HRW 03: $10,300 PLO High Roller, $1M GTD
Day 1 Completed
2020 GGPoker High Rollers Week
HRW 03: $10,300 PLO High Roller, $1M GTD
Day: 1
Level 33
: 70,000/140,000, 0 ante
HRW 03: $10,300 PLO High Roller, part of High Roller Week on GGPoker, came to a fitting end on Sunday night as Aku Joentausta, a regular at high-stakes PLO cash games on the site found himself the last player standing.
For getting through a field of 124 entries in the single-day, event, he claimed a reward of $271,790. The Finnish player had to get through the likes of Isaac Haxton, Leonid Yanovski and Ronny Kaiser at the final table, where he came in as the second-biggest stack after Lauri "KarilleMeni" Varonen.
Joentausta has about $1.2 million in live cashes but is most active online. In addition to his cash game exploits, he's a participant in high-stakes tournaments and cashed four times in the bracelet events on GGPoker this summer.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aku Joentausta | Finland | $271,790 |
| 2 | Andriy "smbcall911" Lyubovetskiy | Ukraine | $206,747 |
| 3 | Isaac Haxton | U.S.A. | $157,269 |
| 4 | Shyngis Satubayev | Kazakhstan | $110,633 |
| 5 | Ronny Kaiser | Switzerland | $91,003 |
| 6 | Leonid Yanovski | Israel | $69,224 |
| 7 | Lauri "KarilleMeni" Varonen | Finland | $52,658 |
| 8 | "WaterLover" | Canada | $40,056 |
| 9 | Adam Hendrix | U.S.A. | $30,470 |
For much of the day, the story was the dominance of Varonen, who had a monstrous lead of about three-times the next stack for hours on end.
That amazing run looked likely continue when he got in as a favorite with aces in a three-bet pot early at the final table. He was fading a flopped flush draw on a paired board, and a hold would mean having 40% of the chips eight-handed. However, Canadian account "WaterLover" managed to hit a spade on the river and make it anyone's game.
Such was the topsy-turvy nature of the endgame that Andriy "smbcall911" Lyubovetskiy, who came into the final nine as the shortest stack with less than 10 big blinds, actually took the chip lead without anyone going bust.
However, Joentausta asserted himself with a big calldown against WaterLover holding top pair of aces on a paired board where WaterLover raised preflop and blasted off with air to go out eighth and leave Joentausta in the lead.
It was a lead Joentausta wouldn't relinquish until heads-up play, after he'd made another big bluff-catch against Haxton, who failed to muscle him off top pair of aces on a paired board again, though Joentausta did river a backdoor flush as well.
Lyubovetskiy did manage to grab the lead after he got lucky all in on the turn as an underdog, but a few hands later, Joentausta closed him out after taking back-to-back three-bet pots, the second sealing the deal when kings and a flush draw held against a pair of queens and a gutshot.
Level 33
: 70,000/140,000, 0 ante
Andriy "smbcall911" Lyubovetskiy doubled into the lead despite being about a 2-to-1 underdog against Aku Joentausta on the turn, but Joentausta won a three-bet pot to edge back into the lead.
Then, another three-bet pot cropped up with Joentausta the aggressor. He bet 910K on the 
flop and 1,610,000 on the 
turn. Lyubovetskiy shoved and Joentausta snap-called.
Joentausta: 
Lyubovetskiy: 
Joentausta had the best of it by far and the river didn't save Lyubovetskiy, ending the tournament Joentausta as champ.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
12,400,000
4,543,224
|
4,543,224 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level: 33
Blinds: 70,000/140,000
Ante: 0
Level 32
: 60,000/120,000, 0 ante
Isaac Haxton completed the blind and Aku Joentausta potted. Haxton called and checked a 
flop. Joentausta bet 120,000 and Haxton raised to 360,000. Joentausta called and they both checked the 
, bringing a 
. Haxton bet 1,080,000 and Joentausta called.
Haxton showed 
for a bluff and Joentausta had 
for a flush.
Left with a few blinds, Haxton found one double but busted soon after.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,856,776
2,255,776
|
2,255,776 |
|
|
4,543,224
-396,776
|
-396,776 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 32
: 60,000/120,000, 0 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,601,000
-211,000
|
-211,000 |
|
|
4,940,000
1,093,000
|
1,093,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
1,877,000
-462,000
|
-462,000 |
|
|
||
Level: 32
Blinds: 60,000/120,000
Ante: 0
Level 31
: 50,000/100,000, 0 ante
Shyngis "somebodyelse" Satubayev potted on the button and Andriy "smbcall911" Lyubovetskiy shoved from the big blind. Satubayev called off 395K more.
Satubayev: 
Lyubovetskiy: 
The equities were even but it was Lyubovetskiy improving to winning tens up on the 
board.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,847,000
546,000
|
546,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
Busted | |
Level 31
: 50,000/100,000, 0 ante
Ronny Kaiser got it in preflop for 570K with 
against the of Isaac Haxton. Everything looked great for Kaiser as the board came 
but the river was an to give Haxton the winner.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,339,000
1,120,000
|
1,120,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 31
: 50,000/100,000, 0 ante
Leonid Yanovski got the las 675K in preflop with 
but was up against a better hand in Aku Joentausta's 
.
The flop paired both but Joentausta's hand remained best. Neither player improved from there and Yanovski hit the rail with a clapping emoji.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,812,000
775,000
|
775,000 |
|
Busted |