The penultimate PokerGO Cup event saw Thai player Punnat Punsri become the champion, earning a top prize of $310,000 to go with the PokerGO Tour trophy and plenty of leaderboard points. With just one event to come, Anthony Hu leads the race for the overall series victory.
Reaching the Final Five
There was a total of 31 entrants into this no limit hold’em event, with the buy-in of $25,000 not putting any of the top players in Las Vegas off entering. The prizepool was therefore $775,000 and the top prize of $310,000 was what everyone was chasing. On the opening day of the vent, it was all about making the final table, with only the five players who would make it getting into profit for their hard work at the purple felt. Both Bill Klein (8th) and Nick Schulman (7th) came close to the money without reaching it.
In the end, it was Sean Winter, the winner of the opening event of the 2023 PokerGO Cup who bubbled. Winter was all-in and at risk with the best hand, but his pocket tens were shot down by Dan Colpoys’ pocket eights, with all the chips committed pre-flop. Winter looked glumly at the felt as a clean flop of 7-2-2 and turn of a six were followed by an eight on the river to give Colpoys a two-outer that set all the remaining five players into the money places.
At the stage, it was the American David Peters who led the field, his stack of 1.4 million chips some way clear of Daniel Negreanu (1,180,000), the only other player above a million in chips. When the chips were bagged up at the end of the night, Colpoys had 835,000, Sam Soverel had 620,000 and Punnat Punsri was the short stack with 570,000 at blinds of 10,000/15,000 with a big blind ante of 15,000 too.
Soverel Slain Early
Sam Soverel has an outstanding record in PokerGO Events and the American’s record had continued into 2023. Cashing in fifth place, he would have been disappointed to get so close to the title without winning it, especially when all-in with the best of it against Daniel Negreanu. Soverel was committed with ace-king and started his final hand ahead of Kid Poker’s ace-queen.
The flop of T-8-7 was a king one for Soverel, but in the clash of two North Atlantic giants, Negreanu moved ahead on the turn of a queen. Soverel looked rueful, and another seven on the river did nothing to change his mood, as he slid out of contention for $54,250.
Negreanu took the chip lead with that hand, but he wasn’t the only one making moves and climbing the leaderboard. Punnat Punsri began his ascent by knocking out the overnight chip leader as the former short stack at the start of five-handed play grabbed a crucial elimination. Peters held queen-six with all his chips in the middle, but he was dominated and defeated by Punsri, whose king-queen reigned supreme.
Even Battle Sees Negreanu Top $50m But Bust Third
With three players remaining represented by three countries, Daniel Negreanu was the next to lose. With three left, Kid Poker (1,765,000) was the marginal chip leader over Punsri (1,625,000) and Daniel Colpoys (1,260,000) as three-handed play began. Negreanu was lowest when he shoved with ace-queen, but Punsri’s ace-ten hit on the T-8-8 flop, with the four on the turn and deuce on the river no use to the Canadian.
It was a sad end for Negreanu, but it was not all disappointing. With that cash, he climbed past $50m in tournament earnings in his glittering career. He also remains in with the slimmest of chances of winning the 2023 PokerGO Cup too, but he would need to win the $50,000-entry Event #8 which completes the series.
After the drama of yesterday’s heads-up battle in Event #6, Punsri’s lead of 2:1 over Colpoys provoked a much more straightforward conclusion today. On a board showing J-8-2-2-4, Colpoys bet 80,000 chips with 450,000 behind holding ten-eight. Punsri shoved with jack-nine and Colpoys made the call to give the win away to Punsri, the title worth $310,000, Colpoys collecting $201,500 in second place. For Punsri, it was his first-ever win in the PokerGO Studio, and both he and Colpoys will be going for the PokerGO Cup in the final event.
2023 PokerGO Cup Event #7 $25,000 NLHE Final Table Results: |
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| Place | Player | Country | Prize | |
| 1st | Punnat Punsri | Thailand | $310,000 | |
| 2nd | Daniel Colpoys | U.S.A. | $201,500 | |
| 3rd | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | $124,000 | |
| 4th | David Peters | U.S.A. | $85,250 | |
| 5th | Sam Soverel | U.S.A. | $54,250 | |
Heading into the final event, Orpen Kisacikoglu is fifth in points on 261, with Aram Zobian (292) and Punnat Punsri (335) behind Alex Foxen (343). The current leader in Anthony Hu on 454 points and given his lead, the other players will be hoping or both a bumper field and for Hu to miss the money to have a good chance of catching him. Its sure to be a thrilling conclusion to the first massive high roller series of the year on PokerGO.
