David Chen is Youngest PGT Champion in Poker Masters Win

The PokerGO Tour (PGT) 2024 Poker Masters has seen professional poker players from all over the world compete to land big payouts on its numerous events. Event #5: $10K No-Limit Hold’em, most notably, garnered a lot of buzz, as its conclusion saw David Chen, a relative newcomer to the PokerGO Tour, come out on top and win a sizable purse of $217,500.

Chen, 21, holds the distinction of being the youngest PGT champion to date, after his stellar performance on the $10K No-Limit Hold’em event. The $217,500 cash prize is the largest pot Chen has won, and is the first 6-figure win in his burgeoning professional poker career.

Who Were Chen’s Competition on the $10K No-Limit Hold’em Event?

The final table Chen competed on had strong players which included Jim Collopy, Chino Rheem, Filipp Khavin, and Sam Laskowitz. Collopy had an impressive streak of landing three straight final tables during the PGT 2024 event, and was looking to rocket up the leaderboards with a win on Event #5. That said, Collopy was sitting in third place, in terms of chips.

Meanwhile, Filipp Khavin was the chip leader going into the $10K No-Limit Hold’em table, with Chen close at second place. Rounding up the final table were Sam Laskowitz at fourth place in chips, and Chino Rheem, who had the short stack.

Laskowitz was the first player to exit the final table in fifth. He came in as a middling stack but would become short early on after tangling with Collopy in a three-bet pot on an ace-high board that didn’t go to showdown. Afterwards, Laskowitz saw himself in all-in situations against Chino Rheem multiple times: the first one was to outdraw Rheem with tens against Rheem’s jacks, and again to lose with queens to Rheem’s ace-king offsuit. Laskowitz’s run ended after defending the big blind against a late position open from Chen. Laskowitz check-raised all in over Chen’s continuation bet on a seven-five-four rainbow board after flopping middle pair with ace-five offsuit. Laskowitz finished fifth, and took home $52,500.

Chen’s next target was Filipp Khavin, the chip leader. In his final hand, Khavin moved his twelve big blind stack with ace-five offsuit from the big blind to combat Chen’s button raise who was holding ace-eight offsuit. Both players flopped a pair, but Khavin would not improve beyond that to be the fourth-place finisher for more than $71,000.

Chino Rheem was the next player to bow out when he battled Chen. Rheem’s final hand saw him defend his big blind with a Queen of Diamonds and 8 of Clubs, while Chen had a King of Clubs and 4 of Diamond. The Flop saw both players have gutshot straight draws, but the 5 of Clubs on the turn and 10 of Hearts on the river didn’t help Rheem, which left him bowing out at third place with $101,000.

Lastly, Chen had a showdown with Jim Collopy. Chen had the chip lead, and Collopy needed some strong plays to wrestle control. The final hand saw Collopy go all-in with his Ace-5 offsuit against Chen’s Jack-9 of Spades after Chen called. The flop fell in Chen’s favor, as it revealed a King, 6, and 3 of Spades. This ended Collopy’s run and landed him in second place with $142,500, while Chen secured the trophy and $217,500 first-place prize.

Collopy’s second place performance on Event#5 sees him catapult into the top spot on the 2024 Poker Masters leaderboard against Jeremy Becker, who won Event#2. Collopy is in the running to win the coveted purple jacket.