COMMENTATOR BECOMES CHAMPION! Denys Chufarin’s Miraculous 337K First GGMillion$ Victory – November 5, 2025

Denys Chufarin Performs a Miracle for Maiden GGMillion$ Title – GGMillion$ Season 2025 Episode 39

This week’s GGMillion$ Super High Roller was a classic, with Jeff Gross jumping on the mic as the regular host and joined by his very special co-commentator Joe Cada. Cada, who became the youngest ever WSOP Main Event champion back in 2009, has since won 3 more bracelets in the game. He added unforgettable passion and insights on a night of high drama at the GGPoker felt, as Ukrainian player and recent GGMillion$ co-commentator, Denys Chufarin, won his first title in this event. 

Pre-Match Betting Odds

Heading into the final table action, the chip leader had a runaway lead. One of two Belarussians at the final table, Ilya Anatski’s 98 big blinds meant he was a very short 3.46 favorite to take the title. Second in chips but a long way behind was Canadian Chris Klodnicki on 59 big blinds, and that was reflected in the available odds of 6.06. Andrew Wilson (51BB) was 6.32 in the betting odds. Of those three, we rated the chip leader Anatski as the best value. 

Behind the trio at the top, Brazilian Gabriel Tavares had 11% of the chips in play with 41 big blinds and was priced up at 8.88, slightly longer than the 8.56 on offer for Russian pro Nikita Kalinin (36BB), and purely due to the experienced player’s record playing GGMillion$ in the past. Ukrainian co-commentator from the show in October, Denys Chufarin, started with 29 big blinds at odds of 12.72 and with his deep knowledge of the game and format, as evidenced by his time on the mic, he was our outsider bet. 

Legends don’t come much bigger in poker than the Australian Michael Addamo, whose shorter price of 11.54 was justified despite him having just 22 big blinds, while Belarussian Mikita Badziakouski (21BB/12.54) was another dangerous player if he could double up early. Rank outsider Alission Piekazewicz from Brazil made it to the podium very recently, so even with 14 big blinds, he wasn’t a bad shout at all at long odds of 23.18 for those in his corner.

Key Moments from the Felt

The action ended hot but was a slow burner as the tension ramped up from the first deal in this week’s GGMillion$. It took 90 minutes for the first player to depart, and when they did, it was the British player Andrew Wilson. All-in with pocket jacks, he lost to the overnight chip leader, Anatski’s ace-queen, cashing for $48,105 as third in chips at the start of play, crashed out first at the final table.

A three-way all-in (2:37:20) saw the departure of Chris Klodnicki in eighth place for $61,352 as the player who had begun the action second in chips went the same way as Wilson. All-in pre-flop with ace-king, Klodnicki faced Gabriel Tavares with queen-ten of spades and the big stack of Michael Addamo with pocket nines. A six-high flop presented no danger to Klodnicki, but a queen on the turn took out Klodnicki and tripled up Tavares.

Another Ace-king also failed to grab more chips for the at-risk Badziakouski (2:50:30), whose dominating hand lost to the ace-seven of Denys Chufarin. A flop of 8-4-3 was safe for the Belarusian, but after a ten landed on the turn, a seven popped on the river as the multiple-time winner on GGPoker, Badziakouski, took a bad beat to exit the event in seventh place for $78,247.

Short stack Alisson Piekazewicz slid out next in sixth for $99,794 after king-high couldn’t beat ace-high, and then, just a few hands later, the field was down to four. Gabriel Taveres ran ace-king into Denys Chufarin, who was holding pocket aces, to bust for $127,276, as the Ukrainian had a sweat to the river after a king on the flop. 

“He was just on the show, the booth magic is real!” said Jeff Gross. 

“How am I about to be buying dinner, he was on 700,000 chips not so long ago!” laughed Joe Cada, whose side bet with Jeff gave a sweat to those commentating.

Nikita Kalinin busted in fourth for $162,324 when (3:05:00) he shoved with ace-queen after an overbet by Chufarin with pocket threes. The Ukrainian was on a roll and won again, taking a massive lead three-handed with 12.5 million chips, with Anatski and Addamo equally sharing just 6 million between them.

Addamo was out next in third for $207,024 when he ran super-short and was forced all in with rags to be busted by Chufarin’s suited king-queen. Heads-up began right away, with Ilya Anatski looking for his third win with half the chips held by Chufarin, who was hoping to win his first. A pivotal hand took place when both Anatski and Chufarin found a small pair to give the Ukrainian the lead again after being chipped down, only to flop the nut straight with eight-six on the next hand. An ace on the turn paired the one in Anatski’s hand, and a deuce on the river gave him two pair. The writing was on the wall. Chufarin checked, Anatski bought the bait and shoved to his doom, the Ukrainian clicking call to become a GGMillion$ champion for the very first time.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – November 4th, 2025

That call was worth a massive $336,740 to Denys Chufarin, as Ilya Anatski had to settle for being runner-up for $264,033. Jeff Gross had picked Chufarin to win more out of hope than expectation in solidarity with his co-commentator from the GGMillion$ in October, and it paid dividends. A stunning comeback win earned him his first title in the format. 

Here’s how everyone finished at this week’s GGMillion$ final table:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Denys Chufarin	Ukraine	$336,740
2nd	Ilya Anatski	Belarus	$264,033
3rd	Michael Addamo	Australia	$207,024
4th	Nikita Kalinin	Russia	$162,324
5th	Gabriel Tavares	Brazil	$127,276
6th	Alisson Piekazewicz	Brazil	$99,794
7th	Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	$78,247
8th	Chris Klodnicki	Canada	$61,352
9th	Andrew Wilson	United Kingdom	$48,105

Did Anatski Blow the Chance of Glory?

“As Joe Cada knows, a Nobu dinner is coming in The Bahamas!” Jeff smiled as Cada was comedically crestfallen. Denis Chufarin won at starting odds of 12.16 for Jeff to take the commentary sidebet, but did the Belarusian former winner blow it? 

While Chufarin’s win was the stuff of dreams, Ilya Anatski may well look back on the heads-up battle as a nightmare. Everything went wrong at the end, undoing some terrific work that had built a lead. And while the final hand was unfortunate, the Belarusian gave away his lead too cheaply in earlier hands, placing too much value on a small pair to give Chufarin the chance to win the tournament outright when he caught that miracle straight. With just 2 million more chips, Anatski would have retained the lead into that hand and had a much greater chance of folding to play on, even at a chip deficit of 2:1. He’d started the final duel with that exact disadvantage and successfully reversed the narrative. There was no reason he couldn’t have done it again, but instead, greed in that marginal spot cost him dearly. 

Watch all the action in the company of Jeff Gross and the 2009 WSOP world champion Joe Cada right here:

SHORT STACK MIRACLE! Adrian Mateos Claims SIXTH GGMillion$ Title With Epic $306K Comeback Victory – November 12, 2025

Adrian Mateos Wins GGMillion$ After Epic Comeback – GGMillion$ Season 2025 Episode 40

This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was a scorcher as a rapid race saw exits on seemingly every orbit. The fast and furious finale saw a stunning finish too, as Adrian Mateos came back from the dead to win in style, making two huge hands to capture his latest title and celebrate a valuable victory ahead of iconic tournaments including the WSOP Super Main Event in Paradise later this winter. 

Pre-Match Betting Odds

As play got underway at the final table, the Mongolian player ‘Hinaru’ had a marginal chip lead with 69 big blinds and was available at odds of 6.46 in the GGPoker client. The Armenian Aren Bezhanyan (64BB) was slightly shorter odds due to having a little more experience at this level, priced up at 6.16 for the outright win. 

Austrian Bernhard Binder was even shorter at 6.02 despite only having 61 big blinds. We agreed with the betting public on the odds, as Aleks Ponakovs, starting fourth in chips, was the favourite at 5.78 for the victory, despite beginning with 56 big blinds.

In the middle ranks, the Serbian ‘Vlada2108’ (41BB/9.64) was hoping that his stack would outweigh his inexperience in the GGMillion$ format, with Russian outsider Alexander Kirichenko (40BB/9.8) also hoping to upset the odds. The American Eric Yanovsky (38BB/10.52) was tempting at long odds, as might the Brazilian Rodrigo Selouan (35BB/9.76) have been; however, we couldn’t help but root for the short stack, with the Spanish poker legend, Adrian Mateos, being offered at lucrative odds of 12.76 and a very playable stack of 20 big blinds.

With Ponakovs and Mateos both superb picks, given their vast knowledge of this format and the experience of having previously won GGMillion$ events before. The action got underway in the company of regular host Jeff Gross and Greek poker pro Alex Theologis, the subject of the upcoming GGPoker documentary, “Online Poker Millionaire.”

Key Moments from the Felt

As play got underway, there was barely time to blink before a player was on the rail. Serbian player ‘Vlada2108’ got off to a woeful start and, after losing some of their stack, got all 35 of his remaining big blinds into the middle with pocket eights from the button. Unfortunately, he marched headlong into Aleks Ponakovs’ pocket jacks. There was no reprieve for the at-risk Serbian, as a board of 9-6-5-K-4 flirted with hope on the flop only to disappoint the at-risk player by the river. ‘Vlada2108’ cashed for $43,750 in ninth place. 

Brazilian Rodrigo Selouan followed ‘Vlada2108’ from the felt 2 hands later, winning $55,797 in eighth place (54:10). Ponakovs was again the executioner, raising it up with ace-king of spades before Selouan shoved with pocket deuces, the Latvian Ponakovs calling it off to set up a race for survival. The flop of K-Q-3 looked definitive in Ponakovs’ favor, but a third diamond on the turn matched a fourth in Selouan’s hand, meaning the Brazilian had a one in four shot of hitting a superior hand to Ponakov’s pair of kings. Sadly for South Americans, none of the outs landed, as an offsuit five fell to condemn Selouan to defeat.

A sensational hand saw Armenian Aren Bezhanyan’s stack plummet (1:14:20) as he got almost all of his chips in the middle with the best of it on the turn of a board after hitting a set of sixes on the flop. Kirichenko was hoping that his open-ended straight draw would hit, and it did on the river, crushing Bezhanyan, leaving him as a short stack with less than eight big blinds. He was out three hands later in seventh place for $71,163. 

Although he won that hand to take second in chips, the Russian Kirichenko soon bit the bullet, losing when all-in and at-risk with ace-jack to Adrian Mateos’ ace-queen to go out in sixth place for $90,759. As Binder and Ponakovs traded blows at the top of the leaderboard, the overnight pacesetter, Hinaru, departed in fifth for $115,752 after being blinded out. 

It was a far less pedestrian exit for Bernhard Binder, who finished in fourth place for $147,627. All-in with king-nine (2:38:45), he was crushed by the ace-three of Ponakovs after the Latvian had him drawing dead to the river, a wheel straight coming in on fourth street. A bit later, Ponakovs had a tricky hand to negotiate, holding queen-seven for top pair, but made the wrong call and lost to a small turned straight for Eric Yanovsky. Ponakovs soon pushed all-in with pocket sixes, but Adrian Mateos woke up with aces, which held through the board to double him into a big chip lead.

“Ponakovs has been in the driver’s seat the whole time, suddenly he finds himself in the caboose.” Jeff Gross said on comms. Even with the shift in chips, Ponakovs was able to hold on as Eric Yanovsky was the next out, finishing in third place for $188,279. He was all-in with pocket queens, and Adrian Mateos – the short stack at the start of play – held ace-ten. An ace on the flop put the Spanish player ahead and no help came for Yanovsky on the turn or the river. 

Between them, Adrian Mateos and Aleks Ponakovs had nine GGMillion$ wins, and one of them was about to win again as somehow our two pre-match picks ended heads-up for the outright victory. It took almost no time to find one, with Mateos 4:1 up in chips before a blockbuster final hand played out.

Neither man had higher than an eight going to the flop, but Ponakovs hit middle pair with eight-four in his hand on an A-4-3 flop (3:17:10). Mateos, however, had flopped the nuts with deuce-five in his hand and, wheel in hand, was ready to run Ponakovs right out of town. 

A second four on the turn made it really brutal. 

“Ponakovs is thinking about Vegas and The Mirage, which actually got imploded recently, which is going to be symbolic unless he can find a river here!” joked Jeff Gross. 

A jack on the river offered nothing more for Ponakovs, who called Mateos’ shove and finished as runner-up for $240,126. From Adrian Mateos; however, it was a case of zero to hero as Alex Theologis celebrated choosing the winner against the host Jeff Gross.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – November 4th, 2025

While Mateos grabbed the win from the short stack position, those close stacks at the start of play meant anything could happen, as it did. 

“He’s a very solid player and as you saw, he ran pretty good,” said Theologis. 

“A little luck doesn’t hurt, and I hope you find luck in the Bahamas!” said Jeff Gross, referring to the forthcoming WSOP Paradise festival in December where the Greek player will hope to strike gold and win his third WSOP bracelet. 

Here’s where all the players finished in this week’s $10,000 GGMillion$:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Adrian Mateos	Spain	$306,251
2nd	Aleks Ponakovs	Latvia	$240,126
3rd	Eric Yanovsky	United States	$188,279
4th	Bernhard Binder	Austria	$147,627
5th	‘Hinaru’	Mongolia	$115,752
6th	Alexander Kirichenko	Russia	$90,759
7th	Aren Bezhanyan	Armenia	$71,163
8th	Rodrigo Selouan	Brazil	$55,797
9th	‘Vlada2108’	Serbia	$43,750

How Did Adrian Mateos Achieve the Improbable?

Whilst we genuinely tipped Mateos for glory before the final table, how did the Spanish poker legend go about winning his sixth GGMillion$ title? Well, to begin with, he didn’t panic. Many players feel the heat of being the short stack, but ‘The Matador’ dodged any such sweat, letting others take on the chip leaders early on. Mateos carefully picked his way through the early levels, then adopted a ‘tight-aggressive’ style of play to make the most of his higher-value hands, especially pre-flop, building back into the action. While short around the middle of the final table, he made the absolute most with pocket aces, doubling into the lead with three players left, then slow-played a flopped wheel. He aced his big hands to capture the sixth GGMillion$ title of his career and reminded everyone just what an impressive poker player he really is, whether live or online. 

Watch all the action as it played out with host Jeff Gross and special guest star Alex Theologis, the central focus of the forthcoming GGPoker documentary Online Poker Millionaires, airing today on YouTube. 

 

MASSIVE $1.3M WIN! Danilo Velasevic Dominates With 166BB Stack−Biggest GGMillion Chip Lead Ever – November 26, 2025

Velasevic Wins Epic GGMillion$ Title – GGMillion$ Season 2025 Episode 41

This week’s GGMillion$ featured nine of the world’s best players and ended with one of the best wins in recent weeks as a dominant chip leader went around the houses to call on his talent at the end. Making a brilliant late-in-the-day bet, the Serbian Danilo Velasevic finally saw off Arie Muller to claim the win and over $1.3 million, one of the biggest GGMillion$ wins this year. 

Pre-Match Betting Odds

With Jeff Gross on comms and Fedor Holz at his side, the Serbian player Danilo Velasevic had perhaps the biggest lead anyone has ever held going into the final table, with 166 big blinds, and could only be backed at odds of 1.68 in the GGPoker client. Israeli player Arie Muller (70BB/6.1) was his closest rival and still had less than half the leader’s stack. Chinese player ‘littlepapi’ had 35 big blinds at odds of 11.06, and looked a decent bet given his greater stack than many and experience in this type of final table. 

With the remaining six players collectively having way fewer chips than Velasevic, there was a huge favorite and the rest trailing as outsiders. 

Those other challengers did include some top talent, however, with Brazil’s Dante Fernandes (21BB/17.46), the Kazakhstani player ‘maratenok1985’ (19BB/21.38) and Thai hopeful ‘LucynaKushinada’ (18BB/17.28) all trying to get back into it early on. Mexico-based player ‘lllllllletsRoll’ started on 18 big blinds at odds of 19.5, while with just 12 and 10 bigs respectively, German player Klemens Roiter (25.72) and Israeli GGMillion$ regular Barak Wisbrod (23.76) were praying that their first all-in would find a double-up.

Key Moments from the Felt

No sooner had the action got underway than the field lost a player. On the fifth hand, Mexican player ‘lllllllletsRoll’ was all-in and at risk with ace-king of spades and ran into ‘littlepapi’s pocket jacks to bust for $176,928. A jack came on the flop, and while the Mexican hit a spade on the flop and turn, no miracle runner-runner flush came on the river, meaning the field was down to eight.

Klemens Roiter was the next to fall, cashing for $228,511 in eighth when his suited ace-king of diamonds was no match for Arie Muller’s queen-nine in spades after a queen came on the flop. There was another elimination less than a minute later, as Wisbrod pushed with pocket fours only to be taken out by ‘LucynaKushinada’ with pocket fives. Cashing for $295,403, Wisbrod wasn’t on the rail long before he was joined by Kazakhstan’s ‘maratenok1985’. They shoved with king-queen and fell to ‘littlepapi’s ace-jack, for a result worth $382,153 in sixth place. 

The action had been fast and furious as the final table was down to 5 within 20 minutes of starting, but that’s where it stopped. There was a large gap before the next elimination when ‘LucynaKushinada’ fell in fifth place (1:35:45) for $494,652. All-in and at risk with pocket deuces, they ran into the overnight leader Velasevic with pocket threes. To help ensure the victory, the table captain hit a set on the turn to give himself over 55% of the chips in play with just four players remaining.

Dante Fernandes won $640,547 in fourth place when he raised 10% of his stack with pocket ace-king of hearts and called off the rest when Velasevic re-raised with pocket nines. Velasevic hit a set on the flop, and even though Fernandes paired his ace on the turn, he was drawing dead to the river. (2:06:25)

Three-handed play lasted for 30 minutes but ended when ‘littlepapi’ (2:38:18) suffered some very bad luck. All-in for over 18 million chips with ace-ten, he was dominating the ace-three of Velasevic; however, a three on the river broke ‘littlepapi’s poker heart, and sent him home with $829,749 in third, and gave Velasevic a marginal lead going into the heads-up battle for the title.

The crucial hand heads-up saw Muller hit bottom pair and overcommit chips, as Velasevic flopped top pair and rivered a straight. Muller’s call from 18 million chips on the river was pivotal, handing Velasevic a 6:1 lead and effectively made his task monumentally hard. Muller was soon all-in and at risk, this time with the best of it with ace-three. Velasevic could easily afford the chips to call with queen-ten and got lucky, rivering a ten to take the title and the $1.39m top prize. (2:42:50)

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – November 25th, 2025

While Arie Muller’s runner-up finish was worth over a million dollars, Danilo Velsevic got the job done as chip leader, taking out short stacks when required and playing fearlessly through the rest. With a ruthless streak from the first card, the chip leader did lose the lead briefly but always looked likely to win it back with his relentless aggression and tight, tactically sound play. 

Here are all the finishers from this week’s GGMillion$ final table:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Danilo Velasevic	Serbia	$1,393,371
2nd	Arie Muller	Israel	$1,075,113
3rd	‘littlepapi’	China	$829,749
4th	Dante Fernandes	Brazil	$640,547
5th	‘LucynaKushinada’	Thailand	$494,652
6th	‘maratenok1985’	Kazakhstan	$382,153
7th	Barak Wisbrod	Israel	$295,403
8th	Klemens Roiter	Germany	$228,511
9th	‘lllllllletsRoll’	Mexico	$176,928

Did Muller Lose Composure Heads-Up?

While credit must be given to the overnight chip leader, Danilo Velasevic, the collapse of Arie Muller heads-up was the key reason that the Serbian managed to get over the line. Muller had almost the same chip stack as Velasevic when the final duel began, but protecting his stack never seemed natural to the Israeli player. 

In the key hand, it was a substantial raise from Velasevic and a poor call from Muller, the eventual runner-up. Holding bottom pair on a board showing A-5-4-T-2, where a second card in spades didn’t arrive until the river, meant many fewer missed draws. What would Velasevic be betting the pot? Was it supposed to be a bluff? Muller only beats a paired deuce, weaker eight, and air. 

Velasevic made a great bet, but Muller should have gotten away. 

“This would be quite a hero call gone wrong.” Jeff Gross said before the call was made. Was Muller wrong to make the call? Watch all the action in the company of host Jeff Gross and co-commentator Fedor Holz right here:

« October 2025  |  December 2025 »

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.