Potomac Summer Poker Open｜Andrew Chang draws Ace after five players split the prize pool; shortest stack becomes champion.

On August 13, 2026, the Potomac Summer Poker Open $500 Monumental Stack concluded at MGM National Harbor. This tournament, with 403 entries, ended in a rare fashion: after the final five players reached a prize-sharing agreement, the champion was decided by drawing the highest card instead of through hand-to-hand play. Andrew Chang, who had the shortest chip stack at the time, revealed an Ace and was ultimately declared the official champion.

Interestingly, although Chang won first place and the championship trophy, his actual chip stack of $16,600 was the lowest among the five players. Jack Arnal, who had the most chips at the time, had $22,882, but he missed out on the trophy during the draw.

403 participants, prize pool reaches $167,245

The $500 Monumental Stack event attracted 403 entries, resulting in a total prize pool of $167,245.

Day 2 started with 52 players remaining, all of whom were already in the money. Dennis Backhaus, Matt Mullins, and Kash Corpening finished in 37th, 22nd, and 17th place respectively; Shahab Shirazi, the Day 2 starting chip leader, finished in 18th place.

*The final five players reached a prize-sharing agreement, and the champion trophy will be decided by drawing the highest card.

Final table final result

*The top five prizes reflect the prize-sharing agreement among the five people, therefore the actual prize money is not arranged according to the official ranking.

Chang went from being the FT chip leader to having the shortest stack among the five players.

Andrew Chang didn't actually stick with short codes all the way to the end.

He entered the final table as the chip leader and eliminated Linda Swears early on with pocket queens, sending the latter to seventh place and further extending his lead.

However, the game took a turn for the worse. Chang gradually lost his chips, and when only five players remained, he ended up with the fewest chips among them.

Chang said after the match that he entered the final table with a lead, but things started to go wrong, so he felt very lucky to have made it to the last five.

The five people's first discussion about dividing the prize money ended without a result.

After Timothy Conrow was eliminated by Valentin Lita with Pocket Q, five players remained in the arena.

The five players immediately requested a timeout to check the prize money. However, the first attempt at negotiation failed to reach an agreement, so the game restarted.

The players continued playing for about 20 more minutes. With the 45-minute dinner break approaching, the five decided to sit down and negotiate again.

The second round of negotiations finally reached a consensus, and the competition ended directly without any further eliminations.

Arnal, the chip leader, had the most chips, while Chang only received 1TP, 4T, and 16,600.

When the deal was finalized, Jack Arnal held the most chips, thus achieving the highest score of $22,882 among the five players.

Rick Aasen scored $20,546, Valentin Lita scored $19,747, and Yonnas Banteamlak scored $16,897.

Andrew Chang, who had the shortest code at the time, only received $16,600, the lowest among the five.

Judging from the prize money figures, Chang was clearly not the biggest beneficiary of this ICM prize distribution; but what really turned the story around was how the five players handled the championship trophy afterwards.

One Ace determines the champion; the shortest code becomes number one.

After the prize money is distributed, the five players still need to decide who will take home the championship trophy.

Ultimately, they chose to resolve the issue by drawing the highest card.

As a result, Chang drew an Ace, winning the championship trophy directly and thus being ranked first in the official results.

This also resulted in a very rare outcome:

• Official champion Andrew Chang achieved $16,600
• Runner-up Jack Arnal actually achieved the highest score of $22,882.
• The prize money for third and fourth place is also higher than that for the champion.

The reason was not that the prize money structure was abnormal, but that the rankings and prize money had been separated after the prizes were distributed among the five people, and the final first place was determined purely by drawing cards.

Arnal offered to add 1 TP4T500 in exchange for the trophy, but Chang refused.

An interesting incident occurred before and after the cards were drawn.

Jack Arnal once offered Chang an extra $500 so that he could win the championship trophy and have his picture taken.

Chang ultimately rejected the offer.

For him, the significance of this trophy is clearly greater than the extra $500.

Chang has reached the final table of live tournaments multiple times in recent years, with a total of 10 final tables, including a runner-up finish in Las Vegas in 2024 and a third-place finish in the Potomac Poker Open $3,500 High Roller held at MGM National Harbor in 2023, but he has yet to win an official championship trophy.

After 10 Final Fours, they finally won their first trophy.

Chang admitted that he had even entered the heads-up tournament with a chip lead in the past, but the fluctuations in poker are always unpredictable.

Therefore, even though this championship was not won by going all in on the last hand, winning on the river, or by a head-up, but by an Ace, he still values this trophy very much.

From having the highest chip stack in the final table to having the shortest stack in a five-player game, and then receiving the minimum prize money in the prize-sharing agreement, Chang ultimately regained the official number one position with an Ace.

For a player who had reached the final table 10 times before but never won a championship trophy, this unique way of winning made his first title even more memorable.

$3,000 Main Event Takes Over

Following the conclusion of the Potomac Summer Poker Open $500 Monumental Stack, the series focus will shift to the $3,000 Main Event. PokerNews will continue to provide tournament coverage from MGM National Harbor.

Whether Chang will continue to compete remains uncertain. He revealed that he might participate in the main event, but also has a bachelor party planned for the weekend.

Even though Monumental Stack is his last game at MGM National Harbor this week, the series has already ended with a championship trophy that he has been waiting for for many years.

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