Maryland State Poker Championship Main Event Ends In Three-Way Deal

Published on September 9th, 2026

Poker trophy and chip stacks representing the 2026 Maryland State Poker Championship Main Event.

By Sandra Gaweda · Published September 8, 2026 · 4 min read

Daniel Iachan lifts the trophy at Live! Casino Maryland after the final three players cut a deal.

The $1,700 Maryland State Poker Championship Main Event ended when the final three players agreed to an ICM chop at Live! Casino Maryland.
Justin Arnwine banked the most money at $86,167, while Daniel Iachan took $78,112 and, more importantly to him, the trophy.
Aaron Pinson rounded out the deal with $76,221 after a field of 380 played down over five days.

The 2026 Maryland State Poker Championship $1,700 Main Event came to a sudden stop when its final three players agreed to a deal instead of playing for the trophy. With the winner’s photo and a $111,000 top prize on the table, Justin Arnwine, Daniel Iachan and Aaron Pinson locked up an ICM chop that split the remaining money and ended a five-day event at Live! Casino Maryland. Arnwine took the largest share at $86,167, Iachan secured $78,112, and Pinson collected $76,221. Iachan also walked away with the one thing he wanted most: the trophy and the winner’s photo.

What Happened At The Final Table

Six players returned for the final table after surviving a field of 380 entries. Arnwine and Iachan started as the two biggest stacks, and Arnwine drew first blood, picking up pocket kings against Robert Salera’s tens to send Salera out in sixth. Valentin Lita followed in fifth after moving all in with ace-four, only for Iachan to snap-call with ace-queen. Arnwine then flopped trip aces to win a big pot off Kevin Grabel, and Pinson finished Grabel off a short time later, his pocket eights holding against Grabel’s two fours to set up three-handed play.

All three finalists sat on more than 80 big blinds when three-handed play began, with Arnwine leading on 6,605,000, Iachan next at 4,460,000 and Pinson holding 4,150,000. Rather than grind out a long battle, the trio paused the clock, weighed an ICM chop and agreed to end things early.

A First Title For Iachan

For Daniel Iachan, the deal delivered a breakthrough. This was the first live tournament title of his career, and his two opponents agreed to let him have the trophy as part of the arrangement. Iachan was candid about the trade-off. “It would have felt a little better if, you know, we played out and I won it the hard way, but a trophy is a trophy, and I think both of them have some respect for my game,” he said.

Iachan is no stranger to the big stage. He made back-to-back deep runs in the World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing 17th in 2025 and 96th in this year’s 2026 WSOP Main Event. Those experiences, he said, gave him the confidence that he could hold his own against the best players in the world.

Arnwine Happy To Take The Money

Justin Arnwine, a local legend and the unofficial record holder for most tournament victories, was content to take the cash and pass the glory to Iachan. He also picked up a ticket in a drawing for a PokerStars EPT package. “I have a lot of trophies, you know, so, like, this one, I didn’t mind giving Dan a trophy, especially since I knew he never had his one win,” Arnwine said.

Arnwine credits his final-table success to two influences: his wife, Caitlyn, who finished second in the 2023 Potomac Winter Poker Open Main Event, and fellow pro Bin Weng, who taught him that if you really want to win, you have to be willing to lose. Life off the felt has changed for Arnwine, too, as he and Caitlyn welcomed a daughter earlier this year. Aaron Pinson, meanwhile, was already a proven big-game player, having earned $910,000 for his runner-up finish in the 2023 WPT Prime Championship.

The rest of the final table also cashed for solid paydays. Grabel took fourth for $41,000, Lita fifth for $31,000, Salera sixth for $23,000, Nicholas Verderamo seventh for $18,000, Boris Kravets eighth for $14,000 and Neal Liptak ninth for $11,100. It is worth remembering that Maryland has no regulated online poker, so live events like this one at Live! Casino Maryland are where the state’s players find real-money tournament action, as we cover in our Maryland online poker guide.

A Deal That Worked For Everyone

Final-table deals are a normal part of tournament poker, and this one shows why: each player got exactly what mattered most to them. Arnwine and Pinson locked up serious money without the variance of playing it out, while Iachan finally claimed a title to go with his deep WSOP runs. For Maryland players weighing where to put their tournament dollars, the Main Event is a reminder that the state’s best poker still happens on the live felt, and that a well-timed deal can be just as satisfying as a knockout.

Sandra is a content writer and editor specializing in online poker and iGaming. She covers poker sites, game formats, industry news, and US online poker laws for Legal US Poker Sites.