$300M Festival Explodes: Opening Weekend Crushes Guarantees as Mystery Bounties Hit $91K!

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$300M Festival Explodes: Opening Weekend Crushes Guarantees as Mystery Bounties Hit $91K!

May 5, 2026 9 min Read

GG World Festival 2026 | Episode 1: The Opening Weekend

The GG World Festival 2026 is officially underway. The largest guaranteed online poker series in history — 300 million guaranteed across 1,600 tournaments — kicked off on May 3, and the opening weekend wasted no time making a statement. Across the Low, Medium, High, and Super tiers, fields crushed their guarantees, bounties exploded, and players from Argentina to Austria to Andorra got their names on the board. The $3 million leaderboard race is already heating up, and with the first marquee $10M GTD event still a few weeks out, there is plenty of poker to play.

LOW TIER

Event 05-L: Grand Prix Europe | $15 Buy-In | $150,000 GTD

13,073 players entered the Grand Prix Europe, pushing the prize pool to $180,407.40 — a $30,407.40 overrun on the guarantee. After 9 hours and 19 minutes of play, Argentina’s Fakkpereda emerged victorious.

🥇 1st — Fakkpereda (Argentina) — $15,945.76
🥈 2nd — chippinpurpp (Slovenia) — $12,290.19
🥉 3rd — IwasEscoPablo (Slovenia) — $9,477.04

Over 13,000 runners in a $15 event is a strong opening statement. IwasEscoPablo made the top three here and would be back for more before the weekend was out.

Event 10-L: Sunday Main Event | $25 Buy-In | $150,000 GTD

The Sunday Main Event drew 8,540 entries and a prize pool of $196,420, blowing past its guarantee by more than $46,000. Cyprus’s Meruokba took it down after 10 hours and 45 minutes.

🥇 1st — Meruokba (Cyprus) — $18,788.93
🥈 2nd — Vida rasa (Brazil) — $14,482.83
🥉 3rd — IwasEscoPablo (Slovenia) — $11,167.79

IwasEscoPablo had an incredible opening weekend with final table runs across two Low Tier events. Two cashes, two podiums. Not a bad Sunday.

Event 08-L: Sunday Hundred Grand | $15 Buy-In | $125,000 GTD

11,654 entries joined the festivities in the Sunday Hundred Grand to create a prize pool of $160,825.20, a $35,825.20 increase over the guarantee. Argentina’s PUNTANITO10 outlasted the field across 11 hours and 18 minutes.

🥇 1st — PUNTANITO10 (Argentina) — $14,967.29
🥈 2nd — GGOfGlubs (Brazil) — $11,534.23
🥉 3rd — Diego Bittar (Brazil) — $8,894.11

Three $15 buy-in events, three six-figure prize pools. The Low tier is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

Low Tier Leaderboard (through May 4)
1st — Anton Ivar (Brazil) — 2,854.27
2nd — Sid_the_kid_87 (Canada) — 2,022.15
3rd — NoRakeBack (Thailand) — 1,618.58

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MEDIUM TIER

Event 02-M: Sunday Showdown Asia [Mystery Bounty] | $55 Buy-In | $450,000 GTD

10,952 players turned a $450,000 guarantee into a $554,171.20 prize pool. After 9 hours and 33 minutes, the last three players standing agreed to a three-way chop of the prize pool, with bounty rewards settled separately.

🥇 1st — AndroidN17 (Uruguay) — $23,420.78 + $3,433 Bounty Rewards
🥈 2nd — Ivsongshi (China) — $22,174.40 + $2,654 Bounty Rewards
🥉 3rd — cclyl (China) — $20,958.25 + $713 Bounty Rewards
💥 Biggest Mystery Bounty — Zauberer94 (Austria) — 386th place: $100.41 + $40,310 in Bounties

Austria’s Zauberer94 didn’t make the final table, but with a $40,310 mystery bounty discovery, they had the best day of anyone in the field.

Event 12-M: Sunday Showdown [Mystery Bounty] | $55 Buy-In | $500,000 GTD

The Sunday Showdown brought in 11,941 players and $604,214.60 in prize money. Another three-way chop closed it out after 9 hours and 24 minutes, with Mexico’s Limitless] topping the podium.

🥇 1st — Limitless] (Mexico) — $24,301.88 + $717 Bounty Rewards
🥈 2nd — milansorin (Romania) — $23,077.32 + $1,951 Bounty Rewards
🥉 3rd — chakaronis (Austria) — $23,976.92 + $482 Bounty Rewards
💥 Biggest Mystery Bounty — LargePoodle (New Zealand) — 369th place: $131.45 + $45,000 in Bounties

New Zealand’s LargePoodle busted in 369th place and walked away with $45,000 in bounty money. That is the mystery bounty format working exactly as advertised.

Event 08-M: GGMasters | $150 Buy-In | $1,000,000 GTD

The flagship Medium tier event of the weekend ran across two days with an overnight break, clocking in at just over 27 hours of total play. 7,948 entries generated $1,096,824, nearly $97,000 over the guarantee. The final four players chopped the prize pool.

🥇 1st — aSeHigh (Romania) — $110,214.40
🥈 2nd — Aleksey Lebedev (Russia) — $97,157.89
🥉 3rd — Jerinho7 (Poland) — $95,240.23
4th — JaiAlai (Ireland) — $96,461.83

Four players within $15,000 of each other at chop time, the ICM deal math was about as flat as it gets, which tells you how close the stacks were when they shook hands.

Medium Tier Leaderboard (through May 4)
1st — Savethedave1 (Austria) — 1,006.34
2nd — Fraggel1977 (Germany) — 985.05
3rd — torski (Finland) — 825.20

HIGH TIER

Event 07-H: Bounty Hunters Sunday Main Event | $525 Buy-In | $1,500,000 GTD

3,772 entries pushed the Bounty Hunters Sunday Main Event to a prize pool of $1,886,000. Austria’s nickmini4 took the title after nearly 12 hours of play, edging out a tight finish at the top.

🥇 1st — nickmini4 (Austria) — $92,046.81 + $56,742.82 Bounty Rewards
🥈 2nd — K Nikolaichuk (Armenia) — $92,045.26 + $29,718.29 Bounty Rewards
🥉 3rd — LaKK23 (Ukraine) — $73,138.93 + $25,719.14 Bounty Rewards

The prize pool gap between first and second was very small, as it is in every bounty hunters tournament. In this case, it was just $1.55. The bounty rewards tell a very different story.

Event 11-H: GGMasters Bounty King | $320 Buy-In | $500,000 GTD

1,621 entries fell short of the guarantee, leaving a $17,590.40 overlay. Andorra claimed a remarkable 1-2 finish, with SorryBud and Bababangg going heads-up for the title after 10 hours and 4 minutes.

🥇 1st — SorryBud (Andorra) — $28,050.66 + $28,869.37 Bounty Rewards
🥈 2nd — Bababangg (Andorra) — $28,050.17 + $6,847.28 Bounty Rewards
🥉 3rd — Mucureba (Brazil) — $22,288.59 + $5,837.69 Bounty Rewards

Two players from Andorra going heads-up for a $500,000 GTD title is not something you plan for, but here we are.

Event 08-H: GGMasters HR | $1,050 Buy-In | $1,000,000 GTD

The GGMasters High Roller ran over two days with an overnight break, totaling 27 hours and 21 minutes of play. 3,772 entries produced a $1,117,000 prize pool. Argentina’s jimmyjoint came out on top.

🥇 1st — jimmyjoint (Argentina) — $187,805.09
🥈 2nd — V Arzhannikau (Belarus) — $140,833.53
🥉 3rd — R4gge (Argentina) — $105,610.30

Argentina took first and third, and jimmyjoint’s $187,805.09 score stands as one of the biggest individual cashes of the opening weekend across all tiers.

High Tier Leaderboard (through May 4)
1st — Patrick Leonard (Austria) — 599.92
2nd — don chimbo (Mexico) — 525.47
3rd — Ricardo Capela (Austria) — 459.58

SUPER TIER

Event 10-S: Sunday Main Event | $5,250 Buy-In | $250,000 GTD

91 entries nearly doubled the $250,000 guarantee, building a $455,000 prize pool. Russia’s GREAGYPoker closed it out in 7 hours and 14 minutes.

🥇 1st — GREAGYPoker (Russia) — $82,285.31
🥈 2nd — Denys Chufarin (Ukraine) — $68,817.49
🥉 3rd — Enrico Camosci (Malta) — $57,554.08

GREAGYPoker’s Super tier win puts them atop the Super leaderboard heading into the week — and as you’ll see below, their weekend wasn’t over yet.

Event 12-S: Sunday Showdown [Mystery Bounty] | $1,500 Buy-In | $600,000 GTD

413 entries and an $11,475 overlay produced a $600,000 prize pool. Mexico’s don chimbo won the title after 8 hours and 28 minutes, but the biggest number of the day belonged to the player who finished 12th.

🥇 1st — don chimbo (Mexico) — $51,803.58 + $17,300 Bounty Rewards
🥈 2nd — Lucky__Bear (China) — $38,847.10 + $31,400 Bounty Rewards
🥉 3rd — Andras Nemeth (Austria) — $29,131.19 + $54,000 Bounty Rewards
💥 Biggest Mystery Bounty — A Karmatckii (Slovenia) — 12th place: $3,443.53 + $91,000 in Bounties

$91,000 in bounty rewards for a 12th place finish. Andras Nemeth’s $54,000 bounty haul in third place is extraordinary on its own, but A Karmatckii still topped it from outside the final table.

Event 08-S: GGMillion$ High Roller | $10,000 Buy-In | $2,000,000 GTD | STILL RUNNING

260 players put $2,522,000 on the table, $522,000 over the guarantee, as the GGMillion$ High Roller is heading into Monday with nine players still in contention. First place is worth $486,816.55 plus a $10,000 seat to the GGMillion Live Paradise event.

Current chip counts with nine players remaining:

Player	Chips	Big Blinds
A Martirosian	8.4M	120.3 BB
Ole Schemion	4.7M	67.6 BB
V Balaev	2.9M	42.7 BB
Tamas Adamszki	2.9M	42.7 BB
C Vogelsang	2.3M	33.7 BB
Barak Wisbrod	1.7M	25.0 BB
GREAGYPoker	1.7M	24.9 BB
don chimbo	1.5M	21.5 BB
M Vaskresenski	1.0M	15.2 BB

A Martirosian holds a commanding lead heading into the final session. GREAGYPoker and don chimbo, both fresh off their Super tier wins on Sunday, are still alive and adding to what has already been a profitable weekend.

Super Tier Leaderboard (through May 4)
1st — GREAGYPoker (Russia) — 377.58
2nd — jinx36 (Philippines) — 336.28
3rd — Erwann Pecheux (Mexico) — 330.16

GG ONTARIO FESTIVAL

The GG Ontario Festival runs alongside the main series for competitors located in Ontario, Canada, and the opening weekend delivered its own set of stories.