Bert 'girafganger7' Stevens Wins Largest WSOP Online Main Event Ever for $2.7 Million

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Oct 03, 2023 5 min read Last updated Oct 04, 2023

Bert "girafganger7" Stevens, a well-known online poker crusher, earned the biggest score of his career in the biggest World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online Main Event ever on GGPoker.

The Belgian pro beat out a field of 6,023 entries in the $5,000 buy-in bracelet event to win a whopping $2,783,433, and set a world record in the process.

Record-Setting Poker Tournament

In 2020, Stoyan Madanzhiev won the same event on GGPoker for $3.9 million. At the time, he was under the impression that he'd earned the 2020 world champion title due to the COVID-19 cancellation of the live WSOP in Las Vegas that year. But a separate online-live hybrid tournament took place later in the year and, to the dismay of Madanzhiev, Damian Salas became the recognized world champion.

Despite not being acknowledged as poker's top champion three years ago, Madanzhiev still earned the right to claim he won the largest online poker tournament ever with $27,559,500 in the prize pool. He no longer holds that record as the 2023 WSOP Online Main Event Stevens won had $28,609,252 in the pot, just enough to surpass the previous record.

When the final table began, Stevens held a slight chip lead over Erik Bakker, a Dutch pro. It took little time for the popular Twitch streamer to extend that lead to a point where he was way out in front.

Bakker would briefly take a slim lead until he attempted to turn bottom pair into a bluff against "Giraf's" top two pair. From then on — more than two hours — Stevens remained out in front and was the aggressor at the final table, although he did have to grind his way into a massive chip lead for quite some time.

With five players remaining, the eventual winner had about two-thirds of the chips in play. After Ezequiel Kleinman busted in third place ($1,524,214), Stevens went heads-up with about a 4-1 chip advantage against Yagen Li.

WSOP Online Main Event Final Table Results

Both players were guaranteed more than $2 million, but there was more than a $750,000 difference between first and second place. Li, who hails from China, wouldn't last but a few minutes in heads-up play, but he did have an opportunity to quickly erase the deficit.

From the button, Stevens raised it up to 10,500,000 with 6♣6♦ before facing a three-bet to 30,000,000 against A♣Q♦. The original raiser would then put his opponent all in for around 117,000,000. Li snap-called and was in a position to take a 2-1 chip advantage if he could win a race. But the board of K♠3♦K♦4♠5♥ was unfavorable to him, so he had to settle for a $2,059,058 consolation prize.

Stevens, on the other hand, received $2,783,432, and he did so in front of "thousands of adoring fans" while streaming on Twitch.

Scott Seiver, another poker legend, gave a shoutout to Stevens on X. You can watch the full final table stream on YouTube (video below).

WSOP Online Main Event Breaks $25M Guarantee

Yan's Heater Continues in Massive High Roller Victory

Giraf wasn't the only big winner on the final day of GGPoker's WSOP Online Bracelet Series. Another skilled pro, David Yan, took down Event #33: $10,300 GGMillion$ High Roller, a no-limit hold'em tournament for $1,538,400.

Yan, from New Zealand, beat a field of 1,140 entrants to scoop one of the biggest events of the series. In doing so, he captured his first World Series of Poker bracelet. He defeated Simon Mattson, a Swedish player, heads-up to finish off the tournament. Mattson received $1,186,287 for his second place finish, but will have to wait for another opportunity to win his first bracelet.

GGMillion$ High Roller Final Table Results

Yan won consecutive GGMillion$ High Rollers, his last one taking place in August for $985,565. The underrated poker pro has three seven-figure scores this year alone. He won a $212,000 Triton Poker London high roller in August for $3,052,000, and also finished third in a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $250k High Roller in February for $1,472,200.

2023 WSOP Online Results

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Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

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