Justin Young Captures Title and $105,850 in Event #3: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em

Justin Young started the Event #3: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em final table with just ten big blinds, but the savvy cash game pro maneuvered the minefield to capture the title and $105,850 first place prize. 

Things started great for Young as Ryan Riess got his short stack in on the first hand of the final table with ace-jack against the pocket tens of Kristen Foxen. The board ran out nine-high, and Riess headed to the payout desk to collect his $14,600 seventh-place prize as Young secured his first ladder of the day. 

With Young still on a short stack of just eighteen big blinds, Viktor Ustimov four-bet jammed his 1,435,000 with ace-king squarely into pocket kings of David Coleman. Coleman had Ustimov just covered, and the young Russian could only shake his head as the board ran out queen-high, leaving him to collect his $18,250 sixth-place prize. 

Young scored his first full double when he picked up pocket aces on the button against fellow short stack Adekunle Olonoh's jack-ten shove from the cutoff. Young rivered a full house to cross a million chips, and Olonoh was left with just 35,000 as he exited the tournament one hand later in fifth place for $25,550. 

The four-handed play would see four consecutive doubles from short stacks as everyone began to hoover between 20 and 30 big blinds, with Young taking a slight chip lead on the fourth and final double. 

Young would then find his first elimination of the final table when Dylan DeStefano three-bet shoved his last 1,275,000 from the small blind with ace-eight, only for Young to snap call with ace-queen on the button. A queen on the flop sealed DeStefano's fate, and he headed to the payout desk in fourth place for $34,625. 

Young took a two-to-one chip lead into three-handed play and, after both short stacks, found doubles to just over two million. It looked like anyone's ball game, but the deck had other plans. 

With Coleman sitting just 25,000 chips above Foxen in the big blind, Foxen opened to 300,000 on the button with pocket queens. Young moved all in, having both players covered with pocket eights from the small blind, and Coleman snap-called with pocket kings. Foxen also called, and when an eight appeared in the window, Young needed to fade a king or a queen to end the tournament. 

No paint was to be found on the turn or river, as Event #1 winner Coleman collected $69,350 for the runner-up finish and third overall cash of the series. Meanwhile, start-of-day chip leader Foxen had to settle for the $49,275 third-place prize for her first cash of the 2024 PGT season. 

Event #3: $5,100 Final Table Payouts

David Coleman Extends Early Season PGT Lead

By securing his third cash of the PGT Kickoff series, David Coleman now sits with 442 points on the 2024 PGT season leaderboard thanks to the double-point bonus and now finds himself with a great head start to reach the top 40 at the season's end. 

Event #2 and Event #3 winners Dylan Weisman and Justin Young now sit second and third, respectively, as Weisman added 22 points to his total with his tenth-place finish in Event #3. 

Also securing their second cashes of the early season were Viktor Ustimov (6th) and Ryan Riess (7th), but neither could crack the top ten in the standings. Ustimov is knocking on the door in eleventh, eight points behind Matthew McEwan. 

Third-place finisher Kristen Foxen scored her first cash of the 2024 PGT season and, with it, cracked the top ten, as she sits in 9th place with 99 points through three events, but with the majority of the PGT season ahead, it is anyone's ball game in the race for the top 40. 

2024 PGT Leaderboard Top Ten

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