The inaugural Texas Poker Open’s $3,300-entry Main Event was won last night in Houston, Texas by the Chinese high roller regular and popular poker professional Ren Lin. Chastising himself on Day 2 for “gambling too much”, Lin’s reigned in the big moves and played superb smallball poker to land yet another major title in a burgeoning live poker career.

Tale of the Tape for Texas Poker

The Champions Club in Houston, Texas is part-owned by Phil Hellmuth and if The Poker Brat guarantees drama whenever he is at the felt, this newest major poker live event seemed to be playing out drama in Hellmuth’s good name. There were 735 entrants in the Main Event, a super-strong showing, especially for a first-time event in a state not visited for poker as frequently as Nevada or Florida, for example.

Across seven Day 1 flights, a total of 86 players made it to Day 2 and into the money places, with big names and special guests among them. Players such as Jeff Platt (75^th), Matthew Wantman (85^th) and Clemen Deng (80^th) all gathered in $6,000 as a min-cash.

Others finished further up the leaderboard but missed out on the final table, such as Aram Zobian (56^th for $7,500), Josh Arieh (55^th for $8,400), Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger (33^rd for $11,000), Victoria Livschitz (28^th for $12,500), David Coleman (27^th for $12,500), Jeremy Becker (21^st for $16,000) and Shaun Deeb, who won $27,000 in 15^th place but still made a loss after buying into the event an astonishing 13 times.

Hanks Hits the Heights

When Duante ‘DJ’ Alexander busted in 10^th place for $40,000, the final nine were formed. The chip leader at the time led the field of 15 heading into the final day and had grown his lead after those initial six eliminations. Yunkyu Song had 15,150,000 chips and that was some way clear of Ren Lin’s stack of 7.55 million in second place.

First to leave the final was Miguel Use, whose was all-in on a board of against the of Daniel Moran. The British player had a lot of live outs with the straight and flush draws and a on the river came in for the spade flush. Use, from Belgium, was out and cashed for $40,000 in ninth place.

The 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess cashed for $52,000 in eighth when his were unlucky to lose to Song’s when a cruel board ran out to give the latter the nut flush against Reiss’ second nut flush. Soon, seven were six as Riess’ fellow American Tyler Brown busted in seventh for $66,000. All-in with on a flop of , he too was unlucky to fall, as Ren Lin’s got there not on the turn but the river.

PokerGO commentator Brent Hanks had made it all the way to the final half-dozen but that was where his story ended as he cashed for $83,000. The former WSOP bracelet winner called off his stack with on a board showing . Jonathan Tamayo held the best hand with and survived Hanks’ flush and straight outs when a river saw him depart to warm appreciation from his fellow players.

Lin Wins as Moran Goes Close

As the fight intensified for the Texas Poker Open Championship Belt, Daniel Holmes found the puzzle too tricky to solve to bust in fifth place for $103,000. Shoving with , he lost to Lin’s when a pre-flop shove and call was followed by a board of .

Next to go was the overnight chip leader, as Song hit a bum note. All-in with on a flop of , Song’s hand was behind Daniel Moran’s , and a turn and river ended the American’s hopes of victory. Song’s exit in fourth for $133,000 was followed by that of Jonathan Tamayo in third for $180,000, also losing to Moran.

The final showdown saw Moran’s 20 million chips only marginally behind Lin’s 23 million. With 150 big blinds on the table, play might have been expected to go deep. Instead, Moran five-bet shoved all-in with and Lin called it off with , a board of leaving the English player drawing dead by the river.

Lin’s success saw him grab a third PokerGO Tour title and as he lifted the belt, he could celebrate his latest win – this time worth $400,000 – bump his career earnings to over $5.34 million.

You can watch all the drama of the final table of the 2024 Texas Poker Open right here. From Daniel Moran’s stunning rise to Ren Lin’s eventual victory, it was unmissable drama on PokerGO.

Photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of the Texas Poker Open and the forthcoming 55th Annual World Series of Poker.