Daniyal Iqbal Leads the Final Nine in PGT PLO Series Event #1: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha

The PGT PLO Series kicked off with a bang with Event #1: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha drawing out 200 entries and creating a prizepool of $1,000,000, setting the record for the number of unique entries with 140, as well as total entries in an owned-and-operated PGT event. The event also set a record for largest prize pool for an owned-and-operated PGT event with a buy-in of $10,000 and under.

Daniyal Iqbal leads the final nine at the end of the Day 1, taking the chip lead after eliminating Allen Shen late in the day. Iqbal bagged 4,645,000 to finish the day, putting him ahead of Peng Zheng who bagged 3,875,000, which was good for second place. Also making it through Day 1 were David Williams (2,380,000), Jeff Madsen (1,705,000), and Ethan Yau (1,040,000). 

With the event drawing out such a large crowd, the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, NV was full of familiar faces. Among those who played in the event today but failed to cash were Daniel Negreanu, Adam Hendrix, Matthew Wantman, Ben Lamb, Phil Galfond, Alex Livingston, Bryce Yockey, and Chino Rheem to name a few. 

The 200-entry field was wittled down quickly and players reached the money in level 12 when Chan Kim was eliminated on the money bubble. Kim was all in with aces before the flop against David Williams who was holding kings. The borad ran out and Williams ended up with a straight on the river to send Kim to the rail. This put the remaining 29 players into the money where they would collect at least $10,000. 

Some of those who made the money but failed to advance to Day 2 include Ashly Butler (25th - $10,000), Arthur Morris (23rd - $15,000), Jordan Spurlin (21st - $15,000), Jim Collopy (20th - $15,000), Allan Le (17th - $20,000), and Ren Lin (12th - $30,000). The elimination of Ky Nguyen in 10th place would be the final one of Day 1 after Sean Troha made a flush to send him to the rail. Players played out the rest of level 17 and bagged and tagged for the night. 

The final nine players return at 12 p.m. PT tomorrow where they will play down to a winner. Currently, players are guaranteed at least $30,000 but all are eyeing the first place prize of $160,000 and the 160 PGT points which will be used to determine the PGT PLO Series champion who will receive the PGT Trophy and a $25,000 championship bonus. PGT points will also be used for the year-long leaderboard which will qualify players to the end-of-year PGT Championship $1,000,000 freeroll. 

PGT PLO Series Event #1: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Two Tables

Table 1

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
2	Sean Troha	United States	3,255,000
4	Stanislav Halatenko	Ukraine	3,145,000
5	David Williams	United States	2,380,000
7	Eelis Parssinen	Finland	2,325,000

Table 2

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Peng Zheng	United States	3,875,000
3	Roussos Koliakoudakis	Greece	2,700,000
5	Ethan Yau	United States	1,040,000
6	Daniyal Iqbal	United States	4,645,000
7	Jeff Madsen	United States	1705000

When play resumes, the button will be on David Williams on Table 1, and Daniyal Iqbal on Table 2. Blinds will resume at Level 18 with 40,000/80,000 blinds and a 80,000-big blind ante.

Play will resume at 12 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 12 in the PokerGO Studio where players will play down to a winner. The PGT Live Reporting Team will provide exclusive live updates throughout the event until a winner is crowned.

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