Ed Sebesta became the champion of the third PokerGO Cup event
The next PokerGO Cup high-roller event was held with a buy-in of 10 500 USD from January 13 to 14. By the time the registration was closed, 90 entries were recorded, which meant that there was 900,000 USD in the prize pool. The money went to only 13 players who showed the best performance. After two days of playing, American Ed Sebesta became the champion of the third PokerGO Cup event and took the main prize of 216,000 USD.
This is the second largest winnings of a Texas player, second only to the 311,915 USD he earned at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open 2022. Now his offline earnings exceed 1.1 million. In addition to the title and money, Ed received 540 POY points and 216 PokerGO Cup points. Sebesta equaled Sean Winter in points both in the race for the title of the best PokerGO Cup player and in the PokerGO Tour ranking.
- Ed Sebesta — 216,000 USD
- Nick Schulman — 153,000
- Phillip Shing — 108,000
- Cary Katz — 90,000
- Adrian Mateos — 72,000
- Kristen Foxen — 54,000
13 people got into the tournament prizes, but only 6 made it to the final table. Among those who were not on the list of finalists were two-time WSOP champion Nick Petrangelo (12th place), bracelet holders Andrew Lichtenberger (11th) and Ethan Yau (9th), as well as Farid Jattin (8th).
Ed Sebesta and Nick Shulman remained in the heads-up
The final day began with 6 people remaining in the game, Philip Shing was the chipleader, and Sebesta occupied the second line of the chip count. Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Kristen Foxen had a short stack and soon she had to go all-in. Foxen made a bet with pocket jacks, and Cary Katz called with a pair of eights. Four diamond cards were dealt to the board, Katz had a diamond 8 in his hands, and he collected a flush. Foxen received 54,000 USD.
Soon the tournament ended for Adrian Mateos (72,000 USD) when his pocket tens lost to Philip Shing’s A-8. The ace that fell on the flop was enough for Shing to win. For both Mateos and Foxen, this is the second final table in the series.
Carey Katz fell next. He went all-in with a flush draw, facing Sebesta’s top pair. Katz did not improve either on the turn or the river and took 4th place, earning 90,000 USD. Katz’s offline earnings rose to 35.7 million.
Shortly before the elimination of Katz, Sebesta managed to double the stack at the expense of Shing. After Katz’s departure, Shing again lost a big hand to Sebesta and left the game. A pair of Shing’s fives was weaker than the opponent’s pocket jacks.
Ed Sebesta and Nick Shulman remained in the heads-up. Sebesta’s stack was 9,000,000 chips, Shulman’s was 2,250,000. 20 minutes after the start of the game, Shulman reduced the gap, but the gap was still significant, and he went all-in. Sebesta had K-9, Shulman had A-7. Q was distributed to the board Q-6-4-K-9 and Sebesta became the champion.