Ponakovs Back-to-Back Super MILLION$ FT Ends in Victory

Copy link Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Feb 23, 2022 3 min read

Aleks Ponakovs reached the GGPoker Super MILLION$ final table last week as the chip leader but could only muster a fifth-place finish. This week, Ponakovs navigated his way to the Super MILLON$ final table again, where he sat down in fifth place. Fast-forward three-and-a-half hours and Ponakoivs got his hands on the title and the $475,125 top prize, denying Andras Nemeth what would have been his third Super MILLION$ victory.

Super MILLON$ Season 3 Episode 31 Final Table Results

There was drama from the moment the final table action commenced because Elio Fox cracked Andras Nemeth's aces with pocket queens in one of the very first hands.

Final table short stack and last week's champion, Sung Joo "ArtePokerTV" Hyun was the first player to bust. Hyun never managed to get going and busted when he pushed all-in with ace-seven on the button for a shade under ten big blinds. Nemeth looked him up from the big blind with ace-nine, which held to reduce the player count by one.

Seth Davies busted during the next level when blinds were 40,000/80,000/10,000a. Davies looked down at ace-deuce in the cutoff and moved all-in for 405,988. Nemeth called in the small blind with pocket kings, but big blind Rodrigo Selouan did not take the bait. However, he did call with ace-ten offsuit. Both players checked the jack-high flop, leading to another jack landing on the turn. Again, the action went check-check. A six on the river saw Nemeth lead for a third of the pot, which folded out Selouan. Game over for Davies.

One of the pre-final table favorites, Ole Schemion, was the next superstars heading for the showers, doing so on the very next hand after Davies' demise. Schemion min-raised to 160,000 before jamming in 1,737,530 over the top of Nemeth's 360,000 three-bet. Nemeth called with pocket nines and was racing against the ace-queen of Schemion. The board ran out void of aces or queens, and Schemion bowed out.

The first five-figure prize, namely $129,532, went to Fox despite him being second in chips when six-handed play began. Fox can count himself unlucky with the way his tournament ended. He made it 250,000 from the button during the 50,000/100,000/12,500a level with ace-king of clubs. Nemeth folded his small blind, but Selouan piled in 4,954,638 from the big blind, which covered Fox's stack. Fox called and discovered he was way ahead of his Brazilian opponent's ace-four of diamonds. Selouan flopped a four but Fox had a club flush draw. The flush never came in, instead, Selouan improved to an unlikely full house, fours full of nines, and Fox headed for the exits with a bad beat story in tow.

There was a lull in eliminations until the 100,00/200,000/25,000a level. Tauan Naves open-shoved for six big blinds from the button with ace-jack of spades. Nemeth re-shoved with pocket fives, and won the pot when the five community cards fell queen-high. Naves' $167,982 payout more than doubled his lifetime winning at GGPoker.

The final four became three when Chris Klodnicki ran out of steam. Klodnicki made a move for his 11.5 big blind stack from the small blind with ace-five, but Nemeth was lying in wait in the big blind with ace-king, and made a standard call. Unlike the cruel Fox exit hand, the ace-king remained true this time around.

Klodnicki's seat had not even gone cold when Selouan joined him on the rail. Selouan min-raised to 500,000 from the button with ace-queen, and Ponakovs shipped in his 8,089,796 stack from the small blind with the dominating ace-king. Selouan called and lost despite flopping an ace as the door card.

That hand gave Ponakovs a narrow 12,154,588 to 11,345,412 chip lead over Nemeth, the latter looking for his third Super MILLON$ victory. Ponakoivs dominated the early heads-up confrontations, but Nemeth refused to bust. However, an ill-timed bluff from Nemeth when Ponakovs held a king-high flush turned the contest on its head because Ponakovs held a 10-to-1 advantage.

The final hand saw Nemeth shove for 8.7 big blinds with queen-six, and Ponakovs called with pocket threes. Ponakovs' lowly threes held, and he won the Super MILLION$ title for the first in his career.

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.

Follow on