The 2026 ARIA Poker Classic got underway on May 27 with a schedule of nearly 100 live tournaments at ARIA Resort & Casino’s poker room on the Las Vegas Strip. Amidst the action, BetMGM inserted some events with serious guarantees on the prize pools. While the big BetMGM Championship doesn’t begin until June 27, three BetMGM events took place June 13-15 with more than $1,000,000 on the line. And we have the results, thanks to the reporters over at Poker.org. 

Harry Rubin Owns PLO Title

The first of the three events was the $1,100 buy-in BetMGM Pot Limit Omaha tournament with a $250,000 guarantee. It drew a substantial crowd, leaving that guarantee in the dust:

• Entries:  355
• Prize pool:  $342,575
• Paid players:  45

As the money bubble approached that afternoon, Harry Rubin was the chipleader, though Kevin Liu surpassed him after the bubble burst and the field thinned to just two tables. Rubin suffered some setbacks on the way to the final table, however, and was one of the shorter stacks with nine players remaining. 

At the final table, Rubin scored a big double-up through Liu, who exited a few hands later. Rubin eliminated several players, even busting two players in one hand to get to three-handed play and then ousting Roland Wakim to take 8,300,000 chips into heads-up play against LaDarren Banks, who held 2,400,000 chips. It didn’t take long for Rubin to defeat his final opponent and claim victory – his second-highest live tournament score and second cash in any live PLO event.

• 1st place:  Harry Rubin ($72,354)
• 2nd place:  LaDarren Banks ($50,600)
• 3rd place:  Roland Wakim ($32,572)
• 4th place:  Oscar Montalvo ($21,205)
• 5th place:  Gruffudd Pugh-Jones ($16,341)
• 6th place:  Leonidas Andriopoulos ($13,515)
• 7th place:  Brian Smith ($11,339)
• 8th place:  Kevin Liu ($9,267)
• 9th place:  Antoine Sankari ($7,235)

Justin Arnwine Masters Mystery Bounty

The second of the three tournaments was the $1,100 buy-in BetMGM Mystery Bounty tournament with a $300,000 guarantee. Who doesn’t love mystery bounty poker tournaments? As it turns out, hundreds of players do love them:

• Entries:  268
• Prize pool:  $300,000
• Paid players:  34

Poker pro Justin Arnwine was on a roll when the money bubble burst and the bounties entered the picture. He promptly eliminated two players and drew two bounties, including the top one worth $25,000. Arnwine was the chip leader going to two tables, but he was third in chips starting the final table behind Wook Kim and Roberto Bianchi.

Kim started strong but lost ground when Chris Marshall took over. But Arnwine stepped in to eliminate players in eighth, seventh, and sixth places. Kim eliminated Marshall in fifth, Arnwine busted one, and ultimately, Kim and Arnwine were heads-up with the latter holding a bit of a lead. The two then agreed to an ICM chop with Arnwine taking a bit more of the prize money and the trophy, along with a total of $43,500 in bounties.

Not including bounty awards, these were the final payouts:

• 1st place:  Justin Arnwine ($38,368)
• 2nd place:  Wook Kim ($36,657)
• 3rd place:  Roberto Bianchi ($19,925)
• 4th place:  Grant Yarbrough ($12,150)
• 5th place:  Chris Marshall ($9,375)
• 6th place:  Arthur Loring ($7,780)
• 7th place:  Paris Sitzoukis ($6,535)
• 8th place:  Hattori Lopez ($5,460)
• 9th place:  Bogdan Chornyy ($4,400)

Daniel Lazrus Notches No Limit Win

Finally, this trio of BetMGM tournaments was a $1,600 buy-in affair with a massive $500,000 guarantee. And the players decided they wanted more money in the prize pool:

• Entries:  625
• Prize pool:  $887,500
• Paid players:  79

Quite a few well-known poker pros were in the field for this one, including David Peters, Andrew Moreno, Victoria Livschitz, Jonathan Tamayo, Justin Young, Danny Wong, and BetMGM Poker Ambassador Mike Lavin. Livschitz made the final two tables but departed soon after, but Young continued on to make the final table as one of the big stacks.

Dylan Kahn was the chipleader at the start of the finale, but Young took over that top spot only to cede it to Daniel Lazrus, who ended up eliminating David To to climb even higher. Eventually, Lazrus made the final three with 15,000,000 chips, alongside Nevan Chang and his 5,575,000 chips and Young with 4,425,000. The trio of players agreed to near-ICM numbers with Lazrus declared the overall winner.

• 1st place:  Daniel Lazrus ($142,114)
• 2nd place:  Nevan Chang ($107,145)
• 3rd place:  Justin Young ($108,210)
• 4th place:  Dylan Kahn ($54,102)
• 5th place:  Salvatore Dicarlo ($41,517)
• 6th place:  David To ($33,450)
• 7th place:  Mario Colavita ($27,779)
• 8th place:  Vladislav Donchev ($22,134)
• 9th place:  Antonio Vargas ($16,605)

Still Time to Win Vegas Packages on BetMGM Poker

If you haven’t yet won your prize package to Las Vegas for the BetMGM Championship, there’s still time! Qualifiers are still running through June 23, so time remains to play the step satellites and qualify to play for the $5,000 or $7,500 prize packages. Simply open your BetMGM Poker account to play real money poker – cash games, tournaments, or qualifiers – at your leisure. And don’t forget to use an online poker welcome bonus when making your first deposit to enhance your bankroll-building opportunities.