The only American player at the final table of the 2026 PGT PLO VI Super High Roller Bowl took the trophy in Las Vegas as Sean Rafael captured the $1.15 million top prize and the prized PokerGO Tour trophy. Getting the better of Joao Simao, the American’s win also came at the expense of players such as Talal Shakerchi and Richard Gryko on his way to glory.

Youness Barakat Dominates Day 1

Day 1 of the 2026 PGT PLO Super High Roller Bowl certainly belonged to the Italian player Youness Barakat. Having been one of the starts of the recent PGT PLO Series, the Italian took charge of Day 1 to survive as chip leader and the only player to bag up over a million chips on a stack of 1,229,000. Outstripping his fellow PGT PLO Series star Sam Soverel (991,000) and British mixed game specialist Richard Gryko, who bagged 903,000 in third place on the leaderboard.

The most important pot on Day 1 featured Barakat, as the Italian leapt to the top of the chipcounts. The three-way hand saw Barakat relying on some good fortune, and he got it. His pair of kings in his hand found another, and he overtook Lautaro Guerra’s pocket aces to make kings full of queens and win a huge hand that also damaged the chances of Richard Gryko.

Everyone who busted once on Day 1 was able to re-enter, and there remained some players who had that privilege at the start of Day 2, including PokerStake seller Jeremy Ausmus, Sean Winter, Dylan Weisman, Jesse Lonis, Ben Lamb, and Jason Mercier. Others were not so fortunate, as players such as Jared Bleznick, Ben Tollerene, Eelis Parssinen, and Alex Foxen all used both their two $103,000 buy-ins to bust twice and rule themselves out of contention in the process.

Day 2 Starts and Ends with Drama

The penultimate day of the $100,000 Super High Roller PLO VI saw Sean Rafael enjoy and endure a rollercoaster day at the felt to grab a crucial lead with six players left. The final elimination of a busy day at the felt also burst the bubble, with the Day 1 chip leader Youness Barakat busting just outside the money.

Rafael was at high risk shortly before making the money, going into a three-way all-in with Jesse Lonis and Barakat when the eventual winner’s pair of tens needed to hold. That it did, making another ten on the board along with two threes to make a full house. Lonis lost out before the money too, as Rafael took over, building an impressive chip lead by the close of play, holding a massive 4.9 million chips.

No-one else even had a third of Rafael’s chips by the time Barakat busted in seventh place and the remaining six players landed profit. Joao Simao was the closest challenger on 1.4m, with Lautaro Guerra (1.1m) the only other player on seven figures. Talal Shakerchi (850,000), Richard Gryko (740,000) and the PGT PLO Series Championship Event #8 winner Cesar Garcia (555,000) completed the final table line-up.

Rafael the Champion as Simao Goes Close

The final table began with Rafael continuing to dominate the action, as he took out Cesar Garcia for $190,000 in sixth place. Garcia lost to Rafael’s set of eights and he the chip leader soon took out another player, as Lautaro Guerra bowed out in fifth place for $255,000. The Spanish PLO specialist lost to Rafael’s ace-high flush to bust as the U.S. player got more control of the table.

The British hedge fund manager Talal Shakerchi was the next to bust to Rafael, and after he lost to a Broadway straight for $350,000, Richard Gryko followed his countryman from the felt. Gryko, who also had a strong PGT PLO Series last week, lost to Joao Simao’s nut flush to give the Brazilian a valuable pot, but it was still the two short stacks taking each other on. As Gryko departed for $480,000, Rafael went into the heads-up with a 4:1 lead over the recent Triton winner Simao.

Heads-up, Simao made an early fold after using time banks to wait seven minutes to make the correct decision. That propelled the Brazilian to a third of the chips but while he got his chips in good in the final hand, he ran out of luck at the wrong time. All-in with trip fours, Simao had to sweat Rafael’s two pairs with a flush draw. A nine on the river came in the suit Rafael needed and he flushed his way to victory and a seven-figure top prize.

PGT $100,000 Super High Roller Bowl PLO IV 2026  Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Sean Rafael	United States	$1,150,000
2nd	Joao Simao	Brazil	$775,000
3rd	Richard Gryko	United Kingdom	$480,000
4th	Talal Shakerchi	United Kingdom	$350,000
5th	Lautaro Guerra	Spain	$255,000
6th	Cesar Garcia	Spain	$190,000