THE DAILY SCOOP – GGMillion$ Season 2023 Episode 26
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GGMILLION$ Won by Dutchman Jans Arends for $271,000
A thrilling finish in this week’s $10,300-entry GGMILLION$ saw Jans Arends win his third GGMILLION$ title after a stunning final hand gave him all the chips with everything on the line. As other stars of the felt such as ‘Tedwina Slowsby’ and Juan Dominguez came close, Arends made some great moves as he jockeyed for position before moving in for the last, brilliant coup, claiming the top prize of $271,000.
Dominguez Starts Decider with Chip Mountain
Leading the pack when the final table began was the Spanish player Juan Dominguez, who began the final going for his third GGMILLION$ title with 88 big blinds. Dutch player Jans Arends was also shooting for his third win, beginning the closest to Dominguez with 71 big blinds.
Behind the two chip leaders, Brazilian Pedro Padilha (45BB) and Austrian Johannes Straver (33BB) were also going for GGMILLION$ title number three, with Straver’s fellow Austrian ‘Clickwork’ starting on 32 big blinds while going for his major triumph at the online felt. Canadian player ‘Karma is a Cat’ began on 31 big blinds, while British player ‘Super Solid’ (26BB), Leonard Maue (24BB) and German player Leon Sturm (17BB) brought up the rear.
Commentary this week came from regular host Jeff Gross and co-commentator Razvan Belea and the duo didn’t have long to wait before the number of players they were commentating on was eight instead of nine. One of the only two players without a previous victory in this format, Austrian player ‘Clickwork’, won $37,283 in ninth place as they became the first player to bust at this final table.
‘Clickwork’ was all-in with pocket queens. Called by Arends with pocket kings, the seven-high board was no help for the Austrian as the Dutch player – also playing in Austria – won the hand. ‘Clickwork’ was followed out of the door 20 minutes later by the German player Leonard Maue. He was unlucky to bust with pocket kings against the pocket jacks of Juan Dominguez, all-in pre-flop only to see a jack land on the turn and further strengthen the Spaniard’s lead, sending Maue to the rail with $47,740.
Sturm Blown Away, Chip Leader Departs
At blinds of 25,000/50,000, Jans Arends made it 100,000 with ace-nine from the cutoff, and ‘Tedwina Slowsby’ shoved for just over 600,000 from the button with a suited king-jack. ‘Tedwina Slowsby’ got a call and needed to improve. The flop of A-Q-2 was not good news, pairing Arends’ ace. There was a Broadway straight draw out there for ‘Tedwina’, but after a nine on the turn, the river of another queen ended any hopes of a double up and he cashed for $61,130 in seventh place.
Next to go was the Brazilian player Pedro Padilha, who ran a premium hand into a monster. Pre-flop, he saw ‘Karma is a Cat’ raise it up from under the gun, so re-raised effectively committing his chips from the button with ace-king. Shoving with pocket kings and getting the call, ‘Karma is a Cat’ was delighted to see a jack-high board give him an important elimination, and Padiha cashed for $78,276 in sixth place.
Out in fifth for the first six-figure score of the event, $100,231, was the overnight chip leader Juan Dominguez. Having suffered a number of hits to his stack, the Spanish professional departed when his ace-king called all-in pre-flop against ‘SuperSolid’s pocket jacks. A board of Q-6-3-5-9 didn’t help Dominguez at all, and he headed to the rail.
Arends Flushes to Victory
Four remained, and with Arends (5 million) in the lead, there was close competition from all of the other stacks, with ‘SuperSolid’ on just over 3 million, with ‘Karma is a Cat’ (2.49m) and Johannes Straver (2.22m) just behind him. Two hours of the three it took to find a winner had been played out, but it didn’t take long to reduce the number to three.
Johannes Straver was second in chips when he raised to 850,000 with ace-queen of diamonds. Arends wasn’t scaring easily holding pocket jacks, and he used his chip lead to exert pressure, shoving and getting a call. It was a big coinflip for the overall lead. Although Straver flopped a Broadway straight draw to add two more outs, Arends had the blockers and made it to the river with the best hand, eliminating Starver in fourth place for $128,343.
Now with a big lead, Arends utilized ICM pressure to put both of his opponents under the hammer. Eventually, British player ‘SuperSolid’ moved all-in with ace-five, but he ran into Arends’ ace-jack, and as the board ran out A-T-7-2-4, the Brit was eliminated for a score of $164,341.
‘Karma is a Cat’ started heads-up with a deficit to make up but had moved into the most marginal of leads by the time the pivotal hand played out. On a flop of Q-9-8 with two spades, Arends bet with six-nine of spades. ‘Karma is a Cat’ called with ten-six of hearts. A king of hearts on the turn technically changed nothing, but more money went into the middle. The river of a jack of spades changed everything. Fulfilling the Canadian’s gutshot straight, it looked miraculous and they bet accordingly, then calling it off when Arends shoved having hit his flush with the same card.
The Dutchman had his opponent outchipped by an enormous amount, and in the next hand, won with ace-eight against jack-ten, meaning he’d won his third title. You can watch the action as it happened in the company of Jeff Gross and Razvan Belea right here.
GGPoker GG MILLION$ 10th October 2023 Final Table Results: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1st | Jans Arends | Netherlands | $269,458 |
2nd | ‘Karma is a Cat’ | Canada | $210,435 |
3rd | ‘SuperSolid’ | United Kingdom | $164,341 |
4th | Johannes Starver | Austria | $128,343 |
5th | Juan Dominguez | Spain | $100,231 |
6th | Pedro Padilha | Brazil | $78,276 |
7th | Leon Sturm | Germany | $61,130 |
8th | Leonard Maue | Germany | $47,740 |
9th | ‘Clickwork’ | Austria | $37,283 |
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.
