Dylan DeStefano Captures First Career Tournament Title and $195,000 in Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em

Dylan DeStefano was down to his last ten big blinds five-handed, but after scoring a triple up through Aram Oganyan and Joey Weissman, he never looked back, picking up big hand after big hand en route to his first career tournament victory and the $195,000 first-place prize in Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em. 

DeStefano found himself all in with ace-queen against the ace-ten of Weissman. Oganyan mucked ace-eight after calling DeStefano's shove but folding to Weissman's re-shove. Weissman flopped outs to broadway and turned outs to a heart flush, but when the river landed a brick DeStefano found the triple to stay alive. 

DeStefano would then sit back and watch as Jim Collopy would send Oganyan out the door in fifth place for $62,400 when he rivered a pair of queens against Oganyan's flopped pair of sevens. 

DeStefano then doubled into the chip lead when his pocket tens held against Weissman's ace-queen, but the chip lead vanished just as quickly as it appeared when Ren Lin ran his short stack into Collopy's pocket aces blind vs. blind to finish in fourth place for $78,000. 

Three-handed play was a back-and-forth battle, as no player would back down from the other in what looked like a match that may go until the wee hours of the morning on the Las Vegas Strip, but the deck had other plans. 

After Weissman doubled through Collopy to move firmly into a second-place chip stack, Collopy was down to his last 14 big blinds when he moved all in from the small blind with king-six, but his fortunes were reversed this time as DeStefano woke up in the big blind with aces. 

A king on the flop gave Collopy a sweat, but when the turn and river bricked out, Collopy headed to the payout desk in third place for $101,400 as DeStefano took a nearly two-to-one chip advantage into heads-up play. 

The deck continued to fall in DeStefano's favor as he picked up kings in back-to-back hands to end the night as Weissman could do nothing but watch as he hit the rail to collect his $132,600 second-place prize. 

The win moves DeStefano into third place in the race for the final two dream seats for the $1,000,000 PGT Championship freeroll, and he will need to continue running hot or get a little help to qualify. 

Event #4 in the PGT Last Chance series was the smallest so far but still saw a turnout of 78 entrants to create a prize pool of $780,000, paying the top 12 spots, and Andrew Lichtenberger was the unfortunate bubble when Oganyan's ace-jack ran down his pocket sixes. 

To add insult to bubble, a cash in the event would have moved Lichtenberger ever so closer to the overall top 40, but for now continues to sit on the outside looking in and will need a cash or two in the final events to vault from his current position of 43rd. 

Once play reached the money, Adam Hendrix and Nick Schulman were eliminated simultaneously on different tables and received $19,500 after splitting the 12th and 11th place prizes. Brazil's Joao Simao was next to fall in 10th place for $23,400 when his ace-nine was outflopped by Samuel Laskowitz's king-ten. 

Event #2 winner Artur Martirosyan (9th) and recent WSOP Paradise bracelet winner Erik Seidel (8th) were next to fall as the players converged on the live-streamed final table of seven. Once action got underway on stream, Event #3 winner Laskowitz was the first to fall as his bid for back-to-back PGT Last Chance titles fell short in seventh place for $39,000. 

Japan's all-time money leader, Masashi Oya (5th), came into the final table with the chip lead but, after doubling up DeStefano on one of the first hands-on stream, could not hold onto it, eventually losing a flip with pocket sixes against Weissman's ace-king for his second cash of the series. 

Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em Payouts 

Event #4 Shakes Up The PGT Leaderboard

As the dust settled following Event #4 of the PGT Last Chance Series, the top 40 looks a little different as Jim Collopy's third-place finish vaults him into 38th place as Chino Rheem drops from the leaderboard. 

Adam Hendrix holds on to the 39th spot with his 12th-place finish, Nick Schulman moves from 11th to 10th with his 11th-place finish, Erik Seidel moves from 12th to 11th with his eighth-place finish, and Ren Lin vaults Alex Foxen to move into the top five with his fourth-place finish. Maxx Coleman now sits squarely on the bubble in 40th place.

The race for the final two dream seats is also heating up as Event #2 Winner Artur Martirosyan currently holds one of the two final dream seats with 242 points thanks to his ninth-place finish in Event #4, and he inches ever closer to the top overall 40 as he now sits in 46th place.  

Event #3 Winner Laskowitz holds the other dream seat and leads Martirosyan by just two points thanks to his seventh-place finish. He will need to continue producing to have a shot at the $1,000,000 PGT Championship with two events remaining as he sits well outside the top 40 overall.  

* Players currently in the Top 40 of the PGT leaderboard have been removed

2 Events Remaining in PGT Season

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

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