Justin Vaysman wins Poker Masters Event #6 for $192,000 after falling to a quarter of a big blind

Justin Vaysman won Event #6: $10,500 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 Poker Masters on Monday, Oct 19, at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. He earned $192,000 and 192 PGT points for his first PokerGO Tour title, according to PGT.com's official results. With five players left he had just 20,000 chips, one-quarter of a big blind, and he beat Sean Winter heads-up to finish it.

The numbers

• Entries: 64, making a prize pool of $640,000. The top 10 were paid.
• First prize: $192,000 and 192 PGT points.
• Runner-up: Sean Winter, $124,800 and 125 PGT points.
• The event started on Saturday, Oct 17. Sunday was a day off, and seven players came back for Monday's final table, per PGT.com and Poker.org.

Final results

How the bubble burst

Vaysman was the one who ended the bubble on Saturday night. With 12 players left and 10 paid, his pocket sevens held against Adrian Mateos' ace-queen and Robert Chorlian's ace-six, knocking both out on the same hand, according to PGT.com and Card Player. It was Mateos' fourth money bubble in six events, a day after he won Event #5.

Winter started the final table as the chip leader with 1,405,000, just ahead of Livschitz on 1,395,000, and Vaysman was third with 1,205,000, PokerGO posted. Only 15 big blinds separated first and last, per PGT.com.

Down to 20,000 chips

Livschitz knocked out the first two players. Her set of eights beat Sam Laskowitz in seventh, and her ace-king held against Joey Weissman's ace-four in sixth, Card Player reported. It was Weissman's fourth cash of the series, which includes his Event #3 win.

Five-handed, at 40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 big blind ante, it folded to Winter in the small blind. Per Card Player:

• Winter raised to 660,000 with the eight of diamonds and seven of hearts.
• Vaysman, in the big blind with 680,000, called with the ace of hearts and nine of diamonds, leaving himself 20,000 behind.
• The board ran out queen, ten, six, five, seven, and both players checked every street.
• The seven on the river gave Winter a pair, and he won the pot.

Poker.org wrote that Winter was content to leave Vaysman on a tiny stack because it added to the pressure he could put on the rest of the table. It's the same idea behind the Clemen Deng bubble hand that had players arguing earlier in the series. This time the short stack came back.

The comeback

Each time the blinds reached him, Vaysman's last chips went in, and he won three all-ins in a row, two of them against Tony Gregg, per Poker.org. That got him back to 400,000, five big blinds, Card Player reported.

Gregg went out in fifth. He had pocket jacks against Winter's queen and jack of clubs, and the flop came queen, jack, eight to give him a set. The two of clubs on the turn and the seven of clubs on the river made Winter a flush, PGT.com reported.

Then came a three-way all-in. Winter raised from the button with king-three, Vaysman moved all in from the small blind with the ace and nine of clubs, and Brandon Wilson moved in behind him with ace-king. The board came eight, six, five, seven, seven, and Vaysman's nine-high straight tripled him up to 2,050,000, according to Card Player. Wilson, left with very little, went out in fourth soon after.

Livschitz finished third when her king-jack ran into Winter's pocket kings and another king came on the flop. It was her third cash of the series, per PGT.com.

Heads-up

Winter started heads-up with about three times Vaysman's chips, 61 big blinds to 19 by Poker.org's count. Vaysman doubled with ace-seven against queen-six, Card Player reported, and then took the lead with a big call. He limped on the button with king-six, and the board ran out ace, king, nine, queen, two. Winter raised before the flop, made two small bets and then moved all in on the river with ten-high. Vaysman called with his pair of kings, per PGT.com and Card Player.

The last hand, according to Card Player:

• Vaysman limped on the button with the ten of spades and nine of hearts, and Winter checked with the jack and three of diamonds.
• The flop came ten, nine, seven with two diamonds. Vaysman bet 150,000 with top two pair, Winter check-raised to 700,000 with a flush draw and a straight draw, and Vaysman called.
• The king of hearts came on the turn. Winter moved all in for 2,975,000, and Vaysman called.
• The river was the ten of hearts, giving Vaysman a full house.

"From one quarter of a big blind to champion," PokerGO posted after the final hand.

Who is Justin Vaysman?

Card Player describes Vaysman as a three-time WSOP bracelet winner from Horsham, Pennsylvania. It says the $192,000 is the third-largest score of his career, behind the $350,000 he earned for 25th place in the 2024 WSOP Main Event and the $257,400 from a WSOP Online six-max title. He also finished sixth in Event #1 of this series.

Winter's second place extended his lead at the top of the season-long PGT leaderboard, per PGT.com.

The Purple Jacket race

Vaysman's two cashes put him fifth on the Poker Masters leaderboard. Mateos still leads, PGT.com reported.

The overall winner gets the Purple Jacket and a $25,000 PGT Passport. The series has 10 events and runs through Oct 23 at the PokerGO Studio, with buy-ins from $10,500 to $51,000, per PGT.com. Event #7, a $15,700 No-Limit Hold'em event, was already under way on Monday, PokerNews reported.

A note on the buy-in

The buy-in is $10,500. Of that, $10,000 from each entry goes into the prize pool, which is why 64 entries made a $640,000 pool. The other $500 is the fee the house keeps. Some outlets call it a $10K event, after the prize-pool share.