Billy Tarango Captures First Live Tournament Win in Event #2

Billy Tarango came into the final table with exactly zero bounties and was near the bottom of the chip counts to start the day, but after a massive hand with Jesse Lonis three-handed that saw Tarango come from behind to snatch over eighty percent of the chips in play he closed out the day in style to take home his first live tournament win, the $88,245 first-place prize plus $85,000 in bounties and the title in Event #2: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Progressive Bounty at the 2025 PGT PLO Series.  

The Event #2 final table with a bang as Lonis got it all in on a flop with against James Chen's . A six on the turn gave Lonis a pair, and when the river gave Lonis two pair, Chen was out the door in fifth place for $28,620 plus $16,000 in bounties. 

Lonis held over eleven million chips after Chen's elimination and looked to be pulling away before handing Stephen Hubbard his first double, which would turn out to be one of many doubles for him as the final table unfolded.

Hubbard would then put those newfound chips right to use as he got all of them into the middle with against Arthur Morris' on . Hubbard would turn two pair with a king, and Morris failed to connect on the river as he hit the payout desk in fourth place for $35,775 plus $8,000 in bounties. 

Lonis would then soar back to the top of the counts as he picked off Hubbard with the king-high flush in the river. Hubbard tried to get fancy with the nut blocker, but Lonis didn't have the lead long. Tarango, who had just sat around to this point at the final table, then scored a double through Lonis to move near the chip lead before the biggest hand at the final table unfolded. 

With Hubbard sitting at just under 1,500,000, Tarango and Lonis got 16,300,000 of the 19,875,000 chips in play into the middle on a flop of . Tarango held for jacks and sixes but trailed Lonis, who had for jacks and sevens.  

A hit the felt on the turn, and Tarango went for one foot out the door to a full house, and when the river landed, the Lonis was left with just over 2,000,000 chips while Tarango had eighty-two percent of the chips in play. 

Lonis never recovered from the shock of that turn card and hit the rail in third place for $47,700 plus $35,000 in bounties after Tarango's bottom set bested his flopped top pair and a gutter as Tarango now had ninety-one percent of the chips in play. 

This is where the fun began for Hubbard, who dropped under a million in chips before scoring three consecutive doubles to make a game of the heads-up match. Hubbard would run his stack all the way up to over 8,000,000 before Tarango could turn it around. 

Tarango would river a seven-high straight and pick off Hubbard's river bluff to stop the bleeding, and then dramatically ended the tournament as he got all the chips into the middle with a pair, a couple of straight draws, and a spade flush draw against Hubbard's naked aces. 

A spade on the river gave Tarango the flush, and Hubbard was out the door in second place for $88,245 plus an impressive $34,000 in bounties. 

Event #2: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Progressive Bounty Final Table Results

Tarango Takes the Lead in Race for Player of the Series

The 159 entrants into Event #2, matched PGT PLO Series II 2024 Event #2: $5k Pot-Limit Omaha Progressive Bounty for the largest bounty tournament in PokerGO Tour history, and tied for the fifth largest $5,000 buy-in tournament of all-time. 

Twenty-three players got a piece of the $795,000 prize pool with Chen (US), Morris, Kamel Mokhammad (12th for $11,925), Sean Winter (16th for $7,155), Samuel Sternfield (19th for $5,247), and John Riordan (23rd for $5,247) all picking up their second cashes of the series. 

While John Richards (6th for $23,850), Tyler Brown (7th for $19,080), Joao Simao (8th for $19,080), Nick Schulman (9th for $14,310), Patrick Leonard (10th for $14,310), Jim Collopy (11th for $11,925), David Mzareulov (13th for $9,540), Lautaro Guerra (14th for $9,540), Jordan Spurlin (15th for $7,155), Noah Schwartz (17th for $7,155), Allan Le (18th for $7,155), Spencer Simpson (20th for $5,247), Sean Troha (21st for $5,247) and Maksim Pisarenko (22nd for $5,247) all picked up their first cashes of the series in Event #2.

The win gave Tarango 182 points, putting him two points ahead of Ky Nguyen for the top spot on the series leaderboard through two events. Chen (US) made back-to-back final tables and sits in third with 130 points, while Riordan and Morris sit tied in seventh place with 71 points and the two cashes. 

Rounding out the top five are the two second-place finishers from Events #1 and #2, with Matthew McEwan holding the slight edge over Hubbard with 119 points. While final tablists Lonis, Bryce Yockey, and Jeremy Ausmus closing out the top ten. 

2025 PLO Series Leaderboard

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