The Canadian poker pro booked his biggest ever win at the PartyPoker MILLIONS Grand Final, with an unrealistic performance.
The €50,000 Super High Roller generated a total of 57 entries, so the prize pool reached €2,764,500, with €1,000,000 going for the champions way. Only seven players returned to the final day and thanks to a lengthy bubble period at the end of the previous day, several of them were left with a pretty short stack.
Sam was amongst the shorter stacks at the start of the final table, at one point of the tournament, he was down to only one big blind, but he was able to make a miraculous comeback to take down the title and the seven figures coming with it. On the 250K/500K blind level, Sam only had 600K.
He was halfway out of the door but instead found himself in heads-up against Spaniard Sergio Aido after a number of successful double-ups, proving that in poker "you only need a chip and a chair". The heads-up started with around even stacks, but Greenwood was able to establish a lead over Aido. In the final hand, Sam flopped top pair and bet on three streets to get called by the double-gutter-turned third pair of Sergio’s.
“He is a tough player. We didn’t have much to play with on 30 big blinds at heads up. I just had the best hand most of the time on the river, so that was easy.” – said Sam, after the tournament was over. “I got a second in a couple 50k’s before. I actually got second to Fedor (Holz) in a 50k here before, so it feels really nice to win one.”
The duel
One might think that a score of this caliber would slow all grinders down, but the high-roller regular had other plans in mind: “I didn’t get too much sleep, because the bubble went so long last night. I will probably get something to eat and caffeine, then jump into the 100k.”
With this win, Sam now has over $9 million in live tournament earnings, while runner-up Sergio Aido crossed the $7 million mark with the €600,000 prize.
Final results:
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) | Prize (in EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | $1,235,330 | €1,000,000 |
| 2 | Sergio Aido | Spain | $741,198 | €600,000 |
| 3 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | $494,132 | €400,000 |
| 4 | Keith Tilston | United States | $351,451 | €284,500 |
| 5 | Jean-Noel Thorel | France | $259,419 | €210,000 |
| 6 | Joao Simao | Brazil | $197,653 | €160,000 |
| 7 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | $135,886 | €110,000 |
