Late Surge Sees Adrian Mateos Win 2026 Poker Masters Series

From Spain to Las Vegas and many cities in between, Adrian Mateos has become one of poker’s greatest players. This week, he sealed another memorable series victory as he became the 2026 Poker Masters champion in the PokerGO Studio at ARIA in Las Vegas. Along with winning hundreds of thousands of pounds in prize money, Mateos also claimed the legendary Purple Jacket and a PGT Passport worth $25,000 in buy-ins to future PGT events.

Event #9 Sees Seward Shine

“It was definitely special playing heads-up against Negreanu.” ~ Nick Seward, Poker Masters event winner.

In the penultimate event of the series, the buy-in was raised to $26,000, as the best of the best took their seats. Among them was the eventual winner Nick Seward, who eventually won the top prize of $412,500 but he was joined in the event by the Day 1 chip leader Daniel Negreanu. The eight-time WSOP bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Famer led the opening day field after a red wine-fuelled tear saw his top the leaderboard.

On Day 2, players such as David Coleman (8^th for $50,000), Jesse Lonis (7^th for $50,000) and Brandon Wilson (6^th for $75,000) all made the money places before the race to the title played out. Sean Perry crashed out in fifth place for $100,000 before Matthew Wantman (4^th for $125,000) and Daniyal Gheba (3^rd for $175,000) both went close to heads-up but missed out.

Negreanu lost with a flush to a full house to fall almost 3:1 behind in chips, and when he got his final chips in with king-ten, Seward’s king-jack prevailed, leaving Kid Poker to collect $262,500 as runner-up and Seward to spike the win for $412,500.

“It feels great,” said Seward (below) afterwards. “The $25k is a big one, so it was definitely a very rewarding feeling, and it was my first win in here, so it feels really good.”

After defeating arguably the best-known poker player in the world, Seward described the victory as truly meaningful.

“It was definitely special playing heads-up against him,” he said. “I’m just lucky to be surrounded by a lot of good people. They drive me to work really hard and I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Ausmus Misses Out as Winter Comes

“I wasn’t executing how I wanted to, so I took an event off to reset, and I think it worked out.” ~ Sean Winter, Event #10 winner.

The final event of the 2026 Poker Masters was a $50,000-entry classic. The ‘Championship’ event had 31 entries, paying just five players as Adrian Mateos’ bid to become the Poker Masters winner hung by a thread going into the final day. Leading the race to become this year’s Purple Jacket winner, Mateos endured a tough Day 1, as he missed out on the money in 16^th place.

Mateos’ closest challenger was Nick Palma, but the ebullient New Yorker, who got into it with Chris Brewer with two tables left, calling Brewer a “d*ckhead” and accusing the successful, well-like player of “crying like a baby” when losing. Palma was made to eat humble pie soon after the one-sided exchange, sliding out of contention in eight place, marginally missing the money and the PGT Points he would have accumulated if he’d got a few places further. With Palma out of the occasion, Mateos led in the clubhouse, but there was a formidable challenger in the form of Jeremy Ausmus.

With seven players remaining, Ausmus was third in chips with one day to play, knowing that if he could make the heads-up battle, then he would be the new holder of the Purple Jacket. Brewer bubbled in sixth place, before Austrian Marius Gierse cashed for $124,000 in fifth.

Ausmus was two places from glory but ran out of luck at the worst possible time. All-in in a blind-vs-blind confrontation, Ausmus lost the crucial flip with pocket fives being rivered by Sean Winter’s ace-king. Winning $170,500, Ausmus still had a terrific series and was only outlasted by Igor Yaroshevskyy (3^rd for $248,000) before the heads-up match. There, Winter took on Laskowitz, and despite blowing most of his lead, when the latter got it in with top pair, Winter’s two-pair won the day and the event for one of his biggest wins in the PokerGO Studio.

“I felt pretty locked in this tournament,” Winter (above) told reporters afterwards. “[In] a couple other tournaments, I wasn’t feeling the sharpest. 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 numbers back that up, as Winter took home $620,000 for the win, the biggest single prize handed out during a thrilling 2026 Poker Masters.

Mateos the Matador Sees Off Competition

“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!” Adrian Mateos, 2026 Poker Masters champion.

After excelling in three events, Mateos bubbled another five as his successful race to become Poker Masters champion went right to the wire.

“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 said as victory was confirmed. Asked about the five bubbles he experienced in the series, the stoic Spaniard was as non-plussed as poker fans, calling the run “completely unbelievable”.

Mateos cashed three times in the 10 events, one fewer than closest rivals Nick Palma and Nick Seward, while the five cashes of Jeremy Ausmus (below) saw the American miss out on the title by just 62 points and two places in that agonising final event. Mateos came second in Event #2 for $151,200, won Event #5 for $229,500 then scraped a fourth-place score of $87,000 in Event #7, which proved just as crucial as both of his heads-up results.

With his tournament winnings of $467,700 added to be a $25,000 PGT Passport, it was the Spanish six-time WSOP bracelet winner who ended up wearing the Purple Jacket.

Here’s how the top 10 positions of the 2026 Poker Masters leaderboard ended up in Las Vegas.