The Poker Masters Purple Jacket is awarded to the Player of the Series, and with six of the ten events complete in Las Vegas, the race is more open than the headlines suggest. Adrian Mateos moved to the top of the leaderboard when he won Event 5, Nicholas Palma had led just before that, and Myles Mullaly led after the first three events. The remaining four tournaments, priced at $15,700, $15,700, $26,000 and $51,000, are worth far more points than the $10,500 events that opened the series.
This article explains how the Purple Jacket works, summarizes what the published leaderboards show, and looks at who could win it. Where we calculate totals ourselves, we say so, because the official standings may differ slightly from our arithmetic.
How the Purple Jacket is decided
The Purple Jacket goes to the player who accumulates the most points across the Poker Masters series. PokerGO's published leaderboard after Event 3 gives a clue about the scoring formula: Myles Mullaly had $274,800 in earnings and 274 points, Joey Weissman had $241,800 and 241 points, and Nicholas Palma had $235,200 and 235 points. In each case, the points equal the dollars won divided by 1,000, rounded down. In other words, the Purple Jacket is effectively a money list.
That has several implications:
- Larger buy-in events matter more. A $51,000 event has a much larger prize pool than a $10,500 event, so its winner collects a bigger share of the points.
- A deep run is as valuable as a win in a big event. Second place in a $26,000 event may be worth more than winning a $10,500 event.
- Consistency counts. Players who cash several times can stay in the hunt even without a title.
- Bubbles are worthless. Finishing 13th in a ten-place event earns nothing.
The leaderboard so far
After Event 3
The PokerGO leaderboard after Event 3 looked like this:
| Rank | Player | Wins | Cashes | Earnings | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myles Mullaly | 1 | 3 | $274,800 | 274 |
| 2 | Joey Weissman | 1 | 2 | $241,800 | 241 |
| 3 | Nicholas Palma | 1 | 1 | $235,200 | 235 |
| 4 | Daniyal Gheba | 0 | 2 | $195,000 | 195 |
| 5 | Adrian Mateos | 0 | 1 | $151,200 | 151 |
After Event 4
Event 4 changed the picture. Palma finished third for $104,000, which took his series total to $339,200 and, according to PokerNews, put him at the top of the race. Vitalijs Zavorotnijs won the event for $224,000, as we reported in our Event 4 recap.
After Event 5
Mateos then won Event 5 for $229,500. By our own arithmetic from the published payouts, his series earnings were $380,700 at that point: $151,200 from the Event 2 runner-up finish and $229,500 from the Event 5 win. PokerNews reported that the win put him at the top of the Purple Jacket leaderboard, and our total is consistent with that claim since it exceeds Palma's $339,200. We had no official post-Event 5 leaderboard to confirm the exact figures, so treat them as approximations. Our Event 5 analysis covers how he got there.
Event 6 in progress
In Event 6, Palma missed the money, along with Sean Perry, Chino Rheem, Sam Soverel and Nick Schulman, according to PokerNews. Mateos also missed the money, bursting the bubble in a three-way pot. Neither will add to their totals in that event. The final table includes Sean Winter, Victoria Livschitz, Justin Vaysman, Sam Laskowitz, Brandon Wilson, Tony Gregg and Joey Weissman, and first prize is $192,000. Our Event 6 preview has the chip counts.
For the contenders at the final table, the stakes are significant. If Weissman won, he would add $192,000 to the $241,800 he held after Event 3 (assuming no other cashes), and his total would pass $430,000 and exceed Mateos' calculated total. A win by any other finalist would add $192,000 to whatever they have banked so far, and deep runs in the larger events would then be required to catch the leaders.
What the remaining events are worth
The schedule for the rest of the series, according to PokerNews:
- Event 7: $15,700 NLH, October 19 to 20
- Event 8: $15,700 NLH, October 20 to 21
- Event 9: $26,000 NLH, October 21 to 22
- Event 10: $51,000 NLH, October 22 to 23
We cannot state the prize pools for events that have not been played, but we can estimate scale from the earlier events. At a field similar to the $10,500 events, which drew between 64 and 80 entries, a $15,700 event would produce a prize pool in the neighborhood of $1 million, a $26,000 event closer to $1.7 million and a $51,000 event a few million dollars. These are simple multiples, not forecasts. Fields at higher prices usually shrink, so actual totals could be lower.
The point is that a single win in Event 9 or Event 10 could be worth more than all the points earned so far by anyone in the series. A player with a modest total, such as Mullaly's $274,800 or Weissman's $241,800 after Event 3, could still win the jacket with one large result.
Who is best placed?
- Adrian Mateos. He leads on our math, and his recent form, with a win and a runner-up finish, is excellent. He is also one of the most experienced high-roller players in the world, with six WSOP bracelets.
- Nicholas Palma. He sits behind Mateos with $339,200, and one deep run could put him back in front.
- Myles Mullaly. With $274,800 after three events and a win to his name, he needs one more strong result.
- Joey Weissman. He has the Event 6 final table in front of him and a track record of closing out events.
- Daniyal Gheba. He had two cashes and $195,000 after Event 3 and could climb with a big result in the final events.
Note that the list is our reading of the published standings, not an official ranking.
What this means for fans and players
For fans, the lesson is to watch the larger events. The Purple Jacket race will be decided in the $26,000 and $51,000 tournaments, not the openers.
For players, the series format offers a few points of interest:
- Series leaderboards reward volume and stamina. Playing every event gives you more chances at points, but it increases your exposure to variance. Our bankroll management guide explains how to handle a heavy schedule.
- Small fields, big swings. As we explain in our look at small-field economics, steep payouts mean a single result can change the standings.
- Know the scoring. If a leaderboard rewards money won, a strategy that maximizes expected value in each event is also the strategy that maximizes expected points.
- Watch for bounties and free money. Online tournaments often have leaderboards too; our rakeback and bonus pages explain how to take advantage of them at the rooms we review.
You can follow the event live on PokerGO. For other ways to watch poker, see our poker on TV page. If you want to build your own tournament résumé, begin with the daily schedules on our tournaments page and read the poker strategy hub first.
The bottom line
The Purple Jacket race is a money list, and the money is concentrated in the final events. Mateos leads on the published information, but he leads by a margin that a single deep run in Event 9 or Event 10 could erase. If the series has taught us anything so far, it is that nothing in this format is certain: four different players won the first four events, and the bubble has claimed some of the biggest names in the game. We will update this article after the series ends on October 23.