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Artur Martirosian Wins Record-Extending 13th GGMillion$ Title – GGMillion$ Season 2026 Episode 17

This week’s GGMillion$ finale, which was the biggest tournament guarantee from the first weekend of the GG World Festival, was one for the books. In particular, it was the Russian player Artur Martirosian, who won his record-setting 13th title in the format for $486,816. During an exciting finale, regular host Jeff Gross was joined in the virtual booth by the popular Table 1 Podcast co-host and long-time cash and tournament great Justin Young for this week’s show. With over $6.8 million in live tournament earnings alone, Young’s reputation in the poker industry is second to none, and his analytical eye made the final table action all the more entertaining as nine great players fought for the win. 

Pre-Match Betting Odds

At the start of the action, the GGMillion$ legend of legends was in a commanding lead. Russian professional, and arguably the greatest GGMillion$ player of all time, Artur Martirosian was way out in front on 120 big blinds, so his odds of 2.54 weren’t short without good reason. Possibly an even better bet due to his recent success was the Russian’s closest rival in the all-time GGMillion$ standings, as the German player Ole Schemion (68BB) began at odds of 5.32, with his notorious style of pushing for the win at all costs suiting those odds – and the GGMillion$ format – perfectly. 

Behind the top two players, Russian Vyacheslav Balaev (43BB/8.4) trailed, with the Hungarian Tamas Adamszki also on 43 big blinds at a price of 9.26. The German professional Christoph Vogelsang (34BB/10.06) needed a strong start, but if he could manage it, then anyone who had backed him at the pre-match price in the GGPoker client would be excited to sweat the latter stages. 

Others involved on a night of drama included Israeli GGMillion$ regular Barak Wisbrod (25BB/13.02), Russian player ‘GREAGYPoker’ (25BB/16.12), and Mexico-based ‘don chimbo’ (21BB/16.68), all of whom were ahead of the short stack Maksim Vaskresenski from Belarus, who arrived with 15 big blinds and was available at odds of 26.44.

Key Moments from the Felt

It was the best part of an hour at the online felt before the first elimination of this week’s GGMillion$ was confirmed, and when it came, it was the expected evictee. Belarussian Maksim Vaskresenski was the man to depart, cashing for $60,852 when his ace-king was unable to win a flip against the pocket jacks of Ole Schemion. A ten-high on the flop and a queen on the river was the closest thing to help for the at-risk player.

Next to go was ‘GREAGYPoker’, and they were suckered in by fishhooks. Pre-flop, all the money went into the middle, and a massive 4 million-chip pot was on offer as the Russian’s ten-nine of clubs was an underdog against Tamas Adamszki, who was well ahead with pocket jacks. The Jacks held through the board of K-Q-5-2-K, and the field was down to seven as ‘GREAGYPoker’ went home with $78,915 in eighth place.

A domination delivered the next knock-out, as Barak Wisbrod ran his ace-queen into the ace-king of Vyacheslav Balaev. There was no drama on the board, as a nine-high board sent the Israeli player home with $102,340. Three of the bottom four were already out, and the fourth joined them the very next hand, as Mexico-based ‘don chimbo’ busted for $132,719 in sixth. Three-bet shoving all-in with pocket tens, he was crushed pre-flop by the pocket kings belonging to Christoph Vogelsang and remained there through the J-7-3-J-8 board, and the field was cut from nine to five in just over ten minutes.

It would be another half hour before an absolutely stunning hand cut one of the best players in any event as Ole Schemion and Artur Martirosian clashed in a pot worth 5.5 million chips (2:05:25). A board of T-9-4-4-Q had landed when Schemion bet the value of the pot with jack-eight for a rivered straight, leaving himself just 665,000 chips behind. Martirosian raised all-in covering the German and when Schemion called it off, he must not have been able to believe the Russian’s hand. Holding king-jack for a rivered nut straight. The pot gave Martirosian a massive stack of 12.66 million, with Adamszki (6.58m), Balaev (4.18m), and Vogelsang (4.10m) all trailing in his wake, while Schemion, one of the most dangerous opponents to the chip leader, was sent to the virtual rail with $172,115.

Over the ensuing hands, Martirosian had the rest of the table in an ICM stranglehold and used his stack to its full potential, bullying others off pots they could ill afford to contend if they wanted to finish second rather than fourth. Eventually, Balaev was the man to crack. Sitting in second place, his shove for 24 big blinds with pocket fours was wild at the very least (2:47:15). His countryman Martirosian called with ace-queen and flopped the ace, sending Balaev crashing out for $223,206 in fourth place and virtually locking up the title for the start of day chip leader. 

With only three players left, Martirosian had 83% of the chips in play and looked certain to dominate the latter stages. Incredibly, that wasn’t the case, as both Vogelsang and Adamszki bounced back off the canvas to rally. Vogelsang was soon in the position to try to double himself right back into contention (2:53:55), but all-in with ace-ten of spades, this time Martirosian had the pocket fours, and they would hold for the Russian. But the board was not without drama. A flop of J-8-8 only came with one spade, but the six on the turn gave Vogelsang a draw to the nut flush. A spade came on the river, but it was the only one in the deck that didn’t give the German the winning hand. The four of spades gave Vogelsang the flush but made Martirosian a full house, giving him a 3.5:1 lead heading into the final battle as the German left with $289,462 in third. 

Heads-up, the Hungarian Tamas Adamszki was able to hang in there for a long time, keeping himself where he was, down but not out. Eventually, the chance to double up came, and he took it brilliantly. In a raised pot, his seven-six of diamonds flopped the flush and even better than that, gave Martirosian a set of fours at the same time. An inconsequential three on the turn saw Adamaszki engender a shove from his opponent, and calling it off, the Hungarian faded nine outs to put himself back up to 12.3 million chips, with the Russian marginally ahead on 15.2m.

Artur Martirosian grew that lead to a 2:1 advantage before calling an all-in with pocket sixes. Adamszki was all-in for over 16 big blinds with ace-six (3:33:50), and the Russian quickly called the bet, riding the flop, turn, and river without an ace or running cards coming to stop him. As Adamszki had to be happy with the $375,386 runner-up prize, Artur Martirosian won his 13th and record-extending GGMillion$ title and the first-place prize of $486,816.

This Week’s GGMillion$ Results – May 5th, 2026

After a pulsating heads-up battle, the final showdown was more than worthy of a superb final. Jeff Gross explained how the winner went wire-to-wire in an impressive performance.

“He was a huge favorite, I think the lowest odds [ever] at 2.54.”

Table 1 Podcast co-host Justin Young was full of praise for the experience of commentating on the record-extending winner Artur Martirosian.

“It was a joy to be able to watch these high-class players. I’ve always been a poker nerd and hope to continue to do this for the rest of my life.”

With Martirosian winning his 13th title, here are all the winners from a frantic night at the GGMillion$ final table.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Artur Martirosian	Russia	$486,816
2nd	Tamas Adamszki	Hungary	$375,386
3rd	Christoph Vogelsang	Germany	$289,462
4th	Vyacheslav Balaev	Russia	$223,206
5th	Ole Schemion	Germany	$172,115
6th	‘don chimbo’	Mexico	$132,719
7th	Barak Wisbrod	Israel	$102,340
8th	‘GREAGYPoker’	Russia	$78,912
9th	Maksim Vaskresenski	Belarus	$60,852

Was Adamskzki Brilliant or Did Martirosian Almost Blow Chance for Glory?

While the Russian player Artur Martirosian eventually got the job done, his path to glory in this week’s GGMillion$ was far from an easy one. One pivotal hand went the way of Adamszki, and although he was unable to build on it, in other weeks it might have led to a painful reverse for the chip leader. 

Martirosian’s set of fours on an all-diamond flop was a hand that had danger written all over it, not least because of the direction of the betting. Adamszki had the made flush, so looking at the hand with hindsight, we as viewers knew he had the best hand, while Martirosian could not. However, while he had nine outs, the betting on the flop and turn was more high-risk than high-reward, and with his vast experience, we’d have expected the Russian to play the lower variance line in this position. 

As it happened, Martirosian came back and pushed himself into a big lead again, with his pocket sixes able to close it out in a big final hand. Watch all the action in the company of Jeff Gross and his special guest Justin Young on the GGPoker GGMillion$ weekly show right here:

 

2026 Week 16                                          2026 Week 18

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.