Latest GGMillion$ Drama Sees Schemion Grab Stunning Fourth Title  

This week’s GGMillion$ was a classic, with German high roller Ole Schemion turning everything on its head at the last possible minute, claiming the win in stunning circumstances. With big names and many former winners around the final nine, there was a sting in the tail of our favorite weekly high roller tournament. 

Early Drama as the Hunter Becomes the Hunted

With 142 entries this week, the final nine were topped by Ole Schemion. The German high roller regular was on 76 big blinds as he bid to win his fourth GGMillion$ title. Just behind him was ‘TimDunken’ who began on 72 bigs, going for his second title. A fair way back was Canadian Daniel Dvoress on 47 big blinds as he was shooting for his first win in the format, while Ukrainian ‘R Romanovskyi (43BB) was going for a third title. Renan Bruschi (41BB) was a short distance behind him as he hoped to win a maiden GGMillion$ crown. 

Shorter in the chip counts were Brazilian Joao Vieira (29BB) with one previous win, Russian legend ‘spaise411’ (24BB) with four previous wins, and Leon Sturm (22BB) who already had a win in August and was going for title #3. The shortest stack was a potential first-timer, Owen Messere (17BB). It was a short stack that left first, but not the shortest. Sturm was the unfortunate victim when he ran pocket queens into pocket kings pre-flop, losing his stack to ‘R Romanovskyi’ for a score of $42,695.

If the Ukrainian winner of that hand thought he was good for a deep run, he couldn’t have been more wrong. All-in soon after with pocket queens, he ran headlong into pocket aces belonging to Norwegian ‘TimDunken’. The four-bet shove by the Ukraine-based player was met by an instant call. The board was no help and ‘R Romanovskyi’ took home $54,670.

Vieira Vanquished, Bruschi Busted

Shorter than anyone, the Portuguese star of the felt, Joao Vieira was the next one to leave the party. All-in with the jack-queen of diamonds pre-flop, it was ‘TimDunken’ who won the hand, his ace-jack prevailing on a board of K-9-4-K-5 to send Vieira home with $70,004. 

It was a couple orbits later that a blind-on-blind battle saw Renan Bruschi bust out in sixth for $89,639. Bruschi used the GGPoker software to drop in some self-motivational messages, such as “Just One Time!”, “Good Luck” and “I’m So Good!” before he shoved with jack-ten. Calling with ace-jack in the big blinds, Ole Schemion survived the K-Q-8-J-4 board.

With five left, only one player remained with a six-figure chip stack rather than seven. All-in with king-jack, ‘spaise411’ was hoping to win a flip against the pocket tens of ‘TimDunken’, but a king in the window was followed by a five and a deadly ten. An hour into play, and the first five players had left the arena already. Of the four who remained, ‘TimDunken’ (6.9m) was the chip leader, with Schemion (3.3m), Messere (3.07m) and Daniel Dvoress (1.38m) were all playing catch up.

Two Hands Turn the Tide 

Play went on for the best part of the next hour before Daniel Dvoress, having doubled his stack, lost the lot. On a board showing Q-T-4-9, Dvoress thought he had turned the gutshot of his dreams, but it was a third spade and his Norwegian opponent had king-deuce of spades for a flush. All the chips went on a river of an offsuit six as ‘TimDunken’ shoved and Dvoress called his stack away, cashing in fourth for $146,974. 

The Norwegian was putting pressure on every decision, and eventually forced a mistake. On a flop of 9-9-3, he shoved with pocket sevens, and the British player Owen Messere called it off with just ace-king offsuit. A three on the turn made no difference, but a king on the river certainly did, flipping the Brit into the lead and sending TimDunken to the bottom of the counts. 

The next hand saw the Norwegian on the rail for $188,197. This time, they were the one to have made a straight, holding the ‘Dolly Parton’ a.k.a. nine-five. That had rivered a straight, but fifth street had also given Messere the flush and that meant a big chip lead of 3 to 1 over Ole Schemion. 

Ole Schemion is a GGMillion$ powerhouse, and despite being down, the German found a way to win. It was No Limit Hold’em at its best, as Schemion three-bet with deuce-five of hearts and Messere flat called to a disastrous flop of 7-5-2. Schemion c-bet and was called to a turn of a four. Schemion’s flopped two-pair could hardly have been better disguised and bet 40% of his stack. Messere shoved all-in and Schemion snap-called. A six on the river gave Schemion the lead.

In the very next hand, the German picket up pocket jacks. Messere three-bet all-in with ace-king offsuit, and Schemion made the call. The board of 9-8-2-Q-T gave Schemion victory and in two hands went from an underdog to the champion to claim an incredible fourth GGMillion$ crown. One of the most stunning endings to the final table produced a superb winner after a sickening penultimate hand to watch for Messere but a fantastic one for poker fans watching online. 

Join Jeff Gross and special guest co-commentator Kristy Arnett-Moreno in watching this week’s amazing GGMillion$ event.

GGMillion$ September 5th, 2023 Final Table Results: 

Place

Player

Country

Prize

1st

Ole Schemion

Germany

$308,573

2nd

Owen Messere

United Kingdom

$240,982

3rd

TimDunken

Norway

$188,197

4th

Daniel Dvoress

Canada

$146,974

5th

spaise411

Russia

$114,780

6th

Renan Bruschi

Brazil

$89,639

7th

Joao Vieira

Portugal

$70,004

8th

R Romanovskyi 

Ukraine

$54,670

9th

Leon Sturm

Germany

$42,695

2023 Week 23                                             2023 Week 25

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.