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Adrian Mateos Wins GGMillion$ After Epic Comeback – GGMillion$ Season 2025 Episode 40

This week’s GGPoker GGMillion$ was a scorcher as a rapid race saw exits on seemingly every orbit. The fast and furious finale saw a stunning finish too, as Adrian Mateos came back from the dead to win in style, making two huge hands to capture his latest title and celebrate a valuable victory ahead of iconic tournaments including the WSOP Super Main Event in Paradise later this winter. 

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Pre-Match Betting Odds

As play got underway at the final table, the Mongolian player ‘Hinaru’ had a marginal chip lead with 69 big blinds and was available at odds of 6.46 in the GGPoker client. The Armenian Aren Bezhanyan (64BB) was slightly shorter odds due to having a little more experience at this level, priced up at 6.16 for the outright win. 

Austrian Bernhard Binder was even shorter at 6.02 despite only having 61 big blinds. We agreed with the betting public on the odds, as Aleks Ponakovs, starting fourth in chips, was the favourite at 5.78 for the victory, despite beginning with 56 big blinds.

In the middle ranks, the Serbian ‘Vlada2108’ (41BB/9.64) was hoping that his stack would outweigh his inexperience in the GGMillion$ format, with Russian outsider Alexander Kirichenko (40BB/9.8) also hoping to upset the odds. The American Eric Yanovsky (38BB/10.52) was tempting at long odds, as might the Brazilian Rodrigo Selouan (35BB/9.76) have been; however, we couldn’t help but root for the short stack, with the Spanish poker legend, Adrian Mateos, being offered at lucrative odds of 12.76 and a very playable stack of 20 big blinds.

With Ponakovs and Mateos both superb picks, given their vast knowledge of this format and the experience of having previously won GGMillion$ events before. The action got underway in the company of regular host Jeff Gross and Greek poker pro Alex Theologis, the subject of the upcoming GGPoker documentary, “Online Poker Millionaire.”

Key Moments from the Felt

As play got underway, there was barely time to blink before a player was on the rail. Serbian player ‘Vlada2108’ got off to a woeful start and, after losing some of their stack, got all 35 of his remaining big blinds into the middle with pocket eights from the button. Unfortunately, he marched headlong into Aleks Ponakovs’ pocket jacks. There was no reprieve for the at-risk Serbian, as a board of 9-6-5-K-4 flirted with hope on the flop only to disappoint the at-risk player by the river. ‘Vlada2108’ cashed for $43,750 in ninth place. 

Brazilian Rodrigo Selouan followed ‘Vlada2108’ from the felt 2 hands later, winning $55,797 in eighth place (54:10). Ponakovs was again the executioner, raising it up with ace-king of spades before Selouan shoved with pocket deuces, the Latvian Ponakovs calling it off to set up a race for survival. The flop of K-Q-3 looked definitive in Ponakovs’ favor, but a third diamond on the turn matched a fourth in Selouan’s hand, meaning the Brazilian had a one in four shot of hitting a superior hand to Ponakov’s pair of kings. Sadly for South Americans, none of the outs landed, as an offsuit five fell to condemn Selouan to defeat.

A sensational hand saw Armenian Aren Bezhanyan’s stack plummet (1:14:20) as he got almost all of his chips in the middle with the best of it on the turn of a board after hitting a set of sixes on the flop. Kirichenko was hoping that his open-ended straight draw would hit, and it did on the river, crushing Bezhanyan, leaving him as a short stack with less than eight big blinds. He was out three hands later in seventh place for $71,163. 

Although he won that hand to take second in chips, the Russian Kirichenko soon bit the bullet, losing when all-in and at-risk with ace-jack to Adrian Mateos’ ace-queen to go out in sixth place for $90,759. As Binder and Ponakovs traded blows at the top of the leaderboard, the overnight pacesetter, Hinaru, departed in fifth for $115,752 after being blinded out. 

It was a far less pedestrian exit for Bernhard Binder, who finished in fourth place for $147,627. All-in with king-nine (2:38:45), he was crushed by the ace-three of Ponakovs after the Latvian had him drawing dead to the river, a wheel straight coming in on fourth street. A bit later, Ponakovs had a tricky hand to negotiate, holding queen-seven for top pair, but made the wrong call and lost to a small turned straight for Eric Yanovsky. Ponakovs soon pushed all-in with pocket sixes, but Adrian Mateos woke up with aces, which held through the board to double him into a big chip lead.

“Ponakovs has been in the driver’s seat the whole time, suddenly he finds himself in the caboose.” Jeff Gross said on comms. Even with the shift in chips, Ponakovs was able to hold on as Eric Yanovsky was the next out, finishing in third place for $188,279. He was all-in with pocket queens, and Adrian Mateos – the short stack at the start of play – held ace-ten. An ace on the flop put the Spanish player ahead and no help came for Yanovsky on the turn or the river. 

Between them, Adrian Mateos and Aleks Ponakovs had nine GGMillion$ wins, and one of them was about to win again as somehow our two pre-match picks ended heads-up for the outright victory. It took almost no time to find one, with Mateos 4:1 up in chips before a blockbuster final hand played out.

Neither man had higher than an eight going to the flop, but Ponakovs hit middle pair with eight-four in his hand on an A-4-3 flop (3:17:10). Mateos, however, had flopped the nuts with deuce-five in his hand and, wheel in hand, was ready to run Ponakovs right out of town. 

A second four on the turn made it really brutal. 

“Ponakovs is thinking about Vegas and The Mirage, which actually got imploded recently, which is going to be symbolic unless he can find a river here!” joked Jeff Gross. 

A jack on the river offered nothing more for Ponakovs, who called Mateos’ shove and finished as runner-up for $240,126. From Adrian Mateos; however, it was a case of zero to hero as Alex Theologis celebrated choosing the winner against the host Jeff Gross.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – November 4th, 2025

While Mateos grabbed the win from the short stack position, those close stacks at the start of play meant anything could happen, as it did. 

“He’s a very solid player and as you saw, he ran pretty good,” said Theologis. 

“A little luck doesn’t hurt, and I hope you find luck in the Bahamas!” said Jeff Gross, referring to the forthcoming WSOP Paradise festival in December where the Greek player will hope to strike gold and win his third WSOP bracelet. 

Here’s where all the players finished in this week’s $10,000 GGMillion$:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Adrian Mateos	Spain	$306,251
2nd	Aleks Ponakovs	Latvia	$240,126
3rd	Eric Yanovsky	United States	$188,279
4th	Bernhard Binder	Austria	$147,627
5th	‘Hinaru’	Mongolia	$115,752
6th	Alexander Kirichenko	Russia	$90,759
7th	Aren Bezhanyan	Armenia	$71,163
8th	Rodrigo Selouan	Brazil	$55,797
9th	‘Vlada2108’	Serbia	$43,750

How Did Adrian Mateos Achieve the Improbable?

Whilst we genuinely tipped Mateos for glory before the final table, how did the Spanish poker legend go about winning his sixth GGMillion$ title? Well, to begin with, he didn’t panic. Many players feel the heat of being the short stack, but ‘The Matador’ dodged any such sweat, letting others take on the chip leaders early on. Mateos carefully picked his way through the early levels, then adopted a ‘tight-aggressive’ style of play to make the most of his higher-value hands, especially pre-flop, building back into the action. While short around the middle of the final table, he made the absolute most with pocket aces, doubling into the lead with three players left, then slow-played a flopped wheel. He aced his big hands to capture the sixth GGMillion$ title of his career and reminded everyone just what an impressive poker player he really is, whether live or online. 

Watch all the action as it played out with host Jeff Gross and special guest star Alex Theologis, the central focus of the forthcoming GGPoker documentary Online Poker Millionaires, airing today on YouTube. 

 

2025 Week 39                                          2025 Week 41

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.