Shannon Shorr Tops Largest $10,000 Buy-in Field in PGT History

Shannon Shorr started the final table of Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold near the bottom of the chip counts, but an early double through start of day chip leader Stephen Song propelled the Alabama native to the top counts, giving him all the momentum as he would go on to capture the title and $297,500 first place prize. 

In a classic flip, Shorr held pocket jacks against the ace-king of Song, and when a jack hit the felt on the flop, he never looked back despite handing start of the day short stack Ren Lin a double a few hands later.

PGT regular Adam Hendrix was left with the shortest stack after the Lin double, and he was out the door shortly thereafter in seventh place for $47,600 when his king-queen was left in shambles by Joe Serock's flopped full house.   

Lin would score the ladder but would go no further as Song's ace-king would out-kick his ace-jack, sending "Mr. No Gamble No Future" home in sixth place for $59,500, but more importantly, he picked up 60 PGT points, which now puts him into the season-long top 40 with 964 points.

With the remaining five players sitting above 20 big blinds, it appeared a long, drawn-out final table would be upon us. Still, moments later, Serock open-shoved the small blind for just over two million chips with eight-six, only for Ben Tollerene to make the call with ace-six in the big blind. 

Both players flopped a pair of sixes, and it appeared Tollerene was poised to make his way to the top of the mountain, but running straight cards gave Serock a queen-high straight and left Tollerene to collect the $77,350 fifth place prize, and with it 77 PGT points.

An hour after the Tollerene elimination, Shorr and Song would tangle once again, with Song, the player, at risk after getting his last million chips in with ace-eight against Shorr's king-queen. A king on the flop sealed Song's fate, and he headed to the payout desk in fourth place, earning $101,150 plus 101 PGT points. 

MIT graduate and relative unknown David Chen became an instant fan favorite when he took home the title in Event #5 of the 2024 Poker Masters for the largest score in his career and had a chance to top that as he came into the day second in chips.

However, he would have to settle for his second career six-figure score when his king-queen would out flopped Shorr's ace-seven only to see an ace on the turn, leaving him headed to the payout desk to collect $130,900 and 131 PGT points for third-place effort. 

The elimination meant Shorr and Serock would be separated by just 25,000 in chips as the heads-up match began, but two hands later, all $18 million chips belonged to Shorr. 

The first hand saw Serock three-bet fold nine-deuce of spades from the big blind against Shorr's pocket kings to drop him from seven million to five million in chips before getting it all in with pocket fives against Shorr's ace-six the next hand. 

Two aces hit the board on the felt, and what looked like another long heads-up battle was done in the blink of an eye as Serock headed to the payout desk in second place for $184,450 plus 184 PGT points. 

Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Race for Final Three Dream Seats and Dream Passes Heats Up

The win marked Shorr's third cash of the 2024 PGT season, making the long-time pro eligible for a spot in the 2024 PGT Championship. Still, with only 477 points overall, he sits well outside the top 40, meaning he's now in the driver's seat for one of the three Dream Seats set to be given away during PGT Last Chance. 

Shorr tops Event #1 runner-up Joao Simao by over 100 points and can potentially lock up a spot in the freeroll with another cash or two over the final four events. Simao has Event #2 third-place finisher Chen covered by 47 points, while Chen is only three points ahead of Victoria Livschitz for the third and final Dream Seat. 

Livschitz may currently be on the outside looking in to lockup her place in the Championship Event with a seat, but thanks to her 128 points, she is poised to score one of five Dream Passes, which would qualify her for the place in the Dream Seat Invitational on January 9th which is awarding another six seats into the Championship Event. 

Song, Matthew McEwan, Sam Laskowitz, and Nguyen Le join Livschitz in the Dream Pass spots; however, McEwan, Laskowitz, and Le are separated by just sixteen points, meaning it's still anyone's game with four events to play. 

PGT Last Chance Leaderboard

Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em Draws Largest $10,000 Field in PGT History

One hundred nineteen entrants entered the PokerGo Studio for the second 2024 PGT Last Chance series event, creating a prize pool of $1,190,000, topping the previous mark of 114 set during the opening event of the 2023 Poker Masters. 

PGT regular Brock Wilson just missed out on taking home some of the record prize money when his pocket tens were outturned by Serock's ace-king, leaving the Poker Coaching instructor not only on the outside looking in for the event but also stuck on 820 PGT points for the year, as he currently sits nine spots out of the top 40. 

Stephen Chidwick is also outside the top 40 on the season leaderboard, but the U.K.'s all-time money leader managed to pick up 24 points for his 13th-place finish and now sits 45th with 894 points. Laskowitz also picked up his first cash of the series but still has work to do. The New York pro sits in 58th place with 749 points but does hold one of the five Dream Passes slots. 

After bubbling Event #1, Becker locked up his first cash of the series with an eighth-place finish good for $47,600 and 48 PGT Points, but he too sits outside the top 40 in 56th place with 758 points and is trailing Laskowitz by 21 points for a Dream Pass heading into the final four events of the season. 

With Lin's cash, Justin Saliba dropped from 40th to 41st on the season leaderboard and now trails Jonathan Little by two points for the final spot in the 2024 PGT Championship and will need to pick up a cash or two if he is to vault back into the mix. 

2024 PGT Season Leaderboard Top 10

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