Opening Events of PokerGO Kickoff Series See Huge Fields in Las Vegas

With each event costing $5,00 to play, we’ve got the round-up from each event of the PGT Kickoff series so far, letting you know who made the final table and which winner lead the PGT Leaderboard Top40 after the first week at the purple felt.

Chewy Repeats Opening Event Win

Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger won the very first event of the PokerGO Tour season just as he did a year ago. Yes, a repeat winner was crowned in Las Vegas as Chewy, known for his co-creation of Octopi Poker as well as his poker achievements, took the title and $162,000 as he got his season off to the perfect start.

With 135 total entries, plenty of big names made the money places, with Cherish Andrews and Michael Rossitto both exiting on the bubble to split the first min-cash and essentially get their entry fees back. David ‘ODB’ Baker and Brock Wilson were among those to claim the full min-cash of $10,125, with the 2025 PGT Player of the Year Alex Foxen finishing 10^th for $20,250.

At the seven-handed final table, Spencer Champlin came seventh for a score of $27,000, with the Global Poker Award winner Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau departing for $40,500 in fifth when his pocket aces were overtaken by pocket kings. PokerGO owner Cary Katz busted in fourth for $54,000 before his fellow WSOP bracelet winner Shannon Shorr went out in third place for $70,875.

Heads-up, Chewy had the goods against relative newcomer Jeremy Eyer. While the latter banked his sixth cash of 2026 so far, and the largest so far at $97,875 as runner-up, it was Chewy who took home $162,000 and the PGT Gold Cup.

Dan Smith Denied Late as Battistone Breaks Duck

The Cowboy was shot down at the death in Event #2 as Brian Battistone sealed his first-ever win on the PokerGO Tour. This time, an even bigger field of 151 entries meant players such as Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen, Jeremy ‘JBex’ Becker, David ‘Chino’ Rheem, Nacho Barbero, and Stephen Song all made a return on their entries, as Smith went into the final day holding the overnight lead.

Long-time PokerGO commentator Nick Schulman left in seventh place for $30,200, before Sam Laskowitz (6^th for $37,750) and Yifu Hu (5^th for $45,300) departed before the final four. Mike Zulker finished fourth, as the only person to cash in both of the first two PGT Kickoffs events when he took home $56,625.

Three-handed play ended when the Russian player Maksim Pisarenko was busted, leaving with a score of $75,500. When play got heads-up, Battistone was taking on one of poker’s most consistent winners in Dan Smith. Known as ‘the Cowboy’, Smith’s record is exemplary, and includes over $60m in live tournament winnings, but this time, he couldn’t get over the line, coming second for $109,475.

Battistone had previously won a top score of $78,641 in PGT qualifying results, that coming after his eighth-place finish in last summer’s $10,000-entry WSOP Big O Championship. This was much bigger, as Battistone took home the PGT Gold Cup, winning the $173,600 top prize and 347 PGT points to boot.

Moreno the Man Yet Again in Sin City

The third event of the 2026 PGT season so far saw Andrew Moreno win his third career PGT title and first of the year. With 159 entries, the event topped both of the opening two events in field size, becoming the second biggest field for a $5,000 buy-in in PGT history, only behind the opening event of last year’s PokerGO Cup.

Players such as Daniel Sepiol, Dan Shak, Chino Rheem, John Riordan, Matthew Wantman, and Erik Seidel all finished in the money places after the unfortunate Justin Saliba was ‘Bubble Boy’. By the time the final table of seven was found, Joao Simao and David Coleman were battling for the chip lead and were separated by just a riffle of chips.

Stephen Song busted for $31,800 before Jared Jaffee (6^th for $39,750) and Brandon Wilson (5^th for $47,700) followed him out of the PokerGO Studio doors.

Down to four players, it was the former chip leader Joao Simao who was eliminated in fourth place for $59,625 before PGT regular David Coleman departed in third place for $79,500. Heads-up, Jim Collopy and Andrew Moreno both discussed a deal and made the numbers work, agreeing to smooth out the payments before playing on for a chunky $26,000 in equity.

Eventually, Moreno got the job done, battling back after Collopy initially took the lead before claiming the win. In what was Moreno’s 16^th cash on the PokerGO Tour, he booked his third win, with his others coming in the 2021 Wynn Millions Main Event and in Event #3 of last year’s Poker Masters.

Taking home the PGT Gold Cup and $162,300, Moreno bumped his PGT career earnings in live poker tournaments to $2,677,000, a healthy percentage of his total earnings of $6.29 million. Moreno also picked 366 PGT points, putting him on top of the PGT Leaderboard after three qualifying events, with only the top 40 players at year-end guaranteed to make the $1,000,000 PGT Championship freeroll.