Daniel Colpoys outlasted the 77-entry field in Event #1 ($10,000 No Limit Hold’em) of the 2022 PokerGO Cup to earn his first career high-roller victory and take home the $200,200 first-place prize.
Colpoys started the day third in chips with less than half that of final table chip leader Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger and only slightly behind four-time WPT champ Darren Elias. But Colpoys played tough through the four-hour-long final table, frequently ending up on the right side of hands against Lichtenberger and ultimately eliminating three of his final five opponents.
“I was kind of handcuffed at the start, and then I got some momentum and ran pretty well,” Colpoys said to PokerGO after his win. “I’m happy to take it down. I respect a lot of the guys there. It was nice.”
It didn’t take long for the final table to shed its first player. With the blinds at 20,000/40,000 (40,000 bb ante) Matthew Wantman put in a raise to 80,000 holding the 
. Next to act was Michael Lang who, with roughly 15 big blinds, three-bet shipped with his 
for just over 600,000. The action folded around to Colpoys in the big blind and when he looked down at the 
, he announced he was also all-in for nearly 1.6 million. Wantman let go of his hand and the cards were on their backs with Lang at risk. Even before the flop came out Lang tapped the table, said “good game, guys”, and stood up. The 
flop was of little help for Lang who did indeed look to be on his way out. The turn was the 
, leaving Lang with just six outs, one time. The 
completed the board and this time Lang was serious when saying his goodbyes, exiting in sixth place for $46,200.
After Lang’s departure, Scott Ball was sitting on the short stack and slipped below 10 big blinds at 25,000/50,000 (50,000 bb ante). After Darren Elias made it 100,000 to go in the cutoff with 
, Ball three-bet shipped his final 460,000 with the 
. Both blinds folded and, after verifying the amount, Elias made the call. The flop came 
giving Ball extra outs to the straight. “That’s an exciting flop, I’ll take that,” Ball said to Elias. “That’s fun.” The 
turn added some chop outs for Ball, but the river missed them all and Ball slid his chips to Elias and made he way to the rail in fifth place to collect his $61,600.
Four-handed play stretched out over the next couple of levels as Lichtenberger increased his chip lead and the rest of the table battled for position. With the blinds up to 40,000/80,000 (80,000 ante), Colpoys picked up 
on the button and raised to 800,000, leaving himself with over one big blind behind. Lichtenberger folded his small blind and Wantman, in the big blind, and less than 10 bigs behind, opted to move all-in with his 
. Colpoys quickly committed the rest of his chips and the pair saw a flop of 
, keeping Colpoys in the lead and adding the nut flush draw to increase his lead in the hand. The turn was the 
completing the flush and leaving Wantman drawing dead to the river. Wantman made a quiet exit in fourth place, good for $77,000.
Three-handed, Colpoys and Elias chipped away at Lichtenberger’s lead, drawing the chip counts closer. Eventually, Colpoys wrestled the chip lead away from Lichtenberger when the pair played a pivotal pot in which Lichtenberger’s flopped trips were downed by Colpoys who rivered a flush.
After a short break, the blinds escalated to 50,000/100,000 and Elias was sitting on just 13 big blinds. After Lichtenberger folded his button, Elias moved all-in holding the 
and was quickly called by Colpoys and his dominating 
. With Elias at risk, the pair saw a flop of , keeping Colpoys in the lead but offering Elias some notions of additional chop outs. That increased when the turn came the 
. However, everything bricked for Elias when the 
hit the river. Elias settled for the bronze and a $100,100 score.
After taking out Elias, Colpoys held a 16 big blind chip lead over Lichtenberger at the start of heads-up play. The pair battled into the next level when Colpoys, with a 3.5:1 chip lead found a fortunate river to help him seal the victory.
With the blinds at 75,000/150,000 (150,000 ante), Lichtenberger called on the button with his and Colpoys put in a raise to 475,000 holding 
. Lichtenberger made the call and the pair took a flop of . Colpoys led for 225,000 and Lichtenberger made the call, leaving himself with just over 10 big blinds behind. The turn came the 
vaulting Lichtenberger’s hand into the lead and leaving Colpoys with just 5% to win the hand. Colpoys checked it over to Lichtenberger who bet 450,000 and Colpoys opted to make the call not knowing he had just two outs headed to the river. When the [9c[ hit the river, Colpoys locked up the hand. He checked it to ‘LuckyChewy’ who moved all-in for his final 1.5 million. Colpoys snap-called and ended the tournament. Lichtenberger settled for runner-up and $146,300 while Colpoys took down the first event of the 2022 PokerGO Cup and added $200,200 to his results.
PokerGO Cup Event #1 Final Table Results
- Daniel Colpoys – $200,200
- Andrew Lichtenberger – $146,300
- Darren Elias – $100,100
- Matthew Wantman – $77,000
- Scott Ball – $61,600
- Michael Lang – $46,200