The 2023 PokerGO Cup's third $10,500 buy-in no-limit high roller occurred recently. It attracted 90 entrants who formed a $900,000 prize pool that the top 13 finalists shared. Ed Sebesta won $216,000 and the title after two days of intense action.
It was his second-largest score in a poker tournament, after winning $311,915 at the 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in the $10,000 high roller. The Hendon Mob shows that the Texas resident has over $1.1 million in poker career earnings.
Besides winning the money and title, Sebasta also garnered 540 Card Player Player of the Year (POY) points and 216 PokerGO Tour points that improved his position in the PokerGO Tour and PokerGO Cup races. Although 13 entrants won money in the tournament, seven failed to proceed to Day 2 including Nick Petrangelo, Andrew Lichtenberger, Farid Jattin, and Ethan 'Rampage' Yau.
The Final Table's Payouts and Ranking Points
- Ed Sebesta-$216,000, 540 POY points and 216 PGT points
- Nick Schulman-$153,000, 450 POY points and 153 PGT points
- Philip Shing-$108,000, 360 POY points and 108 PGT points
- Cary Katz-$90,000, 270 POY points, and 90 PGT points
- Adrian Mateos-$72,000, 225 POY points, and 72 PGT points
- Kristen Foxen-$54,000, 180 POY points, and 54 PGT points
Action on the Final Day
Philip Shing was the stack leader when the action began and Sebesta was second. Kristen Foxen was the short stack and she got all-in after one hand. The player used pocket jacks to shove from the small blind and Cary Katz used pocket eights to call in the big blind.
Four diamonds appeared on the board. Katz won a pot with a diamond and sent Foxen packing in sixth place. This was Foxen and Adrian Mateos' second time reaching a final table in the series. The latter's run ended after Shing's A-8 beat his pocket tens.
Shing got the lead after an ace-high flop that he held and eliminated Mateos in fifth place. The Hendon Mob reports that Mateos has almost $30.7 million in poker career earnings.
Katz followed Mateos in fourth place after moving all-in using a king-high flush draw that lost to Sebesta's top pair of queens. The river and turn didn't help him thus ending his run. Katz has over $35.7 million in poker lifetime cashes.
Shing lost the stack lead after doubling up Sebesta in four-handed action. The other big hand arose making him tie in second place in the chip standing. Still, Shing used pocket fives to make a 2,500,000 shove with 75,000-125,000 blinds.
Sebesta used pocket jacks to make a small blind call and Nick Schulman moved out of his way in a big blind. A larger pocket pair was the best by the river hence busting Shing in the third position with $108,000. It was the fifth sixth-figure score in his career and it raised his lifetime poker earnings to over $1.1 million.
Shing's exit set up a heads-up play between Schulman and Sebesta with the latter having a 9,000,000:2,250,000 chip advantage. But, the gap reduced fast within 20 minutes.
Sebesta used KDiamond Suit9Club Suit to open-shove from the button and place an effective wager of more than 27 big blinds. His move prompted Schulman to use ASpade Suit7Club Suit and call off 3,400,000 chips.
The board run out QHeart Suit6Heart Suit4Club SuitKSpade Suit9Heart Suit and earned Sebesta kings up that secured the title and pot. Schulman finished second with $153,000.
