Samuli Sipila Wins 2024 PGT PLO Series for Over $1 million in Winnings

Events #9 and #10 of the 2024 PokerGO Tour PLO Series wrapped over the weekend and Finnish player Samuli Sipila was crowned the overall Championship winner for over $1 across the series. With two previous victories in the 10-event series, Sipila’s runner-up result in the $25,000-entry PLO Championship sealed the deal as he celebrated inside the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bumper Field for Biggest Event of the Series

With 72 entries, the $25,000 buy-in PLO Championship paid 11 places as Day 1 ended just after the bursting of the money bubble. Tomas Ribeiro was the man to miss out on profit, losing out to Bruno Furth. Soon after, Lou Garza cashed for the first part of the $1.8 million prizepool, Seth Davies flopping a straight to eliminate his fellow American for $54,000.

That pot was enough to give Davies the lead heading into the final day, with a stack of 3.4 million all others, with only Sipila (2.3m) having over half of his amount. Davies and Sipila seemed on collision course from the off and so it proved. The first player to depart on Day 2 was Ronal Kelijzer, whose own strong series showing took a hit when his flopped pair of aces lost to Davies’ flopped flush to send the Dutchman home for $54,000.

After Sipila won with quads, the next hand saw the demise of a tournament winner from early in the series, as Dylan Weisman lost for the same amount in 9^th place. Out after an ace-high flush on the river for Furth, Weisman’s exit was followed by that of Ian Matakis. He also lost his stack to Furth, this time when Furth flopped a pair of nines and held through turn and river to send Matakis home with $72,000, forming the final table in the process.

Furth Can’t Finish

Coming into the final seven with the lead, Bruno Furth was the man to watch initially, but his hopes faded late. Instead, others came forward to challenge. Joao Simao up another solid result for Brazil in seventh, cashing for $72,000 too, before American Sean Winter followed in sixth place for $90,000, his two pair on the turn usurped by Sipila’s full house on the same street.

Opening event winner Allan Le saw his hopes of a miraculous leaderboard win fall four places short as he busted in fifth for $126,000. Le moved all-in on the turn with aces and sevens but Sipila had turned a full house with aces in the hole and saw it out to move into the lead at an important time. Stefan Christopher busted in fourth for $171,000 when Furth’s two pair queens and jacks nudged the American home outside the podium places.

Furth ended a long period of play without an elimination on the rail, cashing for $243,000 in third when his jack-four full house on the flop was desperately unlucky to be overtaken on the river by Davies’ jack-five when a board of [pokercard=Jh][pokercard=Jc] [pokercard=4d] [pokercard=2h] [pokercard=5h] played out. That gave Davies a vital foothold with 6.25 million against Sipila’s 8.17 million chip lead.

Heads-up, Seth Davies defeated Samuli Sipila heads-up to win his first-ever PLO tournament title, the golden trophy, and the top prize of $522,000. A topsy-turvy battle saw both men hold the lead over an hour as Davies finally established a commanding lead before his pocket kings ended ahead of Sipila’s paired sevens on the flop then held through turn and river to capture the title.

Calderaro Wins Final Event as Sipila Ends on Top

In the tenth and final event of the series, James Calderaro won the $56,700 top prize as three players cashed, Allan Le (2^nd for $31,500) and Alex Condon (3^rd for $16,800). That result propelled Allan Le into sixth place on the PGT PLO Series leaderboard, with his 291 PGT points just ahead of Ronald Keijzer.

Top of the shop was Samuli Sipila, who finished top with $776,140 with 749 points on the board. Including bounties, Sipila cashed for over $1 million in the series, some way clear of Eelis Parssinen in second place. With the best two players from Finland, Seth Davies (3^rd with the top prize of $522,000 in Event #9), Dylan Weisman (328,105) and Stefan Christopher ($369,250).

Here’s how the final top 10 leaderboard ended up in the 2024  PokerGO Tour PLO Series: