Vladyslav Shovkovyi Captures PGT Texas Poker Open Main Event Title

This spring, the PokerGO Tour made the trek from its home base in Las Vegas to Champions Club Texas in Houston for the 2026 PGT Texas Poker Open.  The centerpiece of the whole festival was the $2,200 no-limit hold’em main event that ran from May 7-11. A total of 435 entries were made across the six starting flights.

Texas resident Vladyslav Shovkovyi emerged victorious in the end, taking home the unique belt buckle trophy and the top prize of $180,000. This was the second-largest payday yet for Shovkovyi, trailing only the $299,715 he earned as the last player standing from a field of nearly 4,000 in a $600 buy-in at the 2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. With this victory, his career earnings surpassed the $1 million mark. 

In addition to the hardware and the money, Shovkovyi also secured plenty of rankings points as the champion. The 400 PGT points moved him into 22nd place in the season-long PGT leaderboard. The 720 Card Player Player of the Year points that came with the win landed him just outside the top 300 in the 2026 race presented by CoinPoker.

Thinning The Field

This event featured a $1 million guaranteed prize pool, which was split up amongst the top 56 finishers. Plenty of notables ran deep, including Brad Ruben (50th),  Andrew Moreno (38th), Jonathan Tamayo (30th),  Jeremy Becker (24th), Will Givens (16th), and Neil Warren (13th).

The penultimate day concluded with the elimination of Aram Zobian, who ran A-K into the pocket kings of Adrian Curry to finish seventh for $35,000.

The final day began with six remaining and Phu Vo well out in front. Shovkovyi was in the middle of the pack when play resumed. Short stack Bradley Rich was the first to fall, with pocket kings cracked by the pocket sixes of Brant Jolly. The board improved the lower pair to a ten-high straight, ending Rich’s run in sixth place ($40,000).

Randall Brooks (5th – $48,000) then got all-in with J♥J♦ leading the A♠10♠ of Vo. The board came down 10♥9♦3♦10♦10♣ and Vo made quads to narrow the field to four. 

Shovkovyi Pulls Away

Shovkovyi won a massive pot during early four-handed action, with A♠A♥ besting Q♥J♥ for Vo, who shoved the river on a Q♠2♠2♥10♦4♣ runout. The eventual champion made the call to take the pot and a massive lead over the rest of the field.

Adrian Curry’s last stand pitted 10♣9♦ against A♦K♠ for Shovkovyi. Curry flopped an open-ended straight draw, but failed to improve from there and was eliminated in fourth place ($60,000).

The big hands kept coming for Shovkovyi, who found pocket aces again to score his next knockout. He opened from the button and called Jolly’s shove. Jolly was in rough shape with A♠J♣. The board came down 10♣8♦7♦10♥7♥ and Jolly was eliminated in third place.

ACES AGAIN for Vladyslav Shovkovyi.

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— PokerGO (@PokerGO) May 11, 2026

The final two hashed out a deal to redistribute the prize money a bit, making it $160,000 for second place and $180,000 to the champion. At the time, Shovkovyi held just shy of a 2:1 chip lead. Vo closed the gap a bit in the early going, but was still unable to regain the lead.

In the final hand, Shovkovyi raised to 400,000 from the button with J♠8♠ and Vo three-bet to 900,000 in the big blind holding K♦J♣. A call from Shovkovyi led to a flop of J♦6♠2♥. Vo led out for 400,000 with his top pair, king kicker. Shovkovyi raised to 1,000,000 with the same pair and a lower kicker and received a call. The 9♠ turn gave Shovkovyi a flush draw to go with his pair. He bet 1,600,000 when checked to, and Vo moved all-in for 3,450,000. Shovkovyi made the call and the river brought the 8♥ to give him two pair, the pot, and the title. Vo settled for $160,000 as the runner-up.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: PGT / Alicia Skillman.