Davidi Kitai Wins the HRW 18: $10,300 Super MILLION$ Main Event ($726,839)
Davidi Kitai shipped HRW 18: $10,300 Super MILLION$ Main Event, the crown jewel of High Rollers Week at GGPoker, for $726,839 after navigating through a star-studded final table including the likes of Michael Watson, Niklas Astedt, David Yan, and Eelis Parssinen, who finished runner-up in back-to-back weeks.
Kitai needs no introduction to poker fans, especially in his home country of Belgium where he leads the country's All Time Money List at The Hendon Mob with nearly $10.2 million in live tournament earnings including an impressive three WSOP gold bracelets.
This was the second final table and third cash for Kitai in a Super MILLION$ event. Tonight's victory was by far the biggest of the cashes as his two other cashes combined to $76,048 in winnings. The victory more than doubled his lifetime earnings at GGPoker, which stand at $1,123,389 after his win.
HRW 18: $10,300 Super MILLION$ Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Davidi Kitai | Belgium | $726,839 |
| 2 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | $602,066 |
| 3 | Michael Watson | Canada | $498,713 |
| 4 | Andrii "Brahman33" Novak | Ukraine | $413,101 |
| 5 | David Yan | New Zealand | $342,187 |
| 6 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $283,445 |
| 7 | Aleksei "JokerFace" Barkov | Russia | $234,787 |
| 8 | Aleks Ponakovs | Latvia | $194,482 |
| 9 | Sergei "iplaytooslow" Denisov | Russia | $161,097 |
Final Table Action
The Super MILLION$ Main Event was a huge success with the 581 entrants generating a massive $5,810,000 prize pool to smash the lofty $5 million guarantee.
After approximately 11 hours of play on Day 1 on Sunday, the final table was set. Yan began tonight's action with the chip lead with Kitai and Astedt close on his tail.
There were fireworks with an elimination and a lead change on the very first hand of the final table.
Sergei "iplaytooslow" Denisov called off his stack with big slick in the big blind against the Astedt's ace-deuce small-blind shove and hit the showers when a deuce spiked the board.
Three hands later, Parssinen ousted Aleks Ponakovs in eighth place when his king-jack got there against ace-six suited.
Parssinen, who entered the final table in eighth place then chipped up in a huge way and left Watson with under two big blinds after his queen-jack suited got there against ace-eight.
Watson fought back with three doubles during which time Parssinen held the chip lead before Astedt claimed it back.
Watson then chipped up even further when he eliminated the short-stacked Aleksei "JokerFace" Barkov with his big slick holding against ace-queen.
Kitai then had the shortest stack of the six remaining players but doubled off Parssinen to get back into the mix.
Parssinen then doubled up himself against Astedt to reclaim the lead before Kitai finished the Swede off when his ace-queen paired the board on the river against Astedt's sevens.
Watson then doubled up for a fourth and fifth time at the final table with the fifth double also eliminating Yan in fifth place in a flip situation. Watson's suited big slick improved to top two pair against Yan's fours and Yan's impressive Super MILLION$ run was history.
Watson impressively took the chip lead. Keep in mind he had less than two big blinds early in the final table. He extended it further while at the same time sending Andrii "Brahman33" Novak to the rail when his cowboys held against Novak's sevens.
Kitai was the shortest stack but doubled up against Watson to put the final three players within a few big blinds of each other.
A short while later, Watson held by far the shortest stack but doubled up for a sixth and final time. His impressive run eventually came to an end when he couldn't win a flip against Parssinen with sevens against ace-jack suited.
Heads-Up Action
Parssinen began heads-up action with a 3:1 chip advantage against Kitai. A short while later he extended it to a 4:1 advantage before things began to fall apart for the Finn.
Kitai doubled up when his king-ten held against king-nine suited before he took the lead. The lead went back to Parssinen a short while later before Kitai claimed it back for the final time.
Always a bride's mate and never a bride for Parssinen as he finished runner-up in a similar event last week in the HRW 02: $10,300 Super MILLION$ for $472,222 after losing a heads-up battle against the eventual winner Kyle Menard.
He finished runner-up again, this time for $602,066 when his ace-deuce didn't improve against Kitai's ace-eight.
Parssinen should be pleased with his repeat runner-up performance despite holding a substantial chip lead heads-up considering he entered the final table with an eighth-place stack of just 11 big blinds.
Congrats to Davidi Kitai for another big win to add to his already impressive resume and his biggest cash to date at GGPoker.
The High Rollers Week is officially a wrap at GGPoker. But there are many other big events planned for the rest of the year including the ongoing Battle of Malta and the recently announced 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Stay tuned at PokerNews as we bring you the action of the biggest poker events around the world.