Daniel Geeng wanted a top-two end within the $25,200 buy-in pot-limit Omaha championship occasion on the 2023 PGT PLO Series II to lock up the participant of the collection award and the $25,000 bonus that comes with it. The Hanover, New Hampshire resident got here by means of within the clutch, closing out the collection with an outright victory for a career-best match rating of $487,500. This was his first main stay occasion win.
All instructed, Geeng cashed for $851,160 in whole prize cash throughout this collection, which spanned from Oct. 19-30 contained in the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. That whole contains the $148,000 in bounties he earned throughout his runner-up displaying within the $15,100 progressive bounty occasion. Geeng in the end cashed in 4 of the ten tournaments supplied throughout this distinctive PLO-centric pageant, together with his pair of top-two finishes coming within the highest buy-in occasions on the schedule.
Before his spectacular breakout efficiency at this collection, Geeng had solely simply shy of $120,000 in recorded match earnings to his title. Now, he’s a PGT collection champion.
This match drew 75 entries to create a closing prize pool of $1,875,000, the biggest of the collection. The high 11 finishers in the end made the cash, with the bubble bursting late on day 1. Three-time bracelet winner Jim Collopy was knocked out in eleventh place earlier than the remaining ten contenders bagged up for the evening with Geeng within the lead.
The closing day noticed a number of massive names fall on the best way right down to the official closing desk, together with occasion no. 4 champion Adam Hendrix (tenth), 2022 World Series of Poker essential occasion third-place finisher Michael Duek (ninth), and bracelet winner and 2019 WSOP essential occasion third-place finisher Alex Livingston (eighth).
Bracelet winner John Riordan (seventh – $93,750) was the subsequent to fall, together with his pocket aces unable to carry towards the Q-10-10-9 of Harsheel Kothari, who rivered two pair to slender the sector to 6.
Mark Berente received the final of his brief stack in with a pair and a gutshot towards the pocket aces of Benjamin Juhasz. Berente picked up a flush draw on the flip as nicely, however a clean on the river noticed him eradicated in sixth place ($112,500).
Despite scoring that knockout, Juhasz was in the end the subsequent to be despatched to the rail. He received all-in on a Ok106 flop with J1098 dealing with the AOkOk3 of Geeng. The 3 on the flip and three river noticed Geeng enhance to a full home, whereas Juhasz settled for $150,000 for his fifth-place displaying. With 4 cashes for $425,100 in whole earnings and a win in occasion no. 7, Juhasz ended up in second place within the closing collection standings.
Geeng’s subsequent massive conflict noticed the chips go in on a J62 flop. Geng held center pair and a king-high flush draw, which was trailing the highest pair and nut flush draw of bracelet winner Eelis Parssinen. The flip gave Geeng queens as much as take the lead, and a brick on the ship despatched Parssinen house with $187,500. The Finnish participant completed third within the collection factors race with $423,380 in earnings, together with a victory in occasion no. 2.
Geen had greater than 3 times as many chips as the closest contender when three-handed motion started. Harsheel Kothari’s run on this occasion led to brutal style, together with his flopped set of queens shedding to the pocket kings of Veselin Karakitukov after the chips went in. Karakitukov spiked the upper set on the flip and held from there to ship Kothari packing in third place ($243,750).
Heads-up play started with Geeng holding simply shy of a 2:1 chip lead over Karakitukov. It didn’t take lengthy for the ultimate hand of the match to come up. Geen raised with OkOk83 from the button and Karakitukov defended his massive blind with 6422. The flop got here down Ok72 and Karakitukov check-raised Geeng’s continuation guess together with his backside set and a flush draw. Geeng flat referred to as together with his high set and the 8 rolled off on the flip. Karakitukov checked and Geeng guess 900,000. Karakitukov check-raised all-in for 4,025,000 and Geeng rapidly referred to as. The 7 on the top gave Geeng kings filled with sevens for the win. Karakitukov earned $337,500 because the runner-up. He cashed 3 times throughout the collection for a complete of $402,400, sufficient to land in ninth place within the closing collection ranks.
Here is a take a look at the payouts and rankings factors awarded on the closing desk:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
1 | Daniel Geeng | $487,500 | 588 | 293 |
2 | Veselin Karakitukov | $337,500 | 490 | 203 |
3 | Harsheel Kothari | $243,750 | 392 | 146 |
4 | Eelis Parssinen | $187,500 | 294 | 113 |
5 | Benjamin Juhasz | $150,000 | 245 | 90 |
6 | Mark Berente | $112,500 | 196 | 68 |
7 | John Riordan | $93,750 | 147 | 56 |
Check out the ultimate high ten within the collection standings:
Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
1 | Daniel Geeng | 481 | 1 | 4 | $703,160 |
2 | Benjamin Juhasz | 365 | 1 | 4 | $425,100 |
3 | Eelis Parssinen | 349 | 1 | 5 | $423,380 |
4 | Joao Simao | 341 | 1 | 5 | $340,650 |
5 | Jim Collopy | 321 | 0 | 5 | $348,210 |
6 | Adam Hendrix | 304 | 1 | 4 | $298,760 |
7 | Zhen Cai | 284 | 1 | 3 | $283,800 |
8 | Bryce Yockey | 283 | 1 | 3 | $283,575 |
9 | Veselin Karakitukov | 268 | 0 | 3 | $402,400 |
10 | Stephen Hubbard | 262 | 1 | 2 | $261,550 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abgrego.