THE DAILY SCOOP – Super MILLION$ Season 2023 Episode 18
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Belarussian Player ‘focus_nik’ Wins GGMILLION$ for $195k
A thrilling late flurry of hands produced a surprise winner as first-timer Belarussian player ‘focus_nik’ scooped his first GGMILLION$ title for $195,997. Two Brazilian players made the final three but a late collapse for the South Americans led to a surprise victory for the Belarus player after a trio of three-time GGMILLION$ winners all fell in quick succession early on.
Astedt Out First After Long Wait
The chip leader heading to the final nine was Brazilian player ‘Depaulaispt’, who began with 73 big blinds as they bid to win their first GGMILLION$ title. Just a single big blind behind them was Russia player Konstantin Maslak, who was also looking for their first title in the format. Behind the two leaders without a title was a player with three previous victories, Aliaksei Boika who began today’s final with 54 big blinds.
Behind the podium positions on the leaderboard, it was a deep-stacked final nine. Belarussian, ‘fokus_nik’ (47BB) was hoping for a maiden victory, while Brazil’s Rodrigo Sirichuk (43BB) was going for title #2. Swedish phenom Niklas Astedt (39BB) was going for his fourth title, as was New Zealand’s David Yan (35BB). Montenegran ‘Picasso98’ (35BB) was going for a second title, while the short stack Mexico-based ‘Goku9000’ still had a very playable 32 big blind stack as they went for their first-ever GGMILLION$ win.
The stacks were so deep that despite the entire final table wrapping up in 150 minutes, it took an hour to produce the first casualty of the final table. That player was the Swedish superstar Niklas Astedt, who busted with ace-queen to ‘Goku9000’ holding pocket queens. The board of 7-5-4-7-8 had the Swede drawing to a three-outer from the turn but he couldn’t spike the river and crashed out in ninth place for $31,269.
Yin and Yan as Kiwi Flips Out
A full half hour later, David Yan’s bid to win his fourth GGMILLION$ title crashed and burned in eighth place for $40,040. The New Zealander got his final six big blinds into the middle with pocket fives only to lose a pivotal flip against the chip leader ‘Depaulaispt’, whose ace-ten hit an ace on the river to further grow his lead over the rest of the field.
Next to go was the Belarussian poker powerhouse Aliaksei Boika. The final player of three in a row who were going for title #4 lost out with pocket kings in a horrible spot. All-in pre-flop with the lead against Rodrigo Sirichuk’s ace-king, he fell behind on the A-4-2 flop and with an eight on the turn and seven on the river, never got it back, typing ‘WHAP!’ into the chat as he disappeared in seventh for $51,270.
It wasn’t long before a fourth bust-out inside 20 minutes of fast and furious action was confirmed. Montenegro’s ‘Picasso98’ shoved from the small blind for six big blinds with ace-seven, but ran into ‘Goku9000’, who once again had pocket queens. Just as Astedt had been, ‘Picasso98’ was after an ace, but the board of 6-4-2-T-J didn’t offer one and was busted in sixth for $65,651.
Five players remained, and it would take an hour for the final stages to play out. ‘Depaulaispt’ led the way with 3.6 million chips, but it was fairly evenly spread behind him, with Sirichuk (2.3m), Goku9000 (2.25m), ‘focus_nik’ (1.4m) and Konstantin Maslak (1m) all having a chance of victory.
Both Brazilians Fall in Frantic Finale
It was Maslak who bowed out first, losing a flip with ace-king against Sirichuk’s queens with all the money in pre-flop. It was the third time pocket queens had won in a knockout situation, and Sirichuk was never in danger, with a queen landing on the river for good measure to send Maslak home with $84,064.
‘Goku9000’ ran short and shoved with pocket deuces but ran into Depaulaispt’s pocket kings. No help on the board meant the former busted for $107,643. The hand gave ‘Depaulaispt’ the chip lead with only three players remaining. It also meant that two out of three of the podium places would be filled by Brazilian players.
While ‘Depaulaispt’ started three-handed play well, Rodrigo Sirichuk showed why he was the only player of the three to have a previous victory and worked his way into a lead. ‘focus_nik’ was all-in and in massive trouble a few hands later with a king-nine behind ‘Depaulaispt’s ace-queen. A king on the river instead gave him a vital double-up and crippled the overnight leader, who busted with king-deuce to his fellow Brazilian soon after, cashing for $137,834.
Heads-up, Sirichuk had the lead, with 6.2 million chips to Belarussian player ‘focus_nik’ with 4.5m.
A few hands into heads-up play, it was all over. The Belarussian shoved with pocket fives and Sirichuk took his time but eventually called with king-queen of hearts. The board of 4-4-2-7-6 was no good for the Brazilian, who shoved a little later with king-three and was dominated by his opponent’s ace-three. The board ran out J-7-6-5-2 and ended the tournament in the Belarussian’s favor, seeing Sirichuk fall one place short of winning his second Super MILLION$.
With Jeff Gross deep in the WSOP Main Event, this week’s final table was presented by ‘AllinPav’ and Vidur Singhal. You can watch all the action as it happened right here
GGPoker GGMILLION$ July 11th Final Table Results: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1st | ‘focus_nik’ | Belarus | $195,997 |
2nd | Rodrigo Sirichuk | Brazil | $176,494 |
3rd | ‘Depaulaispt’ | Brazil | $137,834 |
4th | ‘Goku9000’ | Mexico | $107,643 |
5th | Konstantin Maslak | Russia | $84,064 |
6th | ‘Picasso98’ | Montenegro | $65,651 |
7th | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | $51,270 |
8th | David Yan | New Zealand | $40,040 |
9th | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $31,269 |
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.
