Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Ben Tollerene Takes Down 2024 PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series II $25,000 Finale


Benjamin Tollerene is making a habit of swooping in at the end of PokerGO Tour festivals to win the largest buy-in event on the schedule. In September he closed out the Poker Masters with a victory in the $25,200 finale, and he has done the same in the $25,200 buy-in pot-limit Omaha championship that capped off the 2024 PGT PLO Series II. The latest triumph saw Tollerene beat out a field of 62 entries to secure the trophy and the top prize of $496,000.

This was the 12th recorded title for the 37-year-old poker pro from originally hailing from Lubbock, Texas. Despite spending much of his career focused on high-stakes online cash games, he now has more than $16.6 million in tournament earnings to his name.

Nearly $5.6 million of that total haul has come from eight cashes this year. He has made six final tables and earned the previously mentioned pair of PGT titles along the way. The 504 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured with his latest win moved him into 95th place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Tollerene also climbed to eighth place in the series points race with this one score with 298 PGT points. With 1,268 total points, he now sits in 21st place on the season-long PGT leaderboard as well.

The $1,550,000 prize pool that resulted from the 62 entries in this tournament was the largest of the festival. The top nine finishers earned a cut, with Billy Tarango (9th – $46,500) and two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (8th – $62,000) making the money but falling short of the official final table.

Fernando ‘JNandezPoker’ Habegger (7th – $62,000) was the first to fall among the final seven, with his two pair facing a pair, flush draw, and open-ended straight draw for 2024 PGT PLO Series I festival champion Samuli Sipila. The river gave Sipila a winning flush to narrow the field to six.

Josh AriehSix-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh also got the last of his chips against Sipila. Arieh called all-in for around ten big blinds with ASpade SuitKClub SuitQClub Suit6Club Suit facing a three-bet from Sipila, who had AHeart SuitKHeart Suit8Club Suit7Spade Suit. The board came down 8Spade Suit6Spade Suit4Spade Suit3Heart Suit5Heart Suit to five Sipila a winning eight-high straight. Arieh settled for $85,250 as the sixth-place finisher. He is now approaching $13.1 million in career earnings after adding this score to his tally.

Tollerene overtook the lead during five-handed play, but was soon surpassed by Finnish bracelet winner Joni Jouhkimainen, who flopped top set of jacks against the pocket aces of two-time bracelet winner Ben Lamb and got all of the chips in. Lamb earned $116,000 as the fifth-place finisher. The two-time WSOP main event final table finisher now has nearly $16.9 million in career cashes.

The next big showdown pitted the KSpade SuitKHeart Suit10Club Suit8Club Suit of 2022 WSOP main event third-place finisher Michael Duek against the ADiamond SuitKDiamond SuitJClub Suit9Club Suit of Tollerene. A 10Diamond Suit6Club Suit2Diamond Suit5Club Suit start gave Tollerene two flush draws for the win. The diamonds came in on a 7Diamond Suit river, giving him the nuts and the knockout. Duek earned $155,000 for his fourth-place showing. This was his fourth cash of the series, with $238,050 in total earnings accrued along the way.

With that, Tollerene moved back into the lead, while Sipila became the short stack. He managed to survive to heads-up play, though, because the two larger stacks squared off in a massive pot that led to the elimination of Jouhkimainen. After limp-calling a raise from the small-blind with AHeart SuitQClub Suit9Diamond Suit5Heart Suit, Jouhkimainen checked the 9Heart Suit7Diamond Suit3Heart Suit flop. Tollerene bet 250,000 with the KSpade SuitKHeart SuitJDiamond Suit10Heart Suit and forced out Sipila, who had come along from the button. Jouhkimainen then check-raised to 1,790,000. Tollerene shoved and Jouhkimainen called all-in for 3,750,000 total. The 2Spade Suit turn gave Jouhkimainen a wheel draw to go with his nut heart outs and overcard to Tollerene’s pocket kings. The 8Diamond Suit on the end was of no help, though, and Jouhkimainen was sent packing in third place. The $217,000 he secured grew his lifetime haul to over $7.5 million.

Heads-up play began with Tollerene holding 9,525,000 to Sipila’s 2,870,000. He pulled even further ahead before the final hand was dealt. Sipila limped on the button with QSpade Suit10Spade Suit7Club Suit4Diamond Suit and Tollerene raised to 300,000 from the big blind with KDiamond Suit9Spade Suit8Heart Suit7Diamond Suit. Sipila called and the flop came down 7Spade Suit5Club Suit3Heart Suit. Tollerene bet pot then called Sipila’s shove for 825,000. Both players had top pair with live kickers and straight draws. The 9Diamond Suit improved Tollerene to top two pair, which held through the JSpade Suit river. Sipila walked away with $310,000 as the runner-up, the fourth-largest score of his career.

Sipila finished fifth in the final series-long points race thanks to three final table finishes totaling $471,000 in earnings.

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

Place Player Earnings POY Points PGT Points
1 Benjamin Tollerene $496,000 504 298
2 Samuli Sipila $310,000 420 186
3 Joni Jouhkimainen $217,000 336 130
4 Michael Duek $155,000 252 93
5 Ben Lamb $116,250 210 70
6 Josh Arieh $85,250 168 51
7 Fernando Habegger $62,000 126 37

Here is a look at the top ten in the final standings in the PGT PLO Series II points race:

Rank Player Points Wins Cashes Winnings
1 Matthew Wantman 453 1 6 $434,380
2 Jeremy Ausmus 420 1 4 $416,140
3 Alex Foxen 378 0 3 $339,540
4 Daniel Negreanu 366 1 5 $351,675
5 Samuli Sipila 347 0 3 $471,000
6 Isaac Haxton 340 1 3 $220,540
7 Ben Lamb 307 0 4 $336,790
8 Ben Tollerene 298 1 1 $496,000
9 Joni Jouhkimainen 268 0 4 $334,660
10 James Chen (US) 263 1 2 $227,750

Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

 

 

 





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