Matthew Wantman Captures PGT PLO Series II Event #1: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Title

Matthew Wantman started the final table of Event #1: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha with just 11 big blinds, but after a fortuitous early double stormed through the field en route to the title and the $150,500 first-place prize. 

"It's been a long time coming," Wantman said of his first PokerGo Tour title. "I love playing in the studio and just wanted to win one for a long time. (I had) been heads-up in a PLO Event before with (Adam) Hendrix, and I thought I won on the river, thought it was over. Then I realized he had a straight flush, so it's extra special to win it in PLO, my favorite game."

Wantman flopped top two pair against Benjamin Juhasz's turned straight draw, and when the river paired the board, Wantman would quickly find himself moving up the leader board. 

Wantman would then score the day's first elimination when his king-high outlasted the eight-high of Mathyeu Provost as the Canadian took home $43,000 for his sixth-place finish. 

Juhasz would be the next to fall at Wantman's hand when his pocket kings fell to Wantman's rivered straight to send the Hungarian out the door in fifth place for $51,600. 

Start of the day, chip leader Jim Collopy would finally put those chips to use when he eliminated Quan Tran in fourth place for $64,500 when his turned straight bested Tran's pocket kings with a flush draw.  

Wantman would continue his rampage three-handed as he quickly sent Evgeni Tourevski to the rail when he rivered a flush, sending the Tourevski home with a career-best cash of $86,000 for the third-place finish. 

Heads-up play began with Wantman holding a nearly two-to-one chip advantage, but Collopy would slowly battle back as he pulled to within a million chips, but the cards fell Wantman's way. 

In a limped pot with the board reading , Wantman checked. Collopy bet 750,000, and Wantman potted to 3.45 million. Collopy quickly moved all in for 9.425 million, and Wantman called having him just covered. 

Wantman had flopped top two pair with an eight-high flush draw, while Collopy had flopped top pair with a jack-high flush draw. The turn and river bricked out, sending Colloipy home in second place for $111,800.

The win puts Wantman on top of the PLO Player of the Series leaderboard and in hot pursuit of the added $25,000 prize money, but a family member's wedding will keep him out of several events in the near future, meaning it is anyone's game. 

"I'd be lying if I didn't say I wanted to stay here and play, miss the wedding," Wantman said after his victory. "Family comes first, obviously, but I'm going to be back as soon as I can for the tournament on Sunday and hopefully take home the $25K."

How the Rest of the Tournament Played Out

The PGT PLO Series II 2023 opening event saw 172 entrants walk through the door of the PokerGo studio, which created a prize pool of $860,000, with the top 25 players taking home a piece of the prize. 

Notables to fall on day one included inaugural PGT Super High Roller Bowl PLO winner Jared Bleznick, 2023 WSOP Main Event fourth-place finisher Jan-Peter Jachtmann, 2023 WSOP Main Event eighth-place finisher     Juan Maceiras, as well as PGT regulars Daniel Negreanu, Sam Soveral, and Jeremy Ausmus all left the studio empty handed. 

Looking to continue his dominance of recent weeks inside the PokerGo Studio, Chino Rheem ran his stack to the top 26 of Event #1, but his luck would stop there as Rheem ran into James Chen's (US) flopped set of sixes to burst the money bubble. 

Eliminations were fast and furious after that as the field narrowed to the final six. Taking home the min-cash of $8,600 were Josh Arieh and Christopher Costa, PGT Super High Roller Bowl PLO fourth-place finisher Isaac Kempton finished in 23rd place for $12,900, Fernando "JNandez" Habegger finished in 15th for $17,200, PGT Mixed Game Series II Event #8 Champion Maxx Coleman finished in 12th place for $25,800 and Zachary Schwartz just missed out on the televised final table when he finished in seventh-place for $34,400. 

Event #1: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Payouts

Connect with PokerGO.com on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Watch daily poker clips on the PokerGO YouTube channel. Join the conversation on the PokerGO Discord server. You can save $20 off an annual subscription to PokerGO.com by using the code “PGT2023” at checkout.