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The 2026 PGT season continued with Event #2: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em of PGT Kickoff as Brian Battistone won his first career PGT title. Battistone topped the 151-entrant field and earned $173,600 in prize money and 347 PGT points.
This was Battistone's fifth career PGT cash, trumping his previous best result of an eighth-place finish in the 2025 WSOP $10,000 Big O Championship for $78,641. Battistone's previous career-best result was a win in the 2024 WPT Voyage $25k Super High Roller for $304,920, and in December 2025, he finished 14th in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas for $174,000.
PGT Kickoff Event #2: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em attracted a 151-entrant field, which trumped Event #1 and became the new second-largest field for a $5,000 buy-in in PGT history. Following an incredibly long money bubble, it would be Natalie Ferguson falling short in 23rd place. Neil Warren, Chris Hunichen, Jeremy Becker, Chino Rheem, Nacho Barbero, Patrick Leonard, Stephen Song, Francis Anderson, Dan Shak, and Jared Jaffee were a few of the players exiting before the final table of seven was set.
Returning for Day 2, Dan Smith was the overnight chip leader and looking to secure his sixth PGT title. Nick Schulman came in as the short stack with less than seven big blinds and would be the first to fall in seventh place. Sam Laskowitz exited in sixth before Yifu Hu was bounced in fifth place. Mike Zulker had secured his second consecutive cash of the series, but fell in fourth place as Maksim Pisarenko was eliminated in third. Brian Battistone faced off with Dan Smith for the Event #2 title, and it would be Battistone emerging victorious to win his first career PGT title, the PGT Gold Cup, $173,600 in prize money, and 347 PGT points.
2026 PGT Kickoff Event #2: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | PGT Points |
| 1st | Brian Battistone | United States | $173,600 | 347 |
| 2nd | Dan Smith | United States | $109,475 | 219 |
| 3rd | Maksim Pisarenko | United States | $75,500 | 151 |
| 4th | Mike Zulker | United States | $56,625 | 113 |
| 5th | Yifu He | United States | $45,300 | 91 |
| 6th | Sam Laskowitz | United States | $37,750 | 76 |
| 7th | Nick Schulman | United States | $30,200 | 60 |
PGT Leaderboard Top 10
| Rank | Player | PGT Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1st | Brian Battistone | 2,816 | 1 | 1 | $173,600 |
| 2nd | Andrew Lichtenberger | 2,772 | 1 | 1 | $162,000 |
| 3rd | Dan Smith | 2,350 | 0 | 1 | $109,475 |
| 4th | Jeremy Eyer | 2,250 | 0 | 1 | $97,875 |
| 5th | Maksim Pisarenko | 151 | 0 | 1 | $75,500 |
| 6th | Mike Zulker | 147 | 0 | 2 | $73,500 |
| 7th | Shannon Shorr | 142 | 0 | 1 | $70,875 |
| 8th | Cary Katz | 108 | 0 | 1 | $54,000 |
| 9th | Yifu He | 91 | 0 | 1 | $45,300 |
| 10th | Ethan Yau | 81 | 0 | 1 | $40,500 |
These are the leaderboard standings as of Wednesday, January 28, 2026. The current PGT leaderboard is at pgt.com/leaderboard.
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