Rafael and Wilson win Super High Roller Bowls as Melbourne poker builds

Sean Rafael leads all the way to Super High Roller Bowl PLO IV title

Event concluded: 7 October 2026

Sean Rafael won the 2026 Super High Roller Bowl Pot-Limit Omaha IV in Las Vegas, topping 32 entries for US$1,150,000, 400 PokerGO Tour points and his second PGT title. PGT reported that Rafael took the lead with 13 players remaining and retained it throughout the six-player final table.

Joao Simao finished second for US$775,000 and Richard Gryko took third for US$480,000. Pot-limit Omaha gives each player four private cards, creating more possible draws and frequently closer equities than hold’em; Rafael’s uninterrupted lead is therefore notable, although the result alone cannot establish that any particular decision was optimal.

Brandon Wilson wins Super High Roller Bowl XI for US$950,440 after a deal

Event concluded: 10 October 2026

Brandon Wilson won Super High Roller Bowl XI at the PokerGO Studio, topping 28 entries for US$950,440 after a heads-up deal with Nick Petrangelo. Petrangelo received US$874,560 as runner-up, while Alex Foxen finished third for US$450,000. Wilson earned 400 PGT points and his sixth PGT title.

The official live report listed a US$2.8 million prize pool and five paid places. That means 5 of 28 entries, or 17.9%, reached the payouts: a useful measure of how compressed the payout structure was, but not a complete measure of a player’s expected value.

Correction — 19 October 2026: the original report used the scheduled first- and second-place payouts. PGT’s final results table records US$950,440 for Wilson and US$874,560 for Petrangelo after their deal. The headline and introduction have also been corrected.

Charlie Hu wins The Grind after Melbourne prize pool clears guarantee

Event concluded: 7 October 2026

Charlie Hu won The Grind at APT Melbourne Champs II, beating a 109-entry field at Crown Metropol Melbourne for AU$27,850 after a heads-up deal. Paris Sitzoukis collected AU$27,150 as runner-up and Michael Mihelakis finished third for AU$14,600.

The AU$1,250 buy-in event generated an AU$117,175 prize pool against an AU$100,000 guarantee. It therefore finished AU$17,175, or 17.2%, above the guarantee. A guarantee is the minimum pool promised by the organiser, not the amount reserved for first place.

Joe Hachem’s changing-format feature event set for Victorian Championship

Announcement reported: 6 October 2026; event starts: 25 October 2026

A Joe Hachem Special Feature Event will debut at Crown Melbourne’s Victorian Poker Championship on 25–26 October with an AU$2,000 buy-in. Poker Media Australia reported on 6 October that the tournament will begin eight-handed, switch to six-handed when 60 players remain, then become heads-up for the final 16.

The format makes stack position matter in a visible new way: the reported heads-up draw pairs the chip leader with the shortest stack, second with second-shortest, and so on. That creates a different late-stage constraint from a fixed-handed event, without implying any single optimal strategy before the final 16.