2023 Poker Masters

The Poker Masters returned in 2023 for its eighth edition (third as part of the PokerGO Tour), and it did so with a series of 10 events from September 14 through 26. The 10 events on the 2023 Poker Masters schedule were all no-limit hold'em, ranging in buy-ins of $10,000 to $50,000.

The series began with some newfound excitement, as PGT newcomer Vladas Tamasauskas made the final table of the first three events, winning two of those. The Lithuanian was playing inside the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for the first time and kicked off his 2023 Poker Masters campaign with a $239,400 win in Event #1: $10,000 NL hold'em. Tamasauskas then placed sixth in Event #2: $10,000 NL Hold'em before he grabbed first place and $208,800 in Event #3: $10,000 NL Hold'em. Tamasauskas stormed out to a big lead on the series leaderboard with those results from the first three tournaments, but he wouldn't find his way to the money in any event after that.

For Stephen Chidwick, the 2023 Poker Masters Purple Jacket winner, his series started slow. He didn't find a cash until Event #6: $10,000 NL Hold'em, but a sixth-place finish in that event kicked off a headlining run through the second half of the Poker Masters schedule. Chidwick missed the money in Event #7: $25,000 NL Hold'em, but after that it was a $400,000 victory in Event #8: $25,000 NL Hold'em, a third-place finish in Event #9: $25,000 NL Hold'em for $148,000, and a second-place finish in Event #10: $50,000 NL Hold'em for $504,000. Chidwick finished the series with one victory, four cashes, $1,109,000 in prize money won, and 688 leaderboard points. That was very much good enough to give Chidwick, the 2018 U.S. Poker Open series champion, the 2023 Poker Masters series title and $50,000 championship bonus.

2023 Poker Masters Leaderboard Top 10

Rank	Player	Wins	Cashes	Prize Money	Points
1	Stephen Chidwick	1	4	$1,109,000	688
2	Vladas Tamasauskas	2	3	$506,400	506
3	Chino Rheem	1	5	$602,650	487
4	Alex Foxen	0	5	$663,500	460
5	Jonathan Jaffe	1	1	$756,000	454
6	Andrew Lichtenberger	1	4	$367,450	327
7	Ren Lin	0	4	$342,800	325
8	Darren Elias	1	3	$359,500	319
9	Justin Bonomo	1	2	$447,000	314
10	Brian Kim	0	2	$375,500	284

2023 Poker Masters Tournament Winners

Event	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	First Prize
#1: $10,000 NL Hold'em	114	$1,140,000	Vladas Tamasauskas	$239,400
#2: $10,000 NL Hold'em	97	$970,000	Darren Elias	$223,100
#3: $10,000 NL Hold'em	87	$870,000	Vladas Tamasauskas	$208,800
#4: $10,000 NL Hold'em	91	$910,000	Chino Rheem	$218,400
#5: $10,000 NL Hold'em	85	$850,000	Andrew Lichtenberger	$204,000
#6: $10,000 NL Hold'em	95	$950,000	Orpen Kisacikoglu	$218,500
#7: $25,000 NL Hold'em	44	$1,100,000	Nick Schulman	$374,000
#8: $25,000 NL Hold'em	50	$1,250,000	Stephen Chidwick	$400,000
#9: $25,000 NL Hold'em	37	$925,000	Justin Bonomo	$333,000
#10: $50,000 NL Hold'em	42	$2,100,000	Jonathan Jaffe	$756,000