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Kalajurdjevic the King in Third GGMillion$ Triumph – GGMillion$ Season 2026 Episode 7

The latest GGMillion$ final table was a corker, with Dejan Kalajurdjevic going wire-to-wire after some dramatic dust-ups at the digital felt. With appearances from poker legends like Denys Chufarin, Christopher Nguyen, and Leonard Maue, the action was non-stop from start to finish. Joining regular host Jeff Gross in the commentary box was the popular Portuguese player and last week’s GGMillion$ winner, Pedro Neves, whose prowess in this tournament is legendary. 

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Pre-Match Betting Odds

When play got underway, two big stacks dominated the discussion, with Montenegrin poker professional Dejan Kalajurdjevic leading the way on 103 big blinds. While that was a mammoth stack, it was closely followed by that of the German player Christopher Nguyen on 95 big blinds. Of the two favorites, Kalajurdjevic had the shortest odds in the GGPoker client at 3.6, with Nguyen marginally longer at 3.74.

Behind them, the Russian pro Alexander Kirichenko looked a great bet at 6.44 with 62 big blinds, a very playable stack. Austria’s Oma Gisela had 59 bigs at odds of 6.7, while fellow Austrian, ‘Fernando 007’, was looking to shoot down their opponents from a stack of 31 big blinds at longer odds of 15.92. 

We liked the chances of the Ukrainian former GGMillion$ winner and co-commentator Denys Chufarin, though. Holding 30 big blinds to start the battle, his odds of 13.46 were shorter due to his vast experience. Brazil’s Kelvin Kerber (20BB/18.62), Germany’s Leonard Maue (17BB/19.14), and Russian pro Viacheslav Buldygin (14BB/25.34) brought up the rear with more hope than expectation. 

Key Moments from the Felt

It was over an hour before someone had their ticket punched, and unfortunately, it was our first pick. Denys Chufarin dropped to under 10 big blinds and shoved over the raise of Kelvin Kerber. The Ukrainian was live with ace-eight (1:47:55) against Kerber’s pocket sixes, but the Brazilians’ pair held through the T-4-4-7-5 board to send Chufarin home with a score of $50,545 in ninth place.

An exit for ‘Fernando 007’ came on the very next hand as the Austrian was dominated to defeat by Kalajurdjevic’s ace-king. The Austrian’s ace-eight never caught up to leave him on the rail with $65,549 in eighth place. Seven became six soon after when the Russian player Alexander Kirichenko busted for $85,006. Holding pocket jacks, Kirichenko was unlucky to crash out, as Chris Nguyen’s queen-jack (2:27:50) hit the nut straight on the flop to seal the hand and the final six in the process.

Brazilian player Kelvin Kerber woke up with pocket kings in the big blind with six left and must have been loving life when Nguyen shoved from the hijack (2:41:00) with queen-nine. Kerber snapped it off and got the good news, but the Austrian paired both of his cards on the flop and fade turn and river to take a massive lead in the tournament as Kerber departed in sixth for $110,240.

Oma Gisela lost a classic flip to bust in fifth place for $142,963, their ace-king unable to hit against the pocket queens belonging to Kalajurdjevic, which held with ease through a nine-high board. Down to four, that pot gave the lead back to Kalajurdjevic with 8.41 million chips. His closest rival was Nguyen (8.40m) as the top two overnight looked to be on a collision course to meet heads-up; however, Buldygin (3.45m) and Maue (1.29m) were not to be overlooked, both still playing catch-up having come into play eighth and ninth in the rankings.

Sure enough, things went to plan for Nguyen again when his king-queen took out Maue’s king-nine in fourth for $185,401. Russia’s Viacheslav Buldygin came into play ninth of the nine but laddered to third brilliantly and was desperately unlucky to bust when his pocket jacks lost to Kalajurdjevic’s pocket eights as an agonising board of T-9-7-Q-6 gave the Montenegrin the winning straight and Buldygin had to be sated with $240,435. 

That hand gave Kalajurdjevic a lead of 11.3m to Nguyen’s 10.2m, and it looked like it would be a tight, tense heads-up battle. The opposite was true as the Montenegro player dominated the closing stages, winning with pair over pair numerous times until he had 80% of  the chips in play. Nguyen eventually shoved with ace-four, and Kalajurdjevic snap-called with king-ten. The run good continued as he hit a pair on the flop and improved to a full house by the river to take the title. 

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – February 24th, 2026

For a long time, it was a close fight for supremacy between Dejan Kalajurdjevic and Chris Nguyen as the two big stacks dominated the proceedings. Both Leonard Maue and Viacheslav Buldygin deserve huge credit from laddering to finish in the top four, but this was a battle of wits between the two big dogs at the table. 

Eventually, the Montenegrin player got the better of his German counterpart and snagged his third GGMillion$ title, winning what Jeff Gross called “A $93k heads-up match”. 

Pedro Neves was just as impressed with the final table. 

“It was really fun to watch today,” he said. “[There were] a lot of good players, different players, two cash game crushers and good Triton players like Leonard and Buldygin got third and fourth. Oma [Gisela] looks a good one for the future.”

Here’s how everyone ended up in this week’s GGMillion$:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Dejan Kalajurdjevic	Montenegro	$404,362
2nd	Christopher Nguyen	Germany	$311,806
3rd	Viacheslav Buldygin	Russia	$240,435
4th	Leonard Maue	Germany	$185,401
5th	Oma Gisela	Austria	$142,963
6th	Kelvin Kerber	Brazil	$110,240
7th	Alexander Kirichenko	Russia	$85,006
8th	‘Fernando 007’	Austria	$65,549
9th	Denys Chufarin	Ukraine	$50,545

Kalajurdjevic King by Royal Decree

While both chip leaders played very well, the Montenegrin player Dejan Kalajurdjevic really took control heads-up and dominated proceedings. So how did he do it? A lot of his hands came just ahead of his opponent, and he made great value bets on the turn or river to take away the maximum he could when ahead. 

Reading his opponent’s hands superbly well, Kalajurdjevic really made the most of every opportunity, and when the final duel played out, he treated heads-up like a brand-new game. His energy and momentum, combined with his relentless aggression, steadily pushed him into a stronger lead. Sure, he got a little lucky with the final hand, but only a little, and he’d worked himself into the kind of lead that deserved that final bit of fortune to get him over the line. 

Watch this week’s GGMillion$ finale in full with Jeff Gross and Pedro Neves here:

 

2026 Week 6                                          2026 Week 8

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.