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Matthew Gawel Claims Victory in $600 Main Event for Career-High Score of $36,015!
A dominating performance! A runaway train! Leading wire to wire! However you want to word it, Matthew Gawel was unstoppable on Day 2 of the $600 Main Event at the 2026 Jamul Poker Open on his way to claiming the title and $36,015. Gawel pushed his way through a field of 327 entries just outside the San Diego area in Southern California to claim his first trophy and a career-high score.
Gawel entered the final table with a sizeable chip lead that he never relinquished once. In fact, it seemed to only grow as the day went on, culminating in a quick heads-up match with Michael Hindi that lasted only three hands.
"It was a really nice time to sun run," Gawel admitted after his victory. "I gotta thank ace-queen for showing up so many times! I made some good folds, and I felt good."
It was fitting that ace-queen was the winning hand for Gawel, who was continuously showing down the premium hand on multiple occasions today. Hindi shoved over 25 big blinds into him and Gawel had an easy call to put the tournament on the line. A clean board for the superior hand left Gawel with his arms in the air as he celebrated the victory.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Matthew Gawel | United States | $36,015 |
| 2nd | Michael Hindi | United States | $24,010 |
| 3rd | Prakhar Jain | United States | $17,574 |
| 4th | Joseph Furmanek | United States | $13,037 |
| 5th | Michael Lee | United States | $9,803 |
| 6th | Aiden Behr | United States | $7,473 |
| 7th | Zhehao Jin | United States | $5,776 |
| 8th | Di Wu | United States | $4,528 |
| 9th | Surya Ramjali | United States | $3,601 |
Day 2 Action
The stage was set inside the poker room of the Jamul Casino Resort on Day 2 with the very first tournament livestream on Jamul Poker Live's YouTube channel. It seemed to go off without a hitch and the local players were enthusiastic to get a taste of the bright lights.
There were 39 players who returned to the felt after the four starting flights. Despite the blinds being rolled back, it didn't take long for players to hit up the payout desk for a min-cash. It was a massive hand in the opening levels that saw Gawel crack the aces of Rip Fritzer and take over the chip lead. That started the momentum wave for Gawel that just never ended.
Leslie Autenreith was the last woman standing on the day, eventually bowing out in 25th place. The start-of-day chip leader, Alexei Racila, spent some time on the feature table but his run was also cut short after a rollercoaster of a day. A flurry of eliminations with just 15 players remaining left both tables playing five-handed. Brandon Lee was one of the short stacks and was eliminated on the final table bubble.
"Not when we got here (final table)", Gawel started when asked if he had a plan coming into the final table. "There were still some people who could do damage. But once we got down to fewer players, then I tried to bump up the aggression."
That was when the poker gods took over and left no doubt that Gawel was meant to win this event. A massive cooler versus Surya Ramjali vaulted Gawel further into the lead and then he went on to crack Aiden Behr's pocket aces shortly after. Joseph Furmanek was the one player who tried to put up a fight against the chip leader, but Gawel's aggression countered that approach and Furmanek was ousted in fourth place.
The final three players battled it out for a while and Gawel took a couple of minor shots, but he always bounced back right away to keep distancing himself from his opponents. Prakhar Jain folded his way down to just five big blinds and eventually picked up pocket aces. However, Hindi's rags in the small blind managed to make two pair, eliminating Jain in third place.
Gawel took a healthy lead into heads-up play and it was merely over before it even started. An ill-timed shove from Hindi ran into the hand of the day for Gawel and a clean runout led to victory. The next stop for Gawel is the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas after winning an earlier satellite. He hopes that this momentum continues on and can use some of this confidence to make another deep run.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage at the 2026 Jamul Poker Open, but stay tuned for many more events coming your way, including a full schedule of WSOP action coming your way shortly.