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Vyacheslav Balaev Wins His First GGMillion$ After Changing His Plans ($325,319)

Vyacheslav Balaev Wins His First GGMillion$ After Changing His Plans ($325,319)
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Alex Sakuta Content Editor
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: June 24, 2026
  • Read time: 2 min

Last week, Vyacheslav Balaev was in the commentary booth covering the GGMillion$ final table for the Russian-speaking audience. He was supposed to be there again yesterday, but instead he made the final table of the $10K GGMillion$ himself and went on to claim his first title.

A Hard-Fought Victory For Balaev: How The Action Unfolds At The GGMillion$ Final Table

Balaev entered the GGMillion$ final table with the third-largest stack.

In 7-max play, Balaev completed from the SB with 59 BB, while chip leader Tamas Adamszki, holding 139 BB, raised to 4.5 BB. Balaev called. The board ran out 4 5 10 Q 10 . Adamszki fired all three streets (6.5 BB – 11.4 BB – 22.9 BB), and Balaev folded the winning hand, A 4 , on the river. Adamszki was bluffing with K 2 .

Balaev folds wrong
GTO Wizard recommends to call

“I played the hand badly. Good thing variance had my back,” Balaev commented after the victory.

Balaev dropped to fourth place with 38 BB. For most of the final table, he remained near the bottom of the chip counts while steadily picking up smaller pots.

In 4-max play, Balaev won a major pot against Fabiano Kovalski. Effective stack: 28 BB. Kovalski opened from the BTN with J 10 , Balaev called from the SB with K Q , and Adamszki folded his BB.

Flop: 3 6 8 — Kovalski bet 2.1 BB

Turn: A — Balaev led for 3.2 BB, Kovalski called

River: 7 — Balaev shoved, Kovalski folded.

After this hand, Balaev moved into the chip lead with 37 BB.

In 3-max play, Adamszki 4-bet shoved with KQo, and Balaev called with AKo in a 63 BB pot.

“We had a bit of history. That’s probably why Kovalski played it that way. But it was a bad hand,” Balaev said afterward.

Balaev eventually eliminated Adamszki in third place: A4o > KJo in a 28 BB pot.

Balaev began heads-up play with 75 BB against Kovalski’s 12 BB. In the final hand, Kovalski got his chips in with A6s against pocket nines in a 16 BB pot. The pocket pair held up.

$10K GGMillion$ Final Table Payouts (165 Entries)

PlaceCountryPlayerPrize
1Vyacheslav Balaev$325,319
2Fabiano Kovalski$255,007
3Tamas Adamszki$200,002
4sOOnShine$156,818
5Sergio Vamos$122,959
6Matheus Machado$96,410
7Patrick Brooks$75,593
8Marco Perez$59,271
9Ravil Khamatgareev$46,474

But that’s not all. In his post-victory interview, Balaev revealed that he had purchased a 1.7% piece of Kovalski’s action, which earned him an additional $4,335. It stands as the biggest score of his staking investments to date.

Vyacheslav Balaev Wins More Than $740K On GGPoker Over The Last Two Weeks

By the way, the GGMillion$ victory isn’t Balaev’s only major score in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, he hit the top mystery bounty worth $420,000 in the $150 GGWF Mystery Closer.

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Written By: Alex Sakuta Content Editor

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