On Wednesday, United Kingdom poker pro Philip Sternheimer topped Daniel Negreanu during heads-up play to win the title and $164,500 in Event #7 of the PokerGO Tour's $10,200 Dealers Choice tourney. Sternheimer's triumph marked yet another first-time PGT win for an established high-stakes pro who had yet to add a PGT title to his poker resume.
Sternheimer entered Wednesday's five-player final table in second place behind Negreanu, who finished Day 1 with 35% more chips than Sternheimer and Adam Friedman, his closest competitors. Sternheimer pulled into the lead midway through Day 2 and held a 2:1 margin in chips over Negreanu when Friedman busted in third. Negreanu briefly grabbed a thin lead a short while into the heads-up duel, but Sternheimer retook the lead and soon closed out the win.
Wednesday's triumph by Sternheimer pushes his recorded live-tournament winnings to more than $2.4 million. Sternheimer's career-best live remains the $369,500 he earned for a 13th-place finish in the Triton Series Cyprus $210,000 Super High Roller last May.
Maxx Coleman finished fourth in the event after busting Phil Hellmuth on the first hand of the day. Hellmuth had eked into the money with just a fraction of a bet remaining when Tuesday's action concluded. Hellmuth had earned a min-cash Tuesday night, technically just one hand earlier in the event, when Yingui Li busted just after losing a big pot to Sternheimer. Li's exit moved Hellmuth into the money and also set up Sternheimer for his Day 2 run.
