Jesse Lonis closed it out. After finishing sixth, third and then first across the opening three events of the PokerGO Tour Sprint festival, the reigning Card Player Player of the Year won PGT Sprint Event No. 3 for $101,000, beating a field of 78 entries in the $5,300 no-limit hold'em event at the PokerGO Studio. The victory is Lonis's second of 2026, and it came with 336 POY points and 164 PGT points as he continues to surge up the season-long standings.
The numbers behind the win
The Sprint Event 3 field of 78 entries paid the top 12 spots. Lonis took the $101,000 top prize, his largest payday of the Sprint festival so far, and across the first three events he has now cashed for more than $175,000. The win was his second title and 19th final table of 2026, and it was the 64th time in his career that he has scored a $100,000-plus result. He is 30 years old, a three-time bracelet winner, and his career earnings now stand past $35.2 million.
The win moves him to fourth in the 2026 Card Player POY standings, with nearly $5 million in 2026 POY earnings, and into the top 40 of the PGT seasonal standings. The jump in the PGT table is worth noting: he started the Sprint series well outside the top rung, and three strong results in a row have changed his position in just a few days. For a player who was crowned Player of the Year in 2025, it is a reminder that a hot week on a tour with this much concentrated points value can transform a season.
Final table results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points | PGT Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse Lonis | $101,000 | 336 | 164 |
| 2 | Sam Laskowitz | $78,400 | 280 | 105 |
| 3 | Adam Hendrix | $50,700 | 224 | 76 |
| 4 | Brandon Sunshine | $37,050 | 168 | 56 |
| 5 | Jim Collopy | $27,300 | 140 | 41 |
| 6 | Patrick Leonard | $19,500 | 112 | 29 |
| 7 | Natalie Ferguson | $15,600 | 84 | 23 |
The stone bubble was a notable one: Alex Foxen was eliminated in 13th place, just short of the money. Players who finished eighth through twelfth included Sam Soverel, Cary Katz, Martin Zamani, Cherish Andrews and Sean Perry. As with the other Sprint events, the depth of talent in a 78-entry field is extraordinary, and the bubble and early money bustouts read like a list of the tour's regulars.
The hands that decided it
Several hands shaped the final table. Lonis's pocket aces eliminated Jim Collopy in fifth place, where Collopy's ace-ten could not catch up. Adam Hendrix's pocket queens beat Brandon Sunshine's ace-six, and Laskowitz later finished off Sunshine. Lonis then won a preflop coinflip with a pocket pair against Hendrix's ace-queen to move into heads-up play.
Heads-up, Lonis held a lead of almost 4:1. The final hand saw him hold A♣4♣ against Laskowitz's A-6 on a 10-5-2-9-3 board. The five, two and three on the board combined with Lonis's ace and four to make a wheel straight, which carried him to the title.
The sequence is typical of heads-up poker: one player holds a big chip lead, the other takes a shot with a decent ace, and a board that favors the lead player's connected hand shuts the door. Laskowitz's hand was ahead of Lonis's before the flop by kicker, which is a reminder that dominated aces are one of the more costly mistakes in any format, but when stacks are short and the blinds are significant, the hand is a standard call or shove for either player.
A deal in the studio
An interesting piece of backstory is that Laskowitz was also the runner-up in the final event of the Poker Masters six days before this tournament. The two heads-up players agreed on a deal before playing for the title in Sprint Event 3, a practice that is common on the PGT when the stack ratio is lopsided and both players want to lock in a guaranteed amount. Deals like these reduce variance for both players while leaving a title and the points on the line, and they are most appealing to professionals who value predictability across a season of results.
The concept behind it is ICM, the Independent Chip Model, which converts chip stacks into prize-pool equity. If you want to understand why heads-up deals are struck the way they are, our explainer on what is ICM covers the basics, and the broader strategy hub at /poker-strategy has more material on final-table decisions.
Hendrix and the supporting cast
Adam Hendrix, who finished third, has nearly $11.1 million in career cashes and finished sixth in the 2025 WSOP Main Event. Patrick Leonard and Natalie Ferguson also made the final table, and their presence underscores how many different types of players cash on the PGT. Hendrix's run is a good example of how consistent tournament pros turn up deep in events week after week: the results come from repeated exposure to high-quality fields and disciplined play when the stacks get short.
Lonis in the Player of the Year race
Lonis was the 2025 Card Player Player of the Year, and the position he has built in 2026 means he is in a strong position to contend for a second straight title. With 19 final tables, two wins and nearly $5 million in POY earnings, he has the kind of volume that the points formula tends to reward. Points tables like this one reward both final-table frequency and the ability to win, and Lonis's profile is that of a high-volume player who is capable of closing.
We have written about his online bracelet win earlier this year, and the overlap between his live and online skills is one of the more interesting aspects of his career. Players who succeed in both formats develop an unusually broad toolkit: the flexibility to switch between deep-stacked cash-game thinking and short-stacked tournament shoves can make a big difference in tight spots like those that decided Sprint Event 3.
What this means for players
The first lesson is about stack management in short-handed and heads-up play. In the final hand, a lopsided chip lead lets the leader pressure the opponent with a very wide range, while the short stack is forced to pick spots. If you are in the short-stack role, our guide to poker odds is a good place to refresh the percentages that tell you when a shove with a hand like ace-six is correct.
The second lesson is about momentum and variance. Three finishes in a row at a final table, ending with a win, look like a streak, but a skilled player's edge shows up as a higher-than-average frequency of deep runs over a long period. If you are trying to approach tournaments with a long-term mindset, our bankroll management guide explains how many buy-ins you need to withstand the swings.
The third lesson is about the value of deals. Whether you are playing a $5,300 event in a studio or a $20 online tournament, if you can lock up equity at close to its fair value, the decision is often a good one. Understanding how much equity you have in a spot, rather than relying on gut feel, is the foundation of every sound chop decision.
The bottom line
Jesse Lonis's win in PGT Sprint Event No. 3 was a $101,000 payday, his second title of 2026 and a major step in his climb back toward the top of the Player of the Year race. With four events of the Sprint festival still to come and a PGT leaderboard that is changing quickly, he is one of the players to watch.