THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2024 Episode 41
Juan Dominguez Dominates Late to Claim GGMillion$ Title for $361,000
It took just over two hours to wrap up one of the fastest GGMillion$ finals in the weekly $10,000 tournament’s history tonight as Spanish poker professional Juan Dominguez dominated the latter stages of the final table to claim victory for $361,804.
Tonight’s show was hosted as always by GGPoker ambassador Jeff Gross and poker professional and author Maria Konnikova. Their insight was priceless on a rapid night of quick moves and marginal decisions.
Lasouskii’s Legendary Lead
This week’s final table chip leader had a big lead, as the Belarus player Artsiom Lasouskii started the nine-handed action with an incredible stack of 101 big blinds. Sitting in second with a total of 77 big blinds was the American player Jon Van Fleet, with Lasouskii’s fellow Belarussian Mikalai Vaskaboinikau on 65 bigs in third.
Others in contention all had less than half the chip leader’s stack, with Swedish player Simon Mattsson (42BB), Spain’s Juan Dominguez (38BB), Germany’s Alexander Tkatschew (20BB) and Italian player Jacopo Olivieri (17BB) all having playable stacks. Behind the top seven players sat two micro stacks, with American Benjamin Miner (6BB) marginally ahead of Chinese player Ren Lin with just five big blinds.
It was Lin who left first, shoving with ace-jack off early only to run into Belarussian Mikalai Vaskaboinikau’s pocket kings. A flop of J-T-7 gave Lin some hope, and a queen on the turn offered more options. Unfortunately, a four on the river condemned Lin to the first exit, as he earned $51,686 in ninth place. He would soon be joined by another player, but it wasn’t Miner who dug in and survived the first 30 minutes at the virtual felt.
Italy’s Jacob Olivieri, who was down to just 14 blinds, moved all-in from the small blind with ace-jack. His attempt to steal or be called by a worse hand was doomed when big blind player Dominguez snap shoved with ace-king. The board fell Q-8-8-6-2 to send the Italian home with $65,919 in eighth place.
Aces Sunk as Tkatschew Shot Down
There was a brutal knockout next, as Alexander Tkatshcew played it perfectly, only to be let down by the cards. All-in with the best pre-flop hand in poker, the German’s aces were way ahead of Vaskaboinikau’s pocket queens. The flop stayed safe, as did the turn, leading to Tkatschew playing a Rambo GIF. Sadly for him, a queen on the river shot him down in flames, and his adventure was over in seventh place, earning him a score of $84,071.
Next to go was the Swedish player Simon Mattsson. All-in pre-flop with king-jack, he ran into Vaskaboinikau’s ace-jack and this time, the better hand held. The board landed Q-9-8-6-5 to give Mattsson $107,222 for finishing 6th and left the Belarussian with a lead of almost 20 big blinds.
Benjamin Miner had laddered magnificently from the start of the final, where he had just six big blinds, but ran out of luck when he fell in fifth place for an impressive score of $136,749. All-in pre-flop for 16 big blinds with pocket fives, Miner needed to hold against Juan Dominguez’s ace-nine of spades. The flop of K-J-T with two spades was ominous. On the ace turn, Jeff Gross’ good friend Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari wandered into the shot to tell viewers that it was never a good coinflip and that pocket fives were dead there. True enough, no five arrived on the river and Miner was gone.
“I should have listened to Antonio,” laughed Konnikova. “He knows!”
Spades Provide Late Drama
With four players left, Vaskaboinikau still led with 6.73 million, but the gaps were closing up behind him. Jon Van Fleet (4.34m) was closest, followed by Dominguez (4.04m), and Lasouskii (3.41m) was still in the hunt. Indeed, it took 30 minutes for the next player to leave, as Van Fleet lost out in fourth for $174,406.
By that point, Juan Dominguez had taken the lead, and it became a huge one when his ace-king dominated Van Fleet’s ace-seven. A flop of K-8-4 with three spades provided hope for Van Fleet, with him holding the seven of spades. Dominguez had no spades, but another king on the turn gave him trips. The deuce of clubs on the river sent play three-handed with the Spaniard in charge.
Any hopes of an all-Belarussian finale ended when Mikalai Vaskaboinikau missed out and fell in third for $222,432. Shoving with king-seven of spades, Dominguez quickly called him with pocket eights. A flop of 8-2-2 saw the Belarussian drawing dead to a queen on the turn and a jack on the river.
And Then There Were Two
Heads-up, the Spanish player had nearly a 5:1 chip lead, and soon he would have the title. Lasouskii battled back to being almost level, but he was looked up on what would be a costly bluff on a board of J-9-8-9-3 to set up the denouement. On the final hand, Lasouskii had six-five of spades for a rivered flush, prompting a shove. Dominguez quickly called with a marginally better seven-four of spades, meaning he won the title and top prize of $361,804, with Lasouskii claiming $283,685 as runner-up.
Watch all the action with Jeff and Maria (and Antonio) as the action played out across a fast and furious final table on GGPoker.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Juan Dominguez | Spain | $361,804 |
| 2nd | Artsiom Lasouskii | Belarus | $283,685 |
| 3rd | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $222,432 |
| 4th | Jon Van Fleet | United States | $174,406 |
| 5th | Benjamin Miner | United States | $136,749 |
| 6th | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | $107,222 |
| 7th | Alexander Tkatschew | Germany | $84,071 |
| 8th | Jacopo Olivieri | Italy | $65,919 |
| 9th | Ren Lin | China | $51,686 |
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.