Summary
- The Swedish pro won another Super MILLION$ tournament this week for $430,646
- Astedt becomes the second player to win five GGPoker Super MILLION$ titles
- Top players such as Isaac Haxton, Pablo Silva, and Joao Vieira also finished strong
Sweden’s Niklas Astedt bagged another Super MILLION$ title, making him just the second player to win five titles in the popular GGPoker tournament.
The 31-year-old triumphed in the April 5 edition of the tournament after defeating Latvia’s Aleks Ponakovs heads-up to take home $430,646 in top prize. Ponakovs collected $332,073 for finishing second.
Astedt is now tied with Australia’s Michael Addamo who claimed his fifth career Super MILLION$ title back in January for $518,640.
Final Table Action
The final action of the latest edition of Super MILLION$ saw some familiar faces battling it out for the lion’s share of the prize, including Isaac Haxton who became the first player to exit the final table after his ace-jack was dominated by the ace-king of Pablo Silva, another prominent online poker pro. Haxton ended his bid in 9th place for $53,830.
After Haxton, two Austrians successively bowed out of the game – the first was “pedrinhoOo” (8th, $69,809), followed by Roland “Gwriden” Rokita (7th, $90,532). “TTP_poker” was next out – Silva raised with ace-king and TTP_poker called with 8-7 offsuit. Silva ultimately won the hand after finding an ace on the river. TTP_poker finished 6th to claim the first six-figure prize of the final table worth $117,405.
Astedt then eliminated Mexico’s Aliaksei Boika who went all-in with ace-eight. Astedt called with pocket tens which improved to full house on the turn to send Boika to the rail in 5th place for $152,256.
Astedt held the chip advantage going into four-handed play and he was able to extend his lead with the exit of Joao Vieira whose pocket fours were defeated by Astedt’s pocket kings. Vieira collected $197,452 for finishing 4th. Fellow Brazilian Silva was the next player to go – his 10-8 of hearts was snap-called by Astedt holding pocket jacks. Astedt’s cards held, sending him to heads-up play, while Silva scooped $256,063 for his 3rd-place finish.
Heads-Up Battle Ends Quickly
Looking at the chip count, it would come as no surprise if Astedt would emerge as the winner. He held more than 17 million in chips compared to the 3.5 million of Ponakovs.
Astedt wasted no time to bring the heads-up battle to an end. In the final hand, Astedt limped in and Ponakovs eventually check-called. With 9 on the turn, Astedt bet 530,000. Ponakov’s response was an all-in check-raise. Astedt quickly called. In the end, Ponakov’s jack-seven succumbed to the top set of Astedt. The Swedish poker pro secured his fifth Super MILLION$ title, denying Ponakov his second win in the tournament.
