With just four career cashes for $12,232 on his Hendon Mob, few could have ever expected Kent Stephens to win a PokerGO Cup title. However, that dream became reality as the Mapleton, Utah native triumphed over the 215-entry field to win $130,000.
For Stevens, the win was 20 times his previous top cash of $6,493, which he achieved with a 190th-place finish in a $3,000 side event at the 2025 WPT World Championship.
PokerGO Cup Showcase Day 2 action
The 215-entry field set a new record for the largest event ever held in the PokerGO Studio.
Stephens was one of 23 players to bag Day 1B of the PokerGO Cup Showcase, the opening event of the PokerGO Cup, starting Day 2 in the money and fifth overall in chips with 31 players remaining.
Another fresh face, Day 1 chip leader Sandeep Koralla, showed no mercy on Day 2, chip leading the final table as well before eventually falling in fourth place for $48,000. That was nearly five times his previous career-high cash and nearly double his previous live career tournament earnings.
Natalie Ferguson also had herself a career-high showcase, earning a fifth-place finish for $38,000. Ferguson is no stranger to the PokerGO Studio, having battled and cashed in the PGT Kickoff on multiple occasions.
Daniyal Gheba would be the third-place finisher after getting it in dominated with queen-nine against the ace-queen of Myles Mullaly. Gheba, who many know from his third-place finish in the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll in 2024, would collect $61,000 for his efforts.
Mullaly looked as if he was going to roll to the victory, getting heads-up with Stephens with a massive 5.4-to-1 chip lead. However, the unknown Stephens went on a tear, winning a flip with sevens against Mullaly’s king-queen before grinding back into the lead. Stephen would then pick off a bluff to take a commanding 3-to-1 chip lead.
Finally, with 7.5 big blinds left, Mullaly jammed with nine-eight and was called off by Stephens’ pocket threes. Mullaly would get no help, and Stephens celebrated his massive achievement.
PokerGO Cup Showcase final table results
After winning his maiden PGT event, Stephens not only collected $130,000, but also 260 potentially valuable PokerGO Tour leaderboard points.
Stephens has moved up to 22nd place on the leaderboard, though it remains to be seen whether or not he’ll decide to grind and go after the 2026 PGT Championship.
| Place | Name | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Kent Stephens | United States | $130,000 |
| 2nd | Myles Mullaly | United States | $85,000 |
| 3rd | Daniyal Gheba | United States | $61,000 |
| 4th | Sandeep Koralla | United States | $48,000 |
| 5th | Natalie Ferguson | United States | $38,000 |
| 6th | Jim Collopy | Canada | $31,000 |
| 7th | Aaron Messmer | United States | $25,000 |
Updated 2026 PGT leaderboard
Yuri Dzivielevski went on one of the biggest short-term heaters in poker history, capping it off with a win in the $100,000 Super High Roller Bowl – Mixed Games for $1.3 million.
That win, alongside a win and a pair of second-place finishes at the end of the PGT Mixed Games series, gave the Brazilian both the PGT Mixed Games Player of the Series as well as the top spot on the 2026 PGT leaderboard.
Michael Berk leapfrogged Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger and went into second place after a 19th-place finish.
| Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1 | Yuri Dzivielevski | 934 | 2 | 4 | $2,045,350 |
| 2 | Michael Berk | 538 | 1 | 2 | $269,350 |
| 3 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 531 | 1 | 3 | $265,500 |
| 4 | Andrew Moreno | 518 | 1 | 2 | $238,425 |
| 5 | Qinghai Pan | 478 | 1 | 3 | $532,700 |
| 6 | Ariel Mantel | 453 | 1 | 4 | $298,475 |
| 7 | Clemen Deng | 433 | 0 | 4 | $216,950 |
| 8 | Dan Smith | 427 | 0 | 3 | $213,175 |
| 9 | Chad Eveslage | 420 | 0 | 5 | $1,012,350 |
| 10 | Daniel Maor | 386 | 0 | 3 | $192,750 |
