Vladimir Minko Wins Second GGMillion$ Event and Banks $404K

Russia’s Vladimir Minko has won the latest $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller at GGPoker, taking home $404,362 and his second such title. Minko outlasted an all-star field of 202 entrants, including a heads-up victory over Juan Dominguez, denying the Spaniard what would have been a sixth GGMillion$ victory.

This latest victory takes Minko’s earnings from GGPoker tournaments past $19 million, more than $3.3 million of which stems from GGMillion$ tournaments.

Minko started the final table third in chips, trailing only Dominguez and Osmirko Artem in the overnight chip counts.

$10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller Final Table Results

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The first elimination happened within minutes of the final table starting. Minko min-raised from early position with pocket tens, David Kaufmann three-bet with pocket kings in the cutoff, and short-stacked Yahor Dambrouski called all-in for less than three big blinds on the button with pocket eights. Minko released his hand, and Kaufmann’s kings held on an ace-high board.

Pocket eights were involved in Finland’s Juho Suutari‘s exit. The action folded to the Finn in late position, and he moved all-in for around 13 big blinds with pocket sixes. Dominguez called in the small blind with pocket eights, and the board ran out safe for the Spaniard’s snowmen.

Martirosian Has Kings Cracked

Thirteen-time GGMillion$ champion Artur Martirosian was the next player heading to the showers, doing so with the last five-figure prize of the evening. Martirosian lost a chunk of his stack when he flopped top pair with king-jack and lost to Kaufmann’s pocket aces.

He was then left with a handful of big blinds when “unelmavavy” beat his pocket kings with ace-king. Martirosian’s last few chips went into the middle a few hands later, his suited king-seven ultimately losing to Osmirko Artem’s pocket nines.

Despite winning those chips from Martirosian, “unelmavavy” was the next player to bust. They got a little frisky with their ace-four of clubs, first three-betting Dominguez’s late position open and then five-bet shoving for 38 big blinds after Dominguez four-bet. Dominguez showed ace-king of spades, which flopped a king to reduce the player count once more.

Sebastian Gaehl had been nursing a relatively short stack for around 40 minutes after Martirosian busted and eventually busted at the hands of Kaufmann. Kaufmann opened with queen-jack from under the gun, Gaehl defended his big blind with ace-ten, and the flop fell jack-ten-jack. Gaehl check-raised all-in for 12 big blinds, and neither the turn nor the river came to his rescue.

The final four became a trio when Artem fell by the wayside as the second scheduled break approached. Artem open-shoved for 11 big blinds with ace-queen, and Minko looked him up with the inferior ace-jack before flopping a jack and turning trips.

Kaufmann Crashes Out After a Long Three-Handed Battle

The GGMillion$ advanced to heads-up after Kaufmann’s exit in third place, following a three-handed battle that lasted more than 70 minutes. Kaufmann had been the chip leader for a decent amount of time during three-handed play, but lost a huge pot to Dominguez with king-jack versus king-queen that left him with fewer than seven big blinds.

Kaufmann found pocket tens on the next hand, and they lost to Dominguez’s jack-nine.

Dominguez held a 12,206,940 to 9,040,060 chip advantage over Minko at the start of heads-up play, or 70 big blinds to 52. Despite being deep, a champion emerged after only 15 minutes of one-on-one play.

Minko won the first of the larger pots to claim the chip lead, then the final hand happened shortly after.

Dominguez min-raised with jack-ten of clubs, Minko moved all-in with ace-three, and Dominguez called off 22 big blinds. The ace-three of Minko remained the best hand, sending Dominguez to the rail and starting the celebrations for Minko.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.