By the end of the past week, it was clear that Ognyan “fizoka” Dimov would be one of the contestants sitting on the final table of GGPoker Super MILLION$. Even though his slot was guaranteed, he only managed fourth place by the time the tournament was coming to a close. The current week has however been a good one for Dimov because he redeemed himself; started out the final table at fourth place by value of chips but surprised everyone who witnessed the action.
Although he is not the first player whose fortunes have changed like this, Dimov’s win came as a surprise because of the bigwigs that fell from grace. It was an interesting finish to watch but one that did not require spectators to bet. Those who did are likely counting their losses because the order of leaving the table is nothing like anybody would have imagined.
With thousands of poker fans following the New Jersey poker house action online, there was no mistaking what was unfolding before them. This is the gap that live stream has come to fill in promoting online poker worldwide. Upcoming players are taking advantage of live poker shows to sharpen their strategies only to unleash their prowess in big tournaments such as the Super MILLION$.
The championship title and first place came with a cash prize of $508,891 for the Russian national. This definitely earned Dimov accolades for his commendable performance at the final round of the series. The other Russian that made it to the top 10 list is Artur Martirosian who finished ninth with a win of $63,611.
Many who are familiar with Martirosian’s poker prowess were shocked at this finish; he has a two-time Super MILLION$ champion. The great sweep off the top positions came when the poker star clashed with Isaac Haxton in a plan that did not end as expected. The ouster of Martirosian from the final table was facilitated by Nenad “O O L” Djukic who raised a king-jack right in the middle of the clash.
With his taste of victory, Haxton unleashed a wave of busting a couple of hands but forgot how the momentum would work on him if the tables turned. The tables did turn and Haxton could not produce a queen to his defense when the axe came falling. He fell by the wayside to clinch the eighth position.
Lukas “rustyhusky” Hafner made it to the six-figure wins and was $106,981 richer when the tournament came to an end. At seventh place, his fate was sealed when he went head on with Joshua McCully. The big blind had an attached cost of 140,000 which Hafner attempted to counter with a bet of 294,000. At the end of that round, McCully had pocket sevens while Hafner held ace-queen and this meant out for Hafner.
Looking at the lineup of the final table before the round begun, many fans placed their bet on Stephen Chidwick. Unfortunately, this fancied player did not last long since Chidwick finished sixth place. His fate was determined when he lost a coinflip to McCully. Chidwick placed a bet of 352,000 against pocket jacks while McCully placed 1,044,000 against king-queen. Chidwick’s bust led him to collect $138,737 in prize money.
The fifth place of the GGPoker Super MILLION$ went to Gytis Lazauninkas and with it came a cash prize of $179,920. The damage was courtesy of McCully which he achieved by placing Lazauninkas in a tight spot. Although Lazauninkas called this round, he was met with a six on the river which threw him out of the race.
The next player to exit the final table was the round’s leader, Garbi, who at the start showed all indication of being the title winner. The Israeli national, Garbi, started the round with an impressive pot but he lost it all in what appeared to be a split second. He found himself with pocket fives against eights which Djukic held.
The harsh treatment with which he served Garbi was reciprocated when Djukic was dropped out of the race to claim the third position. His opening was 352,000 against Dimov and McCully. Dimov also chipped into this round continuing with a continuation bet of 846,698. The round was called by Djukic but it was a flop. When he called again, Dimov was gifted a full house with his jack on the turn.
The next move that Djukic made was to table a bet of a 1,211,329 bet before the game was called. With a six spades on the river, there suddenly opened up an opportunity for flush out upon a check call from Dimov. Dimov must have known that Djukic would take this bait because he did; the 7,139,974 in Dimov’s pot could not compare to 524,604 chips that Djukic had been left with.
The race was now down to two horses; McCully against Dimov. The round started with slightly over 26 million worth of chips on the table. Dimov held the lion’s share of 16,162,268 while 9,937,732 were under McCully’s possession.
Critics argue that this clear difference in performance right from the start would have given an instant win to Dimov. Many forget that McCully was also there to win so he definitely put up a fight to save face.
Half an hour later and the game finally came to an end, ending the GGPoker Online poker match. The two finalists walked away with their pride intact. The winner pocketed $508,891 while the first runner up had $392,409 assigned to their bankroll.
Final Thoughts
Poker championships are full of surprises and this was recently confirmed when Dimov literary demolished the order that most people had placed for the final table of the Super MILLION$ at GGPoker. Even though some big names have been around poker tables for years, the nature of the game allows less known players to conquer. All it takes to win a poker game is to learn the opponent, keep your eyes open and trust your instinct.
