Nick Schulman Leads PGT Last Chance Event #1 Final Table

The PGT Last Chance kicked off on Thursday from the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Event #1: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em. The tournament drew 111 entries and Nick Schulman leads the final seven players.

Schulman accumulated throughout the day and scored a few knockouts down the stretch to hold the overnight chip lead with nearly 30% of the chips in play as he eyes his sixth PGT title. He leads a final table that includes Joao Simao, Victoria Livschitz, Bryce Yockey, Nguyen Le, Matthew McEwan, and Aram Zobian. These seven players will return on Friday at 12 p.m. already guaranteed $44,400. Up top for the winner is the $283,050 first-place prize, 283 PGT points, and the Event #1 trophy.

The field of 111 entrants created a prize pool of $1,110,000 and the final 16 players earned a piece of it. Jeremy Becker was the unfortunate bubble boy when he got kings in against the ace-king of Simao and an ace spiked the river. Nick Petrangelo (16th), David Coleman (15th), Brian Kim (14th), Joseph Cheong (13th), Chris Brewer (12th), Byron Kaverman (11th), Sam Laskowitz (10th), and Martin Carnero (9th) were the first to fall in the money.

Dan Shak got his remaining few big blinds in with suited king-ten against the suited ace-queen of Simao, and when the board failed to give him the best hand, Shak was eliminated in eighth place while the seven remaining players bagged to return for the streamed final table.

PGT Last Chance is the concluding series of the 2024 PGT season and gives players their final opportunity to accumulate PGT points to qualify for the season-ending PGT $1,000,000 Championship, which is open to the top 40 eligible players on the PGT leaderboard.

Yockey is currently on the outside looking in, but he could move into the qualifying zone with a fourth-place finish or better. A win for Simao or Livschitz would move either of them up to the 41st eligible player. Zobian could move into the top 5 on the PGT leaderboard with a win or runner-up finish, while Schulman can enter the top 10 with a victory.

Any player who chooses to play this series could also win a Dream Seat for direct entry into the PGT $1,000,000 Championship, as three will be awarded to the top three point earners of the PGT Last Chance series who do not finish among the eligible Top 40 on the PGT leaderboard.

PGT Last Chance Event #1 Final Table

When play resumes, there will be 24:25 remaining in Level 19 with blinds at 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante.

Play will resume on Friday, January 3, at 12 p.m. PT, and the final table will be livestreamed on PokerGO at 1 p.m. PT.

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