Russian Crusher Martirosian Makes it Three Super MILLION$ Titles

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Feb 09, 2022 4 min read

Artur Martirosian made it a trio of Super MILLION$ victories on February 8 at GGPoker when he left a trail of talented tournament grinders in his wake. Martirosian becomes only the third GGPoker players to win this massive event three times, and is also one of three players to have won more than $4 million from this tournament alone! What a guy!

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It took 30 minutes for the final table to lose its first star, and Lev "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb was that player. The hand started with Daniel Dvoress opening to 176,000 from under the gun during the 40,000/80,000/10,000a level, everyone folded to Gottlieb in the cutoff and he three-bet all-in for 1,339,071. Both blinds folded, but Dvoress snap-called. It was aces for Dvoress, kings for Gottlieb, and a jack-high board sent Gottlieb to the rail with the $65,804 ninth-place prize.

Isaac Haxton's quest to secure his third Super MILLION$ title ended in an eighth-place finish worth $85,338. Haxton min-raised to 160,000 from under the gun with a pair of queens in the hole, which folded out everyone up to "Pandora-box" in the small blind, who made it 640,000 to go with ace-king. Haxton jammed for the 1,161,818 chips he had behind, and was instantly called. An ace on the flop was enough to send Haxton to the sidelines.

Timothy Nuter was the next player heading for the exits, doing so with $110,670 to show for his efforts. Nuter was second in chips at the start of seven-handed play but an audacious bluff was his downfall. Samuel Vousden got the fateful hand underway with a raise to 264,000 from the cutoff with king-queen, and Nuter defended his 60,000 small blind with a call with king-jack.

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A nine-trey-queen flop with two hearts saw Nuter check-raised a 188,250 continuation-bet from Vousden to 540,000, which Vousden called. The four of spades turn was greeted by a bet worth 480,000 from Nuter, which Vousden called. The seven of diamond river completed the board, and Nuter moved all-in for 2,509,165, sending Vousden deep into the tank. Fedor Holz stated during the live stream commentary that he personally could not fold king-queen in this spot, and Vousden didn't fold. Vousden's two-minute tank ended with a call, which left Nuter with less than three big blinds.

Nuter doubled on the next hand but his comeback ended when he pushed all-in with queen-deuce on the river having turned two pair against the ace-queen of Pandora-box. However, the river paired the board and counterfeited Nuter's hand.

Start-of-the-day chip leader Sylvain Loosli's impressive run ended in a sixth-place finish weighing in at $143,521. It took until the 125,000/250,000/30,000a level until Loosli busted. Loosli opened to 500,000 with pocket jacks under the gun, Estonia's Markkos Ladev three-bet to 1,250,000 in the cutoff with aces before calling when Loosli jammed for 3,595,902 in total. No help arrived on the community cards, and Loosli bowed out.

Dvoress sat down at the final table as the short stack but managed to navigate his way to a fifth-place finish worth $186,124. Dvoress open-shoved from the cutoff for 2,028,830 with pocket nines, Ladev looked him up with king-jack in the big blind, and the race was on. Dvoress' nines remained best up to the king on the river.

The final four became three when Vousden came unstuck and made his way to the cashier to collect $241,373 in prize money. Vousden pushed all-in for 12 big blinds on the button with ace-eight, but Ladev held the dominating ace-queen and made an easy call. Neither player improved their hand, but Ladev didn't need to. Good game, Vousden.

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The final table laddering from Pandora-box ended at the hands of Ladev, the very next hand after Vousden crashed out. Pandora-box committed the last of their eight or so big blinds with ace-seven, only to be called by Ladev holding king-nine. Ladev flopped a nine, but Pandora-box turned an ace. However, the queen on the river put four spades on the board, and Ladev held the nine of spades. Pandora-box's third-place finish came with $313,022.

Ladev held a 17,080,244 to 9,919,756 chip lead over Martirosian going into heads-up, and he looked likely to join Ottomar Ladva as an Estonia Super MILLION$ champion. Martirosian had other ideas, though.

Neither player could make any headway in the one-on-one battle until Ladev bluffed all-in for twice the size of the pot with nine-five on a trey-eight-six-deuce-ace board only for Martirosian to snap-call with ace-six.

That hand gave Martirosian a seven-to-one chip lead, and the tournament was over shortly afterward. Martirosian limped in for 350,000 before calling Ladev's 2,603,088 shove with pocket queens. The Russian's ladies needed to hold against his opponent's king-seven, which they more than did thanks to Martirosian flopped a set. Ladev netted $405,940 for his runner-up finish, while Martirosian bagged $526,439 and his third Super MILLION$ victory.

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