Arends the Aggressor Yet Again in GGMillion$ Triumph
GGMillion$ Season 2025 Episode 31
This week’s GGMillion$ saw a prize pool of $1.54m on the line as nine great players battled it out for a top prize of over $294,000 under the watchful eye of regular host Jeff Gross and co-commentator Adrian Pora. A thrilling final table played out across three hours, as Dutchman Jans Arends came from a long way behind the opening leaders to finish top dog and win well over a quarter of a million dollars.
Gaehl the Odds On Favorite
At the start of play at the final table, i
Sebastian Gaehl from Germany was the big chip leader, with his stack of 100 big blinds meaning he was the favorite on the GGPoker platform at odds of 3.92. A short distance behind him in chips and odds was Greek player Alex Theologis, who was available at odds of 4.08 with 93 blinds. Of the two players, both of whom had super-strong records on GGPoker in general as well as in the GGMillion$ event series in particular, Gaehl seemed the outsider, at least by the amount of money invested, but this was more a nod to the experience of Theologis rather than any weakness in Gaehl’s game.
Of the chasing pack, Dutch player Jans Arends was most fancied by GGPoker investors, who bet on him at odds of 8.96. Starting with 43 big blinds, Arends was a tiny bit clear of Brazil’s Pedro Padilha (42BB / 9.06) and Russian ‘GREPoker’ (31BB / 9.54). With Arends’ vast experience, particularly in the GGMillion$, he was a great pick to get back into contention, and before the action, we made him our player to watch.
From the remaining field, Lithuanian pro Deividas Daubaris (30BB / 10.22) had the biggest stack, but Simon Mattsson was guaranteed the busiest night, no matter the result. Competing in the GGMillion$ final table with 29 big blinds, Mattsson would usually be a terrific choice for a winner at odds of 11.04, but with the Swede also playing at the final table of the $1,500-entry Millionaire Maker on GGPoker for WSOP Online, the chance of winning seven figures in that final meant he might struggle to focus on the GGMillion$ action.
Of the two short stacks, we liked Spanish player Juan Dominguez (12.44) for the win if he could turn 25 big blinds into glory, not least because he had made the final table so regularly in the past few months. He was also some way clear of Chris Klodnicki’s stack of 14 big blinds, with the Canadian available at rank outsider odds of 25.34.
Key Moments from the Felt
All those reasons to believe in Dominguez disappeared in one early hand. He was all-in with ace-queen and ran into Deividas Daubaris’ ace-king. Big Slick held to eliminate Dominguez in ninth place for $42,008, while Chris Klodnicki suffered the opposite fate to bust in eighth place for a score of $53,575, his ace-king cracked by Simon Mattsson’s ace-queen.
After two hours of play, Simon Mattsson was still running deep in both of his final tables, and his shove with jack-ten from the small blind hinted at as much. Called quickly by the at-risk Pedro Padilha (2:00:20), the Brazilian’s luck was out, as a board of T-8-2-9-Q sent Padilha home with $68,329 in seventh place.
‘GREPoker’ was all in with ace-ten but was dominated and knocked out by Sebastian Gaehl’s ace-king on a nine-high board. The Russian went home with $87,145 in sixth. The GTO Wizard was in its element soon after, when Gaehl rivered a flush, leading to a shove that put Theologis into the tank with king-ten, top pair on the flop with one flush blocker. (2:34:21) The Greek player made the fold, but the end result didn’t change. Exactly 1 level later, his ace-king busted to Gaehl’s ace-queen, a ‘nasty’ runout in the words of Jeff Gross, the board of J-T-8-K-4 giving the chip leader Broadway on the turn as Theologis was sent to the rails in fifth for $111,142.
Into a considerable lead, Gaehl held with ace-king to take out Daubaris’ ace-queen in fourth place for $141,748, before a big flip took out Simon Mattsson. The Swede, who won big in the Millionaire Maker WSOP Online event at the same time, crashed out in third (3:04:30) when his ace-king lost a big flip for the chip lead against Jans Arends’ pocket fours. The A-8-4 flop was a nightmare for Mattsson, and after a ten on the turn, the at-risk player was drawing dead to the ineffectual king that landed on the river, as he headed to the rail with $180,781.
Heads-up, the overnight leader Gaehl was almost level with Jans Arends, the much-fancied player from the chasing pack. A long-hand saw Arends shove with a straight with a flush was available on the board. Gaehl was able to make the call holding the same straight. Another shove from Arends when both men were playing the board got through, however, (3:24:00), and that pot gave Arends a 13-to-1 chip lead. Two hands later, Gaehl had his chips in with the best of it, doubling up with pocket kings against Arends’ pocket eights. But the German’s call for his stack with ace-ten of clubs saw him behind Arends’ ace-queen of diamonds (3:25:50), and the overnight leader wasn’t able to catch up, seeing the Dutchman grab the title and top prize of $294,055.
GGMillion$ Results – September 9th, 2025
This week’s GGMillion$ began with two players with stacks over 90 big blinds. Neither of those players won the day, as Netherlands player Jans Arends triumphed against the odds, rewarding anyone who backed him at odds of 8.96 in the GGPoker client.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jans Arends | Netherlands | $294,055 |
| 2nd | Sebastian Gaehl | Germany | $230,564 |
| 3rd | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | $180,781 |
| 4th | Deividas Daubaris | United States | $141,748 |
| 5th | Alex Theologis | Greece | $111,142 |
| 6th | ‘GREPoker’ | Russia | $87,145 |
| 7th | Pedro Padilha | Brazil | $68,329 |
| 8th | Chris Klodnicki | Canada | $53,575 |
| 9th | Juan Dominguez | Spain | $42,008 |
Did Gaehl or Theologis Blow their Chance of Glory?
In previous weeks, we’ve advocated for players who have made great plays, called bluffs that were virtually impossible to spot, or raised their enemies off the pot when all hope looked lost. Is there room in our analysis of this week’s action for the simple promotion of taking play post-flop?
In an age where push-fold charts have been taken to even narrower lengths with GTO theory, are the margins in which the top players take each other on becoming more binary? If everyone plays GTO poker, the correct way is naturally exploitative of optimal plays, raising when you know that your opponent is GTO-bound to fold.
Were the optimal plays to take a pre-flop flip so often during the final table, particularly for the two chip leaders? We’re not so sure. With such a major advantage in pure chip terms, the leaders had many chances to hold their opponents at arm’s length. Instead, Arends flipped his way back into contention, and eventually, that decision led to Gaehl paying for it. Theologis fell even shorter, cashing in fifth place after having begun the action with 93 big blinds.
After another exciting week of GGMillion$ action, perhaps Simon Mattsson will be happiest with his work. Coming into the action in seventh place, the Swede finished third for $180,781, all while playing the Millionaire Maker final table at the same time!
You can watch all the action on the GGPoker YouTube channel with Jeff Gross and Adrian Pora right here:
GGMillion$ Final Table Results
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.
