GGPoker is known for swinging big when it comes to tournament guarantees—but this time, the gamble came at a historic cost.
The GGMasters 6th Anniversary event carried a massive $10 million guarantee and ultimately fell short by $1,791,760, officially setting the record for the largest overlay in online poker history.
Ambitious Target Falls Short
Hitting eight-figure guarantees is nothing new for GGPoker’s flagship Sunday event. The site also posted $10 million guarantees for its Anniversary editions in 2023 and 2024, missing the mark both times.
This year’s edition featured seven Day 1 flights, each structured as a freezeout. Players could fire multiple bullets across different flights, but once seated in a given Day 1, there were no re-entries. Even with that flexibility, the numbers didn’t add up.
To cover the guarantee, the tournament needed 72,464 entries at $150 apiece ($138 + $12). When late registration closed after the final starting flight, the counter stopped at 59,480 entries. That translated to $8,922,000 collected—leaving GGPoker to absorb a $1,791,760 shortfall.
It’s a record the operator likely would have preferred to avoid.
Brazil Dominates the Final Table
Despite the overlay, the tournament itself has delivered major storylines. The field has now narrowed to nine players, with Brazil’s Ramon Kropmanns leading the charge. Already boasting more than $3 million in GGPoker earnings, Kropmanns enters the final table with 137,514,607 chips.
Brazil holds a strong presence overall, accounting for four of the nine finalists.
Meanwhile, one of the most compelling narratives belongs to Ireland’s “dueceswild.” Sitting second-shortest in chips with 26,618,444, the Irish player has just over $1,000 in prior recorded winnings. A victory here would transform that résumé instantly, with the champion set to collect $1,108,712.
All remaining players are guaranteed $110,430, with play resuming at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, February 10.
Final Table Chip Counts:
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Ramon Kropmanns (Brazil) – 137,514,607
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modalrealism (Norway) – 116,522,510
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Au!Au!Au!In! (Brazil) – 87,182,799
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CheeDDou (Brazil) – 78,467,298
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stip4822 (Croatia) – 45,206,024
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dodge_river (Russia) – 42,676,828
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TuttiFrutti3 (Brazil) – 40,084,655
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dueceswild (Ireland) – 26,618,444
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fish202511 (China) – 16,876,954
Beating the Previous Online Mark
The prior record for the largest online overlay belonged to the 2024 PokerBaazi GOAT event, which guaranteed $2,975,000 and missed by $1,400,000. The GGMasters Anniversary has now surpassed that figure by nearly $400,000.
While this sets a new online benchmark, the largest overlay in poker history—live or online—still belongs to the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. That $5,300 buy-in event carried a $10 million guarantee and left organizers covering a staggering $2,505,000 shortfall after entries dropped 37% from the previous year.
A History of High-Stakes Guarantees
The GGMasters brand has evolved significantly since launching six years ago with a modest $300,000 guarantee. By 2023 and 2024, the Anniversary editions were boldly marketed as “Overlay Editions,” each boasting $10 million guarantees.
In 2025, GGPoker scaled back to a $5 million guarantee and introduced a pure freezeout format. However, technical issues forced the event’s cancellation on Day 2, with full refunds issued to players.
This year, the $10 million guarantee returned—and so did the risk.
The Five Biggest Overlays in Poker History
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2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (Live)
Buy-in: $5,300
Guarantee: $10M
Overlay: $2,505,000 -
2023 WPT World Championship (Live)
Buy-in: $10,300
Guarantee: $40M
Overlay: $2,400,000 -
2026 GGMasters 6th Anniversary (Online)
Buy-in: $150
Guarantee: $10M
Overlay: $1,791,760 -
2024 PokerBaazi GOAT (Online)
Buy-in: $120
Guarantee: $2,975,000
Overlay: $1,400,000 -
2020 PokerStars The Big Blowout (Online)
Buy-in: $109
Guarantee: $5M
Overlay: $1,230,000
For players, overlays represent added value and boosted equity. For operators, they’re a calculated risk—sometimes one that makes history.
