Nobody cashed in more events at the 2024 PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series II than Matthew Wantman. The World Poker Tour champion made the money in six of the nine (66.66 percent) events held at the latest running PGT PLO Series, accumulating $434,380 in total earnings and one title as he went.
As a result of his incredible performance during the festival, Wantman was crowned the series champion. This honor came with a special trophy and a $10,000 PGT Passport bonus prize to go with his hundreds of thousands in winnings accrued in the past week.
Wantman now has more than $7.4 million in career tournament earnings after his impressive run at the PokerGO Studio inside ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas. His top score remains the $443,475 he secured as the winner of the 2019 WPT Aria Summer Championship.
Wantman came into the final day of the series with the lead, but had plenty to sweat down the stretch. $25,200 championship event runner-up and 2024 PGT PLO Series I champion Samuli Sipila could have secured the series title this time around with a win and no points for Wantman in the $5,100 bounty closer event. As it was, Sipila finished second for $310,000 and 186 points while Wantman added 14 points to his total with a seventh-place showing in the last event of the series. Sipila ultimately finished fifth in the points standings, while event no. 7 winner Jeremy Ausmus placed second thanks to that win and three more cashes.
The first cash of the series for Wantman came in event no. 2, a $5,100 progressive bounty event. He placed ninth from a field of 159 entries to earn $14,310 and 20 PGT points.
In the very next event, Wantman navigated through a field of 155 entries in a $5,100 buy-in standard PLO affair to make it down to heads-up. Despite being left with just a few big blinds at one point in the match, Wantman was able to battle back and secure the title for $178,250 and 178 points.
Wantman kept up the consistency even when the stakes began to rise. He placed fourth in the first $10,100 buy-in event for $90,000 and 90 points, then 11th in the $15,100 progressive bounty for $22,140 and 31 points. His second-largest score of the festival came when he survived to the final three in event no. 6, another $10,100 buy-in standard PLO tournament. He wound up finishing third for $119,600 and 120 points.
While Wantman did not cash in the $25,200 buy-in championship, he did final-table the last-chance dance $5,100 for $10,080 and 14 points.
Wantman finished with 453 total PGT points, giving him a 33-point margin of victory over second-ranked Ausmus. Alex Foxen finished third with three cashes for $339,540 and 378 points, while event no. 6 champion Daniel Negreanu placed fourth with 366 total points and $351,675 in earnings across five cashes.
Here is a look at the final top ten in the series points race:
Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
1 | Matthew Wantman | 453 | 1 | 6 | $434,380 |
2 | Jeremy Ausmus | 420 | 1 | 4 | $416,140 |
3 | Alex Foxen | 378 | 0 | 3 | $339,540 |
4 | Daniel Negreanu | 366 | 1 | 5 | $351,675 |
5 | Samuli Sipila | 347 | 0 | 3 | $471,000 |
6 | Isaac Haxton | 340 | 1 | 3 | $220,540 |
7 | Ben Lamb | 307 | 0 | 4 | $336,790 |
8 | Ben Tollerene | 298 | 1 | 1 | $496,000 |
9 | Joni Jouhkimainen | 268 | 0 | 4 | $334,660 |
10 | James Chen (US) | 263 | 1 | 2 | $227,750 |
Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.