PokerGO Cup Thrills with Opening Three Events in Las Vegas

From first-time winners to elite poker professionals, the PokerGO Cup has kicked off in fine style in Las Vegas inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA. With big wins for professionals at the top of their games and some new names destine for poker greatness, we’ve got all the action from Events #1-#3, where buy-ins ranged from between $3,000 and $5,000.

Kent Stephens Chalks Up One for the Amateurs

The first event of the 2026 PokerGO Cup cost a little less than other events, with the $3,000 buy-in opening event attracting 215 total entries, and creating a prize pool of $645,000. The tournament, which too two days to wrap inside the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas saw 31 players advance to the money places and Day 2, including the former PokerGO Cup leaderboard winner Jonathan Little.

Little survived a tumultuous Day 1 where he was down to a single blind before recovering to scrape into the money places but his battle for glory went no further. It took a brutal heads-up game between Myles Mullaly and a first-time in the PokerGO Studio, Kent Stephens, to find a winner and the man from Utah triumphed for his first major title and a top prize of $130,000, more than ten times his previous tournament earnings and life-changing money.

Each of Chino Rheem, David ‘ODB’ Baker and Manig Loeser made the money without going much further on Day 2 as well before the final table of seven convened under the lights to play down to a winner. In the final, Messmer fell to the impressive Mullaly, before Jim Collopy cashed for $25,000 as perhaps the most experienced at the felt. Eventually, a classic battle of amateur vs. pro ensued up top, with Stephens’ pocket threes holding to close it out against the nine-eight of Mullaly and produce a shock winner.

Filipp Kavin Claims Second Major Title Win for Qualifiers

The second qualifier out of three players to win events was Filipp Kavin, who grabbed glory at the expense of the cunning Jesse Lonis in the final duel. There were 111 total entries in the event, with 16 players reaching the money, including Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen (14^th for $11,100), Landon Tice (11^th for $13,875), and Sam Soverel (10^th for $16650).

Daniel Sepiol bubbled the final table in eighth place for $22,200, leaving Nick Seward as the chip leader with 66 big blinds. Dylan Linde was the short stack and busted with the superior pocket queens against Drake Kemper’s ace-queen when an ace fell on the river. Seward was soon left stunned as the chip leader with seven left busted in sixth place for $27,750, pocket eights shot down by Kemper’s ace-queen again.

David Kim cashed twice in the event but busted in fourth for $49,950. His elimination was followed by that of Drake Kemper, who cashed for $63,825 when dominated to defeat by Jesse Lonis. The latter might have opted to simply play it out with his vast experience, but he cannily agreed to a deal and that proved clever when Kavin’s king-ten got there against Lonis’ ace-six.

Jesse Lonis won $105,800 as runner-up, but it was Filipp Kavin who took home the $124,525 top prize and his first-ever PokerGO Tour trophy.

Justin Saliba Takes One for the Pros

The third and final PokerGO Cup event to conclude this week was won by Justin Saliba for over $96,000 after he too did a deal, this time with another elite pro in James Carroll. With 86 total entries, the Event #3 ‘Bubble Boy’ was the same as in Event #2, as John Riordan proved the unluckiest man in Las Vegas. Losing with pocket jacks to Saliba’s ace-deuce must have been very painful, especially on the back of his bust-out in the previous single-day NLHE event 24 hours earlier.

Matthew Wantman (13^th for $10,750) and Neil Warren (12^th for $10,750) came next, with Jeremy Becker (11^th for $12,900) and Cherish Andrews (10^th for $12,900) both missing out on the finale along with Joao Simao (9^th for $12,900) and Justin Zaki (8^th for $17,200). Justin Saliba led the final seven with 2.6 million chips and soon, Eric Blair lost his tournament life.

Jeremy Ausmus (6^th for $21,500) and Chino Rheem (5^th for $30,100) both departed before

The previously powerful Sam Laskowitz departed in third place, just missing out on an ICM deal that virtually split the remaining money left to be won. A dominated queen-five for Saliba looked set to double Carroll heads-up but a queen on the flop changed everything and eventually led to Saliba slaying his final opponent.

“I was just in Paris playing every day (at the EPT) and came straight here,” Saliba said after victory. “If you’re only in grind mode all the time you’re going to burn out. Playing with guys like Jeremy and Chino just makes it enjoyable. I was very jet-lagged, so I was trying to keep my energy up and have fun early. Once the final table came, it was time to lock back in.”

Saliba certainly did that and rounded out a thrilling week at the felt in Las Vegas.