GGMillion$ Won After Stunning Late Trap Springs Victory
The Daily Scoop – GGMillion$ Season 2025 Episode 21
A brilliant final play brought glory for French player Ivan Deyra as the overnight chip leader saw out the latter stages of this week’s GGMillion$. With the action red hot on GGPoker’s YouTube channel, fans around the world watched as nine great players battled for glory and a top prize of over a quarter of a million dollars.
Deyra Starts On The Top
This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was a classic, with Lithuanian Paulius Vaitiekunas on co-commentary duties alongside regular host Jeff Gross. The former Triton Poker event winner Vaitiekunas, who has over $5.23 million in live earnings alone, sits comfortably inside the top 500 poker players on the Hendon Mob’s all-time money list and provided some great insights into the action.
With nine players reaching the final table, it was the French player Ivan Deyra, holding 75 big blinds, who started at the top of the table. Russian player ‘Dimmmmm’ was second in chips with 65 big blinds, with Slovenian ‘Zajebal Ji’ (56BB) and Russian Nikita Kalinin (52BB) both close behind Further down in the chip counts was, Belgian Arthur Conan (43BB), German player Dominik Nitsche (31BB), Canadian Pascal Lefrancois (19BB), British hopeful ‘gazok-900’ (16BB) and, in the role of the short stack, Spanish pro Juan Dominguez (13BB). All nine had a chance to claim the championship if they could get off to a great start.
The first elimination came as quickly as it could, as Dominguez picked up pocket queens on the very first hand, but the timing could not have been worse. He managed to get it all-in pre-flop only to be called by pocket aces belonging to ‘gazok-900’. No help came for the Spaniard on the T-4-2-4-3 board, and Dominguez left with $36,982.
Nitsche Gets Close Again But Still So Far
It would be another thirty minutes before the next elimination, as the Russian player Nikita Kalinin lost with the best hand. Kalinin min-raised from the cut off with pocket tens and was called by his countryman ‘Dimmmmm’ holding nine-three, suited in diamonds. On a flop of 8-7-2 with two diamonds gave ‘Dimmmmm’ enough courage to go against conventional GTO wisdom, and put out a small bet. Kalinin, with the overpair, shoved all-in and was snap-called. A three on the turn paired ‘Dimmmmm’, giving him more outs but the ace of diamonds on the river was the final blow. Kalinin won $47,355 for finishing 8th as ‘Dimmmmm’ was propelled into the lead.
German player Dominik Nitsche, one of the best poker players of all time, has never won the GGMillion$. While his numerous runner-up finishes might wear heavily on him, he once again found himself at the final table. Calling an all-in pre-flop with ace-queen, the German tried to win a flip that would have put him third in chips, but Zajebal Ji’s pocket threes held across a sweaty board of K-9-4-J-6, and Nitsche once again missed out, cashing for $60,637 in seventh place.
A dominating position led to an unexpected defeat for Arthur Conan. The Frenchman, whose stack had been whittled down to just four big blinds, got his chips into the middle with ace-nine and was called by Zajebal Ji holding ace-five of hearts. A board of 7-4-3-5-K gave the Slovenian a pair on the turn, and that was all that was needed. The small pair held through the river, and Conan was sent to the rail with $77,645.
Despite their earlier dominance, ‘gazok-900’ slipped down the pecking order so far that his pre-flop shove with pocket nines was to survive, not eliminate someone else. All-in and at risk, ‘gazok-900’ needed to win a flip against ‘Dimmmmm’s ace-jack of diamonds. Unfortunately for the Brit, a board of K-K-J-Q-Q was no help, and the British player departed with $99,422 in fifth, a decent run up from eighth on the ladder at the start of play.
Lights Go Out for Dimmmmm
With four left, ‘Dimmmmm’ had a healthy lead with a stack of 5.78 million, nearly 45% of the chips in play. His competition was a bit behind with Zajebal Ji on 3.76 million, while Ivan Deyra (2.12m) and Pascal Lefrancois (1.26m) were a fair way back. Despite the disparity in stacks, everything was destined to change.
‘Dimmmmm’ dropped a few small pots before folding the best hand of ace-eight to Ji’s pocket sixes bluff on a board showing A-7-4-T-J with three clubs. The hand hurt Dimmmmm’s stack and pocket sixes would return to deal the final blow. Holding the sixes himself, Lefrancois jammed with the short stack holding ace-queen, and ‘Dimmmmm’ made the call. The board ran out A-J-4-K-8 and left ‘Dimmmmm’ with just 1.5 big blinds, which were hoovered up a couple of hands later to see the leader with four remaining out in fourth place for $127,308.
Three-handed play lasted for around twenty minutes as Deyra won a number of pots to climb back into first with a commanding lead. With about 20% of the chips in play, Lefrancois woke up with ace-jack and managed to get it all in against Ji, who unfortunately held ace-king. There was no help for the Canadian on the Q-5-2-2-K board, which sent Lefrancois home with $163,016.
Going into heads-up play, Deyra had a slim lead (58 big blinds to 49 big blinds), and would soon have all of the chips. On the fourth and final Texas Hold’em heads-up hand, Deyra woke up with pocket kings and min raised. Zajebal, holding A-4 of hearts, called. The flop came down A-K-4, causing both players to attempt to trap as minimum bets were thrown into the pot by both players. The turn brought the seven of clubs, which Deyra bet 1/3 the pot, which was also called. The river brought a second seven, and Deyra shoved. Ji called it off for his stack with two pair, but Deyra had been trapping from before the beginning, and that perfectly timed shove earned him the GGMillion$ title and $267,285.
Watch all the action from a thrilling GGMillion$ final table as Ivan Deyra racked up the win in style.
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Ivan Deyra | France | $267,285 |
| 2nd | Zajebal Ji | Slovenia | $208,738 |
| 3rd | Paxcal Lefrancois | Canada | $163,016 |
| 4th | ‘Dimmmmm’ | Russia | $127,308 |
| 5th | ‘gazok-900’ | United Kingdom | $99,422 |
| 6th | Arthur Conan | France | $77,645 |
| 7th | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | $60,637 |
| 8th | Nikita Kalinin | Russia | $47,355 |
| 9th | Juan Dominguez | Spain | $36,982 |
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.
