Keith Lehr wins Poker Masters Event #8 for $277,200 with a river full house against Vitalijs Zavorotnijs

Keith Lehr won Event #8: $15,700 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 Poker Masters on Wednesday, Oct 21, at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. He beat Vitalijs Zavorotnijs heads-up for $277,200 and 222 PGT points, according to PGT.com's official results. Lehr started heads-up almost 2-to-1 behind, and the last hand was decided by the river card.

The numbers

• Entries: 56, making a prize pool of $840,000. The top eight were paid, per PGT.com.
• First prize: $277,200 and 222 PGT points.
• Runner-up: Vitalijs Zavorotnijs, $176,400 and 141 PGT points.
• The event started on Tuesday, Oct 20, and five players came back for Wednesday's final day.

Final results

Day 1: three winners from this series go out late

Jamie Dwan went out on the money bubble, PGT.com reported. After that, Jeremy Ausmus, who won Event #7 the day before, finished eighth, Daniyal Gheba seventh, and Nick Palma, who won Event #2, sixth. Palma went out on the last hand of the night, per PokerNews. Zavorotnijs, who won Event #4, bagged the chip lead, and Lehr was fourth of the five, according to Card Player.

Day 2: down to two in a hurry

• Sam Soverel, a 17-time PGT winner, was first out. He got his king-queen all in against Lehr's ace-king before the flop, and the board ran out ten-high. It was Soverel's 15th Poker Masters final table, a record, PokerNews said.
• Nick Seward called off his last eight big blinds with king-ten against Justin Vaysman's pocket aces in a small blind versus big blind hand. He flopped top pair but didn't improve and finished fourth.
• Vaysman, who won Event #6 from a quarter of a big blind two days earlier, went out third. He limped ace-six from the small blind, Zavorotnijs raised with pocket tens, and Vaysman moved all in for 1,475,000 and was called. He picked up an open-ended straight draw by the turn but missed on the river, per Card Player.

A win for Vaysman would have taken him to the top of the Purple Jacket leaderboard, PokerNews noted.

Heads-up: the river decides it

Zavorotnijs started heads-up with 5,445,000 chips to Lehr's 2,995,000, per Card Player. Lehr limped pocket kings on the button, Zavorotnijs moved all in from the big blind with pocket fours, and the kings held to put Lehr in the lead, PGT.com reported. The final hand, at blinds of 40,000/80,000, per PGT.com and Card Player:

• Zavorotnijs raised to 170,000 on the button with the ace of spades and jack of clubs. Lehr re-raised to 400,000 from the big blind with the king of clubs and queen of spades, and Zavorotnijs called.
• The flop came queen of clubs, ten of spades, five of spades. Lehr bet 400,000 and Zavorotnijs called.
• The turn was the king of spades. That gave Zavorotnijs the best possible straight, ace-high, plus a draw to the ace-high flush. Lehr, with top two pair, bet 800,000.
• Zavorotnijs moved all in for 2,220,000 and Lehr called quickly.
• The river was the queen of hearts, pairing the board and giving Lehr a full house, queens full of kings.

By our count, Lehr had four cards that won it on the river: the two queens and two kings left in the deck. "WOW... what a way to win it!" PokerGO posted with the clip. PokerNews called it another heads-up cooler, a day after Ausmus' river straight against Aram Oganyan's three fours in Event #7.

Who is Keith Lehr?

Lehr, 62, is from Bossier City, Louisiana, and has won two WSOP bracelets, per Card Player. PokerNews says he won them in 2003 and 2015, sits atop Louisiana's all-time money list, and that this was his first tournament win since 2024. His career live tournament earnings now top $6.3 million, Card Player reported.

The outlets don't agree on how many PGT titles he has. PokerNews and Card Player call this his second, counting a pot-limit Omaha win at the 2018 Poker Masters. PGT.com's own recap calls it his first career PGT title. Event #8 was his second cash of this series, after sixth place in Event #5 for $42,500, per Card Player.

The Purple Jacket race

With Zavorotnijs and Vaysman both falling short, Adrian Mateos, who won Event #5, kept the lead. A Zavorotnijs win would have moved him within five points of Mateos, PokerNews said.

Up next: Negreanu leads the $26,000 event, and Mateos bubbles again

Event #9, a $26,000 No-Limit Hold'em event, drew 50 entries for a $1,250,000 prize pool, with $412,500 for first, per PokerNews. Daniel Negreanu leads the seven players left with 2,205,000 chips, ahead of Nick Seward (1,700,000) and Daniyal Gheba (1,120,000). Negreanu knocked out Palma just before the money, and Mateos then went out on the bubble in ninth, his fifth bubble in nine events this series, Poker.org reported.

The Event #9 final table plays Thursday, Oct 22, on PokerGO's YouTube channel starting at 4 PM ET, per Poker.org. The last event, the $51,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship, also starts Thursday and finishes Friday, Oct 23, when the Purple Jacket winner will be decided.

A note on the buy-in

The Event #8 buy-in is $15,700. Of that, $15,000 from each entry goes into the prize pool, which is why 56 entries made an $840,000 pool. The other $700 is the fee the house keeps. Event #9 works the same way: $25,000 of each $26,000 buy-in goes to the pool, so 50 entries made $1,250,000.