THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2023 Episode 29
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GGMillion$ Won by Matthew Stumpf for $286,000
This week at the GGPoker GGMillion$ saw another late switch as the player heading for victory suffered a loss they couldn’t recover from. There was $1.3 million in the prizepool, and in the end it was one of the shortest starting stacks, Canada’s Matthew Stumpf, who triumphed over back-to-back runner-up Pavel Plesuv in heads-up play.
Plesuv Shooting for Runner-Up Revenge
A talented final table was led by the man who finished as last week’s runner-up. This week, Moldovan Pavel Plesuv began with 91 big blinds as he bid to finish one place higher at his sixth final table of 2023. He was miles clear of his nearest challengers, Swedish online phenomenon Niklas Astedt, who began with 52 big blinds at his fifth final table of the year.
Behind the top two lay seven more opponents, each of them posing a difficult problem to anyone wishing to be crowned champion. Argentina’s Ivan Luca (50BB) was at his second final table, with Pablo Silva (48BB) at his sixth. Silva’s fellow Brazilian ‘Depaulainspt’ (41BB) was at their second final table this year, while Carl Green (40BB) was making his debut at this level.
Matthew Stumpf (30BB) was at his fourth final table, with British player ‘SuperSolid’ (25BB) making it two in a back-to-back appearance after finishing fifth last week for $86k. The short stack of the nine was Russian player Konstantin Maslak who began with just 14 big blinds at his third GGMillion$ final table of the year.
As the action got underway on the live GGPoker YouTube stream, regular host Jeff Gross was joined by Matthew Waxman in the co-commentator’s position. As they bartered for picks in the usual ‘dinner date bet’ for a meal in a nice restaurant, the short stack Maslak was under pressure. Lasting 30 minutes, he seemed to have made a solid start, but shoved from the button with king-seven and lost to Pablo Silva’s ten-eight that made a pair of tens on the river, sending the Russian home with a cash of $39,688.
Swedish Superstar Too Solid for British Hopes
British player ‘SuperSolid’ got off to a great start last week, eventually parlaying that momentum into a fifth-place finish worth over $86,000 at his first final table of 2023. One week on, he wasn’t able to repeat the trick, busting instead in eighth place for $50,820. All-in pre-flop with ace-king, he lost a classic ‘coinflip’ to Sweden’s Niklas Astedt, who, with five previous GGMillion$ titles to his name over the first two seasons of this $10,300-entry weekly event, held with pocket queens to reduce the field to seven.
Next to go was ‘Depaulinspt’ who had the same runout as the British player ‘SuperSolid’. All-in with ace-king, the Brazilian couldn’t hit against Pavel Plesuv’s pocket queens, meaning they too hit the rail, albeit for a slightly higher prize of $65,074. It took 45 minutes to lose the first 3 players, including one Brazilian, and 30 minutes later the other Brazilian was ready to head to the hills. Pablo Silva got it all in with ace-king on a board showing A-J-8-J. There again was Plesuv again, this time with king-jack to eliminate another South American, this time with trips, and for $83,326.
Carl Green waited no time at all when getting two blinds into the middle in the next hand holding jack-ten of hearts. Called by Astedt, with ace-queen, the board of K-Q-4-8-5 couldn’t save Green and he bowed out with the first six-figure score of the tournament, cashing for $106,697 in fifth.
Stumpf Stumps Plesuv
A stunning ‘Mystery Hand’ came ahead of the next elimination, where viewers could play along as one player in the hand, without knowing what the other held until showdown. Swedish star Astedt bet around 40% of the pot on the river of a board showing T-5-4-T-Q with three diamonds including on turn and river. Holding ten-eight, Astedt was pushed to a decision for all of his chips, when Mystery Hand holding Ivan Luca shoved. Astedt folded trip tens and while he’d have to wait for the bad news, Luca’s hand was revealed to viewers as a bluff with king-nine of hearts.
One rotation later, Astedt was gone. All-in with king-three off, he was called and lost to Stumpf’s queen-nine of spades, cashing for $136,624 in fourth place. After playing 3 handed for 30 minutes, Ivan Luca ran short and shoved all-in with queen-ten of hearts. He was called – and eliminated – by Stumpf with pocket queens, cashing for $174,944.
Heads up, Stumpf’s stack of 7.15 million chips was ahead of Pavel Plesuv’s 6.55 million, but the final duel was to be no quick kill. The final table had already been running for two hours and seven players had been eliminated, but it would take another full hour to find a winner. Ten minutes into heads up play, with Stumpf looking at Kings, they managed to get all the chips in on a board of Q-3-8-2. Unfortunately for him, Pavel Plesuv had been dealt a pair of threes giving him a set. The river blanked out and Pavel had over 70% of the chips in play.
Play continued for over 30 more minutes with Stumpf holding around 3 million chips to Plesuv’s 11 million until they got it all in pre-flop with Stumpf’s A-9 spades being at risk against the 4-4 of Plesuv. The flop came down 9-9-Q rainbow and a dry ending nearly balanced out the chips. This led to a swap putting Stumpf in the 10 million chips range and Plesuv in the 4 million.
All the chips found there way in yet again with Stumpf holding pocket 4’s against the superior pocket 10’s of Plesuv. The 10’s held and again the stacks were rebalanced to how they were when the final battle began.
Stumpf had built a solid lead when the final hand sucker-punched Plesuv to the floor for the final time. On a board showing J-9-7-2-6 with the final three cards being diamonds, Stumpf shoved with jack-nine and was eventually called by Plesuv with jack-four including the blocker jack of diamonds. That gave the Canadian victory and a top prize of $286,842. For Plesuv, it was the same story as last week – an honorable runner-up result that was a congratulations on an incredible feat.
Watch all the action as it happened in this week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ right here.
GGPoker GGMillion$ October 31st 2023 Final Table Results: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1st | Matthew Stumpf | Canada | $286,842 |
2nd | Pavel Plesuv | Moldova | $224,012 |
3rd | Ivan Luca | Argentina | $174,944 |
4th | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $136,624 |
5th | Carl Green | Russia | $106,697 |
6th | Pablo Silva | Brazil | $83,326 |
7th | ‘Depaulinspt’ | Brazil | $65,074 |
8th | ‘SuperSolid’ | United Kingdom | $50,820 |
9th | Konstantin Maslak | Russia | $39,688 |
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.
