Austrian online crusher follows up last week's second-place finish with a win
After coming up just short of a title last week, 'MrGambol' came out with the first-place prize in this week's GGPoker Super MILLION$ High Roller.
The weekly tournament continues to bring out fields full of poker's best players, and the Oct. 27 edition of the Super MILLION$ final table saw 'MrGambol' come away with the win and the $324,053 prize. One week previous to that win, 'MrGambol' finished second in the Super MILLION$ for a $246,440 payday.
Last week's High Roller championship went to German high-stakes fixture Ole Schemion, but this week it was 'MrGambol' shining in the winner's circle at the end. The weekly $10,300 buy-in Super MILLION$ brought out 154 entries this week, and the final table of the $1.5 million guaranteed tournament required 'MrGambol' to navigate through some of poker's toughest competition.
'MrGambol' outduels Niklas Astedt heads-up
The final heads-up battle came down to 'MrGambol' and Niklas Astedt, one of the most prolific players in the history of online poker. According to the PocketFives online poker database, Astedt has more than $21 million in online tournament earnings, and those numbers don't include GGPoker results.
Astedt went into heads up play with more than a two-to-one chip lead over 'MrGambol' and the blinds at 40,000/80,000/10,000. Michael Addamo's exit (3rd - $194,937) set up Astedt with just over 10.75 million chips in the battle against 'MrGambol' (4.56 million chips).
Heads-up play lasted about an hour, with 'MrGambol' chipping away at Astedt's lead and going ahead for good after getting the best of a flush over flush cooler. The T♣6♣ of 'MrGambol' got the best of Astedt's 9♣8♣ in a hand that started with 'MrGambol' opening to 300,000 and getting a call from Astedt.
The flop came J♣4♣K♣, a disastrous turn of events for Astedt. Astedt checked with the inferior club flush, 'MrGambol' bet 151,200, and Astedt called. The turn brought the 7❤️, and 'MrGambol' bet 579,300 after another check from Astedt. Astedt once again check-called.
The river changed nothing, putting the Q♠ on the board. Astedt checked again, and 'MrGambol' made an overbet, putting 2,768,250 into the 2,091,000 pot. Astedt chose to just call and saw the bad news when 'MrGambol' turned over the better flush.
The pot put 'MrGambol' in the driver's seat with just under 10.8 million chips against Astedt's 4.6 million. After a break, the tournament lasted just two more hands, with 'MrGambol' clinching the win with A♦️8♣ against Astedt's K♦️9♦️ on a K♠8♠6❤️A❤️7♠ runout.
Other top finishers
The final table included several other top-notch competitors, including Mark Radoja (4th - $151,193). Russia's Artur Martirosian (5th - $ 117,266) continued his incredible 2020 run.
Georgios Manousos (6th - $90,952) and Brazilian poker legend Joao Vieira (7th - $70,542) also finished among the final nine. Satellite qualifier 'RRomashka' (8th - $54,713) realized the biggest return on investment of any of this week's Super MILLION$ competitors, qualifying for $100 and turning that into a nearly 55x payback.
'Nator' (9th - $42,435) rounded out the final nine, making another Super MILLION$ High Roller final table appearance. Playing from Mexico, 'Nator' finished seventh in last week's edition of the tournament.
Featured image source: YouTube
