Sergio Aido Captures PokerGO Cup Event No. 5 Title

Sergio Aido’s first cash of 2025 was a big one. The Spanish poker pro defeated a field of 100 entries in event no. 5 of the PokerGO Cup, earning $255,000 for the win in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em affair.

Aido now has nearly $21.9 million in career tournament earnings, with 11 recorded titles and 190 in-the-money finishes. This latest victory came with 600 Card Player Player of the Year points, enough to move him within reach of the top 100 in the 2025 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

The World Series of Poker bracelet winner from Aviles was one of 15 players to make the money in this event, which had a nice round prize pool of $1,000,000. Only six players moved on to the second and final day of action for this event, with two-time bracelet winner Michael Moncek out in front and Aido in third chip position when play resumed inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas.

Brandon Wilson was the first to fall. He lost a big chunk of his stack when he opened with A-K from the button and snap called when six-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman three-bet jammed from the big blind with K-6 suited. Schulman flopped a six to take the lead and held from there to leave Wilson short. He then doubled up short stack Nicholas Seward to continue his slide down the leaderboard. Wilson was then sent packing in sixth place ($50,000) when his A-8 was unable to beat the K-J of Aido, who won with trip kings.

This was the fourth final table for Wilson, with back-to-titles earned during the PGT Last Chance series. The 200 POY points he secured with this latest score brought his total to 1,750, which is currently good for third place in the rankings.

Seward’s run came to an end in fifth place when his A-8 was unable to overcome the pocket jacks of Aido. The majority of the chips went in preflop, but the rest came on the river. Aido bet, having improved to jacks full of deuces. Seward called off his last few big blinds with aces and deuces and was sent to the rail with $65,000. The bracelet winner now has nearly $2.3 million in career cashes to his name.

.@nicktheenick ladders up to fifth place before hitting the rail for $65,000.

The PokerGO Cup is streaming on PokerGO.https://t.co/vvvrOHcyZG pic.twitter.com/vK0vxyRvr1

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 17, 2025

Aido had claimed the lead with that hand, but soon fell back down into the middle of the pack after losing a sizable blind-on-bling clash against Moncek. Aido soon bounced back by winning a big pot with top pair against a multi-street bluff from Schulman.

It wasn’t long until Schulman found himself all-in and at risk. He defended his big blind with K3 facing a cutoff raise from two-time bracelet winner Shannon Shorr, who held 1010. The chips went in after the flop brought 853, with Schulman check-raising his bottom pair and then calling Shorr’s shove. The 7 turn and 4 river kept Shorr’s pocket pair best, ending Schulman’s run in fourth ($90,000).

Moncek’s stack took a hit when he rivered aces up against the flopped nines full of Shorr. He then lost a preflop coin flip with pocket sevens against the A-Q of Aido, who had slid down the leaderboard during three-handed play. Aido flopped an ace and held from there to double up and leave Moncek as the short stack.

He soon got all-in with J5 on a 982 flop, only to run into the K6 of Shorr. The Q turn gave Moncek a gutshot to go with his live cards, but the river was the A to improve Shorr to the nut flush. Moncek earned $115,000 for his third podium finish of the series, having won the kickoff event and placed second in event no. 2, having squared off against Joey Weissman in both of those heads-up matches. He has now cashed for $483,750 across those three scores, bringing his career haul to nearly $4.5 million. He also moved into seventh place in the POY standings thanks to his impressive run at this festival.

Moncek is also ranked second in the series-long points race and third in the season-long PGT standings as a result of his consistency.

.TexasMike2014</a> out in third place from today's PokerGO Cup final table, taking home $115,000.<br><br>"Texas Mike" now has a first, second, and third this series, but he stills trails <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeyWeissman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">JoeyWeissman atop the leaderboard.

Keep watching PokerGO Cup on PokerGO.… pic.twitter.com/svIQUN4KIa

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 17, 2025

Shorr began with just better than a 2:1 chip lead over Aido when heads-up play got underway. The tables turned when he won a big pot with KQ. It began when he raised to 275,000 from the button and Shorr defended with 54. The flop came down A33 and Shorr checked to Aido, who bet 150,000. Shorr check-raised to 500,000 and Aido made the call. The 6 turn saw Shorr fire another 775,000. Aido called with his flush and the river brought the J. Shorr moved all-in as a bluff and was quickly called. With that, Aido chipped up to 7,875,000 while Shorr slid to 4,625,000.

Not too long after that, the final hand of the tournament arrived. Shorr limped in for 125,000 total from the button with 106 and Aido raised to 450,000 from the big blind with A8. Shorr called and the flop came down A87. Aido bet 325,000 and Shorr called. The turn was the 7 and Aido fired 900,000 into the pot of 1,675,000. Shorr moved all-in for 3,475,000. Aido called and the river was the 2, bringing the event to a close.

Shorr earned $165,000 as the runner-up. This was his third final-table finish of the year, having already won two titles during the PGT Last Chance series in early January. With 1,1700 total POY points, he now sits in sixth place in the overall standings.

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

Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.

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