Spencer Champlin Wins 2024 Poker Masters Kickoff

The first champion of the 2024 Poker Masters has been determined. Spencer Champlin overcame a subject of 131 entries within the $5,100 buy-in no-limit maintain’em kickoff occasion to safe the title and the highest prize of $160,475.

This was the Scarborough, Maine native’s first PokerGO Tour title, and his second-largest recorded event rating. The two-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner now has practically $3.2 million in lifetime earnings accrued throughout 387 in-the-money finishes.

Champlin now has seven final-table finishes in 2024, with this being his first title of the 12 months. This win earned him 528 Card Player Player of the Year factors and 160 PokerGO Tour factors. He now sits in 87th place within the 2024 POY race standings introduced by Global Poker, and is inside attain of the highest 200 within the PGT rankings.

This occasion ran for 2 days contained in the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The robust turnout constructed a prize pool of $655,000 that was paid out among the many high 19 finishers. Plenty of massive names cashed, together with present POY race second-ranked contender David Coleman (seventeenth), 2013 WSOP most important occasion champion Ryan Riess (sixteenth), bracelet winner Alex Foxen (fifteenth), bracelet winner Chris Hunichen (eleventh), Eshaan ‘Brown Balla’ Bhalla (ninth), two-time Super High Roller Bowl winner Isaac Haxton (eighth), and World Poker Tour champion Matthew Wantman (seventh).

Only contenders six moved on to the live-streamed last desk, with 2024 WSOP Circuit Commerce Casino most important occasion champion Jessica Vierling coming into day 2 atop the chip counts.

The first knockout got here proper after playing cards received within the air. Champlin shoved with Q3 from the small blind after it folded round to him. Bracelet winner Nicholas Seward known as all-in from the massive blind for 14 huge blinds complete with AOk. Seward remained forward by the flip, however a queen on the river noticed him eradicated in sixth place ($32,750). This elevated Sweards’s lifetime event haul to almost $1.6 million. The largest chunk of that complete ($516,135) got here from his win on this 12 months’s $3,000 six-max occasion on the WSOP.

Bracelet winner Zachary Grech misplaced a giant chunk of his stack semi-bluffing with a straight draw into the flopped two pair of Vierling. He was left with fewer than three huge blinds after bet-folding the river. He picked up pocket queens shortly after that to provide himself some respiration room, however was quickly all-in and in danger with 86 trailing the A5 of bracelet winner and WPT champion Dylan Linde. Linde made aces and fours to safe the pot, whereas Grech settled for $39,300 because the fifth-place finisher. The 2023 WSOP Online $400 turbo occasion champion now has over $862,000 in recorded earnings.

A preflop cooler spelled the top of Dan Shak’s run on this occasion. He had the most effective of it to start out, with pocket tens main the pocket nines of Vierling. A 9 on the flip gave Vierling a set and the lead, but additionally improved Shak to an open-ended straight draw. The board paired on the top, although, giving Vierling nines stuffed with queens and the pot. Shak was despatched to the rail with $52,400 for his efforts. His event resume now options practically $15 million in profession cashes.

Linde was left because the shortest stack after his A-Q was outrun by the A-4 of Champlin in a preflop all-in confrontation. Not lengthy after that he received all-in with Q-6 suited from the small blind, solely to run into Ok-Q for Champlin. Linde was drawing useless by the flip and completed in third place. The $72,050 payout for this consequence elevated his profession earnings to almost $10.3 million.

Heads-up play started with Vierling holding roughly a 2:1 lead over Champlin. She pulled even additional forward after successful a giant pot with pocket aces towards the highest pair of queens held by Champlin. She virtually closed out the title with Ok-Q main Champlin’s Q-J in a preflop all-in, however Champlin paired his jack on the flip and held from there to double out of the hazard zone. He then doubled once more with A7 holding towards the Ok7 of Vierling to shut the hole much more.

From there on it was a back-and-forth affair. Champlin took the lead with an eight-high straight besting Vierling’s seven-high straight, solely to have Vierling leap again out in entrance with a set of fours besting Champlin’s second pair.

The two in the end battled for roughly an hour earlier than the ultimate hand of the event was dealt. Champlin held roughly a 5:3 lead and AQ on the button. He opened with a min-raise to 500,000 on the button and Vierling, who had 24.3 huge blinds to start out, three-bet shoved from the massive blind with AJ.

Champlin rapidly known as and the board ran out 953AQ to provide him aces up and the title. Vierling, who earned her seat on this occasion in a $560 satellite tv for pc, walked away with $98,250 because the runner-up. This deep run grew her lifetime earnings to greater than $1.2 million.

Here is a take a look at the payouts and rankings factors awarded on the last desk:

Photo credit: PokerGO / Miguel Cortes.