Eli Elezra Wins PGT Mixed Games $10,300 Triple Stud Mix Event

Eli Elezra is the latest champion to be crowned at the inaugural PGT Mixed Games festival. The Poker Hall of Fame member and five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner outlasted a field of 60 entries to capture the title in the $10,300 buy-in triple stud mix, a format that features rounds of seven-card stud, seven-card stud eight-or-better, and razz.

Elezra earned $155,000 as the champion, bringing his career tournament earnings to just more than $5.4 million. The 62-year-old now has 16 recorded tournament wins, with four (including three of his five WSOP bracelets) coming in a tournament featuring exclusively stud variants.

This victory also bestowed plenty of rankings points on Elezra. 360 Card Player Player of the Year points were enough to move him inside the top 300 in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker. The 180 PokerGO Tour points he secured moved him inside the top five in the player of the series race for the PGT Mixed Games festival and made him a top 20 contender on the season-long PGT leaderboard.

This event played out over the course of two days at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Day 1 concluded following the elimination of Hall of Fame member Jennifer Harman in seventh place ($30,000). Elezra took the chip lead into day 2 after chopping the pot that sent Harman to the rail in a round of stud eight-or-better.

Yehuda Buchalter (6th – $36,000) was the first to fall, with his pair of tens running into jacks up for Philip Sternheimer during a round of stud. The German soon followed, though, as Yuval Bronshtein made a wheel on seventh street to drag the pot. Sternheimer took home $48,000 for his fifth-place showing.

After the game switched to stud eight-or-better, four-time bracelet winner John Monnette found himself on the hot seat. Monnette eventually got all-in on fourth street in a three-way pot with Bronshtein and three-time bracelet winner Dan Zack. Zack ended up folding to a bet on seventh and Bronshtein showed sizes full of queens to best Monnette’s pair of aces. Monnette, who paused heads-up play in event no. 2 of this series to be able to enter this event, finished fourth for $60,000. He is set to resume his battle for the trophy with Albert Daher at 11:00 AM on Wednesday.

Zack’s run in this event concluded when his two pair and a gutshot ran into the higher two pair of Bronshtein. Zack got all in on sixth street and had outs, but was unable to improve and finished third for $84,000.

Heads-up play began with Bronshtein holding a healthy lead over Elezra. A double-up for Elezra saw things evened out a bit. At that point, the pair agreed to a deal that guaranteed $135 for Elezra and $145,000 for Bronshtein (who still lead), leaving $20,000 and the title to play for.

It was all Elezra after the deal was struck. He soon overtook the lead, then extended his advantage. In the decisive hand of the match Elezra made sixes full to leave Bronshtein on fumes. He managed one double up, but was eliminated in the second all-in hand to take home the $145,000 he negotiated for.

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

Photos provided by PokerGO.

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