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Jeschka Masterclass Seals Epic GGMillion$ Win – GGMillion$ Season 2026 Episode 28

This week, one player rose above them all to dominate the GGMillion$ finale from start to finish. The German pro Hannes Jeshka came into play in the middle of the pack, but went through everyone as he became a GGMillion$ for the second time in three final table appearances. As legends of the felt wilted under his play, Jeschka showed why he is one of the ultimate closers in this format, and did so in style.

Pre-Match Betting Odds

The regular host, Jeff Gross, was joined this week by recent WSOP $50k High Roller bracelet winner Jamie Dwan on coms. Meanwhile, at the final table, the Spanish player Juan Dominguez came into play with a very healthy lead, sitting behind 87 big blinds, and available to bet on in the GGPoker client at favorite odds of 3.36. The Russian player Vyacheslav Balaev was the second favorite, with a stack of 68 big blinds at odds of 5.98. Third in chips was the German Hannes Jeschka (60BB/6.82), with the Russian Viacheslav Buldygin (51BB/7.86) in fourth place. 

Middle pin and our bet for the evening was the All-Time Money List Top 10 regular, Belarusian player Mikita Badziakouski. With 48 big blinds, his odds of 7.52 were generous given how deep the stacks were, and with WSOP $50,000 High Roller finalist Paulius Vaitiekunas from Lithuania (38BB/11.32) also close, the field was a highly experienced one. 

Even the shorter stacks looked attractively priced. The Argentinian Marco Perez (32BB/13.78) was a finalist in recent weeks, with Russian Anatoliy Zlotnikov (25BB/18.14) and the Ukrainian Andrii Derzhypilskyi (15BB/22.70) only needing a good start to put themselves back into the reckoning.

Key Moments from the Felt

An early elimination wasn’t expected with the depth of the stacks, but it did happen, and it was the shortest stack of them all that went. Andrii Derzhypilskyi bet pre-flop from middle position with ace-king, then three-bet shoved over Anatoliy Zlotnikov’s raise with pocket kings. The Russian had just over 67,000 chips behind, so the call essentially represented a shot at a double for both players. The flop of 9-9-3 was no danger to Zlotnikov, and he locked it up with the king turn, an ineffectual ace coming on the river to send the Ukrainian home with $58,074 in ninth place.

Next to go, forty-five minutes later, was Paulius Vaitiekunas, who was effectively all-in pre-flop with ace-nine against the ace-queen of Mikita Badziakouski. The Belarusian’s dominating hand stood up, sending the Lithuanian Vaitiekunas home in eighth with $74,066. Some time after, Marco Perez found himself all-in with jack-ten, but unable to find the hit he needed against the ace-king of Hannes Jeschka, whose resurgence had seen him take the lead. Big Slick won the day and sent the Argentinian Perez home with $94,462 in seventh place. 

Over half of the final table time had played out, yet six still remained. Jeschka continued to make hay despite losing a flip to Balaev to keep the Russian in the running. Another of Balaev’s countrymen was unable to survive against Jeschka, however, as Viacheslav Buldygin’s jack-ten of spades fell to the German’s ace-queen in the same suit. A flop of A-K-4 gave Buldygin outs to a Broadway straight. Unfortunately, Jeschka was blocking one queen, and none of the three others appeared as Buldygin departed with a score of $120,475.

Shortly after, the final five were down to four. Mikita Badziakouski was all-in with ace-three against the dominating ace-seven of Juan Dominguez. The overnight leader triumphed against the Belarusian, sending him home with $153,650 in fifth place. 

There was an unlucky beat right afterward, as Anatoliy Zlotnikov busted for $195,962 in fourth place with pocket kings. All-in pre-flop against the ace-four of Dominguez, the Spanish player looked to be handing his dangerous opponent a double up after a flop of Q-5-3. A ten on the turn was safe too, but a four-outer deuce on the river spelled disaster for the at-risk player, as that completed the Spanish pro’s wheel straight, sending Zlotnikov to the rail.

With the top three coming into play being the final three left, Jeschka had a huge lead with 13 million chips against Dominguez’s 5.96 million and Balaev’s stack of just 2.1 million. Soon, the final three were the final two, as Jeschka shoved from the small blind with nine-five of hearts and Balaev correctly called it off with king-eight in the big blind. A flop of J-T-9 had something for both players, but it vaulted Jeschka into the lead. A five on the turn took away some outs, leaving Balev drawing to a queen or a seven to survive on the river. Sadly for him, he drew dead with another ten landing, and that meant the Russian headed home with $249,924.

Heads-up, Jeschka had a chip lead of greater than 2:1 with his stack of 14.73m dwarfing Dominguez’s pile of 6.38m chips. The Spanish player initially fought back, bumping his stack by a couple of million chips in the early stages. But the fateful hand was right around the corner, as a board of Q-8-3-9-4 led to Dominguez shoving with ace-seven. The German Jeschka held queen-ten, and while he took a little time to process what Jamie Dwan called “such a nice hand to call with”, Jeschka eventually clicked call and just like that became the most recent GGMillion$ champion, his second win in total. Winning the top prize of $406,521, Jeschka denied the overnight leader Dominguez, who had to be satisfied with $318,747.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – August 4th, 2026

A thrilling week’s action at the GGMillion$ felt produced a superb winner as Hannes Jeschka proved once again just how good he is at negotiating final tables. In the three GGMillion$ finals he has played, the brilliant German pro has won two of them outright, relegating several poker greats to the role of also-rans.

“He was playing an inspired brand of poker [and also earned] a $10,000 WSOP ticket to The Bahamas too.’ Jeff Gross said. 

“It was really interesting, how the chip lead moved around and when he got it, Jeschka using that chip lead to his advantage. Heads-up, that was an amazing last hand from both [players] – just brilliant poker and a delight to watch.”

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

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Hannes Jeschka	Germany	$406,521
2nd	Juan Dominguez	Spain	$318,747
3rd	Vyacheslav Balaev	Russia	$249,924
4th	Anatoliy Zlotnikov	Russia	$249,924
5th	Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	$195,962
6th	Viacheslav Buldygin	Russia	$153,650
7th	Marco Perez	Argentina	$94,462
8th	Paulius Vaitiekunas	Lithuania	$74,066
9th	Andrii Derzhypilskyi	Ukraine	$58,074

How Did Hannes Jeschka Dominate the Final?

To control any final table is hard, but from the middle of the pack, it’s incredibly tough. Hannes Jeschka’s perfect final table started steadily, but when he called down with second pair against serious pressure from Balaev, Jeschka started building. He had to ride out a period where he picked up very few hands, but another big pot against Balaev separated the German from the Russian at a crucial time, bluffing his opponent off the best hand with millions in the pot. In some respects, Balaev played too weakly against his opponent, but it was more about how well Jeschka did to get the best hand to fold. 

From holding the chip lead, the German pro showed he knew exactly how to grow his advantage. Taking out two players by winning small flips, Jeschka then made the most of pocket jacks to make his lead bulletproof, then rode out that rollercoaster heads-up by making a superb call, albeit with top pair and blockers to the straight and flush.

Jamie Dwan considered the final table play to be different than what he expected. 

“It’s very interesting. You could look at this being theory based, ‘solver versus solver’, but it’s not,” he said. “It’s incredibly important to pay attention. They were a lot more feisty and ‘street poker’ than you might imagine.”

Here’s how this week’s epic GGMillion$ final table played out in the company of Jeff Gross and Jamie Dwan.

 

2026 Week 27                                          2026 Week 29

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.