Patrick Leonard Wins PGT Last Chance Event, Secures Top 40 Spot

Just shy of a year ago, Patrick Leonard won his first career PokerGO Tour title in the PGT Kickoff Series. That win came in a $5,100 no-limit hold’em event, in January 2025. Roughly 12 months later, Leonard added a second PGT title to bookend the season, taking down a $10,100 no-limit hold’em event at the PGT Last Chance series just a week into 2026.

The second event of a six-tournament festival shifted the landscape of the race to secure a seat in the PGT $1,000,000 Championship freeroll, which kicks off on Jan. 12. Leonard’s second win of the season, which was worth $315,000, came with 315 PGT points. That moved him up to 23rd place on the season-long PGT leaderboard. He’s now well within the comfort zone as one of the top 40 automatic qualifiers.

Runner-up David Coleman, who took home $195,300 and 195 PGT points, rose to 32nd on the season. With only four qualifying tournaments remaining, Coleman is almost certainly assured of a seat.

Final table finishers Nick Schulman (3rd), Jeremy Ausmus (6th), and Joao Simao (7th), who are all well within the top 40, bolstered their leaderboard positions as well. The higher a player is in the season-long standings, the more chips they’ll sit down with when the freeroll gets underway.

Their results are also good news for those hoping to claim one of five PGT Last Chance dream seats. The top five performers in this series who don’t already have a seat also qualify for the freeroll. After two of six events, Clemen Deng, David Baker, Jared Jaffee, Phil Hellmuth, and Brock Wilson are among the contenders.

Chips Fly Early

PGT Last Chance event no. 2 drew 126 entries, building up a prize pool of $1,260,000. After knocking out Jeremy Becker on the final table bubble in eighth place, seven players returned to play for the trophy.

Leonard started the final table with the chip lead and ended with the win, but it was not a straight line to victory. Early on in the day, Coleman was pushed to the brink when Schulman’s pocket aces crushed his pocket jacks, making quads. That pot made Schulman the chip leader and left Coleman on fumes.

Jaffee cracked Simao’s pocket kings to knock him out in seventh ($50,400). Coleman got healthy with a double through Ausmus, and then Leonard used pocket tens to take the rest of Ausmus’ chips, banishing him in sixth ($63,000).

Coleman’s rise continued, at Leonard’s expense, with a full double courtesy of pocket queens beating pocket sixes. Leonard quickly turned it around with a double through Jaffee, and then Jaffee doubled through Brock Wilson. After that wild stretch, Coleman eliminated Wilson in fifth place ($75,600).

Leonard was eventually left as the short stack. He soon swapped positions with Coleman again, doubling through him twice. Coleman got some chips back from Jaffee, and then Jaffee and Schulman traded paint. Schulman ultimately got the last of Jaffee’s chips with a flopped pair of deuces. Jaffee earned $107,100 as the fourth-place finisher.

Leonard Closes It Out

Most of the chips went Leonard’s way in a three-way all-in. Leonard’s A♣K♦ was good on an A♦8♣5♥Q♠6♣ runout, eliminating Schulman in third ($138,600) and leaving Coleman short. Schulman, a seven-time bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Famer, now has more than $25 million in career earnings thanks to this deep run.

Coleman doubled back one final time, but it was all for naught. After Leonard opened for a min-raise on the button, Coleman shoved just over 20 big blinds with K♣2♥. Leonard called with A♣Q♦, and had it locked up by the turn of a Q♥J♣4♥Q♣K♦ runout.

Along with his cash and his improved position on the PGT leaderboard, Leonard earned 660 Card Player Player of the Year race. It’s one of the first significant results of 2026, in a race once again presented by CoinPoker.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PGT / Antonio Abrego.