If you want to catch up on October 19–25, 2026, the week closes one high-roller series and pays two very different buy-ins in Asia. Nicholas Seward won his first PokerGO Tour title by beating Daniel Negreanu. Sean Winter won the Poker Masters finale for $620,000, and that same final table decided the Purple Jacket for Adrian Mateos. Ivelin Kolev won WPT Prime Cyprus. In Jeju, Marius Kudzmanas and Eric Tsai took the checks that anchored the KPC October Series. GGPoker also put a date on its third-party tool ban: December 1, when an in-client warning is scheduled to switch on. Last week's October 12–18 roundup stopped at Mateos's Event #5 win, the Ocean KO field, and titles in Florida, Texas, and Manila. This week's names are a different set.

Nicholas Seward Denies Daniel Negreanu for a First PGT Title

According to PGT on October 22, 2026, Nicholas Seward won Event #9: $26,000 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2026 Poker Masters, presented by Global Poker, at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. The event drew 50 entries. PGT describes the prize pool as $1,250,000, built from $25,000 per entry, and calls it the largest pool of the series up to that point. Eight places were paid. Seward collected $412,500 and 248 PGT points for his first PGT title. It was his fourth cash of the series, and it moved him to third on the Poker Masters leaderboard with one event left. Daniel Negreanu, who started the final table as chip leader, finished second for $262,500 and 158 points.

The official result table is worth reading before the narrative, because one sentence in the PokerNews recap disagrees with it. Third place went to Daniyal Gheba for $175,000. Matthew Wantman finished fourth for $125,000. Sean Perry took fifth for $100,000, Brandon Wilson sixth for $75,000, and Jesse Lonis seventh for $50,000. David Coleman was eighth, also for $50,000. Adrian Mateos was the stone bubble. PGT says it was the fifth time he had bubbled in this series. After Coleman left, the remaining seven played the televised final table.

PokerNews, in the body of its October 22 story, says Wantman's fourth-place finish brought him $175,000. The results table in that same story, and the PGT table, both list $125,000. Gheba's third-place prize is the $175,000 figure. This article uses the table.

Lonis was the short stack at the restart and the first to leave. Seward moved all in from the small blind with jack-nine, Lonis called from the big blind with king-queen, and both flopped a pair on queen-jack-five. A jack on the turn ended it, and the river was a seven. Wilson then three-bet the ace-deuce of clubs for nearly all of his chips. Seward called with pocket jacks, and they checked down king-five-two-four-queen. The jacks held, and Wilson was left with a little more than one big blind before he finished sixth for $75,000. PGT and PokerNews name different hands for that last blind, so the bust-out cards stay out of this summary.

Perry went out in fifth. In a raised pot he got his stack in on a ten-seven-three flop with two clubs, holding the eight-six of clubs, a flush draw and an open-ender. Negreanu had pocket jacks and held. Wantman then ran ace-queen into Negreanu's king-ten. Negreanu made top pair and sent Wantman to the desk in fourth. Gheba, at his fourth final table of the series, was looking to improve on a runner-up finish in Event #3, according to PokerNews. He lost most of his stack to Negreanu on the previous hand, and Seward finished him with ace-queen against king-six. Third place paid $175,000.

Heads-up started with Negreanu on 4,200,000 and Seward on 3,305,000. PokerNews times the match at about two hours. Negreanu stretched the lead, Seward picked off a bluff and pulled the stacks close, and Negreanu stretched again. The lead changed when Seward flopped quad kings against Negreanu's two pair. Negreanu folded the river to a value bet, and the pot was still large enough to put Seward in front. Seward then rivered a full house in a pot where Negreanu rivered a flush. Negreanu did not pay the river, and PGT calls that the low point of his match. On the final hand Negreanu three-bet jammed king-ten over Seward's open. Seward called with king-jack. The board ran nine-three-three-five-seven, and the jack kicker played.

Seward told PokerNews the event felt like a big one, and that it was his first win inside the studio. He grew up watching Negreanu, and he called the heads-up match special. PokerNews put his Hendon Mob earnings at $4.7 million going into the event. Negreanu, once he had confirmed he could not win the series leaderboard, left for the golf course and skipped the finale. The October 24 leaderboard, published after Event #10, still has Seward third on 397 points, behind Mateos on 451 and Nick Palma on 407. The Event #9 score is the one that put him there.

Sean Winter Wins the Poker Masters Finale for $620,000 as the Purple Jacket Locks

According to PGT on October 24, 2026, Sean Winter won Event #10: $51,000 No-Limit Hold'em, the last tournament of the series. He beat a field of 31 entries and a $1,550,000 prize pool. Five places were paid, and the minimum cash was $124,000. Winter's first prize was $620,000 and 248 points. Sam Laskowitz finished second for $387,500, which PGT describes as a career-best live score. Igor Yaroshevskyy was third for $248,000, Jeremy Ausmus fourth for $170,500, and Marius Gierse fifth for $124,000. Seven players returned for the final day. Dan Smith finished seventh and Chris Brewer sixth, which burst the bubble.

Last week's roundup already covered Mateos winning Event #5. The new fact on October 23 and 24 is the end of the leaderboard. Ausmus was the only player still at the final table who could pass Mateos, and he needed to finish first or second to take the Purple Jacket. Four-handed play lasted more than an hour. Ausmus then got his stack in from the big blind with pocket fives after Winter raised the ace-king of diamonds from the small blind. The flop was jack-nine-three and kept the fives in front. An ace on the turn put Winter ahead, and another ace on the river ended the run. Fourth place paid $170,500 and 68 points, which was short of the total Ausmus needed. That elimination made Mateos the series champion.

PGT's Purple Jacket story, also dated October 24, gives Mateos 451 points from three cashes: second in Event #2 for $151,200, the Event #5 win for $229,500, and fourth in Event #7 for $87,000. The series prize is the jacket and a $25,000 PGT Passport. The same piece says he stone-bubbled five of the ten events. PokerNews, on October 23, quotes him after the Ausmus elimination: he had held a big lead all the way, he had been unable to cash the last three events, and the sweat was real. He called the five stone bubbles completely unbelievable. Those last three misses sit next to the Event #7 cash, so the "final three" in the quote are the events after that fourth-place finish.

The final day was a run of coolers before the jacket was settled. Brewer doubled through Dan Smith when pocket aces held against ace-king. Smith then three-bet jammed ace-eight into Gierse's ace-queen and left in seventh. Aces over kings left Brewer short: PGT says he could not get away from pocket kings against Laskowitz's aces. Winter doubled into the lead when his queens held against Gierse's ace-jack. Brewer bubbled with ace-jack against Ausmus's pocket aces and was drawing dead by the turn.

Gierse had started the day as chip leader and had already taken a hit against Winter on the bubble. He recovered briefly, then check-raised all in on a ten-seven-six flop with ten-nine, top pair and a gutshot. Laskowitz had pocket queens. The queens held, and fifth place paid $124,000. Yaroshevskyy, who PokerNews says had missed the money in the previous nine events, finally cashed in the finale and then ran into another cooler. He held queen-jack on an ace-queen-jack flop, all diamonds. Winter held king-ten. A seven came on the turn, Yaroshevskyy check-shoved, and Winter called with Broadway. The straight held. Third place was $248,000.

Heads-up began with Winter ahead by almost three to one. Laskowitz pulled the match back toward even, Winter opened the gap, and Laskowitz closed it again. On the final hand Laskowitz limped the button with queen-deuce and Winter checked the big blind with six-five. The flop was queen-six-five. Winter had flopped bottom two pair and check-raised. Laskowitz called with top pair. The turn was a three and put a third heart on the board. Winter moved all in for 1,425,000 into a pot of 1,250,000. Laskowitz called. The river was an eight. Winter told PokerNews he had skipped the $15,000 event to reset after a couple of tournaments in which he was not executing the way he wanted, and that the break had left him locked in for this one. He also said he and Laskowitz are friends and that they had never played heads-up against each other before, so he expected a battle.

The series leaderboard after the finale, in the October 24 PGT story, reads Mateos 451, Palma 407, Seward 397, Ausmus 389, and Winter 373. Winter's series cash total is $744,800 from two cashes. On the season-long board the same article moves him into a clearer lead: 2,223 points, 17 cashes, and $4,391,694. PGT calls the win his second title of the season, says he is the first player over 2,000 points, and describes him as the frontrunner for 2026 PGT Player of the Year. The next series at the same studio is the PGT Sprint, seven one-day events from October 27 to November 4.

Ivelin Kolev Wins WPT Prime Cyprus for $171,600

The World Poker Tour live update for hand 111, timestamped 9:10 a.m. PDT on October 19, 2026, records Ivelin Kolev as the winner of the WPT Prime Cyprus Championship at the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Spa. The event page lists the dates as October 15–19. PokerNews, on October 20, gives the buy-in as $1,100 and the first prize as $171,600. Both the live blog and PokerNews say that figure includes a $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December. Said Tahar finished second for $100,000. Joseph El Khoury was third for $74,000, Andreas Christodoulo fourth for $56,000, Johan Storakers fifth for $42,500, Bora Kurtulus sixth for $32,000, Sergiu Cornea seventh for $24,800, and Ismail Yagci eighth for $19,300.

When five players remained, the live update says the field had been 953 entries and that the average stack was about 7,625,000, or 19 big blinds, at blinds of 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 ante. The remaining players were guaranteed at least $56,000, which matches the fourth-place prize. A chip-count update after hand 67, still five-handed, shows Kolev on 5,500,000, about 18 big blinds. He was not the player who had started Day 3 in front. PokerNews says Tahar held a big chip lead when the livestreamed final table began, and that Christodoulo was the only stack close to him. Yagci, who came in short, was the first elimination, in eighth for $19,300.

The official heads-up counts, posted at 8:37 a.m. PDT before the last match, are the cleanest picture of how far the final table had swung. Kolev had 32,950,000, or 82 big blinds. Tahar had 5,175,000, or 13 big blinds. PokerNews describes the advantage as nearly seven to one, which is the same stacks rounded in a sentence. Tahar doubled once, on hand 106, when a jack paired on the river. That left him with 7,200,000 against Kolev's 31,000,000, and the lead never flipped.

Hand 111 is the one to keep, and it is more specific than the recap. Kolev limped for 400,000, Tahar called from the big blind, and both players checked to the turn. Tahar checked, Kolev bet 700,000, and Tahar called. On the river Tahar checked, Kolev moved all in, and Tahar called off 2,950,000 with two pair, queens and threes. Kolev turned over a seven-high straight and won the tournament. PokerNews summarizes the same hand as a straight beating top pair. The live update's hand 111 names two pair, queens and threes. The board cards themselves are posted as images on the live blog, so this article stays with the ranks the text actually prints.

The third-place pot has a similar split between outlets. PokerNews says Kolev won a 60/40 to bust El Khoury and start heads-up with that large lead. Hand 98 on the live blog says Kolev jammed the button, El Khoury called off 2,200,000 from the small blind, El Khoury was ahead at the call, and Kolev turned a pair to take the lead. The blog does not print an equity percentage. El Khoury collected $74,000. PokerNews also notes an EPT Barcelona score of $44,570 from August, as earlier context for this title.

Marius Kudzmanas and Eric Tsai Take the Big Titles at KPC Jeju

SoMuchPoker, updated October 21, 2026, reports that Marius Kudzmanas won the $15,000 King's Main Event at the KPC Poker October Series, at LES A Casino in Jeju. The event drew 169 entries across three flights and built a prize pool of $2,372,760, with 26 places paid. Kudzmanas earned $533,800. Peng Huang finished second for $350,000. Xueying Zhao was third for $250,000, Zhuoqun Zhang fourth for $190,000, and Martin Sedlak, who SoMuchPoker identifies as the overnight chip leader, fifth for $145,000. Jian Zhu took sixth for $110,000, Tony Lin seventh for $84,000, Seunghyun Nam eighth for $66,000, and Xiaoyu Li ninth for $54,000. PokerNews, on October 23, prints the same top nine and identifies Lin as Ren Lin.

SoMuchPoker's hand notes show how Huang survived before that heads-up. Zhang's pocket kings beat Huang's king-eight in a 16.5 million pot and left him with 2.4 million. He climbed back, then doubled through Sedlak with pocket kings against ace-ten. Zhao later shoved ace-three from the small blind, Sedlak called with pocket kings, and a three-queen-ace flop gave her two pair. That pot busted the overnight chip leader in fifth and left Zhao with more than half the chips in play.

Three-handed, the lead moved. Kudzmanas four-bet bluffed Zhao with the nine-five of clubs. Huang filled up with sevens full of threes and got a call from Zhao's ace-high on the river. Zhao never recovered the chip lead. She moved all in on a nine-jack-queen flop with top pair, and Kudzmanas had flopped a straight with king-ten. Third place paid $250,000, and Kudzmanas took a lead of about 61 million to 23 million into heads-up.

SoMuchPoker and PokerNews both time the heads-up match at about 90 minutes. Kudzmanas ground Huang down to around 12 million. Huang doubled when ace-nine held against pocket jacks. On the final hand Kudzmanas moved all in on the button with jack-eight, and Huang called with ace-three. The board ran queen-deuce-jack-three-five. Kudzmanas paired the jack on the flop, Huang paired the three on the turn, and the five on the river changed nothing. Kudzmanas told SoMuchPoker he had already made three final tables in Jeju, which he remembered as seventh, seventh, and sixth, and that he had walked in wanting to win one. He also said he had heard, just before three-handed play, that Huang had won the mini main, and that he did not want to let the same player take two main-event titles in one series.

The "mini main" in that quote is Kudzmanas's wording. PokerNews, on October 23, describes Huang's other title as the KPC Main Event: 1,082 entries, a prize pool of $851,075, and a heads-up deal that narrowed the payouts. The final-table table in that story lists Huang at $128,102 and Hong Zhu at $102,100. The series-summary table lower in the same article lists Huang's first prize as $128,205. This article uses $128,102, the figure attached to the deal paragraph and the dedicated final-table table. The King's Main Event pool has a smaller version of the same problem. The PokerNews narrative and SoMuchPoker both say $2,372,760. The series-summary table says $2,372,800. The figure used here is $2,372,760.

The largest check in the PokerNews festival recap belongs to Eric Tsai. He won the $60,000 Super High Roller for $1,046,600. Sixty-six entries built a prize pool of $3,706,600. Calvin Lee finished second for $700,000, Hugues Girard third for $470,000, and Mehdi Chaoui fourth for $370,000. Japan's Ryuta Nakai was fifth for $300,000. PokerNews identifies him as the player who had recently scored $1,263,000 at Triton Jeju. Kudzmanas played this event as well and finished sixth for $240,000. PokerNews groups the final-table exits from eighth through sixth as Manuel Fritz, Ethan Yau, and Kudzmanas, in that order. Tsai's win is the score PokerNews uses for the top of the festival payout list.

GGPoker Sets December 1 for the Automated Third-Party Tool Warning

PokerStrategy, updated October 20, 2026, reports that GGPoker has explained how the third-party tool ban will actually run. In a statement on X, the site said the ban starts on December 1, which is when the automated in-client warning system turns on. The scanner is described as running in the background, looking for unauthorized third-party tools and warning the player immediately. The warning asks you to close the program. If you do not act promptly, PokerStrategy says account restrictions can follow, including a temporary suspension or a permanent ban. Developers who want their software taken off the warning list have been told they must completely remove compatibility with the GG network.

The same article frames the December date as the implementation of an announcement from the previous week, after a super-user incident tied to compromised table-management software, Jurojin and Intuitive Tables. It says the ban covers all third-party poker tools, including apps that are not themselves a real-time aid. PokerTracker 4 is the example PokerStrategy names in that category. High-volume players lose the external tools they have been using to keep many tables in order. GGPoker's answer, in the same report, is to build the replacements into the client: table swapping, layout locking, and focus management. Operating-system window tools are treated differently. PokerStrategy says PowerToys and Rectangle are not classified as third-party poker tools, and that players can keep using them to arrange tables.

If you want the standing room-by-room picture, the HUD policy guide already records that GGPoker prohibits third-party HUDs and allows its own SmartHUD and PokerCraft. What this week adds is the December 1 start date and the in-client warning for a wider set of tools, including PokerTracker 4.