Daniel Negreanu is the chip leader with seven left in Event #9 of the 2026 Poker Masters.
He's chosen the right time to run good. The $26,000 NLH event is the biggest buy-in of the series so far, ahead of the season-closing $51,000 NLH Championship that starts later today.
Negreanu took an unorthodox approach to building a big stack. He played 18 holes of golf earlier on Wednesday before tucking into what he called two "mega pints" of red wine once he hit the PokerGO Studio.
David Coleman was the final player eliminated on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, losing his short stack to Brandon Wilson's pocket sevens.
It leaves Negreanu as the only player with a stack north of 2 million and a favorite to win his 12th PGT title on Thursday.
These are the chip stacks ahead of Thursday's action.
- Daniel Negreanu: 2,205,000
- Nicholas Seward: 1,700,000
- Daniyal Gheba: 1,120,000
- Brandon Wilson: 755,000
- Sean Perry: 570,000
- Matthew Wantman: 530,000
- Jesse Lonis: 525,000
Mateos bubbles for the fifth time
Fifty players entered Event #9, creating a prizepool of $1.25 million with $412,500 up top for the eventual winner.
Eight players were paid and, incredibly, Adrian Mateos was eliminated on the stone bubble again. He had the shortest stack and got his last chips in with 
– ahead of Daniyal Gheba's 
.
The 
flop gave Gheba a pair of threes, and Mateos couldn't find salvation on the turn or river.
The Spanish pro has now bubbled five of the nine Poker Masters events this year – but is still top of the series leaderboard after winning Event #5, finishing second in Event #2 and fourth in Event #7.
Negreanu knocked out Nick Palma, Mateos' closest rival for the Purple Jacket, on the soft bubble.
Negreanu raised to 40K with 
and Palma put all his chips in bar one with 
.
"I'll take a flop," said Negreanu with a smile. Both players checked the 
flop before Negreanu asked for Palma's last 5K chip on the 
turn.
"I'm going to need an ace or a queen," Palma said.
They were forced to wait while a hand on the other table played out before the dealer dealt Palma's fate — giving Negreanu a full house with the on the river.
Catch up on all of the Day 1 action below.
Watch the final table of Event #9 live on the PokerGO YouTube channel, starting at 4pm ET on Thursday. The final event of the 2026 Poker Masters — the $51,000 NLH Championship — begins Thursday and concludes Friday, when the winner of the 2026 Purple Jacket winner will also be revealed.
