GGPOKER

Vyacheslav Balaev Wins His First GGMillion$ Title – GGMillion$ Season 2026 Episode 23

This week, the $10,000 GGMillion$ on GGPoker guaranteed a brand-new winner. Each of the nine players who were fighting for victory had never won a GGMillion$ title before, and with a top prize of $325,319, it was a fun-packed finale… and still the story had a twist in its tail.

Marthijn Lakerveld, the Dutch poker professional, joined regular host Jeff Gross in the virtual commentary box, and after finishing as runner-up last week, was on the spot to bring the action to life. With three GGMillion$ final tables in 2026 alone, finishing second twice and sixth once for over $735,000 in winnings, he was the perfect guest to tell fans exactly what running deep in the GGMillion$ feels like. 

Pre-Match Betting Odds

This week, GGPoker’s weekly $10,000 GGMillion$ began with one of the biggest chip leaders in recent memory. The Hungarian player Tamas Adamszki led the field by a long distance with a mammoth 119 big blinds, and as a result was only available at odds of 2.90 in the GGPoker client. Second in chips was Austrian player ‘sOOnShine’ (66BB/6.38), with Russian pro Vyacheslav Balaev (62BB/7.20) the only other player with over half of the chip leader’s stack.

Behind the leaders, Brazilian player Fabiano Kovalski (42BB/8.48) was also chasing with a decent stack, and he was our tip of the week. There was still value behind him, but with each of the five players in the lower half of the chipcounts having over 25 big blinds, yet only available at odds ranging from 12.02 to 17.24, there was nothing quite as tempting. 

Russia’s Ravil Khamatgareev (32BB/13.68), British professional Patrick Brooks (31BB/12.02), ‘Sergio Vamos’ from Austria (29BB/13.76), Brazil’s Matheus Machado (28BB/12.24), and the Argentine Marco Perez (25BB/17.24) were all well and truly in the hunt for that elusive first GGMillion$ title. 

Key Moments from the Felt

Russian player Ravil Khamatgareev was the first to leave the felt, busting for $46,474 in ninth place. After losing with kings to ace-king suited, he was all-in pre-flop with just five big blinds, holding ace-seven of spades. He unfortunately ran into Fabiano Kovalski’s pocket queens, which held up as the board ran out, fully missing the at-risk player. 

Shortly after, the short stack coming into play was on the rail with $59,272 in eighth. Argentina’s Marco Perez could get back to watching Lionel Messi tear it up at the World Cup in the U.S.A. as he lost out with pocket jacks. Crushed by the overnight chip leader Tamas Adamszki’s pocket aces, he flopped a gutshot, but no further help meant the field was down to seven in just 10 minutes.

Patrick Brooks has posted some very strong results in recent GGMillion$ events but ran into an absolute cooler to bust in seventh place for $75,594. (1:46:50) All-in pre-flop with pocket nines, he was miles ahead of his caller in Kovalski, who had pocket fives. That lead held until the flop of A-5-2 put the Brazilian ahead, which was where he stayed through the turn and river. 

Another Brazilian didn’t enjoy the same fortune when he busted in sixth place, as Matheus Machado ran into some awful luck. All-in for his last half-million chips with ace-jack, he was called by the chip leader Adamszki with jack-eight. Holding a big chip lead, the Hungarian could afford to take his chances and was rewarded when a board of T-9-5-Q-3 sent the Brazilian home with $96,410.

“That’s one of the reasons why you don’t want to get too short.” Jeff Gross rightly commented on comms.

Next, there was an all-Austrian clash between ‘sOOnShine’ and ‘Sergio Vamos’. A classic coin flip saw the latter at risk of elimination with pocket nines, as ‘sOOnShine’ called with ace-ten. A flop of A-T-5 was doom-laden for Sergio Vamos, and he made a quick exit after a turn of a king saw him almost drawing dead to the river as he cashed for $122,959.

A huge pre-flop shove from Adamszki with pocket threes (3:14:07) saw ‘sOOnShine’ call it off for a huge 8 million chip pot with ace-queen. A flop of T-9-2 kept the Hungarian chip leader ahead as did the ten on the turn, with the Austrian having just a 20.45% chance of survival going to the river courtesy of the on-screen odds graphics on GGPoker. No help came for the at-risk player as a four sent ‘sOOnshine’ reaching for the sunshine in fourth for $156,819.

Three-handed, Adamszki had a big lead with 9.8 million chips against the 6.3m of Vyacheslav Balaev and 1.1m in front of Fabiano Kovalski. What followed was anything but the expected, as the man with over half the chips in play went from hero to zero in no time at all. Shoving with king-deuce, he doubled up Kovalski’s ace-eight, before then losing more chips when his king-queen lost to Balaev’s ace-king. It was in many ways the key hand of the event, as Kovalski bet with ace-seven pre-flop and Balzev raised. Adamszki’s huge shove got a call from the Russian and after he saw the king-high board fall, Adamszki was suddenly the short stack. (3:34:10) Balaev shoved with ace-four and Adamszki called off his chips with king-jack. The flop of A-8-6 more than kept the Russian ahead. An eight of diamonds on the turn gave Adamszki flush outs but he missed them all on the river and bowed out with $200,002 in third.

Heads-up, the Russian had an imposing 6:1 lead chis. A double-up for the Brazilian came early in heads-up, when pocket tens beat king-seven, when a flop of A-A-T gave Kovalski the full house. Soon after, he shoved with ace-six of clubs (3:42:15), and Balaev called with pocket nines. A clean board meant the Russian grabbed the win, and Kovalski, our pick, finished a very honorable second.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – June 23rd, 2026

A thrilling finale provided all the fireworks at the finish as Tamas Adamszki went from chip leader to the rail in two brutal hands of poker. Vyacheslav Balaev stepped into the breach and really did nothing wrong, but nothing spectacular was needed. Nearing four hours in length, the show was a battle of stamina as much as it was wits, as Jeff Gross and Marthijn Lakerveld paid tribute to the players as the curtain came down.

“He kind of had all the right medicine for every situation,” said Jeff. “If you bet that on the GGPoker client, you can see [the odds]. Balaev played well.”

“There weren’t that many crazy plays on the final table, and Balaev folded that ace-four then played really great. It was high level.”

Here are all the results from the latest GGMillion$ Final table:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Vyacheslav Balaev	Russia	$325,319
2nd	Fabiano Kovalski	Brazil	$255,077
3rd	Tamas Adamszki	Hungary	$200,002
4th	‘sOOnShine’	Austria	$156,819
5th	Sergio Vamos	Austria	$122,959
6th	Matheus Machado	Brazil	$96,410
7th	Patrick Brooks	United Kingdom	$75,594
8th	Marco Perez	Argentina	$59,272
9th	Ravil Khamatgareev	Russia	$46,474

Did Adamszki’s Aggression Return to Haunt Him?

With three players left, the pivotal hand of the entire event played out when Tamas Adamszki committed his chips with king-queen while holding only a slim chip lead from his main threat at the table, Vyacheslav Balaev. The Russian had ace-king and dominated Adamszki in a devastating manner.

So was the Hungarian rash by making such a bold move? Absolutely. With Kovalski so low, the sensible play would easily have been to force the Brazilian out in third by playing tight, ICM-focused tournament poker before taking on the Russian for the win. Instead, one big giveaway hand turned the chip leader into the short stack, and the momentum switched entirely to Balaev. 

Watch all the action as it played out in this week’s GGMillion$ final table here:

2026 Week 22                                          2026 Week 24

About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.

* The pre-game pick is the sole opinion of the author. It in no way reflects or affects the outcome of the final table.

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Edited by Shawn A.