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A Record-Breaking Birthday: GGPoker Sets New Online Overlay High

A Record-Breaking Birthday: GGPoker Sets New Online Overlay High
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Iva Dozet News Editor
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: February 12, 2026
  • Read time: 2 min

Even though most birthdays are about receiving gifts, GGPoker ended up giving away more than it planned for its latest anniversary.

The GGMasters 6th Anniversary tournament finished this week with a massive $10 million guarantee. However, when the dust settled on the final Day 1 flight, the ticker stopped short of the 72,464 entries that were needed to break even. That resulted in an unprecedented $1,791,760 overlay, which is now a new record for the largest shortfall in the history of online poker.

How GGPoker Missed the $10 Million Mark

GGPoker has never been one to shy away from slapping eight-figure guarantees on its marquee events. In fact, they’ve tried the $10 million target for the GGMasters anniversary before, missing the mark in both 2023 and 2024. However, these back to back misses didn’t mean the site would have a less ambitious strategy for 2026:

  • The Format: A $150 freezeout (no re-entries).
  • The Volume: Seven different Day 1 flights spread across two weekends.
  • The Result: Only recorded 59,480 entries.

While the site recouped roughly $8.9 million through buy-ins, the $1.8 million gap had to come out of GGPoker’s pocket. Missing the $10 million mark was the result of a couple of intertwined factors, starting with the rigid freezeout format that limits total entries to a potential “trust gap” after technical issues forced the site to cancel the 2025 anniversary edition.

Is This The Biggest Overlay in Poker History?

In professional poker, an overlay is effectively “free money” that’s subsidized by the house. To put this $1.8 million in perspective, it’s enough to cover 12,000 individual buy-ins or bankroll nearly 100 mid-stakes grinders for a full year. While those are some serious number, there’s still the question of whether this is the biggest overlay in poker history?

The answer is yes. And no.

This is the biggest online overlay. GGMasters 2026 ($1.79M) now takes the crown from the 2024 PokerBaazi GOAT ($1.4M). However, it’s not the biggest ever in poker history. This ranks as the third-largest overlay ever recorded, trailing only the legendary 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open ($2.5M) and the 2023 WPT World Championship ($2.4M).

A Very Brazilian Final Table

While the site took a hit during the anniversery, the players certainly didn’t. The final table was dominated by South Americans, with the top three finishers, all under the Brazilian flag, negotiated a deal that saw two players walk away with nearly $1 million each.

Ramon Kropmanns officially took the title and $956,000, while the runner-up, playing under the handle ‘Au!Au!Au!In!’, actually secured the slightly larger payout of $980,000 thanks to the chip-chop.

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Written By: Iva Dozet News Editor

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