Less than a week after opening the PGT PLO Series with a record-extending 16th career PGT title, Sam Soverel has already battled back to the winner’s circle once again. Soverel’s latest triumph saw him take down event no. 6, a $15,700 pot-limit Omaha mystery bounty event, claiming $250,000 in total prize money. The 38-year-old poker pro’s earlier win came in a $5,300 buy-in PLO event, with a $122,850 top prize. The four-time bracelet winner, now has more than $33.8 million in career cashes to his name.
Soverel now sits at 17 career PGT trophies, four more than Alex Foxen, who is in second place all-time with 13 PGT wins.
This time around, Soverel defeated Robert Cowen heads-up to secure the victory. Cowen, a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and a Triton Super High Roller winner in his own right, settled for second place and a $141,000 payday.
While Cowen was the runner-up, the second-biggest winner of this tournament was fourth-place finisher Sean Winter. Late on day 1, just after mystery bounty prizes came into play, Winter drew the coveted $100,000 bounty prize. Added to his $48,500 payout for fourth place, the high-stakes regular walked away with $148,500 in total prizes.
Pushing Towards The Finish Line
This $15,700 PLO mystery bounty tournament had 46 total entries for a prize pool of $460,000 and mystery bounties worth a total of $230,000.
With 10 players left, the mystery bounty prizes kicked in. At that point, Soverel kicked off a key hand with a pot-sized bet. A short-stacked Dan Shak three-bet all-in. Winter committed most of his chips with a four-bet from the button, and Soverel called. On a J♠5♣5♥ flop, Soverel put the rest of Winter’s chips in, and Winter was all too happy to call with A♥J♥J♣ for a flopped full house.
Neither Soverel nor Shak had a five, and Soverel couldn’t find any runner-runner outcomes, giving Winter the pot, more than doubling him up, and the first bounty of the tournament. Once players headed off to break, Winter decided to pull out his bounty, and the PGT cameras were rolling.
Sean Winter with the first bounty pull…
Does he feel the energy? ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/ERxZPTkLZB
— PGT (@PokerGOTour) October 1, 2026
After Winter pulled the biggest bounty out of play, Soverel started to put distance between himself and the rest of the field. He eliminated Brevin Andreadis on the money bubble with a runner-runner straight. By the time the final seven players consolidated to one table, Soverel held roughly double the chips of Cowen and Winter, who held a clear advantage over the remaining four contenders.
Soverel Undeniable
Recent Triton Invitational champion Joao Simao was the first to exit in the money, in seventh place ($19,000). Cowen turned 8♦6♦5♥2♠ into a winning two-pair to beat Simao’s A♥K♦K♣Q♥. Sean Rafael followed soon behind, as Cowen struck again with a rivered set of eights to put Rafael out in sixth place ($27,500). This was his third final-table finish so far this series.
The final five headed into a second day of action with Soverel on top, Cowen a fair bit behind, and a trailing pack hoping to make a comeback.
Soverel pulled even further away early on, but there was some fight in the other four players. Winter tripled up, and Cowen clawed some chips back. But Soverel once again seemed as though he was on a mission. He flopped the nut straight against Eelis Parssinen to crack pocket aces, and sent the breakout Finnish star packing in fifth place ($37,000).
Soverel then dispatched Winter in fourth place ($148,500 in total) as his flopped bottom two pair, sevens and fours, held off all of Winter’s draws. Steve Zolotow, who had been the shortest stack or close to it for long stretches of the tournament, benefited from several ladder-ups before his chips finally ran out.
Zolotow had a chance to triple up versus only a single opponent, as Cowen isolated on an 8♥7♣4♥ flop with plenty of chips already in the middle. Cowen rivered a jack-high straight to take the pot, though, eliminating Zolotow in third place ($67,000).
Soverel chipped away at Cowen’s stack. The last of the UK native’s chips got in on a A♦J♠2♠10♦ board. Soverel showed Q♠J♣9♦7♦, and he was up against Cowen’s A♠A♣8♦4♥ for top set. With plenty of outs, Soverel connected with the 3♦ river, making a winning flush to close out the tournament.
POY Implications
With this win, Soverel earned 360 Card Player Player of the Year points, eclipsing 2,400 POY points for the year. He’s now in 139th place in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker. Cowen, after his runner-up result, is 88th in the standings; Simao (51st), Rafael (45th), and Winter (34th) improved their spots as well. Parssinen, who pulled into contention for the POY crown following a pair of $25,000 WSOP bracelet wins over the summer, ranks 5th in the POY standings. This was his 14th final-table finish of 2026.
Those wins also had Parssinen positioned in the No. 1 spot on the season-long PGT leaderboard, but not after this tournament. Winter, who was narrowly behind Parssinen coming into this event, got 58 PGT points for fourth place, compared to 44 PGT points for Parssinen for fifth. Winter now holds a lead of just 7 PGT points over Parssinen, with the pair a fair bit ahead of the rest of the pack.
Soverel’s win, worth 192 PGT points, puts him in 14th place in the PGT standings. The top 40 players at the end of the season qualify for the $1 million PGT Championship.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | Bounties | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Sam Soverel | $160,000 | $90,000 | 360 | 192 |
| 2 | Robert Cowen | $101,000 | $40,000 | 300 | 121 |
| 3 | Steve Zolotow | $67,000 | $0 | 240 | 80 |
| 4 | Sean Winter | $48,500 | $100,000 | 180 | 58 |
| 5 | Eelis Parssinen | $37,000 | $0 | 150 | 44 |
| 6 | Sean Rafael | $27,500 | $0 | 120 | 33 |
| 7 | Joao Simao | $19,000 | $0 | 90 | 23 |
Photo credit: PGT / Antonio Abrego.
