2021 GG Spring Festival

Lev "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb came out of nowhere to win a bracelet at last summer's online World Series of Poker on GGPoker. He's now in great position to add a $10,300 Super MILLION$ title after bagging the chip lead on Day 1 of the opening weekend of GG Spring Festival.

Gottlieb raced ahead of his opponents late to head to the final table with over 8 million in chips, good for slightly more than 100 big blinds after a one-level rollback thanks to the generous structure. He won a key three-way all in late when aces held up against ace-queen suited and pocket eights during the final two tables.

Other contenders remaining out of the 312-entry field — which just did nudge past the $3 million guarantee — include second-place stack Jordan "PiePie" Cristos, online high roller star Chris Rudolph and 2020 WSOP champion Damian Salas.

Some of the players who did advance into the money — 35 spots — in the unlimited reentry event included Niklas Astedt, Joao Vieira, Wiktor Malinowski, Ole Schemion and Mustapha Kanit, who bubbled the final table on an all-in semibluff that didn't get there.

The remaining players will have a day off on Monday to study up and get prepped before the streamed final table on GGPoker's channels takes place Tuesday. Everyone has locked up $73,259 for ninth and they're all looking up at a juicy $586,075 first-place prize.

Follow the action on Tuesday with live reporting here on PokerNews and livestreamed action from the operator to see who snags the title.

In a battle of blinds, Mustapha Kanit check-raised all in on when Pedro Garagnani bet. Garagnani called with and saw Kanit show down for a gutter plus overcard.

The turn was a brick and Kanit needed to improve on the river to survive. He did not, as the completed the board.

The remaining nine players have made the final table, scheduled to play out on Tuesday.

Chris Rudolph called right away in the big blind when Francisco "VaPaCooler" Benitez shoved in the small for about 1.1 million.

Rudolph:
Benitez:

The didn't help Benitez enough and the tournament is now hand-for-hand one off the final table.

Dario Sammartino was down to about 600K and got it in preflop with against the of Juan Pardo. Sammartino's hand wouldn't hold as the board ran .

Samuel "vivaegipto" Bernabeu got the last 115K in and was up against both blinds. The board ran and Juan Pardo showed down to beat Bernabeu's .

Lev "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb opened for 160,000 in middle position, Samuel "vivaegipto" Bernabeu called on his left, and Simon "FiestaPagana" Mattsson all but shoved for 1,131,587, leaving 40K back. Gottlieb called and Bernabeu shoved for about 3 million. Gottlieb called.

Gottlieb:
Bernabeu:
Mattsson:

The board left the aces best. Bernabeu was left with crumbs.