The first of two $15,000 Poker Masters events concluded on Tuesday at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. With purple jacket leaderboard implications on the line, Event #6: $15K No-Limit Hold'em started with a series-deciding air surrounding the table. 84 entrants put themselves in the mix to generate a prize pool of $1,260,000, with 12 places paid and $352,800 for the first place finisher.
After nearly five hours of final table action, Isaac Haxton stood atop the winner's podium as the official winner of the event after striking a heads up deal with Jim Collopy. The two players split the remaining prize pool and after four blind all-in hands, Haxton ended the tournament with all the chips. In doing so, Haxton surpassed the $10,000,000 PGT career earnings mark.
Both Collopy and Jeremy Becker returned to play under the bright lights, with the former making his fourth final table appearance of the series and the latter hot off a victory in Event #2. Notably, Collopy became only the second player in Poker Masters history to final table four straight events with today's finish. The two players sit first and second on the Poker Masters series leaderboard after Collopy nabbed the top spot with a second place finish in Event #5. With a mere 10 points separating the two, Becker stood poised to regain the lead provided he finish ahead of Collopy.
Haxton, the 2023 PGT Player of the Year, held the chip lead to start proceedings at the seven-handed final table. Dylan Linde and Collopy came in second and third, respectively. The bottom half of the chip counts saw Becker in fourth with a slight edge on fifth place Aram Zobian, while Sean Winter and Nick Schulman rounded out the counts in sixth and seventh.
With 352 leaderboard points going to the eventual winner, all of the seven players at the final table were in reach of the top spot in the race for the purple jacket, provided the right players exited the event at the right time.
Schulman, Linde and Winter bow out
Schulman wasted no time in finding a spot to commit his chips, moving all-in with 
on the second hand of the streamed final table. Linde looked down at 
in the big blind and made the call. The 
flop left Schulman with the lion's share of the equity, but still just ace-high. Both players improved on the 
turn and Linde now needed a board-pairing card on the river to outdraw Schulman's flush and eliminate a fierce opponent. "Good game guys," said Schulman as he tapped the table. Despite his attempted 'reverse curse', the river 
improved Schulman's opponent to a full house and his day ended in a 7th place finish.
Nearly an hour later, Linde and Becker collided in a massive pot that left the former with just over two big blinds remaining. In a blind versus blind clash, Becker completed from the small blind with 
and Linde checked his option with 
. The two players started the hand with essentially even stacks and the 
flop shot Becker into the lead. Following a check from his opponent, Linde bet out for a small sizing. Becker made the call and the two saw the 
turn, flipping the equity advantage in Linde's favor. Linde opted to check back when the action came to him and the river 
improved Becker's holding to two pair. Another check to him prompted Linde to bet his top pair, but Becker wanted to play for more and moved the majority of his stack into the middle. Linde pondered the spot for some time, but eventually made the call, only to see the bad news.
The very next hand, with a quarter of his stack in the middle already in the form of the small blind, Linde moved all-in with 
, but failed to improve against Collopy's 
and his run ended in a sixth place finish.
In his usual prescient fashion, Winter managed to bob and weave his way to two pay jumps before bowing out in fifth place. From UTG, Winter limped into the pot with 
before Collopy bumped it up with 
. Instead of moving all-in for his last few big blinds, Winter only called, leaving a single big blind behind. On the 
, the rest of the chips went in as both players made a pair. Winter needed to improve to stay alive, but the turn and river weren't the cards he needed.
Four become three, then two
The remaining players started four-handed action mostly level in the chip counts, aside from Zobian who was the clear short stack. In an unfortunate (or fortunate, if you're rooting for Team JBex) cooler runout, Zobian's 
ran into Becker's 
and a confrontation that may typically result in a chopped pot, instead ended with an elimination. The 
flop provided Becker with a flush draw to give him the only route to victory available. On the 
turn, Zobian's hand drew dead and his day ended in a fourth place finish.
Becker continued to build momentum when play got three-handed, increasing his stack to over half the chips in play within the first few hands, but then disaster struck in a blind versus blind spot against Collopy. After turning an open-ended straight draw, Becker opted to apply maximum pressure with a check-raise jam. Collopy, with top pair, made the call and simply needed to fade eight outs to take the chip lead. The river failed to improve Becker and Collopy scored the full double to assume the chip lead.
Having stayed quiet for most of the proceedings to this point, Haxton seemed to now activate as he picked up several pots, reminding his opponents of the company they sat in. With that, he managed to overtake Becker in the chip counts before giving the young up-and-comer a taste of his own flush-flavored medicine.
In a blind versus blind spot, Haxton moved all-in with , covering Becker in the big blind, who looked down at and deliberated for a second before making the call. The dealer spread the flop to give Haxton flush outs to go along with his three tens. Becker remained in the lead through the turn 
, but the river 
made Haxton's hand and the Event #2 winner bowed out in third place.
Haxton and Collopy battle for the title
After ridding himself (courtesy of Haxton) of the most-pressing - and last remaining - threat to his purple jacket pursuit, Collopy started heads up play with a slight chip lead, but Haxton quickly chipped away at his opponent to take control.
Collopy showed no signs of giving in, however, and wrestled the chip lead back in a pot that saw him turn a flush while Haxton made two pair. The biggest pot of the heads up match to this point went in Collopy's favor and, just like that, the lead flip-flopped once more. Much like his opponent, Haxton battled back as well after slipping into the danger zone. An ace-high versus ace-high clash went his way as his 
improved to two pair on the 
runout to score a full double.
As both players wanted to enter the next event of the series, they came to an agreement to chop the remaining prize money and play a blind all-in hand to decide the distribution of the leaderboard points. Amazingly, both players woke up with hands that likely would have seen the chips go in anyways. Haxton's needed to improve against Collopy's . The 
runout provided the needed assistance, but after a count of the chips, Collopy was left with a single ante to play with. The players ran two more blind all-in hands, both of which went Collopy's way. The third time was indeed the charm for Haxton as he won the runout to claim the title.
Poker Masters Event #6 final table results
| Place | Player | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaac Haxton | $352,800* |
| 2 | Jim Collopy | $226,800* |
| 3 | Jeremy Becker | $163,800 |
| 4 | Aram Zobian | $119,700 |
| 5 | Sean Winter | $88,200 |
| 6 | Dylan Linde | $63,000 |
| 7 | Nick Schulman | $50,400 |
* Prize money was split, $ amounts represent leaderboard points.
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
