Sergei Saakian won five tournament titles in a two-week span at the 2026 Venetian August DeepStack Showdown, a run that would be remarkable in any context and is the second time this year he has done something like it at the same property.
The Las Vegas local banked $29,036 across the five wins during a series that ran August 3 to 31 at the Venetian Resort, drew 4,731 entries across 37 numbered events, and paid out $1,184,245 in total prize money.
The five titles
| Event | Date | Buy-in | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| #7 NLH Bounty | Aug 6 | $200 | $2,100 |
| #10 NLH | Aug 9 | $300 | $4,079 |
| #16 NLH Bounty | Aug 14 | $200 | $1,823 |
| #15 NLH | Aug 17 | $400 | $19,371 |
| #21 NLH Bounty | Aug 20 | $200 | $1,663 |
Four of the five were small-field bounty events. The fifth — Event #15, the $400 No-Limit Hold'em multi-day — was the one that mattered financially, and it is where most of the $29,036 came from.
"It felt great. I came into the series feeling confident and knew I was playing well, but I still didn't expect to win that many tournaments, especially so many in such a short period of time," Saakian told PokerNews.
"It was a really enjoyable series for me, and winning the big multi-day event was definitely the highlight. I'm very happy with the results and how everything came together."
This is not a one-off. PokerNews reported in April that Saakian claimed three titles in five days at the 2026 Venetian March DeepStack Showdown. Two multi-title runs in the same calendar year at the same venue is a pattern, not a heater — and the explanation is almost certainly volume combined with a specific skill set suited to small-field, fast-structure bounty tournaments.
The overlay story is the real headline
The more interesting number in this series is $103,144 — the total overlay the Venetian honoured across the 37 events.
An overlay occurs when a tournament's guarantee exceeds the money generated by entries, and the house makes up the difference. It is, straightforwardly, free equity added to a prize pool.
Event #15, the $400 event Saakian won, carried the series' largest single overlay at $30,040. It drew 212 entries into a $100,000 prize pool — meaning nearly a third of the money in play was added by the casino. Saakian's $19,371 for first was earned in a tournament where the effective buy-in, adjusted for overlay, was closer to $270 than $400.
Event #15 final table
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergei Saakian | $19,371 |
| 2 | David Chau | $18,000 |
| 3 | Jeffery Kirby | $10,833 |
| 4 | Yan Yan | $7,843 |
| 5 | Derek Bethea | $5,807 |
| 6 | Orez Mokedi | $4,400 |
| 7 | Liran Betito | $3,414 |
| 8 | Hunter Payne | $2,714 |
| 9 | Ludovic Mordwa | $2,211 |
Other significant overlays across the series included $10,960 in Event #22, $8,640 in Event #12, $7,174 in Event #27 (won by Alexander Tafesh for $6,597), $5,238 in Event #13 (Zakariya Mouhib, $6,341), and $3,440 in Event #14 — which drew just 41 entries, the smallest field of the series, and was won by Anthony Always of Marlton, New Jersey for $2,747.
Read that again: a tournament with 41 entries where the casino added $3,440 to the prize pool. That is one of the highest-value spots available in live poker, and it existed because a guarantee was set optimistically and nobody showed up.
The rest of the series
The biggest single payday did not go to Saakian. Daniel Sprung of Las Vegas won Event #5 — a $600 No-Limit Hold'em event that drew 325 entries for a $164,125 prize pool — for $28,654.
The largest fields were at the lower buy-ins. Event #19 ($250 NLH) drew 597 entries and was won by Turkey's Furkan Beg for $14,616. Event #12 ($300 NLH) pulled 589 entries, with Robert Brajovic of Las Vegas taking $22,639. Event #31 ($250 NLH) had 472 entries, won by Gregory Crysel for $16,236, and Event #22 ($300 NLH) had 371 entries, with Raj Singh of Henderson winning $14,004.
The series skewed heavily toward $200 NLH Bounty events — roughly 22 of the 37 — typically drawing 41 to 107 entries with prize pools between $10,000 and $16,800. That composition explains both Saakian's title count and the overlay total: small guaranteed fields, run daily, are the events most likely to come up short.
Niche events included Event #29, a $300 Seniors tournament that drew 155 entries and was won by David Berger for $6,065, and Event #9, the $200 PokerAtlas Valuetown Bounty, taken by Wuji Tiger Yuan of Austin for $3,943. International winners included Hinata Oshima (Japan), Ron Arbel (Portugal), Beg and Romain Nattaf (France).
What this means for players
Hunt overlays deliberately. $103,144 across 37 events is roughly $2,800 per tournament in free equity, and it was not evenly distributed — the small-field bounty events carried most of it. If you are in Las Vegas during a DeepStack series, checking registration numbers against guarantees before late registration closes is one of the highest-EV habits available in live poker.
Small fields are where title counts get built. Saakian won five tournaments; four of them paid under $4,200. A 41-entry bounty event is a fundamentally different tournament from a 597-entry one, and a skilled player's win rate in the former is dramatically higher. If your goal is trophies, play small fields. If your goal is money, the maths is different.
Bounty format rewards a specific style. Twenty-two of these 37 events were bounty tournaments. Correct play in a bounty format calls wider against short stacks than standard ranges suggest, because the knockout has immediate cash value. Our tournaments guide and what is equity explainer cover the adjustment.
Second place can nearly equal first. David Chau took $18,000 for second in Event #15 against Saakian's $19,371 — a flat top-two structure that makes heads-up deals common and changes the value of an aggressive heads-up strategy. Always check the payout curve before the final table.
Volume is the underrated variable. Two multi-title series in one year at one venue is what happens when someone plays nearly every event on a 37-tournament schedule. Before copying that model, work out whether your bankroll supports it — our bankroll management guide covers the maths, and cash games vs tournaments is worth reading if high-variance tournament volume is not the right fit. For players building volume from home, the real money poker sites rankings and the BetOnline review cover rooms with deep daily schedules.
Sources: PokerNews