Rok Gostisa Continues Hot Streak With Win At PokerGO Tour Championship

The inaugural running of the high-stakes PokerGO Tour came to a conclusion on Dec. 21, with the completion of the season-ending 2021 PokerGO Tour Championship $50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller. A total of 46 entries built a prize pool of $2.3 million, with $689,1000 going to eventual champion Rok Gostisa. He overcame starting the final day as the short stack to come away with the title and the largest live payday of his tournament career.

“I didn’t expect to win because I came in seven out of seven, so it feels amazing,” Gostisa told PokerGO reporters after the win.

The Slovenian poker pro earned 510 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. He is having his best year ever on the live tournament circuit, having made eight POY-qualified final tables and won three titles along the way. With more than $1.4 million in POY earnings, he now sits in 84th place in the 2021 POY race sponsored by Global Poker.

He also scored 413 PokerGO Tour points as the champion. With 1,042 points to his name, he ended the inaugural PGT season in 40th place.

Although the score didn’t count towards either of the previously mentioned points races, Gostisa did also secure a World Poker Tour Online main event title earlier this year, topping a field of 1,179 entries in a $5,300 buy-in event to earn $959,493 and his first WPT title.

Gostisa overcame a stacked final table on the way to this latest title, quickly climbing from the shortest stack at the table to one of the leaders before the first knockout of the day took place. Four-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsch was the first to fall, losing a classic race to Sergi Reixach to finish seventh ($92,000).

Ren Lin (6th – $138,000) was the next to go, with his J-10 failing to outrun Gostisa’s pocket sixes. Recent WPT Rock’N’Roll Poker Open runner-up finisher Jacob Ferro placed fifth in this event after he got all-in with A-2 offsuit and was unable to beat the pocket tens of a surging Gostisa.

2018 Card Player Player of the Year winner Jake Schindler ran pocket sevens into the pocket aces of four-time bracelet winner Michael Gathy and was knocked out in fourth place ($253,000).

Three-handed action lasted more than 90 minutes, but eventually, Reixach was eliminated in third place ($345,000) when the accomplished Spanish poker pro got all-in with Q-J and found himself dominated by the K-Q of Gostisa.

With that Gostisa took 4,475,000 into heads-up play with Gathy, who sat with 2,425,000. Gathy overtook the lead late in the battle after calling all-in with jacks up against an all-in bluff from Gostisa. Gostisa managed to score two quick double-ups to regain the lead just in time for the final hand of the event. He shoved from the button with 76 and Gathy called all-in for just shy of 20 big blinds with QJ. The board came down AA7A6 and Gostisa made aces full of sevens to lock up the pot and the title. Gathy earned $598,900 for a career-best payday, increasing his lifetime earnings to moire than $3.8 million in the process.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.