The race for poker’s Purple Jacket came to an end on Thursday, after a runner-up finish in the final event of the 2025 Poker Masters sealed the deal for David Coleman.
The New Jerseyan made a heads-up deal with Brandon Wilson, who claimed the win in the $25K No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) series finale, guaranteeing Coleman at least $355K and Wilson $395K, with $69K left to play for.
Wilson would end up scooping the extra cash, but the 189 PGT points Coleman accrued saw him overtake Alex Foxen at the top of the rankings for the bragging rights, the coveted jacket and a PGT passport worth $25K.
Coleman won the first event of the series, and was runner-up in the last.
Antonio Abrego
Bad beat harpoons Koon
That Coleman was still in the running was thanks in part to one crucial hand that went his way, against the odds, against high stakes phenom Jason Koon.
With six players remaining, Coleman opened under-the-gun with , was raised by Nick Schulman’s suited J-T and 4-bet by Jason Koon’s , before putting in a 5-bet which saw off Schulman. Koon decided against the 6-bet shove and simply called.
If Koon was hoping for a safe-looking flop, he found it. gave Koon top set and made Coleman a 4-to-1 underdog. Both players had stacks of less than half the pot, and after some thought Coleman moved all-in. Koon, naturally, snapped him off and showed his set straight away.
The on the turn brought more hope for Coleman with a flush draw, and the on the river brought him the straight, and the pot. Koon was left with just a single big blind, and exited soon afterwards.
Had Coleman gone out in 6th instead of Koon he would have won 52 PGT points, rather than the 189 he received as runner-up. With 137 fewer points he would have not have overtaken Foxen at the top of the leaderboard, where he eventually landed just 63 points above his rival in 2nd.
Moreover, Doug Lee — also at last night’s final table — had a chance to claim the Purple Jacket himself had he won the tournament. It was a close-run thing, but Lee eventually went out in 3rd, giving Coleman a lock on the prestigious award even after losing heads-up to Wilson.
Brandon Wilson took home the hardware, and $464K, in the series finale.