Nick Schulman Wins First Event of 2025 for $283,050

After a nearly two-hour heads-up battle, Nick Schulman finally put away Joao Simao as the start-of-day chip leader closed the door on Event #1: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em to capture the trophy and $283,050 first place prize to kick-off the PGT Last Chance Series. 

Schulman took a back seat on the days first hand as he watched Simao send Aram Zobian to the rail in seventh place for $44,400 but quickly got into the action, falling to the bottom of the chip counts in the process when his ill-timed river bluff landed smack into Simao's nut straight. 

The trip to the bottom of the chip counts didn't last long as he scored a double through Matthew McEwan the very next hand and moved to second in chips shortly thereafter as he sent PGT newcomer Nguyen Le to the rail in sixth place for $55,500 in what would be a preview of things to come for Schulman. 

As the action began to settle down, Simao and Schlman could only watch on as McEwan would get the last of his chips into the middle with pocket three against the ace-king of Bryce Yockey. The board double-paired, leaving McEwan's pocket threes dust as he hit the payout cage in fourth place for $72,150. 

Yockey would be the next to fall as his flopped top pair ran into the slowplayed pocket kings of Simao. Yockey turned a wheel draw but could not improve on the river as he collected $99,900 for his fourth-place finish. 

Victoria Livschitz bobbed and weaved her way through the final table as the Octopi Poker Co-founder found a pair of doubles, but her run would end in third place for $127,650 when her ace-three was outflopped by Simao's king-five. 

Simao would take the chip lead into the heads-up match and would work his way up to a five-to-one chip lead, eventually having Schulman down to his last card, but a king on the river gave Schulman broadway for the first of many doubles during heads-up play. 

Simao once again built a sizeable chip lead, but Schulman would stay undeterred as he scored his second double to pull even in chips when his ace-king bested the Brazilian's king-nine. 

Not to be outclassed, Simao continued to battle as the two went punch for punch, with both players taking the chip lead at various times before Simao once again pulled in front when Schulman shoved the river with fours full only to see Simao table eights full.

However, what the deck giveth the deck can quickly take away as Simao once again had Schulman on the ropes and down to his last two cards, but Schulman made a pair on the turn to best Simao's pocket ducks to re-take the chip lead. 

With the blinds climbing to nosebleed levels and just a few big blinds on the table between them, Simao would move all-in with jack-duece only to run square into Schulman's jack-seven. A seven on the river sealed it, and Simao headed to the payout desk in second place for $177,600. 

The win marks Schulman's second victory of the 2024 PGT season and his eighteenth overall cash, giving him 1,686 points on the year as he moves into the top 10 on the overall leaderboard and heads into the 2024 PGT Championship. 

Event #1: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Brian Kim Secures His Third Cash, Qualifies for PGT Championship

Event #1: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em drew 111 hopefuls and created a prize pool of $1,110,000, with the top sixteen players finishing in the money and picking up the coveted PGT points as they look to qualify for the year-end PGT Championship. 

Brian Kim started Event #1 already inside the top 40 on the season leaderboard, but with just two cashes was sitting on the outside looking in and almost found himself the bubble boy as his ace-jack went down in flames to McEwan's pocket kings but with four big blinds after the hand spun it up to a 14th place finish to secure his place in the top 40. 

Fourth-place finisher Yockey is still in the outside looking in when it comes to the top 40, but by picking up 100 points in the event, he now sits in 48th overall with 823 points, and depending on how things shake out over the final five events could find himself in position to vault into the championship event. 

Also sitting outside of the top 40 are Simao and Livschitz, but thanks to their finish in Event #1, they now hold two of the three Dream Seats that will be given away during PGT Last Chance. McEwan also sits outside the top 40 but, thanks to his fifth-place finish, holds the final seat after one event. 

Also sitting outside the top 40 are Nguyen Le, Dan Shak, Martin Carnero, and Sam Laskowit, but courtesy of their cashes, they have positioned themselves with a leg up on the competition as four dream passes will be handed out, giving those players a seat into the Dream Seat Invitational on January 9th, which will award the final six seats into the 2024 PGT Championship. 

PGT Last Chance Leaderboard

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 “PGT2024” at checkout.