Sami Kelopuro Wins the GGPoker Spring Festival $25K Super High Roller ($520,003)
Finland's Sami Kelopuro has shipped yet another big event at GGPoker. This time it was the GGPoker Spring Festival (GGSF) H:49: $25,500 Super High Roller for a whopping $520,003 after more than 9 1/2 hours of play.
Kelopuro had many obstacles to overcome at the final table including a big come-from-behind victory heads-up against a very tough opponent in Wiktor Malinowski.
The victory brought Kelopuro's poker tournament earnings at GGPoker up to nearly $6.4 million in cash, which includes $408,406 he won hauled in back in February of this year when he shipped the GGPoker $10,300 Super MILLION$.
The Super High Roller was another success story for GGPoker with 90 entries (including 35 re-entries) generating a $2,250,000 to smash the lofty $2,000,000 guarantee.
2021 GGPoker Spring Festival H-49: $25,500 Super High Roller Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sami Kelopuro | Finland | $520,003 |
| 2 | Wiktor Malinowski | Poland | $400,882 |
| 3 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | $309,048 |
| 4 | Samuel Vousden | Finland | $238,252 |
| 5 | Jason Koon | United States | $183,673 |
| 6 | Isaac Haxton | United States | $141,598 |
| 7 | David Coleman | United States | $109,161 |
| 8 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | $84,154 |
| 9 | Anatoly Filatov | Russia | $64,876 |
Action of the Day
The event began with a tidy field of 18 players. This expanded to 90 entrants during the five-hour late-registration window with 38 players remaining when second chances were no longer permitted.
GGPoker Ambassadors Fedor Holz and Anatoly Filatov were in action. Holz was the first player eliminated after late-registration was closed while Filatov advanced to the final table but didn't stay long there.
Among the notable players joining Holz on the virtual rail before the money were Stephen O'Dwyer, Sam Greenwood, Joao Vieira, David Peters, Linus Loeliger, Nick Petrangelo, and Timothy Adams.
Michael Watson was the last player in the event to fail to cash as he bubbled the event in 14th place after he lost a flip with pocket sixes against Kelopuro's ace-nine.
Benjamin Rolle and Rui Ferreira were the first two players out in the money in 12th and 13th place for a min-cash of $44,681 while Wei Zhao scored slightly better with the 11th-place prize of $47,368.
Pedro Garagnani bubbled the final table after his nines didn't get there against Haxton's queens to collect $50,014 and the nine-max table instantly fired off straight after that.
Final Table Action
Isaac Haxton began the final table with the chip lead with Mikita Badziakouski and Kelopuro very close on his tail.
Filatov came in as the short stack with 10 big blinds and doubled the first hand. A few hands later he lost all of his chips when his big slick didn't get there against Kelopuro's rockets.
Kelopuro held the lead after this hand but that didn't last long as fireworks soon erupted between the next two big stacks. Badziakouski four-bet jammed with a big stack with big slick and was eliminated in eighth place for $84,154 when he whiffed the board after Haxton called with kings.
Haxton had a big chip lead at this point, more than double that of Kelopuro in second place. Kelopuro then eliminated David Coleman in seventh place for $109,161 when his big slick held against king-jack.
Malinowski then doubled off Haxton to take the lead and before long Haxton went from chip leader to on the rail in sixth place for $141,597 when his king-nine suited didn't get there against the big slick held by Jason Koon.
Koon (fifth - $187,573) was next to go when his ace-four suited didn't hold against the king-ten suited held by Samuel Vousden. Vousden (fourth - $238,251) was out shortly later when his king-two suited was no good against the the king-six held by Yuri Dzivielevski.
Kelopuro grabbed the lead back three-handed but Malinowski narrowed the gap after he eliminated Dzivielevski in third place for $309,048 when his treys won a flip against jack-four suited.
Heads Up Action
Kelopuro began heads-up play with a small chip lead against Malinowski. He extended his lead to a more than 5:1 chip advantage when it appeared things were about to fall apart with Malinowski winning two flips, both times with pocket deuces for the chip lead to change hands.
But it was easy-come, easy-go, for Malinowski as he ran ace-nine into rockets to leave himself with just 10 big blinds. Those went in good the following hand with king-seven but Malinowski was eliminated in second place for $400,882 after failing to hold against Kelopuro's jack-ten.
Meanwhile a huge congrats to Sami Kelopuro on winning the GGSF H-49: $25,500 Super High Roller for $520,003!
Stay tuned at PokerNews as we cover the many more big events in the GGPoker Spring Festival.