Masato Yokosawa Captures 1st PGT Title and $142,800

Fireworks were the theme of the Event #3: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table, and when the smoke cleared, it was start-of-day chip leader Masato Yokosawa who emerged victorious to take home his first PGT title and the $142,800 first-place prize. 

Yokosawa got the fireworks going when he picked up pocket rockets within the first few hands to send start-of-day short stack Justin Saliba and his pocket queens to the payout cage in seventh place for $22,400 plus 45 PGT points in a sign of things to come. 

As the dust settled from the first volley, new short stack Blake Vogdes found the first of his four doubles at the final table when his pocket jacks held to send Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel tumbling down the leaderboard, although not by much. 

Seidel and Vogdes would then take a back seat as Michael Vanier would fall when his jack-eight off failed to improve in a blind vs. blind battle against Neil Warren's ace-four. Vainer flopped an open-ended straight draw but could not hit, leaving him to collect his $28,000 plus 56 PGT points for the sixth-place finish. 

In another blind vs. blind battle, Seidel would be the one to find jack-eight from the small blind, but this time suited in spades, but he also could not improve, thus sending half his stack to Nicholas Seward and his pocket sixes. 

Vogdes would then double two hands in a row before he, too, would get in a blind v. blind with Seidel. Vogdes open-shoved the small blind with queen-seven of spades only for Seidel to hold pocket sixes in the big blind. While Seidel couldn't find any spades, Vogdes turned the flush to send Seidel home in fifth place for $36,400 plus 73 PGT points. 

With the elimination, Vogdes appeared poised to run away with the tournament as he went from short stack to near chip leader in three hands, but he too would send half his stack Seward's way as his pocket sevens could not hold against Seward's ace-king. 

Vodges dropped to just over ten big blinds after the double and got the rest in with queen-ten of hearts against the pocket threes of Neil Warren. No hearts, queens, or tens materialized on the board, and Vogdes' roller coaster of a day ended in fourth place for $50,400 and 101 PGT points. 

Three-handed play started with all three players sitting within a few big blinds of one another. Seward looked to be pulling away from the field with a couple of shrewd moves, but he too would find himself on the wrong end of a blind vs. blind cooler as his ace-queen of diamonds from the small blind ran square into Warren's ace-king in the big blind. 

Neither player made a pair, and once again, all three players were separated by just a few big blinds. Seward and Yokosawa would then trade doubles before Yokosawa would lay the perfect trap. 

In another blind vs. blind battle, Yokosawa limped, Seward raised to 700,000, and Yokosawa just called. A ten-high flop saw Seward continue for 325,000 with Yokosawa to see the bottom card pair on the turn. Seward fired again for 825,000, and Yokosawa called once more. 

The river failed to change the texture much, and Yokosawa moved all in with Seward snap calling for 2,000,000 with king-ten for two pair with a king kicker. Yokosawa, however, showed pocket aces for a better two pair, and Seward headed to the payout desk in third place for $64,400 plus 129 PGT points. 

Heads-up play was quick work as Yokosawa took a nearly two-to-one chip lead in the match with Warren. Warren had a chance to take the chip lead but could not pull the trigger with his jack-high, leaving Yokosawa's queen-high good to take down the pot.

With just over ten big blinds left, Warren moved it all into the middle with ace-six and looked in great shape when Yokosawa called with ace-deuce suited, but a deuce in the flop sent the business mogul to the rail to collect his career-high cash of $89,600 plus 179 PGT points for the second place finish. 

Event #3: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Patrick Leonard Remains Atop the Season Leaderboard 

Event #3 continued the trend of growing the field as 112 hopefuls made their way inside the PokerGO Studio, marking the third-highest number of players for a $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Event in PGT history, creating a prize pool of $560,000 with the top 16 players finding the money. 

Yokosawa's win earned him 286 PGT points, but it was only his first cash of the season, thus leaving Event #2 winner Patrick Leonard and his 292 points still atop the leaderboard. Leonard failed to find a third cash in a row to start the season, and neither did John Riordan, but Seidel, Seward, Jesse Lonis (8th), and Bertrand Rosique (10th) all joined them in the two-cash club, with Seward reaching the highest on the leaderboard at 163 points good for fifth place. 

Seidel and his two final tables sit just outside the top ten with 107 points and trails Matthew McEwan by two points for that final spot in the top ten. 

PGT regulars Shannon Shorr (11th), Dylan Linde (12th), Mitchell Halverson (13th), Kristen Foxen (15th), and Joao Simao (16th) all picked up their first cashes of the season, as did 2024 WSOP Bracelet winner Francis Anderson (9th) and Poker Vlogger and the Lodge co-owner Brad Owen (14th). 

The last $5,100 buy-in of the series is already underway as Event #4 looks to continue the pace set by the first three events, and you can catch all the action from the PGT Live Reporting team here before seeing the final table on January 24th at 1:00 PM PST on PokerGO from inside the triangle studio.

2025 PGT Leaderboard Top Ten

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