2021 GG Spring Festival

The 2021 GG Spring Festival is one step closer to covering the ambitious $10 million guarantee in one of their flagship tournaments. Four out of five starting das for the GGSF Super MILLION$ ME-H: $10,300 are now completed and the overall field size has reached 822 entries with one flight to go. The penultimate flight featured 212 players of 27 hopefuls who punched their ticket for Day 2.

It was a very call between three players to earn the biggest stack for Day 1d and a late surge of Alexander "ShtukShtront" Schiff propelled the Jamaican into the top spot. Schiff claimed 1,575,478 to his name, good enough for 79 big blinds on Day 2. Close behind him are Samuel Vousden (1,528,435) and "DonEmilio" (1,522,568).

Another three players accumulated seven-figure stacks including Michael Zhang (1,206,023), "jbubb901" (1,156,259), and David Peters (1,129,455).

Top 10 Counts GGSF Super MILLION$ ME-H: $10,300 Day 1D

Jargo Alavali also reached the overnight top ten for Day 1 with a stack of 836,202, while GGPoker ambassador Anatoly Filatov advanced with a healthy stack of 801,459. The only other GGPoker ambassador to take a shot at the penultimate starting day was Felipe Ramos, who failed to make the cut and bowed out in level 20.

Steve O'Dwyer was among many high-profile poker pros to bust throughout the day. After the registration had closed, O'Dwyer took a flip with ace-queen suited against the pocket tens of David Peters. No ace or queen but four spades appeared and they further improved Peters a flush. Alex Foxen departed in the final level of the night. He was left with fumes after losing flush under flush to Ian "potamophobia" Matakis and hit the rail two hands later. Daniel "zafjekis" Reijmer then became the final casualty on Day 1d when ace-jack failed to hold up against the ace-ten suited of eventual chip leader Alexander "ShtukShtront" Schiff.

Among the other big names that failed to advance were Eelis Pärssinen, Michael Addamo, Wiktor Malinowski, Mikita Badziakouski, Yuri Dzivielevski, Joaqin Melogno, Daniel Dvoress, Adrian Mateos, and Lev "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb. They are all expected to take another shot during the final starting day, which kicks off at 3.05 pm GMT on Sunday. Only a few hours later at 8.05 pm GMT, all Day 1 survivors will then return to burst the money bubble and play down to a nine-handed final table.

The PokerNews team will be back to provide all the action of the final starting day and beyond for this high-stakes contest. The final table is slated to be live-streamed on the following Tuesday, April 20 as of 6 pmGMT.

The Starting Days at a Glance

The remaining 27 players have bagged and tagged their virtual chips and will return for tomorrow's Day 2. One more flight is to follow for all those that didn't make it thus far.

All chip counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.

Daniel "zafjekis" Reijmer was caught bluffing with an eight-high just prior and had a shot at redemption when he got it in preflop against the very same opponent. That happened to be Alexander "ShtukShtront" Schiff, and Reijmer had the best of it heading into the showdown.

Daniel "zafjekis" Reijmer:
Alexander "ShtukShtront" Schiff:

The flop paired up Schiff, who held onto the lead on the turn and river.

Samuel Vousden made it 32,000 to go and David Peters in the small blind three-bet to 140,800. Alexander "ShtukShtront" Schiff then four-bet jammed for 395,970 to force out Vousden and Peters called.

Alexander "ShtukShtront" Schiff:
David Peters:

The board ran out and Schiff doubled with top set.

Belarmino de Souza limped the small blind and called a raise to 64,000 by Michael Zhang in the big blind. The flop fell and de Souza check-called for 40,000. The Brazilian check-called for another 166,500 on the turn and the river double-paired the board.

De Souza check-called once more and Zhang fired a bet worth 183,150. His opponent went deep into the tank and eventually folded.

"DonEmilio" made it 32,000 to go in the cutoff and "VekRex" called on the button. The duo headed to the flop and "DonEmilio" bet 30,600, "VekRex" raised to 84,456 and received a call.

The fell on the turn and "DonEmilio" check-called for 72,000 to then face a bet worth 136,000 by "DonEmilio" on the river. They called with for trips tens but "DonEmilio" had improved to a flush with the .

Samuel Vousden raised to 35,200 and was called only by Daniel "zafjekis" Reijmer out of the small blind. On a flop of , Reijmer check-called for 52,800 and checked again the turn. Vousden activated his time bank and then fired a bet of 154,500, earning another call from Reijmer.

The river was checked and Reijmer tabled for a missed double draw, which allowed Vousden to collect the pot with for queen-jack high.