GGPOKER

Chris Klodnicki Wins Debut GGMillion$ – GGMillion$ Season 2026 Episode 33

This week’s GGMillion$ event on GGPoker featured stars of both the online and live poker world, as legends including Anatoliy Zlotnikov, Kelvin Kerber, Simon Beckmann, Chris Klodnicki, Barak Wisbrod, and Joao Vieira all met at the felt. The weekly $10,000-entry event was brought to life by regular host Jeff Gross, who was joined in the commentary booth by Matt Hunt to analyze. The action was red hot from the first deal. In the end, Chris Klodnicki performed a heads-up miracle to claim his maiden win in the format.

Pre-Match Betting Odds

Heading into the final nine, Anatoliy Zlotnikov from Russia was the big chip leader on 109 big blinds, and that incredible lead put him as the clear favorite at odds of 3.72 in the GGPoker client. Brazilian player Kelvin Kerber was his closest rival on 73 big blinds and seemed good value to us at odds of 4.62, making him our pick for the win. Germany’s Simon Beckmann was right on Kerber’s coattails, also with 73 bigs, and was priced at 4.80.

In the middle of the pack, a Canadian regular, Chris Klodnicki, started the final on 47 big blinds at odds of 8.78, while the Israeli GGMillion$ legend Barak Wisbrod (35BB/9.08) also looked good value for an outside pick. French player Erwann Pecheux was playing a stack of 33 big blinds from sunny Mexico and started at a 13.34 bet. 

Three shorter stacks had fewer than 20 big blinds each to their name. Serbia’s Milos ‘bzvz’ Skrbic (19BB/21.44) led marginally over Macau-based ‘Now or Never167’ (18BB/22.08), with the experienced Portuguese player Joao Vieira (14BB/22.38) bringing up the rear. 

Key Moments from the Felt

It took over 50 minutes to bring about the first final table elimination, but when it came, it was the original short-stack Vieira who busted in ninth place for $58,074. All-in with ace-nine offsuit, the Portuguese pro ran into some horrible luck. Dominating Simon Beckmann’s suited ace-five, he was also miles ahead of Chris Klodnicki’s queen-jack before the flop, but the first three community cards spoiled everything. The board came down T-9-8 to give the Canadian the nut straight.  No help came to save the at-risk Vieira, as Klodnicki earned a valuable pot while reducing the field by one dangerous pro.

Next to go was Erwann Pecheux. The French player was all-in with the best hand, holding king-jack to Milos ‘bzvz’ Skrbic’s jack-four. The flop came clean with A-Q-9, but a four arrived on the turn to put ‘bzvz’ in the lead. The river ace offered no help, and Pecheux slid out of contention for $74,066 in eighth place. The field was further reduced to six just a couple of minutes later. Barak Wisbrod moved all-in pre-flop (1:31:10) with ace-king but ran into the pocket kings of Simon Beckmann, and the German’s cowboys held with ease on a board that ran out 10-7-3-2-4. The Israeli crashed out short of his ambitions in seventh place, earning $94,463 for the efforts.

Chips changed hands multiple times over the next forty-five minutes before a hand where everyone seemed to have playable cards (2:14:00), which ended with a big name on the rail. All-in with ace-jack of hearts, Milos ‘bzvz’ Skrbic’s hand started and ended way behind his conqueror, Chris Klodnicki’s, as the Canadian’s pocket queens saw out the board to take a pot worth over 4 million chips and send Skrbic to the rail with $120,475. ‘Now or Never167’ from Macau soon decided to live up to their name and shoved with king-jack but ran into Simon Beckmann’s ace-eight, and that held through the ace-high board to send play four-handed, with the Macau player on the rail with $153,650. 

The final four were the top four at the start of play, with Beckmann now in the lead on 9.1 million chips. Behind him was Chris Klodnicki on 6.2m, with the overnight leader Zlotnikov on 3.8m and Brazil’s Kelvin Kerber trailing far behind on 1.8m. It was Kerber who fell next (2:34:35), but he was very unlucky to do so. All-in with pocket sevens, he was some way clear of Beckmann’s ace-five, but the ace matched all three diamonds on the flop and on the river, a fourth diamond fell to flush Kerber’s hopes away in fourth place for $195,962.

Three-handed play lasted no time at all, as the overnight leader, Zlotnikov, soon found pocket fives and called an all-in. Having shoved with queen-ten, Beckmann’s luck favored his bravery, as a ten-high board paired the German’s hand and left the Russian quickly drawing to two outs that never came. And the overnight leader was done in third for $249,924.

Heads-up, Beckmann had a near 3:1 chip lead, built it up to almost 6:1 before a pivotal hand changed everything. Beckmann’s pocket tens faced a shove from Klodnicki on a flop of Q-J-9. The Canadian held ace-queen for the better hand. Beckmann took a long time before finally folding and losing the lead. Klodnicki used his lead well and even turned it into a 4:1 dominance. That was almost the end, but the Canadians ace-deuce failed to see it out when Beckmann’s ace-nine rivered a nine after a deuce had fallen on the flop.

Still leading, Klodnicki rivered the straight in a hand where Beckmann flopped the top pair. (3:12:00) Having been happy for the pot to grow all the way, Beckmann shoved his last 3.8 million into the pot of 7 million on the river, and Klodnicki had trapped his opponent to the victory. Snapping off his opponent, Klodnicki’s 14th final table was the one where he finally claimed victory and the top prize of $406,521. For going so close, Beckmann won $318,747.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – September 8th, 2026

A stunning week of action saw Chris Klodnicki come from nowhere to win his first GGMillion$ title, and after the show, guest co-commentator Matt Hunt summed up his display. 

“He made a big hero call and was right. On the flip side, Simon played great and made a huge hero call heads-up not getting the luck he needed. Heads-up, whoever hits flops is going to be the winner.”

It was a superb display by both men to overcome Zlotnikov before the final battle, and both deserved credit. Only one could be the winner, however, and this week it was the Canadian Chris Klodnicki who claimed the GGMillion$ title.

Here are all nine finalists and what they took home in this week’s GGMillion$ finale:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Chris Klodnicki	Canada	$406,521
2nd	Simon Beckmann	Germany	$318,747
3rd	Anatoliy Zlotnikov	Russia	$249,924
4th	Kelvin Kerber	Brazil	$195,962
5th	‘Now of Never167’	Macau	$153,651
6th	Milos ‘bzvz’ Skrbic	Serbia	$120,475
7th	Barak Wisbrod	Israel	$94,463
8th	Erwann Pecheux	France	$74,067
9th	Joao Vieira	Portugal	$58,075

Did Beckmann Rightly Turn Down ‘Flip to Win’?

With the heads-up battle going to the underdog, was there a point where Simon Beckmann could have won the war earlier? He certainly had to chance to “end it all right here” as Jeff Gross put it. When Beckmann had pocket tens, and Klodnicki eventually pushed him off the pot on the flop, the German could have called to convert what the commentary team called “a lot of equity in the hand”.

Holding an open straight draw and backdoor flush draw, we’ll never know what turn and river might have come, but for Beckmann, he let go of the lead and never got it back. Klodnicki enjoyed some luck along the way, but the stack was built by this crucial play, and if Beckmann had the chance to go back in time now and take his chances, you can bet he’d take it. 

Watch all the action from this week’s GGMillion$ final table right here with Jeff Gross and Matt Hunt:

2026 Week 32                                          2026 Week 34

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.

---

Edited by Shawn A.