China's 'judd trump' took down the GGPoker Super Million$ Anniversary edition for over $976,000.

In his first two appearances at a GGPoker Super MILLION$, final table China’s ‘judd trump’ never quite found his footing, bowing out in ninth place in both events. The exact opposite of that took place in the $5 million guaranteed Super MILLION$ Anniversary edition when the three-time GGPoker Spring Festival champ entered the day second in chips and ended it with his first Super MILLION$ title and a GGPoker career-high score of $976,379.

It’s hard to believe, but the $10K Super MILLION$ has been running weekly for a full year now. A full year of some of the biggest names in online poker battling for some of the biggest paydays of any weekly online tournament schedule. To celebrate 52 weeks of high roller action, GGPoker held a $5 million guaranteed Super MILLION$ anniversary edition as a part of its latest High Rollers Week. The five starting flights drew 567 entries for a guarantee-beating $5,670,000 prize pool and first place was promised nearly $1 million.

At the start of the day, it was Chris Frank who held the edge, entering the day as the only player with over 10 million in chips. While ‘judd trump’ enjoyed his position as second in chips, he had to battle through a number of previous Super MILLION$ champs including Wiktor “Limitless” Malinowski, Adrian Mateos, and one of just six players to have won the event more than once, Joakim Andersson.

Just ten minutes into the final table, with the blinds at 70,000/140,000 (17,500 ante), Wiktor Malinowski took out the first player of the day. ‘Limitless’ opened from the button to 280,000 with KcKh and when it folded to Thomas Muehloecker in the big blind, he open shipped his final 15 big blinds with the Ad2d. Malinowski quickly called and the board ran out Jh9c5c6dTh shipping the pot to Malinowski and ending Muehloecker’s day early in ninth place for a $122,047 payday.

Eight-handed play lasted until the blinds were up to 100,000/200,000 (25,000 ante). From under the gun, Enrico Camosci open-shoved his final 10 big blinds holding AdQs and when action folded around to Carlos Villamarin on the button he made the call with the AcKd. The flop came Jd4h2c, keeping Villamarin in the lead which held through the 2h turn and the 7d river. Camosci finished in eighth place and took home $158,275.

Although he was off to a good start early, Malinowski lost a big hand with pocket aces to ‘judd trump’s pocket queens with a queen hit the flop. That left Malinowski grinding a short stack for the better part of an hour. Eventually, he was down to under five big blinds when with the blinds at 175,000/300,000 (45,000 ante) Villamarin moved all-in on him from the small blind and Malinowski woke up with AhQs in the big blind and made the call, looking to turn things around. The Ad9d9c flop looked good for Malinowski, making him better than 90% to win the hand. The turn came the 2d, opening up running flush outs for Villamarin. The river was the 5d, bringing in the flush and dealing Malinowski his second tough beat of the final table, sending him home in seventh for $205,258.

Chris Puetz was sitting on roughly ten big blinds at 175,000/350,000 (45,000 ante) when he opened from under the gun with KcQd to 2.45 million, leaving himself about 4 big blinds behind. On his immediate left, a surging Joakim Andersson 3-bet to 6.65 million. When the action folded back to Puetz, he put in the rest of his stack and the pair saw a flop of Jh5c3d, keeping Andersson’s pocket nines in the lead. The turn was the 5d, providing no extra help to Puetz. The river was the 8d, sending Puetz out in sixth place which was good for $266,187.

At the start of the final table, Chris Frank held an overwhelming chip lead. However as the final table played on the other players cut his stack down to size and with the blinds at 200,000/400,000 (50,000 ante), Frank found himself the short stack with roughly 17 big blinds. From under the gun he opened to 800,000 with AsQh and when it folded to Andersson on the button, the two-time Super MILLION$ champ put in a three-bet to 2.28 million with ThTs. The blinds got out of the way and Frank took a stand and shoved all-in for 7.8 million total. Andersson called and the 9c6d4s2cTc ran out clean for pocket tens, sending Andersson to the chip lead (for the time being) and sending Frank out in fifth for $345,202.

Once the blinds hit 250,000/500,000 (60,000 ante) ‘judd trump’ had assumed the chip lead and Adrian Mateos was looking to chip up from the bottom of the chip counts. From the cutoff, Mateos open shipped his final 11 big binds with the As7s but ran into ‘judd trump’ on the button holding AdQh, who quickly called. The flop came Jd8s4c keeping ‘judd trump’ out front. The 9d turn left Mateos looking for one of the final three sevens in the deck. However, the river was the 3d, pushing ‘judd trump’s chip lead to more than two-to-one over the next player and eliminating Mateos in fourth for $447,672.

It wasn’t long after that when Villamarin was all-in with his tournament life on the line. With the blinds at 300,000/600,000 (75,000 ante), the Canadian shipped his 9.9 million stack from the button holding Ad2d. From the small blind Andersson made the call with the TsTc. The pair saw a flop of Qh5c3c, which was safe for Andersson’s pocket tens but opened some additional straight outs to Villamarin. The Kh turn was no help and the 7d river ended the hand and the tournament for Villamarin who exited in third place, picking up a healthy $580,558 score.

With the knockout, Andersson held a three-to-two chip lead headed into head-up play. But after a quick double up from ‘judd trump’, Andersson was short and the tournament was over soon thereafter. On the final hand of the event, with the blinds at 350,000/700,000 (85,000 ante) Andersson pushed his final 5 million in the middle from the button with the 9s6s and ‘judd trump’ called holding the Kd8h. The flop came Jc7h3c, missing both players. The 5d brought some additional outs to Andersson, but the 5h was not one of them. ‘judd trump’ denied Andersson a third Super MILLION$ title, ending his run as the runner-up for $752,891.

For his part, at his third final table, ’judd trump’ collected the hefty $976,379 first-place prize and his first Super MILLION$ victory.

Super MILLION$ Final Table Payouts (6/15)

  1. ‘judd trump’ – $976,379
  2. Joakim Andersson – $752,891
  3. Carlos Villamarin – $447,672
  4. Adrian Mateos – $447,672
  5. Chris Frank – $345,202
  6. Chris Puetz – $266,187
  7. Wiktor Malinowski – $205,258
  8. Enrico Camosci – $158,275
  9. Thomas Muehloecker – $122,047