We at PLO Mastermind are proud to have sponsored the first ever PokerGO Tour (PGT) PLO Series. Our aim by partnering with this prestigious event has been to support the PLO community and contribute to the growth of the game.
Today, we’re diving into the $25K PLO PGT Championship Final Table, highlighting Sammuel Sipila from the Beasts of Poker Pro-Team.
Sipila has been a standout in the PGT series, winning both the $10k Pot Limit Omaha High Roller and $15k Pot Limit Omaha Progressive Bounty events, with over $750k prize money won in total.
An enthusiastic advocate for the PLO Mastermind, Sammy praises its user interface and effectiveness, stating, “You want to make your learning experience as smooth and easy as possible. That’s exactly what the PLO Trainer’s features provide to a poker player. The UI is superb compared to other solvers and is incredibly easy to use. On behalf of our team at beastsofpoker.com, I can assure you this tool is 5/5 Beast approved!”
Let’s examine how he performed at the final table. With seven players remaining and the following payout structure, we’ll break down each hand leading to an elimination:
Simao Eliminated in 7th Place for $72K
Simaro, with just 5 big blinds left (considering the BB ante), was positioned to commit to the pot rather lightly since it already constituted over half of his stack.
Additionally, the ICM considerations were minimal for him as he was significantly behind, nearly 4 times shorter than the next smallest stack, which diminished his incentive to try to move up the payout ladder.
Unfortunately, he encountered a tough matchup when he ran into aces while holding AK96 double-suited, leading to his elimination from the tournament.
Winter Eliminated in 6th Place for $90k
Next, Winter was eliminated by Sipila in a notable hand. Christopher, holding KKQ6, limped from early position, prompting Sipila to make an unconventional isolation raise on the button with QJ98, a move that deviates from standard GTO play for a 30BB stack with antes. This is shown below in an extract from PLO trainer, which calls out the EV difference of certain decisions.Â
Even though a solver suggests just calling here, that doesn’t account for the ICM and dynamics of the table: Furth’s stack size and position discouraged him from playing deep out of position against a stack that could significantly damage him. Additionally, Winter had an incentive to play conservatively to outlast Le for a payout jump, and Christopher was likely hesitant to play pots that could risk his tournament life out of position.
Despite facing a 3-bet from Christopher—which typically signals a strong range, often aces in this spot—Sipila was priced in to see the flop. With an Stack to Pot Ratio (SPR) of 1, the equity needed to justify an all-in was only 33%. Consequently, Christopher, likely committing with many one-pair hands, pushed, and Sipila quickly called with his two pair, holding on to eliminate Winter.
Le Eliminated in 5th Place for $126K
Next up we see Sipila take out another player when he wakes up with Aces in middle position. Le gets a good price to call in the BB and makes the GTO play, but unfortunately finds himself dominated heading to the flop.
The board comes down A73 rainbow and this is terrible news for Le as he flops top pair top kicker with little money behind. Le really has no leads on this board given that he is calling with a wide, capped range out of the BB, and checks. Sipila has some incentive to slow-play given that he blocks so many continues, but with his aggressive image he goes ahead and bets.
Le goes for the X/R here which is definitely GTO approved. You can see in PLO Trainer that any AK (that is not 2 Pair or better) check / raises.Â
This is because he often has the best hand but could open himself up to getting outplayed on the turn against further aggression from Sipila who is able to force Le to put his tournament life on the life on scary runouts. This is the right play, but at the wrong time.Â
Sipila could consider slow-playing here, but really what hand is going to bluff you on A73 rainbow? Just because you have AA does not mean your opponent cannot have an A, and if he does have an A he is going to stack off with this little behind.Â
However, he goes for the call which is also fine because Le is pretty much always going to jam the turn anyway. Doesn’t really matter the line chosen here, just a cooler. The money goes in on the turn and he is drawing dead.
Christopher Eliminated in 4th Place for $171K
In this hand, Christopher found himself in a fairly typical situation for a short stack, sitting with just 6BB. He likely perceived Furth’s raise as an attempt to apply pressure using any four cards.
Holding a somewhat connected high card hand, Christopher decided to make a move, opting to 3-bet and commit given the significant amount of chips already in the middle relative to his stack.
Unfortunately for Christopher, he found himself somewhat dominated after the all-in. Unable to improve his hand on the board, he failed to survive the encounter.
Furth Eliminated in 3rd Place for $243K
In this sequence, we observed some typical preflop action, with a button raise followed by a flat call from Davies. This allowed Furth, sitting in the big blind with about 20BB, to see a favorable price to join the pot.
Post-flop, Sipila continued to play aggressively, leveraging his ability to exert significant ICM pressure on a board that’s challenging to connect with. However, this time he runs in to a strong hand, and the nuts. Furth, caught in between two players with a non-nutted hand that struggles to improve due to the pocket pair he held, chose not to play his hand too aggressively. He recognized that if he was behind, he was nearly drawing dead, and inflating the pot without improving could leave him lost on the turn.
Conversely, Furth needed to act with urgency, pushing to get chips in the middle while his hand was strong, aware that cards like an A,Q,J,9 on the turn could drastically reduce his ability to bet for value given the side cards that come along with a J in the SB cold calling range. This raise puts Davies in a tough spot with essentially a bluff catcher that had little chance to improve against superior hands.
Once the raise is called, Furth could reasonably deduce that Davies likely held a Jack but couldn’t be sure of the side cards. Hoping for low, non-threatening turn cards that wouldn’t favor the small blind’s calling range, Furth saw a favorable deuce on the turn, boosting his equity to about 90%.
Davies, adhering to a strategy of checking his range on such a turn, had no incentive to lead out if his opponent might be bluffing, and almost dead against value. He also needed less protection with the K of hearts in his hand, that block some of his opponents back door equity hands.
When Furth shoved, Davies ultimately decided to call. In a dramatic twist, Davies caught one of the four outs remaining (one King was already folded by Sipila), allowing him to survive and advance to a heads-up showdown with Sipila.
Davies Goes on to Win!
In the defining hand of the heads-up matchup, Sipila faced a tough situation when he was 4-bet by Davies. Knowing he was likely up against AA, Sipila still found his Kings too strong to fold and opted for a call after using a 30-second time extension. Not folding here is the GTO play. The PLO trainer generally recommends jamming in this situation given the future flop SPR of 0.25, reasoning that there are hardly any flops where folding would be warranted.
However, the EV difference between jamming and calling is marginal, and by calling, Sipila might preserve some chips on an Ace-high board, demonstrating a nuanced approach to a complex scenario. He is not able to hit and finds himself as a 6-1 stack deficit.
In the final showdown, the action started with a standard raise and call pre-flop, setting up a situation with a stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) of just over 1 on the flop. This setup made it highly likely that all the chips would end up in the middle soon after.
On the flop, Sipila connected with a substantial draw and a pair, leading him to pot —a common strategy in short-stack situations as the out-of-position leading range increases. Davies faced a challenging decision with his naked kings. Despite needing about 33% equity to justify stacking off, he was potentially in a tough spot against most of Sipila’s range.
Nonetheless, Davies chose to get the money in, facing the daunting task of dodging 22 outs. Despite the odds, Sipila failed to improve as the board ran out with two bricks, leading to his elimination. This dramatic turn of events crowned Davies as the tournament champion.
Conclusion
The $25K PLO PGT Championship Final Table showcased high-stakes drama and strategic brilliance, particularly from Sammuel Sipila of the Beasts of Poker Pro-Team.
Throughout the series, Sipila demonstrated profound tactical skill, navigating through a tough field using the PLO Mastermind’s advanced strategies. Despite his skillful play, the final heads-up against Davies ended in a dramatic showdown. Sipila’s kings were overpowered by Davies’ aces in a crucial hand, setting the stage for his eventual defeat.
The final table was a compelling blend of skill, strategy, and the unpredictability of poker, where fortunes can change with a single card. Davies’ victory underscored the harsh realities of tournament poker, where even the best can fall if the cards don’t fall in their favor.
This tournament highlighted the excitement and complexities of Pot Limit Omaha, leaving a memorable mark on all who watched. Congratulations to Davies for navigating this challenging field to take the championship, and commendations to Sipila and all participants for an enthralling final table.
