Germany’s Marius Gierse tackled the tough field of this week’s special edition of the GGPoker Super MILLION$ to capture his first Super MILLION$ title and the massive $1,242,190 first-place prize.
It was Super MILLION$ Week on GGPoker which meant that the standard $10K buy-in event offered multiple Day 1 starting flights and, with 815 total entries, a super-sized $8,150,000 prize pool.
Gierse picked a great week to break through. He’d been known as a regular in the tournament and had previously made six final tables with a pair of runner-up finishes. It looked for a moment like he was in for another second-place result this week, falling behind start-of-day chip leader Diego ‘Ushuaia1’ Zeiter during heads-up play. But Gierse’s Super MILLION$ final table experience prevailed as he dug himself out of the danger zone, found a critical double-up, and secured the win.
It wasn’t just Zeiter that stood in Gierse’s way this week as a number of known crushers were in the mix for the seven-figure score including Wiktor ‘Limitless’ Malinowski, Ole Schemion, and Mikita Badziakouski.
Badziakouski started the day seventh in chips, and 45 minutes into the final table was still hovering at the bottom of the chip counts when he ran into a critical spot against ‘TonyLin008’. With the blinds at 125,000/250,000 (30,000 ante), ‘TonyLin008’ open-shipped his final 2.3 million with 
leading Badziakouski to also shove his 3.2 million stack holding 
. The rest of the table got out of the way and the board ran out 
5c]
, giving the double to ‘TonyLin008’ and leaving Badziakouski with less than four big blinds. The very next hand, Malinowski opened from under the gun with 
and Badziakouski three-bet all-in holding the 
. When it reached ‘Ushuaia1’ in the small blind, they put in the four-bet to 2.1 million with 
. Malinowski was forced out of the hand and the cards were turned up with Badziakouski looking for help to survive. The flop came 
, giving Badziakouski some additional straight outs. But the turn came the 
and the river was the 
, sending Badziakouski out in ninth for $155,273.
Neel ‘Neel’ Joski had been holding on as the short stack, but when the blinds climbed to 150,000/300,000 (35,000 ante) he was forced to make his move. From UTG+1 he shipped his four big blind stack in with 
. It folded to Daniel ‘Vanessa23’ Montagnolli in the big blind who woke up with 
and he quickly made the easy call. The board ran out 
shipping the pot to Montagnolli and ending Joski’s day in eighth place, good for $201,365.
Early on it looked like ‘TonyLin008’ was going to be a force at the final table. But when his flopped set of queens got cracked by Malinowski’s rivered set of aces, he went from the middle of the pack to one of the short stacks. Another tough beat eventually sent the Hong Kong player to the rail. Gierse min-raised to 600,000 on the button with the 
and ‘TonyLin008’ defended their big blind holding the 
. The flop came 
giving ‘TonyLin008’ a flopped two pair, but Gierse open-ended. When ‘TonyLin008’ checked it over to the German, Gierse put out a bet big enough to put ‘TonyLin008’ all-in. ‘TonyLin008’ quickly obliged, making the call. The turn was the 
, bringing in the straight for Gierse. The 
river was no help for ‘TonyLin008’, who wrapped up in seventh place for $261,138.
The blinds climbed to 200,000/400,000 (50,000) and Gierse continued to roll. From under the gun, Gierse made it 800,000 to go with his and when the action returned to Montagnolli in the big blind with the 
, he shipped all-in. Gierse snap-called and the 
board brought little drama for Gierse who knocked out his countryman Montagnolli in sixth place for $338,654.
The first hand after the second break, with the blinds at 250,000/500,000 (60,000 ante), Malinowski raised from the cutoff to 1 million with . In the small blind, Audrius ‘Audrii’ Stakelis three-bet shipped his final 3.3 million with the 
. Back on Malinowski, he made the quick call only to see himself dominated. However, the flop came , turning the tables and giving Malinowski the upper hand with his pair. The turn was the giving Stakelis a few extra outs but the was not one of them. Stakelis’ run ended in fifth place for $439,180.
Three hands later, the action folded to a short-stacked Ole Schemion in the small blind who moved all-in for 4.7 million with the 
. Gierse looked at the and made the easy call putting Schemion at risk. The 
board kept Gierse’s ace-king in the lead the whole way and Schemion, who started the day sixth in chips, laddered to fourth place and collected $569,546.
Three-handed play began with Malinowski and Diego ‘Ushuaia1’ Zeiter roughly even in chips and Gierse holding about 10 extra big blinds. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, Malinowski began to slip down the chip counts, and with the blinds at 300,000/600,000 (75,000 ante), ‘Limitless’ was sitting on just under 10 big blinds. Gierse opened on the button to 1.5 million with the and when it was Malinowski’s turn to act, he stuck his final 5.2 million in the middle with the . Gierse made the call and the flop came , giving Gierse top-two and leaving Malinowski needing runner-runner to survive. The turn was the , bringing Malinowski a few extra outs but the hit the river and Malinowski hit the rail in third place, picking up $738,610.
Despite the knockout, Gierse was still looking up at Zeiter in the chip counts. However, there was only a roughly six big blind difference between the two. As play wore on Zeiter opened up a three-to-one chip lead. But Gierse hung around, chipped away, and eventually found a pure double up when he flopped top-two pair on a board where Zeiter flopped bottom-two pair.
With the situation now reversed and Gierse holding the three-to-one lead, Zeiter limped the button holding 
with the blinds at 400,000/800,000 (100,000 ante). Gierse, with the , checked his option and the pair saw a flop of 
, bringing Zeiter top pair, but also giving Gierse bottom-two pair. Gierse checked it over to Zeiter who put out a min-bet of 800,000. Gierse check-raised to 3.2 million and Zeiter made the call. The turn was the 
and Gierse applied max pressure by shipping all-in. With no time left in his time back, Zeiter called with his pair of nines and needed help on the river to get back into it. The river came the , officially making Zeiter the runner-up for $957,859 and sealing the win for Gierse who collected $1,242,190.
GGPoker Super MILLION$ Final Table Results
Marius Gierse – $1,242,190
Diego ‘Ushuaia1’ Zeiter – $957,859
Wiktor Malinowski – $738,610
Ole Schemion – $569,546
Audrius ‘Audrii’ Stakelis – $439,180
Daniel ‘Vanessa23’ Montagnolli – $439,180
‘TonyLin008’ – $261,138
Neel ‘Neel’ Joshi – $201,365
Mikita Badziakouski – $155,273