Record Seventh GGMillion$ Title Won by Michael Addamo for $402,000

A record-breaker took down this week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ as Australian Michael Addamo sealed his seventh victory in the format. Costing $10,300 to enter directly or a fraction of that amount to qualify via online satellites on GGPoker, the GGMillion$ has become the standard-bearer for high-roller online poker players over the past two seasons of action. And this week’s drama, presented by Jeff Gross, and co-commentated by poker legend Bryan Paris, was of the highest order. 

Addamo the Clear Leader

From the first flop, Addamo was in control, having the lead over the final nine players to be seated at the last table of the tournament, with an incredible 119 big blinds. Following him was Swedish player Mathias Joelsson on 82 big blinds, with Finnish legend Samuel Vousden, otherwise known as ‘€urop€an’ on 62 big blinds and Russian regular GGMillion$ crusher Artur Martirosian just behind on 60 big blinds.

With lower-stacked players such as Belarussian Mikalai Vaskaboinikau on 31 big blinds, as well as ‘asunaholic’ (22BB), Spanish three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (19BB), the first-ever WPT World Championship winner Eliot Hudon (10BB) and GGMillion$ German regular, Ole Schemion (7BB), it was an all-star cast that kicked off the action. 

Ole Schemion was all-in as early as you might expect, shoving pre-flop on the third hand of the night for just over five big blinds with queen-jack of diamonds. Addamo called with king-three offsuit and a board of A-A-7-T-2 played out to see Schemion – for once – miss out on the really big money, cashing for $57,493 in ninth place.

Vousden Vanquished as Finn Finished by Bad Beat

Addamo was swinging the axe again, calling with pocket aces when Adrian Mateos, sitting on the short stack with only 6.5 bigs, shoved with pocket eights. The Spaniard turned an eight, but only after Addamo flopped an ace as the board ran out A-Q-3-8-4 to send the Mateos home with $73,325 in eighth place. 

It took most of the first hour to find a third victim to Addamo, who was running over the table. Almost all-in with ace-eight of spades pre-flop, Hudon was called by Addamo holding queen-ten of diamonds. And of the remaining chips, went in on the Q-6-3 flop. No help came for Hudon and he hit the rail, cashing for $93,517 in seventh.

Next came the defining all-in and call of the tournament as Finnish player Samuel Vousden five-bet shoved with pocket kings and was called by Addamo with ace-king. Over 7 million chips were in the middle and whoever won the pot would have a massive chip lead over the remaining players. Heartbreakingly for Voudsen, it was not the Finn’s hand as he watched in horror as a board of A-J-5-8-2 played out. ‘€urop€an’ crashed out in sixth place for $119,270 as Addamo, who would have been down to a mere 7 big blinds, instead sat as the chip leader once more. 

Just a single hand later, Addamo had a huge lead in equally fortuitous circumstances. All-in with ace-king, Artur Martirosian had seemingly found a dream spot as Addamo called the bet with a suited ace-ten. Not only did a ten come on the flop, but by the river, the Australian had made the nut flush to send the Russian – his head surely spinning – to the virtual rail to collect $152,114 in fifth.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

Just four poker players remained and Addamo had over half of the chips. Sitting at the top of the leaderboard on 9.3 million chips, only ‘asunaholic’ (5.4m) had more than half of the Australian’s chips, with Mathias Joelsson (4.0m) and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau (1.8m) lagging far behind. Surprisingly, Joelsson was the next player to bust, winning $194,002 in fourth when his pocket sevens lost to the ace-nine of ‘asunholic’ which found an ace in the window. 

Next to leave, just 2 hands later, was Mikalai Vaskaboinikau from Belarus, who was short and shoved with ace-ten, only to run into ‘asunaholic’ who woke up with pocket queens. A board of K-9-4-4-8 sent the Belarussian home and inside 90 minutes, play was heads-up as Vaskaboinikau left with $247,425.

Both players led for periods heads-up but Addamo built a lead and saw it out when his opponent shoved fifty minutes after the start on the river of a board showing K-T-8-7-7 while holding an offsuit Dolly Parton (9-5). Addamo’s jack-eight wasn’t the most powerful bluff-catcher in the world but he made the hero call and in doing so, sealed a record seventh win in the format, winning the $402,456 top prize in style. 

Watch all the action as it happened right here as Australian Michael Addamo made GG MILLION$ history:

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1stMichael AddamoAustralia$402,456
2nd‘asunaholic’South Korea$315,559
3rdMikalai VaskaboinikauBelarus$247,425
4thMathias JoelssonSweden$194,002
5thArtur MartirosianRussia$152,114
6thSamuel VousdenFinland$119,270
7thEliot HudonCanada$93,517
8thAdrian MateosSpain$73,325
9thOle SchemionGermany$57,493

2024 Week 13                                          2024 Week 15

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.