The 2023 PokerGo Tour (PGT) Championship is in the books with Germany’s Daniel Smiljkovic beating Hollywood actress Arden Cho in heads-up to seize the coveted trophy and $500,000 first-place prize.
The final table began with all six players in the money. Smiljkovic entered the final table with over 40% of the chips in play. Darren Elias was the first casualty exiting in sixth place for $40,000. He was in a three-way all-in with AK versus queens. A queen landed on the river and Elias was eliminated.
Elias was followed by Artur Martirosyan in fifth place who bagged the chip lead at one point during five-handed play. However, he became shorter and decided to get in with ace-king in against fives. Although an ace hit the flop, a five came on the turn, ending the Russian high roller’s journey.
The next to go out was the reigning WSOP Main Event champion Daniel Weinman, who went out in fourth place after he called with his remaining stack on the river and ran into Smiljkovic’s trips.
Following Weinman’s elimination, Germany’s Leon Sturm held the lead during the three-handed play. However, Cho took control and surged into the chip lead after winning a series of crucial pots. At one point during the three-handed play, she held over 70% of chips. After Cho overtook the lead, she found a river call that left Sturm short-stacked. Sturm was soon eliminated in third place by Smiljkovic.
PGT Championship Heads-Up Battle
Finally, it came to the heads-up for the title where Cho held an advantage of more than 2.5:1 chips. At the very start, she got a chance to win with nines against ace-king. However, Smiljkovic got an ace on the flop, ensuing a lengthy battle. The lead exchanged several times before Smiljkovic doubled to get almost even and then got another crucial double up to overtake the chip lead in the heads-up play.
On the final hand, Smiljkovic shoved with jack-five against Cho’s ace-nine. A jack came on the turn, ending Cho’s run in second place and giving Smiljkovic the coveted 2023 PGT Championship title.
PGT Championship Final Table Payouts
1.Daniel Smiljkovic – $500,000
2.Arden Cho – $200,000
3.Leon Sturm – $120,000
4.Daniel Weinman – $80,000
5.Artur Martirosyan – $60,000
6.Darren Elias – $40,000
PGT invited 54 players to compete in the tournament, including the top 40 performers on the 2023 PokerGO Tour leaderboard and some “dream seat” winners. Isaac Haxton was crowned the 2023 PGT Player of the Year. Haxton accumulated 2,847 PGT points to finish ahead of Chris Brewer on the PGT leaderboard. Haxton’s 2023 PGT campaign began in January with a win in the PokerGO Cup $50,000 finale ($598,000), which was followed by a win for $432,000. in Event #8: $25,000 NL Hold’em at the U.S. Poker Open. Haxton also topped the field in the WSOP 2023 $25K High Roller to win $1,698,215.
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