H-109: $25,500 Sunday 5 Million Day 1 | 2021 GG Spring Festival

H-109: $25,500 Sunday 5 Million

Day 1 Completed

04-26-2021 04:29 UTC

Joni Jouhkimainen Leads Star-Studded Final Table in GGSF Event H-109: $25,500 Sunday Millions

Anthony Thompson

Level 33 : 35,000/70,000, 8,500 ante

The final edition of the $25,500 Sunday Millions as part of the 2021 GG Spring Festival has reached the final table. Out of a field of 172 total entries (78 unique players who re-entered 94 ), only nine players remain to battle for the lion's share of the $4,300,000 prize pool.

Joni Jouhkimainen ended up as the chip leader with a stack of 5,344,169 which is almost double that of Elio Fox's 2,872,603 second place chip stack. Among the finalists is also Sami Kelopuro, who required nine bullets to run up the stack and finish Day 1 with 1,357,246, good enough for the fourth position.

Final Table Line-Up GGSF Event H-109: $25,500 Sunday Millions

Position	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Joni Jouhkimainen	Finland	5,344,169	133
2	Elio Fox	United States	2,872,603	71
3	Joao Vieira	Portugal	2,325,872	58
4	Sami Kelopuro	Finland	1,357,246	34
5	Artur Martirosian	Russia	1,350,142	34
6	Niklas Astedt	Sweden	1,248,792	31
7	Isaac Haxton	Canada	1,040,386	26
8	Andras Nemeth	Hungary	1,016,890	25
9	Seth Davies	United States	643,900	16

The Action of the Day

Just a little over 30 players were seated when the cards went in the air and the action was fast-paced from the get-go. Marius Gierse became the first of many casualties and the list of notables on the rail kept growing during the registration period.

Many other well-known pros came up short of the cash prizes such as Fedor Holz, Anatoly Filatov, Guillaume Nolet, Roman "RRomashka" Emelyanov, Lev "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb, Connor Drinan, and Jason Koon to name all but a few of poker's superstars in contention. Zhuang Ruan went on a hot streak during the final stages of the registration period but his fortune ran out on the money bubble when he lost to Jouhkimainen who flopped quads.

The frantic post-bubble stage saw the remaining players race to a conclusion with rapid-fire eliminations happening on each table until Jouhkimainen rivered a full house to eliminate Wei Zhao in 10th place.

The final table will commence on Monday, April 26 just after 3 p.m. EDT. Action will pick-up from Level 33 where blinds are 35,000/70,000/8,500.

Remaining Payouts

Position	Prize
1	$956,440
2	$717,228
3	$537,846
4	$403,327
5	$302,453
6	$226,808
7	$170,082
8	$127,543
9	$95,644

Tags: Anatoly Filatov Connor Drinan Fedor Holz Guillaume Nolet Jason Koon Joni Jouhkimainen Marius Gierse RRomashka Sami Kelopuro Wei Zhao Zhuang Ruan

04-26-2021 04:16 UTC

End of Day 1 Chip Counts (full)

Anthony Thompson

Level 33 : 35,000/70,000, 8,500 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Joni Jouhkimainen	5,344,169
Elio Fox	2,872,603	-1,016,760
Joao Vieira	2,325,872	1,313,366
Sami Kelopuro	1,357,246	-242,000
Artur Martirosian	1,350,142	-574,332
Niklas Astedt	1,248,792	353,664
Isaac Haxton	1,040,386	809,732
Andras Nemeth	1,016,890	42,500
Seth Davies	643,900	261,300

04-26-2021 04:13 UTC

Wei Zhao Eliminated in 10th Place ($64,569)

Anthony Thompson

Level 33 : 35,000/70,000, 8,500 ante

Action quickly folded to Wei Zhao who raised all in from the small blind and Joni Jouhkimainen snap-called from the big blind.

Wei Zhao:
Joni Jouhkimainen:

Zhao was racing for his tournament life but he didn't mind the flop that appeared giving him a broadway draw.

The falling on the turn must have made Zhao think luck was on his side but it was just an illusion as the paired the board on the river and ended his tournament on the final table bubble.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joni Jouhkimainen	5,344,169	1,953,525
Wei Zhao	Busted

Tags: Wei Zhao Joni Jouhkimainen

04-26-2021 04:07 UTC

Arsenii Malinov Eliminated in 11th Place ($60,259)

Anthony Thompson

Level 33 : 35,000/70,000, 8,500 ante

Action folded to Andras Nemeth who raised all in from the cutoff and Arsenii Malinov called off his 438,964 stack from the button.

Arsenii Malinov:
Andras Nemeth:

Malinov held the better hand and the flop a paired his queen but it also gave Nemeth a gutshot.

The turn improved Malinov's hand to trip queens and he was looking good to score the double until the fell on the river, completing Nemeth's straight and Malinov was eliminated in 11th place for $60,259.