Justin Steinbrenner Dominates Day 2 to Lead PLO Main Event Final Table
The $25,000 PLO Main Event at the 2026 Onyx High Roller Series has reached its final table after an action-packed Day 2 inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa. From 29 returning players, the field has been cut to just seven, all now firmly in the hunt for the $1,125,000 first place prize.
Coming back in pole position is Justin Steinbrenner with a stack of 14,985,000. The German pro turned his start-of-the-day chip lead into an even bigger stack, finishing just ahead of Nino Pansier, who bagged 14,725,000 after a very successful last few levels.
Steinbrenner and Pansier hold over half the chips in play between them and both have more than double the stack of third-placed Youness Barakat (7,270,000). Espen Sandvik, Artur Martirosian, and Lautaro Guerra sit in the middle, while Tomasz Krzesinski (620,000) returns as the clear short stack with a very tall hill to clumb.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Steinbrenner | Germany | 14,985,000 | 107 |
| 2 | Nino Pansier | Netherlands | 14,725,000 | 105 |
| 3 | Youness Barakat | Italy | 7,270,000 | 52 |
| 4 | Espen Sandvik | Norway | 4,535,000 | 32 |
| 5 | Artur Martirosian | Russian Federation | 4,420,000 | 32 |
| 6 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 3,690,000 | 26 |
| 7 | Tomasz Krzesinski | Poland | 620,000 | 5 |
Day 2 Action
When cards went back in the air in the early afternoon, 29 players returned, with Barakat having already locked up an extra min-cash after forfeiting his 5,000-chip stack from Day 1a. It didn’t take long for the bustouts to start piling up, as Gergo Nagy, Eelis Parssinen, Luuk van den Belt, and Dennis Weiss were among the early exits. Weiss’ Main Event came to an end when his top pair ran into Martirosian’s overpair.
Just over an hour in, the tournament was already down to the last three tables and everyone could see the final table on the horizon. Sondre Stormyr was the first to fall in 21st after bricking a flush draw, and Martin Dam soon joined him when his aces were cracked by Sandvik’s double-suited rundown.
Geoffrey Mooney was hoping to be the only player to make both the NLH and PLO Main Event final tables, but Bassel Alanaz had other ideas, flopping top set to send the Australian out in 18th. Espen Myrmo, Oswin Ziegelbecker, and Marcel Grubinger also fell short of the final day, with Grubinger’s run ending at the hands of Guerra’s straight.
With two tables left, Martirosian was out in front, with Steinbrenner and Alanaz rounding out the top three. China’s Quan Zhou was on track to make his second PLO final table of the series, but an ill-timed bluff into Barakat’s boat left him on fumes, and he was out shortly after in tenth place. Just before him, PLO wizard Joni Jouhkimainen hit the rail, falling just shy of a final table once again.
By this time, Pansier had been hovering near the bottom of the pack for a while before finding exactly what he needed. He flopped a set of jacks against Alanaz to double, and not long after he doubled again, this time turning a straight against Sandvik. Just like that, he was right back in it with an average stack.
From there, Pansier rode his momentum. He took down a big three-bet pot from Alanaz without even seeing a turn, then followed it up by calling down Martirosian over two streets on a scary board holding nothing more than a pair of kings. Those pots sent him soaring up the leaderboard, finishing the day in a comfortable second place in the counts.
Maksim Shuts was the one to break the deadlock, hitting the showers in ninth. First, he failed to bluff Steinbrenner, and then jammed on the flop with a combo draw a few hands later. Steinbrenner wasn’t going anywhere, making the call with middle pair. The turn and river bricked off, and Steinbrenner gathered the rest of the Shuts' chips, leaving the PLO Main Event on the final table bubble.
Barakat and Alanaz then tangled in a huge pot, where Barakat flopped a full house against Alanaz’s trip. The chips went in on the turn, leaving Alanaz drawing dead and down to just four big blinds, the same as Krzesinski. Alanaz joked he’d fold aces to make the final seven, but Krzesinski actually woke up with them, got his last chips in, and spiked a flush to survive and keep the bubble alive a little longer.
Alanaz’s hopes of making the final table will have to wait for the next Onyx High Roller Series, as he ended up as the final table bubble boy. He got it in from the button and was dominated by Steinbrenner. The flop gave him some hope with both a straight and flush draw, but neither came in, and he was out in eighth. The remaining seven players bagged up their chips and will return for the final table.
The final table will begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday, February 12, inside the Onyx Club, with cards back in the air on Level 22 and 17 minutes remaining in the level. The action will be streamed on delay via the OnyxLiveTV YouTube channel, as one of the last events of the festival plays down to a champion.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,125,000 |
| 2 | $710,000 |
| 3 | $483,000 |
| 4 | $340,000 |
| 5 | $250,000 |
| 6 | $190,000 |
| 7 | $143,000 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates from the final table as the $25,000 PLO Main Event crowns its champion and brings the 2026 Onyx High Roller Series to a close.