The record books will reflect that there was an official winner in Event #1 of PokerGO’s 2021 Poker Masters ($10,000 No Limit Hold’em), but it was hardly a definitive one as Shannon Shorr and David Peters effectively “played to a tie” on Wednesday night.
After a lengthy, see-saw heads-up battle that lasted nearly two hours, the duo agreed that, in order to play the next event (Event #2), that they would simply split up the remaining prize pool and flip for leaderboard points. In the end, all the chips ended on Shorr’s side of the table and he was crowned the winner of the tournament and given 1st place points.
The 12-event Poker Masters kicked off with 82 entries of Event #1 pushing the prize pool to $820,000. After a full day of play, the final seven returned for Day 2 to crown a winner and try to award a $205,000 first-place prize.
Coming into the final table with fewer than ten big blinds, Ben Yu wasn’t long for the final table busting in the day’s opening moments when he got all-in with 
against Shorr’s 
. When the board ran out 
, Yu tapped the table and exited in seventh place for $41,000.
With the blinds at 25,000/50,000 (50,000 bb ante), Shorr opened to 100,000 on the button with 
. In the small blind, Brock Wilson looked down at 
and made the call. Then from the big blind, John Riordan who started the day as the second shortest stack moved all-in for his final 10 big blinds with 
. With the action on Shorr, he four-bet shipped all-in having Wilson covered. Wilson quickly released and the cards were put on their backs. The flop came 
, giving Riordan top pair and putting him in a good spot to double up. However, the turn quickly put Shorr back in charge as Riordan was left looking for one of just two outs. The river ended Riordan’s day in sixth place, good for $49,200.
The final five battled for nearly two hours until the next player made their exit. The blinds had climbed to 40,000/80,000 (80,000 bb ante) and Jonathan Jaffe found himself on the short stack with roughly ten big blinds. When it folded to him in the cutoff with 
, Jaffe moved all-in. It folded through to Wilson in the big blind with 
and he quickly made the call. The 
flop gave Wilson top pair and a commanding lead in the hand. The turn came the 
bringing some additional gutshot straight outs for Jaffe. But the [ spiked on the river and Jaffe moved his chips into the middle, collected his belonging, and headed to the cage to collect $65,500 for fifth place.
After losing a big hand against Peters, one in which Wilson was all-in with 
against Peters’ 
, Wilson moved to the bottom of the chip counts. At the 50,000/100,000 (100,000 bb ante) level, Wilson and Peters clashed again. Peters put in a raise on the button to 225,000 with his 
and Wilson, in the big blind with just under 10 big blinds remaining, defended holding the 
. The flop came , giving both players top pair but keeping kickers in play. Wilson checked it over to Peters who bet the minimum, 100,000. Wilson then check-raised all-in and Peters made the call. The turn was the , bringing Wilson some chop outs. But the 
ended Wilson’s run in fourth place, adding $82,600 to his bankroll.
READ: Empire State to Sin City: Brock Wilson Ready for Breakout Moment
At three-handed, the chip stacks evened out until at 50,000/125,000 (125,000 bb ante) Shorr crept out to a small lead, while Peters and Dylan DeStefano remained neck and neck. On the button, Peters looked down at 
and put in a raise to 250,000. After Shorr folded his small blind, action was on DeStefano in the big blind with and just under 20 big blinds. He took a long look at Peters and then announced he was all-in and Peters, with the bigger stack, snap-called. The brought DeStefano a whole host of outs including potential flush, pair and backdoor straight outs. The turn was was the , leaving DeStefano with one more chance to his 10 outs. It didn’t come, the river was the 
and DeStefano wrapped up in third place for $98,400.
After taking out DeStefano, Peters started head-up play with a slight chip lead but Shorr was quick to even the stacks. Then the pair went to battle. Shorr built a considerable chip lead of roughly four-to-one and then Peters doubled. Shorr built it back up and Peters continued to hang around and then he took the lead. The pair bounced back and forth each taking turns trying to eliminate the other. All the while, registration for Event #2 was coming to a close and both players were eager to make sure they registered.
Peters held a 7.6 million to 2.6 million chip lead over Shorr, at the 100,000/200,000 (200,000 bb ante) level, when he open shipped the big stack holding . Shorr made the call holding the 
and it looked like Peters might finally lock up the win. The 
flop gave Shorr a flush draw which came in on the turn. Peters needed a nine on the river to take the hand, but instead the river came the and the pair were back to even with a quarter of an ante difference between them.
At that point, they agreed to a deal (that may have been agreed to earlier) and then flipped for leaderboard points.
“We’re effectively calling this a draw,” said PokerGO commentator Jeff Platt.
“We can do an adjusted chop,” Shorr said, indicating that what little difference there was would be split in the aftermath.
They both shipped all-in blind with Shorr winning the hand and being declared the official winner, claiming first-place leaderboard points.
Poker Masters Event #1 Final Table Results
- Shannon Shorr – $205,000 officially*
- David Peters – $147,600 officially*
- Dylan DeStefano – $98,400
- Brock Wilson – $82,000
- Jonathan Jaffe – $65,600
- John Riordan – $49,200
- Ben Yu – $41,000
* Specific details of the deal were not made public but were discussed in the broadcast.