Jesse Lonis and Sergei Kislinskii Win PGT Sprint Titles as the PokerGO Studio Heads Into Its $10,500 Finale

The PGT Sprint is short and fast. There are seven single-day No-Limit Hold’em tournaments in nine days, and each one starts and finishes in a single session. There’s no Day 2 to recover from a bad level, and no bagging a stack and sleeping on it. You either get it done in one sitting or you’re back in line tomorrow.

This week’s two winners show both sides of that format. One is a high-stakes regular who has been knocking on the door all series. The other is a newer face on the PGT scene who finally turned a run of deep finishes into a trophy. Here’s what happened, the full payouts, and what it means for the season-long race.

What Is the PGT Sprint?

The Sprint is one of the last festivals on the 2026 PokerGO Tour calendar. Every event counts toward the PGT leaderboard, and the top 40 on that leaderboard earn a seat in the season-ending PGT Championship.

Series detail
Dates	October 27 – November 4, 2026
Venue	PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino, Las Vegas
Events	7, all No-Limit Hold’em, all single-day
Buy-ins	$5,300 for Events #1–#4; $10,500 for Events #5–#7
Prize pool contribution	$5,000 of each $5,300 entry
Season finale	PGT Championship, January 11–12, 2027 – a $500,000 freeroll for the top 40 plus Dream Seat winners

That freeroll is worth explaining. Qualifying players don’t pay anything to enter. The winner collects $250,000, made up of $100,000 in cash and a $150,000 PGT Passport. That’s why mid-season events like these matter to the pros. A five-figure cash also means points, and points are a free ticket to a quarter-million-dollar first prize.

Event-by-Event: How the Sprint Has Played Out

Event	Entries	Prize pool	Paid	Winner	First prize
#1 $5,300 NLH	92	$460,000	14	Chino Rheem	$119,600
#2 $5,300 NLH	79	$395,000*	–	Brock Wilson	$110,600
#3 $5,300 NLH	78	$390,000	12	Jesse Lonis	$101,000 (deal)
#4 $5,300 NLH	57	$285,000	9	Sergei Kislinskii	$91,200

Event #2 prize pool is our calculation from 79 entries at $5,000 each. Event #3 first prize reflects a heads-up deal.

Two trends stand out. Fields have shrunk with each event, from 92 runners in the opener to 57 by Event #4. That’s normal at the end of a long autumn. Many of these players have just come through the Poker Masters, and the bigger $10,500 events later in the week tempt some to save their bankroll.

The payout structure stays consistent at roughly 15% of the field. That works out to 14 places paid from 92, 12 from 78, and 9 from 57. Smaller fields mean fewer pay spots, but each one is worth more.

Event #3: Jesse Lonis Finally Gets Over the Line

Jesse Lonis is one of the most consistent tournament players in the world. He’s the reigning Card Player Player of the Year, and his 2024 WSOP $50,000 PLO High Roller win paid more than $2.3 million. Even so, the Sprint had been testing his patience. He reached the final table in each of the first two events without winning. Event #3 was his third straight final table of the series, and this time he closed it out.

The 78-entry field built a $390,000 prize pool. When play reached heads-up against Sam Laskowitz, the pair agreed a deal. The standard payouts were $109,200 for first and $70,200 for second. Under the deal, Lonis took $101,000 plus the title, and Laskowitz took $78,400. Laskowitz locked up $8,200 more than a second-place finish would have paid, and Lonis secured the trophy and 164 PGT points.

#	Player	Prize
1	Jesse Lonis	$101,000*
2	Sam Laskowitz	$78,400*
3	Adam Hendrix	$50,700
4	Brandon Sunshine	$37,050
5	Jim Collopy	$27,300
6	Patrick Leonard	$19,500
7	Natalie Ferguson	$15,600
8	Sam Soverel	$15,600
9	Cary Katz	$11,700
10	Martin Zamani	$11,700
11	Cherish Andrews	$10,725
12	Sean Perry	$10,725

Heads-up deal. The 12 payouts add up to exactly $390,000.

Why a heads-up deal makes sense here

New players are often surprised that deals are allowed, so here’s the simple version. At heads-up, the gap between first and second was $39,000. A single all-in can swing that whole amount. A deal removes some of that luck: both players agree to split the money left, usually based on chip stacks, and then play on for the title.

After the deal, the gap was $22,600. Lonis lost a little expected money but kept the trophy, the points and the bragging rights. Laskowitz secured a much better score than a straight second-place finish. For pros playing tens of these events a year, cutting variance like this is often the smart business decision.

Notice the paired payouts at the bottom of the ladder too: 7th/8th, 9th/10th and 11th/12th each paid the same amount. In a field this small, laddering up one spot near the bubble often pays nothing extra. That should change how you play a short stack late in these events.

Event #4: Sergei Kislinskii Claims His First PGT Title

Event #4 drew the smallest field of the series so far, 57 entries, for a $285,000 prize pool. Nine places were paid. Russia’s Sergei Kislinskii came out on top for $91,200.

It’s a breakthrough result. Kislinskii’s previous best score was a runner-up finish in a PGT Kickoff event for $78,750. His most notable title before this week was the 2023 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Main Event, worth $73,019. Event #4 was his second straight final table of the Sprint, and it earned him 137 PGT points and his first PokerGO Tour trophy.

The heads-up match against Brandon Sunshine turned on one big hand. Sunshine flopped top two pair, but Kislinskii had flopped a straight. All the chips went in before the turn, and Kislinskii held to take a lead of more than three to one. Shortly after, his ace-ten beat Sunshine’s king-nine to finish it.

#	Player	Prize
1	Sergei Kislinskii	$91,200
2	Brandon Sunshine	$57,000
3	Joe McKeehen	$39,900
4	Andrew Lichtenberger	$28,500
5	Dorian Pavon	$21,375
6	Pierce McKellar	$15,675
7	Mike Zulker	$11,400
8	Sam Soverel	$11,400
9	Nick Palma	$8,550

Nine places were paid, and the payouts add up to exactly $285,000.

First prize was 32% of the prize pool, and the winner earned 18 times the buy-in. Those are the kind of numbers that make small-field, high-buy-in events attractive. Fewer players means fewer coin flips between you and the title, but every opponent at the table is strong.

The Players Running Hot

Several names keep showing up in the money. That tells you a lot about how small and tight-knit the PGT regular pool is.

Player	Sprint results (Events #1–#4)	Total from these cashes
Brandon Sunshine	4th in #3, 2nd in #4	$94,050
Andrew Lichtenberger	2nd in #1, 4th in #4	$104,400
Patrick Leonard	3rd in #1, 6th in #3	$74,700
Sam Soverel	8th in #3, 8th in #4	$27,000

Brandon Sunshine is the unlucky story of the week. He was fourth in Event #3 and second in Event #4, earning $94,050 in two days with no trophy to show for it.

Andrew Lichtenberger has also made two final tables in the Sprint. He won the season-opening PGT Kickoff event back in January, so he’s had a strong year in this room.

The Leaderboard Picture

Before this week’s events, Sean Winter led the 2026 PGT standings with 2,223 points. Brock Wilson was second on 1,942 after winning Event #2, his fifth PGT title of the year. Eelis Parssinen, Jeremy Ausmus and Alex Foxen rounded out the top five.

Lonis’s 164 points from Event #3 strengthen his position near the top end of the rankings. Kislinskii’s 137 points are probably more important in relative terms: for a player outside the elite group, a win like this can be the difference between watching the PGT Championship and playing in it. With three higher-value $10,500 events left, plus January’s Last Chance festival, the race for the final top-40 seats is still wide open.

Practical Takeaways From the Sprint

• Single-day events reward aggression early. With no Day 2, you can’t nurse a short stack overnight. Players who build chips in the first few hours give themselves room to wait for spots late.
• Know the payout jumps before the bubble. When several places pay the same amount, folding to move up one spot can be pointless. Check the payout sheet before you tighten up.
• Understand how deals work. If you reach heads-up, you’ll often be asked about a deal. Deals typically split the remaining money by chip stacks, and playing on for the title is usually part of it. Know roughly what your stack is worth before the conversation starts.
• Small fields are tough, but first prizes are big. A 57-runner event paid 18 times the buy-in to the winner. Just remember that nearly every opponent is a seasoned professional.
• Watch for satellite routes. If $5,300 or $10,500 is outside your bankroll, PokerGO-affiliated satellites at ARIA are a cheaper way to take a shot at these fields.

What’s Next

The PGT Sprint finishes with three $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em events from Monday, November 2, to Wednesday, November 4. The buy-in doubles, so expect smaller fields, bigger prize pools per player, and more PGT points per cash. That makes these last three events crucial for anyone fighting for a PGT Championship seat. Full schedules and live reporting are on PGT.com, and final tables stream on PokerGO.

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