Rok Gostisa started the final table of the PokerGO Tour Championship with the smallest stack in play. He finished the final table with every single chip in front of him.
"I didn’t expect to win because I came in [to the final table] seven out of seven, so it feels amazing," Gotista told reporters in his post-match interview.
Gostisa has had a pretty good pandemic from a poker standpoint. His first cash shows up on the Hendon Mob in 2015. With the exception of a WSOP Main Event that year there isn't a five-figure buy in in his money finishes until 2019.
After that things start to take off. Throughout 2020 there are more top 100 finishes, more final tables. Above all, there are more high-roller cashes. Then there's a quiet patch in early-2021, and a triumphant return with a string of October cashes at the WSOP. He followed that up with six top-three finishes in six high roller events this month.
"I was basically just playing online and because of COVID I didn’t travel," Gostisa explained. "So, this year has been going well, so I’m really happy about how it turned out."
This win, against some of the best players in the world, is a fitting cap to his 2021 run. He won out of 46-entries paid by some of the most elite players in the game. The large buy-in and solid turnout put $689,100 up top for first place, the biggest win in Gostisa's career.
"Rok Gostisa would earn the largest live tournament cash of his career with a third-place finish or better in the $50,000 PokerGO Tour Championship presented by @GuaranteedRate," the PokerGO News twitter account teased. "See if he can take it down on today’s live stream."
Final table action
With seven places paid, the whole final table was in the money, each player looking for the biggest possible cut of $2.3 million.
In an effort to combat late registrants, an appearance fee of $1,000 was offered to anyone who bought in prior to kick off. This small rebate may have been part of what lured players like Bryn Kenney, Gal Yifrach, Sam Soverel, Zhuang Ruan, Jason Koon, and Justin Bonomo.
The final table came down to a murderers row of seven players including Dominik Nitsche (7th - $92,000), Jake Schindler (4th - $253,000), and Sergi Reixach (3rd - $345,000).
Heads up play was between Michael Gathy and Rok Gostisa for the biggest heap of marbles.
Unfortunately for Gathy, Gostisa started with more chips and was able to knock him down over and over. Eventually a full house, spiked on the turn did Gathy in and Gostisa walked away with the prize.
Although the POY points he won in this event do go towards the PokerGO Tour leaderboard, Ali Imsirovic's lead was so great, no one at the final table could catch him.
2021 PokerGO Tour Championship complete final table results
| Position | Player Name | Payout |
| 1st | Rok Gostisa | $689,100 |
| 2nd | Michael Gathy | $598,900 |
| 3rd | Sergi Reixach | $345,000 |
| 4th | Jake Schindler | $253,000 |
| 5th | Jacob Ferro | $184,000 |
| 6th | Ren Lin | $138,000 |
| 7th | Dominik Nitsche | $92,000 |
Featured image source: PokerGO
