Darren Elias couldn’t have started off the year on a higher note after bagging the first GGPoker Super MILLON$ event in 2021. After garnering the first place position in this 10,300 buy-in high stakes tournament, Elias walked away with an impressive $448,842.
Elias beat a pool of 9 finalists that included the likes of WSOP bracelet winner Enrico Camosci, Aleks Ponakovs, Seth Davies, Bert Stevens, Rui Ferreira, and more. In the end, the event would trickle down to 3 top players, namely, Niklas Astedt, Ami Barer, and Elias himself.
Each of these players had a great potential to walk away with the winnings. So as you can imagine, this was a very intense tournament. Astedt managed to take home returns of $346,104 while Barer claimed $266,833. Tunisian player Enrico Camosci finished in fourth place to go home with $205,795. Brazilian Rui Ferreira made Brazilian poker history by bagging the 5th spot and a corresponding $158,689 for his impressive performance.
Though the 2021 season has kicked off on a high note indeed, GGPoker also recently proclaimed Marcin Dziubdziela, a player from Poland, as the 2020 player of the year. This means that the 2021 leaderboard has a clean slate so it will be interesting to see which player wins this year’s title.
Poker players will continue to battle it out throughout the year to earn points that will then allow them to take part in the final competition at the end of the year. The participating poker players can either earn points from any of the GGMasters events or the Daily GGMasters.
$1025
Welcome Package
$25 free bonus + deposit match, first deposit up to $500.
$600
Welcome Package
* New customers only. 100% match bonus based
on first deposit of up yo $600.
$500
Welcome Package
* New customers only. 100% match bonus based
on first deposit of up to $500.
What we cover
So what do NJ players need to succeed in any GGPoker events this year?
To win a poker tournament of Super Million’s caliber and level, it goes without saying that you have to be a great poker player to make it to the final table. You will also need a sufficient amount of good luck on your side to be successful. So what else do New Jersey poker players need to be successful?
It’s not all about the money
Winning is great but most poker champions such as Darren Elias don’t take part in tournaments because they might win. Instead, they like the challenge of winning- the money is just a bonus. When new poker players are first coming up in the world of professional poker, it is generally advised to look for mentors and other poker players that will serve as one’s inspiration.
Looking at other professionals plays a big role in one’s learning curve. Eventually, with lots of research and close study, inexperienced poker players can catch up to the greats. This will also help an inexperienced player build up their discipline. To make poker profitable, one must learn how to master patience and discipline- a lack of either will only lead to flop after flop.
Learning from one’s mistakes is essential
Everyone makes mistakes- at work, in school, and even in poker. Professional poker players do not run and hide once they make mistakes that cost millions. Rather, they learn from their mistakes so as not to repeat them. A poker player that refuses to learn from their mistakes is indeed a losing player.
As a poker player, it is your responsibility to figure out the areas that you are lacking so that you can make the necessary adjustments. The last thing you want to do is deny any errors that you make. Every time you make a mistake, you should take it upon yourself to improve, which will, in turn, make you a much stronger candidate for the final table.
Remember to be tight during the early stages
During the early stages of a tournament, you may have plenty of chips and can even afford a few flops. In the end, however, you don’t want to see more flops because it is a losing play. Just because a player has lots of chips does not mean that they should be churning them out every which way with weak hands.
The early stages of a tournament typically consist of very deep stacks- typically more than 100 huge blinds. Many inexperienced punters make the mistake of playing too many hands during the early stages, which generally leads to a lot of mistakes. The best thing to do during the early stages of a tournament is to play it cool as one gets a read on the other opponents.
This is the reason why some professional poker players opt to skip out the early stages of a tournament. Sure, this might cost them some potential profits but it also allows them to survive long enough to make it through the most important stages.
Take things up a notch once the antes arrive
After the early levels are concluded, all tournaments start introducing antes. Antes refer to forced bets, typically one-tenth of a big blind, which every participant has to contribute to the pot before the beginning of the hand.
Once the antes are introduced, participants ought to begin widening their ranges and play looser before the flop. Why? That’s because antes mean that there are more chips to be won.
Be aggressive
Regardless of what stage of the tournament punters find themselves in, it’s always a good idea to play aggressively at all times. That means that instead of limping, op to raise. Rather than call, consider re-raising. Aggressive poker also means betting rather than always checking the flop.
But just because one is encouraged to play aggressively doesn’t mean that they should be careful with their chips. It simply means that whenever one plays a hand, they should play it as aggressively as possible because that will likely produce the best outcome.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve always wanted to rub shoulders with the who of who of poker, poker tournaments are a great place to start. But it’s not all fun and games. A great balance of skill and luck is required to beat champions such as Darren Elias.
$1025
Welcome Package
$25 free bonus + deposit match, first deposit up to $500.
$600
Welcome Package
* New customers only. 100% match bonus based
on first deposit of up yo $600.
$500
Welcome Package
* New customers only. 100% match bonus based
on first deposit of up to $500.
