If you want to catch up on October 12–18, 2026, five results are worth sitting with. Adrian Mateos won a Poker Masters title after bubbling three of the first four events. Sange Savchenko won GGPoker's $5 Ocean KO Opener, the tournament that reached 420,084 entries. Robert Gianquitti took a first WSOP Circuit ring in Pompano Beach. Shrikant Pillamarapu won WPT Prime Lodge after starting the final table as the shortest stack. In Manila, Zhiqiang Liu and Edgar Asehan collected trophies on October 12, and the Championship itself was still unfinished when Somuchpoker published chip counts on October 18. Last week's October 5–11 roundup was the U.S. shared-pool bracelet and the close of WSOP Circuit Malta. This week's titles belong to a different set of events.

Adrian Mateos Wins Poker Masters Event #5 for $229,500 After Three Bubbles

According to PokerNews on October 17, 2026, Spain's Adrian Mateos won Event #5: $10,500 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 Poker Masters, at the PokerGO Studio inside ARIA. He entered the final day as chip leader, beat a seven-handed final table, and collected $229,500 from an $850,000 prize pool built by 85 entries. Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman finished second for $148,750. The win also moved Mateos into the lead for the series Purple Jacket, the award for the player of the series, with five events still to come.

The title lands differently if you follow the four events before it. PokerNews on October 16 reported that Mateos had finished on the stone bubble in three of them. A stone bubble is the last place before the money: you play the entire tournament and leave with the same payout as the players who busted on the first level. In Event #1 he got the chips in with pocket aces against Craig Mason's pocket nines, and a nine on the flop sent him out in 13th. In Event #3 he was all-in from the small blind with ace-king against Michael Rossitto's suited jack-nine. Rossitto flopped two pair, and Mateos was drawing dead on the turn, another 13th. In Event #4 he was all-in with the ace-seven of clubs against Chris Hunichen's red pocket nines. A queen-high board ended that one in 13th as well.

The only payday before Event #5 was second place in Event #2, worth $151,200, behind Nicholas Palma. Mateos got the last of his chips in ahead, ace-nine against Palma's ace-six of hearts. The board made a seven-high straight for Palma. PokerNews quoted Mateos after the Event #5 win: "I try not to focus too much on the results. I focus only on the process and what I can control. I cannot control when I lose or win." He said he has been a professional for 14 or 15 years and that he has learned to handle upswings and downswings. He also said he had been playing 11 or 12 hours almost every day, and that Event #5 was a day he ran well after the days he did not.

PokerNews walked through the final day in order. Matthew Wantman got queen-ten in against Keith Lehr's ace-ten and finished seventh for $34,000, his second cash of the series. On the next hand Lehr's king-queen lost to Mateos's ace-queen, and Lehr was sixth for $42,500. Martin Zamani then ran ace-queen into Jeremy Becker's ace-king and finished fifth for $59,500. It took about another hour to lose the next player. Robert French committed a short stack with ace-king, Schulman called with queen-nine, and a nine on the river made fourth place worth $76,500.

Three-handed, Becker called a small-blind raise to 275,000, then called 325,000 on the flop and 700,000 on the turn. The pot was 2,700,000 chips on a T-8-3-T-5 rainbow, and Becker had 1,425,000 behind. Mateos moved all-in on the river. Becker called with king-eight for tens and eights. Mateos had ten-four for trip tens. Becker finished third for $106,250. Heads-up, Mateos had more than a 4-to-1 chip lead and needed two hands. Schulman won a small pot on the first. On the second, Mateos had pocket aces against Schulman's ten-nine of hearts. The chips went in on the turn, where Schulman had a double-gutshot straight draw and a flush draw. The river missed. Mateos told PokerNews he would take a short rest and return to Event #6, which was already underway. Sunday is a day off. The Event #6 final table is Monday, the same day Event #7: $15,700 No-Limit Hold'em starts. PokerNews said Daniel Negreanu is expected in that field.

Sange Savchenko Wins GGPoker’s $5 Ocean KO After 420,084 Entries

According to Poker.org on October 13, 2026, Ukraine's Sange Savchenko won GGPoker's $5 Ocean KO Opener, the first tournament in that format to crown a champion. The field reached 420,084 entries and a prize pool of $1,932,386, against a $1,000,000 guarantee. One Day 1 flight hit a 10,000-player cap on October 11. On Monday, October 12, the remaining 24,134 players played down to a final table of nine. Savchenko won the final table the next day. He started heads-up as the shorter stack against China's "HHHBVVVVBB" and got even when a king-high flush held against two pair.

The number people are comparing it with is PokerStars' Common Cents tournament from October 2015. F5 Poker on October 14 wrote that Guinness World Records lists 253,692 participants, while PokerStars' original report listed 253,698 entries. The Poker Network, also on October 14, added a distinction that changes how you should read "record." The 2015 figure was individual participants in a freezeout. GGPoker's 420,084 includes re-entries, and a separate unique-player count has not been published. GGPoker posted "Total Entries: 420,084" on October 12. The Poker Network also wrote that the public Guinness listing still names PokerStars, and that formal recognition of the new figure had not been confirmed. If you want the careful version, the entry count is sourced. A Guinness record is not.

The payout columns do not agree, so this article does not pick one combined total and call it final. Poker.org's table lists Savchenko at $52,665 in the prize column and $9,152 in the bounty column. The runner-up is listed at $53,095 and $10,062. On that table, second place is ahead in both columns. F5 Poker repeats the $52,665 plus $9,152 split and notes that earlier PokerNews coverage listed a $43,938 first-place prize. The Poker Network's article text says Savchenko collected $52,665 in regular prize money plus $9,152 in bounties, for $61,817, and that the runner-up's combined $63,157 was $1,340 more. The table in that same article lists Savchenko's total as $52,665.65, from a regular prize of $43,512.81 and bounties of $9,152.84. Those two readings cannot both be the accounting. What you can say without choosing a side is that every published version still has Savchenko as the winner, and that the runner-up's listed money is higher than the winner's in the columns Poker.org actually printed.

The Poker Network described the last hand as pocket sevens against eight-four on a 4-9-2-Q-5 board. Poker.org's article text did not print those ranks. The same Poker Network piece said Djd@shaa came into the final table as chip leader. In Poker.org's bounty column, that fourth-place bounty of $15,599 is the largest at the final table, ahead of both the champion and the runner-up. That is the part of a jackpot knockout that is easy to miss if you only look at the trophy. A deep run and the biggest bounty are not the same result.

Ocean KO is a progressive knockout plus a Bounty Wheel. In the ordinary version, you keep half of a bounty in cash and add half to the bounty on your own head. Here the wheel spins first. F5 Poker wrote that early-tier multipliers run from 0.4x to 400x, that the spun amount is still split half and half, and that the ladder runs 14 tiers from Egg to Legendary Shark. GGPoker says most spins land at 1x or below, and that value under 1x stays in the pool. The Poker Network added that the champion gets a final spin on their own bounty. A large multiplier can look like a lottery. A $5 buy-in can also be the reason 420,084 entries showed up. Both descriptions fit this opener.

Robert Gianquitti Wins His First Ring in the Pompano Beach Main Event

According to CardPlayer on October 13, 2026, Robert Gianquitti won the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Harrah's Pompano Beach on October 12. The South Florida player beat 1,011 entries in the $1,700 no-limit hold'em event, earned $248,632, and collected his first WSOP Circuit ring. The $1 million guarantee was beaten by more than $531,000. CardPlayer did not print an exact prize-pool total, so this article does not invent one. The top 104 finishers were paid. Seven players returned for the final day. Gianquitti started that day as the short stack and doubled with pocket kings.

The result is his largest live score. CardPlayer put his previous best at seventh in the 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event, for $154,185, and wrote that more than 16 years had passed since his first in-the-money finish in a major event. Lifetime cashes are now over $901,000. He works as a commercial painting sales representative, which is a detail from the same report rather than a color added later. He also received 960 Card Player Player of the Year points, his first qualified score in that year-long race.

The bust-outs CardPlayer recorded are ordinary tournament hands, which is why they are useful to read slowly. Ruslan Abusev finished seventh for $32,728 before Gianquitti's double. John Morris then ran ace-king into Joseph Duchman's pocket aces and finished sixth for $43,765. Duchman did not keep that momentum. He got all-in preflop with Q♣ J♥ against Gianquitti's K♥ K♦, Gianquitti flopped top set, and fifth place paid $59,539. Matthew Zarcadoolas had started the day as the chip leader. A♠ Q♥ held against his J♣ 6♥, and fourth place paid $82,379. Marc Evanier's A♣ K♥ lost a race to J♠ J♦, and third paid $115,891.

Gianquitti took a slight lead into heads-up against Nagui Yassa, fell behind, and won another flip when pocket tens beat ace-king. The last hand was a domination, not a race. Yassa was all-in with K♦ Q♦ against A♥ K♠. The board ran 10♠ 9♣ 6♥ K♣ 4♥. The king on the turn improved both players and still left the ace-king in front. Yassa received $165,725 for second. The buy-in is $1,700, and the field is 1,011. CardPlayer's story is a first ring and a score larger than a previous seventh in a major.

Shrikant Pillamarapu Wins WPT Prime Lodge from the Shortest Stack

The World Poker Tour live updates, timestamped 9:28 p.m. PDT on October 12, 2026, say Shrikant Pillamarapu won the WPT Prime Lodge Championship at The Lodge Card Club. He is the second player to win this title. WPT Global's recap, updated October 14, places the room in Round Rock, Texas, and describes a $1,100 buy-in, roughly 1,084 entries, and a prize pool of about $1,051,480, above a $1,000,000 guarantee. The Championship dates on that recap are October 8–12. Pillamarapu started the nine-handed final table with around 25 big blinds, last in chips.

The live blog is the payout used here. It lists $138,127 in cash plus a $10,400 seat to the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, and it prints $148,527 as the figure that includes that seat. Kenneth Quattrocchi finished second for $126,733. The blog marks an ICM deal and states that the first-place amount includes the seat. ICM, in this spot, is a heads-up agreement that locks prize money before the remaining chips are played for the title. WPT Global's FAQ instead says the deal locked $148,527 and $126,733, and then lists the $10,400 seat on top of the winner's number. Those two sentences describe different payouts. This article follows the live blog's note, because that note says the seat is already inside $148,527. WPT Global does agree on the next part: after the deal, they played on for the title, the trophy, and the Las Vegas seat, and Pillamarapu won that. The seat is for December 13–20 at the Wynn.

WPT Global also described an earlier heads-up hand. Four clubs were on the board. Quattrocchi had the nut flush, ace-high, and faced a river all-in. Pillamarapu held the jack of clubs and had completed a straight flush on that river. Quattrocchi folded the nut flush. The live blog's hand 244 is a different pot, and it is the one that ended the tournament. Quattrocchi moved all-in for 8,000,000 on the button. Pillamarapu called in the big blind. The update says Pillamarapu's set of fives won. The opponent's hole cards and the board did not survive in the text of that update, so they are not repeated here. At the start of the last level the blog listed Pillamarapu with 34,600,000 and Quattrocchi with 7,100,000, which was 69 big blinds against 14, at blinds of 300,000-600,000 with a 600,000 ante.

The other deal in the WPT Global recap is David Urban's. Three-handed, as the shortest stack, he was offered an ICM deal and chose to play on. He finished third for $75,000, which the recap says was less than the deal he declined. The recap does not print the number he turned down. Preston Duron was fourth for $57,000, and David Pham was fifth for $43,500. WPT Global also reported that an unnamed player folded pocket aces because the action clock expired. The shortest stack at the final table still won the title. The cash line still depends on whether the $10,400 seat sits inside $148,527 or beside it.

Zhiqiang Liu and Edgar Asehan Win in Manila While the Main Event Is Still Open

Somuchpoker's Day 5 recap, dated October 13 and updated October 16, says APPT Championship Manila awarded two of its early trophies on Monday, October 12, at Okada Manila. Zhiqiang Liu won the ₱60,000 APPT Open from 403 entries for ₱3,917,520, beating William Ysmael heads-up. Ysmael, from the Philippines, received ₱2,435,000. Jason Kyle Magbanua, also from the Philippines, was third for ₱1,735,000. The same night, Edgar Asehan won the ₱30,000 APPT National from 519 entries for ₱2,380,480. Siyuan Liu of China was second for ₱1,500,000, and South Korea's Hogyun Kang was third for ₱1,085,000.

Liu's country is not consistent inside Somuchpoker. The Day 5 recap lists him as being from the Philippines. The event's results calendar lists Zhiqiang Liu as China, with the same ₱3,917,520 first prize, shown there as $62,395. This article does not resolve that. The prize and the date do match. Every Open finalist also received a ticket on top of the cash, according to the Day 5 table. Dongwook Kim of South Korea, who had led the final nine, finished fifth for ₱1,040,000 plus a ticket.

The National final table is the one with two Japanese cashes. Masataka Setoguchi finished fourth for ₱835,000, and Naoaki Ishihara finished sixth for ₱490,000. Both lines include a ticket in the Somuchpoker table. Later on October 12, Japan's Sho Katsura won the PLO Super Knockout, a ₱20,000 event with a ₱10,000 bounty, from 50 entries for ₱112,800. Lee Kyung Woo was second for ₱74,000. These are side events next to the Open and the National. They are still the results from that Monday with a direct Japan line, which is why they belong in the same section rather than in a separate item.

The Championship Main Event is a different story, and it does not have a winner in this week's reporting. PokerStars Live lists it as a ₱165,000 event with a ₱60 million guarantee, scheduled for October 15–19. Somuchpoker's October 18 update says late registration closed on 479 entries and a prize pool of ₱68,286,240. Joris Michl of the Netherlands bagged 1,790,000 to lead the final 35 into Day 3. Sung Jin Yun of South Korea was second with 1,560,000. Wouter Beltz, also of the Netherlands, was third with 1,345,000, and Zhiqiang Liu was listed on 1,340,000, 5,000 behind Beltz. In that chip-count table Somuchpoker again lists Liu as being from the Philippines. Day 3 was set to restart at noon on Sunday, October 18, at 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante, and to play toward a final table. A leader after Day 2 is not a champion. If you are checking back for the Manila Main Event winner, that result is outside this article on purpose.

Taken together, the week is a Poker Masters title after three stone bubbles, a $5 tournament whose entry count needs a re-entry footnote, a first circuit ring at $1,700, a WPT Prime title from 25 big blinds, and two Manila trophies while the ₱60 million Championship is still being played. None of those is a substitute for the others. If you only have time for one, read the payout notes on Ocean KO and on WPT Prime Lodge. In both cases the headline number is real, and the column it sits in is the part you have to check.