Poker Masters 2026: Michael Rossitto Leads Final Six in $10K Opener at ARIA

Last Updated on October 13, 2026 by Bala Kumar

The purple jacket race is on in Las Vegas. Twelve hours of high-stakes action inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA brought the first $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em event of Poker Masters 2026 down to six players. One name sits clearly above the rest: Michael Rossitto.

Rossitto bagged 3,300,000 chips, about 82 big blinds at the current level. That’s roughly a third of all the chips still in play. Behind him, Myles Mullaly (2,445,000) and Sam Laskowitz (2,155,000) are both deep enough to apply pressure. The bottom half of the table is fighting to survive.

Everyone left has already locked up $39,000. The winner takes $218,400 and the first purple jacket points of the series.

Event #1 at a Glance

The entry numbers are typical of a PokerGO Tour opener. Forty-nine unique players generated 78 entries, so about 29 bullets came from re-entries. That’s normal at this level: most of the field are regulars who budget for two or three entries per event over a series.

How Day 1 Played Out

It was a brutal day for some big names. Erik Seidel, Nick Schulman, Andrew Lichtenberger, Cherish Andrews, Brock Wilson, Jeremy Becker, Marius Gierse, Patrick Leonard and Joe McKeehen all went out before the money. In a field this small, every elimination near the bubble matters, and this list shows how deep the talent is in a $10K PokerGO event.

The bubble: aces cracked

The money bubble burst in a painful way. Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Mateos got his stack in before the flop with the best possible starting hand, A♣A♦. Craig Mason called with 9♣9♥.

Pocket aces win this matchup roughly 80% of the time. That held through a 3♠ 8♥ 9♠ flop until Mason hit a nine, giving him a set. The 6♣ turn changed nothing, and the 3♣ river paired the board, giving Mason a full house (nines full of threes) and ending Mateos’s run one spot short of a payday.

Practical takeaway for newer players: Mateos made the right play. Getting all-in with aces against a pair is exactly what you want, even on the bubble. Over many repetitions the play prints money; you just can’t control the deal on any single hand. In poker, judge your decisions, not your results.

Mason went on to make the money, finishing 7th for $31,200.

Final Table Chip Counts

Blinds when play resumes: 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante.

The 9,750,000 chips in play divide evenly into 78 starting stacks of 125,000. The average stack at the final table is 1,625,000, or about 41 big blinds.

Reading the table

• Rossitto (Seat 4): He covers everyone, and that’s a big edge at a final table with a steep pay jump. He can call short-stack shoves more lightly and put pressure on the middle stacks, who can’t afford to bust before the short stacks do.
• Mullaly and Laskowitz (Seats 2 and 5): Both have room to play real poker, open, 3-bet and maneuver post-flop. A big pot between either of them and Rossitto could decide the tournament.
• Zaki (Seat 3): At 24 big blinds he’s in re-shove territory. Expect him to look for spots to move all-in over opens.
• Gheba and Vaysman (Seats 1 and 6): Vaysman has fewer than 8 big blinds and will almost certainly be pushing or folding from the first orbit. Gheba has a bit more breathing room but can’t wait long.

Final Table Payouts

Players already paid

The biggest jump is from second to first: $78,000. This is why heads-up play in PokerGO events often turns aggressive. Both players know second place costs them nearly 36% of the top prize.

Who Is Michael Rossitto?

If you only follow televised poker, Rossitto’s name may be new. He has been one of the most consistent tournament grinders in Las Vegas for years.

• He won the 2023 Wynn Millions $3,500 Main Event for $604,637, after the field reached 1,314 entries, and it’s still his largest score.
• He won his first PokerGO Tour title at the 2025 U.S. Poker Open, beating reigning Poker Masters series champion Jim Collopy heads-up for $277,950.
• His 2026 has been strong. He finished third in USPO Event #2 for $58,800 and fifth in USPO Event #4 for $49,500. In the summer he led the field going into Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event, the year the event drew 9,208 entrants.
• Card Player puts his recorded earnings at $5,383,760 across 291 cashes.

He also has history with one opponent here. At the 2026 U.S. Poker Open, Rossitto led the final five in Event #2 with Justin Vaysman right behind him. Vaysman now arrives as the shortest stack, and Rossitto has every chip he needs to put him at risk.

Rossitto has one weak spot: he still has no WSOP bracelet, after twice finishing one elimination away in 2025. A deep run this fall would add another big result to a strong year.

What’s at Stake: The Purple Jacket

The Poker Masters awards its champion a purple jacket, a nod to golf’s green jacket, which has become one of the most recognizable prizes in high-stakes poker. It goes to the player with the most PokerGO Tour points across the series, not to the winner of a single event. Strong early results set the tone.

The 2026 edition runs October 12–23 with ten No-Limit Hold’em events, with buy-ins from $10,500 to $51,000, and finishes with a $51,000 finale. Last year, David Coleman took the jacket after winning the $1,000,000 Showcase for $270,000 and finishing second to Brandon Wilson in the series finale for $355,000.

The winner of Event #1 starts the leaderboard race with a lead, and in a series where one deep run can decide the jacket, that matters.

Why This Matters to Everyday Players

You don’t need a $10,000 bankroll to learn from a final table like this:

1. Stack depth changes strategy. Rossitto at 82 big blinds and Vaysman at 8 are effectively playing different games. Learn the push/fold ranges for stacks under 15 big blinds; they’re the most profitable thing a beginner can study.
2. Pay jumps punish medium stacks. Players in Zaki’s spot often lose most by calling off too wide. Look up ICM (Independent Chip Model) for why chips you lose are worth more than chips you win near the money.
3. Variance hits everyone. Mateos busting with aces on the bubble is the clearest example. Bankroll management exists for exactly these moments.

What’s Next

The final six return to the PokerGO Studio to play to a winner, with the action streamed on PokerGO. We’ll update this page with the champion, the final hand and the early purple jacket standings as soon as results are confirmed.

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