It was an outstanding start to the 2024 poker tournament season for David Coleman. As the frontrunner in the Player of the Year race (the CardPlayer race, as the Global Poker Index is not yet “live”), Coleman added more points to his 2024 resume by winning event No. 6 at the 2024 PokerGO Cup. By winning the tournament, Coleman also took the lead in the race for the overall championship in the PokerGO Cup race, which will likely come down to the final two events on the schedule.
Coleman surpasses Dylan DeStefano and Seth Davies en route to the title
Dylan DeStefano was the overwhelming chip leader among the 63 entries received for the event. At the final table, DeStefano was the only player to break the two million mark in chips. Coleman was in second place but still had a ways to go to catch up with just 1.24 million chips. He also had to contend with Michael Brinkenhoff (1.14 million) and Jeremy Ausmus (895,000), who would overtake him with the right move. Seth Davies (795,000), Justin Saliba (555,000) and Aram Zobian (360,000) rounded out the table in what was a real test of poker skills for everyone involved.
DeStefano went on the attack to kick off the action at the final table. He defeated Ausmus in seventh place early in the game, but Brinkenhoff secured a twin-kill by eliminating Saliba and Zobian in the same hand to get into the mix. After Saliba started betting at 120,000 (with a tiny gap), Zobian made three bets to 270,000 before the cutoff and DeStefano showed restraint by sending his cards to the muck.
In the small blind, Davies called, as did Brinkenhoff and Saliba, and the flop ended 10-5-4. Davies considered his option and then quickly passed after Brinkenhoff shot again for 550K. However, Zobian came along and when Saliba was all in, the cards were revealed:
Saliba (UTG): KQ
Zobian (Cutoff): Pocket Jacks
Brinkenhoff (Big Blind): Pocket Fours
Brinkenhoff had caught one of the two cards that would save him by giving him a set, but still had to dodge some cards. A six on the turn eliminated Saliba from contention and another ten on the river only improved Brinkenhoff to a full house as Zobian went under. After counting the chips, it turned out that Zobian had more chips than Saliba, which meant that Zobian took fifth place and Saliba took sixth place.
DeStefano is still dominant
Even with the win, Brinkenhoff was far behind DeStefano. In fact, the total accumulated stacks of Brinkenhoff, Coleman and Davies (3.79 million) did not reach what DeStefano had behind him (4.1 million). As the saying goes, this is why they play the game, because fate changed quickly.
Davies doubled twice, first through DeStefano and then through Coleman, leaving Coleman with only scraps left. However, Coleman went on the attack and doubled not once, but FOUR times to move into second place. After DeStefano defeated Brinkenhoff in fourth place and Coleman eliminated Davies in third, the two were much closer, with DeStefano's 4.1 million stack not much larger than Coleman's 3.775 million.
It took Coleman all of seven MINUTES to seal the deal. He took the lead after betting DeStefano out of a pot on a Q-9-5-QA board, then left DeStefano in turmoil after his pocket rockets withstood DeStefano's missed gutter ball straight draw. In the final hand: Colemans J♦ 4♦ a flush and the tournament was over so quickly.
1. David Coleman, $302,400 (302 points)
2. Dylan DeStefano, $189,000 (189)
3. Seth Davies, $132,300 (132)
4. Michael Brinkenhoff, $94,500 (95)
5. Aram Zobian, $70,875 (71)
6. Justin Saliba, $51,975 (52)
7. Jeremy Ausmus, $37,800 (38)
With the victory, Coleman took the lead in the overall race for the PokerGO Cup. The 302 points he earned for winning Event #6 moved him past the top ten and into pole position. He has to pass the last two tournaments – or win one of them himself – in order to be able to lift the trophy on Saturday evening.
1. David Coleman, 347 points
2. Jonathan Little, 277
3. Cary Katz, 252
4. Dylan Weisman, 240
5. Justin Zaki, 232
6. Dylan DeStefano, 189
7. Alex Foxen, 185
8. Stoyan Madanzhiev, 184
9. Aram Zobian, 176
10. Joey Weissman, 175 The final table of Event #7, the $15,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament, is now underway, as is the 2024 PokerGO Cup Main Event, a $25,000 tournament. Both events will go a long way in determining who could be the overall winner of the 2024 PokerGO Cup on Saturday night.
(Photo courtesy of PokerGO.com)
