Another busy summer of live poker action is coming, but many players are choosing to get things rolling right away. There always seem to be some poker tournaments taking place throughout the world, and that’s especially true in the United States.
Joel Deutsch and Michael Liang are two players that have recently won big poker events, and they were able to chas in with those wins. Each player had to deal with some other big names on the live poker scene, but these wins will give them some momentum moving forward.
Deutsch Deals With Massive Field
The win for Joel Deutsch came against over 700 other opponents, and it’s never easy to win a tournament with that many entrants. This win came at the 2024 Borgata Spring Poker Open, and it was the main event in which he was able to cash in.
It was a payday of over $347,000 for Deutsch and that was much more than he had ever won when playing in a poker event. His previous best cash was just $170,000, and this big win pushed his career earnings to more than $1 million.
There was supposed to be a $2 million guarantee at this event, but that number was not met based on the limited number of entries. Still, that didn’t take away from the massive win for Deutsch, and the top 103 finishers were all winners in this tournament.
It still took more than one single day to finish this tournament and there were seven players that advanced to the second and final day. Not only did Deutsch pick up a nice cash prize, but he also took home 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points.
Andrew Voor was pushing hard in this event for a chance to take home the biggest prize, but it ended up being a second place finish.
Liang Wins Lodge Championship Series
The 2024 Lodge Championship Series Main Event came with a $2 million guaranteed prize, and it was a no-limit hold’em style event. When all was said and done, Liang walked away with the top prize and $428,000.
This was not the biggest score for Liang throughout his poker career as he actually won more money two different times. With more than $3.1 million in career earnings, Liang is starting to make a major name for himself.
This event featured 581 entries, and it made for two great days of poker action, with the top 13 players coming back for the second day. Liang had some work to do on the final day as he was in third place when the action during the final day started.
Nicholas Pupillo entered the final day of action with the chip lead, but he was only able to finish in second place in this tournament. Liang was actually forced to play catch up as heads up play began, but it didn’t take long or him to make a big move.
The top five players in this tournament all won at least $109,000, and that had everyone pushing hard for as much money as possible.
