button in SafariClemen Deng Wins 4th Career PGT Title in Event #2: $5,000 NLH
High-stakes crusher Clemen Deng added another trophy to his collection today after outlasting the 98-entry field in Event #2: $5,000 NLH at the 2026 U.S. Poker Open inside the PokerGo Studio at ARIA Casino & Resort.
Deng started the day with the third-largest stack before flopping two pair against top pair to take the lead from start-of-day chip leader Michael Rossitto. From there, Deng only briefly lost the lead en route to defeating Peter Mugar heads-up for his third career PGT title and the $127,400 top prize.
Deng also earned 191 PGT points for the victory, moving him from 9th to 7th place on the PGT Leaderboard. The newly crowned champion wasted no time hopping in Event #3: $5,000 NLH in pursuit of more points following the victory.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clemen Deng | USA | $127,400 |
| 2 | Peter Mugar | USA | $80,850 |
| 3 | Michael Rossitto | USA | $58,800 |
| 4 | Justin Vaysman | USA | $44,100 |
| 5 | Yifu He | USA | $34,300 |
| 6 | Vlastimil Pustina | Czechia | $24,500 |
| 7 | Aaron Messmer | United States | $19,600 |
The day began with Rossitto in the lead, Yifu He as the short stack, and the other three players close in chips. Very few hands went to showdown in the first level of the day, but in the second level, Deng and Rossitto played a massive pot that saw three bets go in on the queen-high flop. The rest of the chips went in on the turn, with Deng holding with two pair against Rossitto’s top pair to take the chip lead.
Deng quickly extended his lead by eliminating Yifu He and Justin Vaysman in fifth and fourth place, respectively, after which he held just over half the chips in play with three players remaining. Rossitto was then left with dust after losing a flip with pocket nines against Mugar’s jack-ten suited, and he hit the rail in third place after losing the rest of his stack in another flip, this time against Deng.
Heads-up play began with Deng holding nearly a 3:1 advantage over his opponent. Mugar got off to a great start after picking off two bluffs from Deng, the second of which saw Mugar to take the chip lead. His lead was short-lived, as soon after he attempted to bluff the river with a missed straight draw, only for Deng to call with a rivered two pair.
Deng had a 2:1 lead over Mugar following that hand, and Mugar got the rest of his chips in preflop soon after, holding ace-four to Deng's ace-seven. The final runout gave Deng trip sevens to secure the title, while Mugar was forced to settle for second, taking home $80,850.
