Eelis Parssinen Captures Second PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series TitleFinnish Poker Pro Overcomes 83-Entry Field In $15,100 PLO Tournament To Earn $348,600 |
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Finnish players sure seem to know how to finish off a win in pot-limit Omaha tournaments. Two multi-event winners have been crowned so far at the 2024 PGT PLO Series, with both hailing from Finland. Just a day after Samuli Sipila took down his second title of the festival, Eelis Parssinen emerged victorious in event no. 8, a $15,100 buy-in tournament. Parssinen took home $348,600 for his second win less than a week after successfully defending his title in the $7,600 bounty event, which he also won in 2023.
Parssinen, a World Series of Poker bracelet winner, has now cashed in four of the eight completed events at this PGT PLO Series. In addition to his two first-place showings, he also finished 12th in a $5,300 progressive bounty event and 11th in a standard $10,100 PLO tournament. With 565 PGT points and $515,850 in prize pool earnings, he now leads the festival-long points race with just two events yet to finish.
Parssinen’s success at this series has also catapulted him inside the top five in the season-long PGT points race.
There was plenty of tough competition for Parssinen down the stretch in this event, with top tournament players like Dan Smith (12th), Sam Soverel (10th), and Jesse Lonis (8th) all running deep.
The second and final day of play inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas began with bracelet winner Alex Foxen in the chip lead among the final six, while Parssinene sat on the second-shortest stack to start.
An early double for Parssinen gave him some breathing room. He then won a big all-in with pocket aces besting the pocket queens of Lou Garza (6th – $62,250). Parssinen made trip sixes with his side cards to win the pot, moving into second in the chip counts heading into five-handed action.
Ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel was the next to fall. 2022 WSOP main event third-place finisher Michael Duek raised from the button to 350,000 and then called Seidel’s three-bet shove for 1,025,000 with Q855. Seidel held KK73. The board ran out A10887 and Duek made trip eights to send Seidel packing in fifth place ($87,150). The Poker Hall of Famer now has nearly $47.3 million in lifetime earnings, good for tenth on poker’s all-time money list.
Two-time bracelet winner Joao Simao got all-in with pocket aces leading the pocket queens of Parssinen, but the Finn spiked a queen on the flop and held from there to narrow the field to three. Simao earned $118,275 as the fourth-place finisher.
Duek was left on fumes after doubling up Foxen. He was soon all in with 101097 against Parssinen’s AK65. Theboard ran out K976J and Parssinen made the best two pair. Duek cashed for $161,850.
Heads-up play began with Parssinen holding 6,375,000 to Foxen’s 4,000,000. Foxen was able to battle his way into the lead, but Parssinen soon doubled back into the top spot. All of the chips went in on the final hand after the two contenders limped to a 762 flop. Foxen check-raised over Parssinen’s pot bet with Q755. Parssinen called with J765 for two pair. The A turn and 6 river locked up the pot and the title for Parssinen. Foxen earned $224,100 as the runner-up finisher.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
1 | Eelis Parssinen | $348,600 | 576 | 349 |
2 | Alex Foxen | $224,100 | 480 | 224 |
3 | Michael Duek | $161,850 | 384 | 162 |
4 | Joao Simao | $118,275 | 288 | 118 |
5 | Erik Seidel | $87,150 | 240 | 87 |
6 | Lou Garza | $62,250 | 192 | 62 |
The PGT PLO Series Points Race Top Ten Sits As Follows After Eight Events:
Rank | Player | Points | Titles | Cashes | Winnings |
1 | Eelis Parssinen | 565 | 2 | 4 | $515,850 |
2 | Samuli Sipila | 544 | 2 | 3 | $434,140 |
3 | Dylan Weisman | 277 | 1 | 3 | $274,105 |
4 | Ronald Keijzer | 246 | 1 | 3 | $166,200 |
5 | Lautaro Guerra | 226 | 0 | 3 | $209,850 |
6 | Alex Foxen | 224 | 0 | 1 | $224,100 |
7 | Christopher Frank | 200 | 0 | 4 | $174,520 |
8 | Stefan Christopher | 199 | 0 | 2 | $198,250 |
9 | Daniel Negreanu | 195 | 1 | 2 | $180,800 |
10 | Isaac Kempton | 190 | 0 | 2 | $161,475 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.