H-16: $25,500 Super High Rollers
Day 1 Completed
2021 GG Spring Festival
H-16: $25,500 Super High Rollers
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
2021 GG Spring Festival
Buy-in
$25,500
Prize Pool
$2,125,000
Entries
85
Level
32
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Entries
85
Players Left
1
Level 32
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Ottomar Ladva has won H-16: $25,500 Super High Rollers after a heads up deal. Ladva made it through 85 total entries to heads up play, where he and second place finisher Marius Gierse cut a deal to chop the lion's share of the $2.125 million prize pool. Ladva locked up $446,446 with the most chips, to Gierse's $435,790.
Ladva came to the world's attention through the game of chess, where he achieved Grandmaster rank after winning a round-robin tournament in Riga in 2015. Prior to that, he was the youngest Estonian Chess Champion, and dominated the Estonian junior chess circuit from 2010 through 2014.
Recently, he's been showing the poker world what he can do. In February of this year, he turned $530 into more than $500K when he beat Justin Bonomo heads up in partypoker's Super High Roller from the last MILLION$ Week. Before that, in 2019, he took down a field of 3,260 to win the €550 No Limit Hold'em - EPT Cup at EPT Barcelona for nearly $250,000.
Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ottomar Ladva | Estonia | $446,446 |
| 2 | Marius Gierse | Austria | $435,790 |
| 3 | Juan Pardo Dominguez | Mexico | $301,475 |
| 4 | Sami Kelopuro | Finland | $235,114 |
| 5 | David Szep | Hungary | $183,361 |
| 6 | judd trump | China | $143,000 |
| 7 | Seth Davies | United States | $111,523 |
| 8 | David Yan | Australia | $86,975 |
| 9 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $67,830 |
| 10 | David Coleman | United States | $52,899 |
| 11 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | $49,961 |
The Day's Action
They got off to a bit of a slow start at 15:05 eastern time with fewer than 20 players in the game. Those numbers grew through the five hour late registration period, but with just three minutes to go until the registration closed, it looked like they might overlay with just 67 total entries.
There was a rush on the registration desk during the final break with almost 20 entries recorded. In the end, 85 entries put the prize pool just above the $2 million guarantee at $2,125,000.
Seth Davies was on a sun-run during the registration period, and when the gates came down, he had more than 1.6 million chips with his next closest competitor playing just over 650K.
Within an hour, they were down to 16 players left on the final two tables, and Davies was still running pure, with nearly twice as many chips as the next closest player. It took about another hour to play down to the money, and along the way players like Christian Rudolph and Jason Koon dropped out of the running.
Laurynas Levinskas bubbled the money when he shoved a short stack with queen-jack but ran into pocket kings for Davies. Just a couple hands later, the final table was set after Adrian Mateos and David Coleman went out in short order.
The first two eliminations on the final table were just as quick. Daniel Dvoress and David Yan went out very soon after the final table started but then they stalled a bit, playing seven handed for nearly an hour before Davies sun-run came to an end when he couldn't win a race against the eventual winner Ladva.
Ladva came into the final table as one of the shorter stacks, but after eliminating Davies, he was second in chips behind Juan Pardo Dominguez. "judd trump" quickly followed Davies to the exit in 6th place, followed by David Szep in fifth place.
Ladva and Dominguez exchanged the chip lead for a bit before Ladva powered to the front after eliminating Sami Kelopuro in a very cagey hand where he checked a flopped set of kings through to the river, letting the Finn get there with trips against Ladva's river boat.
Ladva then took a big pot off Dominguez to leave him short before calling off his shove with the best ace to send the game heads up. Immediately after the exit of Dominguez, Gierse and Ladva both hit the Deal button. They quickly agreed to near even chop with close to the same chip stacks, and heads up lasted exactly one hand after the deal.
Both players shoved with Gierse holding by far the best in 
, but it was Ladva's day as his 
flopped a deuce, turned a jack, and rivered another deuce for another river boat and the win.
Ottomar Ladva may have made his name in the chess world, but he looks to be making his fortune at the poker tables.
Level 32
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Heads up lasted exactly one hand after the final two players made a deal that saw Ottomar Ladva secure $446,446 and Gierse lock up $435,790. The next hand, Gierse shoved and Ladva called.
Marius Gierse:
Ottomar Ladva:
Board: 
By the time the board was out, Ladva had the boat and all the chips, sending Gierse to the rail in second with $435,790.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
8,500,000
4,020,901
|
4,020,901 |
|
Busted |
Level 32
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Juan Pardo Dominguez shoved more than 1M from the small blind and Ottomar Ladva called off from the big with more.
Juan Pardo Dominguez: 
Ottomar Ladva: 
Board: 
Ladva held with the best ace to send the game heads up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,479,099
694,319
|
694,319 |
|
|
4,020,901
532,000
|
532,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 32
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Ottomar Ladva raised the button, and Juan Pardo Dominguez called the big blind. Dominguez check-raised the 
flop from 133,980 to 416K. Ladva called, and Dominguez check-folded to a bet of 309.5K on the 
turn.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,784,780
1,328,750
|
1,328,750 |
|
|
3,488,901
-459,500
|
-459,500 |
|
|
1,226,319
-872,250
|
-872,250 |
Level: 32
Blinds: 40,000/80,000
Ante: 10,000
Level 31
: 35,000/70,000, 8,500 ante
Marius Gierse raised to 154K from the button, and Ottomar Ladva called the big blind to the 
flop. Both players checked, then Ladva check-called for 254,265 on the turn. Ladva check-called again on the 
river for 511K.
Ottomar Ladva: 
Marius Gierse: 
Board:
Ladva turned two pair but it wasn't enough to beat the flopped set for Gierse.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,948,401
2,630,833
|
2,630,833 |
|
|
2,456,030
-1,987,333
|
-1,987,333 |
|
|
2,098,569
-640,499
|
-640,499 |
Level 31
: 35,000/70,000, 8,500 ante
Ottomar Ladva raised the cutoff to 154K, and Sami Kelopuro called the button. They both checked the 
flop, as well as the 
turn. Ladva checked the river, then shoved with the most over a bet of 330,020. Kelopuro called it off for his life.
Ottomar Ladva: 
Sami Kelopuro: 
Board:
Ladva flopped top set, but laid the trap letting Kelopuro get there by the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,443,363
2,296,640
|
2,296,640 |
|
|
2,739,068
-1,240,821
|
-1,240,821 |
|
|
1,317,568
121,500
|
121,500 |
|
Busted |
Level: 31
Blinds: 35,000/70,000
Ante: 8,500
Level 30
: 30,000/60,000, 7,500 ante
It was a roller coaster for David Szep after getting a big double, then losing a chunk to Juan Pardo Dominguez before he got the remainder in against Dominguez with ace-ten against ace-four. Dominguez spike a four on the turn though, and Azep was out in 5th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,979,889
1,511,208
|
1,511,208 |
|
|
2,146,723
-135,000
|
-135,000 |
|
|
1,196,068
-135,000
|
-135,000 |
|
|
1,177,320
240,000
|
240,000 |
|
Busted |