2024 Nov 20
Las Triton Poker Monte Carlo Series They were a small black hole that no one wants to remember, at least not the Spaniards displaced there, since none of them came out of the festival positively. But leaving that small parenthesis in the past, today makes us look again at the online tables, where the best in the world have returned to action, and if we talk about the best in the world, we cannot fail to include in that list Juan Pardo. The man from Malaga has returned to normal, which for him means winning an important prize at the online tables again.
Specifically, he did so in GGPoker’s GGMillion$, its regular tournament par excellence with a $10,000 buy-in, which on this occasion brought together a field of 178 entries, generating a prize pool of $1,780,000. Of them, more than $360,000 was reserved for the winner, and this was none other than Juan himself.
The man from Malaga arrived at the final table in the middle of the classification, far from a Artiom Lasouskii who was leading, but also far from Tony Linthe short-stack at the time of resumption. In addition, players like Simon Mattsson (better known as C.Darwin2) or Jon Van Fleet (better known as Apestlyles) or Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, which gives an idea of the level of this particular final table.
The first eliminations, those of the shorter players, did not take long to arrive. This, added to a few bites suffered by Juan Pardo, meant that at one point, with 7 players missing, the man from Malaga became the short-stack, or almost, practically tied with Simon Mattsson. There would come a turning point in which Juan doubled down, and never looked back.
He achieved it with a hero-call only available to the best. After Mikalai Vaskaboinikau opened at UTG with Q♥10♥Juan paid in the CO with A♥J♣. on a flop 3♦8♥2♥the Belarusian put Juan all-in, who had to decide what to do. Finally, after exhausting a large part of the time-bank, Juan ended up paying with his Ace-high, successfully, and crossing his fingers so that the turn and river would not turn their backs on him. They didn’t do it: 4♠ and the 4♦ They certified Juan’s double, something that the rest of his rivals surely did not like.
From there, Juan did not stop scoring points and signing the occasional elimination until he stood heads-up with Artiom Souski in front of him.
Although at the time of starting the heads-up, Juan’s advantage over the Belarusian was 4:1, he managed to cut it, put the score practically even, and start from scratch. But Juan didn’t give him a choice. Little by little he scratched his stack, until he reached a final hand in which it was expected that all the plastic of both would end up in the center, with an impossible different outcome.
One of Lasouskii’s hands wiped on the button with 5♠6♠Juan again with a big advantage in chips decided to raise with 7♠4♠ and the Belarusian paid him. The flop, destroyer for Lasouskii came 8♠J♣9♠However, they both decided to leave him without action and pass, perhaps setting the trap for each other. The turn came with the 9♦ and there was action there: Juan bet at 2/3 of the pot and Lasouskii called. The board was completed with 3♠ giving flushes to both, Juan’s being a little better, but enough to pay Lasouskii when he decided to go all-in. End of the tournament.
Juan Pardo certified his victory valued at $361,804, making things return to normal: win, win, win.
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Award |
|---|---|---|---|
Guest 1: Juan Pardo – Spanish professional poker player who recently won GGMillion$ tournament with a prize pool of $1,780,000 and took home $361,804.
Guest 2: Artiom Lasouski – Belarusian professional poker player who finished as the runner-up in the GGMillion$ tournament, losing to Juan Pardo heads-up.
Interviewer: Congratulations to both of you on your impressive finishes in the GGMillion$ tournament! Juan, could you tell us about the key strategic decisions you made that led to your victory?
Juan Pardo: Well, I’m really happy with my performance in the tournament. I think the turning point came when I managed to double up against Mikalai Vaskaboinikau with a hero call on the flop. It gave me a lot of confidence and momentum going forward. When I found myself heads-up against Artiom, I tried to stay patient and not let him gain too much momentum. I kept picking my spots and eventually got paid off when he made a mistake on the river.
Interviewer: Artiom, what went wrong in the final hand against Juan? Can you describe how you felt during that hand?
Artiom Lasouski: It was a tough loss, for sure. I felt like I was ahead on the turn with a pair of sixes, but Juan was aggressive and kept applying pressure. I decided to call his bet on the river, hoping to hit a straight or two pair, but he ended up making a flush on the board. It’s always tough to lose when you think you have the best hand, but that’s poker. You have to learn from your mistakes and move on to the next one.
Interviewer: That’s a great point, Artiom. Poker is a game of calculated risks and mistakes can happen. Moving on, Juan, what do you think about the current state of online poker tournaments after the COVID-19 pandemic? Do you prefer playing online or live events?
Juan Pardo: Online poker tournaments have definitely seen a surge in popularity during the pandemic as they were one of the few ways for players to continue competing. Personally, I’ve
