James Chen Captures First Career PGT Title in Event #4: $10,100 Pot-Limit Omaha

James Chen started the day with the chip lead and held an 11-to-1 advantage to begin heads-up action against Nacho Barbero, but after Barbero battled back to near even, he agreed to a heads-up deal before ultimately closing out Event #4: $10,100 Pot-Limit Omaha of the 2024 PGT PLO Series II, presented by PLO Mastermind, for $220,000. 

Barbero started the day by eliminating Joni Jouhkimainen when Barbero's pocket kings decimated Jouhkimainen's pocket aces. Jouhkimainen flopped top set and looked in great shape to double, only for the dealer to spike a heart on the turn, giving Barbero the king-high flush. 

Jouhkimainen headed to the payout cage in seventh place for $40,000, and from then on, it was all Chen until heads-up thanks to a massive pot with Eelis Parssinen. 

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With three limps in front of him, Chen raised to 300,000 from the big blind and only saw Parssinen call from the button. The flop came ten-high two hearts, Chen potted, Parssinen re-potted all-in for 1,300,000, and Chen called. 

Chen held an over pair with queens, while Parssinen was left with just a pair of eights plus a flush draw. The turn and river bricked, Parssinen headed to the showers in sixth place for $50,000, and Chen held nearly 45% of the chips in play. 

With the other four players all near even in chips, Chen would double up Samuel Sipila before he picked up pocket aces against Sipila's pocket queens. All the money got in before the flop, and when Chen rivered a flush, he sent Sipila to the rail in fifth place for $65,000 and had nearly 70% of the chips in play. 

Chen continued his onslaught when he sent Event #3 champion Matthew Wantman to the rail in fourth place when the pocket ladies again held on for the chip leader, leaving Wantman to collect his $90,000 prize.

One hand later, Chen sent Sean Rafael to the rail when his pocket aces faded the word on the turn, leaving Rafael with just two pair against Chen's top set. Rafael never got anything going at the final table and walked away with $115,000 after coming into the day third in chips. 

As heads-up play began, Chen would hold 11 million to Barbero's one million in chips, but despite the disadvantage and with the long-time Argentinian Pro being seemingly more interested in the baseball game going on, he scored a pair of doubles, the second of which garnered him the chip lead. 

At this point, Chen and Barbero agreed to the deal, which saw them each take home $200,000 and play for the remaining $20,000. Chen would then take the chip lead back before closing out the tournament with a pair of queens after Barbero could not find his flopped Broadway wrap. 

Event #4: $10,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Payouts

Wantman Picks Up Third Cash to Stay Atop Series Leaderboard 

Event #4 was the first $10,100 buy-in of the series, and 100 hopefuls made their way inside the PokerGo Studio, creating a cool $1,000,000 prize pool with the top 15 finishers making the money. 

For the second event in a row, Maksim Pisarenko found himself on the outside looking in as the Russian Pro was eliminated on the bubble when his pocket kings were cracked by Sipila's turned straight. 

With the win, Chen picked up his second cash of the series but trails Event #3 winner Wantman by 25 points as his fourth-place finish marked his third cash in as many events. Runner-up Barbero and third-place finisher Rafael also picked up their second cash of the series to move into the top ten. 

Sixth-place finisher Parssinen and 15th-place finisher Dylan Linde also picked up their third cashes of the series, but both sit outside the top ten and have work to be done if they want a shot at the added prize money, 

PGT regulars Jim Collopy (13th), Jeremy Ausmus (12th), and Alex Livingston (9th) all picked up their second cashes of the series in Event #4, but none of the trio has reached a final table and also sits well outside the top ten. 

The PGT PLO Series II continues with Event #5: $15,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Progressive Bounty, and you can catch all the day one action here before tuning into the final table on October 19th, at 1:00 p.m. from inside the Triangle Studio. 

PGT PLO Series II Top Ten Leaderboard 

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