The opening event of the 2024 PokerGO Tour PLO Series saw a win for Allan Le as 132 entries were whittled down to a winner inside the busy PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. The $5,000 buy-in event saw appearances from Bryce Yockey and Sean Troha at the final table as an overnight underdog won the first trophy.

Zolotow Zapped with Seven Left

With 19 of the 132 entries making the money places, it was Bradley Ruben who was the unfortunate ‘bubble boy’  to cash for nothing in 20^th place, as Adam Hendrix took him out when his caught two kings on the flop against Ruben’s aces in the hole. Players such as Todd Stewart (19^th), Chris Frank (17^th), Jim Collopy (16^th) and Joao Simao (15^th) snuck into profit, each of that trio winning $9,900.

Once inside the final nine, Kyle Merron won $19,800 in ninth place when his pair of nines with a gutshot couldn’t hit, Hendrix again the deliverer of pain as his flush came in to reduce the field to eight. It too some time, but Hendrix saw his stack dwindle from dominant to defeated, all-in with the best of it on the flop but falling to Bryce Yockey’s turned straight.

Seven remained, but only six would make the official final table. Steve Zolotow was the man to miss out, as he fell to Yockey too. All-in with a pair of aces on the flop, Zolotow was flushed away by Yockey when he made spades on the turn and another spade on the river only underlined the elimination, Zolotow leaving with $26,400.

Troha Taken Out Early

With six remaining, Bryce Yockey held the chip lead, and it was a huge advantage over the rest of the field. With over 6 million in chips, Yockey’s closest rivals were Portuguese player Joao Pedro, who sat on 3 million and Frederick Hoban (2,675,000). Elsewhere, the final table line-up was completed by shorter stacked players Sean Troha (1,855,000), Allan Le (1,550,000) and Fernando Habegger, who brought up the rear on 1,310,000 chips.

First to leave the final was actually the fourth in chips Troha, who saw Le move oast him before a doomed move to reassume control fell flat. All-in pre-flop with against Le’s , the flop of was a disaster for the at-risk player, as Le hit Broadway. A on the turn meant there would be no recovery for Troha, who was shaking hands and heading to the rail by the time the landed on the river, Troha collecting $33,000 for finishing in sixth place.

Next to go was Hoban, who cashed for $39,600 in fifth. Once again it was the resurgent Le who added more chips to a stack that no longer sat near the bottom of the counts, instead having the outright lead. Hoban held draws on the flop but missed both flush and straight chances as Le’s top pair of tens on the flop held through turn and river to reduce the field to four.

Yockey Can’t Jockey into Position

With four players remaining, perhaps the most crucial elimination of the event took place. Fernando Habegger was representing Switzerland at the final table and his cash of $52,800 was, like the Swiss flag, a big plus. Losing with effectively jacks in the hole against Le’s kings, the pot went to the eventual winner and was a major factor, bumping Le’s stack to 9.55 million. Behind him sat Yockey (3.7m) and Joao Pedro (3.25m).

The next bust out was vital and when it came, Le took out Pedro in third place. Had Yockey pulled the trigger, the elimination would have given him the same approximate stack as the chip leader but instead, Le claimed a 3:1 lead going into the final battle. Pedro lost with a pair of jacks after Le’s pocket fours in the hole picked up another on the flop to send the Portuguese player home with $72,600.

Heads-up took less than eight minutes to draw to a conclusion. Yockey four-bet all-in pre-flop with and was called by Le with . The board of saw Yockey’s cowboys shot down by Le’s rockets and the runner-up took home $99,000. Le picked up $161,700 and the first trophy of what is sure to be an entertaining festival of PLO fun in Las Vegas.