Brazilian Trio Miss Out as Super MILLION$ Returns with $1.5 million Top Prize

After a week’s hiatus during which some Super MILLION$ fans – OK, us – worried we might never see Jeff Gross’s smiling face again, the $10,300 GGPoker weekly online tournament returned to our screens. It was a Brazilian-dominated final table, with three South Americans making the final nine, but all of them were denied by a first-time winner.

Early Stages Eliminate Badziakouski

With nine players starting the final in various stages of chip health, one of the names who needed to improve his lot was Mikita Badziakouski. In what was a slow start to the final table, which took three and a half hours to play down to a winner, it was Canada-based ‘m3d1t8’ who busted first after an hour. Short stacked with pocket tens for just over 12 big blinds, he shoved, and Yuri Dzivielevski took the flip with ace-king. A board of A-9-2-2-J sent the Canadian home with $198,844.

Having lasted the first bust-out, Belarussian former Super MILLION$ winner Mikita Badziakouski would have been heartbroken to bust next. All-in with pocket tens, he lost his stack to Pedro Garagnani as his ace-king hit on the board of K-9-8-J-4 as Badziakouski missed plenty of outs on the river to depart with $257,604.

Although Pedro Garagnani won that pot, he was still the next player to leave. The first of three Brazilians to fall short busted with ace-king against ace-eight as a flop of T-9-7 gave ‘Kostya_Jock’ the open straight draw. The eight on the turn paired up for the Ukraine-based player, but it was the third heart of three on the board and with Garagnani holding the king of hearts, the Ukrainian had to fade a bunch of outs. Another nine on the river confirmed that Garagnani was out for $333,804.

Brazilians Bust as Ukraine Fights Back

With six players remaining, both Brazil and Ukraine had two representatives each but it was the war-torn country’s patriots who prevailed. Before all that, ‘Nikki beagle’ from Poland lost their stack with pocket deuces as a pre-flop shove was met by a call with ‘Yawwww’ holding ace-king. The classic flip ended with a king on the turn and an ace on the river sending the Polish-based player home with $432,624.

That was the first Super MILLION$ score of any kind for ‘Nikki beagle’ and it was followed by the complete opposite – the latest in a long line of scores for one particular player. With ‘Hawwww’ from Mexico in a huge chip lead holding as many chips as the other four opponents put together, the race was on to try to stop the runaway chip leader from claiming the $1.5 million top prize.

All-in with pocket queens pre-flop, Yuri Dzivielevski was ahead of the all-in aggressor, Ukrainian Volodymyr Palamar with pocket nines. That was, until the flop of A-9-8 flipped the script and a ten on the turn was followed by a seven on the river to skittle the Brazilian player in fifth place for $560,779.

Chip Leader Rules Supreme

Hawwww was one card away from losing a big all-in stack with ‘Kostya_Jock’ shoving with ace-jack and the Mexico-based player sucking out with ace-seven on the seven flop until a jack popped up on the river. ‘El@nMusk’ was next to bust, losing out in fourth place for $726,973 with ace-jack when Palamar held pocket aces. Somehow, the playout saw Palamar still not certain of winning with aces full going to the river, but his opponent couldn’t hit his 2% outer for the Royal Flush.

‘Kostya_Jock’ was all-in next, holding ace-nine but losing to Hawwww’s ten-three when a ten hit the flop. That earned the Ukrainian player a result worth $942,501, and perhaps most crucially, maintained Hawwww’s lead, with the leader holding 83 million to Palamar’s 25m. Eventually, that lead told, especially after an insane all-in raise on the river of a four-club board with air.

Soon, it was all over. Hawwww’s ace-queen dominated and defeated Palamer’s ace-deuce and after a board of J-7-7-6-K whiffed the flopped nut flush draw for the Ukrainian, Hawwww became champion for $1,584,600, with the Ukraine-based player Vlad Palamar winning $1,222,007 in second place.

All the action was called by GGPoker’s regular host Jeff Gross, with special guest co-commentator, Mike Jozoff.