Paying for university studies just got a little easier for German poker player Niclas G. The 22-year-old won the Flip & GO Millionaire event at GGPoker on Nov. 11.
The college student, who goes by the username “ifhedieshedies” on the site, landed a score of $54,929. Even a few days after the win, Niclas (who asked that his full surname not be used) was still finding it difficult to believe the turn of events.
“It still feels incredible to have won such a big tournament with over $1 million guaranteed,” he told PokerScout this week. “Many players wait for these spots their entire life, and it really took me a while to realize what I had achieved.”
And while many poker players advancing into such a major event might sit at the laptop or computer to play, Niclas faced some other challenges. He was driving a bit for the start of the tournament and wasn’t always able to play.
“I was actually on the road for the first one or two hours of the tournament, and was sitting out like a third of the hands since I wasn’t able to be on the phone the whole time,” he says. “Nevertheless, I managed to build a stack and continued playing at home until the end.”
Cashing in for five figures at GGPoker
The Flip & GO Millionaire ran from Nov. 1-11, with buy-ins of just $11 and a $1 million guarantee. GG organizers worked to create a major event for online poker players of all bankroll levels and offering a major payout for top finishers.
A Flip & Go features players all in during the first round. All players receive three cards and then discard one after the flop. The winning player then advances to the Go stage, which then plays out like a traditional No Limit Hold’em tournament.
While other players no doubt bought in numerous times to advance beyond
the Flip stage, Niclas played only once to advance to the Go stage. He bought in for five stacks at a cost of $55, but won all those entries after playing $0.50 to $2.20 satellites.
Niclas says he found many big hands during the tournament, which helped propel him along. A huge moment at the final table also greatly helped his cause.
With six players remaining and on the short stack, Nclas was dealt Q-10 offsuit in the small blind. The player with the largest stack raised with K-2 from the button. With just four big blinds remaining, Niclas was all in.
“On the flop and turn, nothing hit and on the river I spiked a 10,” he says. “This was definitely the most important flip in my life so far! After that hand I was almost even with the others remaining on the final table and I said to myself, ‘Now I will take it down.’”
That he did, topping a field of about 100,000 entries and 20,000 unique players.
GGPoker Flip & Go Millionaire was a great success with close to 100K entries! There was a #Trinity of winners who each took home more than $50K+.
The ONE, ifhedieshedies, earned a 100,000% ROI! Thanks to everybody who made it a success.#FlipandGo #Poker #WrapUp #ThanksGG pic.twitter.com/QWB5d8wSVr
— GGPoker (@GGPoker) November 14, 2022
Small bankroll to big win
The win comes after Niclas only began playing poker about three years ago. He generally plays $1-10 Sit & Go’s and hyper tournaments with a small bankroll.
Away from the poker table, Niclas enjoys hanging out with friends and is also a sports fan, especially football. Perhaps some of that competitive spirit has helped at the poker table.
Watching poker content online helped Niclas develop many of his skills. So far, he seems to be a fast learner, but still plays just for entertainment when not studying or in class.
“I’m a recreational player and I only play for fun,” he says.
A $50,000-plus score at GGPoker certainly qualifies as fun, as well as quite the card-playing bullet point.