Malinowski Bulldozes His Way to GGPoker Super MILLION$ Glory
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Wiktor Malinowski may be better known for his high stakes cash game prowess, but he showed the poker community he can get the job done in the tournament arena, too. Malinowski came out on top in the latest GGPoker Super MILLION$ and padded his already substantial bankroll with almost $400,000.
Super MILLION$ Final Table Results
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Wiktor Malinowski | Macau | $394,852 |
2 | Dario Sammartino | Austria | $312,889 |
3 | Aleks Ponakovs | Latvia | $247,939 |
4 | Ami Barer | Canada | $196,472 |
5 | Guillaume Nolet | Canada | $155,688 |
6 | David Peters | Canada | $123,370 |
7 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | $97,761 |
8 | Luke Reeves | Ireland | $77,468 |
9 | "judd trump" | China | $61,387 |
A relatively cagey start saw no eliminations in the first hour of play. The bust out draught ended with "judd trump" heading to the showers in ninth-place. The Chinese grinder open-shoved from the small blind for 12 big blinds with ace-queen, and Malinowski looked him up with pocket fives. The board ran king-high, busting judd trump.
Luke Reeves was the next out of the door. The two-time former Super MILLION$ champion was down to less than three big blinds when he crashed out. Reeves pushed all-in with king-jack on the button, Yuri Dzivielevski re-shoved with ace-king to isolate Reeves. A jack on the flop gave Reeves some hope, but an ace on the turn resigned Reeves to an eighth place finish.
Seventh place and the last five-figure prize of the evening went to Brazilian star Dzivielevski. The Brazilian lost all but one small blind when his straight ran into the disguised full house of David Peters. That micro stack went into the middle with king-ten, but Ami Barer snapped the bet off with ace-queen. A king on the flop for Dzivielevski was countered by an ace on the river for Barer.
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First Six-Figure Prize of the Evening
Peters was the third-largest stack going into six-handed play, but he was still the next player heading to the showers. Peters bust when Malinowski opened to 264,000 at the 60,000/120,000/15,000a level and he three-bet all-in for 3,090,569. Malinowski called and turned over ace-king, which was flipping against Peters; pocket tens. An ace on the turn saw Peters exit in sixth, a finish good for $123,370, and Malinowski soar to more than 7.6 million chips, more than twice the chips as any of his opponents.
Start-of-the-day chip leader Guillaume Nolet was the next player out of the door, busting at the hands of the now seemingly unstoppable Malinowski. Nolet's last 7.8 big blinds went into the middle of the felt with ace-nine from the small blind. Malinowski called, and his queen-nine was in bad shape. That was until he spiked a three-outer on the flop.
Malinowski now held 13,478,917 chips, with the three other finalists holding only 4,921,083 chips between them.
Malinowski Enjoys a Huge Lead Going Into Heads-Up
Ami Barer lost a coinflip with jack-ten versus the pocket sixes of Aleks Ponakovs in a battle of the blinds before Ponakovs fell by the wayside in third when his queens fell foul to the suited ace-jack of Malinowski courtesy of an ace on the turn once again.
Dario Sammartino went into the heads-up battle trailing Malinowski 3,868,276 to 14,531,724 chips. He was not in any mood for giving up, however, and fought valiantly to the death.
It took more than an hour of one-on-one play for the champion to be decided. In the end, it came down to a relative cooler of a hand. Blinds were 150,000/300,000/35,000a, and Malinowski moved all-in with what turned out to be ace-queen. Sammartino called off his 3,679,184 stack with ace-eight of clubs, and the five community cards gifted Malinowski a straight, resigning Sammartino to a $312,889 runner-up prize. Malinowski was crowned the latest Super MILLION$ champion, an accolade that came with $394,852.
First Ring Winners Crowned in GGPoker's WSOP Super Circuit Online
Attention Turns to the WSOP Super Circuit Online
Everyone's attention now turns to the WSOP Super Circuit Online where $100 million worth of guarantees are waiting for GGPoker players. No doubt we will see some, if not all, of the nine finalists here, especially Malinowski who is running red hot.