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Two Days, Two Big Wins: Ausmus Hits No. 10 After Vaysman's Nailbiter

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Samantha Doyle 2 minutes ago

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Jeremy Ausmus wins his 10th PGT title at Poker Masters Event #7, earning $278,400.
Justin Vaysman claims Event #6 after a dramatic comeback from nearly no chips.
Adrian Mateos remains atop the Purple Jacket leaderboard as the series continues.

By Wednesday morning, the Poker Masters had produced seven champions, the latest two arriving by very different routes.

Justin Vaysman spent a good part of Monday with fewer chips than the big blind before somehow winning Event #6, while Jeremy Ausmus used Tuesday's $15,700 tournament to collect a milestone 10th PokerGO Tour trophy.

Neither result removed Adrian Mateos from the top of the Purple Jacket standings, although Ausmus has now chipped close enough to join a crowded race as the buy-ins begin to climb.

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Event #7: Ausmus Makes His 10th PGT Win Count

Aram Oganyan started Tuesday's final table with the lead, Adrian Mateos was close behind and Ausmus sat third, which left five players separated by enough chips that there was no obvious first elimination.

Cherish Andrews fell first when her ace-queen lost to pocket nines, after which Mateos' hopes of turning another deep run into a second title faded during four-handed play. A costly blind-versus-blind bluff against Oganyan damaged the Spaniard's stack, and Ausmus finished the job soon afterwards.

Adrian Mateos at Poker Masters — Adrian Mateos at 2026 Poker Masters

Joe McKeehen followed almost immediately, his nines running into Ausmus' kings.

Heads-up was a little less clean cup. Ausmus began in front, Oganyan recovered and briefly moved ahead, but one river changed the match. Oganyan had flopped trip fours while Ausmus held an open-ended straight draw; the straight arrived on the river, Oganyan shoved and Ausmus called.

With more than 90% of the chips now on his side, Ausmus needed only a few more hands. Queen-seven beat Oganyan's jack-five at showdown, bringing him $278,400 and career PGT title number 10.

Jeremy Ausmus Wins 2026 Poker Masters Event #7

With more than 90% of the chips now on his side, Ausmus needed only a few more hands. Queen-seven beat Oganyan's jack-five at showdown, bringing him $278,400 and career PGT title number 10.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Jeremy Ausmus	$278,400
2	Aram Oganyan	$174,000
3	Joe McKeehen	$121,800
4	Adrian Mateos	$87,000
5	Cherish Andrews	$65,250

The 58-entry tournament produced an $870,000 prize pool. Daniel Negreanu also made his first appearance of the series and finished seventh for $34,800, while Joey Weissman took sixth for $47,850.

Ausmus' win took him to 294 Purple Jacket points, only one behind fourth-place Myles Mullaly, while Mateos strengthened his lead to 451 with the points earned from fourth place.

Event #6: Vaysman Wins After Almost Disappearing

While Ausmus' win was another trophy for a long collection, Justin Vaysman's victory a day earlier began from somewhere far less comfortable.

Monday's seven-player final resumed with Sean Winter leading, although the field was tightly packed enough that nobody had much room for error. Given all that, Vaysman nevertheless found himself on the wrong side of several pots until Winter reduced him to 20,000 chips with blinds of 40,000/80,000.

At that point, Vaysman owned a quarter of one big blind.

Sean Winter at 2026 Poker Masters — Sean Winter at the 2026 Poker Masters Event #6

A couple of doubles postponed the elimination, but the comeback only started looking serious during a three-way all-in against Winter and Brandon Wilson. Vaysman's ace-nine beat Wilson's ace-king and Winter's king-three, and the chips that had almost disappeared suddenly formed a playable stack again.

Wilson soon went out in fourth, while Livschitz finished third after running king-jack into Winter's kings.

Justin Vaysman Wins 2026 Poker Masters Event #6

Winter carried the lead into heads-up play, but Vaysman slowly reversed it, eventually catching a large river bluff with king-six.

On the final hand, Vaysman's ten-nine flopped two pair against Winter's jack-three of diamonds. Winter picked up additional outs and shoved the turn, only for Vaysman to improve to a full house on the river.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Justin Vaysman	$192,000
2	Sean Winter	$124,800
3	Victoria Livschitz	$86,400
4	Brandon Wilson	$64,000
5	Tony Gregg	$48,000

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