The latest super MILLION$ event on GGPoker had a massive $2 million guarantee, and with a $10,300 buy-in, fell just five buy-ins short of that guaranteed prizepool with 195 entries in total.
The final table kicked off in fine style, with 34 minutes of play before anyone bit the dust. That led to stacks getting shallower and the guillotine’s blade hanging ever closer – metaphorically, anyway, even GGPoker haven’t come up with a guillotine graphic yet – to the player’s heads.
First of the nine to depart was Ukrainian player Vlad Martynenko, who came into play with the short-stack and moved all-in for his whole stack with pocket fours from the small blind after a standard button raise from Aleskei Barkov on the button. Barkov held tens, however, and with Martynenko chasing the case four, he couldn’t find it and busted for the first payment of $57,502.
Next to go was the Marius Gierse in 8th place for $72,842 after his move over the top of Nick Petrangelo’s opening bet saw all of the Austrian’s committed with pocket eights. Petrangelo made the call with a suite ace-queen and hit the queen on the flop to eliminate the Austrian who had commented ‘Just one time!’ as the chips went into the middle. No such luck.
So far, the two eliminations had gone with the amount of chip each player brought into the final table action, but the action was to flip for a while. Simon Higgins had the fortune of shoving with ace-jack and seeing initial aggressor Barkov fold ace-queen.
In the very next hand, Higgins got ace-king, and jammed it all-in, with Filatov holding ace-queen after raising. Filatov couldn’t help but call, and lost 90% of his chips, giving Higgins a huge way back into the event. Filatov doubled up to 10 bigs, but eventually crumbled, his ace-seven of spades going down against Higgins’ pocket aces despite picking up a nut flush draw on the turn.
The Russian partypoker team pro was gone, but Simon Higgins barely had time to enjoy making the final six players, as directly after bumping his stack to 3 million, he lost the lot in a dramatic hand.
Dealt pocket queens, Higgins three-bet all-in for the lot and must have despaired to see the chip leader Xingyun888 flip over pocket aces, which held to leave five players in the hunt, but in reality, four players climbing ladders to a summit meeting with an all-powerful player in the Irish chip leader. Xingyun888 had 13.4 million chips, with Petrangelo the nearest challenger with just 2.4 million.
Out in 5th place was Canadian player Daniel Dvoress, who was all-in for just over a million chips with ace-queen post-flop against Barkov’s pocket nines with no big pair made for the Canadian. No ace or queen came, and the tournament had just four players left to fight for the top prizes.
A huge hand took place between Petrangelo, Barkov and the chip leader when Petrangelo three-bet with pocket kings over the top of an opening bet from Barkov with ace-ten. Xingyun888 held ace-queen and shoved, but while Barkov got out of the way, Petrangelo called, avoiding anything that could damage him (by the river, just an ace) and doubled up through the leader.
It would be Julian Stuer of Germany who busted in 4th place, his short-stacked shove with king-nine running into Barkov’s ace-seven to depart after an ace on the flop. A queen on the flop and turn on river gave Stuer Broadway outs of the four jacks on the river, but anther queen ended his tournament instead.
It was Petrangelo who would see his stack dwindle ever shorter thereafter, and the American couldn’t resist shipping his final 2 million into the middle with queen-ten suited. Xingyun888 called with pocket tens and held to go into heads-up with a lead of 13.9 million to Barkov’s 5.2 million.
Barkov fought bravely, but his stack gradually dipped and was only just over a million chips to Xingyun888’s 18 million by the time he moved all-in with king-five of clubs. Barkov was called by Xingyun888 with an off-suit ace-six, and the monster chip leader made the call. The board of 8-T-2-9-7 saw a rivered straight end the event in Xingyun888’s favour, and a spectacular final table was over, with the penultimate GGPoker Super MILLION$ of the year in the can.
GGPoker Super MILLION$ December 22nd Final Table Results:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | ‘Xingyun888’ | Ireland | $381,242 |
| 2nd | Aleksei Barkov | Russia | $300,962 |
| 3rd | Nick Petrangelo | U.S.A. | $237,587 |
| 4th | Julian Stuer | Germany | $187,557 |
| 5th | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $148,063 |
| 6th | Simon Higgins | United Kingdom | $116,884 |
| 7th | Anatoly Filatov | Russia | $92,272 |
| 8th | Marius Gierse | Austria | $72,842 |
| 9th | Vlad Martynenko | Ukraine | $52,502 |
You can watch all the action as it happened on GGPoker right here:
