Kovalski Wins $10K GGMillion$ for $464K

Brazilian poker standout Fabiano Kovalski extended his blistering tournament heater this week, taking down the flagship $10,000 GGMillion$ on GGPoker for a massive $464,794 payday. Kovalski arrived at the digital high-roller arena fresh off a career-defining European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona festival, where he scooped the €3,250 Mystery Bounty for €331,430 before seizing the €10,300 High Roller for a personal-best €727,280. This week’s GGMillion$ drew 237 entries, creating a $2,308,900 prize pool that paid out the top 25 finishers. In addition to the first-place prize, Kovalski locked up a $10,000 tournament ticket and a $10,000 seat to GGMillion$ Live Paradise.

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Early Bustouts and Brazilian Clashes

Nine contenders returned for the final table, all guaranteed at least $58,099. Emilien Pitavy was the first casualty in ninth place after open-shoving his remaining 7.5 big blinds from the big blind with , only to run into the of Andrii Derzhypilskyi. Derzhypilskyi turned an unneeded flush to send the Frenchman to the rail.

Kovalski’s compatriots fell next in back-to-back eliminations. Short-stacked Jesse Cesar committed his stack with , losing out to the of fellow countryman Alisson Piekazewicz. An hour later, Piekazewicz crashed out in seventh place when his could not overtake Kovalski’s pocket pair of despite pairing his deuce on the flop.

Derzhypilskyi, Kravchenko, and Bujtas Bow Out

The pace accelerated rapidly thereafter. Derzhypilskyi bowed out in sixth place ($126,715) when his 15-big-blind button shove with fell to Jon Vallinas’s in the big blind. Dmitrii Kravchenko took fifth for $164,329 after overbet-shoving the turn with on a king-high board showing three hearts; Hannes Jeschka snap-called with turned trip eights holding and held through a brick river.

Start-of-day chip leader Laszlo Bujtas faced intense ICM poker tournament strategy dynamics before exiting in fourth. Jeschka min-raised the button with , prompting Bujtas to three-bet jam 14 big blinds with . Kovalski woke up with in the big blind, smooth-called, and sent Bujtas packing when the board ran out clean.

Kovalski Traps Vallinas for the Title

Jeschka was knocked out in third place ($276,368) after three-bet shoving 11 big blinds on the button with . Kovalski isolated with , and after Vallinas mucked —slashing Jeschka’s available outs—Kovalski’s sevens safely held on an ace-high board.

Vallinas entered heads-up play with a slight chip edge of 13,153,979 to Kovalski’s 11,701,021, but the Brazilian quickly wrested control to build a 2-to-1 lead. On the tournament’s final hand, Kovalski limped with and Vallinas checked his option holding . The flop came , and Vallinas check-called a half-pot stab.

The on the turn improved Vallinas to trips, prompting him to lead out for two-thirds pot, which Kovalski called. When the river completed Kovalski’s flush, Vallinas shoved all in for 6.4 million into a 3.2 million pot. Kovalski snap-called to capture the title, relegating Vallinas to a $358,405 runner-up finish.

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Source: PokerNews Online

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