Adrian Mateos Bubbles With Cracked Aces in Poker Masters Opener

Day 1 of Event #1: $10,500 NLH at the 2026 Poker Masters in Las Vegas wrapped up late Monday evening with just six players remaining as Michael Rossitto bagged the chip lead with a stack of 3,300,000.

The pro with $5.5 million in live earnings leads fellow young American pros Myles Mullaly and Sam Laskowitz, who both bagged two-million-plus stacks, while Justin Zaki, Daniyal Gheba and Justin Vaysman all bagged sub-million stacks.

Event #1: $10,500 NLH Day 1 Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Michael Rossitto	United States	3,300,000	83
2	Myles Mullaly	United States	2,445,000	61
3	Sam Laskowitz	United States	2,155,000	54
4	Justin Zaki	United States	955,000	24
5	Daniyal Gheba	United States	585,000	15
6	Justin Vaysman	United States	310,000	8

Mayfair Club Vibes

There were most of the regulars in the PokerGO Studio on Monday — high-stakes pros like Sean Winter, Brock Wilson, and David Coleman — but there were also a few poker legends who gave the Studio a different vibe.

It looked a bit like the Mayfair Club today as Steve Zolotow and Erik Seidel, two poker legends who were regulars in the fabled New York City card club, played Day 1, with Zolotow faring better than his ten-time bracelet winning counter part but still falling ahead of the money.

Though Seidel had no luck on the felt today, he's ran deep in other events this month. Last week, the Poker Hall of Famer finished second in his first backgammon tournament in over 40 years.

Later, the Studio vibes shifted to sports bar as Lonis, Winter and others loudly sweated the overtime NFL match between the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills.

"This is the most rigged sh** I've seen in my life!" Winter said before falling a few spots off the money.

The money bubble burst in gruesome fashion as Adrian Mateos had aces cracked by Craig Mason, who flopped a set of nines to send the Spanish crusher out in 13th place. Mateos will have to grow his lead on the 2026 GPI Money List in another event.

Mason would later be the first out at the final table as his king-queen couldn't hold up against the king-seven suited of Laskowitz, who made a flush to send Mason out in seventh place.

Day 2 will get underway at noon local time on Level 18 with blinds of 25,000/50,000/50,000, while the PokerGO stream will start at 1 p.m. PokerNews will report on a delay alongside the stream to avoid any spoilers.

Each returning player is guaranteed at least $39,000, while the trophy and top prize of $218,400 await the eventual champion.