With Christmas fast approaching, scores of poker players opted to keep their fingers and toes warm with a cosy weekend indoors playing online poker. This created some massive fields, and some equally impressive prizes.
GGPoker’s Winter WSOPC (4th Dec to the 9th Jan) kicked off with $150 million in guarantees spread across the series, and a host of jam-packed tournaments.
One of poker’s biggest stars, Mikita Badziakouski, took top billing, making a number of high roller deep runs.
At just 30 years of age, Badziakouski has already established himself within poker’s elite, having banked close to $50 million in live cashes, creating a glittering live resumé, studded with seven figure scores.
This weekend, he showed his mettle in the online arena, notching up three major finals across GGPoker and PokerStars.
Here’s the breakdown.
GGPoker Round Up
The WSOP Winter Circuit series proved a big draw, opening with a bang - bumper fields across the board.
The WSOPC High Rollers: $10,300 Sunday $500k GTD saw some of poker’s major stars do battle for the $650k prize pool. Following a three way deal, Russian player A Martirosian edged out Badziakouski heads-up in the first of the Belarusian’s final tables.
There was more to come from Mikita however…
Martirosian was rewarded for holding off this formidable challenge with a prize of $142,598.03 – Badziakouski earning $129,392.65 for his runner-up berth.
The full results are listed below:
| WSOPC High Rollers: $10,300 Sunday $500k GTD | ||
| Runners: | 65 | |
| Prize Pool: | $650,000 | |
| 1 | A Martirosian | $142,598.03 |
| 2 | M Badziakouski | $129,392.65 |
| 3 | V Buldygin | $129,004.37 |
| 4 | deyi168 | $77,491.12 |
| 5 | Eelis Parssinen | $59,673.61 |
The WSOPC High Rollers: $1,050 Sunday Main Event $400k GTD more than matched its guarantee, with 517 runners combining to create a $517,000 prize pool. The final table featured the familiar avatar of Badziakouski once again, though this time his challenge faded in 8th for $12,542.41.
Instead, it was Finn Tomi “BAAABUUSIIII” Brouk who took gold (1st $94,055.29) after defeating Whattherules (2nd - $70,531.23) in their heads-up battle.
The final table results as follows:
| WSOPC High Rollers: $1,050 Sunday Main Event $400k GTD | ||
| Runners: | 517 | |
| Prize Pool: | $517,000 | |
| 1 | BAAABUUSKIIII | $94,055.29 |
| 2 | Whattherules | $70,531.23 |
| 3 | RiverKillMe | $52,890.96 |
| 4 | EzzzGame | $39,662.63 |
| 5 | C Segebrecht | $29,742.75 |
The WSOPC Ultra High Rollers: $25,500 saw many of poker’s most talented names collide to create a $650k prize pool. Australian Michael Addamo has been in scintillating form over the last few years, scooping numerous six and seven figure scores around the world.
He added another prestigious title, and near quarter million dollars (1st - $236,564.03), to his war chest, defeating Canadian Mark Radoja (2nd - $177,398.02) in their heads-up battle.
Here are the full results from the final.
| WSOPC Ultra High Rollers: $25,500 Sunday Main Event $500k GTD | ||
| Runners: | 26 | |
| Prize Pool: | $650,000 | |
| 1 | Michael Addamo | $236,564.03 |
| 2 | Mark Radoja | $177,398.02 |
| 3 | TimothyAdams | $133,029.74 |
| 4 | W Malinowski | $99,758.21 |
Nothing exemplified the hunger players had for poker this weekend more than the astonishing turnout for the WSOPC $54 Bounty Hunters Main Event. A blizzard of registrations saw a mammoth 11,785 players take their shot at the $589,250 prize pool.
It was Chinese player up water who found the biggest present in his stocking, parlaying one of his three $54 entry fees into the $35,757.52 1st prize. A creditable performance from pacangaa saw him collect $29,584.68 for 2nd place, having bested all but one of this gargantuan field.
Full results from the final:
| WSOPC $54 Bounty Hunters Main Event 500k GTD | ||
| Runners: | 11,785 | |
| Prize Pool: | $589,250 | |
| 1 | up water | $35,757.52 |
| 2 | pacangaa | $29,584.68 |
| 3 | TheWildCard | $20,927.71 |
| 4 | David Deal | $17,234.11 |
| 5 | bluenote | $12,296.21 |
In two other GGPoker tournaments of note, Romanian Dumitru “DDimancescu” Pora conquered another sizeable field (2,409) in the WSOPC $525 Bounty Hunter High Roller for $98,634.86, while German Leonard “LottoLarry” Maue took home the GGMasters $1,050 High Roller trophy ($116,917.14) for an early Christmas present.
Final table results for both below:
| WSOPC $525 Bounty Hunters HR Main Event $1M GTD | ||
| Runners: | 2,409 | |
| Prize Pool: | $1,204,500 | |
| 1 | DDimancescu | $98,634.86 |
| 2 | MonnsoN | $46,458.63 |
| 3 | Gabriel Moura | $65,509.08 |
| 4 | TMR19 | $34,907.19 |
| 5 | TiltTanik | $25,604.59 |
| GGMasters $1,050 High Roller $750k Gtd | ||
| Runners: | 833 | |
| Prize Pool: | $833,000 | |
| 1 | LottoLarry | $116,917.14 |
| 2 | Babyccino | $88,692.92 |
| 3 | Gaspare Sposato | $67,282.57 |
| 4 | excusemesir | $51,040.74 |
| 5 | WorldInDisarray | $38,719.58 |
PokerStars Round Up
As usual, the $5,200 Titans $400k GTD at PokerStars boasted a clutch of poker’s biggest guns facing off, the final table brimming with class.
Gavz101 (1st - $82,607) can feel proud to have bested them all, especially since he had the likes of Niklas “Lena900” Astedt (2nd – $75,125.57) and, yes once again, none other than Mikita “fish2013” Badziakouski (3rd – $71,644.57) snapping at his heels.
Astedt’s another player who’s been on fire – following up last week’s win in the GGPoker $1,050 High Roller Main Event with yet another big Sunday score.
Final Table Result:
| $5,200 Titans $400k GTD | ||
| Runners: | 81 | |
| Prize Pool | $405,000 | |
| 1 | gavz101 | $82,607.21 |
| 2 | Lena900 | $75,124.57 |
| 3 | fish2013 | $71,644.57 |
| 4 | Anjeyy | $44,669.47 |
| 5 | seijistar | $34,521.02 |
It was a truly fascinating weekend of poker. With financial uncertainty brewing around the world, it’s reassuring to see the poker eco-system looking so hale and healthy.
