Jonathan Little Wins 2024 PokerGO Cup After Event #8 Victory

A stunning final event victory gave Jonathan Little the PokerGO Cup Championship as well as his second event win of the eight in this year’s series. Little, who sold his action to multiple events of the 2024 PokerGO Cup on PokerStake, stunned Justin Zaki as the final two battled it out not only for the final top prize of $453,750 but the ultimate title of PokerGO Cup champion.

Schulman and Little Battle on the Bubble

With 55 entries at $25,200 each creating a massive prizepool of $1,375,000, only the final eight places were paid. That situation led to huge drama on the bubble as Jonathan Little was very short indeed – stack-wise, that is. Nick Schulman was the other player who needed to double to survive and with Schulman holding AsAd and his opponent John Riordan holding Qh9h, all the chips went in. According to Schulman, over came Little and on a flop of Jd9s4d Little allegedly said “OK…”

The turn was a Qd and Schulman quipped: “Was the queen OK too John? Was that OK too?” Cue some laughter and a river of a 7c putting the remaining eight into the money as Schulman left… to post this video on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It didn’t take long for the first player who did make a profit to be eliminated. Stephen Chidwick cashed for $55,000 when his hand was beaten by Riordan’s rivered second pair of nines, the British player sliding his cards into the muck and leaving the PokerGO Studio in eighth place.

At that point, Little was still the short stack with just 275,000 chips, a long way back from the chip leader Justin Zaki, who knew that if he could end the event with the win then he’d be proclaimed the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion too. Little won a coinflip shortly afterwards with ace-jack through Riordan to put himself back on the map.

Davies Delivered as Little Rises to the Top

With seven players remaining, Jim Collopy was the next to lose his stack. All-in with Ac6h, he was called by Jonathan Little with AdKs and the latter held through the AhJh4cQh7c board, chipping up in the process. That pot was crucial for Little who ended the day only on 750,000, some way behind Riordan at the top of the chipcounts with 2.5m chips but it was a vital foothold for the eventual winner.

Down to six on the last day, Shaneil Stokes was the first player to bust. He cashed for $82,500 when all-in pre-flop with 6s6d and unable to hold for his tournament life. Seth Davies had called it off with AcQc and a favorable board of Qh5d5s4d7d saw Stokes take his leave.

Despite winning that hand, Davies was fairly short himself, losing in fifth place for $110,000 a short time later. On a board of Th7d5dQdKc, Davies called off his stack with Ah9c but was wrong to do so, Little having put him to the test with AcKd and ultimately scored another important knockout to move into the second position on the leaderboard.

Zaki Can’t Hold On

Down to four players, Little’s stack of 1.9 million chip was still some way behind Justin Zaki’s 4.2 million as both men attempted to win the overall Championship by virtue of taking the Event #8 title. Only an outright win for either man would prevent David Peters being crowned the champ.

Over an extended period of play without a bust-out, it was Little who took control, rivering an ace in one crucial hand. Soon, the previously dominant Riordan was on the rail with $137,500, his AsJc unable to usurp Zaki’s AcQc to make it even more likely that a heads-up battle would be for both the event title and the championship too.

Justin Saliba’s exit in third for $192,500 confirmed it. Saliba had moved all-in with Ac3h but was crushed by Zaki’s AsAd which held with comparative ease and set up a monumental heads-up battle for both the final title and the $25,000 Championship Bonus and infamous PokerGO Cup.

Little led the way with 4.88 million to Zaki’s 3.37 million and Little extended his lead a little before shoving with Ac3c. Zaki made the call for his tournament life with Kh7h and the flop of Ah9d7s wasn’t a kind one. After the Jc turn, Zaki was drawing to just five outs of a king or seven to the river and when a Jh fell, Jonathan Little was pronounced the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion, winning $453,750 in this final event, Zaki claiming the $288,750 runner-up prize.

He reviewed some of his favorite hands from the event right here.

PokerGO Cup 2024 Event #8 $25,200 Final Table Results:
Place Player Country Prize
1st Jonathan Little United States $453,750
2nd Justin Zaki United States $288,750
3rd Justin Saliba United States $192,500
4th John Riordan United States $137,500
5th Seth Davies United States $110,000
6th Shaneil Stokes United States $82,500

 

After eight stunning events, a final victory for Jonathan Little added to his earlier win in Event #3 – his first title on the PokerGO Tour – gave him the 2024 PokerGO Cup and made many PokerStake investors very rich indeed! With strong performances across the entire series and cashes in four events form eight, Little deservedly won the $25,000 Championship Bonus to go with the $730,000 in tournament winnings.

PokerGO Cup 2024 Final Leaderboard Results:
Place Player Country PGT Points Wins Cashes Winnings
1st Jonathan Little United States 549 2 4 $730,350
2nd David Peters United States 457 2 2 $456,525
3rd Justin Zaki United States 405 1 2 $521,150
4th David Coleman United States 347 1 2 $346,900
5th Seth Davies United States 277 0 3 $321,050
6th Daniel Smiljkovic Germany 261 0 2 $260,750
7th Cary Katz United States 252 1 2 $251,700
8th Justin Saliba United States 250 0 4 $326,875
9th Dylan Weisman United States 240 1 1 $240,300
10th Kristen Foxen Canada 237 0 2 $237,150

 

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