Joey Weissman Leads PGT Kickoff Event 2 Final Table

By Mrinal Gujare

22 Jan 2025

Mrinal Gujare 22 Jan 2025

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Image Credit: PGT

The PokerGO Tour (PGT) Kickoff Event 2 has Joey Weissman leading the final seven players.

The PokerGO Tour (PGT) Kickoff series continued on Tuesday at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Event #2, a $5,100 No-Limit Hold’em tournament, attracted 96 entries and generated a final prize pool of $480,000. Joey Weissman emerged as the chip leader heading into the final table, which features seven players.

Weissman had a dominant performance throughout the tournament, securing multiple eliminations. Among those he knocked out were Liv Boeree, Neil Warren, Yunkyu Song, and Andrew Moreno. His efforts propelled him to the top of the leaderboard as play concluded for the day.

The final table lineup includes notable players like Phenom Poker ambassador Joseph Cheong, Sam Laskowitz, Chino Rheem, Aram Zobian, Patrick Leonard, and Natalie Ferguson.

Each of the remaining players is guaranteed a minimum payout of $19,200, with the winner set to take home $124,800 along with 250 PGT points and the Event 2 trophy.

The tournament’s 96 entrants meant that 14 players would finish in the money. Michael Walsh narrowly missed out on a payout after being forced all-in from the big blind with ten-high against jack-high during hand-for-hand play on the bubble.

Once in the money, David Chen (14th), Rodger Johnson (13th), Bertrand Rosique (12th), Stephen Song (11th), Phil Hellmuth (10th), and Andrew Moreno (9th) were among those eliminated.

The CoinPoker ambassador Patrick Leonard made back-to-back final tables after finishing sixth in Event #1 earlier in the series. John Riordan came close to achieving the same feat but fell short after being eliminated in eighth place. Riordan’s ace-queen was unable to overcome Leonard’s pocket fours despite additional outs on the flop.

The seven remaining players will return on Wednesday at 12 p.m. local time to compete at the streamed final table. The PGT Kickoff marks the opening series of the 2025 PGT season, with players earning double PGT points for all cashes.

This provides an early opportunity for competitors to climb the PGT leaderboard as they vie for season-long accolades.