Justin Liberto Claims First PGT Title In $5,300 Eight-Game Event

Justin Liberto added his name to the list of early-season winners on the PokerGO Tour, taking down event no. 2 of the PGT Mixed Games series. Liberto earned his first career PGT title as the $5,300 eight-game event champion, along with $127,400 in prize money.

Liberto’s first qualifying cash of 2026 came with 432 Card Player Player of the Year points towards the year-long competition presented by CoinPoker.  He also secured 191 PGT points, putting him neck-and-neck for PGT Mixed Games player of the series with event no. 1 winner Chino Rheem.

Liberto, whose previous best live results largely came in no-limit hold’em events, defeated mixed games expert and five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Calvin Anderson heads-up to close out the tournament. Liberto is now approaching $7.3 million in career earnings after this triumph. His top score remains the $640,711 first-place prize in the 2015 WSOP $3,000 six-max event.

A total of 98 entrants took their shot in this eight-game format, which included all five games in the H.O.R.S.E. mix, along with no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and limit deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball. All seven players who made it to the final table had at least one WSOP bracelet to their name.

The Road To Victory

Eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser was eliminated on the money bubble on day 1. Play continued deep into the night, with only three contenders moving on to day 2. The first exit of the final table was from Poker Hall of Famer Brian Rast, who went out in seventh place ($19,600).

Ryan Hoenig (6th – $24,500), Benjamin Miner (5th – $34,300), and Maksim Pisarenko (4th – $44,100) eventually followed Rast out the door. When the chip bags came out at the end of the night, Anderson held a small chip lead over Liberto, while Johannes Becker of Germany sat in a distant third place.

Becker was eliminated shortly after the start of day 2 action when he couldn’t overcome Anderson’s seven-low in razz. He earned $58,800 for his podium showing.

The heads-up match between Liberto and Anderson was largely decided on a single hand of deuce-to-seven triple draw. Liberto drew three cards and made a wheel (7-5-4-3-2), eventually winning a pot that put him on the brink of victory.

The tournament ended during a round of stud. The last of Anderson’s chips went in on fifth street, and on sixth street, Liberto’s pair of tens improved to trips. Anderson’s pair and a straight draw failed to catch up from there, and victory belonged to Liberto. Anderson earned $80,850 as the runner-up, surpassing $8.2 million in career cashes in the process.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PGT / Antonio Abrego.