Ottomar Ladva Wins His Second Super MILLION$ ($286,842)
Estonian chess grandmaster Ottomar Ladva became a two-time Super MILLION$ champion on October 26 when he bested a tough final table online at GGPoker. Ladva, who won this event in June 2021, prevented Artur Martirosian from securing his third such title, and walked away with the lion’s share of the spoils, namely $286,842.
Super MILLION$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ottomar Ladva | Estonia | $286,842 |
| 2 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $224,012 |
| 3 | ChiNana | Andorra | $174,944 |
| 4 | Ben Tollrene | Canada | $136,624 |
| 5 | Biao "d7777" Ding | China | $106,697 |
| 6 | Joakim Andersson | Malta | $83,326 |
| 7 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | $65,074 |
| 8 | Konstantin Maslak | Russia | $50,820 |
| 9 | Isaac Haxton | Canada | $39,688 |
Isaac Haxton sat down at the final table with the shortest stack and could not rectify his situation. He found a great spot during the 17,500/35,000/4,500a level when Martirosian opened to 77,000 and Ladva flat called from the next seat along. Haxton looked down at ace-king and jammed in his 376m272 stack, which folded out everyone except Ladva who called with pocket jacks. Ladva’s hand remained true, and Haxton busted.
Konstantin Maslak was the next player heading to the payout desk. Biao "d7777" Ding min-raised to 100,000 with pocket aces from late position before instantly calling when Maslak three-bet all-in for 1,066,980 with ace-queen of hearts. A ten-high board reduced the field by one.
Seventh place went to Thomas Muehloecker; he crashed out during the 30,000/60,000/7,500a level. Ding moved all-in when first to act in the small blind. Muehloecker called all-in for less, 1,029,354 to be exact. it was king-queen for Ding and ace-jack for Muehloecker. A king on the flop resigned Muehloecker to an early shower.
Super MILLION$ Season 1 MVP Joakim Andersson was the next out of the door. The two-time champion min-raised to 160,000 with ace-jack of diamonds only to see Martirosian three-bet to 560,000 from the small blind with what turned out to be pocket kings. Andersson decided to rip his 2,236,816 stack. Martirosian beat his opponent into the pot with a call. The five community cards provided no drama, and Andersson was done.
The remaining five players were now guaranteed a six-figure score for their investment. Ding was the first player to receive such a prize, $106,697 to be exact. Martirosian opened to 300,000, three-times the big blind, with king-nine on the button before calling the additional chips when Ding jammed with king-seven of hearts from the big blind for 575,853 in total. Martirosian flopped trip nines and extended his chip lead.
Ben Tollerene’s rare foray into online poker tournaments ended in a fourth place finish worth $136,624, a great result for his first-ever Super MILLION$ appearance. Tollerene was down to only 293,552 chips after paying the 120,000 big blind, so was on life support. Martirosian set him all-in with queen-deuce, and Tollerene committed himself with jack-five suited. Martirosian flopped two pair and turned a boat to bust Tollerene.
Heads-up was set when Andorra’s "ChiNana" crashed out. ChiNana won his way into the Super MILLION$ for only $108 and turned that into $174,944. Bizarrely, Ladva open-shoved from the small blind with ace-three at the 160,000 big blind level. ChiNana called off the 2,948,608 chips he had behind with the dominating ace-queen, only to see the five community cards fall with a three on the flop.
Ladva and Martirosian had almost even stacks at the start of heads-up but Martirosian bluffed off almost all his chips betting all three streets with just nine-three offsuit when Ladva had turned two pair, aces and fives. The rest of Martirosian’s tiny stack, less than three big blinds, went into the middle with ace-queen versus jack-four, and he doubled.
The next hand saw Martirosian jam with five-four of hearts and lose to Ladva’s queen-eight courtesy of a queen on the flop.
Ladva now has more than $870,000 in Super MILLION$ winnings and over $4.5 million in cashes at GGPoker alone.
