CoinPoker’s 2026 Heads-Up Cash Game World Championship is midway through its group stage with 20 of online poker’s strongest cash game players fighting across dual NLHE and PLO brackets.
The $10,000 buy-in, 100% rake-free event runs April 6 to May 3 on the crypto poker platform. Each format’s champion takes home $100,000 and a Rolex.
The field reads like a who’s who of online nosebleeds. Heads-up legend Jungleman, LLinusLLove, Buttonclickr, and defending CGWC champion PR0DIGY are all competing in the NLHE bracket. PLO features Venividi1993, the Dutch specialist who turned $100K into $1M in a single year on CoinPoker.
This is the fourth CGWC edition in 18 months. It is also the first to use a heads-up bracket format with EV BB scoring, a system designed to measure decision quality rather than who caught the better runout.
Full NLHE Player Field
The NLHE bracket features up to 12 players divided into four groups of three. Eleven screen names have been confirmed so far, with group assignments drawn by RNG and visible inside the CoinPoker desktop app.
| Screen Name | Real Identity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LLinusLLove | Linus Loeliger | Swiss; widely considered the best online cash game player alive |
| CherryBlawesome | Dan “Jungleman” Cates | $18.9M live earnings, 2x WSOP PPC champion |
| PR0DIGY | Owen Messere | English; inaugural 2024 CGWC champion |
| Clickr | Henri “Buttonclickr” Puustinen | Finnish; elite HU NLHE specialist |
| asianflushie | Bjorn Li | Hong Kong; $1.85M live earnings |
| SeaLlama | Likely Keir Sullivan | American; unconfirmed identity |
| XIAOJUN7777 | Unknown | |
| airfryer | Unknown | |
| FrndsCallMeMark | Unknown | |
| GoinHardInThaPaint | Unknown | |
| VASKABOINIKAU | Unknown |
Loeliger is the headline name. The Swiss pro has $9.1M in live tournament earnings, over $1.4M in tracked online profits on PokerStars before tracking ended, and finished third in the inaugural CGWC.
Cates brings the deepest heads-up pedigree in the field with $11M+ in tracked online cash game profits. His unfinished Durrrr Challenge against Tom Dwan (up $1.2M after 19,335 hands) remains poker lore.
Puustinen considers himself among the top three heads-up players in the world, with Loeliger at number one. The 25-year-old Finn helped Doug Polk prepare for the Polk vs. Negreanu challenge and placed third in the 2021 WSOP $25K Heads-Up Championship.
PLO Bracket Features Venividi1993 (8 Players)
| Screen Name | Real Identity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Venividi1993 | Dirk Gerritse | Dutch PLO legend; completed $100K-to-$1M challenge |
| COHIBA | Unknown | |
| gucciNIKE | Unknown | |
| DogeCoinMaximaliste | Unknown | |
| Tony1993 | Unknown | |
| Yodogoki | Unknown | |
| LUKAKU | Unknown | |
| MAHASAJAN | Unknown |
Gerritse is the PLO bracket’s marquee name. The Dutchman earned $2.895M in 2024 primarily on CoinPoker and competed in the Galfond Challenge against Phil Galfond. PLO players can opt for PLO5 or PLO6 by mutual agreement.
How EV BB Scoring Strips Luck from Results
The CGWC uses an EV BB (Expected Value in Big Blinds) scoring system that tracks the mathematical profitability of each decision at the point of commitment. A player who gets all-in as a 70% favourite scores the same whether they win or lose the runout.
- Match win: 50 points per victory.
- Performance bonus: 1 point per 10 EV BB won, capped at 150 points per match.
- Limping banned: unintentional limps are discounted from scoring. Repeated violations trigger disqualification.
- Minimum two tables: players must multi-table unless both agree to single-table.
- Tiebreaker: a death match where the first player to profit 100BB in actual results advances.
The system rewards consistent, high-level play over 1,875 hands (NLHE) or 1,250 hands (PLO) per group stage match. Variance still exists hand to hand, but over that volume, the better player’s edge shows up in the EV BB numbers.
Three Stages from Group to Grand Final
The event runs in three phases with increasing intensity at each stage.
- Group Stage (April 6–19): NLHE players face both group opponents over 1,875 hands each. PLO players play 1,250 hands per opponent. One player per NLHE group advances (four total). Two per PLO group advance (four total).
- Semi-Finals (April 20–26): 2,000-hand elimination matches. The overall group stage points leader earns Challenger's Choice, picking their semi-final opponent.
- Grand Final (April 27–May 3): a 2,000-hand marathon crowning each format's champion. An NLHE 3rd/4th place match (1,000 hands) decides the $30,000 bronze prize.
| Place | NLHE Prize | PLO Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | $100,000 (includes Rolex + cash) | $100,000 (includes Rolex + cash) |
| 2nd | $50,000 | $30,000 |
| 3rd | $30,000 |
CoinPoker matches 50% of each player’s $10,000 contribution, adding $5,000 per participant directly to the prize pool. Players also post a separate $10,000 participation guarantee forfeited if they exit early.
Group Stage Results Remain Behind Closed Doors
With the group stage halfway through its April 6 to 19 window, no publicly accessible leaderboard or match results exist outside the CoinPoker client. Live standings are only viewable in the app’s CGWC tab.
No English-language outlet has published specific scores, point totals, or group standings since the event launched. Beyond a handful of launch-day announcements, the group stage is playing out almost entirely in the dark for anyone not logged into CoinPoker.
Where to follow live: Download the CoinPoker desktop app and select the CGWC tab for standings and live match viewing. Daily highlights appear on @CoinPoker_OFF on X (Twitter), with full match streams on CoinPoker’s YouTube and Twitch channels.
Fourth CGWC Edition in Just 18 Months
CoinPoker has run the CGWC series at an aggressive pace since late 2024, growing it into the platform’s flagship competitive event.
The inaugural edition (December 2024 to January 2025) saw Owen “PR0DIGY” Messere claim the title with $591,000 in EV profit across 43,529 hands, earning a $50,000 Rolex Daytona.
A mid-stakes edition followed in June 2025 at NL500. A PLO edition concluded in November 2025 with over 932 players and a million hands logged. The most recent high-stakes edition went to the final day, when Pedro “Biluzin” Toledo edged Messere by just $28,000 in EV.
The heads-up format marks a deliberate shift from open-entry leaderboard grinds to an exclusive, invitation-based bracket. Only 20 seats across both formats, and every hand played at zero rake.
What Comes Next
The group stage closes on April 19. Semi-finals begin April 20, with the points leader in each bracket earning Challenger’s Choice. Grand Finals run April 27 to May 3 in a 2,000-hand format that will crown two champions.
CoinPoker is one of the few platforms accessible to US players, running on USDT deposits with no mandatory KYC. The CoinRewards rakeback system launched in April pays over $1.5M weekly across leaderboards, splash pots, and daily rakeback.
