The 2023 Poker Masters is underway at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas and two events are in the books. Lithuania's Vladas Tamasauskas outlasted a record-setting field of 114 entries to win Event #1 $10K NL for a score worth $239,400. American pro Darren Elias was the last player standing in Event #2 $10K NL and he banked $223,100 and his second PGT title.

The PokerGo Tour continues with its latest stop at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas for the 2023 Poker Masters. American pro Sean Winter is the reigning champ. He won one event and final tabled two others last fall, and he edged out Nick Petrangelo for the purple jacket.
Since its inception in 2017, the Poker Masters is a prestigious high roller tournament series hosted in Sin City where the coveted purple jacket is up for grabs to the most dominant player. The Poker Masters draws inspiration from renown The Masters golf tournament in Georgia where the champion gets to wear a green dinner jacket.
Previous purple jacket champions in the Poker Masters include Steffen Sontheimer (2017), Ali Imsirovic (2018), Sam Soverel (2019), Michael Addamo (2021), and Sean Winter (2022). During the pandemic, there was a special high roller series known as the 2020 Poker Masters Online. Greece's Alexandros Kolonias shipped the purple jacket that year.
The fight for the purple jacket has begun with the 10-event high roller series at Aria. Event #1 $10,000 NL attracted 114 runners and a prize pool worth $1,140,000.
A total of 17 lucky souls cashed in the record setting first event. Among those who went deep and cashed in Event #1 included Ren Lin, Filipp Khavin, Victoria Livschitz, Sam Laskowitz, Scott Jacewicz-O'Kelly, Jesse Lonis, Ben Yu, John Krpan, Dylan Linde, Byron Kaverman, Ping Liu Matt Bond, Ryan Riess, Bin Weng, and Anthony Zinno.
Aram Zobian and Vladas Tamasauskas slugged it out in a heads-up battle to determine the first winner. It was a battle between America and Lithuania. When the dust settled, Zobian was knocked out in second place. The American banked $171,000 for a runner-up finish including 171 juicy leaderboard points.
Tamasauskas shipped Event #1 for his first-ever title on the PGT. He earned a first-place payday worth $239,400, and he rocketed to the top of the Poker Masters leaderboard with 239 points.
Event #2 $10,000 NL attracted 97 runners and a prize pool just short of one million bucks at $970,000. The top 19 places paid out with $223K set aside to the last player standing.
Among those familiar faces who cashed in Event #2 included... Bin Weng, Antonio De La Cruz, Erik Seidel, Alex Foxen, Micheal Rocco, Dan Shak, Ryan Riess, Daniel Rezaei, Yang Lu, Sam Soverel, and Justin Sternberg.
Tamasauskas went deep with a sixth-place finish and he added 56 more points on the leaderboard in a pursuit of the purple jacket. He's currently in first place with 297 points.
Weng was picked off in third place, which set up a heavyweight bout between Darren Elias and Eric Baldwin. Elias is Mr. WPT and is one of the most successful in the history of the World Poker Tour. He snagged his second career title on the PGT when he knocked out Baldwin.
Baldwin banked $155,200 and 155 leader board points for a runner-up finish. Not too shabby, eh?
Elias earned a first-place payout worth $223,100 and snagged 223 points for a victory in Poker Masters Event #2.