Following an action packed opening night, the next two days at the GG Spring Festival 2021 hosted at online platform Natural8 were just as loaded with 27 events served and three others on its final day.
The biggest winners were Canada’s Guillaume Nolet and USA’s Lev “LevMeAlone” Gottlieb. Nolet seized over one million dollars at the Sunday Five Million and Gottlieb became the first player to win two events – Super MILLION$ and Super Tuesday high tier – to collect over US$ 900K. Other players going the distance were Estonia’s Ottomar Ladva and France’s Ivan “Cordialement” Deyra. For Asia, India pulled through once again with Pulkit Goyal winning the Turbo [6 Max] high tier. Juan Pardo Dominguez continued to run strong reaching four final tables. To meet the high demand of the L-13: $5.25 Bounty tournament, the previous 5,000 player maximum was increased to 6,000. It eventually amassed 5,768 entries making it the largest event to date.
For those just hearing of the series, GGSF 2021 is a celebration unlike any other offered this season. It boasts the biggest guarantee of US$ 150 million with 336 tournaments spread across three tiers – Low, Medium, High. The festival runs from April 4 to April 25. Buy-ins range from a low US$ 5 to a pricey US$ 25,500 with event guarantees from US$ 5,000 to a massive US$ 10,000,000. After three days, the festival has already paid out over US$ 30 million with 50 events completed. More games and money to be won. For newcomers, make sure to sign up on Natural8 to avail of exclusive promos and freebies. You can read up on those perks at the bottom of the page.
And now have a read on our top stories for GGSF Day 2 and Day 3.
Guillaume Nolet wins over US$1M at the Sunday Five Million
On Day 2 of the festival, one of the richest and most expensive tournaments came to a close with Canada’s Guillaume Nolet dusting the competition to collect his first ever seven figure payout. Nolet entered the final table of the Sunday Five Million ranked second in chips, proceeded to eliminate the last five players to capture the enormous US$ 1,084,891.90 first prize, which to date was the largest payout of the festival. For added sweetener, Nolet didn’t need to fork out the entire US$ 25,500 buy-in as he won his seat via a US$1K Mega Satellite.
Based on The Hendon Mob and GGPoker, Nolet has earned over US$ 4.8 million in combined live and selected online tournaments with his largest payouts gained at high roller events around the world. 2019 was his best year on the live felt with several six figure scores amounting to over one million dollars. In online earnings, his biggest known win was in October 2020 at one of the weekly GG Super MILLION$ locking up US$ 502,688. Including this latest victory, Nolet has accumulated over US$ 2.9 million on the GG network alone.
Buy in: US$ 25,500
Guarantee: US$ 5,000,000
Entries: 198
Prize pool: US$ 5,000,000
ITM: 27 places
The two-day H-06: $25,500 Sunday Five Million attracted some of the most distinguished poker players worldwide. As mentioned on our first recap, numerous players re-entered with a couple of them firing as many as seven bullets. After six hours of late registration, 198 entered for a small overlay worth two buy-ins. Day 1 wrapped up at the final 9 with Andras Nemeth perched up top and Nolet running second.
Both players would eventually meet at heads-up but before doing so, this was how the others tumbled. Matthias Eibinger booted short stacked Juan Pardo Dominguez, Nemeth widened his lead after eliminating FlowTao and Yuri Dzivielevski, then the next four players – Elio Fox (6th), Eibinger (5th), Benjamin Rolle (4th), Francisco “VaPaCooler” Benitez (3rd) – fell at the hands of Nolet to face Nemeth at heads-up ahead 5:1. Several hands in, Nolet widened to 8:1, Nemeth doubled up with pocket Jacks over pocket sixes but it wasn’t enough to overtake. To capture the win, on a board 
with bets at every stage, Nemeth checked, Nolet shoved, Nemeth tank called with 
which was second best to Nolet’s 
.
Final table payouts
1st Guillaume Nolet – Canada – US$ 1,084,891.90
2nd Andras Nemeth – Hungary – US$ 813,553.79
3rd Francisco “VaPaCooler” Benitez – Uruguay – US$ 610,079.27
4th Benjamin Rolle – England – US$ 457,495.03
5th Matthias Eibinger – Austria – US$ 343,073.01
6th Elio Fox – USA – US$ 257,268.19
7th Yuri Dzivielevski – Brazil – US$ 192,924.03
8th FlowTao – Georgia – US$ 144,672.50
9th Juan Pardo Dominguez – Spain – US$ 108,489.32
Lev “LevMeAlone” Gottlieb wins the Super MILLION$ and Super Tuesday high tier
Last year, USA’s Lev “LevMeAlone” Gottlieb stormed out of obscurity when he bested some of the world’s top players including Belarus’s Mikita Badziakouski at heads-up of the WSOP 2020 Online International US$ 10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship. For his victory, Gottlieb pocketed US$ 276,393 and his first WSOP bracelet. Since then, his scores online have been very light until the GG Spring Festival.
The past two days witnessed Gottlieb ship two super high roller events, the Super MILLION$ for US$ 586,075.23 and the Super Tuesday high tier for US$ 320,728.78, both events have a US$ 10,300 price tag. Gottlieb collected a combined US$ 906,801 and became the first multi winner of the festival.
Buy in: US$ 10,300
Guarantee: US$ 3,000,000
Entries: 312
Prize pool: US$ 3,120,000
ITM: 35 places
Recapping the Super MILLION$, this was a two-day affair with 312 entering for a slight bump up to US$ 3,120,000. Of the 35 places paid, Gottlieb made out like a king, awarded over half a million dollars after defeating Brazil’s Pedro Garagnani at heads up. At the time, it was the second largest payout of the series.
The win didn’t come without snags though. Like many, Gottlieb busted on his first buy-in. On his second bullet, he drove his stack to the final table with a commanding advantage. Mid way action, third ranked Garagnani railed two players – Damian Salas (7th) and Juan Pardo Dominguez (5th) – to take the lead, however, Gottlieb emptied out Jordan “PiePie” Cristos (4th) to regain command. To reach heads up, Garagnani called out Matthias “ILUCKuHARD” Lipp’s river bluff to send the Austrian packing in 3rd place.
Heads up opened with Gottlieb up 8:1 that didn’t hold against the fiery Garagnani. Gottlieb reclaimed the lead on a straight over straight then surged higher reaching a 9:1 advantage from which Garagnani could not overcome. The final hand was 
outdrawing 
on a board 
.
Final table payouts
1st Lev “LevMeAlone” Gottlieb – USA – US$ 586,075.23
2nd Pedro Garagnani – Brazil – US$ 451,925.51
3rd Matthias “ILICKuHARD” Lipp – Austria – US$ 348,482.24
4th Jordan “PiePie” Cristos – USA – US$ 268,716.55
5th Juan Pardo Dominguez – Spain – US$ 207,208.76
6th Chris Rudolph – Austria – US$ 159,779.74
7th Damian Salas – Argentina – US$ 123,207.11
8th Andrea Dato – Germany – US$ 95,005.50
9th Aliaksei Boika – Cyprus – US$ 73,259.49
Running simultaneously was the H-15: $10,300 Super Tuesday event with 141 entries for another seven digit prize pool of US$ 1,410,000. Seven hours in, the final table was formed with nearly every player on multiple re-entries including Gottlieb who was on his fifth bullet, the most by any of the finalists.
Ranked third just below David Peters and chip leader Joao Vieira, Gottlieb went to work, railing 5 players – Fabrizio Gonzalez (9th), J Andersson (7th), David Peters (5th), Chris Rudolph (4th), then after a heated three way bout, he ended Timothy Adams (3rd) – to face Vieira at heads up. Gottlieb was ahead by 7 big blinds which further increased until Vieira doubled up to trim it down to 5 bbs. However, a few minutes later, both were all in again with Vieira 
dominating Gottlieb’s 
. The board came 
to improve Gottlieb to two pair to claim his second series win.
20 players cashed at this event. Gottlieb banked an added US$ 320,728.78. For Vieira, it was his third final table of the series. He placed 5th at the H-01: $1,050 Bounty Kickoff for US$ 24,990.58, 3rd at the H-14: $1,050 PLO-NL Bounty for US$ 16,832.17, then earned US$ 240,512.62 for his runner up finish at this event.
From Satellite to Champion: OTTOMAR LADVA
Another satellite winner took it all the way to the finish line. Estonia’s Ottomar Ladva won a US$ 2,625 Mega Satellite to the H-16: $25,500 Super High Roller. At heads-up, he struck a deal with Marius Gierse guaranteeing himself the higher pay of US$ 446,446.20 then went on to win the flip.
H-16: $25,500 Super High Roller
Buy in: US$ 25,500
Guarantee: US$ 2,000,000
Entries: 85
Prize pool: US$ 2,125,000
ITM: 11 places
Winner: Ottomar Ladva – Estonia – US$ 446,446.20 (heads up deal)
2nd Marius Gierse – Austria – US$ 435,789.71 (heads up deal)
Biggest Bounty winner: RENAN BRUSCHI
H-09: $5,250 Bounty Hunters Super High Roller
Buy in: US$ 5,250
Guarantee: US$ 600,000
Entries: 175
Prize pool: US$ 875,000
ITM: 23 places
Winner: Renan Bruschi – Brazil – US$ 178,494.20
2nd Jacopo “JESUSYAAZY” Achille – Italy – US$ 92,938.27
3rd Ankush Mandavia – USA – US$ 67,613.44
Breaking down Renan Bruschi’s prize money, he won the US$ 62,400.44 first prize and a monster US$ 116,096.76 in bounty rewards for a combined total of US$ 178,494.20. It was a good day as well for his 9 stakers who bought shares of 50%. Ronny Kaiser made out the most with 33.8% purchased. This was Bruschi’s second final table having finished 9th at the H-04: $1,050 GGMasters High Rollers for US$ 15,584.28. For second placer Jacopo “JESUSYAAZY” Achille, he too sold 66% of his action with four stakers profiting.
M-05: $1,050 High Rollers Main Event – IVAN “CORDIALEMENT” DEYRA – US$ 153,550
The M-05: $1,050 High Rollers Main Event was another two-day event that paid out over a million. It kicked off on opening night with 1,091 entries to slightly breach the advertised guarantee. 37 players reached Day 2. After nearly six hours of play, France’s Ivan “Cordialement” Deyra defeated China’s Song “xuesong” Xue at heads-up to claim the US$ 153,550.14 first prize.
This was another great victory and score for Deyra to add to his long list of achievements. In 2019 he championed the WSOP US$ 3,000 No Limit Hold’em event for his first ever series bracelet and a career high payout of US$ 380,090. He has accumulated nearly US$ 1.4 million in live tournament earnings and around US$ 385K in recorded online cashes. For his latest win, Deyra sold 50 percent of his action. Good fortune rained on staker Adrien Delmas who bought it all.
For runner up Xue, the US$ 117,499.93 payout was his second largest known score having won US$ 126,773 for placing 13th at the WSOP 2020 Online International $25,000 Poker Players Championships $10M guaranteed. Among the players in the money but outside of the final table were Day 2 entering chip leader James “PHJ10” Carroll (13th), Julien Martini (20th), Juha Helppi (24th), Guillaume Nolet (25th), and Ankush Mandavia (31st).
Buy in: US$ 1,050
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
Entries: 1,091
Prize pool: US$ 1,091,000
ITM: 152 places
Final table payouts
1st Ivan “Cordialement” Deyra – France – US$ 153,550.14
2nd Song “xuesong” Xue – China – US$ 117,499.93
3rd ULMFKR – Estonia – US$ 89,913.95
4th Carlos Villamarin – USA – US$ 68,804.33
5th QuantumKey – Croatia – US$ 52,650.77
6th Pablo Navarro – Spain – US$ 40,289.78
7th Joao “Wim Hof” Ferreira – Portugal – US$ 40,289.78
8th Joachim “jochee” Haraldstad – Norway – US$ 23,592.47
9th liu33jie – China – US$ 18,053.48
Asia winners
M-16: $2,625 High Roller
Buy in: US$ 2,625
Guarantee: US$ 500,000
Entries: 316
Prize pool: US$ 790,000
ITM: 44 places
Winner: DaiMing141319 – UAE – US$ 158,930.45
H-17: $525 Turbo [ 6 Max ] – PULKIT GOYAL – US$ 45,880.79
Another player from India came out swinging all the way to the end for a second victory to the country. Pulkit Goyal outlasted the 471 entries of the H-17: $525 Turbo [ 6 Max ] event to capture his maiden victory and pocket the US$ 45,880.79 first prize. This was his largest known score. Prior to the win, Goyal also cashed for US$ 12,388.15 at the M-07: $525 PLO-NL Bounty for his 3rd place finish.
For a quick rundown of the final table action, at five handed, Goyal caught a very lucky river. All-in preflop with against Martin “marlin5555” Raus’s 
, the board ran 
for trips Kings. At three handed, he got lucky again off Raus with outdrawing 
when the cards felted 
. After more exchanges with Raus getting pounded by both opponents, Goyal finished him off in 3rd place to face Harry “Vulvasore” Lodge at heads-up. It only took one hand to close it out.
Buy in: US$ 525
Guarantee: US$ 150,000
Entries: 471
Prize pool: US$ 235,500
ITM: 63 places
Final table payouts
1st Pulkit Goyal – India – US$ 45,880.79
2nd Harry “Vulvasore” Lodge – UK – US$ 33,172.59
3rd Martin “marlin5555” Raus – Canada – US$ 23,984.43
4th Dario Sammartino – Italy – US$ 17,341.22
5th Tom Delaine – Tunisia – US$ 12,538.05
6th MarathonOG – Canada – US$ 9,065.25
7th Joseph Cheong – USA – US$ 6,554.37
Largest event: L-13: $5.25 Bounty – SEEGII – US$ 2,426.47
After five tournaments reached their 5000 entry maximums on opening night, on the ensuing days, several events nearly reached capacity. At the L-13: $5.25 Bounty, the demand was very high that the maximum was increased to 6000. A total of 5,768 entered with Mongolia’s SeeGii outlasting the herd to rake in a combined US$ 2,426.47 in winnings and bounty rewards.
Other news
Juan Pardo Dominguez has been on fire at the festival. He reached the final table a stunning 4 times for a combined US$ 671.5K. Here’s a look at those achievements:
5th – H-05: $10,300 Super MILLION$ for US$ 207,208.76
9th – H-06: $25,500 Sunday Five Million for US$ 108,489.43
2nd – H-12: $2,100 Bounty for US$ 54,367.51
3rd – H-16: $25,500 Super High Roller for US$ 310,474.56
Natural8 Team Hot ambassador Pete Chen reached his first final table of the series at the M-11: $250 Daily Main Event. Chen finished 4th for US$ 21,940.36. Brazil’s Vinicius “pfckb” Steves shipped it for US$ 52,030.51.
Featured Events Underway
In addition to the above mentioned events, the first two of seven featured events are underway, the GGSF Opening Act-L NLHE US$ 1 million guaranteed and the GGSF Opening Act-L PLO-NL US$ 500,000 guaranteed. Daily entry flights are ongoing leading up to Day 2 which takes place on April 12.
Open: GGSF Opening Act-L: US$ 80 NLHE, US$ 1,000,000 guaranteed
Dates: April 5 to 12
Cumulative entries: 7,324
Day 2 qualifiers: 1,022
Average stack: 167,068
Top 10 in chips
Open: GGSF Opening Act-L: US$ 80 PLO-NL, US$ 500,000 guaranteed
Dates: April 5 to 12
Cumulative entries: 1,858
Day 2 qualifiers: 256
Average stack: 167,634
Top 10 in chips
Upcoming Featured Events
Dates: April 12 to 19
GGSF Headliner-M: US$ 400 NLHE, US$ 2,500,000 guaranteed
GGSF Headliner-M: US$ 400 PLO-NL, US$ 1,000,000 guaranteed
GGSF Super MILLION$ ME-H US$ 10,300, US$ 10,000,000 guaranteed
Dates: April 19 to 26
GGSF Main Event-H: US$ 1,500 NLHE, US$ 10,000,000 guaranteed
GGSF Main Event-H: US$ 1,500 PLO-NL, US$ 2,000,000 guaranteed
Asia Timed Games
For players in Asia, Natural8 has you covered with tournaments right on the region’s prime time. Games begin at 18:05 and 20:05 (Hong Kong time) and are open to everyone.
Tournaments: 18
Buy ins: US$ 10.50 to US$ 1,500
Guarantees: US$ 20,000 to US$ 500,000
Games: Bounty Hunters Asia, Asia Major, Asia Superstack Classic
*All games are offered in each of the three tiers
Special Event: US$ 10,000 GG Legends Bounty feat. DJ “deadmau5”
Don’t forget to mark down, on April 10 at 20:00 (GMT) / April 11 at 04:00 HKT is the US$ 10,000 GG Legends Bounty event with a very economical buy in of US$ 5.25. For this budget price, players have a chance at knocking out famous Canadian DJ “deadmau5”. Registration begins on April 3 at 20:00 (GMT) / April 4 at 04:00 (HKT).
Event Promos
US$ 1,000,000 Series Leaderboard Update
As always, the festival is not complete without the Series Leaderboard. Players that money at any of the events will automatically earn points towards the Series Leaderboard. A combined 100 players per week earn a share of US$ 1 million in tournament credits. The race began on April 4. Prizes are awarded per tier.
Week 1: US$ 50,000 (L), US$ 100,000 (M, US$ 150,000 (H) = T$ 300,000 total
Week 2: US$ 50,000 (L), US$ 100,000 (M), US$ 150,000 (H) = T$ 300,000 total
Week 3: US$ 75,000 (L), US$ 125,000 (M), US$ 200,000 (H) = T$ 400,000 total
Week 1 update – Top 3 – High Tier
Fabrizio Gonzalez – Uruguay – 583.88 points
Andras Nemeth – Hungary – 555.79 points
Niklas Astedt – Canada – 521.37 points
*Top 20 win shares of T$ 150,000 credits
Week 1 update – Top 3 – Medium Tier
Fabrizio Gonzales – Uruguay – 484.66 points
Tim “BeardOilGuy” Rutherford – Canada – 473.58 points
Fausto “Fantastik55” Tantillo – San Marino – 473.24 points
*Top 30 win shares of T$ 100,000 credits
Week 1 update – Top 3 – Low Tier
Androm3da – Canada – 481.24 points
TSK 121212 – China – 450.42 points
Alik “GODofMTT” Zazyan – Russia – 449.48 points
*Top 50 win shares of T$ 50,000 credits
Exclusive Natural8 Promos
For players signed up on Natural8, expect plenty of GGSF freebies. Throughout the series, Natural8 will be giving away GGSF tickets via their hourly freerolls, VIP Club Freerolls, GG Masters Freerolls, and First Deposit Freerolls. For N8 players that participate in any of the GGSF 2021 events, you gain entry to exclusive Natural8 GGSF Flipouts with each entry beefing up your stack. Flipouts happen every Saturday on April 10, 17, & 24, with one flipout for each of the three tiers. Prizes per Flipout: US$ 10,000 (High) / US$ 5,000 (Medium) / US$ 2,000 (Low).
Another exclusive promo is the US$ 50,000 GGSF LiveX Sponsorship. In order to land this special promo, you’ll need to overcome a mountain of players and win the GGSF Main Event-H: US$ 1,500 NLHE, US$ 10 million guaranteed event. The sponsorship includes:
• 12 months LiveX Crew Sponsorship
• US$ 15,000 Las Vegas Package ($10,000 to cover your buy-ins and $5,000 for expenses)
• US$ 35,000 for live event sponsorships over 12 months
Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we continue to bring you recaps on the ongoing Natural8 – GGSF festival.
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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