{"id":36248,"date":"2026-08-22T17:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T17:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/?p=36248"},"modified":"2026-08-30T17:18:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T17:18:49","slug":"evan-sandberg-wins-arizona-state-poker-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/evan-sandberg-wins-arizona-state-poker-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Evan Sandberg Wins Arizona State Poker Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Evan Sandberg was 13 when the first Arizona State Poker Championship was held at Talking Stick Resort 20 years ago, and now his name is in the record books as the 2026 champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Evan Sandberg binked his biggest tournament cash in Arizona. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a teenager, he was already a poker fan thanks to his pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My dad is gonna be really happy,” Sandberg said. “Part of how I got into poker was when I was 10 or 11, me and my dad would watch ESPN and always look for Mike Matusow on TV. He’ll definitely be the first person I call.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His dad, not Matusow. And with 28 cashes already in 2026, he’s had plenty of reasons to give his old man a call. The $627,050 he took for first is his largest career cash and pushes his lifetime winning amount over the $3 million mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He started cashing tourneys in casinos as soon as he turned 21, but a mixture of youth and overconfidence soon felted him. In 2020, he took a $350 loan and drove to Las Vegas, even living in his car while he built his bankroll. Once he hit around $30,000, things got easier and he began to run deep in tourneys with consistency, as well as surviving and thriving in cash games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The last couple of years, I’ve worked hard on my mental game,” Sandberg said. “I find that if I appreciate the basic things in life, it makes it a lot easier for me to accept what happens at the poker table.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An owner of two World Series of Poker Circuit rings and two WSOP bracelets he earned online, he is one of those players who has the skill and motivation to be a problem for his opponents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating 20 years in Arizona<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception, the Arizona State Poker Championship has grown into one of the Southwest’s premier poker tournaments, drawing thousands of players to Talking Stick Resort and creating memorable moments at the tables year after year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2026 tournament marked the event’s 20th anniversary, celebrating two decades of competition and community at the resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Reaching 20 years is an incredible milestone for this tournament,” said Ramon Martinez, Director of Public Relations. “The Arizona State Poker Championship has continued to grow while maintaining the energy and sense of community that have made it special from the beginning. We’re proud of its history and excited for what comes next.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later this year, Talking Stick Resort will continue its momentum as a premier poker destination when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit comes to the ARENA Poker Room Nov. 5\u201316, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event will bring another major tournament series to the resort, giving players the opportunity to compete on one of poker’s most recognized stages and extending an already exciting year of championship poker at Talking Stick Resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s $1,100 contest brought in 4,018 entrants who build a $3,977,820 prize pool. The top 468 cashed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Table Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Evan Sandberg \u2013 $627,050<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Jared Rogers \u2013 $359,937<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Brandon Conrad \u2013 $224,804<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. John Riordan \u2013 $140,214<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Sergio Segura \u2013 $91,498<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Moussa Haddad \u2013 $63,495<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Jonathan Roeder \u2013 $47,133<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Hill Kerby \u2013 $37,143<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Ronnie Bardah \u2013 $30,566<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. John Phan – $25,801<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Evan Sandberg was 13 when the first Arizona State Poker Championship was held at Talking Stick Resort 20 years ago, and now his name is in the record books as the 2026 champion. As a teenager, he was already a poker fan thanks to his pop. “My dad is gonna be really happy,” Sandberg said. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":36267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[497,527,529,7421,499,7415,535,501,523],"tags":[],"vertical":[],"class_list":["post-36248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-poker-business","category-buzz","category-poker-buzz","category-poker","category-poker-news","category-tournament-schedules","category-poker-tournaments","category-wsop-news"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":36248},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-30-at-1.11.19-PM-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-30-at-1.11.19-PM-600x530.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Bob Pajich","author_link":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/author\/bob-pajich\/"},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36248"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36272,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36248\/revisions\/36272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36248"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=36248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}