Photo Masters: Clubhouse Lead, Contenders, and Chess

PokerGO is your home for everything and anything Poker Masters. Feature and final table streams from the highest stakes week of the years will give fans from around the world the opportunity to watch the world’s best players compete for the Poker Masters Purple Jacket™. “Photo Masters” will recap each day’s action with shots from the floor, helping to tell the Poker Masters story throughout the series.

To officially become a Poker Master, players will have to be consistent and successful throughout the entire five-event series, especially if they want to win the Purple Jacket. The winningest player through the series will take home the one-of-a-kind jacket and even though there is a long way to go, Nick Schulman is closest to the Purple Jacket through one event. The New Yorker outlasted a 51-player field to notch a $918,000 score, which has given him the clubhouse lead heading into today’s Event #2 final table.

There are plenty of big names set to make their first Poker Masters final table appearance today but Steffen Sontheimer will be returning to the PokerGO stream. Sontheimer finished 4^th in the opening $50,000 event, which was live streamed yesterday on PokerGO, earning just over $200,000. With another nearly $2.5 million prize pool up for grabs at today’s final table, another decent finish could push Sontheimer near the top of the overall Poker Masters standings. Spain’s Adrian Mateos is also in a similar position, after he finished 7^th in the opening event for a $127,500 result.

One of those big names at today’s final table is Sontheimer’s countryman Fedor Holz but arguably the biggest name in poker headlines the Event #2 lineup. Phil Hellmuth, pictured top, briefly hit the PokerGO stream during the opening day of Poker Masters coverage but he comes back with a “chance to shine” today. The 14-time WSOP bracelet winner has had success in past High Roller events at ARIA and even though he comes back in the middle of the pack, will certainly contend today. 

What do some of the best high stakes players in the world do before the start of a $50,000 event? Some talk strategy, some talk sports, some talk to fans, but Fedor Holz and Dan Smith play chess. The two, pictured top, squared off in a quick game before yesterday’s second Poker Masters event kicked off but Holz likely won’t be available for a rematch today. He comes into today’s final table with one of the top stacks and could move near the top of the overall standings with a victory in Event #2.