Sam Soverel Wins Record 16th PokerGO Tour Title at ARIA

Sam Soverel added another line to his resume on September 25, 2026, winning the opening event of the PGT PLO Series at the PokerGO Studio inside ARIA Resort & Casino, according to CardPlayer. The $5,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event drew 91 entries and built a $455,000 prize pool.

Soverel’s win was his 16th PokerGO Tour title, extending a record he already held. He now leads second-ranked Alex Foxen by three titles on the tour’s all-time leaderboard, CardPlayer reported.

The victory pushed Soverel’s career tournament earnings past $33.5 million. The four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner sits 36th on poker’s all-time money list and is one of just 44 players with more than $30 million in recorded cashes. He also picked up 184 PGT points and 432 Card Player Player of the Year points, moving him into the top 20 of the PGT points race and the top 200 of the POY leaderboard.

How the $5,000 PLO field played out

The tournament wrapped in a single day. Thirteen players made the money, with John Riordan, the 2025 Super High Roller Bowl PLO champion, busting on the bubble. Seven-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh finished 12th, Mike Zulker went out 10th, and Joao Simao, fresh off winning the $200,000 Triton Invitational Jeju II, exited in eighth.

Three-time bracelet winner Michael Wang took seventh for $18,200 and high-stakes regular Sean Winter finished sixth for $22,750, both eliminated by Soverel. John Dapkus knocked out Ariel Mantel in fifth ($31,850) and James Chen in fourth ($40,950) before Soverel eliminated Dapkus in third for $56,875, entering heads-up play against Jonas Kronwitter with a 6,125,000 to roughly 1 chip lead in a field where Soverel outlasted the rest of the table.

The final hand saw the money go in on a flop of ten-hearts, seven-hearts, three-clubs. Kronwitter held ace-hearts, eight-hearts, six-clubs, three-hearts for a pair with flush and straight draws, while Soverel showed pocket aces with the ace of diamonds, ace of clubs, five of diamonds and two of clubs. The five of spades on the turn and seven of clubs on the river held up for Soverel, ending the tournament. Kronwitter, an Austrian pro now with nearly $3.9 million in lifetime tournament cashes, earned $79,625 as the runner-up.

The PGT PLO Series runs at the PokerGO Studio from September 24 through October 3, 2026, marking the tour’s return after its post-summer hiatus.