Melogno Leads Final Nine in 2020 GGPoker WSOPC Event #2: $10,300 Super MILLION$ High Roller
The bar was set very high in the most expensive buy-in of the 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Winter Online Circuit, as Event #2 $Super MILLION$ came with the usual price tag of $10,300. For this special edition of the weekly high-stakes showdown on GGPoker, the guarantee received a boost to $5 million, and that goal was reached in spectacular fashion.
Thanks to 314 unique players and an incredible 197 reentries, a field of 511 emerged and the top 60 spots secured a portion of the $5.11 million prize pool. Not only did the bubble burst, but the final table of nine was reached after almost 10 1/2 hours, and it was Pablo Melogno who leads the pack.
Commonly known under his second first name Joaquin on home soil in Uruguay, he claimed a WSOP Circuit ring to his name after taking down the 2018/19 International Circuit $2,500 GRAN FINAL MILLONARIA at Enjoy Punta del Este in his home country for a top prize of $505,606. Melogno then came close to winning a WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas but finished second to Ari Engel in Event #48 $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $264,104.
The Uruguayan soared to the top spot on the final table bubble and claimed 12,875,689 to his name for the livestreamed final table on Tuesday.
Austria-based Swedish player Joakim Andersson already featured on the final table of the $10,300 Super MILLION$ previously, and he finished the day second in chips with 8,202,076, followed by the U.K.'s Phil "tazmania888" Mighall with 7,035,068. Behind them are two players with near-identical stack sizes including "RogerScruton" (5,587,372) and Samuel Vousden (5,530,378).
Finland is the only country with two representatives on the final table as Jorma Nuutinen made it through with a stack of 4,033,404. The bottom three stacks separated by one big blind each belong to Canada's "MK-Ultra" (2,812,245), Andrey Kotelnikov (2,657,036) and Turkish player "veca" (2,366,732). Kotelnikov sold 75% of his action in the GGPoker client at a markup of 1.09 and advanced on a single bullet — only two finalists fired more than once.
The Final Nine of WSOP Winter Circuit Event #2: $10,300 Super MILLION$ High Roller
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pablo Melogno | Uruguay | 12,875,689 | 64 |
| 2 | Joakim Andersson | Sweden | 8,202,076 | 41 |
| 3 | Phillip "tazmania888" Mighall | United Kingdom | 7,035,068 | 35 |
| 4 | RogerScruton | Brazil | 5,587,372 | 28 |
| 5 | Samuel Vousden | Finland | 5,530,378 | 28 |
| 6 | Jorma Nuutinen | Finland | 4,033,404 | 20 |
| 7 | MK-Ultra | Canada | 2,812,245 | 14 |
| 8 | Andrey Kotelnikov | Russia | 2,657,036 | 13 |
| 9 | veca | Turkey | 2,366,732 | 12 |
The final nine players have locked up $140,980 for their efforts so far and the winner can look forward to a payday of $636,072 and the WSOP Circuit ring. Around four minutes remain in Level 37 which features blinds of 100,000/200,000 and a running ante of 25,000. The final table will recommence on Tuesday at 1 p.m. EST and the action will also be streamed on the GGPoker.tv Twitch channel with commentary and cards-up coverage on a security delay.
The Action of the Day
If the opening minutes were an indication of what could be expected, it certainly promised non-stop poker action and all-in showdowns. GGPoker ambassador Fedor Holz lost his first entry within seven minutes and was one of numerous top pros who fired multiple entries without anything to show for. As the field kept growing, so did the number of reentries which ultimately made up for more than 38.5% of the total entries. Mikita Badziakouski entered nine times in total and another two contenders were responsible for half a dozen bullets each.
The all-in showdowns never really slowed down until the end of the late registration period and Andersson appeared near the top of the leaderboard when he sent Sam Greenwood to the rail. Three levels later, it was Scotsman Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich who ended up as the bubble boy when he jammed the button with king-jack only to run into the aces of Romain "Flingue" Dours.
Andersson remained near the top of the leaderboard throughout the remainder of the night and Vousden joined him there after knocking out several opponents including Ivan "zufo16" Zufic. Justin Bonomo was one of many top pros who reached the money and fell short of making the final table, joined by fellow WSOP bracelet winners Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Julien Martini, Isaac Baron, Brian Green, and Michael "YesPlease" Clacher.
The bid of Luke Schwartz to add a WSOPC ring to his WSOP bracelet ended in 20th place when ace-eight suited failed to beat pocket queens. As the field raced towards the final table, notables such as Guillaume Nolet, Mark Radoja, and Kenny Smaron had to settle for five-digit paydays.
Online poker streamer and poker coach Benjamin Rolle then missed the nut flush draw against the pair of queens and open-ender of Pablo Melogno to finish in 11th place. He was swiftly followed by another German high roller as Marius Gierse ran ace-queen into kings and found no help to wrap up the action for the night.
Cards are in the air in the 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Winter Online Circuit. The PokerNews live reporting team will provide live updates for all events and you can follow them right here!