This week’s GGMillion$ was one of the most exciting endings of them all. Deep in season two of the $10,300-entry high roller weekly event series, we saw an unforgettable conclusion to the event with over 98% of the chips in play going into the middle in the penultimate hand. It was all on the line and rivering a better hand, it was the Canadian player Nick Maimone who ended up the champ, bagging a sensational top prize of $232,516.
Plesuv the Pre-Match Boss
Going into the action, Pavel Plesuv led the way, the Moldovan having 103 big blinds with four previous appearances at 2023 GGMillion$ final tables in his locker. His two closest challengers only had a single final table appearance this year between them, with Alexey Borokov (76BB) making his debut in the final nine and Nick Maimone (75BB) both close behind.
Trailing significantly in the wake of the top three, Argentinian WSOP Hybrid Main Event champion Damian Salas (29BB) made his first final table of the year, the polar opposite to Israel’s Barak Wisbrod (25BB), who was there for the fifth time. Chinese player ‘yyyyy96’ (21BB) was at the final table for the third time while British player ‘SuperSolid’ (20BB) and Hungarian Andras Nemeth (17BB) were at their second. The shortest stack, Belgian player Pieter Aerts, was at the final table for a third time but began with only six big blinds.
In the commentary booth, it was a tale of two Jeffs as regular host Jeff Gross was joined behind the mic by Jeff Boski. They might have guessed they’d have a quick elimination to speak about, but the very opposite transpired to be the case. Almost an hour into play, everyone had survived. The stacks were shallow, however, and the first bust-out was to lead to a flurry of them.
A Blizzard of Bust-Outs
The first player to go wasn’t the Dutch player, but instead the Hungarian Nemeth. All-in with pocket nines pre-flop, he was called by the initial raiser in the hand, Wisbrod, holding king-queen and half a big blind left behind. A queen on the flop sent Nemeth out of the tournament, as he cashed for $32,171.
Two hands later, having climbed one rung up the ladder, Aerts was joining his fellow European on the rail. All-in when very short with king-nine, he couldn’t improve against ‘yyyyy96’ with ace-jack, an ace coming on the flop and no help for Aerts meant he fell in eighth place for $41,195.
Two had fallen inside five minutes, and another was about to drop. Uruguay-based Russian Alexey Borokov cashed for $52,749 after he originally bet with pocket eights. It was a strong hand from the dealer button following four folds, but Pavel Plesuv woke up with pocket aces in the small blind and re-raised, calling off Borokov’s shove for 1.5 million chips. Plesuv’s pile was already 3.3 million before making the call, and after the 4-2-2-3-K board, Plesuv had over 5 million, with Borokov eliminated in seventh place.
Chinese player ‘yyyyy96’ was the fourth person to bust out in the first 90 minutes of action, all-in with ace-jack. It was the British player ‘SuperSolid’ who busted them, with ace-king holding to dominate and defeat their opponent for a sixth-place result worth $67,544.
Final Flush Drama as Plesuv Rivered For It All
A surprise exit took place in fifth as SuperSolid’s hopes crumbled in front of their eyes. Cashing for $86,489, the British player was all-in on a board showing Q-9-4-8 with pocket aces, but well behind. Plesuv had trapped him with nine-eight and a six on the river didn’t help the British player at all.
With four left, Plesuv had a huge lead, holding 7.5 million chips. That was way clear of all three of his opponents, with Maimone (2.3 million), Salas (800,000) and Wisbrod (580,000) all miles behind the dominant chip leader. Damian Salas had a strong hand with ace-jack, but not as strong as Wisbrod’s pocket jacks, which held to send the Argentinian home with $110,748.
Wisbrod was looking to score a crucial second bust-out in a row after being all-in pre-flop with pocket kings against Maimone’s pocket sevens.
The very next hand had all 3 players looking at playable cards. Wisbord raised 2x under the gun with pocket kings. Nick Maimone shoved all in as the short stack holding a pair of sevens. Pavel snap-folded and let the two short stacks battle it out. The flop of K-J-7 suited Wisbrod just fine – both men had flopped a set and he was well in command. In addition, only one seven remained in the deck, but after a three landed on the turn, Maimone hit his one-outer seven on the river for a stunning conclusion to the hand. Instead of having 4.1 million and battling heads up for the championship, Wisbrod was down to 1.4 million and was the short stack.
A few rounds later, Wisbrod’s pocket eights lost to Maimone’s king-jack when the chips were all in pre-flop, Maimone flopping a jack and ending Wisbrod’s hopes with a full house on the river. Maimone went into the heads-up around 2 million chips short. But just 5 minutes later, his opponent lost in a spectacular hand. Very little money was in the middle pre-flop, but on a flop of J-4-3 of spades, a pot of 300,000 swelled to over 2 million. On the turn of an offsuit queen, Maimone shoved with just king-ten offsuit, with the king only being in spades. Plesuv made the call, having flopped a flush with seven-deuce of spades. The river of a nine of spades, however, was an absolute heartbreaker for Plesuv, as Maimone made the better flush on the river. The next hand saw Maimone’s ace-queen beat Plesuv’s six-nine of diamonds with a queen on the flop and Nic Maimone became this week’s GGMillion$ winner in fine style after one of the most unforgettable endings of any major title tournament.
Watch all the action as it went down at “a memorable final table” in the words of Jeff Gross with his guest Jeff Boski right here.
