Daniel Negreanu secured his first recorded live tournament title in August of 1997. More than 27 years, and $53.3 million in career earnings later, the 50-year-old Poker Hall of Famer logged his 47th win by taking down event no. 6 at 2024 PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series II.
The seven-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner bested a field of 104 entries in the $10,100 buy-in to earn $265,000 in prize money. He also secured plenty of rankings points with this victory. The 600 Card Player Player of the Year points he nabbed in this tournament grew his annual total to 4,396, which is good for 21st place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker. This was his fourth title and 13th final-table finish of the year.
Negreanu also secured 265 PGT points. With 19 cashes and three wins in qualified events, Negreanu now sits in second place in the season-long standings with 1,998 points. He trails only Jeremy Ausmus, who has accrued 2,501 points across 24 cashes, including a final-table showing in this event.
“I thought I played incredibly well,” Negreanu told PokerGO reporters after coming out on top. “There were a couple of key spots where I had to go for it and did against Foxen, and did, and they worked out. Other than that, I ran good, and that’s what it takes to win the tournament.”
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RealKidPoker</a> after he took down a stacked Final Table of Event #6 at the PGT PLO Series presented by <a href="https://twitter.com/PLOMastermind?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">
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The $1,040,000 prize pool in this event was split up amongst the top 15 finishers. Big names like two-time Super High Roller Bowl champion Isaac Haxton (15th), two-time bracelet winner Ben Lamb (14th), bracelet winner Joni Jouhkimainen (13th), three-time World Poker Tour champion Chino Rheem (9th), Sean Winter (8th), and 2023 Super High Roller Bowl: Pot-Limit Omaha champion Jared Bleznick (7th) all ran deep.
Bracelet winner Alex Foxen came into the final day as the chip leader with six players remaining. He added to that lead when he flopped top set of kings against the pocket aces of Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero, who shoved after the flop with his overpair. Barbero earned $52,000 as the sixth-place finisher. This was his third cash of the series, and ninth final-table finish of the year. He now sits in 25th place in the POY standings.
Five-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman was the next to fall, with his double-suited pocket jacks unable to beat out the double-suit pocket sevens of Negreanu in a battle of the blinds. Schulman got his short stack in ahead preflop, but Negreanu made a straight on the turn and held from there to narrow the field to four. Schulman earned $67,600 for his efforts, surpassing $20.6 million in earnings in the process.
Ausmus’ run concluded in fourth place after he three-bet jammed with AK83 facing a button raise from Negreanu, who had overtaken the lead during the early going. Negreanu called with KJ107 and made trip jacks to secure the knockout. Ausmus extended his lead in the PGT standings and climbed to fifth on the POY leaderboard thanks to this latest strong showing.
Matthew Wantman, who won event no. 3 at this series, has now cashed five times through six tournaments at this festival. The WPT champion got all-in after a QJ6 flop for his last handful of big blinds with KJ98. Negreanu called with AQ62 and the Q turn gave Negreanu a full house for a lock on the hand. The 7 confirmed Wantman’s elimination in third place ($119,600), growing his haul for the series to $424,300.
Heads-up play began with Negreanu holding 9,700,000 to Foxen’s 3,300,000. He was soon able to convert that nearly 3:1 starting advantage into the win. In the final hand, Foxen raised to 450,000 from the button with A1074 and Negreanu called with AQ62. The flop came down QQ10 and Negreanu check-called 300,000 with his trip queens. The A on the turn gave Negreanu queens full. He checked and Foxen checked behind with aces and tens. The river brought the 10 to improve Foxen to tens full. Negreanu bet 1,000,000 and Foxen raised to 3,200,000, leaving just two big blinds behind. Negreanu moved all-in and Foxen called to see the bad news. He earned $171,600 as the runner-up. This was his 16th final-table finish of 2024. He moved into 18th on the POY leaderboard, with 4,505 points and more than 42 million in to-date POY earnings.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
1 | Daniel Negreanu | $265,200 | 600 | 265 |
2 | Alex Foxen | $171,600 | 500 | 172 |
3 | Matthew Wantman | $119,600 | 400 | 120 |
4 | Jeremy Ausmus | $93,600 | 300 | 94 |
5 | Nick Schulman | $67,600 | 250 | 68 |
6 | Jose Barbero | $52,000 | 200 | 52 |
7 | Jared Bleznick | $41,600 | 150 | 42 |
Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.