Joe McKeehen added one other trophy to his assortment on Nov. 4, topping a discipline of 53 entries to win the ultimate occasion of the 2026 PokerGO Tour Sprint sequence. The 2015 World Series of Poker essential occasion champion took down the $10,500 buy-in no-limit maintain’em occasion for the thirty third recorded title of his illustrious profession, bringing his lifetime match haul to over $23.1 million within the course of.
The 35-year-old poker professional from Pennsylvania now has 4 wins in PGT occasions, with this being his first of the season. He has 4 extra triumphs outdoors of PGT competitors in 2026, with 10 whole remaining tables on the circuit. As a end result, he sits simply outdoors the highest 50 within the Card Player Player of the Year race standings introduced by CoinPoker.
McKeehen, a three-time bracelet winner, additionally added 175 PGT factors with this triumph. This was his fifth money contained in the PokerGO Studio prior to now few weeks, with one podium displaying on the Poker Masters and 4 in-the-money finishes at this pageant.
Closing Time
This occasion introduced the 2026 PGT Sprint to an in depth. The $530,000 prize pool was in the end cut up amongst the highest 9 finishers, due to concurrent eliminations on the direct bubble that noticed CoinPoker ambassador Patrick Leonard (ninth) and Martin Zamani (eighth) cut up a min-cash of $21,200, incomes $10,600 every.
Four-time World Poker Tour champion Darren Elias held the chip lead going into the official seven-handed remaining desk, with McKeehen sitting in the course of the pack.
Darren Elias
Brandon Wilson logged his twenty fifth final-table end of 2026, putting seventh for 75 POY factors. That was sufficient to see him surpass Punnat Punsri for the highest spot on the POY leaderboard, with the Thai professional now trailing by simply 14 factors. Wilson has greater than $7.7 million in to-date POY earnings, with $21,200 coming from this newest efficiency. He acquired the final of his brief stack in with Q-10 trailing the A-8 of bracelet winner Jamie Dwan, who made aces and eights to ship Wilson packing.
McKeehen received a hefty pot with a flopped flush to edge into the lead throughout six-handed motion. Then, a preflop cooler despatched Neil Warren to the rail. His A♦Ok♣ was in brutal form in opposition to the A♠A♥ of Nicholas Schulte, however a Q♦5♦4♦ flop gave Warren hope within the type of a flush draw. The 5♥ flip and Q♣ river saved Schulte’s overpair greatest, although, and Warren settled for $31,800 because the sixth-place finisher.
Final Five
Dwan briefly overtook the lead when his A-Q suited bested A-Ok suited to McKeehen. The eventual winner quickly acquired these chips again, although, making queens and nines in opposition to a missed combo draw for Dwan.
Dwan made his remaining stand with A♣J♣. He acquired all-in forward of the Ok♠Q♥ of fellow bracelet winner Daniyal Gheba, however a queen-high runout ended his run in fifth place ($42,400). Dwan now has greater than $4.4 million in recorded scores, with greater than $3.4 million of that coming from his breakout on the reside circuit this 12 months.
Gheba additionally landed the knockout blow on Schulte (4th – $53,000), with Ok♠J♥ outracing 7♦7♣ due to a king on the river. The surge continued when Ok♠J♠ bested the A♣5♣ of Elias in a preflop showdown. Gheba spiked journeys on the flop and improved to kings full on the river to get rid of Elias in third place ($74,200). This rating grew his lifetime earnings to greater than $16.3 million.
Heads-up play started with Gheba holding a greater than 2:1 chip lead over McKeehen. The early motion noticed that disparity rapidly erased, although. Soon, McKeehen overtook the lead, then stretched it.
In the ultimate hand, Gheba raised to 180,000 from the button with A♥8♥. McKeehen three-bet to 550,000 and Gheba four-bet shoved for roughly 1,800,000. McKeehen made the decision together with his Ok♥Ok♣ and held by way of a 9♣5♥2♣9♥3♣ runout to deliver the match to an finish.
Gheba earned $111,300 because the runner-up. This was his seventh money prior to now month, all coming contained in the PokerGO Studio. Gheba has gathered over $560,000 throughout these scores, rising his profession whole to $2.7 million.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Joe McKeehen | $174,900 | 300 | 175 |
| 2 | Daniyal Gheba | $111,300 | 250 | 111 |
| 3 | Darren Elias | $74,200 | 200 | 74 |
| 4 | Nicholas Schulte | $53,000 | 150 | 53 |
| 5 | Jamie Dwan | $42,400 | 125 | 42 |
| 6 | Neil Warren | $31,800 | 100 | 32 |
| 7 | Brandon Wilson | $21,200 | 75 | 21 |
Photo credit score: PGT / Antonio Abrego.
