Ren Lin notches $400,000 score at inaugural PGT Texas Poker Open

Over the last week, the inaugural Texas Poker Open saw the PokerGO Tour touch down in the Lone Star State for the first time. Champions Club Texas, located in Houston, served as host while the PGT and its retinue of regulars descended on the city. 

The $3,300 Main Event drew a field of 735 entrants across the seven Day 1 starting flights to generate a prize pool of $2,205,000, smashing the event guarantee by over $200,000. 

On Sunday, those that advanced on to Day 2 returned to whittle the field down to just 15 remaining players. Today's frame of play saw those 15 play down to a winner, with nine players making the final table. China's own poker superstar Ren Lin rose above the field to claim the top prize of $400,000 and the Texas Poker Open belt buckle trophy. 

While Yunkyu Song took a commanding chip lead into the final table, Lin started second in chips and faced an uphill climb on his way to the win. Song and Lin were joined at the final table by Miguel Use, Ryan Riess, Brent Hanks, Tyler Brown, Daniel Holmes, Jonathan Tamayo, and Daniel Moran. 

Texas Poker Open Main Final Table

Final table action

Belgian professional Use managed to avoid elimination early by catching a two-outer when his pocket kings went up against Brown's pocket aces. Use's good fortune wouldn't last, however, as he bowed out in ninth place not long after, falling to Brown's rivered flush. 

WSOP Main Event champion Riess went out in eighth place after starting the final table as the shortest stack. Riess managed to find a pay jump, but couldn't cobble together a stack to keep himself in the game. 

Brown and PokerGO commentator Hanks went out in short order, finishing in seventh and sixth respectively. Brown took a number of bad beats on his way out but managed to remain positive about his final table experience, telling PokerGO's Drea Renee, "I'm very happy. I got in aces and kings, lost both. Can't play any different." Hanks made a bold play on the turn against Tamayo in a blind versus blind confrontation, but couldn't connect with any of his outs on the river. 

Holmes went out in fifth place when his failed to improve against Lin's .

PGT Texas Poker Open Belt Buckle

Lin pulls away

During four-handed play, a major collision between Lin and Song saw both of the big stacks make a full house on a board reading . Lin rivered the winner with his , spiking a two-outer to run down Song's and take a commanding chip lead. 

From there, Lin put the pressure on, wielding his stack with well-timed aggression. UK-native Moran took the opportunity to score multiple double-ups from Lin to bolster his stack. Then, in a blind versus blind spot, Moran moved all-in preflop with , only to see a snap call from Song in the big blind. Moran would need to improve against Song's and improve he did on the flop. The turn left Song drawing dead, with the river adding an extra needle. 

With just two big blinds left, Song managed to triple up the very next hand to stay alive for the time being. A few hands later, however, his failed to improve against Moran's , and his run ended with a fourth-place finish. 

Three-handed play lasted just two hands as Tamayo committed the rest of his chips from the small blind with . Moran, in the big blind, quickly made the call with . The flop paired Moran and left Tamayo with a narrow route to victory, which closed entirely on the turn. 

Heads-up play started with Lin holding a slim lead over Moran in chips, but there would be no drawn-out battle of the minds as the first hand off the deck saw the two players get all the chips in the middle. Lin had Moran pipped with against the Englishman's . The flop left Moran drawing to runner-runner quads and, just like that, Lin capped off an impressive final table performance, becoming the first-ever Texas Poker Open Main Event champion. 

The 2024 PGT Texas Poker Open continues with four two-day high roller events. The final table of each high roller event will stream live on PokerGO.