Lithuanian Vladas Tamasauskas Makes His PGT Mark

Lithuanian Vladas Tamasauskas certainly made his mark on the PokerGO Tour (PGT) recently, winning two events at the 2023 Poker Masters series in Las Vegas. It was the first time Tamasauskas competed inside the PokerGO Studio for a PGT event, and he definitely made that debut count.

Out of the gate, Tamasauskas won Event #1: $10,000 NL Hold'em for $239,400, quickly announcing himself on the scene. He then made a second consecutive final table when he placed sixth in Event #2: $10,000 NL Hold'em, taking home $58,200. Through two events, Tamasauskas had won just shy of $300,000 and separated himself at the top of the series leaderboard in the race for the prestigious Poker Masters Purple Jacket.

Then came Event #3: $10,000 NL Hold'em. Surely, Tamasauskas couldn't make a third consecutive final table, right? Wrong, because that's exactly what Tamasauskas did. Not only that, Tamasauskas came out on top to win the tournament for another $208,800 in prize money. Through the first three Poker Masters events, Tamasauskas had won $506,400 and earned 506 leaderboard points, which was already more points than the 466 that Sean Winter earned at the 2022 Poker Masters to win the Purple Jacket.

So who is Vladas Tamasauskas?

A Lithuanian player out of Vilnius, Tamasauskas' first live tournament result as reported by TheHendonMob.com was in December 2015. That result was an 11th-place finish in the Eureka Main Event at EPT Prague for €19,460 ($21,164). Fast forward to two weeks before the 2023 Poker Masters and Tamasauskas was back on the European Poker Tour earning the second largest live tournament score of his career when he took third in the EPT Barcelona €10,300 High Roller for €406,250 ($439,650).

In 2016, Tamasauskas topped the 1,002-entry field in the UKIPT Dublin Main Event to win €176,900 ($198,681).

You may also recall Tamasauskas from his run in the 2022 WSOP Europe Main Event, where he finished fourth for €438,978 ($451,122). At the time of writing, that was the largest live score for Tamasauskas. It could've been much more too, and Tamasauskas may have been the name in the WSOP Europe Main Event headlines for this year, but his pocket nines were cracked by Jonathan Pastore's pocket eights at the final table in Rozvadov.

Tamasauskas was 28 years old when he took to the 2023 Poker Masters. He enjoys tennis as a hobby and refers to himself as a content creator and podcast host, in addition to being a professional poker player. Tamasauskas said he discovered poker when he was just 12 years old. He also enjoyed betting on pool and table tennis at a young age.

School wasn't so much in the cards for Tamasauskas. He was close to dropping out in grades 10 and 11. He ultimately made it through those years, but Tamasauskas cut his time at university short. Tamasauskas' YouTube channel, "Vladiator13," displays his passion for content creation and poker.

As the next seven events of the series played out, Tamasauskas came close to cashing again but ultimately never found himself in the money of another Poker Masters tournament.

Due to his rocket start, Tamasauskas remained in position to win the Purple Jacket until the final day of the series, and that's when it took a second-place finish in the final event for Stephen Chidwick to surpass Tamasauskas on the leaderboard. Chidwick's series performance is without a doubt a well-deserving one, but what Tamasauskas did as a breakout performance on the PGT is something we'll remember.

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