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Fernandes Finishes Off Epic GGMillion$ for First Victory – GGMillion$ Season 2026 Episode 30

The overnight leader Ding Biao was overtaken at the last by Dante Fernades this week, as one week removed from a final table packed with Brazilians, the sole South American at the GGPoker felt managed to find his first win in the format. Patrick Leonard, who won a WSOP bracelet with Espen Jørstad in 2022 before helping him on the rail of his World Championship win later that series, also helped coach the 2026 world champion, Luca Jumalon in Las Vegas this summer. He joined regular host Jeff Gross to bring this week’s GGMillion$ action to life… and what drama came!

Pre-Match Betting Odds

Heading into the final nine, the leader of the pack was Chinese player Ding Biao, but no single player was too far ahead, both in chip terms and odds in the GGPoker client, where players and fans could back their favorites. Biao started the action with 72 big blinds and was the second favorite at 5.38 despite his impressive live record. That was because Dutch juggernaut Duco Haven was also at the table. Starting with 68 big blinds, the Netherlands player was a 3.96 favorite before the first digital chip hit the felt.

Last week’s GGMillion$ final table saw not only an all-Brazilian heads-up battle for the title, but no fewer than six players of the nine finalists hailing from the South American country. By contrast, Dante Fernandes was the only Brazilian representative at this week’s final table but began on 48 big blinds at odds of 6.72. The Canadian Santiago Plante sat marginally behind him (43BB/7.66) with every chance of victory and was our pick of the crop for the title.

The middle pin on this week’s pre-game leaderboard was the Belarusian tournament crusher Mikalai Vaskaboinikau. Starting on a very playable stack of 40 big blinds, his odds of 9.86 looked long, with Russian player ‘Und3rdogg’ only a three-bet behind on 38 big blinds, and started at similarly attractive odds of 10.22.

New Zealand player Paul Hong (31BB/9.66) went into the action with every chance of a deep run despite starting seventh on the grid, while Canadian Pascal Lefrancois (23BB/13.22) had work to do to catch those who’d beat him to the first corner. Austrian Bernhard Binder began with only nine big blinds and was at odds that reflected that as the rank outsider at 29.34.

Key Moments from the Felt

There wasn’t long to wait before a player departed, but it wasn’t one of the short stacks. Mikalai Vaskaboinikau moved all-in after taking a few knocks, but the Belarusian was in great shape to double right back into contention. (0:56:15) His ace-king led a resurgent Bernhard Binder’s ace-queen until the river. A queen was needed to pair the Austrian’s dominated hand, and that’s what came as luckless Vaskaboinikau was eliminated in ninth place for $51,970.

Canadian Pascal Lefrancois moved all-in for ten big blinds with queen-jack and got a caller in Duco Haven with pocket jacks, including the one in clubs. The flop of A-9-6 with two clubs spelled trouble for Lefrancois. Another club on the turn took away the queen of clubs as an out for the Canadian, who ran dry with a king on the river, crashing out for $67,397.

Forty-five minutes passed before the next knockout, and it was an extremely unlucky one. With blinds now at 60,000/120,000, New Zealand’s Paul Hong called for 99% of his stack pre-flop with pocket kings (2:18:07) after Bernhard Binder shoved with ace-queen. Hong was a big favorite, as shown by the on-screen GGPoker graphics, but an ace on the flop changed that immediately. A queen on the turn gave Hong a gutshot, but it didn’t come in on the river. Hong’s remaining 1,235 chips were automatically all-in in the next hand, losing with eight-four to Dante Fernandes’s queen-four to go out in seventh for $87,403.

Six-handed play lasted a long time, during which time Dante Fernandes had built his way up to become the chip leader when he correctly called off ‘Und3rdogg’s four-bet shove with a suited queen-ten, while holding ace-king. The Brazilian’s hand was ahead and held through the ace-high board to send the Russian home with $113,348 in sixth place.

Fernandes had a huge chip lead with over nine million chips and soon had another victim. Getting a fold when shoving with fours against the folding fives of the dangerous Santiago Plante, the Brazilian was all-in directly afterward with king-jack of hearts from the button. The Canadian made the easy call from the big blind with pocket tens, but a board of A-K-K-8-7 sent the Canadian to the rail in fifth place with $146,995.

With four players remaining, Fernandes went into attack mode, knowing he had the table in a stranglehold ICM-wise. Duco Haven doubled with pocket sixed through the leader, but Fernandes still had 13.9m chips, almost double his opponents’ collective stacks, and he was putting down the hammer. Bernhard Binder was all-in with ace-eight but lost to the Brazilian’s king-jack to crash out in fourth for $190,629, a miracle for the man who started ninth, while adding more to Fernandes’ lead. 

Haven was committed again shortly after, this time with queen-ten, and, unsurprisingly, got a call from Fernandes with ace-three. (3:12:25) Ding Biao folded pocket sevens for good reasons, but must have been kicking himself as a board of 7-6-5-3-9 played out. Haven was eliminated in third place for $247,215. 

Heads-up began with Fernandes ahead with 17.45 million to Ding’s 4.88 million, as the Chinese player had ultimately chosen to avoid confrontations in the lead-up to the final duel, backing himself to turn it around when it was one-on-one. A good value bet from Ding early got a call from Fernandes with just ace-high, and the Chinese player recovered to being less than 2:1 down in chips. 

Undeterred, the Brazilian player pushed every value bet he could to pile on the pressure. Ding made all the right moves, but he wasn’t winning pots and drifted to worse than a 3:1 underdog with the blinds in the rarefied air of 150,000/300,000. Eventually, shoving all-in with pocket deuces, Fernandes got a call from Ding with ace-six, and a key flip would decide whether the match went on with the players level in chips, or Fernandes claimed the win. (3:38:55) An ace in the window hinted at an even match, but it was followed by a deuce and three, and after a meaningless jack on the turn, the overnight leader Ding was drawing dead to the river as Dante Fernandes had done it. 

Only one Brazilian made the final table this week, compared to six last week, but once again, there were South American celebrations as Dante Fernandes won his first ever GGMillion$ title and the top prize of $415,765, while the overnight leader, Ding Biao, took home $320,598 as runner-up.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – August 18th, 2026

Coming into play as the 6.72 third-favorite, Fernandes’s dominant display was a thrilling one as he took control of the final and used relentless aggression to press home his advantage over the two men favored in the GGPoker pre-match betting odds before play began.

“Crazy final table, a lot of action,” said Patrick Leonard after the final’s dramatic conclusion. “Everyone seemed to play with so much heart. Sometimes you’ll see these final tables, and everyone will be trying to ladder. It seemed like everyone here tried to play for the win which is the best way to spectate a final table, ‘cause everyone’s getting after everyone else.”

Here’s how this week’s final table of the GGPoker GGMillion$ played out across three thrilling hours of poker.

Here are all the winners from this week’s GGMillion$ final table:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Dante Fernandes	Brazil	$415,765
2nd	Ding Biao	China	$320,598
3rd	Duco Haven	Netherlands	$247,215
4th	Bernhard Binder	Austria	$190,629
5th	Santiago Plante	Canada	$146,995
6th	‘Und3rdogg’	Russia	$113,348
7th	Paul Hong	New Zealand	$87,403
8th	Pascal Lefrancois	Canada	$67,397
9th	Mikalai Vaskaboinikau	Belarus	$51,970

Did Ding’s Dithering Cost the Leader Glory?

Ding Biao’s big fold three-handed cost him a shot at the champ? Well, it was certainly an interesting spot and provoked discussion between Jeff and Patrick on comms. Calling Duco Haven’s effective all-in raise of 600,000 from a stack of 5 million was indicative of commitment, with Haven’s ‘no chip-risk’ to the Chinese player. 

Fernandes’ re-shove was entirely predictable, so the question is: if Ding knew he was going to fold, why not simply fold pre-flop and save 600,000 chips? When the Brazilian moved all-in with ace-three, Ding’s fold then cost his 15% of his stack. If he’d called, he would have doubled through the chip leader and taken out Haven.

Instead, Ding’s ill-timed dithering, calling Haven to then fold to Fernandes, cost him plenty of chips but just as importantly a lot of momentum going into the final fight for the title. Those early skirmishes that went his way in heads-up play were positives, but they would have been so much more if he’d gone into the last battle with a more level quantity of chips.

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

Here’s how this week’s thrilling GGMillion$ final table played out:

2026 Week 29                                          2026 Week 31

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.

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Edited by Shawn A.