Golf has the green Masters jacket. Poker has the Purple Jacket.
Since 2017, one champion per year gets to slip on this lovely velvet garment. The designer, Waraire Boswell, wanted players to feel like a "king for a day." It stands out among shiny metallic awards, and it won’t sit in a trophy cabinet, not that you’d want it there.
It’s also won differently. Players can’t just sunrun a single event to win the Purple Jacket. It goes to whoever consistently plays the best across the Poker Masters, a small collection of high-stakes events.
Here's every champion who has worn the Purple Jacket, and how they won it.
How the Purple Jacket Is Won: The Points System
Cashing in a huge tournament won’t lock up the Purple Jacket. It goes to the player with the most PokerGO Tour (PGT) points at the end of the series.
Points are only awarded when a player cashes in an event, and depend on how much they win as well as the buy-in. In events up to $15,000, a player gets one point for every $1,000 won. As the buy-in goes up, the rate goes down to balance things out, so a $50,000 event pays fewer points per dollar than a $10,000 event. That stops the biggest events from deciding the race on their own.
Example: Adrián Mateos's 2026 Purple Jacket win, which brought the lowest total winnings in so far.
| Finish | Buy-in | Prize | PGT Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | $10,500 | $229,500 | 230 |
| 2nd | $10,500 | $151,200 | 151 |
| 4th | $15,700 | $87,000 | 70 |
| Total | $467,700 | 451 |
Sean Winter won $620,000 in the $51,000 finale, which was more than Mateos made in the entire series. That win was worth just 248 points. No jacket for Winter.
The first Purple Jacket was won completely differently in 2017, and just went to the biggest earner. The players complained that it wasn’t the fairest way to win a Jacket, so points were introduced in 2018.
2026: Adrián Mateos (Spain)
Adrián Mateos has three Triton titles, six WSOP bracelets, and nine PGT titles. He's also Spain's all-time leading tournament money winner with over $70 million in live cashes. A very deserving Purple Jacket candidate at least.
His 2026 run was strange. Mateos bubbled five of the ten events, but he still won the jacket with 451 PGT points from just three cashes:
- 1st in Event #5: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $229,500
- 2nd in Event #2: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $151,200
- 4th in Event #7: $15,700 No-Limit Hold’em for $87,000
This year, Adrian Mateos claimed the victory with the lowest total winnings of any Purple Jacket winner. Nick Palma was runner-up with 407 points.
2025: David Coleman (USA)
David Coleman started 2024 without a single live title, about as opposite as it gets to Adrian Mateos. By December 2025 he had won $3,113,000 for his first WSOP bracelet, five PokerGO Tour titles. Not a bad way to turn things around.
Coleman won the Purple Jacket with 492 PGT points from three cashes, in a ten-event No-Limit Hold'em series with buy-ins from $5,100 to $25,200:
- 1st in the $1,000,000 Showcase ($5,300 buy-in) for $270,000
- 2nd in Event #10: $25,200 No-Limit Hold’em for $355,000
- 11th in Event #6: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $32,700
Securing his velvet award came late, passing Alex Foxen by a large margin right at the end of the series.
2024: James Collopy (USA)
James Collopy, who often goes by Jim, has won three WSOP bracelets, in Pot-Limit Omaha, H.O.R.S.E. and Omaha Hi-Lo. James has one PGT title from a $10,000 PLO/PLO8/Big O Mix.
One Purple Jacket.
The series had eight No-Limit Hold'em events with buy-ins from $5,100 to $25,200, and Collopy made four final tables in a row:
- 6th in Event #3: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $47,000
- 3rd in Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $105,300
- 2nd in Event #5: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $142,500
- 2nd in Event #6: $15,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $226,800
All of those deep runs added up to 522 points, and the jacket was his before the last day of the $25,200 finale had even started. Isaac Haxton beat him heads-up in the $15,100 event, but finished runner-up with 458 points.
2023: Stephen Chidwick (UK)
Stephen Chidwick is second on poker's all-time live money list with around $80 million, was 2022 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year, and now has 12 PGT titles. Let’s not forget his two WSOP bracelets and three Triton titles. If someone told you he won the Purple Jacket, that’s nothing eyebrow-raising or jaw-dropping.
Chidwick made four final tables in a ten-event No-Limit Hold'em series, and won a title from a $25,000 event:
- 1st in Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $400,000
- 2nd in Event #10: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $504,000
- 3rd in Event #9: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $148,000
- 6th in Event #6: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $57,000
That gave him 688 points and $1,109,000. Vladas Tamasauskas, who won two $10,000 events, was runner-up with 506 points.
2022: Sean Winter (USA)
Sean Winter has more than $42 million in live earnings and won four U.S. Poker Open events, and nine PGT titles in total. He's still often named among the best players never to win a WSOP bracelet.
Sean only needed two cashes in the 2022 Poker Masters to get his hands on the Purple Jacket. The series had ten No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha and 8-Game events, with buy-ins from $10,000 to $50,000. Both of Winter's cashes came in $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em events, two days apart:
- 2nd in a $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $345,000
- 1st in a $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $432,000
That gave him 466 points. Jason Koon came extremely close to Sean’s score, but was runner-up with 449, just 17 points short.
2021: Michael Addamo (Australia)
Michael Addamo is Australia's all-time leading tournament money winner. Along with being a feared online player, he has four WSOP bracelets, two Triton titles, and won the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl for $3.4 million.
Most players need a whole series to win the jacket. Addamo, like Sean Winter, only needed two results.
The series had twelve No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha and 8-Game events, with buy-ins from $10,000 to $100,000. Addamo cashed on back-to-back days at the end of the series, and won both times:
- 1st in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $680,000
- 1st in the $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event for $1,160,000
This earned him a very comfortable tally. His 808 points were double the 402 of runner-up Nick Petrangelo.
2020: Eelis Pärssinen (Finland)
Eelis Pärssinen is one of the best Pot-Limit Omaha tournament players in the world. In 2026 he had a fantastic run at the World Series and became the first Finnish player to win three WSOP bracelets.
Remember COVID? It affected the Poker Masters as well. The 2020 Poker Masters Online PLO Series was played on partypoker, with buy-ins from $5,000 to $50,000. It's the only Poker Masters to award a PLO Purple Jacket.
Pärssinen cashed six times for $735,359 and 625 points:
- 1st in Event #5: $25,500 PLO Super High Roller for $440,000
- 2nd in Event #7: $10,300 PLO High Roller for $127,973
- 2nd in Event #14: $5,200 PLO High Roller for $63,986
- 5th in Event #3: $10,300 PLO High Roller for $37,100
- 3rd in Event #8: $5,200 PLO High Roller for $33,800
- 3rd in Event #12: $5,200 PLO High Roller for $32,500
This year, first and second place were as close as possible. Andras Nemeth won three events and finished runner-up with 624. One point away.
Unfortunately, it looks like PokerGO considers online Poker Masters events “separate competitions,” not a true Purple Jacket event. Eelis Pärssinen, and the other 2020 Poker Masters Purple Jacket winner (Alexandros Kolonias), are not listed on the main Poker Masters page of their website. But in another blog page, they are listed as champions, so who really knows?
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2020: Alexandros Kolonias (Greece)
Alexandros Kolonias is a former junior tennis player who mostly plays online, under nicknames like mexican222, mexican22, mexican212, and even mexican266. On GGPoker, he uses his real name. Alexandros won the 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event for €1,133,678.
When the Poker Masters moved online in 2020, it suited Kolonias well. The partypoker series had 30 No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha events, with buy-ins from roughly $10,000 up to the $50,000 Main Event.
Kolonias cashed 11 times. His best results:
- 1st in a $10,300 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max event for $269,013
- 1st in a $10,300 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max event for $367,782
- 2nd in a $10,300 No-Limit Hold'em event for $199,500
- 3rd in a $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $191,250
- 3rd in a $10,300 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max event for $92,400
The race went right down to the wire. That $367,782 win came in the very last event and gave him 1,191 points. It took him past Artur Martirosian, who was runner-up with 1,048.
2019: Sam Soverel (USA)
Sam Soverel has won four WSOP bracelets and more than $33 million in live tournaments, and he holds the record for most PokerGO Tour titles at 18. He’s another very deserving winner of the Purple Jacket.
In 2019, nobody else was close. The ten-event series included No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Short Deck and mixed games, with buy-ins up to $50,000. Soverel cashed in seven of the ten events.
His best results:
- 1st in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event for $680,000
- 1st in a $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event for $340,000
- 4th in a $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $122,500
- 4th in a $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $102,500
- 5th in a $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $77,600
With so many cashes, Sam scored 1,160 points and finished with $1,396,800. Kahle Burns was runner-up with 630, barely halfway to the winner.
2018: Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Ali Imsirovic won a record 14 high roller titles in 2021 and was the first PokerGO Tour Player of the Year. PokerGO banned him in 2022 over cheating allegations, and he admitted to multi-accounting online in 2023, largely because he said others were doing it. Such a record really tarnishes any prestige the Purple Jacket brought him.
The 2018 series had seven No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha and Short Deck events, with buy-ins from $10,000 to $100,000. Imsirovic cashed three times, and won two of them back to back:
- 1st in a $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $462,000
- 1st in a $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $799,000
- 8th in a $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $27,600
Money isn't everything, at least not here. David Peters won more but was runner-up with 650 points, ten behind Imsirovic's 660.
2017: Steffen Sontheimer (Germany)
Steffen Sontheimer is a German high-stakes pro, known online as "go0se.core!". His biggest score is $3,685,000 for winning a $250,000 Super High Roller in 2018.
The first Poker Masters was short and expensive: four $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em events and a $100,000 finale. There were no points. The jacket simply went to whoever won the most money. Sontheimer cashed in four of the five and almost cashed in the fifth, but bubbled:
- 1st in Event #5: $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship for $1,512,000
- 1st in Event #2: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $900,000
- 4th in Event #1: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $204,000
- 5th in Event #4: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $117,000
His $2,733,000 total easily beat runner-up Bryn Kenney's $1,085,000.
