It's Major season at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, where the 2025 Poker Masters kicked off with its first event over the weekend. The multi-flight affair was a twist in the normal schedule, opening the door to satellite qualifiers for the first event of the series.
In the end, 2024 GPI Player of the Year David Coleman grabbed the top take of $270,000 and the first points of the Purple Jacket chase.
Poker Masters is the third of four Majors on the PokerGO Tour calendar and it will spread out nine more tournaments over the next two weeks. The top PGT point getter from the series will don the Purple Jacket, just as Jim Collopy did last year.
Coleman seizes opportunity
Andrew Ostapchenko entered the finale with the chip lead, ahead of Coleman and five others with $40,000 locked up for the final day. Ostapchenko quickly went to work, leaning with his big stack to extend the lead in the early going.
Jim Agate, one of two $560 satellite winners, was out seventh and Doug Lee, the other one, fell in sixth. Lee's elimination gave Ostapchenko around half the chips in play with five players left. That would be the high point for Ostapchenko.
The chip leader soon surrendered two doubles against Stephen Song and Spencer Champlin, giving up the entirety of his advantage. Coleman knocked out Champlin in fifth before Ostapchenko dropped another big pot to Mitchell Halverson, who took the chip lead when his pocket deuces found a set on the turn against pocket jacks.
Four-handed play was a merry-go-round and Coleman took the lead after he eliminated Song when he flopped a flush to beat pocket kings. He returned some to an Ostapchenko double, but he got it all back on the very next hand. Ostapchenko shoved with king queen, but Coleman had pocket tens to send the match to heads-up play. It was a disappointing end for the final table chip leader, but Ostapchenko moved into the PGT top 40 with his third-place finish.
Coleman's three-to-one chip advantage held up against Halverson in heads-up play after his suited queen-ten held up against pocket fives.
The rest of the Poker Masters schedule
- Tuesday, September 23: Event #3 $10,500 NL Hold'em
- Wednesday, September 24: Event #4 $10,500 NL Hold'em
- Thursday, September 25: Event #5 $10,500 NL Hold'em
- Friday, September 26: Event #6 $10,500 NL Hold'em
- Saturday, September 27: Event #7 $10,500 NL Hold'em
- Monday, September 29: Event #8 $15,700 NL Hold'em
- Tuesday, September 30: Event #9 $15,700 NL Hold'em
- Wednesday, October 1: Event #10 $26,000 NL Hold'em
Poker Masters will return on Tuesday at 1 pm with the final table of Event #1, live on PokerGO.
