THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2023 Episode 25
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Wiktor Malinowski Wins Third GGMILLION$ Title for $339,000
Polish poker superstar Wiktor Malinowski beat Yuri Dzivielevski heads-up to claim a superb victory in this week’s GGMILLION$ Event, where players put up a $10,000 entry – unless they qualified for mere hundreds of dollars. The top prize was over $339,000 and it was only claimed at the end of a stunning final table where more winners gathered to battle for the title than ever before in GGMILLION$ history.
Dzivielevski Goes for History
Play began with Brazilian poker legend and online crusher Yuri Dzivielevski in charge of matters, with 99 big blinds to his name as he pushed for a record-equalling fifth GGMILLION$ title. Behind him was the dangerous Russian player ‘Mr-Doberman’ was on 76 big blinds chasing his third win, with Swedish superstar Niklas Astedt sitting on 71 bigs in his pursuit of a fifth GGMILLION$ victories himself.
Behind the leading trio, Moldovan poker crusher Pavel Plesuv (65BB) was shooting for a fourth GGMILLION$ win, with Poland’s Wiktor Malinowski (41BB) looking for his third. Finnish poker phenom Sam ‘€urop€an’ Vousden (26BB) was going for his second GGMILLION$ title, and Austria’s ‘Sting83’ (26BB) going for a debut victory. At what was by far the most decorated GGMILLION$ final table in both seasons on the weekly high roller event, Russian ‘spaise411’ (23BB, four wins) and Christian Rudolph (8BB, three wins) rounded out a final table for an amazing total of 23 GGMILLION$ titles between them.
Predictably perhaps, German player Rudolph was the first player to leave. All-in with the best hand, Rudolph was left red-faced rather than red-nosed as his ace-eight failed to hold against Plesuv’s queen-nine. The flop of 9-8-7 paired both players but put Rudolph behind and the seven and ten on turn and river didn’t save him as the German cashed for $48,492 in ninth place.
Astedt and Malinowski Clash in ‘Mystery Hand’
A thrilling hand saw Pavel Plesuv crash out at the hands of the chip leader next. Dzivielevski raised from the cutoff with ace-eight of spades, and Plesuv called from the big blind with six-four of diamonds. The flop of 8-5-2 with two diamonds was always going to spell trouble and the Brazilian’s c-bet was shoved on by the Moldovan. Dzivielevski called it off and a five of hearts on the turn was followed by the six of hearts on the river to send Plesuv packing, lining his online pockets with a cash of $61,845 in eighth place.
A blind-on-blind battle gave Dzivielevski another scalp as his ascent to GGMILLION$ immortality seemed to get inexorably closer with each passing all-in and call. Holding queen-five offsuit, the Brazilian raised enough from the small blind to set Samuel Vousden all-in if he called, which he duly did with king-ten. Unfortunately for Vousden, he couldn’t hold through the board of Q-T-3-8-7 and cashed for $78,876.
A regular spot in the GGMILLION$ final table is the ‘Mystery Hand’ where one player’s hand is hidden from both the commentators – in this case, the regular presenter Jeff Gross and his special guest this week Kane Kalas – and the audience. Swedish player Niklas Astedt’s hand was face up to viewers, and his pocket queens looked good as he bet around 70% of the pot on the river of a board showing J-J-5-8-4. Wiktor Malinowski raised to shove over that bet, and when Astedt called, the Polish player’s mystery hand was revealed as ace-jack, which had outflopped his opponent and those trips sent Astedt packing for a score of $100,596.
Russians Exit in Quick Succession
Less than an hour had passed, and four players had already hit the rail. Not long after, ‘Sting83’ was all-in with ace-king offsuit with no hearts on a board of A-Q-4 all hearts against Malinowski, who again had a mystery hand. The chips got all in on the turned 3. The heart ten on the river didn’t offer any help to ‘Sting83’ who was drawing dead against Malinowski’s flopped flush. This hand was the end of the last Austrian who collected $128,298 in fifth place.
Out next was Russian player ‘spaise411’, whose misfortune extended to shoving from the big blind with king-ten when Malinowski raised from the small blind with pocket aces on the very next hand. The board of J-9-3-K-5 wasn’t quite enough to save the Russian player and he cashed for $163,628. Malinowski had over 8 million chips and was ahead of Dzivielevski (6.6m) and Mr-Doberman (2.6m).
It took a board of Q-2-2-4-J to see off the other Russian player, as Mr-Doberman with queen-four faced a bet from Dzivielevski on the river with ten-deuce. The Russian committed his stack and it went across the felt to the Brazilian, whose 9.2m was now marginally ahead of Malinowski’s 8.2 million chips.
Malinowski Wins Epic Final Duel
It was a remarkably fast 1.5 hours to play down to heads up from the relatively deep starting stacks, but it would be an hour more before a champion would emerge. 50 minutes into the hour-long small ball battle, Malinowski was level and there was nothing to separate the two men as the Polish player went for his third GGMILLION$ title and Dzivielevski shot for title number five. Leading by 10 million to 6 million, Malinowski raised with ace-jack from the button and got a re-raise from Dzivielevski. The flop of Q-T-5 saw both players miss, and they checked to another queen on the turn. The river was blank too and Dzivilevski won, taking a slim lead – 56BB to 53BB.
The next hand decided the destination of the title, as, on a board of Q-7-5-3-2, a pot that had already been raised to over 4.5 million saw the Brazilian player shove with just king-ten for king-high. Malinowski had been floating to the river with the absolute nuts on the turn, holding six-four for a turned straight.
Dzivielevski shoved and was immediately snapped off with Malinowski effectively claiming his third GGMILLION$ title with the click of a button. Soon after, king-three beat jack-seven and the Brazilian crusher earned $266,153 in second place, just short of glory. Malinowski became a triple GGMILLION$ winner for a stunning $339,445. It had been one of the best heads-up battles across both seasons of the popular high stakes weekly tournament.
You can watch all of the action, with the indomitable host and voice of GG, Jeff Gross, and his guest co-host, Kane Kalas, right here.
GGPoker GGMILLION$ 2023 12th September Main Event Results: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1st | Wiktor Malinowski | Poland | $339,445 |
2nd | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazilian | $266,153 |
3rd | Mr-Doberman | Russia | $208,687 |
4th | spaise411 | Russia | $163,628 |
5th | Sting83 | Austria | $128,298 |
6th | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $100,596 |
7th | Samuel Vousden | Finland | $78,876 |
8th | Pavel Plesuv | Moldova | $61,845 |
9th | Christian Rudolph | Germany | $48,492 |
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.
