Sean Winter leads the 2026 PokerGO Tour (PGT) Player of the Year standings with 2,223 points following Poker Masters, putting him 380 ahead of second-place Eelis Parssinen.
The battle for PGT Championship qualification is considerably closer. Benny Glaser holds 40th place by a single point over Santhosh Suvarna, and 16 players currently inside the top 40 have yet to meet all the cashing requirements for the $500,000 freeroll.
Winter Builds a 380-Point Lead Over Parssinen
Winter entered the PGT PLO Series with 1,758 points, trailing Parssinen by 41. He earned another 465 points across the PGT PLO Series, Super High Roller Bowl PLO IV, Super High Roller Bowl XI, and Poker Masters, bringing his season total to 2,223.
Parssinen sits second with 1,843 points.
Adrian Mateos, who won the 2026 Poker Masters Purple Jacket, climbed from 22nd to sixth with 1,760 points. He added 606 points during the stretch, the largest increase among players featured in both top-300 leaderboard snapshots.
Jeremy Ausmus rose from 12th to third after adding 522 points, while Brandon Wilson gained 535 points to move from 14th to fifth. Joao Simao also entered the top 10, climbing from 26th to 10th.
Just 57 points separate Ausmus in third from Brock Wilson in seventh.
2026 PGT Leaderboard Top 10
| Rank | Player | Wins | Cashes | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sean Winter | 2 | 17 | 2,223 |
| 2 | Eelis Parssinen | 2 | 7 | 1,843 |
| 3 | Jeremy Ausmus | 2 | 30 | 1,812 |
| 4 | Alex Foxen | 2 | 15 | 1,777 |
| 5 | Brandon Wilson | 1 | 18 | 1,761 |
| 6 | Adrian Mateos | 4 | 11 | 1,760 |
| 7 | Brock Wilson | 4 | 14 | 1,755 |
| 8 | Yuri Dzivielevski | 3 | 7 | 1,602 |
| 9 | Lucas Jumalon | 1 | 1 | 1,550 |
| 10 | Joao Simao | 2 | 17 | 1,470 |
Standings following the 2026 Poker Masters.
Five Players Move Into the Top 40
The points held by the 40th-ranked player rose from 893 to 948 during the latest stretch of tournaments.
Sam Soverel made the largest move among the five players entering the top 40, rising from 42nd to 13th. He added 477 points to reach 1,355.
| Player | Previous Rank | Current Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Soverel | 42 | 13 | 1,355 |
| Daniel Negreanu | 44 | 33 | 1,052 |
| Clemen Deng | 46 | 34 | 1,043 |
| Chino Rheem | 41 | 35 | 1,041 |
| Joey Weissman | 58 | 38 | 1,000 |
Santhosh Suvarna, Biao Ding, Zurvan Tumboli, Colin Robinson, and Daniel Aharoni dropped out of the top 40 as those five players moved in.
Suvarna is 41st with 947 points, just one behind Benny Glaser. Ding follows in 42nd with 917, while Tumboli is 43rd with 900.
Sam Laskowitz also moved closer to the cutoff. Starting from 124th with 382 points, he added 510 to reach 47th with 892, leaving him 56 points behind Glaser.
Nick Seward climbed from 126th to 52nd after gaining 397 points. His total of 773 leaves him 175 points short of the current top-40 cutoff.
Sixteen Top-40 Players Still Need to Meet Championship Requirements
The PGT Championship is a $500,000 freeroll, but a top-40 points ranking does not guarantee a seat.
Players seeking qualification through the season-long leaderboard must record at least four PGT cashes, including one in a PGT-owned-and-operated event. They must also opt in before PGT Last Chance, the final series, begins.
Following Poker Masters, 11 players inside the top 40 have fewer than four cashes.
Lucas Jumalon is ninth in points with 1,550 but has cashed only once this season. He needs three more cashes, including at least one in a PGT-owned-and-operated event.
Han Feng has two cashes and has already met the owned-and-operated event requirement. Another two PGT cashes would bring him to the four-cash minimum.
The other 10 players with fewer than four cashes must also record at least one cash in a PGT-owned-and-operated event.
Separately, five players have reached the four-cash minimum but still need a cash in a PGT-owned-and-operated event.
| Player | Current PGT Cashes |
|---|---|
| Chris Brewer | 9 |
| Michael Mizrachi | 5 |
| Artur Martirosian | 4 |
| Noaya Kihara | 8 |
| Sergio Martinez Gonzalez | 5 |
That leaves 15 players currently inside the top 40 who still need at least one owned-and-operated event cash.
A cash in one of those events also counts toward the four-cash minimum, allowing players who need both to make progress toward both requirements.
Players who fail to meet the qualification rules cannot claim a Championship seat through the leaderboard. Their places will pass to the next eligible players in the standings, potentially allowing players outside the top 40 to qualify.
PGT Sprint and Last Chance Provide Further Opportunities
Two PGT-owned-and-operated series give players further opportunities to earn points and meet the cashing requirements.
PGT Sprint runs from October 27 to November 4, 2026, at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.
PGT Last Chance is scheduled for January 4–9, 2027, at the same venue.
A cash in either series will count toward the season's four-cash minimum and fulfill the owned-and-operated event requirement for players who still need it.
Players must complete their PGT Championship opt-in before PGT Last Chance begins.
