THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 38
Kravchenko the King in GGMillion$ Victory for Bumper $1.5m Prize
A rollercoaster ride played out on GGPoker as the Belarussian player ‘D Kravchenko’ won the top prize of $1,486,518 in the pre-Hallowe’en edition of the GGMillion$. There were scares for each player at the felt as the overwhelming chip leader crashed and burned, the short stack rose from the dead, and a winner appeared like a ghost from nowhere to steal victory away into the night.
Yin and Yan
A bumper prize pool of $9.28 million was on the line this week in the $10,300-entry GGMillion$, and it was the Russian player Vladimir Minko who began with a big lead, having piled up 105 big blinds before the start of the final table. The closest competitor to Minko was the Belarussian GGMillion$ regular Ilya Anatski, who had just 62 big blinds. Polish player Maksim Vaskresenski (47BB) was a bit further back, while veteran player David Yan (34BB) from New Zealand was also in the hunt.
Also chasing glory were Spain’s Sergio Aido (32BB), Belarussian D Kravchenko (29BB), and Vietnamese player ‘Im sooo lucky’ (27BB). Canadian Lucas Greenwood (19BB) and Israels Ravid Garbi (15BB) were both sitting short and were the only two players starting with less than 20 big blinds.
Despite heading into the action fourth in chips, there was an early exit for David Yan, whose experience counted for nothing when he was all-in for four big blinds with queen-ten against Minko’s ace-king on a flop of 8-7-2. Turning a nine, Yan was open-ended but missed all his outs when a second nine fell on the river, and he exited in ninth for a score of $176,859.
Greenwood Goes as Garbi Dominates
With eight left, Lucas Greenwood was quickly taken care of by Ravid Garbi. The Israeli player had the dominating hand as his ace-queen got the better of Greenwood’s ace-ten when all the chips were in the middle pre-flop. A flop of 6-5-3- was followed by a queen on the turn. With no straight or flush outs, it was already the end for Greenwood as he busted in eighth place for $228,870.
The short stack at the start of play, Garbi was now riding high as he took over the outright lead with the elimination of Sergio Aido in seventh place for $296,319. Aido had his chips all in with a flush on a board of K-5-4-6-4 with three hearts, holding jack-seven of the same suit. His flush was no good against Garbi’s ace-four of hearts as the Israeli’s nut flush sent the Spaniard to the rail.
A trio of takedowns was complete for Garbi when he got the Belarussian Ilya Anatski in sixth place for $383,790. Anatski is one of the most consistent performers on GGPoker, and his record at final tables in this event series is the envy of virtually everybody, so his exit was valuable to Garbi in more ways than simply taking his chips. The stacks went in on a board showing Q-J-T-5 as Garbi raise-shoved with the flopped straight, holding eight-nine. Anatski thought for some time with pocket aces but could not resist the call button with his overpair and gutshot draw and committed his stack. No king came as a six on the river ended the Belarussian’s event and saw Garbi take a commanding lead into the second half of the final day.
Premium Hands Pay Off
As the final five began play, less than 1.5 hours of action had played out. Unbeknownst to either the players or hosts, there was only 80 minutes left to come as play sped up in the latter stages as everyone chased Garbi. The Israeli’s stack of 39.5 million was incredible, particularly given he started play with just 15 bigs. Garbi was sitting on the throne, looking down on his rivals, with even his closest challenger, Vladimir Minko (18.9m), having less than half of his stack.
Despite being Garbi’s main rival, Minko went from hero to zero across a disastrous half hour at the virtual felt. Eventually, all-in with ace-queen, he lost a flip and busted as Kravchenko scored the win with pocket eights, a board of T-7-5-4-J sending the overnight chip leader home with $497,226.
Soon, four became three, as ‘Im sooo lucky’ did not live up to their name. All-in with ace-jack, that excellent pre-flop hand was no match for Kravchenko’s pocket queens. Kravchenko easily survived through the K-7-2-4-K board to send home the Vietnamese player for $644,334.
Heading To Heads Up
Kravchenko was on a roll and had the stack to call off Ravid Garbi’s shove with ace-queen while holding just the seven-deuce of clubs. Once again, fortune favored the chip leader as the flop of K-6-6, and a turn of a three was followed by a devastating seven on the river to send Garbi home with $835,110, a fine return on a starting stack that was the lowest of the lot, but a disappointing last hand.
Heads-up, Kravchenko had slightly better than a 4:1 chip lead and almost immediately made it count for the outright win. A flop of A-T-7 hit Maksim Vaskresenski’s ace-deuce hard, but Kravchenko held ten-seven for a perfectly disguised two pair. After a king on the turn and five on the river, Vaskresenski shoved 16 million into a pot of 10 million, and Kravchenko snap-called to victory, leaving Vaskresenski to collect $1,082,516.
Watch all the action with host Jeff Gross and guest co-commentator Ben Heath, himself a high-roller boss, right here on the GGPoker YouTube channel:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | D Kravchenko | Belarus | $1,486,518 |
| 2nd | Maksim Vaskresenski | Poland | $1,082,516 |
| 3rd | Ravid Garbi | Israel | $835,110 |
| 4th | Im sooo lucky | Vietnam | $644,334 |
| 5th | Vladimir Minko | Russia | $497,226 |
| 6th | Ilya Anatski | Belarus | $383,790 |
| 7th | Sergio Aido | Spain | $296,319 |
| 8th | Lucas Greenwood | Canada | $228,870 |
| 9th | David Yan | New Zealand | $176,859 |
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.