WSOPE Event #8: NLH GGMillion$

Forty-two of the world's most prolific poker players had gathered at King's Resort in Rozvadov to battle it out for an iconic WSOP bracelet in Event #8: €25,000 GGMiliion€ at the World Series of Poker Europe. When the dust had settled, the 89 entries they had done together created a mighty prize pool of €2,079,930. However, the lion's share of €600,000 could only go to the victor, and that was Canadian high roller Daniel Dvoress, who won his second golden bracelet by defeating Michael Rocco heads up. Rocco took home €365,000 after a relatively short heads up battle, but ultimately missed out on the top spot and all the glory that comes with it.

The prolific poker player is known for traveling the world for high-stakes poker, but often skipping the WSOP at Las Vegas, so he gets fewer opportunities to win a bracelet than most other players of his caliber, making this win that more special. Sadly for his fans, it appears that this will remain so for the foreseeable future. "It's just a little hard for us Canadians to play in the US, tax-wise. Winning my first live bracelet does not really change my view on that." Dvoress had already won a WSOP bracelet online back in 2020, but winning one live felt more special to him. "It was a tougher final table, it was a deeper final table, and the whole tournament was just longer, so it felt more real."

Event #8: €25,000 GGMillion€ Final Table Results

Day 2 Action

However, at the start of the day, the late registration was still open. Fourteen players joined the 28 survivors from Day 1, and among the reentries that showed up with a fresh starting stack were high roller regulars Teun Mulder, Chris Brewer, Ben Heath, and Ren Lin, the last of which was on his fourth bullet of the tournament. Meanwhile Jens Lakemeier, Diego Zeiter, and fresh bracelet winner Wing Po Liu were the three completely new faces at the start of the day.

However, all of them fell short of the 14 places receiving a payday. Joining them on the rail were many of poker's household names, including Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Viktor Blom, and Eelis Parssinen, who all fell in the early stages of the day. Meanwhile, the likes of Johan Guilbert, Laszlo Bujtas, and Felipe Ketzer fizzled out at the final three tables. Eventually, it was well-known Argentinian grinder Nacho Barbero who was ousted in 15th place and thus received the title of bubble boy for this event.

The post-bubble action was plenty and rapid, meaning that it did not take long before the unofficial final table of nine players was reached. Once in the money, goodbyes were said to, among others, Timothy Adams (13th - €41,610) and Ole Schemion (12th - €41,610). Not much later, it was start-of-day chipleader James Chen who busted in 10th place as the final table bubble.

Final Table Play

During the final two tables, Martin Kabrhel had won the majority of big pots, including one where he flopped a full house to leave Orpen Kisacikoglu short-stacked. It resulted in him starting the final table as chipleader with more than 12 million chips, over a quarter of all chips in play. On the other hand of the spectrum was Tamas Adamszki, who only had 310,000 chips in his stack at the start of play, equating to merely three big blinds. However, he managed to triple up in the first hand of the final table, leaving Jerry Odeen to be the first one eliminated when his nut flush draw failed to come in against Niklas Astedt's overpair.

Now on the official final table of eight players, it took over an hour to lose the next player. Adamszki managed to double up again in a flip, but, eventually, he failed to beat the odds and was eliminated in eighth place when his pocket nines failed to beat the pocket kings of Rocco in a preflop confrontation. Rocco also surpassed Kabrhel in chips with this elimination, landing him in the chip lead.

After another hour, it was Cedric Schwaederle who was next on the chopping block. He got his chips in good with ace-king against Dvoress' ace-queen, but a queen on the flop spelled the end for the Frenchman. It took even longer for the next elimination. After about 90 minutes of six-handed play, it was online phenom Astedt who lost a preflop flip against Kabrhel. Left with just one small blind, he was forced all-in the next hand and exited the tournament shortly after in sixth.

Shortly thereafter, Kabrhel scored another knockout when Leonard Maue met his maker. Maue had doubled up a total of four times on the final table, but his fifth all-in confrontation went awry when he jammed his king-six into Kabrhel's pocket tens in a blind-on-blind encounter. Maue had a sweat when he turned a combo draw, but the river bricked out and resulted in his departure.

In the meantime, Dvoress had seized the chip lead, and he extended it when he eliminated Gab Yong Kim in fourth place. The South Korean player finished in second place at the €25,000 bracelet event at WSOPE 2022 and made another deep run this year. However, his efforts to make it one place further were thwarted when he got his final eight blinds in preflop against Dvoress, who won the flip to send Kim home.

Short-Handed Play

About 90 minutes later, Dvoress single-handedly secured his spot in the heads up battle. In a blind-on-blind limp-three-bet pot preflop, Dvoress' pocket nines were taking on the king-queen of the at-risk former chip leader Kabrhel. Kabrhel was looking set to double up after hitting a pair on the flop, but Dvoress hit his set on the river. The two-outer sent Kabrhel home in third place and set up the duel for the bracelet between Dvoress and Rocco.

After a quick break to set up the decor, the two grinders went at it. Dvoress started the heads up with about twice as many chips as Rocco, but that did not mean he lost his focus at any point. "I don't think it's a good approach to go into any heads up, no matter what the chip distribution is, with any certainty. You can have a four-to-one disadvantage and still ship the tournament."

After some small pots went back and forth, the first all-in situation saw Rocco's ten-nine being at risk preflop against the ace-eight of Dvoress. Dvoress was the only one to make a pair and thus secured his victory. He received €600,000, a special GGMillion€ trophy, and of course the coveted WSOP bracelet.

That wraps up the PokerNews coverage of this event, but make sure to check the live reports of all of the other ongoing and future events here at WSOP Europe.

Michael Rocco limped on the button with    and Daniel Dvoress checked in the big blind with   .

Both players checked the     flop before Dvoress tapped the table again on the   turn. Rocco fired an overbet of 2,200,000, earning the pot as Dvoress mucked his hand.

Daniel Dvoress	31,000,000	-1,000,000
Michael Rocco	13,000,000	1,000,000

Daniel Dvoress limped on the button with    before Michael Rocco raised to 1,800,000 with    in the big blind.

Dovress took some time but made the fold, allowing Rocco to regain some chips.

Daniel Dvoress	30,000,000	-1,000,000
Michael Rocco	14,000,000	0

Daniel Dvoress opened to 1,000,000 with    on the button, while Michael Rocco defended the big blind with   .

Rocco checked the     flop before Dvoress continued for 800,000. Rocco called to the   turn and checked again. Dvoress took some time before firing 2,600,000 with his flush.

Rocco thought for a moment but decided to lay down his pair of tens, as Dvoress struck first in heads up play.

Daniel Dvoress	30,000,000	1,825,000
Michael Rocco	14,000,000	-2,325,000

Michael Rocco and Daniel Dvoress are taking a break before heads up play begins.

Daniel Dvoress	28,175,000	0
Michael Rocco	16,325,000	-675,000

Martin Kabrhel called on the button with    and Daniel Dvoress followed with a call in the small blind holding   . Michael Rocco then raised to 1,800,000 in the big blind with   , producing a call from Kabrhel and a fold from Dvoress.

Rocco checked the     flop before Kabrhel moved all in for 7,400,000. Rocco did not take long to fold the best hand, as Kabrhel took down the pot.

Michael Rocco	17,000,000	-625,000
Daniel Dvoress	16,000,000	-1,400,000
Martin Kabrhel	12,000,000	2,575,000

The three remaining players are on a quick 15-minute break.

Michael Rocco	17,625,000	625,000
Daniel Dvoress	17,400,000	400,000
Martin Kabrhel	9,425,000	-475,000

Michael Rocco opened to 800,000 with    on the button, with Daniel Dvoress calling in the big blind holding   .

Both players checked on the     flop, with Dvoress check-calling a bet of 600,000 on the   turn.

The   river brought two more checks, with Rocco's two pair taking the showdown to close the gap between the two chip leaders.

Daniel Dvoress	19,000,000	-2,000,000
Michael Rocco	16,000,000	2,000,000

Martin Kabrhel called on the button with    and Daniel Dvoress limped in the small blind with   . Michael Rocco then checked his option in the big blind with   , and all three players saw the     flop.

The action checked to Kabrhel, who fired 400,000. Dvoress and Rocco mucked their hands, as Kabrhel gained some ground.

Daniel Dvoress	21,000,000	0
Michael Rocco	16,000,000	1,000,000
Martin Kabrhel	8,400,000	25,000

Daniel Dvoress made a raise to 800,000 from the button with    and Martin Kabrhel called his big blind with   . Kabrhel then checked on the     flop, after which Dvoress made a continuation-bet of 500,000. Kabrhel called with his king-high and the pair saw the   turn being dealt.

Another check followed from Kabrhel and Dvoress fired a bet of 2,800,000. Kabrhel was not ready to let go yet, as he made another call to see the   river.

Kabrhel checked for the third time and Dvoress decided to put the maximum pressure on Kabrhel by putting him all-in for his 8,400,000 stack. Kabrhel mulled it over for a good while as he stood up and evaluated the situation. Eventually, however, he opted to fold his hand and forfeit the sizable pot to Dvoress.

Daniel Dvoress	23,700,000	4,700,000
Michael Rocco	12,425,000	-575,000
Martin Kabrhel	8,375,000	-3,625,000