One thing that needs to be said about the PokerGO Tour is that it doesn't waste time. As soon as Daniel Smiljkovic concluded the 2023 PokerGO Tour season by winning the PGT Championship, the circuit almost immediately named Isaac Haxton PGT Player of the Year. Once the ink was dry on this announcement, the PGT kicked off action for the 2024 season with the 2024 PGT Kickoff, now taking place at PokerGO Studios in Las Vegas.
Haxton dominates in 2023 and wins POY
It was a tough battle all year, but in the end Haxton showed his dominance and defeated the PGT POY. Haxton would open 2023 with a win in the 2023 PokerGO Cup Main Event, earning more than half a million dollars that would set him up for the year. From there, Haxton would add three more PGT-qualifying tournament wins, including a win at the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl in September (for a $2.7 million win), which solidified his position at the top of the standings .
Chris Brewer tried late to get to the top of the leaderboard but fell 357 points behind Haxton. Brewer was arguably the most productive player on the PGT circuit in 2023, collecting 24 cashes over the course of the season (second only to Daniel Negreanu and Sam Soverel's 25 cashes each). Brewer actually made more money than Haxton this season ($7.4 million to $7.2 million for Haxton), but it's the points that matter and Haxton took that honor.
The bronze medal in 2023 for the PGT POY went to Stephen Chidwick. It may seem like it was a “bad” year for the British pro, but he picked up eighteen prize money throughout the PGT season. In PGT tournaments alone, Chidwick collected nearly $4 million in prize money from PGT-qualifying events, but in the end his point total wasn't enough to catch the duo at the top.
Here are the final standings for the 2023 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year award:
1. Isaac Haxton, 2847 points ($7.24 million in winnings, four wins, 14 prize money)
2. Chris Brewer, 2490 ($7.41 million, two wins, 24 cashes)
3. Stephen Chidwick, 2402 ($3.93 million, two wins, 18 cashes)
4. Daniel Weinman, 2300 ($12.18 million, one win, two prizes)
5. Alex Foxen, 2103 ($2.75 million, one win, 23 cashes)
6. Ren Lin, 1987 ($2.93 million, one win, 23 prizes)
7. Sam Soverel, 1954 ($2.28 million, two wins, 25 prizes)
8. Nick Schulman, 1709 ($2.53 million, three wins, 22 cashes)
9. Steven Jones, 1700 ($6.5 million, zero wins, one money)
10. Jeremy Ausmus, 1695 ($2.47 million, zero wins, 20 cashes)
Something the PGT may want to work on is female participation on the track. The highest-ranked woman was GPI Women's Player of the Year Kristen Foxen, but she barely cracked the top 100 at No. 98.
The 2024 PGT season is already underway
As soon as Haxton was named the 2023 PGT Player of the Year, the PGT kicked off the 2024 PokerGO Tour season. The 2024 PGT Kickoff is underway at the PokerGO Studios in Las Vegas, with one tournament in the books and a second , which has reached its second day of action.
On Thursday, David Coleman emerged from a field of 89 in Event No. 1, a $5,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament, to claim his first PGT win of 2024. Coleman came into the event leading the event Final table, but didn't make it, was just above Chidwick – just 30,000 chips. Coleman was able to improve this situation early in the game by eliminating Viktor Ustimov and thus securing the top rung.
Coleman maintained this lead until the three-hander, in which Aram Zobian was able to eliminate Chidwick in third place, briefly gaining a lead over Coleman. In just over an hour, Coleman gradually pulled away before ending Zobian's run in second place and winning the first PGT tournament of 2024.
1. David Coleman, $120,150 (240 points)
2. Aram Zobian, $77,875 (156)
3. Stephen Chidwick, $55,625 (111)
4. Jeremy Ausmus, $40,050 (80)
5. Nikita Kallnin, $31,150 (62)
6. Clemen Deng, $22,250 (45)
7. Viktor Ustimov, $17,800 (36)
Event #2, another $5,000 no-limit soiree, drew 90 entries and played to the seven-player final table of that tournament. Sergei Kislinskii is at the top of the leaderboard, closely followed by Dylan Weisman (only 60 km back). Coleman wasted no time celebrating his win in Event No. 1, and it paid off as he took third place at Saturday's final table. These are the leaderboards for the final table action of Event #2 later this afternoon.
1. Sergei Kislinskii, 2,645 million
2. Dylan Weisman, 2.585 million
3. David Coleman, 1.685 million
4. Matthew McEwan, 1.62 million
5. Jeremy Becker, 1.265 million
6. Jesse Lonis, 795,000
7. Victoria Livschitz, 660,000
This tournament, as well as Event No. 3 of the 2024 PGT Kickoff Schedule, will continue at noon Saturday. PokerGO's live stream opens with a one-hour delay, meaning viewers will want to tune in at 1:00 p.m. (Pacific Time).
(Photo provided by PokerGO.com)
