Poker Masters 2026: Nick Palma Outlasts Adrian Mateos to Win Event #2

Last Updated on October 15, 2026 by Bala Kumar

Nick “Nicky P” Palma won Event #2: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2026 Poker Masters. He beat Adrian Mateos heads-up for $235,200 and his first PokerGO Tour (PGT) title. The New Yorker topped an 84-entry field in Las Vegas, and on the final hand he came from behind holding the weaker ace.

Five-Handed and Chaotic: How Day 2 Unfolded

Only five of the 84 entries came back to the PokerGO Studio at ARIA on October 14. Mateos, the 2026 GPI money leader, held the overnight chip lead, with Palma second. Michael Berk, defending Purple Jacket champion David Coleman and Nick Seward made up the rest of a very tough final five.

The first level was quiet. Then the blinds went up and the chips started flying:

• David Coleman four-bet bluffed the flop with seven-high and got Berk to fold A-K.
• Nick Seward took the chip lead by doubling through Palma, aces over A-K.
• Palma got it straight back when he picked up aces of his own and doubled through Mateos.
• Mateos reclaimed the lead from Seward when his aces held against A-Q.

Pocket aces showed up three times in about an hour, and each time someone had a hand good enough to pay them off. That’s why short-handed high rollers swing so hard. With five players left, strong-but-second-best hands like A-K and A-Q are almost never folded.

Seward’s run ended after a mistimed bluff into Berk’s second-nut flush and a big pot lost to Mateos. He was left with a single chip, which Coleman collected the next hand. Seward finished fifth for $58,600.

Coleman went next. He shoved Q-10 from the small blind into Berk’s A-10 in the big blind and finished fourth for $79,800. His bid to defend the jacket is still alive with 80 points.

Three-handed, Palma took control. Berk turned two pair into a bluff with a big river raise, but Palma held the nuts and shoved, forcing Berk to fold a large chunk of his stack. A few hands later, Berk jammed 17 big blinds with Q-J into Mateos’ A-K. Nothing came to save him, and he left in third for $109,200.

Heads-Up: Palma vs. Mateos

Palma started heads-up with the chip lead and stretched it early. Mateos, one of the most accomplished tournament players of his generation, fought back in front, but only for a minute.

The swing hand came right after Mateos doubled with aces against sixes. Palma slow-played A-J, Mateos shoved a weaker ace, and a 9.4 million chip pot went to Palma. Mateos survived two more all-ins as the short stack, but he never got level again.

The final hand: Mateos jammed the button for 12.5 big blinds with A-9, and Palma called with A-6. Both players flopped an ace, so Mateos’ nine kicker was still ahead. Then the runout completed a seven-high straight for Palma, and the title was his.

Why Palma’s Call Was Correct, Even With the Worse Ace

Preflop, A-6 against A-9 is roughly a 3-to-1 underdog; you can check it yourself with our poker odds calculator. So why call?

• Heads-up ranges are wide. At 12.5 big blinds, a strong player shoves the button with far more than big aces. Hands like K-x, Q-x, small pairs and suited connectors are all in that range.
• Any ace is near the top of that range. Against Mateos’ full range, A-6 has well over 50% equity. Standard heads-up push-fold charts call 12.5 big blinds with every ace.
• The price is good. Palma had to call about 11.5 more big blinds for a final pot of about 26, including the big-blind ante. So he needed only about 45% equity to break even. If that math is new to you, our guide to pot odds explained walks through it in five seconds, or you can plug in the numbers with the pot odds calculator.

Palma ran into the one part of Mateos’ range that dominated him and still got there. Hitting the straight was luck, but the call itself was correct. Want to practise spots like this? Try our free Preflop Decision Trainer.

Poker Masters 2026 at a Glance

Dates: October 12–23, 2026
Venue: PokerGO Studio, ARIA Resort & Casino, Las Vegas
Events: 10 (all No-Limit Hold’em)
Buy-ins: $10,500 to $51,000
Series prize: Purple Jacket + $25,000 PGT Passport

Event #2: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Dates: October 13–14, 2026
Entries: 84
Prize pool: $840,000
Places paid: 12 (top 14% of the field)
Winner’s share: 28% of the pool
Money bubble: Justin Zaki’s aces were cracked with 14 players left. Then Landon Tice’s K-Q ran into Victoria Livschitz’s A-Q, and Tice’s 13th-place exit burst the bubble. (See our guide to ICM near the bubble for why these spots are so costly.)

Event #2 Payouts

1st: Nick Palma (USA), $235,200, 235 PGT points
2nd: Adrian Mateos (Spain), $151,200, 151 points
3rd: Michael Berk (USA), $109,200, 109 points
4th: David Coleman (USA), $79,800, 80 points
5th: Nick Seward (USA), $58,600, 59 points
6th: Christopher Par (USA), $42,000, 42 points
7th: Sam Laskowitz (USA), $33,600, 34 points
8th: Jesse Lonis (USA), $33,600, 34 points
9th: Matthew Wantman (USA), $25,200, 25 points
10th: Myles Mullaly (USA), $25,200, 25 points
11th: Victoria Livschitz (USA), $25,200, 25 points
12th: Sam Soverel (USA), $21,000, 21 points

The top three took $495,600, or 59% of the pool. Reaching the final five was worth at least $58,600, more than five times the buy-in. Finishing 9th to 11th paid $25,200 each.

Purple Jacket Race: Palma Moves Into Second

The win lifts Palma to 235 points, eight behind Event #1 champion Myles Mullaly. Mullaly (read our Event #1 recap) kept the lead by adding a 10th-place cash in this event to his opening win.

1. Myles Mullaly: 243 points (1st in Event #1, 10th in Event #2)
2. Nick Palma: 235 points (1st in Event #2)
3. Adrian Mateos: 151 points (2nd in Event #2)
4. Justin Zaki: 140 points (2nd in Event #1)
5. Sam Laskowitz: 135 points (3rd in Event #1, 7th in Event #2)
6. Michael Berk: 132 points (9th in Event #1, 3rd in Event #2)
7. David Coleman: 80 points (4th in Event #2)
8. Michael Rossitto: 74 points (4th in Event #1)

These are unofficial standings calculated by PokerClubGames from published PGT points. Event #3 ($10,500 NLH, October 14–15) was still in play at the time of writing.

Palma isn’t hiding his goal. Straight after the win, he said he’d had his eye on the jacket for months and planned to add another win or top-three finish before the series ends.

Laskowitz and Berk are worth watching too, since both have already cashed twice. Past winners like Stephen Chidwick (2023) and David Coleman (2025) won the jacket through repeated deep runs rather than one big score. See the full list of Poker Masters Purple Jacket winners.

Event #2 vs. Event #1 and Last Year’s $10Ks

Event #2 drew six more entries than the opener and added $60,000 to the prize pool. Both events are still well below last year’s $10K fields.

2026 Event #2: $10,500 buy-in, 84 entries, $840,000 pool. Winner Nick Palma, $235,200.
2026 Event #1: $10,500 buy-in, 78 entries, $780,000 pool. Winner Myles Mullaly, $218,400.
2025 Event #3: $10,100 buy-in, 101 entries, $1,010,000 pool. Winner Andrew Moreno, $252,000.
2025 Event #4: $10,100 buy-in, 112 entries, $1,120,000 pool. Winner Darren Elias, $280,000.

Our read: the series started straight after Super High Roller Bowl XI and the PGT PLO Series, so many regulars arrived after a month of big buy-ins.

Smaller fields mean smaller prize pools, but every cash counts for more in the points race. Both 2026 winners so far are first-time PGT champions, which suggests the jacket is wide open.

What’s Next on the Schedule

Event #3: $10,500 NLH, October 14–15 (in progress)
Events #4–#6: three more $10,500 NLH events
Event #7: $15,700 NLH
Event #9: $26,000 NLH
Event #10: $51,000 NLH finale, October 22–23

Every final table streams on PokerGO. For players at home, Global Poker’s Online Poker Masters runs October 11–18 with cheaper versions of the same formats. For everything else running this month, see our October 2026 poker tournament calendar.

Who Is Nick “Nicky P” Palma?

Palma is a 37-year-old pro from New York and one of the loudest personalities on the high-roller circuit. He played this final table in a Scarface T-shirt, and he’s never shy about telling top players what he thinks of them. This wasn’t the biggest payday of his career, but he called it the most important one.

Behind the table talk is a serious work ethic. The past 12 months have been among the best of his career, including a widely reported 24-hour online heater in March 2026. His stated goals for 2026 are a top-10 Player of the Year finish and a place in the Global Poker Index top 20.

He has also spoken openly about what drives him. He grew up with little, lost several family members when he was young, and says he wants his family name to last. After the win, he thanked his mother and his nephew by name.

For readers, the takeaway is how he played this final table. He was aggressive when he had the nuts, set a trap with A-J heads-up, and made the mathematically correct call with A-6 when it mattered.

FAQs