The $10,300 buy-in GG Millions Phased Event had 838 entries, with 1,171 entries. The first prize was $1,751,384. And it can't be split, at least officially, at the final table, because bets are placed on the winner.
The 27-year-old Russian player LALIBERTE entered the final table as the chip leader. The future winner started with the shortest, albeit quite comfortable, stack. Here is what the commentator of the official broadcast Aleksey Ponyakov had to say about him:
– Dmitry is a new generation of poker with his own developments, very aggressive. We cross paths more and more often, and I think he will become a high stakes regular with a game in the style of Addamo.
The rest of the participants hardly need any introduction.
Stacks:
Valeriy "LALIBERTE" – 80.3 bb
Michael "Imluckbox" Addamo – 79.8 bb
Arseniy "hello_totti" Malinov – 58.5 bb
Alexey "Avr0ra" Borovkov – 43.4 bb
Ole "wizowizo" Schemion – 29.9 bb
Artur "mararthur1" Martirosyan – 28.6 bb
Andrey "D0ntB1uffMe" Derzhipilsky – 27.3 bb
Joao "Naza114" Vieira – 21.8 bb
Dmitry Kravchenko – 20.7 bb
Prizes:
Seating arrangement:
Soon Dmitry was dealt two aces for the first, but far from the last time in this final. Ole Schemion fell victim to the cooler.
An expanding 4-bet of 3.3 million followed, all-in and call. Wizowizo's outs ended on the turn. So in just a few minutes Kravchenko rose to second place in the chip count.
And this innocent hand had an unexpectedly big impact on the end of the tournament. Addamo raised preflop, made a small continuation bet on the flop and checked the turn. He suddenly thought about the microbet on the river for a few minutes, which he later seriously needed in the late stage, when the time bank finally dried up.
"I spent over three minutes making the wrong call!" Ponyakov commented. According to him, Naza114 has too few bluffs here – essentially only suited hands with fours and fives, some of which reached the flush.
An aggressive move from LALIBERTE.
Both opponents fold – totally standard.
Arseniy "hello_totti" Malinov raises with AJs, continuation bets with the nut flush draw and adds an overbet on the turn.
“It’s not the most optimal solution,” Ponyakov criticizes him, “but it will work here” – and Kravchenko does fold.
Dmitry 3-bets against Addamo's UTG:
– Ponyakov noted, "I don't think Addamo will fold. He'll call now with the thought "I'll beat him postflop"... No, wow – he folds! Surprised me."
The four biggest stacks at the final table can hit the flop:
Dmitry, however, refuses both the squeeze and the call, folds conservatively and saves himself from unnecessary losses on the flop.
Flop (2,810,000):
Hello_totti makes a continuation bet of 875,000. Addamo calls.
– I wonder what hello_totti will do after we get a check-raise? I think he might decide to fold immediately.
However, LALIBERTE surprises the commentator and simply calls.
– He probably decided that he simply didn’t have hands for a check-raise and left the nines in the call. ICM in multi-way pots is still completely unexplored territory.
Turn (5,435,000):
All check.
River (5,435,000):
LALIBERTE bets 1,358,750. hello_totti... responds with a raise – 6,125,000!
– Wow! Well, at Addamo's No – he always puts them on the turn. In fact, now we can easily see a pass from the set! We'll definitely knock them out .
Addamo folds, LALIBERTE thinks for a long time and also folds.
– This is some kind of 500-IQ move! – Dmitry Shakhov admires.
– I don't think Arseniy was expecting a set of nines in the range. He probably wanted to knock out splits or a straight on , which is also quite realistic, Ponyakov sums up.
Hello_totti becomes the new chip leader after this hand.
Avr0ra raises tens from early position, continuation bets the flop with an ace and two smalls, and calls a check-raise.
Turn (5,644,000):
LALIBERTE goes all-in, gets an instant call and misses his two outs. A tough start for the chip leader!
The cooler is not in Totti's favor:
He thinks for a long time, as if he suspects something, but still announces all-in. On the flop he manages to catch a ten, but Artur beats him with a straight on the turn. The lead returns to Addamo.
In the next hand, Arthur is dealt kings again. He raises, and Andrey "D0ntB1uffMe" Derzhipilsky enters the game for the first time – 3-bet about a third of the stack with A7o. The timing is not the best. Arthur goes all-in and takes the pot.
Kravchenko 3-bets Addamo again as a bluff.
The Aussie calls and gives up on a continuation bet of about a quarter of the pot on the flop. rainbow, no need to waste time banks here.
Valery, who remains with the shortest stack, 3-bet all-in against Addamo, Michael no longer has a fold with his K8s...
But it's not needed. A grim debut final for LALIBERTE, but $267k should help to get through the pain.
An interesting multi-way pot. Totti limps from the cutoff with QJo. Artur calls with 98s on the button. Naza114, who just won a big pot, looks to build on his success and calls with T8o from the small blind. Addamo has sevens in the BB and checks.
On the flop, his sevens suddenly turn out to be an overpair, and Michael claims the pot.
Artur is in position and plays through a call.
Turn (4,017,200):
The second flush draw came, but Addamo's sizing is emphatically neat – 1,325,676. Artur check-raises! 4,900,000 turns out to be too much for Addamo, he quickly folds.
“An interesting raise and in principle, I like it!” Ponyakov praises.
In a big stack duel, Artur, with a hand that has nothing to do with the board, pushes Dmitry with a big second barrel:
– The spot is very easy to out-bluff, but nine is a bad card: through a lot of bluffs, – the expert comments. – But against The second barrel would have had little chance of success.
Artur Martirosyan finds himself on the other side of the same cooler that brought him the big stack:
After much deliberation, he moves all-in and Addamo doubles up.
"You can't blame him for that – he's running into Addamo." "But it may not be a necessary decision," Ponyakov says.
Joining the commentators after the exit, Artur explained his decision by saying that according to ICM, Addamo should not have 3-bets with Kings here, only with Aces. With Kings, you need to go all-in right away. This idea was not supported by Ponyakov, who even suggested that Artur had made some technical error in his analysis.
Another raise and all-in call from Addamo, and again he knocks out the short stack from below.
Andrey Derzhipilsky receives $347k for 7th place.
Dmitry opens threes from the first position, gets a 3-bet from Artur and thinks...
“He can very often shove all-in here,” Ponyakov reports, “and put Artur’s tournament life at risk.”
As soon as he finishes his sentence, there is an all-in and a call. The odds of the parties are approximately equal after the flop, but the turn and river come blank, and Artur Martirosyan leaves the tournament in 6th place. His prize is $450k.
POV: You are short stacked with two tens and get a raise and a 3-bet.
But it is not profitable to bust out of the tournament! Alexey "Avr0ra" Borovkov finds a pass.
In a clash between two big chip leaders in the blinds, Dmitry chooses poor timing for an ambitious flop raise.
However, Addamo, contrary to the expectations of the commentators, responds with a 3-bet to 6,000,000, allowing his opponent to immediately get off the hook.
Totti and Avr0ra play a pot that seems destined to be Avr0ra's last:
– Now there will be a check-call, and it will be really hard to bounce back on some runout like a ten, – says Ponyakov. – We will have to play check-call again.
Turn (4,875,000, effective stack 7,199,882):
Aurora checks. And then Totti announces all-in.
– Interesting, of course. But I don't like it at all! Helped me bounce back!
Avr0ra folds.
And in the next hand, hello_totti has to demonstrate his folding skills.
Addamo's continuation bet is followed by two calls.
Turn (7,481,000):
Hello_totti and Michael check, Dmitry bets 4,500,000. Hello_totti also has a flush draw – he has to call. Addamo folds.
River: The SPR is about 0.6, and when Dmitry goes all-in, hello_totti thinks for a few minutes, but doesn’t make a mistake and passes, accompanying it with the “tilt” emoji and showing the jack of diamonds.
The tilt, however, doesn't last long – hello_totti immediately gets aces against Naza114's Ako and takes all the chips of the Portuguese shortstack.
Hello_totti tries to limp-3-bet.
– If Kravchenko folds, he loses the first place in the chip count. And if he pushes all-in, he leaves himself the opportunity to keep it. I think that in this situation, Arseniy chose the wrong moment to put his chips in, – Alexey Ponyakov sheds light on high roller decision-making. – A very big loss for his stack. An expensive maneuver and somehow out of nowhere. Although it can’t be called a mistake. It’s just some hasty decision that is not in Arseniy’s style.
Kravchenko, as expected, pushes all-in and takes the pot.
In the next hand, Dmitry gets to speak on the button and shoves Q9o into two short stacks. However, Avr0ra has AQs, so he calls and doubles up.
A dramatic runout in a preflop all-in leaves Arseniy "hello_totti" Malinov in 4th place. His prize is $759k.
Addamo and Avr0ra play postflop.
– Most likely, a quarter pot bet and a fold. Although it is possible to drag it through – the opponent opens it up very wide. So, I put a third. Well, we should throw it out on a third.
Avr0ra, however, makes the call.
– We even get through a third! Wow!
Turn – , freezes the action. Opponents check here and on the river , Avr0ra wins a pot of almost half of his stack.
Dmitry is dealt aces for the second time. He raises from the button, Addamo defends J8o in the BB.
On the flop Dmitry bets half and gets called. The turn is . The check is followed by a large bet of about 3/4 of the pot. Call. The river comes . Addamo checks. Kravchenko bets 3/4 pot again. And Addamo has almost no time to think – only 25 seconds! He thinks until the end, and his hand folds.
– Playing without a time bank helps many players, – Ponyakov tries to find a positive side to it. – They have to make quick decisions and trust their intuition. It involves you in the process, you start thinking quickly and in advance. I think it’s a very good practice for improving your game.
During the break, Alexey Ponyakov shed some light on Michael Addamo's financial situation.
– It’s always interesting to get into the wallet of your colleague, at least to understand his psychological state and so on. As far as I understand, he’s doing well. At one time, he won a lot and invested well in crypto. It’s hard to lose everything there.
A few minutes after the tournament resumed, a pair of seven-figure prize winners were determined.
Avr0ra is going with AQo against Dmitry Kravchenko's AJs, but a Jack appears on the flop.
Avr0ra's prize is $985k. Almost immediately, he joins the online and joins the commentary duo.
– Thank you very much for rooting for me, for worrying. My phone is ringing off the hook with messages. I played reliably, folded everything I could. There weren't even any particularly variable decisions. Although my opponents helped me with folds somewhere. And with tens I'm supposed to always fold, the decision there isn't variable. I'm very happy!
Well, this tournament is Dmitry's. He really tore it apart.
– It seems to me that when Addamo doesn’t have a time bank, it’s strategically better for Dmitry not to build up the bank, – Ponyakov believes. – It’s hard to play correctly in big SPRs, but if he starts making pot bets and overbets, Addamo won’t have any problems with his decisions.
The heads-up with a prize difference of almost half a million dollars was a very tough fight and lasted much more than an hour. At the beginning, everything was going well for Dmitry, he hit the boards and increased the gap.
Then the pendulum swung back. The initiative changed hands several times, and it all ended with the stacks being almost equal, with Addamo having a decent edge in equity.
We'll just touch on a couple of key hands.
The stack difference is a little over 2 to 1 in Kravchenko's favor. Addamo raises to 1,680,000 from the small blind. . Dmitry defends .
Flop (3,560,000, SPR ~ 10):
Addamo checks to 1,174,800 and is called.
Turn (5,909,600):
Dmitry's check is met with a very tight bet of 5,920,000. Call again.
River (17,749,600, effective stack 27,935,522):
“And it’s always check-check river, which is why Michael bet so much on the turn,” Aurora says.
– Wow! – Ponyakov is amazed.
– It's an exploit – apparently he thinks that Dima went very wide on the river, – explains Aurora. – In theory, it's definitely a mistake. But in practice – we'll check it now! If we see a call, it means he played well. Now will be a telling moment.
– I think this is a very suboptimal solution. And one hundred percent very exploitable. But we will most likely see a pass. I don't really want to find calls here through the four.
– Dmitry may not think like that. You can approach it situationally, count value combos and generally think about other things, not about your four in hand. I won't be surprised if we see a call. The hand is bad for a call, but we beat bluffs, so we can't say that the call is terrible. If we beat all bluffs, then it's already okay :)
– He's been thinking for so long now – he's probably leaning towards passing.
– Again, all people are different, – Avr0ra sums up philosophically. – Those who count the value of their opponent's combos tend to pass. And those who count bluffs...
After much deliberation, Dmitry makes the call.
– That's it – perfect play from Addamo! It's a very, very exploitative river push that worked. And that means Michael outplayed his opponent here.
After this deal, Addamo has 72 million against Kravchenko's 42 million.
Chance of losing a tournament with a hero call:
But...
“Ten is a bad card: many bluffs with ten could have reached the target, so it will be a fold,” Avr0ra correctly predicts.
After this pass, Dmitry has only 24 million left against 92 million.
– You should open it by the looks of it, but without a time bank, both of them will now be playing far from GTO. They will act on intuition, and if you don’t play heads-ups much, your intuition will let you down, – says Avr0ra. actually very high in range, this is an solid call.
Dmitry folds.
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– Theoretically, it should be a call, – says Ponyakov.
– How many blinds, 32? I don't think it's a call, – objects Avr0ra. – If we had raised, maybe. But we limped. And if in theory it's a call, it's better not to do it.
Dmitry folds.
– I'm more for a call. People build a pushing range intuitively. These are mostly pocket pairs, off-suit aces and some suited connectors. The key combos that beat us are KTo, QTo, something like that, but they won't be here. I watched how to play with an ante on the BB, and if the opponent builds a pushing range only from low pocket pairs, then any suited cards will call for us! You have J6s, and you're like: limp – and call the all-in, let's go! – Ponyakov shares his wisdom.
– We watched the final table of the WSOP main event with ante on BB, where Tamayo played. They complained that Nitsche was giving him tips, showing him some ranges, but HU Tamayo played as if he had never seen a simulation in his life. That is, absolutely honestly!
The most important pot started with a limp and a check.
The flop check-raise was called.
Turn (8,250,000, effective stack 23,312,376):
– In my opinion, this is winding on a stack! Although it can sometimes be divided.
– Yes, there is often division...
Addamo bets 5,600,000.
“There’s no point in pushing, Dima has a dominant draw, you can play carefully,” says Avr0ra.
Dmitry goes all-in and gets called.
River – , doubling!
– I wonder how the decision to push was made? Probably, the lack of a time bank has an effect.
– Definitely. There is no point in analyzing the theory here. People came together who do not have much experience in heads-up, and no matter how well you play, if you do not have 100 thousand hands in HU, then there is no muscle memory, and you will often make mistakes.
Dmitry wins a big pot and the stacks are evened out.
Addamo raised preflop, then made a small continuation bet on the flop and a big second barrel on the turn.
A limp and a check was an innocent start. But as soon as the flop was dealt, the commentators' conversations on other topics immediately ceased.
"Dmitry is unstoppable! This is his tournament," Aurora admires.
Addamo wins the next hand with an auto-all-in, but then loses with A7s against Q9o, and that's the end.
Congratulations to Dmitry Kravchenko on his new personal best at GG! This is his second GG Millions win in his career.
