Zavorotnijs Leads Poker Masters Event #4 Final Five
Dwan, Palma and Lichtenberger remain in the $10,500 no-limit hold’em event, while Mateos bubbles for the third time in four events.
- Vitalijs Zavorotnijs held 3.53 million chips as Event #4 reached five players.
- The $10,500 no-limit hold’em tournament drew 80 entries and built an $800,000 prize pool.
- Clemen Deng and Jamie Dwan were the other big stacks, while Nicholas Palma and Andrew Lichtenberger returned short.
- Adrian Mateos missed the money after bubbling Event #4, his third bubble in four Poker Masters events.
- The winner receives $224,000 and points toward the Purple Jacket race.
Vitalijs Zavorotnijs led the last five players in Poker Masters Event #4: $10,500 no-limit hold’em, carrying 3.53 million chips into the final day. The 80-entry event built an $800,000 prize pool, with $224,000 and Poker Masters Purple Jacket points awaiting the winner.
Clemen Deng was second with 2.63 million, followed by Jamie Dwan on 2.375 million. Nicholas Palma, the Event #2 champion, returned with 850,000, or 17 big blinds, while Andrew Lichtenberger was shortest with 620,000, or 12 big blinds.
All five finalists had secured at least $56,000. The tournament paid its top 12 finishers, and play resumes today at 11:45 a.m. local time at Level 18, with blinds of 25,000/50,000 and a 50,000 big-blind ante.
Zavorotnijs reached the lead after his pocket kings beat Joao Simao’s pocket queens. He had survived several all-in confrontations by that point and remained either first or within the top three for the rest of the day.
Deng narrowly escaped the money bubble, then doubled through Lichtenberger when his pocket tens held against pocket nines. The actual bubble went to Adrian Mateos, who was eliminated by Chris Hunichen one place short of a payout after Joey Weissman recovered from a stack of only 10,000 chips.
Mateos’ exit continued a difficult Poker Masters run. He had bubbled Event #1, finished runner-up to Palma in Event #2, then bubbled both Event #3 and Event #4. Weissman subsequently fell in ninth when his pocket queens lost to Deng’s ace-king.
Dwan, a late addition to the field, made his first cash of this Poker Masters and his first-ever cash inside the PokerGO Studio. He eliminated Jeremy Ausmus in eighth to form the final table, then knocked out Erik Seidel in sixth to end the day. Dwan won the WSOP $50,000 High Roller for $2.28 million and his first bracelet in 2026.
Palma has the chance to add a second Poker Masters win after taking down Event #2 from an 84-entry field for $235,200, his first PokerGO Tour title. A second series victory would put him atop the Poker Masters standings, matching his stated aim of wearing the Purple Jacket.
