Darren Elias Wins Poker Master Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em for $280,000

Even though Darren Elias began the day with the chip lead in Poker Masters Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em, it was by no means smooth sailing on his way to the title. Elias brought over 25% of the chips in play into the final table, but it required a significant amount of effort, and luck, to amass the final 75%.

As if to kick off the tone for the rest of the day, David Chen kicked off the action by pressuring Elias off a big pot, perhaps foreshadowing their eventual heads-up match. And it would be quite some time before the first player was eliminated at the final table.

That player would be Mitchell Halverson, though. The current frontrunner in the race for the Purple Jacket found himself at risk in a blind versus blind confrontation against Stephen Song. Song had the best of it, though, and held on with ace-high to send Halverson home as the first player to go. He earned $44,800 for his run, as well as 45 PGT points, which were just enough to keep him in the lead for the time being.

The next player would not fall for nearly two levels, but eventually it was Victoria Livschitz who hit the rail. Livschitz jammed her pocket fours all in over a raise from Darren Elias, but David Chen woke up behind her with pocket queens. He called and would hold on to send Livschitz out the door in 6th place. Adam Hendrix would fall next not long after. Hendrix's queen-jack was outdone by Chen's king-nine when Chen hit a king on the river to take the lead.

With just four remaining, Elias would win a massive flip against David Chen to take back a monster chip lead. And from here, he would apply relentless pressure to his three opponents. Stephen Song would be the first of those three to bow out when he lost a big pot to Chen, then the remainder of his chips to Elias the very next hand. Neil Warren would not last much longer when he failed to outflip Elias.

The heads-up match between Chen and Elias looked like it might be a short one, but after a few doubles from Chen, the tides would turn. So much, in fact, that Chen eventually took the lead and put Elias on the short stack. It took Elias three massive rivers in order to come back in the match.

In the first, Elias moved all in with a dominated king-three against Chen's king-jack. A four-flush on the river would give Elias a double, though, and some hope in the match. The next came when Elias moved all in with top pair against Chen's two pair. The river gave Elias another lightning bolt when he made his own better two pair to double up once again.

Finally, with stacks nearly even, Chen and Elias played a flip for nearly all the marbles. Elias held ten-eight against Chen's pocket sevens, and things looked grim when a seven appeared on the flop. The third stroke of luck appeared for Elias on the river, though, when he made a straight to give him the monster chip lead once again. Chen would fall just a few hands later when Elias hit a fourth river to make a straight for the win.

For his win, Elias collected $280,000, 280 PGT points, and his first win of the 2025 PGT Season, good for his eighth cash of the season. The win also vaulted him into 2nd place in the 2025 chase for the Purple Jacket with 280 total points.

Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Lucky Break Leaves Halverson Atop the Purple Jacket Race While Elias Climbs to Second

Things are surely heating up in the race for the Purple Jacket in the 2025 Poker Masters. Mitchell Halverson still remains in the lead, but it took some lucky breaks to keep him in that position, with Stephen Song coming in 4th and Neil Warren coming in 3rd, both of whom could've taken over the lead with a win. Elias, though, has moved into 2nd place with his win and will look to continue that with strong performances to finish out his week at the Poker Masters.

Both David Coleman and Andrew Moreno drop down the leaderboard to 3rd and 4th, respectively, after Elias' win. David Chen's second-place finish also moves him into the top ten (6th), as does Neil Warren's third-place finish, moving him into 9th on the series leaderboard.

On the overall 2025 PGT Leaderboard, Elias' win pushes him into 46th place with 861 points. He'll still need 37 more points to break into the qualifying top 40, but the PGT Championship is at least within view for him. Adam Hendrix remains in 6th place with his finish but is now just 3 PGT points behind Daniel Negreanu, who sits in 5th. Stephen Song and Neil Warren both break through the top 100 as well, moving into 89th place with 568 PGT points and 78th place with 664 PGT points, respectively.

2025 Poker Master Top Ten

2025 PGT Season Leaderboard

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