Martin Zamani Outlasts 121 Entrants to Top Largest $10,000 Field in PGT History

Martin Zamani started the Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em final table with the chip lead but had to survive a wild stretch during four-handed play that saw short stacks double six times in a row before he pulled away, eventually defeating Kristen Foxen heads-up for the record-breaking $302,500 first place prize plus the 303 PGT points. 

In what was a sign of things to come, Zamani got the day started by sending Joey Weissman to the rail in seventh place when his king-nine out-flopped Weisman's king-ten, leaving the Weisman shaking his head as the start-of-day short stack collected his $48,400 prize plus the 48 PGT points. 

Zamani would take a back seat for the next elimination as he watched Brek Schutten's pocket eights outlasted the ace-jack suited of Chris Brewer to send the former Oregon Track Star home in sixth place for $60,500 plus 61 PGT points. 

However, what appeared to be Schutten's gain quickly swung the way of Zamani as the two chip leaders collided in a massive three-bet pot that saw Zamani bluff his way into over half the chips in play with ace-queen when the board ran out trip eights, leaving Schutten's flopped set of sevens and turned full house screaming in pain as they found their way into the muck. 

With the other players all sitting on sub-25 big blind stacks, Zimani took a back seat again as Ren Lin and his pocket fives ran square into Rania Nasreddine's pocket queens. Lin could not find one of the remaining fives in the deck and headed out the door to collect his $72,600 fifth-place prize plus the need for 73 PGT points as the fireworks show that was four-handed was about to begin. 

Four-handed play began with Foxen scoring a double through Nasreddine when her ace-king flopped the nut flush against Nasreddine's queen-high flush. However, the attorney from Tulsa, Oklahoma, would not go quietly into the Las Vegas afternoon as she would double twice through Zamani in a matter of minutes to take the chip lead, but her time at the top of the counts would be short-lived. 

In a three-way pot, Schutten and Nasreddine would both flop top-top on a jack-ten-ten board, but Zamani found himself holding a ten from the big blind, and after a bet and a call, he moved all in for over three million. Schutten was able to get out of the way, but Nasreddine could not, and just as quickly as she took the chip lead, she gave it right back to Zamani. 

Schutten's discipline fold couldn't save him for long as his shove from the small blind with jack-deuce moments later ran square into the pocket kings of Nasreddine as the two swapped stacks before Schutten himself would score a double through Foxen one hand later when his pocket tens rivered a set to move back into second on the leaderboard. 

However, with Zamani holding nearly seventy percent of the chips in play and the blinds up to 100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 big blind ante, Foxen, Nasreddine, and Schutten all had sub ten big blind stacks leading to Zamani shoving almost every hand. 

Schutten was the first to fall when his ace jack was outflopped by Zamani's ace eight, leaving the ICU nurse heading to the payout window in fourth place for $102,850 plus 103 PGT points. 

Nasreddine appeared destined for heads-up play as her ace-jack had Foxen's ace-ten dominated, but a ten in the window handed Foxen the double and left Nasreddine with just two big blinds. She got the last of her chips into the middle with jack-duece against Zamani's seven-five, but a seven on the turn and river left her heading to the payout desk in third place for $133,100 plus 133 PGT points.  

Zamani entered the heads-up match with eighty-five percent of the chips. Just two hands in, Foxen was all in with ace-eight but was outmatched by Zamani's ace-ten. Neither player improved their hand, leaving Foxen outkicked as she made her way to the payout desk, finishing in second place with $187,550 and 188 PGT points. 

Event #5: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Event #5 Shakes Up the Series Leaderboard 

For the third time in this series, a new record for entrants into a $10,000 buy-in tournament inside the PokerGO Studio was set as 121 entrants crossed the threshold to battle it out for the record-setting $1,210,000 prize pool, with 18 players finding a piece of the pie during Event #5. 

The win gives Zamani his first cash of the series, and with 303 PGT points, he now moves into the final Dream Seat for the 2024 PGT Championship. Brandon Wilson bubbled Event #5 as his quest for back-to-back-to-back PGT title was cut short, but he remains in the top spot with 583 points, while Shannon Shorr picked up a thirteenth-place finish to add 24 points to his series total to edge Zamani for the second spot on the leaderboard. 

Landon Tice dropped from third to fourth on the series leaderboard after failing to pick up his second cash of the series in Event #5 but is in the driver's seat for one of the six Dream Passes but still sits just five points ahead of David Chen, who also failed to find a cash. 

Dylan Linde, Byron Kaverman, and Stephen Song failed to find a third cash for the series but remain in one of the Dream Pass spots on the leaderboard. 

Keith Lehr was in the final Dream Pass spot after four events, but he now drops to tenth on the leaderboard as third-place finisher Nasreddine's 133 points have her sitting in ninth, two points behind Song for the final Dream Pass and two points ahead of Lehr. 

PGT Last Chance Series Leaderboard

Final Spots in 2024 Top 40 Coming Down to the Wire

No one from outside the top 40 in the 2024 PGT standings made their way onto the leaderboard after another record-setting event . However, none of the eight players inside the top 40 who needed a third cash to qualify for the Championship picked up the required score, either. With only one event remaining, Malo Latinos, Andres Gonzalez, and Jason Sagle will all fall out of the top 40, as the trio only have one cash on the season. 

2024 Main Event Champion Jonathan Tomayo, Online Phenom Niklas Astedt, fellow 2024 Main Event Final Tableist Boris Angelov, 2024 $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Bracelet Winner Elie Nakache, and 2024 $10,000 Mystery Bounty Bracelet winner Matthew Lambrecht also remain on the outside looking in and will have one more chance to pick up a third cash in Event #6 if they want to qualify for the Championship freeroll. 

With three players now mathematically ineligible for the freeroll, Matthew Wantman (41st), Jonathan Little (42nd), and Isaac Haxton (43rd) all find themselves in a position to now find a starting stack on January 10th with a shot to take home the trophy. 

Fourth place-finisher Schutton also now finds himself in a position to take over one of the spots that could be open, as the 103 points he earned in the event now place him in a tie with Sergio Aido for 44th on the leaderboard with 905 points. 

Stephen Chidwick (46th), Danny Tang (47th), and Sam Laskowitz (49th) are in the final three spots to qualify for the Championship automatically but are in danger of falling outside of the top 40, depending on how Event #6 shakes out. 

Laskowitz finds himself in a unique position as he is in the last spot to qualify automatically, but if he falls outside of the top 40, thanks to his four cashes in the first four events of the Last Chance Series, he would currently sit in seventh place with 162 points and wrestle a Dream Pass away from Stephen Song. 

Foxen, Lin, and Joe Serock, who finished 15th, all added to their season totals with points in Event #5 to jockey around the leaderboard, with Lin making the biggest splash as he valuted from 39th to 36th place, giving himself a much-needed cushion. 

The final event of the 2024 PGT Last Chance Series is already underway, and you can catch all the action here before tuning into the final table on January 9th at 1:00 pm PST on PokerGO. 

2024 PGT Leaderboard Top 10

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