Nick Petrangelo Keeps Destroying Competition, Wins PokerGO Cup Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Oh, to be Nick Petrangelo right now. The poker pro continued his absolutely scorching half a year on Monday, winning the 2022 PokerGO Cup Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em, good for $369,000. As is the case for these high roller PokerGO events, the field was small, as it attracted just 41 entries, paying out to six places.

Petrangelo was in second place going into the nine-handed final table and fourth place once the money bubble burst. He sat on the sidelines when during a key spot three-handed, watching Bill Klein and Nick Schulman determine his heads-up opponent.

Schulman had A-7 and was all-in versus Klein and his pocket 8s. An Ace came on the flop and a 7 on the turn, giving Schulman two pair and a stranglehold on the hand. But it wasn’t a lock yet and sure enough, an 8 fell on the river, giving Klein the sudden set and eliminating Schulman in second place.

Going into heads-up play, Klein was up on Petrangelo, 3.775 million chips to 2.375 million. Klein widened the gap for a bit, but Petrangelo closed in on him, eventually pulling close to even with a couple big hands.

After Petrangelo finally took the lead, the two got all their chips in with blinds and antes at 50,000/100,000/100,000. Klein limped with Q-J suited and Petrangelo shoved with A-9. Klein made the call for 2.875 million, putting his tournament life on the line. The community cards bricked for Klein and that was that. Nick Petrangelo had yet another PokerGO title.

Speaking of all these small-field, high buy-in events that he has been playing in against largely the same opponents, Petrangelo told PokerGO afterward, “We have a great community here with all the guys that play these things all the time. It’s awesome, it’s like a home game. We all like each other. It’s kind of like being co-workers at this point. No one wishes anyone bad luck. Everyone is rooting for everybody. Certain guys go on heaters, and you’re just the guy at that point.”

And he has certainly been on one of those heaters. Since September, Petrangelo has won over $5.5 million in live tournaments. His last seven cashes have been fourth, first, fifth, second, first, first, and first place finishes.

“Everything has been going really well since even, like, September,” Petrangelo told PokerGO. “A little up and down, but yeah, since then pretty much everything has been working out. I’m running great, winning all-ins, and getting hands at the right times. Sometimes you get around the bubble when you have a lot of chips and you lose a couple of hands, but it’s been the opposite for me when I go deep and everything just goes well.”

He isn’t losing perspective, though, understanding that with a run like this, there is always luck involved. He added, “It’s important to stay focused and just try to play well.”

Nick Petrangelo is now sixth on the 2022 PokerGO Cup leaderboard and has moved up to first by a mile on the overall PokerGO Tour leaderboard with 1,066 points. The closest player to him is Ali Imsirovic with 432.