"My brain hurts": Veteran card grinder wins $156,190 at the Potomac Summer Poker Open.

Ivan Tomic won the opening event of the Potomac Summer Poker Open $600, taking home $156,190. He emerged victorious from a field of 1,508 players, defeating Atharv Kumar.

The first event of the 2026 Potomac Summer Poker Open was held at MGM National Harbor in Maryland, where veteran poker player Ivan Tomic defeated Atharv Kumar heads-up to win the trophy and a prize of $156,190.

The $600 NLH opening event attracted 1,508 entries, creating a total prize pool of $723,540, far exceeding the $500,000 guarantee. For most of Day 2 and the final table, regional top player Justin Arnwine maintained a chip lead, seemingly poised to win the event.

However, Arnwine was eliminated in fourth place by Phillip Luy, who himself was eliminated in third place. Then came a brief head-to-head match, in which Tomic defeated Kumar to win the championship.

"It's hard to describe how I feel right now," Tomic told PokerNews in a post-match interview. "I'm so happy. Excited, but also exhausted. My back, my legs, my brain all hurt."

Final table prize money distribution

Ginger and Tomic

Tomic jokingly refers to himself as an intermittent "semi-professional player," noting that he has been playing poker for fun for twenty years and, like many players, discovered the game during its heyday.

"Like everyone else, I grew up watching Poker After Dark," he said.

This six-figure prize is a highlight of Tomic's career. He thanked the "God of Poker" and even specifically mentioned that MGM National Harbor is a "great place".

"Thanks for driving the MGM, because I'm tired of driving to Charlestown."

Second day battle situation

There were 153 players at the start of the day, and after the first day's group had gone through seven separate bubble phases, everyone had made it into the money.

Before the final table was formed, Dominic Lake suffered a brutal upset against the eventual champion. Lake had J against Q, but breathed a sigh of relief after hitting a J on the turn. However, Tomic made a straight on the river, eliminating Lake in 12th place. Meanwhile, Tomic rode this momentum all the way to victory.

Arnwine was the most accomplished player at the final table, with over $2 million in live winnings, and he controlled the game for most of Day Two. But the Hello Kitty enthusiast fell into a death trap in the four-player phase—he doubled Luy's bet twice before being eliminated by Kumar.

Luy briefly took the chip lead in the three-way play, but then ran into Tomic's Ace and was eliminated in third place shortly after. Heads-up play lasted less than ten minutes, with Kumar's J-10 failing to beat Tomic's Ace-high.

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