it was confirmed that a new name would be champion. Astedt was desperately unlucky not to double up as he committed his final chips with king-seven on a flop of 7-2-2 against the ten-seven of ‘axelroses’. The Brazilian had all the luck as his 24% chance of winning the pot came in, a ten coming in on the turn to pay him off. A river of a three did not change anything and sent the Swedish poker boss super short. One hand later, a suited jack-seven for two bigs was no good, as Messere’s ace-seven held to send the Swede to defeat for $84,588 in sixth.
Flushed out of the Final
The Russian player ‘IamBusinessman’ looked to be under a severe threat of going home, as the short stack with five left. His resurgence, however, was as surprising as it was a shot in the arm for any predictions of a procession. First, the Russian almost doubled through Dominik Nitsche as a pair of jacks beat a pair of fours as an unnecessarily bloated pot went his way. Then, soon after, ace-queen beat ‘axelroses’ nine-eight offsuit as the Brazilian busted for $108,314 in fifth place.
“Ace-queen is my least favorite hand – I wrote poems about it!” laughed Jeff Gross on comms. A sweaty board of K-9-7-T-A eventually sent ‘axelroses’ home, though, and with four left, it was still Aerts who had the lead on 5.38 million chips, with Messere now second in chips on 3.74 million. ‘IamBusinessman’ (2.94m) and Nitsche (1.96m) were still very much in play.
Nitsche lost much of his stack with a rivered straight to the turned flush of ‘IamBusinessman’, busting soon after in fourth place for $138,694 when his ace-three was shot down by Aert’s ten-eight – two eights landing on the flop, leaving Nitsche nearly drawing dead as the field was reduced to three. Play was heads-up soon after, with Aerts taking the majority of Messere’s chips in a series of pots before the British player shoved with ten-eight of clubs into Aerts’ ace-king. A clean board of K-J-2-Q-3 sent play into the final duel with Aerts on 10.5 million chips, up against ‘IamBusinessman’ with 3.5m, as Messere cashed for $177,594 in third place.
The final battle was as dramatic as what happened leading up to it, with the Russian taking the lead with a better pair when Aerts felt bluffing might win the day. A crucial pot went the Russian’s way when the Q-Q-8-A-4 board gave way for the queen-jack of ‘IamBusinessman’ to overtake Aerts’ ace-jack.
Aerts had lost his lead and, on a board of Q-T-4-2-4 with three spades, lost the tournament. With a pot of just 1.8m in the middle, ‘IamBusinessman’ shoved with five-three of spades. It was pitched perfectly to look like a bluff to steal the pot and increase his lead from 3:1 to 5:1 in chips. Aerts held the ‘Texas Dolly’ – the hand used by Doyle Brunson to win the final hand in back-to-back WSOP Main Event wins in 1976 and 1977. The ten-deuce, which gave the Belgian two pair, proved irresistible to the Belgian. He made the call and watched as his final chips were moved across the table to his opponent, earning Aerts $227,406 as runner-up.
Watch how ‘IamBusinessman’ won his first GGMillion$ title and the $291,188 first place prize right here in the company of Jeff Gross and Stoyan Obreshkov on the GGPoker YouTube channel:
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ‘IamBusinessman’ | Russia | $291,188 |
| 2nd | Pieter Aerts | Belgium | $227,406 |
| 3rd | Owen Messere | United Kingdom | $177,594 |
| 4th | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | $138,694 |
| 5th | ‘axelroses’ | Brazil | $108,314 |
| 6th | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $84,588 |
| 7th | Ilia Arkhipov | Russia | $66,060 |
| 8th | Casimir Seire | Finland | $51,590 |
| 9th | Fabiano Kovalski | Brazil | $40,290 |
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.