Andrew Moreno had yet to win a tournament under the bright lights of the PokerGO Studio until Wednesday night at Poker Masters, where he grabbed a $252,000 prize for beating 101 $10K entries in the third event of the series.
He's cashed in the specialized studio space nine other times, but Wednesday night was the first time Moreno has lifted a trophy at PokerGO's Aria headquarters in Las Vegas.
The trophy in question is the metallic mini Purple Jacket, new for the 2025 series. Players will play for ten of these before an actual Purple Jacket is awarded to the leaderboard winner at the end. David Coleman won the first one on Monday in the finale of the first-ever Poker Masters $1M Showcase, and newcomer Mike Zulker won Event #2 on Tuesday night.
Easy game
Moreno hammered home his victory after seizing control of the chip lead early, starting his path to the top at the expense of Matthew Wantman in fifth place. Top billing had originally belonged to Sam Laskowitz, who sat down with 30% of the chips at the beginning of the day and extended the lead further in the opening level. The advantage was gone by four-handed play and Moreno never really looked back.
Fourth-place finisher Jeremiah Williams gave his chips to Laskowitz, who then gave them to Moreno and left the stage in third place. That left Chicago's own Brian Batt to face Moreno in heads-up play, but he had to overcome a five-to-one chip advantage to have a chance. Batt got a few big blinds in with the best hand, but Moreno flushed him to the rail in no time.
Moreno's win is his second cash of the series and it puts him at third on the overall leaderboard, though it is still very early after just three events. Mitchell Halverson has the top spot after two final tables in the first two events, and Coleman is in second on the strength of his opening win.
2025 Poker Masters overall top 5 (through Event #3)
| Rank | Player | PGT Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitchell Halverson | 285 |
| 2 | David Coleman | 270 |
| 3 | Andrew Moreno | 265 |
| 4 | Brian Batt | 172 |
| 5 | Mike Zulker | 157 |
Poker Masters will continue on Thursday with the final table of Event #4, another $10,000 buy-in, at 1pm local time on PokerGO.
Images courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego.
