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The 2023 PGT season picked back up this week with three high-roller poker tournaments as part of the Wynn Millions series in Las Vegas. Winning the three events were Taylor Wilson, Michael Wang, and Eugene Lee.
Wilson was the first winner of the trio when he landed himself in the winner’s circle of the first Wynn Millions $10,500 NL Hold’em High Roller. Wilson topped a field of 92 entries to win $304,704 in prize money. Wilson also earned himself 305 points for the PGT leaderboard.
Winning the second Wynn Millions $10,500 NL Hold’em High Roller was Michael Wang. He finished atop a field of 93 entries to score himself $308,016 and 308 points for the PGT leaderboard.
The final event of the trio was the Wynn Millions $10,500 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. That event drew a field of 77 entries and was won by Eugene Lee. Lee earned $280,819 in prize money and 281 points for the PGT leaderboard.
Taylor Wilson earned the biggest live tournament score of his career to date when he won the first $10,500 NL Hold’em High Roller as part of the 2023 Wynn Millions series. Wilson’s previous best was a $181,950 score for placing sixth in the 2023 Lucky Hearts Poker Open in Florida in January.
When the event reached the final table of nine, Wilson was in the bottom half of the leaderboard. He found a double through Daniel Negreanu with eight players remaining and then knockout out Ryan Brown in eighth place to get himself over 1,000,000 in chips.
After PGT leaderboard frontrunner Cary Katz was knocked out in seventh place, Wilson really started to go on a run. He picked up pots from Joseph Cheong and Negreanu before he busted Chris Hunichen in sixth place. After Negreanu went out in fifth, Wilson kept climbing. Andrew Lichtenberger took out Negreanu before he busted in fourth place himself, and that set up a three-handed battle between Wilson, Cheong, and Aram Oganyan.
Cheong did manage one double up through Wilson, but then his run ended in third place. Heads-up play saw Oganyan begin with the chip lead against Wilson, but Wilson was able to find a double when he made quad threes against Oganyan’s jacks to move in front. It was the second time at the final table that Wilson made quads.
On the final hand, both players backed into a diamond flush. Oganyan checked the river with his eight-high flush, which led to a bet from Wilson. Oganyan check-raised all in, and Wilson called with the nine-high flush to win the tournament.
Place | Name | Country | PGT Points | Prize |
1st | Taylor Wilson | United States | 305 | $304,704 |
2nd | Aram Oganyan | United States | 177 | $176,824 |
3rd | Joseph Cheong | United States | 112 | $111,872 |
4th | Andrew Lichtenberger | United States | 77 | $77,096 |
5th | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 58 | $57,500 |
6th | Chris Hunichen | United States | 46 | $45,632 |
7th | Cary Katz | United States | 37 | $37,444 |
8th | Ryan Brown | United States | 32 | $31,444 |
9th | Vikenty Shegal | United States | 28 | $27,600 |
10th | Raul Martinez Gallego | Spain | 25 | $24,840 |
11th | Kyle Carlston | United States | 25 | $24,840 |
In the second $10,500 High Roller of the series, it was Michael Wang winning $308,016 when he topped the field of 93 entries.
Wang reached the final with a seven-figure chip stack and maneuvered his way into the chip lead with five players remaining. After Michael Brinkenhoff was knocked out by Aram Zobian in fifth place, Wang took out Marius Gierse in fourth place. That left Wang, Zobian, and Cary Katz to battle three-handed, with Katz making another deep run and earning more PGT points. Although Katz picked up some chips early, he wound up finishing in third place when Wang knocked him out.
On Katz’s final hand, he three-bet all in from the big blind after a raise from Wang and a call from Zobian. Wang called with pocket nines and had Katz’s eight-seven of diamonds in trouble. The board provided no help for Katz to send him to the payout desk to collect his $113,088 score.
Wang entered heads-up play with more than a 2-to-1 chip lead and quickly pushed further ahead when he made quad queens against Zobian. Not long after, Wang finished the deal.
On the final hand, Zobian was all in with pocket deuces against Wang’s pocket queens. The queens held to give Wang the victory.
Place | Name | Country | PGT Points | Prize |
1st | Michael Wang | United States | 308 | $308,016 |
2nd | Aram Zobian | United States | 179 | $178,746 |
3rd | Cary Katz | United States | 113 | $113,088 |
4th | Marius Gierse | Germany | 78 | $77,934 |
5th | Michael Brinkenhoff | United States | 58 | $58,125 |
6th | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 46 | $46,128 |
7th | Arthur Morris | United States | 38 | $37,852 |
8th | Yifu He | United States | 32 | $31,992 |
9th | Martin Zamani | United States | 28 | $27,900 |
10th | Adam Hendrix | United States | 25 | $25,110 |
11th | Darren Elias | United States | 25 | $25,110 |
The final PGT-qualifying event as part of the 2023 Wynn Millions series was the $10,500 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament. This event was properly timed just a couple of days before the first-ever PGT PLO Series got underway on March 11, so there were plenty of PLO enthusiasts out to compete. One of those players was Eugene Lee, and he came out on top to win $280,819.
Only the top eight players would reach the money in the event, and it was Cary Katz busting in ninth place to finish as the “bubble boy” of the tournament. Lee was the one to eliminate Katz, and he also busted Kent Staahle on the same hand. Staahle had more chips to start the hand, so he was awarded the first in-the-money cash.
Despite not reaching the money in this event, Katz made the final table of the other two Wynn Millions high rollers, so he was able to add a chunk of valuable PGT points to his leaderboard-leading total.
Jordan Spurlin busted in seventh place and Brent Roberts went out in sixth place before Jeremy Ausmus was knocked out in fifth place by Lee. Michael “Mickey” Duek then busted Sam Soverel in fourth place and Joao Simao in third place to take a little bit of a lead into heads-up play against Lee.
Lee quickly worked back into the lead and then extended the gap. On the final hand, Lee’s two pair held up after the money went in on the turn. Duek only had top pair and that wasn’t good enough.
Place | Name | Country | PGT Points | Prize |
1st | Eugene Lee | United States | 281 | $280,819 |
2nd | Michael Duek | Argentina | 162 | $161,700 |
3rd | Joao Simao | Brazil | 100 | $100,100 |
4th | Sam Soverel | United States | 70 | $69,685 |
5th | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 53 | $53,130 |
6th | Brent Roberts | United States | 42 | $41,888 |
7th | Jordan Spurlin | United States | 34 | $34,111 |
8th | Kent Staahle | Norway | 29 | $28,567 |
With a seventh-place finish in the first 2023 Wynn Millions High Roller and a third-place finish in the second, Cary Katz added 150 PGT leaderboard points to his season total. He now has 693 PGT points on the season thanks to eight cashes and one victory.
Following the trio Wynn Millions High Rollers, Aram Zobian jumped up into second on the 2023 PGT leaderboard with 471 points and bumped Anthony Hu to third with 454 points. Daniel Negreanu also climbed into the top 10 and sits ninth with 326 points.
The Wynn Millions victories for Taylor Wilson, Michael Wang, and Eugene Lee were enough to move them close to the top 10. Wilson moved to 12th, Wang jumped to 11th, and Lee landed himself in 16th.
Rank | Name | PGT Points | Wins | Cashes | Earnings |
1st | Cary Katz | 693 | 1 | 8 | $889,532 |
2nd | Aram Zobian | 471 | 1 | 3 | $470,246 |
3rd | Anthony Hu | 454 | 1 | 3 | $454,200 |
4th | Alex Foxen | 393 | 1 | 2 | $470,040 |
5th | Isaac Haxton | 359 | 1 | 1 | $598,000 |
6th | Dan Zack | 352 | 0 | 5 | $524,700 |
7th | Sean Winter | 341 | 1 | 2 | $424,000 |
8th | Punnat Punsri | 335 | 1 | 2 | $459,400 |
9th | Daniel Negreanu | 326 | 0 | 7 | $430,800 |
10th | John Monnette | 316 | 1 | 3 | $316,000 |
Note: PokerGO Tour leaderboard is accurate at the date of this article.
Click here to view the complete PokerGO Tour leaderboard.
The top 40 players on the PokerGO Tour leaderboard at the end of the 2023 PGT season earn an opportunity to compete in the season-ending PGT Championship for a $1,000,000 freeroll. The PGT Championship winner will receive $500,000, while the remainder of the prize pool is split via standard tournament payouts among the final table. The player that accumulates the most PGT points in 2023 will be crowned the PGT Player of the Year and receive a $50,000 player-of-the-year bonus.
In addition to the top 40 players to qualify for the PGT Championship from their ranking on the PGT leaderboard, poker players and fans around the world can win their way to compete in the PGT Championship through the PGT Dream Seat™ promotion that award an exclusive number of seats via special events and promotions throughout the year. To see how you can be eligible to win a Dream Seat, click here.
Coming up next for the PokerGO Tour is the first-ever PGT PLO Series. If the series turns out anything like the first-ever PGT Mixed Games series that was held recently, it’s going to be an exciting one.
The PGT PLO Series includes nine pot-limit Omaha tournaments with buy-ins from $2,200 to $26,000, and the player to earn the most PGT leaderboard points will be crowned the first-ever PGT PLO Series champion and win the $25,000 championship bonus.
Thursday, March 9, and Friday, March 10, are PGT PLO Series satellite days at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. On Thursday, March 9, there will be a $560 PLO satellite that will award one $5,000 PGT PLO Series seat for every $5,000 in the prize pool. On Friday, March 10, there is an $1,100 pot-limit Omaha satellite that will award one $10,000 PGT PLO Series seat for every $10,000 in the prize pool.
Players can qualify for rake-free entry on their first entry in PGT PLO Series events by being in the registration line by 12 p.m. PT.
Start Date | Time (PT) | Event |
March 9 | 12 p.m. | $560 Pot-Limit Omaha Satellite |
March 10 | 12 p.m. | $1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Satellite |
March 11 | 12 p.m. | Event #1: $5,000 + $300 Pot-Limit Omaha |
March 12 | 12 p.m. | Event #2: $5,000 + $300 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty ($2,000 bounties) |
March 13 | 12 p.m. | Event #3: $10,000 + $500 Pot-Limit Omaha |
March 14 | 12 p.m. | Event #4: $10,000 + $500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo |
March 15 | 12 p.m. | Event #5: $10,000 + $500 Pot-Limit Omaha |
March 16 | 12 p.m. | Event #6: $10,000 + $500 Mixed PLO / PLO8 / Big O |
March 17 | 12 p.m. | Event #7: $15,000 + $700 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty ($5,000 bounties) |
March 18 | 12 p.m. | Event #8: $25,000 + $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship |
March 19 | 2 p.m. | Event #9: $2,000 + $200 5-Card Pot-Limit Omaha (One Day) |
Click here to view the official structure sheet for the PGT PLO Series.
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