Sami Kelopuro Wins Latest Super MILLION$ Online Event For $408,406

The latest Super MILLION$ $10,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em event held online at GGPoker attracted a field 202 total entries, building a prize pool of $2,020,000. In the end, the lion’s share of that money was awarded to Sami Kelopuro, who defeated a stacked final table to emerge with the title and the top prize of $408,406. The Finnish poker pro is known online as ‘LarsLuzak’, and has been a frequent online high-stakes cash game participant for years now. His largest recorded live tournament score came when he finished second in the 2011 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha championship for $503,173.

The final day of this tournament began with nine players remaining and Bert Stevens, known to many as ‘girafganger7’ online, in the chip lead. Canada’s Guillaume Nolet was ultimately the first to be eliminated when his A-Q offsuit failed to hold up against the A-9 suited of Stevens in a preflop all-in showdown. Nolet earned $51,050 as the ninth-place finisher, while Stevens regained the lead which he had briefly given up to 2020 WSOP $10,000 main event winner Damian Salas.

Steven’s time atop the leaderboard was short-lived, though, as he ran a multi-street bluff against Kelopuro that was called down when the Finnish player’s flush draw from the flop became trips by the river. Kelopuro doubled into the lead and Stevens slipped to the middle of the pack.

Aleksei Barkov was the next to hit the virtual rail. He got the last of his very short stack in with K7 and was called by the AQ of Salas. Neither player improved and Barkov settled for $66,204.

Stevens continued to fall down the leaderboard from there, eventually getting the vast majority of his stack in with K-Q against the pocket queens of big blind ‘dimiasg’. The pair held up and Stevens was left with less than a big blind. He was knocked out the next hand, earning $85,856 as the seventh-place finisher.

Three-time WSOP bracelet winner and 2017 Card Player Player of the Year award winner Adrian Mateos was left as the shortest stack after Stevens’ departure. He got all-in for his last eight big blinds with A10 facing the AK of Kelopuro. A board full of blanks saw Mateos eliminated in sixth place. He earned $111,342 for his latest deep run in a high-stakes tournament.

Arsenii Malinov’s run in this event came to an end when he decided to run a multi-street bluff against Kelopuro’s flopped full house. The river made a straight flush possible, but Kelopuro called Malinov’s shove on the end to bust him in fifth place ($144,393).

Kelopuro came into four-handed play as the runaway chip leader, with Damian Salas and four-time World Poker Tour main tour main event champion Darren Elias essentially tied for second. Short stack ‘dimiasg’ got the last of his stack in ahead with AQ against the A10 of Salas, but the board brought three hearts to give Salas a winning flush and ‘dimiasg’ was sent home with $187,255 for their fourth-place showing.

The final three players clashed in a big hand that was ultimately won by Salas, who turned a flush against the flopped set of Kelopuro and the turned nut-flush draw of Elias. Salas overtook the lead after the hand, while Elias fell even further behind after his draw missed. He ended up shoving all-in with pocket fours for around 13 big blinds from the button. Salas called with A9 out of the small blind and Kelopuro got out of the way. Salas spiked an ace on the turn to take the lead and held from there to eliminate Elias in third place ($242,839). He fell just short of winning this recurring high-stakes event for the third time.

Salas entered heads-up play with around 11.1 million to Kelopuro’s roughly 9 million. With blinds starting at 70,000-140,0000 and an ante of 17,500, it looked like it might be quite a lengthy final showdown. While the two did battle for over half an hour, a cooler hand lead to a faster conclusion than expected. With raised blinds of 80,000-160,000 (20,000 ante), Kelopuro raised to 368,000 from the button holding 109. Salas three-bet to 1,144,000 with 88 out of the big blind and Kelopuro made the call. The flop came down J76 and Salas bet 768,240. Kelopuro called with his gutshot and the 8 on the turn completed his straight draw. Salas checked and Kelopuro bet 1,275,279. Salas check-called and the 2 completed the board. Salas checked and Kelopuro moved all-in for 5,934,451. Salas tanked for quite a while with his set of eights, but he ultimately did make the call to send the massive 18.3 million chip pot to Kelopuro.

Salas was left with around 12 big blinds after the hand. He was able to rebuild a little bit before the final hand of the event was dealt. Kelopuro picked up KJ and min-raised to 320,000 on the button. Salas called with K8 and the flop came down KJ4. Salas check-called a min-bet of 160,000 and the 10 rolled off on the turn. Salas bet 275,600 on the turn and Kelopuro moved all-in. Salas called after some thought, only to find that his top pair was drawing dead to Kelopuro’s top two pair. Salas earned $314,924 as the runner-up finisher after the 3 completed the board.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

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