Underdog defies the odds to win KKPoker LEGEND Finale Freeroll!
In July 2025, KKPoker announced its free-to-play KK LEGEND event was returning with a FREE $33,000 prize pool!
With daily $300 GTD Freerolls, the KKPoker community could boost their bankroll and earn tickets to play in THREE $5,000 GTD Finale Freerolls.
Each ticket earned would boost a player’s Finale Freeroll starting stack from 5,000 chips all the way up to 500,000.
After 10 days of battles, several players had accumulated over 10 tickets, with some even guaranteeing themselves the maximum starting stack after an amazing performance.
However, today’s victory story features an unlikely underdog, as one eventual winner, ‘nongmai‘, from Thailand, started the Finale Freeroll with the minimum 5,000 chips!
Read on to learn how this remarkable win was achieved with some key hand breakdowns and a facinating heads-up display.
EARLY TRIPLE UP
The $5K KK LEGEND Finale Freeroll action got underway with over 500 hopefuls aiming to win free cash rewards and entry to the KKPoker 5th Anniversary $200K GTD Tycoon Mystery Bounty tournament, worth $500!
Right from the start, the hero of our story ‘nongmai‘ faced an uphill battle for victory, with all their starting table opponents sitting with at least four times the 5,000 minimum chip stack. But in just Level 2, they secured a vital triple up while defending the Big Blind with Jd 9d.
With four players in the pot, they hit a flush on the Ad Qd 4d flop. After a 120 bet from the pre-flop raiser and a call from the SB player, ‘nongmai’ raised to 880 and received two calls. The 5d hit on the turn, meaning holding the Kd card was now the nuts. ‘nongmai’ checked and faced a 3,700 pot bet. After one fold, ‘nongmai’ shoved for 6,000 and was called. Their opponent revealed just the 8d, and ‘nongmai’ held on the river.
Their 15,000 stack then improved to 30,000, and with blinds 800/1600 they saw 6d 6c on the Button. After calling a raise, the flop fell 8h 8c 7h. After their opponent checked, ‘nongmai’ felt confident enough to make a 10,600 pot bet, which was called before the 8d hit the turn. Their opponent checked again and ‘nongmai’ applied maximum pressure by shoving for 17,700, which was called by Ac 5c, but ‘nongmai’ held on the river for a growing 67,000 stack.
CRACKING ACES
Shortly after, ‘nongmai’ would see their stack cross six-figures for the first time. With a min-raise to 4,000 from UTG, holding Js 8s, on the six-handed table, they received two calls, and flopped another flush after seeing As 7s 6s appear!
‘nongmai’ continued with a 66% pot bet for 10,333 and got one caller. The 5c turn saw ‘nongmai’ bet 24,110. Their opponent raised enough to put them all-in, which was called. Their opponent revealed Pocket Aces for top set, meaning ‘nongmai’ needed to dodge a full house or quads on the river. Luckily for them, it was a safe 10d card, boosting their stack up to 117K.
Next up was 9h 9d UTG and a 3x raise to 9,000. A 48,000 shove from the Button player worth 16BB came, but ‘nongmai’ wasted no time in calling, and their good luck continued, as they won the flip against Ad Qc on the Jh Kd 3d Ks Kc board to surge up the chip rankings on 171,000.
‘nongmai’ was steadily chipping up and hit the 250,000 mark before a small setback occurred. With 4k/8k blinds, a limper from UTG meant ‘nongmai’ decided to put their opponent to the test, and shove from the BB holding Ad 3s. The opponent called for 9BB, revealing 9s 9d, which proved too strong after the board was revealed, pushing ‘nongmai’ back down to 180,000.
However, ‘nongmai’ persevered and soon had 300,000 to play with after hitting trips with QJ.
TRIPS TO SURVIVE FROM BEHIND
In a pivotal hand, and the biggest pot so far, ‘nongmai’ moved all in for 12BB from the cutoff with Ah 10c and was snap-called by the Button player, who revealed the dominating Ad Kd. It was a desperate situation for ‘nongmai’ who only just covered their opponent’s chip stack.
Still, a miracle 10h 10d 4c flop appeared, firing them into a massive lead, and securing the 543,000 pot after the 5c turn and 3c river.
‘nongmai’ now sat with 100x their 5,000 starting stack and more than the KK Legend Finale Freeroll maximum starting stack allowed. However, there was much more work to do to reach the final table for the biggest cash rewards and precious KKPoker anniversary tournament tickets.
LUCKY PATH TO 6M
As with any poker tournament, chips will rise and fall in quick succession, and ‘nongmai’ took a hit holding K8o against A7o to drop back down to 10BB. With larger blinds now active, most players had switched to a short stack strategy and were looking for every suitable opportunity to get their chips into the middle pre-flop and aim for a vital double, or at least, win the pot uncontested to pick up the blinds and antes.
‘nongmai’ was in danger of blinding out, sat with just 6BB, and open-shoved from the Button with Ac 7c. It was an ideal chance, but it turned into a scary situation fast when the Small Blind called and revealed 7h 7s.
‘nongmai’ had a 33% chance of survival, but that number jumped up dramatically on the Ad Jc 2s flop. The board completed 6s , Ks and ‘nongmai’ rode their luck once again.
The blinds had jumped up to 30k/60k, and ‘nongmai’ won a series of small pots to elevate over the 1M chip mark for the first time.
A loss with 44 v 77 meant another drop, before a much-needed 99 v 88 pre-flop all-in pot secured ‘nongmai’ a 2M pot, before another miracle was to occur, this time, on the river!
With 20BB, ‘nongmai’ moved all in on the Button holding Ac Jc, and in a cooler situation, was called by a covering stack in the Big Blind with Qh Qd. The flop fell 10h 10d 8h, giving ‘nongmai’ even less hope and just a 13% chance of survival. The Js on the turn bought a glimmer of light, and the Ah on the river caused a huge upset to win a 4M chip pot with only a few players remaining.
‘nongmai’ had already achieved the fantastic feat of reaching the final four from just their 5,000 chip stack; now, with a stack of 3.7M, they were on the verge of making it to the final three. The cutoff limped off a 15BB stack, which allowed ‘nongmai’ to shove with 9c 9s for 23BB. The limper called with Kd Jc, but the board simply fell in ‘nongmai’s favor, increasing their stack to 6.5M and a guaranteed podium finish!
LEGENDARY COMEBACK
The end stages were going well for ‘nongmai’. A win with Pocket Aces and J10o secured them the chip lead with 12.4M and soon the action had reached heads-up for the title, and perfectly poised with each player sat on just over 10M, worth approximately 25BB.
However, ‘nongmai’ took a huge knock in just the second heads-up hand holding As 4c. After seeing a min-raise to 800K, they shoved for 12.9M and their opponent called for 9.5M with Ks 8d. ‘nongmai’ was ahead and favorite to claim victory, but the Js 8c 6d flop bought them back to down to earth, and they were left with 10BB (3.7M) after the 6h turn and 7d river.
‘nongmai’ had clearly shown patience and aggression when needed, along with a lot of luck when needed. But the story was about to take another dramatic twist, with ‘nongmai’ causing an incredible comeback for victory.
‘nongmai’ was struggling to find a way back and their chip stack was bleeding under the pressure of blinds and antes. The situation looked doomed when they were forced all in from the Big Blind and was dealt one of the worst hands in Texas Hold’em 7h 2h. But the poker gods were still looking down on ‘nongmai’ and they won the hand with 7 high after their opponent revealed 62o.
It was a small but vital win and changed the course of the tournament!
Next hand, all in for 2BB with Jc 8h and winning against 98o, with the stacks now 2.2M versus 20.1M, a 10/1 deficit.
‘nongmai’ then got the opportunity to see a free flop after having the option to check from the Big Blind with just 3BB and holding Js 3c. The 5d 6c 3h flop gave them bottom pair, so they shoved and was snap-called by 5s 2d. Incredibly, the 3d hit the turn and another double was secured on the 7c river.
‘nongmai’ then saw Ah 8d and with confidence surely flowing it was an easy decision to move all in for 8BB from the Button. There was to be no let up, and their opponent called with 10c 7c. Another dramatic flop of Qd 6s 7h put ‘nongmai’ behind, and the Kd turn was no help. But it was again to be the As on the river that appeared and brought the players closer together once more, 8.8M versus 13.5M.
With blinds at 250k/500k, meaning the maximum KK Legend Finale Freeroll stack was worth 1BB, ‘nongmai’ took their chance and moved all in from the Button with Jc 9h for 6.2M (12BB). Their opponent had often been waking up with calling hands, and this time was no different, and revealed Kd 6h for the equity lead. The 4s 6c 8c flop gave ‘nongmai’ some extra back door flush and straight hope, but they didn’t need it, as the 9d on the turn and 2h on the river meant they won the biggest pot of the tournament so far, and had remarkably regained the chip lead!
In the very next hand, ‘nongmai’ was in the Big Blind with 12.5M and Kh Jd. Their opponent, with 9.2M paused for two seconds before shoving and ‘nongmai’ wasted no time in calling.
The pot was a huge 18.5M and ‘nongmai’, who had been down to only 1 Big Blind just a few hands before, was a 65% favorite for victory.
But of course, the KK Legend Finale Freeroll tournament had already produced crazy amounts of drama, and this hand was no different.
The all diamond Q 7 2 flop meant ‘nongmai’ now faced doubling up their opponent, although they still held 40% equity with the overcard and the higher flush draw. The turn brought about another dramatic shift as the Ks appeared. ‘nongmai’ now with 88% equity.
And the final card, the 6 of Hearts.
‘nongmai’ had completed the comeback to become the LEGEND OF THE KK LEGEND FINALE FREEROLL and secured their $500 buy-in ticket to the $200,000 GTD Tycoon Mystery Bounty for a shot at the $20,000 top MB prize!
The KK Legend event was a fantastic and unique opportunity to win FREE rewards while aiming for a bigger starting chip in the Finale Freeroll. However, ‘nongmai’ has proved that even winning just 1 Finale Freeroll ticket is enough to become a LEGEND!
Win your share of the rewarding KKPoker events and promotions here.
