Sami Kelopuro Wins GGPoker Spring Festival $25K Super High Roller for $520,000

The latest huge GGPoker Spring Festival event has a winner, and this time it’s the Finnish player Sami Kelopuro who has taken the top prize in the GGPoker Spring Festival $25,000-entry Super High Roller.

He took down the winning prize of $520,003 after almost 10 hours at the felt found a victor and the heads-up duel went the Finnish player’s way instead of his opponent, Wiktor Malinowski.

Malinowski, of course, also goes by the name ‘limitless’ and was the player who lost to Fedor Holz across four sessions online on GGPoker recently.

Eastern Bloc Busted in Early Stages

Two eliminations from the Eastern Bloc kicked off the action at the final table, with 90 entries in this event reduced to just seven players in double quick time.

First, Russian professional poker player Anatoly Filatov banked $64,876 when his initial double to twenty big blinds gave him only false hope, a short while later his ace-king shot down by Sami Kelopuro’s pocket aces.

With a $2,250,000 prizepool to fight for – the $2,000,000 guarantee having been eclipsed with a degree of ease – it would be Mikita Badziakowsi who missed out on the really big money when he crashed in eighth place for $84,154. Badziakowski had started the final table behind only Isaac Haxton in the chipcounts, but drifted down the pecking order and saw his last chips leave him when his ace-king was no good against Haxton’s pocket kings.

Haxton Blows the Lead

Premium hands had been the order of the day since play began and that trend continued, but while Haxton had a monster chip lead, it would disappear shockingly quickly. Sami Kelopuro began his sprint to the line by busting David Coleman in seventh place for $109,161 when ace-king finally held, king-jack for Coleman not nearly good enough.

Next to leave the party was Haxton himself as he went from chip zero to absolute zero, his eventual final hand seeing king-nine dominated by Jason Koon’s ace-king. Haxton cashed for $141,598 in sixth, but it would be Koon following him out of the virtual door next.

Jason Koon couldn’t break the curse of going out just after busting an opponent

Koon’s ace-four all-in couldn’t hold against Samuel Vousden’s king-ten and the Finnish player bolstered his own payout by just one, the curse of the player busting the short-stack continuing as he crashed out with king-deuce dominated and dusted by Brazilian Yuri Dzivielevski’s king-six.

The Curse Continues to the End

Whoever delivered the final blow was themselves leaving next and Dzivielevski suffered the same fate as his three predecessors when he lost a coinflip to go out in third for $309,048, his jack-four suited unable to catch against Wiktor Malinowski’s pocket threes.

Malinowski had the impetus of that hand, but still went into heads-up with a slight deficit to make up. The man known as ‘limitless’ couldn’t live up to that moniker as he slipped back time and time in the early stages, with Kelopuro establishing a 5:1 lead.

That was eradicated thanks to Malinowski winning two coinflips with pocket deuces, but it was to be a false dawn as play reached nearly 10 hours.

The Polish player was all-in with ace-nine, but had run into the pocket aces of the Finnish pro, and Kelopuro managed to book the win when his jack-ten got there against Malinowski’s king-seven in the next hand.

Malinowski cashed for an outstanding $400,882 in finishing as runner-up, but it was Kelopuro who took the title and a massive $520,003 top prize.

GGPoker Spring Festival Super High Roller Final Table Results: