Daniel Geeng Locks Up PokerGo PLO II Series Title With Clutch Championship Win

The second-ever PokerGO Tour festival to exclusively feature pot-limit Omaha events proved to be a huge success, much like the first. The PGT PLO Series II was held inside the PokerGO Studio from Oct. 19-30. It drew 968 total entries across its ten events, resulting in $9,693,500 in prize money paid out along the way.

Daniel Geeng came away with the most earnings of any player. The Hanover, New Hampshire resident came into the final day of the $25,200 championship event needing a top-two finish in order to lock up the player of the series award and the $25,000 bonus that comes with it. Geeng delivered when it was all on the line, closing out the series with an outright victory for a career-best $487,500 payday and his first major live victory.

All told, Geeng cashed for $851,160 in total prize money during this series, including the $148,000 in bounties he earned during his runner-up showing in the $15,100 progressive bounty event. Geeng ultimately cashed in four of the ten tournaments offered, with his pair of top-two finishes coming in the highest buy-in events on the schedule.

His run started out fairly slowly with an 11th-place finish in the $7,600 bounty event and a 14th-place showing in the first $10,100 buy-in PLO event of the festival. Those two scores were good for $42,950 collectively, along with 33 PGT points. His second-place finish in event no. 4 is where he really began to pick up steam, as he earned $172,270 from the main prize pool as the runner-up, as well as 145 points. His final win added another 293 points to give him a 116-point margin of victory over the nearest competition when the dust settled.

Before his impressive breakout performance at this series, Geeng had just shy of $120,000 in recorded earnings. Now, he is a PGT series champion.

Early Series Winners

The series started with a $5,100 event, attracting 172 entries, building a prize pool of $860,000 that was ultimately paid out among the top 25 finishers. It was World Poker Tour champion Matthew Wantman who ultimately walked away with the largest share of the prize money, taking home $150,500 and his sixth recorded title.

Three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Jim Collopy finished second for $111,800, the first of several scores he would go on to record during the festival.

Eelis Parssinen scored the final knockout in the $7,600 buy-in bounty event, outlasting 149 entries. The Finnish poker pro came into the final table with the chip lead and converted that advantage into the title and the $149,000 top payout from the main prize pool. He also collected 12 bounties along the way, good for an additional $30,000. Like Collopy, the Finnish bracelet winner was far from done adding to his totals from this first score.

Parssinen squared off for this title against a fellow bracelet winner in Allan Le, who took home $104,300 and $27,500 in bounty payouts for his runner-up showing. Le ended with four cashes during the series totaling nearly $206,000.

The first $10,100 event on the agenda drew 103 entries to create a $1,030,000 prize pool. Stephen Hubbard, who was fresh off a seventh-place finish in event no. 2, emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $231,750. This was the first six-figure tournament score for Hubbard, who hails from Sandy, Utah. This was also his first live tournament title, with just 11 previously recorded in-the-money finishes to his name.

On the way to victory, Hubbard made a royal flush against bracelet winner Dylan Weisman. Weisman went on to finish fifth for $77,250.

Keeping the theme of massive hands shown down at the final table going, Adam Hendrix took down the next event holding quads. The $15,100 progressive bounty event attracted 101 entries, creating a final prize pool of $1,515,000. Hendrix walked away with the title and $324,710 in total prize money after he rivered four fives to best the turned nines full of none other than Daniel Geeng.

With bounties factored in, this was the third-largest score for the 31-year-old Hendrix. He was awarded $172,710 from the main prize pool and $152,000 in bounties.

Richard Gryko finished third for $118,080 in total prize money. This was the UK resident’s third cash of the series, having also placed 20th in the kickoff event and third in the first $10,100 buy-in of the festival.

Bryce Yockey overcame a field of 114 entries in the next $10,100 event for the top prize of $239,400. This was the sixth-largest tournament score of Yockey’s career, with the biggest being the $511,147 he took down as the winner of the 2017 WSOP $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better championship event. The victory pushed his lifetime tournament earnings past $4.1 million.

Simao Takes Over

The sixth tournament on the agenda featured a unique format. The $10,100 Omaha dealer’s choice allowed competitors to choose from one of four games to be played for each orbit. The options were pot-limit Omaha, five-card pot-limit Omaha, pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better, and Big O (five-card pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better).

A total of 65 entries were recorded, creating a prize pool of $650,000. In the end, it was two-time bracelet winner Joao Simao who dragged the last pot to earn the title and the top prize of $182,000. Simao now has nearly $6.1 million in recorded tournament earnings after this latest victory.

This was the Brazilian poker pro’s third cash of the festival. The 182 points he secured for the win were enough to move him inside the top five in the series-long points race.

Simao, who had also cashed in both event no. 2 and no. 5, went on to make back-to-back-to-back final tables in events 6-8. He backed up his win in the Omaha dealer’s choice with a fourth-place showing in event no. 7 and then a seventh-place finish in event no. 8, which switched the game from high only to the eight-or-better variant.

As a result of his five cashes and one title, Simao would be the player to beat heading into the final day of the festival.

While Simao finished fourth in event seven, it was Hungary’s Benjamin Juhasz who earned the title and $206,400. This was his third cash of the series, having also finished fifth in the kickoff event and 17th in event no. 5.

Juhasz overcame Collopy heads-up to secure the win. Collopy went on to cash two more times in the final two events of the series, bringing his total for the festival to five cashes for $348,210. As a result, he ended up in fifth place in the final rankings.

The lone dedicated PLO8 tournament of the festival was won by Zhen Cai, who was on a roll down the stretch. The 2019 WSOP main event sixth-place finisher cashed in three straight $10,100 buy-in events, improving his placement each time as he went.

He finished sixth in the Omaha dealer’s choice event, fifth in a pot-limit Omaha event, and came away with the title in event no. 8, earning $176,000 as the champion. Cai now has more than $3.3 million in career earnings after this latest victory.

This trio of deep runs resulted in 284 PGT points and $283,800 in earnings, which ended up being good for seventh on the leaderboard after all was said and done.

Meanwhile, as the main event played to a champion, the $2,100 five-card PLO closing event was also being held. The single-day affair drew 48 entries to create a $96,000 prize pool. Only the top seven finishes made the money, with David Wang coming away with the title and $32,640.

Geeng Finishes Strong

Geeng needed to make it down to heads-up play in the $25,200 championship to earn Player of the Series honors. Of course, this would be no easy task as the event drew 75 entries, which created a final prize pool of $1,875,000.

The top 11 finishers ultimately made the money, with the bubble bursting late on day 1. Collopy was knocked out in 11th place before the remaining 10 contenders bagged up for the night with Geeng in the lead.

The final day saw several big names fall on the way down to the official final table, including event no. 4 champion Adam Hendrix (10th), 2022 WSOP main event third-place finisher Michael Duek (9th), and bracelet winner and 2019 WSOP main event third-place finisher Alex Livingston (8th).

Bracelet winner John Riordan (7th – $93,750) was the next to fall, with his pocket aces unable to hold against the Q-10-10-9 of Harsheel Kothari, who rivered two pair to narrow the field to six. Mark Berente got the last of his short stack in with a pair and a gutshot against the pocket aces of Benjamin Juhasz. Berente picked up a flush draw on the turn as well, but a blank on the river saw him eliminated in sixth place ($112,500).

Despite scoring that knockout, Juhasz was ultimately the next to be sent to the rail. He got all-in on a K 10 6 flop with J 10 9 8 facing the A K K 3 of Geeng. The 3 on the turn and 3 river saw Geeng improve to a full house, while Juhasz settled for $150,000 for his fifth-place showing. With four cashes for $425,100 in total earnings and a win in event no. 7, Juhasz ended up in second place in the final series standings.

Geeng’s next big clash saw the chips go in on a J 6 2 flop. Geeng held middle pair and a king-high flush draw, which was trailing the top pair and nut flush draw of Parssinen. The turn gave Geeng queens up to take the lead, however, and a brick on the end sent Parssinen home with $187,500 and a bad beat story. The Finnish player finished third in the series points race with $423,380 in earnings across five cashes, including a victory in event no. 2.

Geeng had more than three times more chips than his nearest competitor when three-handed action began. Harsheel Kothari’s run then ended in brutal fashion, with his flopped set of queens losing to the pocket kings of Veselin Karakitukov after the chips went in. Karakitukov spiked the higher set on the turn and held from there to send Kothari packing in third place ($243,750).

Heads-up play began with Geeng holding just shy of a 2:1 chip lead over Karakitukov. It didn’t take long for the final hand of the tournament to arise. Geeng raised with K K 8 3 from the button and Karakitukov defended his big blind with 6 4 2 2. The flop came down K 7 2 and Karakitukov check-raised Geeng’s continuation bet with his bottom set and a flush draw. Geeng flat called with his top set and the 8 rolled off on the turn. Karakitukov checked and Geeng bet 900,000.

Karakitukov check-raised all-in for 4,025,000 and Geeng quickly called. The 7 on the end gave Geeng kings full of sevens for the win. Karakitukov earned $337,500 as the runner-up. He cashed three times during the series for a total of $402,400, enough to land in ninth place in the final series ranks. ♠

PGT PLO Series – Aria – Las Vegas, NV

Event Player Payout (POY)
$5,100 PLO
Oct. 19-20
Entries: 172
Prizepool: $860,000

1 Matthew Wantman $150,500 (624)
2 Jim Collopy $111,800 (520)
3 Eugeni Turevski $86,000 (416)
4 Quan Tran $64,500 (312)
5 Benjamin Juhasz $51,600 (260)
6 Mathyeu Provost $43,000 (208)
7 Zachary Schwartz $34,400 (156)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$7,600 PLO KO
Oct. 20-21
Entries: 149
Prizepool: $1,117,500

1 Eelis Parssinen $149,000 (576)
2 Allan Le $104,300 (480)
3 Dustin Goldklang $74,500 (384)
4 Sean Winter $59,600 (288)
5 Dylan Weisman $44,700 (240)
6 Brian Rast $37,250 (192)
7 Stephen Hubbard $29,800 (144)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$10,100 PLO
Oct. 21-22
Entries: 103
Prizepool: $1,030,000

1 Stephen Hubbard $231,750 (600)
2 Vasil Medarov $164,800 (500)
3 Richard Gryko $123,600 (400)
4 Karel Mokry $97,850 (300)
5 Dylan Weisman $77,250 (250)
6 Cliff Josephy $61,800 (200)
7 Eelis Parssinen $51,500 (150)
Event Player Payout (POY)
$15,100 PLO KO

Oct. 22-23

Entries: 101
Prizepool: $1,515,000 1 Adam Hendrix $172,710 (720)
2 Daniel Geeng $172,710 (600)
3 Richard Gryko $109,080 (480)
4 Christian Heich $86,355 (360)
5 Daniel Negreanu $68,175 (300)
6 Joni Jouhkimainen $54,540 (240)
7 Sam Soverel $45,450 (180)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$10,100 PLO
Oct. 23-24
Entries: 114
Prizepool: $1,140,000

1 Bryce Yockey $239,400 (600)
2 Kyle Merron $171,000 (500)
3 Jeremy Ausmus $125,400 (400)
4 John Riordan $102,600 (300)
5 Artem Maksimov $79,800 (250)
6 Ben Yu $68,400 (200)
7 Alex Foxen $57,000 (150)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$10,100 PLO Dealers Choice
Oct. 24-25
Entries: 65
Prizepool: $650,000

1 Joao Simao $182,000 (360)
2 Alex Foxen $123,500 (300)
3 Jordan Spurlin $84,500 (240)
4 Tyler Brown $65,000 (180)
5 Veselin Karakitukov $52,000 (150)
6 Zhen Cai $39,000 (120)
7 Jim Collopy $32,500 (90)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$10,100 PLO
Oct. 27-28
Entries: 86
Prizepool: $860,000

1 Benjamin Juhasz $206,400 (480)
2 Jim Collopy $141,900 (400)
3 Joni Jouhkimainen $107,500 (320)
4 Joao Simao $86,000 (240)
5 Zhen Cai $68,800 (200)
6 Matthew Wantman $51,600 (160)
7 Florian Langmann $43,000 (120)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$10,100 PLO 8
Oct. 28-29
Entries: 55
Prizepool: $550,000

1 Zhen Cai $176,000 (300)
2 Ryan Rapaski $115,500 (250)
3 Jesse Lonis $77,000 (200)
4 Nick Schulman $55,000 (150)
5 Adam Hendrix $44,000 (125)
6 Bryce Yockey $33,000 (100)
7 Joao Simao $27,500 (75)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$25,200 PLO
Oct. 29-30
Entries: 75
Prizepool: $1,875,000

1 Daniel Geeng $487,500 (588)
2 Veselin Karakitukov $337,500 (490)
3 Harsheel Kothari $243,750 (392)
4 Eelis Parssinen $187,500 (294)
5 Benjamin Juhasz $150,000 (245)
6 Mark Berente $112,500 (196)
7 John Riordan $93,750 (147)

Event Player Payout (POY)
$2,150 5-Card PLO
Oct. 30
Entries: 48
Prizepool: $96,000

1 David Wang $32,640
2 Quan Tran $21,120
3 Tyler Brown $14,400
4 Ronald Keijzer $10,560
5 Dan Schimmel $7,680
6 Jim Collopy $5,760
7 Ted Forrest $3,840

PLO Series II Leaderboard