Puetz and Ponakovs Denied GGMillion$ Glory
The Daily Scoop – GGMillion$ Season 2025 Episode 25
This week, the GGMillion$ final was one for the books. A fast start and a frantic conclusion bookended the action on GGPoker as ‘gazok-900’ from Russian became a first-time winner for over $300,000. With appearances at the final table from Swedish online poker legend Simon Mattsson, Latvian WSOP bracelet winner Aleks Ponakovs and Brazilian poker professional Pedro Garagnani, the win was hard-fought and came after a dramatic final hand.
Latvian Ponakovs Build Huge Lead
Joining regular host Jeff Gross in the virtual commentary booth on GGPoker’s YouTube channel was Frank Brannan, a.k.a. Frank Banks, who, with $3.33 million in live poker earnings, sits just one decent major behind Jeff himself in the money stakes. The player, who came second in the 2024 WSOP Paradise version of the GGMillion$ for his record score of $1.64 million, was an entertaining co-commentator for the action alongside Jeff as the action got underway.
Leading the last nine players into the final table of the tournament was Aleks Ponakovs. The Latvian WSOP bracelet winner began with an incredible pile of 133 big blinds, one of the biggest leads the GGMillion$ final has ever seen. Second in chips but with barely over half of Ponakovs’ stack was Russia’s ‘gazok-900’ (73BB). Slightly further back was Swedish superstar Simon Mattsson (60BB), who was followed by Russian ‘RRomashka’ (40BB) and Germany’s Christopher Puetz (also 40BB), all with hopes of victory.
Some way behind and hoping for a final table turnaround to rival some of the best stories was Germany’s Leonard Maue (17BB), Brazilian crusher Pedro Garagnani (16BB), Belarusian tournament poker legend Mikita Badziakouski (11BB), and in the very short stack, the Hong Kong player named ‘Cody Maverick’, who began with just four big blinds.
Despite starting in sixth, Leonard Maue was the first to leave the final table. Witnessing double-ups for his rivals at the bottom of the chipcounts, Maue raised pre-flop with ace-jack offsuit, then called Simon Mattsson’s shove. It was bad news for the German, who was way behind the Swede’s pocket jacks. The jacks held with ease through the 4-4-2-9-K board to send Maue home with $43,846 in ninth place.
Garagnani Runs into Cowboys
Soon, eight became seven on the very next hand as Garagnani’s attempt to climb the ladder saw him plummet through every rung instead. Opening to around 2.2x the big blind pre-flop with suited ace-queen, the Brazilian saw Puetz raise. Gargnani re-raised all-in, and saw the bad news as Puetz snapped it off with pocket kings. The flop of A-K-5 paired the Brazilian but gave Puetz a set of kings. The ten on the turn offered Garagnani hope of a Broadway straight, but a six on the river destroyed all hope as quickly as it had given it, sending Garagnani home in eighth for a score of $55,920.
It wasn’t long before another player with a short stack ran into trouble. Mikita Badziakouski knows what it is like to not only win GGMillions titles, but poker tournaments, sitting comfortably inside the top 20 of all-time live tournament poker players according to The Hendon Mob. This time, however, the Belarusian was up against it, all-in pre-flop with ace-seven of hearts against Ponakovs ace-ten. A flop of 8-6-4 contained two hearts, but an offsuit six and jack on turn and river crushed Badziakouski’s hopes and sent him home with $71,319.
Named after the lead character of the 2007 animated movie Surf’s Up, Hong Kong player ‘Cody Maverick’ had started the final day with just four big blinds in last place. Somehow, he managed to ladder all the way to sixth for a score of $90,958, more than double his projected result. All-in with queen-ten, the Hong Kong player ran into the brick wall of Aleks Ponakovs’ pocket aces and was already emoting ‘Good Game!’ when the 6-4-3 flop landed, a jack on the turn left him drawing dead as a meaningless seven fell on the river as ‘Cody Maverick’ became the 4th knockout over eight hands
Ponakovs Misses Again
It had taken just over twelve minutes to decimate the field and, as expected, the next period of play lasted some time before the table would be down to four. When it came, it was a shock exit for Simon Mattsson for $116,006 in fifth. Holding slightly fewer chips than Russian player ‘RRomashka’, Mattsson’s ace-jack of clubs lost to ‘RRomashka’s king-queen offsuit when a queen landed on the flop. The Swede left in fifth place, earning $116,006.
With four players left, Ponakovs had a convincing lead with 6 million chips, followed by ‘gazok-900’ (3.46m), Puetz (3.41m), and the surviving ‘RRomashka’ with 2.19m. The Russian short stack lost more than half of his chips to Puetz before committing the balance with five-three on a flop of K-4-2. Unfortunately for him, the Latvian Ponakovs had pocket deuces for a flopped bottom set. A bet from the Latvian on the turned eight was enough to push Puetz, who had come along with 5-6 suited, off the double belly buster straight draw, leaving ‘RRomashka’ needing an Ace or six. A five on the river completed the board and sent ‘RRomashka’ home with $147,951.
Puetz Pummelled into Submission
Three-handed play saw Puetz stay steady on his stack around 6 million chips, but it all went wrong for Ponakovs. Over the better part of the next hour, he slipped from chip leader to short stack before getting 1.5 million into the middle with ace-king against the pocket sevens of ‘gazok-900’. A board of 9-6-2-J-8 sent the Latvian home with $188,693 as the overnight leader missed out on heads-up play.
Holding just under 60% of the chips in play, ‘gazok-900’ was coming into the final duel with all the momentum. ‘gazok-900’ methodically siphoned chips from Puetz until, after having pocket kings, had increased his lead to 5.5 to 1 in his favor, and continued to stretch the lead until he was up over 13:1. In the final hand, Chris Puetz flopped top pair with queen-nine as a spread of Q-8-7 all in diamonds landed. A min-bet from ‘gazok-900’ saw Puetz raise, then call off a shove only to discover he needed running cards against the Russian’s two diamonds and flopped flush. Another queen landed on the turn to give hope of a boat, but an insignificant deuce on the river meant ‘gazok-900’ was the champion. He took home the $306,923 top prize as third-favorite at the start of play, while Puetz settled for $240,654 in second.
Watch all the action as the GGMillion$ final table played out in the company of Jeff Gross and Frank Brannan right here:
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ‘garok-900’ | Russia | $306,923 |
| 2nd | Christopher Puetz | Germany | $240,654 |
| 3rd | Aleks Ponakovs | Latvia | $188,693 |
| 4th | ‘RRomashka’ | Russia | $147,951 |
| 5th | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | $116,006 |
| 6th | ‘Cody Maverick’ | Hong Kong | $90,958 |
| 7th | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | $71,319 |
| 8th | Pedro Garagnani | Brazil | $55,920 |
| 9th | Leonard Maue | Germany | $43,864 |
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.
