Jonathan Little emerged triumphant at the PokerGO Cup finale in Las Vegas last night, taking down the final event of the series for $435,750 and lifting the PokerGO Cup leaderboard trophy in the process.
The finale of the eight-tournament series was a $25k buy-in, drawing 55 entries and producing a $1,375,000 prize pool.
David Peters, courtesy of his Event 7 win, was out in front in the PokerGO Cup leaderboard race, but by the time the paid spots were reached, only Little, Justin Zaki and Seth Davies had a shot at the trophy.
Those three were joined at the final table by chip leader John Riordan, Justin Saliba, and newcomer to the PokerGO Studios, Shaneil Stokes.
Little riding a monster wave
It was the enigmatic amateur, Stokes, who would depart first, losing a straight-up race with pocket sixes against Zaki’s AQs. Stokes pocketed his first-ever recorded cash of $82,500.
Jonathan Little has kept his head out of the Twitter wars that have been raging around him in the past week. And it's served him well. Going into this final table, Little had already notched three cashes in the PokerGO Cup series, including victory in Event 3.
His heater continued as he fought back from being the short stack, eliminating Davies in fifth in a three-way battle of the aces.
John Riordan fell in fourth when he ran AJ into Zaki’s AQ, but his $137,500 cash took the Palm Beach pro through the $3 million lifetime earnings milestone.
The podium trio still had plenty to fight for, but when Justin Saliba ran into Zaki’s pocket aces, it was Little vs. Zaki for the title – as well as the overall leaderboard PokerGO Cup and $25,000 PGT passport bonus.
Early pressure from Little in the heads-up battle saw him build up a chip lead and the end came when he found a small ace on the button with Zaki calling off the shove with a suited king.
PokerGO Cup Event #8: $25,200 NLH results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Jonathan Little | $453,750 |
| 2 | Justin Zaki | $288,750 |
| 3 | Justin Saliba | $192,500 |
| 4 | John Riordan | $137,500 |
| 5 | Seth Davies | $110,000 |
| 6 | Shaneil Stokes | $82,500 |
Little posted on X afterwards: “What an amazing feeling! This week was a blast battling against many of the best players in the world and I’m incredibly lucky to win this $25k and the overall @PokerGO Cup!! Thanks for all the love & support, it means the world to me!”
PokerGO Cup final leaderboard
| Place | Player | Points |
| 1 | Jonathan Little | 549 |
| 2 | David Peters | 457 |
| 3 | Justin Zaki | 405 |
| 4 | David Coleman | 347 |
| 5 | Seth Davies | 277 |
| 6 | Daniel Smiljkovic | 261 |
Images courtesy of PokerGO
