The phrase 'potential overlay' is heard a lot. The usual result is a mass of players arriving, looking for value, and sometimes canceling out the overlay completely.
For GGPoker, it has become an annual tradition to cry 'definite overlay'. In fact, they put it in the name of its 'GGMasters Overlay Edition' event. Last year, they guaranteed $1 million in overlay, with German pro Philipp Gruissem winning over $800k. This year, they let the dice roll with a $10 million guarantee.
A field of 66,894 would usually be enough to hit any guarantee, but despite a late rush and more than 2,000 extra entries from the 2023 event, it only put a small dent in last year’s overlay figure of $1,082,164; this time around the magic number was $768,628.
Monster field, monster winner
The final table played out last night, and it was online beast Andras Nemeth who bagged the most cash ($699,874) after an ICM deal was struck with Canadian player 'freefalas'. Both registered a monster ROI from their $150 buy-in.
The freezeout tournament had multiple starting days across the globe, and Nemeth was the standout name to reach the nine-person final table on Day 2, with $71,570 locked up and plenty more to fight for.
Once a couple of the short stacks had quickly departed, it was the turn of Doug '2CoSalamanca' Lang to fight for his tournament life. The Canadian, once as high as #10 in the old Pocket Fives online rankings, departed in seventh for $127,456 after a blind-on-blind cooler.
Shoving with KJ, Lang ran into fellow Canadian 'freefalas' with the dominating AJ. The flop pretty much sealed his fate.
Nemeth takes deal heads-up
Once Lang had departed, the 'deal' flag was raised by three of the remaining six, including chip leader 'freefalas', but the other trio, including Nemeth, weren’t biting.
The gulf in class, earnings-wise at least, can be seen below: Nemeth is head and shoulders above the rest, with Jorge 'bemjogadogg' Abreu his closest GGPoker rival.
Abreu made it all the way to third spot and a whopping $421,402 cash, leaving Nemeth as chip leader and heads-up against Canada’s 'freefalas'.
At this point, the two did an ICM deal, which saw Nemeth pocket the most money – $699,874 to freefalas' $678,967. Both players got over a quarter of a million dollars more than the third-place prize. The action after this was no more than symbolic, but records will show 'freefalas' as the official tournament winner.
2024 GGMasters Overlay Edition results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | freefalas | $678,967 |
| 2 | Andras Nemeth | $699,874 |
| 3 | Jorge 'bemjogadogg' Abreu | $421,402 |
| 4 | losingiswinnin | $310,956 |
| 5 | SuperNano-X | $230,669 |
| 6 | neverfold7bet | $170,296 |
| 7 | Doug '2CoSalamanca' Lang | $127,456 |
| 8 | Thisway | $96,153 |
| 9 | Mattyoyo | $71,570 |
