Justin Vaysman's Miraculous Comeback Wins Poker Masters Title

Justin Vaysman made a miraculous comeback to win the Poker Masters title in event no. 6 at the 2026 PokerGO Tour.

Vaysman was left with just a quarter of a big blind after losing a huge pot with five players remaining at the final table. He was able to bounce back from being effectively down to the felt to eventually take down the title in the $10,000 no-limit hold’em tournament. Vaysman's win came with $192,000 and his first PGT title. This was the third-largest score of his career, trailing only the $350,000 he secured with a 25th-place finish in the 2024 World Series of Poker main event and the $257,400 that came with a win in a $5,300 WSOP Online six-max title. The Horsham, Pennsylvania resident now has more than $2 million in career tournament earnings after this latest triumph.

The 64-entry turnout created a $640,000 prize pool, with the top ten finishers making the money. Adrian Mateos, who leads the series standings, was eliminated on the bubble by Vaysman. Sean Winter and Victoria Livschitz were virtually tied for the lead heading into day 2, with Vaysman sitting in third chip position among the final seven. Vaysman lost the pot that set up his comeback story to Sean Winter. Vaysman won three all-ins in a row to get back up to 400,000, or five full big blinds. Vaysman won a three-way all-in with A♣9♣ besting the A♥K♠ of Brandon Wilson and K♣3♥ of Winter. The board came down 8♦6♣5♦7♣7♦ and Vaysman made a nine-high straight to triple up to 2,050,000. Winter held roughly a 3:1 chip lead going into heads-up play with Vaysman. Vaysman doubled with A-7 against Q-6 suited to keep his hopes alive. Vaysman doubled into the lead when he picked off a river bluff shove from Winter, who had just ten high. The final hand of the tournament began with a limp from Vaysman on the button for 125,000 with 10♠9♥. Winter settled for $124,800 as the runner-up.