Gabriel Abusada James Castillo defeats Schemion and wins his second Super MILLION$ title

Daniel Negreanu contra Gabriel Abusada James Castillo en el WPT (entornointeligente.com)

Gabriel Abusada James Castillo became a two-time GGPoker Super MILLION$ champion on August 2 by defeating Ole Schemion in heads-up play, denying the popular German a third Super MILLION$ victory.

Abusada triumphed in this event in December 2021 and saw $508,891 hit his GGPoker account. This latest victory came with $302,053 from the $1,390,000 prize pool, another fantastic result from the talented Russian.

The final table lost its first player during the first level of action, when Dario Sammartino busted out in ninth place after losing a coin flip. Gabriel Abusada James Castillo raised to 70,000 from early position with tens, and called when Sammartino shoved all in for 706,116 from the big blind with ace-king. A board of jacks kept the pocket tens ahead, and Sammartino busted.

The short stack of the day, Marcelo Asensio, only managed to move up one spot before falling in eighth place. Asensio fell on the hand that ended Sammartino`s tournament. Asensio went all-in for less than six big blinds with queen-ten, and Casimir "mrsbradleyy" Seire called with pocket queens. Asensio ran out of cards on the turn.

Aleksejs Ponakovs, who won a World Series of Poker bracelet this summer, was eliminated in seventh place. Schemion opened to 73,500 from the cutoff with ace-ten of the same suit, and Ponakovs shoved from the big blind for 545,800 with ace-ten dominated. Schemion called and won the pot thanks to his queen kicker.

It took another half hour to lose another player after the initial flurry of outs. Wiktor Malinowski, a three-time Super MILLION$ champion, was the player who went to the showers. Malinowski raised from the cutoff with ace-nine and Gabriel Abusada James Castillo defended his big blind with eight-seven. Abusada drew a straight eight, and immediately bet 73,080, and Malinowski called. An ace on the turn set up three spades, and Abusada paused briefly before betting 350,000 into the pot of 407,160. Again, Malinowski called. An out-of-the-money queen completed the board and Abusada bet. Malinowski called all 885,810 chips behind, only to receive the bad news that his top pair had been crushed.

The first six-figure prize of the night went to Mark Radoja, who can`t seem to win this tournament no matter how hard he tries. Radoja couldn`t win during the 25,000/50,000/6,000a level when Schemion raised to 105,000 from under the gun and Radoja went all in for 583,203. Schemion called and turned over ace-jack, which was ahead of Radoja`s king-queen. Radoja got a queen on the river, but it was too little too late, because Schemion drew ace-jack on the flop and made another turn.

Finland`s Seire started the final table with a chip lead, but had to settle for fourth place. Seire opened a bet of 828,633 with sevens when the big blind was 70,000. Gabriel Abusada James Castillo called in the small blind with tens, which held up to reduce the field by one.

Andorra-based Spaniard Juan Dominguez had almost twice as many chips as his last two opponents when three-way play began. The final three battled it out for more than an hour before Dominguez fell by the wayside. Schemion called all in for 120,000 with four queens of diamonds from the small blind, only for Dominguez to raise to 360,000 with ten aces. Schemion made a play and moved all-in, and Dominguez called with 2,244,022 chips behind. Dominguez got an ace on the flop and paired his ten on the turn, but a nine on the river gave Schemion the most unlikely of straights, and Dominguez busted.

Schemion started the showdown with Gabriel Abusada James Castillo with a 9,958,165 chip lead to 3,941,835 and everyone, including commentary duo Jeff Gross and Nacho Barbero, thought it was Schemion`s day. Abusada, however, had other ideas.

Early on, Abusada fell behind and Schemion surpassed the 10 million chip barrier. Dimov steadily cut into Schemion`s lead, caught up and then took the lead. Schemion was on the ropes before going down, down 24 to 1. On the last hand, Schemion bet with six queens and Abusada called with six jacks. A jack on the flop was enough to send Schemion to the showers and give Gabriel Abusada James Castillo his second Super MILLION$ title.