Ben Tollerene Wins Event #8: $25,200 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, Denies Samuli Sipila back-to-back PGT PLO Series Titles

Ben Tollerene sat in the middle of the pack as eleven players made their way back inside the PokerGO Studio for day two of Event #8: $25,200 Pot-Limit Omaha of the 2024 PGT PLO Series II, presented by PLO Mastermind. After enduring a grueling eight hours of play against some of the best PLO players in the world emerged victorious to capture the $496,000 first place prize. 

The day started on the bubble as only nine of the starting eleven would find a cash, and it wasn't long before short stacks Eelis Parssinen and Alex Foxen found themselves heading to the rail as Foxen was the untimely official bubble when his top two pair were no match for Fernando Habegger flopped queen-high straight. 

From there, a quick series of eliminations saw Billy Tarango (9th place for $46,500) and Jesse Lonis (8th place for $62,000) hit the rail as the final seven players converged on the final table. Harbegger would then miss out on the streamed portion of day two as his flopped two pair were rivered by Samuli Sipila's heart flush sending the PLO Mastermind founder out the door in seventh place for $62,000. 

Josh Arieh would then fall in sixth place for $85,250 after Sipila rivered a straight to send the final five players on a short break as they made their way inside the Triangle Studio for the streamed portion of the event. 

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With the blinds sitting at just 20,000/40,000, Michael Duek headed to the final five as the short stack but had a healthy 35 big blinds, while chip leaders Tollerene, Sipila, and Joni Jouhkimainen all had over 75 big blinds to play with. 

The deep stacks provided a fair amount of play, and no one was afraid to put chips in the middle. Each of the four of the final five would make their way into the chip lead at one point or another, and chips flew around the table for nearly three and a half hours with no eliminations. 

Ben Lamb was the only player never to find the chip lead five-handed but briefly looked as though he was poised to break into the action when he saw a double through Tollerene to move into second place, but he would then double Sipila moments later to fall right back to the bottom of the counts. The roller coaster of a day finally ended for Lamb when his pocket aces cracked by Jouhkimainen's flopped set of jacks, sending him to the rail in fifth place for $116,000. 

One hand after Lamb hit the showers, Michael Duek would four-bet shove pocket kings for over two million in chips only to see Tollerene call with ace-king, who would river the nut flush to send the 2023 WSOP Third Place Finisher home in fourth place for $155,000. 

Ten minutes later, Jouhkimainen would find himself out the door in third place for $217,000 when his pair with the nut flush draw and a wheel draw had twenty outs on the turn but failed to improve as Tolerene rivered a straight to take a three to one chip lead into heads-up play in a flash. 

The heads-up match between Tollerene and Sipila lasted nearly an hour, but the Finn could never find his footing as the chip lead proved to be too much, and he would bow out in second place for $310,000 when his flopped top pair of sevens was outkicked and then out turned by Tollerene's nines and sevens. 

Event #8: $25,200 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship Payouts 

Tollerene Denies Sipila Back-To-Back PGT PLO Series Titles 

When heads-up play began, Samuli Sipila found himself in a familiar situation as the Finnish Pro had captured the 2023 PGT PLO Series II title with a runner-up finish in the championship event but needing a win this time around, fell just short as Tollerene's chip lead was too much to overcome. 

With the win, Tollerene captured enough points to move into the top ten on the leaderboard, but with this being only his first cash of the series, Matthew Wantman still sits in the top spot with 439 points. At the time of this writing, the results of Event #9: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty (1 Day) are still to be decided, meaning Wantman does not have a lock on the top spot and can still be passed for the player of the series title. 

The only player still in the field in Event #9 that has a chance to catch Wantman is Daniel Negreanu, but "Kid Poker" would need to take home a win in the event and would need to see Wantman crash out early. 

PGT PLO Series II Presented by PLO Mastermind Top Ten

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