Joe McKeehen Wins 2026 PokerGO Tour Sprint Finale

Joe McKeehen added another trophy to his collection on Nov. 4, topping a field of 53 entries to win the final event of the 2026 PokerGO Tour Sprint series. McKeehen took down the $10,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event for his 33rd recorded title, bringing his lifetime tournament haul to over $23.1 million in the process.

McKeehen is a three-time bracelet winner and has four wins in PGT events, with this being his first of the season. He has four more triumphs outside of PGT competition in 2026, with 10 total final tables on the circuit. As a result, he sits just outside the top 50 in the Card Player Player of the Year race standings presented by CoinPoker.

The $530,000 prize pool was split amongst the top nine finishers. Darren Elias held the chip lead going into the official seven-handed final table, with McKeehen sitting in the middle of the pack. Brandon Wilson placed seventh for 75 POY points. McKeehen won a hefty pot with a flopped flush to edge into the lead during six-handed action. Then, a preflop cooler sent Neil Warren to the rail. His A♦K♣ was in brutal shape against the A♠A♥ of Nicholas Schulte, but a Q♦5♦4♦ flop gave Warren hope in the form of a flush draw. The 5♥ turn and Q♣ river kept Schulte’s overpair best, though, and Warren settled for $31,800 as the sixth-place finisher. McKeehen made queens and nines against a missed combo draw for Jamie Dwan. Dwan made his final stand with A♣J♣ against the K♠Q♥ of Daniyal Gheba. Gheba spiked trips on the flop and improved to kings full on the river to eliminate Elias in third place. Heads-up play began with Gheba holding a better than 2:1 chip lead over McKeehen. The early action saw that disparity quickly erased, though. Soon, McKeehen overtook the lead, then stretched it. In the final hand, Gheba raised to 180,000 from the button with A♥8♥. McKeehen three-bet to 550,000 and Gheba four-bet shoved for roughly 1,800,000. McKeehen made the call with his K♥K♣ and held through a 9♣5♥2♣9♥3♣ runout to bring the tournament to an end.