Final Table Chip Stacks:
- Adrian Mateos – 20bb
- Rodrigo Selouan – 35bb
- Eric Yanovsky – 38bb
- Alexander Kirichenko – 40bb
- Vlada2108 – 40bb
- Aleksejs Ponakovs – 56bb
- B Binder – 61bb
- Aren Bezhanyan – 64bb
- Hinaru – 69bb, disqualified and sitting out during the final table
First prize: $306,251
Seating Arrangement:
In the first hand, Aren, as the chip leader, opens . Aleksejs Ponakovs calls in the small blind with , Kirichenko calls in the BB with and he flops top pair with top kicker on . But don't expect a simple outcome!
Ponakovs leads 85,000 into a 285,000 pot with just 8-high and an unattractive gutshot. Kirichenko makes a cautious call, and Bezhanyan folds.
On the turn comes a , the pot is 456,000. Ponakovs checks, and Kirichenko checks back.
River – .
Ponakovs gets showdown value, but he doesn't bet much and bluffs with a small, value-looking bet of 182,400. Kirichenko thinks for a long time, but decides to save his chips and folds!
An optimistic bluff, according to commentator Alexandros Theologis, but it works – applause for Ponakovs!
Read ReadWhile Theologis explains to the audience that a possible call with sevens is very marginal, but probably not minus-winning due to the chip-leader's stack, Ponakovs makes a minimalist 3-bet in the style of the early 2010s.
Vlada surrenders.
Literally a couple of minutes later his raise is raised again.
Vlad isn't ready to give up again; he goes all-in and leaves the tournament in 9th place. Although, perhaps more accurate would be "8th," given Hinaru's disqualification for ghosting.
Ponakovs is building on his success. Now he's dealt in the cutoff, raises, and the second-shortest stack, Brazil's Selouan, moves all-in with . Now that's a real coin flip! But luck is on the Latvian super high roller's side.
Bezhanyan with defends the BB against Ponakovs's raise.
On the flop of , the Armenian player (whom commentators presented as Armenia's top player in tournament winnings) calls the continuation bet. The turn sees them both check. On the river , Bezhanyan decides to bet 128,000 into a 344,000 pot. And again, Theologis comes in for a barrage of criticism – after all, if you bluff with all your gutshots, you can't balance it out! In his opinion, with , You just need to check-fold.
Meanwhile, Ponakovs continues to live in a fairy tale – he has , and he's not just thinking about it, but about the raise size. Finally, he raises about 4x, and Bezhanyan reluctantly gives up.
They hand him , but it's only the third-best hand at the table. Binder min-raises with , while Bezhanyan plays tricks and calls in the small blind. Short-stacked Mateos moves all-in in the big blind with . Binder goes all-in, and Bezhanyan quickly gives up – a great fold!
Mateos makes a flush and begins his climb to the top – he’s already third in the stack!
Another attempt to guess Ponakovs's actions from Theologis:
"I think he's a good candidate for a check-raise with clubs and spades. This hand is more willing to call against wide opening ranges, and against tighter ranges, I think a check-raise is better."
Poniakov calls.
Turn – .
Bezhanyan, with extra equity in the form of a gutshot, fires a second barrel from 244,000 to 356,900, and Ponakovs immediately folds.
"I don't like 3-betting!" Theologis continues to complain. "When the BB is sitting out, calling in position is incredibly profitable for the chip leader. So bluffing 3-bets without really good blockers is a dubious pleasure. I definitely wouldn't play that way. It seems logical to call a lot and 3-bet very narrowly and polarly."
Mateos makes the call.
Flop – Mateos checks (interestingly, the solver suggests he lead with a small sizing a whopping 49% of the time!). Ponakovs bets 107,000 into a 535,000 pot. An easy, no-brainer call.
Turn – Mateos checks. Solvers recommend Ponakovs bet a medium size 87% of the time, continuing to barrel without additional equity. Ponakovs follows this advice and bets 332,000. Once again, Mateos has no real choice – he always folds.
"You're a big stack and definitely want to overcall often! Why this squeeze? And your blockers are bad. I don't like it!" Theologis says, upset. It's starting to seem like he has some kind of special relationship with Ponakovs.
Both opponents fold, Alex takes the pot.
"Listen to what I'm saying, do the opposite and win as much as possible!" the commentator laughs.
Ponakovs opens from the hijack with 54s for 100,000. Kirichenko has AKo and the shortest stack. But he doesn't go all-in, instead making an enticing three-bet to 225,000.
"I don't like that," says Theologis. "The chip leader isn't under ICM pressure, and against that sizing, he can call wide and try to hit the flop. And seeing flops isn't the best option for AKo."
Nevertheless, Ponakovs folds.
– What's going on! I can't guess anything at all, not a single action!
Kirichenko opens QJo from the hijack, and Bezhanyan calls on the button with . The commentator explains why this isn't a good play, and Bezhanyan, of course, flops a set.
Flop – . With an SPR of about 4, under such conditions, someone might not even bet.
Kirichenko decides to check. Bezhanyan makes a small bet – 130,000 into a 317,000 pot. Kirichenko check-raises to 350,000, prompting the usual criticism from Theologis. He believes it's a great hand to check-call, but after a check-raise, he'll have to stack, with rather poor equity against value. Bezhanyan calls.
Turn – , SPR is already less than one (0.8) – but with a double-sided hand without a diamond, you can save your chips.
The player from Belarus, however, goes all-in.
And catches an eight! Double.
Bezhanyan, left with a microstack, successfully shoved all-ins for a while, but when he hit KJs and made a big pot-sized raise, Kirichenko picked up two aces and called. Bezhanyan improved to top pair on the flop, but that's where the good news ended for him, and the Armenian player was eliminated in 7th (or 6th) place.
Despite his short stack, Mateos doesn't shy away from bluffing 3-bets, but his timing isn't ideal.
Facing all-in, you have to fold.
In the next hand, Adrian, left with a stack under 20bb, gets dealt two nines and raises. Ponakovs, on the button, three-bets. Adrian, naturally, moves all-in, and his opponent folds A6o.
And for the third time the old man casts the net...
Adrian has a tough decision without seeing his opponent's cards! The presence of a dead BB makes calling incredibly attractive for Binder. It's difficult to find bluffing three-bets under these circumstances, but the Austrian pulls it off and even earns a positive comment from Theologis.
After thinking for a while, Mateos folds.
And, as if as a reward, he receives .
He reraises to 420,000, leaving himself with just over a million chips. This affects both opponents—they fold quite quickly.
Ponakovs raises , Mateos defends deuces in the big blind. Both check on the flop and turn, and on the river Ponakovs bets, and Mateos makes a call that's borderline GTO Wizard-friendly.
There is little to hint at the Spanish giants' ultimate success!
With his newfound image as a man who saves his draws for the river, Ponakovs tries to take down the pot with 8-high – he checked this hand on both the flop and the turn.
Imagining a third overcard, or ICM pressure, Binder folds – pretty tightly considering the pot odds.
Yanovsky makes a min-raise with from the button, Kirichenko calls in the BB with .
On the flop of , Yanovsky makes a continuation bet of 140,000, Kirichenko calls.
Turn – . Solver advises Yanovsky to make a big bet, but the Argentine chooses to check next.
River – . Once again, the solver recommends aggression—it wants Kirichenko to make a small block bet. The Belarusian player checks.
And we have our third discrepancy with the machine. The computer wants to check any fives, but Yanovsky has his own vision and bets 385,000, about half the pot.
Kirichenko thinks for a long time (possibly even considering a check-raise), but decides to fold. The solver agrees with this move.
Yanovsky moves up to second place in the chip count.
Mateos defends the BB against Ponakovs's raise and calls a continuation bet on the flop.
– "I think after Mateos' check, wants to check back. They're blocking too many draws that could be knocked out with a second barrel," explains Theologis.
Ponakovs bets 263,520. Mateos folds.
“It’s clear that I still couldn’t have guessed Ponakovs’s decision,” the commentator shrugs.
Binder wins a series of medium and small pots and moves into second place.
Mateos is down to 14 blinds and is already starting to open-push. With he encounters no resistance from the cutoff. With 12 blinds and a disqualified player in the big blind, he nearly shoves (raises most of his stack, leaving the option to fold to a sudden series of all-ins) into four live opponents. With , victory again. Binder thinks with the best hand, , but is not ready to take the risk.
"I think first place is already clear, there's nothing to discuss," says Theologis. "Who has the best chance of second?"
“Binder,” Jeff Gross says rather quickly.
“Yes, he has a good position, because it is very uncomfortable for Eric to play out of position with Ponakovs,” agrees Theologis.
A clash of the shortest stacks! Naturally, all-in preflop – the pot size wasn't even 20bb.
Despite a good flop and a relatively decent turn, which added a chance to make a deal, Kirichenko was forced to leave the tournament.
Binder raises from the button, Mateos with a nice hand can choose between calling and all-in, he prefers to call.
Without improving on the flop, he nevertheless takes the initiative into his own hands.
Binder has no other options but to fold.
“Well played,” Theologis comments sparingly.
"Hmm, a raise? Interesting. I think I'd prefer to shove this hand. Binder has to call very narrowly, so with many suited hands, a shove will be more profitable," Theologis explains.
Binder goes all-in himself, and Ponakovs is forced to fold.
Finally, Hinaru busts, and his dead big blind no longer adds equity to any living player's hand. The stacks at this point are:
- Poniakov – 6.88 million
- Binder – 4.4 million
- Yanovsky – 3.67 million
- Mateos – 2.07 million
Blinds 50k/100k.
Yanovsky hits two fives on the button. Mateos folds in the cutoff, and the Argentine also shows no desire to fight against the two chip leaders—he folds. The pot goes to Binder in the big blind.
"Wait, what? He folded fives?" Jeff Gross is stunned.
“Maybe it was a software glitch, and he actually had 54o,” Theologis jokes, and immediately adds: “And here comes the reckoning!”
Mateos reraises to 660,000. Eric... calls.
"That's a great decision," Theologis approves. "The 3-betting range in the big blind is very polarized. He's not a 3-bet/caller with eights. So, with nines, it's smarter to see the flop, leaving bluffs like , .
Flop (1,440,000) –
Mateos bets 600,000, leaving just under a million in his stack.
“Alas,” Theologis sighs. “There’s no joy, but it looks like we can’t throw it away either. The big blind will stack with , .
Yanovsky thinks for a long time, then writes in the chat:
– Why is there no “I suck at gaming” emoji when I need one so much?
And he folds!
In the next hand, Yanovsky calls in the BB, leads big on a good texture, but is forced to fold to a raise.
Ponakovs once again demonstrates excellent intuition!
After defending the big blind preflop and seeing the flop check, Ponakovs switches to overbetting mode. Overbet on the turn, overbet on the river!
Binder calls – but loses with , and is left with 10 bb. He is eliminated in the next hand, losing a preflop all-in with against the of Ponakovs in the blinds.
With a dominant stack, Ponakovs goes all-in. The hot-blooded Argentine is the first to crack. .
Call, on the flop – double up!
A spirited bluff in a limped and almost completely minted pot.
Yanovsky folds.
“An obvious call, nothing to think about,” Theologis reports. “The button opens very tight, in a push with doesn't make much sense.
Ponakovs goes all-in and catches an eight on the flop.
“It sounds like you two might want to schedule a training session together—you could teach each other a lot,” Gross recommends.
But Mateos is also something of a poker wizard.
River – , justice triumphs.
In the next hand, Ponakovs limps A2o from the small blind and responds to Mateos' raise of 490,000 with a reraise of 1,150,000. Mateos with almost clicks back – 1,960,000.
"By the way, according to the solver, A2o is a decent hand to shove in with some frequency. It's just a good blocker! We don't have any suited aces in this spot, so we have to choose bluffs from off-suit ones," says Theologis.
Ponakovs folds.
Yanowski defends the BB, calls a small continuation bet, checks the turn, and takes down the pot with a bluff overbet on the river with the second nut low.
After this hand, Mateos becomes the chip leader for the first time. But in the next hand, the leaders switch places again.
Mateos raises from the button. Poniakov 3-bet . Call.
Flop (2,362,500) –
Ponakovs bets 472,500. Mateos calls.
Turn (3,307,500) –
Both players check.
River (3,307,500) –
Ponakovs bets 350,000. Mateos pays for this micro-add-on.
Yanovsky wins a decent pot against Poniakov with a straight against top pair, then three-bet/folds against Mateos. Completing the chip cycle, Mateos bluffs the river against Poniakov and gets a handsome call.
Ponakovs goes all-in and misses the mark at the right moment.
Mateos doubles up to become the dominant chip leader.
A couple of minutes later, he gets in the small blind again. He raises, and Yanovsky in the big blind simply calls with AJo. He calls a couple of bets postflop, but after the showdown, he's left with second stack.
"Eric is playing this tournament like a real boss!" Theologis is impressed.
But a couple of minutes later, the tournament ends for Eric. Mateos open-shoves ATo from the button, and Yanovsky, with two queens, is no longer able to escape. The flop, as often happens in Mateos's hands, brings the card he needs, and the Argentinean takes third place.
Heads-up stacks: Mateos has 13.8 million, Poniakov has 3 million.
Ponakovs limps from the small blind, and Mateos checks to the big blind. With such a preflop hand, he'll rarely have an ace, and on the flop, the Latvian player overbets with what could be called top pair.
Mateos calls and calls the right turn. What is it? To the commentators' undisguised delight, it's a four-high!
“Well,” says Theologis, who has finished laughing, “perhaps he really is doomed to win.”
Leaving his opponent no chance, Mateos leads with 200,000 – about 1/7 of the pot. Ponakovscalls.
River – Mateos goes all-in, Ponakovs calls.
As a reminder, Hinaru was disqualified for ghosting, and his prize money went to other players.
You can watch the full replay of this final table on YouTube.