Sternheimer Beats Negreanu to PGT Mixed Games Series Event #7 Title and $164,000

Another fantastic final table saw Event #7 of the 10-event PokerGO Tour Mixed Games Series end with a clash for the ages as Philip Sternheimer beat Daniel Negreanu heads-up to claim the trophy. The PGT Mixed Games Series reached the $10,200 Dealer’s Choice event and at a final table also featuring Phil Hellmuth and Adam Friedman, there was drama right up to the last card.

The Poker Brat Breaks Free

The previous day’s play in this event had ended in huge drama as Phil Hellmuth, a.k.a. The Poker Brat, came into play with just half a big bet, refusing to end play after the level they were playing, instead choosing to head to the final day and hope that one epic comeback could help him to a miraculous win. That wasn’t to be, however, as ‘Big Phil’ was pincered from proceedings by both Maxx Coleman and Adam Friedman, Hellmuth’s enemy the night before when it came to ending play either four or five-handed.

In a hand of Stud, Hellmuth could only find two small pairs, and Coleman’s two pair queens and jacks prevailed, chipping him up to 965,000 and sending Hellmuth home in fifth for a score of $37,600. With Friedman on 1.4 million, he was still some way behind Sternheimer (2,495,000) and Daniel Negreanu (2.25 million) as four-handed play began.

Maxx Coleman’s resurgence was slowed in its tracks after an orbit where he came up short and in Omaha Hi-Lo, he shoved for his last 135,000 chips, called by both Negreanu and Friedman. The board ran out and it was Kid Poker who crushed him, as a ten-high straight did for the at-risk Coleman and he slid out in fourth place for $49,350.

Friedman Fails to Make Heads-Up

Adam Friedman had hoped play would end a little later on Day 1 but on Day 2 of this two-day event, the opposite was true. In Limit Hold’em, Friedman was all-in pre-flop for 1,125,000 with . He was way behind Sternheimer’s and that stayed the case through the board.

Friedman was out in third for $68,150 and that pot helped Sternheimer go into the final battle with the chip lead of 4.18 million. Daniel Negreanu held 2,865,000 chips but he wasn’t second in chips for long, with a board of prompting a big pot-sized raise to 1.33 million from the Canadian.

Sternheimer had a big decision but made the call with , only to be wrong, as Negreanu’s hand was revealed as . With a turned two pair, Kid Poker took the lead, with almost twice the number of chips that the British player had.

Sternheimer Steals the Victory

Sternheimer’s back was against the wall but again in Limit Hold’em, he turned it around. A board of saw Sternheimer take a big one without showdown before a second board that didn’t go to showdown once against saw Negreanu fold on fifth street. The chips had changed, with Sternheimer now holding a better than 2:1 chip lead.

In Stud Hi-Lo, Negreanu’s tournament was over and not in the way he had planned. Unable to improve his hand on seventh street, Kid Poker was out in second place, so near to his second PGT title of the year but falling short with $103,400. Sternheimer took home $164,500 for the victory and in doing so, slid into 8^th place on the top 10 Championship leaderboard, with Negreanu in 5^th courtesy of his three cashes from seven events.

In Event #8, the $10,200 Big Bet Mix event, just five players remain overnight and it is Negreanu who leads again, a pile of 1.8 million chips in front of him at the end of Day 1, with Jeremy Ausmus (1,595,000), Walter Chambers (780,000), Jerry Wong (690,000) and Dan Shak (685,000) still in the ‘Big Bet’ mix too.