GG World Festival Prize Pool Surpasses $200M Mark as Series Reaches Week Four

By Mrinal Gujare

1 hour ago

Mrinal Gujare 1 hour ago

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GG World Festival 2026 prize pool crossed $200M in Episode 8.
Leon Sturm & PolskaMoc secured major event victories amid massive fields.
Leaderboard races intensify with less than two weeks remaining.

Image Credit: GGPoker

The GG World Festival 2026 surpassed the $200M mark during Episode 8. Key victories from May 25 through May 28 included Leon Sturm winning the $10K Super tier event and PolskaMoc capturing the High tier Bounty Hunters Mega Main title.

The GG World Festival 2026 continues to deliver massive fields and extensive prize pools, with the GGPoker community showing up in force across every tier and every format as the series charges through its fourth week.

Episode 8 of this series covers another six of the biggest global tournaments and three Ontario events spanning May 25 through May 28, a stretch that produced some incredibly compelling final table action. With less than two weeks remaining in the series, the leaderboard races are heating up in every tier.

The $10K GGMillion Main Event result is in, and poker fans can watch the final table play out as 9 of the best poker players battle it out for the top prize of $1.7m. The broadcast features regular host Jeff Gross and guest host Shaun Deeb in attendance, and it is available to watch on GGPoker.tv.

In the Super tier, Event 225-S: $10,000 Monday Monster Stack drew 61 players to the No-Limit Hold’em tournament. The entrants pushed the $400,000 guarantee nearly 50% over the top, building a final prize pool of $591,700 based on a buy-in of $9,700 + $300.

The event lasted 7 hours and 2 minutes, concluding when the final three players agreed to call it a deal. This three-way ICM chop produced an inverted payout order, a trend that has become the norm when a deal is made at the festival’s final tables.

Pedro Padilha of Brazil technically finished second but walked away with the largest financial share of $114,494.73. Leon Sturm of Austria officially claimed the tournament title along with a payout of $112,606.59.

P Lefrancois of Canada collected $104,793.33 for third place, marking back-to-back Super tier cashes in consecutive episodes after a victory last week.

This consecutive deep run presents a strong argument for anyone watching this leaderboard race that P Lefrancois is someone to take note of, particularly those at the top of the field.

1st: Leon Sturm (Austria) — $112,606.59
2nd: Pedro Padilha (Brazil) — $114,494.73
3rd: P Lefrancois (Canada) — $104,793.33 (Three-way ICM chop)

High Tier: PolskaMoc Conquers Bounty Hunters Mega Main

The High tier action was highlighted by Event 224-H: $525 Bounty Hunters Mega Main, which featured a buy-in structure of $250 + $250 + $25. The tournament drew 2,425 entries, running well above the initial $1,000,000 guarantee to generate a final prize pool of $1,212,500.

PolskaMoc of Poland navigated 11 hours and 9 minutes of play and a deep field to take the title. The regular prize pool split between PolskaMoc and runner-up Ultr4tight was separated by just $1.30, making this one of the tightest money finishes of the festival.

However, PolskaMoc’s bounty collection made all the difference, tripling Ultr4tight’s haul and turning a near-identical prize pool result into a commanding overall victory. PolskaMoc accumulated a bounty haul of over $50,000, pushing the combined payday well past the $100,000 mark.

1st: PolskaMoc (Poland) — $61,272.16 + $50,454.05 Bounty Rewards
2nd: Ultr4tight (Argentina) — $61,270.86 + $16,396.52 Bounty Rewards
3rd: crumbs (Panama) — $48,685.69 + $21,287.89 Bounty Rewards

Medium Tier: D Todavchik Dominates Daily Main Bounties

In the Medium tier, Event 233-M: $55 Bounty Hunters Daily Main [Deepstack] featured a buy-in of $25.60 + $25 + $4.40. The tournament attracted 7,865 entries, driving the total prize pool to $397,969 and comfortably passing the $300,000 guarantee.

D Todavchik of Russia was the last player standing after 10 hours and 3 minutes of play. The Russian collected $17,611.59 from the standard prize pool and added $13,737.21 in bounties for a combined payday of over $31,000 from a $55 investment.

Todavchik’s bounty haul was more than six times that of runner-up Impinadordekomb, a gap that reflects just how dominant the eventual winner was in eliminating opponents throughout the field.

1st: D Todavchik (Russia) — $17,611.59 + $13,737.21 Bounty Rewards
2nd: Impinadordekomb (Brazil) — $17,607.77 + $2,101.46 Bounty Rewards
3rd: poker!ma (China) — $13,991.09 + $1,906.43 Bounty Rewards

Low Tier: Pepegaus Secures Straightforward Monster Stack Win

The Low tier featured Event 225-L: $25 Monday Monster Stack, which utilized a buy-in of $23 + $2. The event attracted 5,544 entries and pushed the final prize pool to $127,512, clearing the $100,000 guarantee by more than 25%.

The tournament ran over 10 hours and 31 minutes. Pepegaus of Austria took the title in a clean, straightforward finish with no deals made at the end, turning a $25 investment into nearly $13,500 and a festival title. Finland has not appeared on the podium often in this series, making the runner-up finish by cutiecorn worth noting.

1st: Pepegaus (Austria) - $13,554.92
2nd: cutiecorn (Finland) - $10,448.44
3rd: woain!n (China) - $8,056.85