What is the GG Spring Festival?

The GG Spring Festival is an online poker tournament series that started life in 2021 and runs each April. In addition to some massive GG Spring Festival events, some of GGPoker’s most popular tournaments are rebranded with the festival’s name, creating a series with some serious guaranteed prize pools.

The inaugural GG Spring Festival boasted of $150 million in combined prize pools!

Big Scores Galore During the Inaugural GG Spring Festival

PokerNews was proud to bring its readers exclusive coverage of more than two dozen GG Spring Festival events during April 2021. It marked the first time GGPoker ran its Spring Festival, and it was a massive success, with guarantees obliterated all over the place.

Five of the GG Spring Festival events were so huge that their champions saw seven-figure prizes wing their way to the champions’ GGPoker accounts.

Guillaume Nolet Banks First $1M+ GG Spring Festival Score

Canadian Pro, Guillaume Nolet, got his hands on the first-ever seven-figure prize awarded on the GG Spring Festival. Nolet came out on top of a 198-strong crowd in the H-06: $25,500 Sunday Five Million.

Everyone who reached the nine-handed final table secured more than $100,000 for their efforts. Juan Pardo Dominguez, "FlowTao," Yuri Dzivielevski, Elio Fox, and Matthias Eibinger were the first casualties. Benjamin Rolle fell in fourth for $457,495, with Francisco Benitez crashing out in third, leaving Andras Nemeth and Nolet heads-up.

There was no deal despite almost $200,000 difference between first and second place. This meant Nolet banked $1,084,892 when he defeated Nemeth, resigning Nemeth to a $813,554 consolation prize.

Joakim Andersson Cruises to $1.5M Prize

The GG Spring Festival Super MILLION$ ME-H was a $10,300 buy-in affair that drew in a crowd of 1,089 players. Some $10,890,000 was awarded, with both the champion and runner-up becoming instant millionaires.

Such luminaries as Taylor Paur and Alex Foxen crashed out of the final table early into proceedings. By the time Roman Emelyanov, "level29India" and Australian Stevan Chew has busted out, the remaining three players could win no less than $914,266!

Darrell Goh busted in third for that chunky sum, which left Joakim Andersson facing Julian Stuer heads-up for the title. Andersson bulldozed his final opponent, and locked up the $1,537,605 top prize. Although disappointed not to win, Stuer collected $1,185,655 for his second-place finish, which will have numbed the pain of defeat somewhat.

Astedt Shines in the $25,500 Sunday 5 Million

Niklas Astedt followed in his fellow Swede’s footsteps, Joakim Andersson, by becoming a GG Spring Festival millionaire. Astedt triumphed in the $25,500 Sunday 5 Million and turned his initial investment into a $1,095,741 score.

As you would expect, the final table of this $25,500 buy-in event was stacked beyond belief, and any of the nine finalists would have made a worthy champion. However, it was Astedt who shone the brightest.

Astedt found himself in a one-on-one situation with Shawn Daniels after such superstars as Sam Greenwood, Sami Kelopuro, David Yan, Joao Vieira and Jason Koon had crashed out. There are very few occasions when Astedt loses from this position, and this was not one of those times. Astedt collected $1,095,741 while Daniels headed into the night with $821,689 in tow.

Badziakouski Overcomes a Talented $25,500 Sunday 5 Million Field

The GG Spring Festival edition of the Sunday 5 Million proved one of the most popular tournaments on the schedule, with each one surpassing its guarantee. Event 75 was no different, with 28 entrants creating a $5,200,000 prize pool.

partypoker ambassador Mikita Badziakouski ran red hot at the final table, busting six of his eight opponents on his way to an emphatic victory. Michel Dattani was Badziakouski’s last victim, falling in second place for $829,142. Badziakouski banked $1,105,679 and the title of a GG Spring Festival champion.

KingKongJoel Crowned King of the $1,500 Main Event

Austria’s "KingKongJoel" reeled in the lion’s share of the $10 million prize pool in the GG Spring Festival $1,500 buy-in Main Event. Some 6,803 players bought into the event, and the Austrian outlasted them all.

KingKongJoel put themselves in a great position to win after the waters became slightly less shark-infested with the eliminations of Samuel Vousden, Christopher Puetz, and former partypoker MILLIONS Online champion Benjamin Chalot. The champion elect was heads-up with Japan’s Zhuang Ruan in what was essentially a $181,439 heads-up sit & go. No deal was struck, resulting in $1,133,634 making its way to KingKongJoel’s account when they defeated their Japanese opponent.