Clemen Deng Takes Home $85,750 and Second PGT Title

Clemen Deng started the final table of Event #4: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2024 Texas Poker Open with the chip lead but watched as Daniel Sepiol did most of the heavy lifting as he eliminated four opponents before Deng took over heads-up to capture the title and $85,750 first place prize. 

Sepiol appeared poised to give short stack Micheal Wang an early double as Wang flopped the nut flush against Sepiol's top pair eights. However, even with the stranglehold on the flop, the turn paired the board, and when the river brought a third seven, Wang stood in disbelief as Sepiol made a full house to send him to the payout desk in seventh place for $9,800.

Sepiol's early run good would continue as he picked up aces in the small blind to send David Mzareulov's pocket queens to their untimely demise. An ace on the turn sealed Mzareulov's fate, and he headed to the payout desk to collect his $14,700 for the sixth-place finish. 

Sepiol took the subsequent elimination off as Octopi Poker Co-founders Andrew Lichtenberger and Philip Shing got into the mix pre-flop, with Shing all-in holding ace-duece against Lichtenberger's pocket jacks. A queen-high board left Shing heading to the payout desk in fifth place for $19,600. 

The final four players all had just over 25 big blinds as play ragged on, and after nearly an hour of passing chips around the table, Deng emerged as the chip leader as short stacks Han Feng and Lichtenberger began to willed down, but it was Sepiol that once again proved the fireworks. 

Sepiol shoved the button with pocket fours, and Han Feng called with king-eight in the big blind for his last three big blinds. A queen-high board left Feng unimproved, and he headed to the rail in fourth place for $25,725. 

One hand after Feng hit the rail, Lichtenberger was all in from the big blind for roughly 1,000,000 chips with pocket eights and was in decent shape when Sepiol tabled ace-eight from under the gun. 

An ace high-flop quickly changed the outlook on the hand, leaving Lichtenberger with just one out to stay alive. The turn and the river bricked, and Lichtenberger headed to the rail in third place for $35,525. 

Sepiol took a slight chip lead into heads-up play after the elimination, but Deng quickly wrestled it away within 20 minutes of play to move himself into position to end the tournament, and deck sealed the rest. 

In a limp pot pre, Deng flopped the top two pair with eights and sixes against Sepiol's eight-nine. Sepiol called bets on the flop and turn, and when the river landed the case eight, his chips were already in the middle before the echo of the words all-in could disapate from Deng. 

Sepiol picked up $53,900 for his third cash of the 2024 Texas Poker Open as the Event #3 champion now has $114,140 in earnings on the week. 

The win marks Deng's second career PGT title and comes nearly two years after he defeated Philip Shing heads-up to capture $158,778 during the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller during the 2022 WPT Seminole Hard Rock - Tampa events. 

Event #4: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em Payouts

Sepiol Up to 78th On Season Leaderboard 

 Not only has Daniel Sepiol picked up three cashes at the 2024 Texas Poker Open, but those three cashes also mark his first scores of the 2024 PGT season, and he now sits in 78th with 115 points. Andrew Lichtenberger picked up his fifth cash on the season with the third-place finish and now sits in 45th with 247 points.

Event #4 Champion Clemen Deng also picked up his third cash of the season and now sits in 74th place with 137 points, but everyone is still looking up at David Coleman, who continues to top the leaderboard with 1,272 points thanks in part to his four early season wins. 

2024 PGT Season Leaderboard

What's Next On the Texas Poker Open Schedule?

Three events remain at the 2024 Texas Poker Open as Event #5: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha is already underway, and you can catch all the day-one action here.

To close out the PGT-qualifying portion of the Texas Poker Open, there will be a $10,100 No-Limit Hold 'em starting on May 1st and a $10,100 Pot-Limit Omaha high roller starting on May 2nd.

All three final tables can be seen on PokerGO with a tentative start time of 11 am PT with Brent Hanks and Jeff Platt on the calls. 

For full PGT schedule information, check out pgt.com/schedule.

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