The penultimate tournament in the PokerGO Tour Kickoff series is over after Spencer Champlin completed the heads-up comeback to score $157,500 for the first-place finish.
PokerGO Tour’s fourth Kickoff event drew 126 entries, 18 of which split up a prize pool of $630,000 after two days of poker. Champlin finished off the victory against Michael Vanier after outlasting a final table that included Martin Zamani, Sam Soverel, Joey Weissman, and previous Kickoff champion Patrick Leonard.
Champlin adds the $157K to a pile of lifetime earnings of just over $3.7 million, according to the Hendon Mob. It was the second six-figure win of the week for him after a runner-up finish in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship in Florida for $425,000.
Field falls fast
The day started with seven players and Zamani had the chip lead, while Champlin entered the day with the second-lowest stack. Leonard — who is fresh off a win in the second event of the series — ducked out first after an early shove with jack-ten couldn’t save his short stack. He was followed quickly in sixth by Weissman.
The pace of eliminations continued with Soverel in fifth and Eric Blair in fourth before the dust settled with Vanier holding nearly 12 million of almost 16 million chips in play. Zamani, who sat in second, had an edge over Champlin on the short stack.
It didn’t take long for Zamani to get it in with ace-five, and Champlin called him with ace-jack. The board ran out with no help for either player, but Champlin dragged the pot and sent the match to heads-up with the better ace.
Champlin fights back
Champlin chipped up early in heads-up play after he tabled the better two pair against Vanier, who still had a comfortable lead — until Champlin picked up pocket kings. Champlin limped the button and Vanier raised, providing the future champ an opportunity to use a time extension to milk a three-bet. Vanier four-bet shoved a suited ace-five and Champlin called with his pocket kings. The board ran out 
and gave Vanier a straight draw, but the river 
secured the double and the lead for Champlin.
Vanier picked up a few chips and had Champlin covered by three big blinds when he shoved with king-queen. Champlin called with ace-nine and another clean board won him a big pot with ace high. Vanier got the last of it in a few moments later, but Champlin had pocket kings to finish the comeback.
The PGT Kickoff series will continue on Saturday with the final table of Event #5, a $10K entry, and the last in the tour's opening series. The final table will be broadcast on PokerGO at 1 pm.
Photos courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego
