Sean Winter Wins Poker Masters Finale, Mateos Takes Purple Jacket

Sean Winter closed out the 2026 Poker Masters in model, taking down the $51,000 buy-in no-limit maintain’em finale on the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for $620,000. The final occasion of the sequence additionally settled the race for the purple jacket, which went to Spanish star Adrian Mateos.

Winter topped a 31-entry discipline that constructed a prize pool of $1,550,000, with solely the highest 5 finishers paid. He defeated Sam Laskowitz heads-up to gather his second PokerGO Tour title of the 12 months. Laskowitz earned $387,500 because the runner-up, which PGT reported as the most effective dwell match rating of his profession.

Winter got here into the ultimate day third in chips with seven gamers left. He instructed PokerNews that stepping away from the schedule for one match helped him discover his kind: “I wasn’t executing how I wanted to, and so I took an event off, the 15K, to just reset, and I think it worked out.”

The end result strikes Winter to 2,223 factors on the 2026 PGT leaderboard, making him the primary participant to go 2,000 factors this season. He now has 17 cashes in PGT-qualifying occasions this 12 months value $4,391,694, and he’s the clear frontrunner for PGT Player of the Year.

Mateos Holds Off Ausmus For The Purple Jacket

Mateos did not money in any of the final three occasions, which stored the leaderboard race alive till the very finish. Jeremy Ausmus, who received occasion no. 7 earlier within the sequence, reached the ultimate desk needing at the very least a second-place end to overhaul him.

That probability slipped away in fourth place. Ausmus received his final chips in with pocket fives in opposition to Winter’s ace-king of diamonds, and an ace on the flip adopted by one other on the river ended his run with $170,500.

Mateos completed the sequence on 451 factors from three cashes. Those had been his win in occasion no. 5 for $229,500, a runner-up end in occasion no. 2 and fourth place in occasion no. 7, for $467,700 in complete. He additionally completed on the cash bubble 5 occasions in ten occasions. Along with the purple jacket, he receives a $25,000 PGT Passport.

“I had a big lead all the way, but in the last three events I wasn’t able to cash, so the sweat was real,” Mateos instructed PokerInformation.

Nicholas Palma ended the sequence second on 407 factors, whereas occasion no. 9 champion Nicholas Seward took third on 397 factors.

How The Final Table Played Out

Dan Smith was the primary of the ultimate seven to go. He moved all in with ace-eight over an open from Chris Brewer and couldn’t catch up in opposition to the ace-queen of Marius Gierse. Brewer, who had earlier doubled with pocket aces in opposition to Smith’s ace-king, then busted on the bubble in sixth when his ace-jack bumped into the pocket aces of Ausmus.

Gierse was the primary participant to money, falling in fifth for $124,000 when his ten-nine couldn’t beat the pocket queens of Laskowitz on a ten-seven-six flop. After Ausmus departed in fourth, Igor Yaroshevskyy shoved with queen-jack and was referred to as by Winter’s king-ten, which held to ship the Ukrainian dwelling in third with $248,000.

Winter started heads-up with near a three-to-one chip lead. Laskowitz briefly pulled even, however Winter rebuilt his benefit, and the match ended when his two pair held in opposition to the highest pair of Laskowitz.

Here is a take a look at the ultimate desk outcomes:

Here are the ultimate 2026 Poker Masters standings:

Photo credit score: PGT / Antonio Abrego.