With the end of the 2024 U. S. Poker Open last week, the 2024 PokerGO Tour season seemed to be at a good point to examine the standings. After a couple of tournament series off because they were not his games (Omaha and the Mixed Game series), David Coleman dropped out of the lead in the race for the top slot in the Overall Championship. The 2024 USPO turned out to be just the tonic that Coleman needed, however, to get himself back into the top slot on the PGT Overall Championship leaderboard.
Ho Hum…Another Win
Coleman has been the player that has lit up the scoreboard over the first four months of this year. He had won three tournaments to surge out to the lead, then had to sit down for a spell during the PGT’s Mixed Game Series and the PLO Series in March. With the switch to April, and the return of the USPO, Coleman could get back into the fray.
He did not waste the opportunity. During the run of the USPO, Coleman won Event #4 for slightly more than $202,000. More important was the fact that Coleman garnered 322 points during the USPO (three cashes) and was able to pull back into the lead of the PGT Overall Championship race. Those 322 points allowed him to bypass a couple of players who surged up the standings with their work.
One of those players was the eventual USPO Overall Champion, Aram Zobian. Zobian picked up the “big bird,” the Golden Eagle Trophy, while simultaneously winning Event #6, a $15,000 buy-in event, to push his total earnings to just under $1 million for the year on the PGT. It also pushed him up to third overall in the race.
The other major mover after the USPO was its Main Event champion, Stephen Chidwick. Chidwick banked the $25,000 Championship Event for the USPO to earn $429,000. That and the remainder of Chidwick’s performance during the USPO (427 points) pushed him into the Top Ten, where he should be a threat for the remainder of the PGT season.
Here are the Top Ten currently on the PGT Overall Championship leaderboard:
1. David Coleman, 1259 points (four wins)
2. Dylan Weisman, 1126 (three wins)
3. Aram Zobian, 1048 (one win)
4. Daniel Negreanu, 896 (one win)
5. Samuli Sipila, 749 (two wins)
6. Stephen Chidwick, 711 (one win)
7. Kristen Foxen, 678 (one win)
8. Jesse Lonis, 634 (one win)
9. Jonathan Little, 591 (two wins)
10. Seth Davies, 590 (one win)
Positioning for Season-Ending PGT Championship
All the tournaments that make up the PGT season are earning these players points toward the season-ending PGT Championship. That tournament is an invitation-only event, with the Top 40 players on the PGT Overall Championship Leaderboard being invited to play in the tournament. The PGT Championship has a million-dollar prize pool, with the eventual champion not only earning the PGT Championship but also $500,000.
Currently, there are notable names that are trying to stay on the board – and, on the other end of the spectrum, other notables looking to eke their way in. In Positions 35-40 are such players as Victoria Livschitz, Alex Livingston, Daniel Smiljkovic, Jerry Wong, Dylan DeStefano, and Bruno Furth. Right now on the outside looking in from Positions 41-45 are players such as John Riordan, Joao Simao, Lautaro Guerra, John Racener, and Nick Schulman.
The next few months will be critical for all the players who find themselves in contention for one of those forty seats. The inaugural Texas Poker Open at Champions Club in Houston is hosting five events that will count toward the standings. Following the close of those festivities, the 2024 World Series of Poker kicks off with 28 total PGT-points tournaments and the ARIA High Roller Series. By the time we reach the end of the 2024 WSOP, we may have an entirely different look to this leaderboard.