Daniel Geeng Wins PGT PLO Series II Championship for $800,000

Daniel Geeng won the ninth event of the 10 scheduled for the PGT PLO Series II and as the news came through from Event #10’s final table, he was crowned the overall champion. Cashing four times across the first nine events of the series, Geeng’s winnings topped $800,000 by the time the dust settled on his series, and he can add $25,000 to that amount – the Championship Bonus he received along with the trophy.

Geeng Conquers Event #9 for Championship Title

Geeng’s legendary win saw him take down the most expensive buy-in event of the 10 on the ticket. The ninth event of the 2023 PGT PLO Series II cost $25,500 to play and that attracted plenty of attention from the mixed game circuit’s finest. There were 75 entrants in total and that meant 11 places were paid, with Tyler Brown the unfortunate ‘Bubble Boy’ who busted for nothing in 12^th place.

Thereafter, small cashes for 11^th-placed Jim Collopy ($56,250), Adam Hendrix (10^th for $56,250) and Michael Duek (9^th for $75,000) eventually led to Alex Livingston bubbling the final table for $75,000 in 8^th place. Once the final seven convened, John Riordan lost out in seventh place for $93,750, Mark Berente cashed for $112,500 in sixth, before previous champion Benjamin Juhasz busted in fifth place for $150,000.

That was a crucial elimination because in missing out on his second event title, Juhasz had left the door open for whoever would win this event to almost certainly seal the title. Geeng, who had already chopped the top prize in the Bounty event earlier in the series, saw off Bulgarian Veselin Karakitukov heads-up after the eliminations of talented Finn Eelis Parssinen, who would also have won the Championship had he taken the Event #9 title, and Harsheel Kothari in third.

Upon his victory, Geeng could celebrate, the 10^th and final event seeing no-one make the final table who could overtake him in the standings due to the buy-in of $2,000 being much lower than this de facto Main Event of the Series. Geeng had done it and with it captured his first-ever PokerGO Tour championship into the bargain, winning the bonus of $25,000 and getting his hands on the trophy.

Wang Wins Final Event of the Series

David Wang starred in the final event of the series, which cost $2,000 to play and provided a fun backdrop amongst which to celebrate for the overall champion. With 48 entrants and seven places paid, WSOP legend Ted Forrest snuck into the money in seventh place for $3,840, while Jim Collopy racked up another cash worth $5,760 during what has been a phenomenally consistent fortnight for the American.

Daniel Schimmel (5^th for $7,680) and Ronald Keijzer (4^th for $10,560) departed as play moved three-handed. Event #9’s bubble boy Tyler Brown enjoyed a much better Event #10, cashing in third place of the 48 entrants for a score of $14,400, some recompense for a close run in the Main Event.

That left just Wang and Quan Tran, whose recent record in high rollers is enviable. The heads-up clash went the way of Wang, whose fairly miraculous run from short stack with seven remaining to champion was complete. Heading into the final duel almost level, Wang triumphed after an hour’s work to lift the final trophy of the series ad score $32,640 into the bargain, with Tran content to cash for $21,120 in second place.

The Tale of the Tape

Geeng’s victory came in Event #9 of course, but to take the Championship, he had to put in the hard yards over the previous eight events too. In the second event of the series, Geeng earned his first cash, a fairly unthreatening $22,350 in leaderboard terms, as he finished in 11^th place in the $7,600-entry PLO event.

Another largely insignificant cash followed in Event #3, as Geeng took just 21 PGT points and $20,600 for coming 14^th in the $10,000 buy-in PLO event. But in Event #4, he put himself in contention, with a second-place finish in the $15,100 PLO Bounty event. Taking $172,710 after a heads-up deal in addition to $148,000 in bounties, Geeng’s winnings in that event alone totalled over $320,000 and gave him 145 PGT points.

Still among the chasing pack rather than the favorites, Geeng knew that to have any chance of victory, he had to win outright the 9^th event of the series, having not cashed in event #5 through #8. That he did, taking down the $487,500 top prize and bagging 293 priceless PGT points, allowing him to leapfrog all his rivals and claim the $25,000 Championship Bonus in stunning fashion.

Congratulations to all the series winner, but above all the PokerGO Tour itself which after the Mixed Games Series and not one but two PGT PLO Series in 2023 have proven that if they are hosted correctly, mixed game events are able to flourish under the bright lights in Ls Vegas like any other poker format.