Omaholics around the world have been reveling in the 2024 PokerGO Tour PLO Series that kicked off late last week. After booking their first two champions on Thursday and Friday, the PGT has continued onward with its celebration of the four-card game. Saturday saw a Poker Hall of Famer continue what has been an excellent start to his season, while Sunday evening featured an extremely exciting battle between some of the expert practitioners of the Omaha game.
Sometimes Less is More…
At the end of 2023, Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu examined his “year in poker” and came to a rather startling conclusion. After losing a great deal of money, especially at the 2023 World Series of Poker, Negreanu came to the epiphany that he was playing TOO much poker, that he was not giving himself time to recharge and regroup. In 2024, Negreanu has adjusted his playing schedule, entering fewer tournaments, and it is paying off for him, especially in Event #3, a $5000 Pot Limit Omaha affair, on Saturday.
Negreanu (3.925 million chips) came to the six-handed final table with a slim lead over Anuj Agarwal (3.35 million), with Bruno Furth lurking behind them (2.75 million). After the two short stacks in Lance Patel and Curtis Muller clashed, resulting in Patel’s departure in sixth place, Negreanu extended his lead by ending Dylan Weisman’s tournament in fifth place. On that hand, Negreanu started with the lead with his A-A-10-3 over Weisman’s A-K-9-8 and faded Weisman’s outs over the J-10-5-K-3 board.
Agarwal would rise to challenge Negreanu, knocking out Muller in fourth place, and he and Negreanu would bring it to heads-up action after they both took the stack of Furth. Negreanu would get most of those chips, which allowed him to go to the mano y mano battle with Agarwal with more than a 2:1 lead.
Agarwal would prove to be a tough foe, battling with Negreanu for almost an hour in the PokerGO Studios. At one point, Agarwal reversed the standings, but he was unable to pin Negreanu to the felt. On a key hand, Negreanu doubled massively when he flopped two pair with his Q-J-7-5 on a J-10-5-7-A board to leave Agarwal’s Q-8-6-4 gasping for air.
On the final hand, Agarwal would lead out for 750K with a double-suited A♥ 5♠ 4♠ 3♥, only to see Negreanu push out a three-bet with A-K-Q-9. The three-bet was enough to take up the remainder of Agarwal’s stack, and he called it off to see a K-J-3 flop that hit him but hit Negreanu better. The deuce on the turn opened some Wheel outs for Agarwal, but they would disappear when the river Jack paired the board to give Negreanu the check mark on the hand and the tournament.
1. Daniel Negreanu (Canada), $147,500 (148 points)
2. Anuj Agarwal (USA), $91,450 (91)
3. Bruno Furth (USA), $64,900 (65)
4. Curtis Muller (Canada), $50,150 (50)
5. Dylan Weisman (USA), $38,350 (38)
6. Lance Patel (USA), $29,500 (30)
The ”less is more” approach is working well for Negreanu. This is his eighth cash on the PGT schedule in 2024, including his second victory in one of their sanctioned tournaments, and moves him up the leaderboard on both the PGT PLO Player of the Series and PGT Player of the Year races.
Samuli Sipila Knocks Off Arthur Morris to Claim Event #4
The names might not have been as familiar in Event #4, a $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament on the 2024 PGT PLO Series schedule, but the skills of the players were readily evident. Arthur Morris came to the final table holding 4.35 million in chips, but Samuli Sipila was looking to challenge him with his 2.565 million stack. Beyond the two chip leaders, it was going to be tough for Stefan Christopher (1.61 million), Christopher Frank (1.51 million), Artem Maksimov (565K), or Andre Cruz (525K) to rise to the challenge.
The viewers on the live stream did not have to wait long for fireworks. Maksimov looked to “double up or go home” as he three-bet all in after Sipila opened the action from under the gun. Sipila made the call, turning up a double-suited K♠ J♠ 9♦ 6♦ against Maksimov’s A-K-J-5. The flop, coming down J♦ 10♦ 5♦, smacked Sipila hard but left some wiggle room for Maksimov to a full house (another Jack or five). The 4♦ would leave Maksimov wanting, as would the Q♥ on the river, and Maksimov was out in sixth place.
That hand put Sipila right on the heels of Morris and the twosome would swap the lead between each other. Morris was more content to grind it out, while Sipila was more active, getting his chips to the center in both good and bad situations, but always finding a way to recover when it went bad. Sipila was responsible for the eliminations of Cruz, Frank, and eventually Morris, in fifth through third places. It would establish Sipila as the chip leader (6.375 million) going to heads-up play against Christopher (4.85 million).
Christopher was not going to leave quietly, however. He would double up FIVE times to stave off elimination, even taking the lead at some points in the heads-up battle, before he would finally succumb to Sipila. On that final hand, Christopher opened the betting, and Sipila three-bet enough to put the remainder of Christopher’s chips on the line. He would call them off to see he was in tough straits:
Sipila: A-J-J-7
Christopher: K-J-7-6
The 8-7-3 flop gave Christopher a pair of sevens, but he was still behind the Jacks of Sipila. A six turn, however, pushed Christopher out to the lead, sevens and sixes, with one card to come. That card was a dagger, a trey, to pair the board and, by virtue of the pair of Knaves in Sipila’s hand, gave Sipila a better two pair to win the championship.
1. Samuli Sipila (Finland), $240,300 (240 points)
2. Stefan Christopher (USA), $155,750 (156)
3. Arthur Morris (USA), $111,250 (111)
4. Christopher Frank (Germany), $80,100 (80)
5. Andre Cruz (USA), $62,300 (62)
6. Artem Maksimov (Russia), $44,500 (45)
(Photo courtesy of PokerGO.com)