Daniyal Iqbal Wins Record-Breaking PGT PLO Kickoff Event

The PokerGO Tour is hosting its first-ever series consisting entirely of Pot Limit Omaha events this week PokerGO Studio within the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The PGT PLO series kicked off with a $5,000 buy-in event that attracted 200 entries by the registration deadline, setting the record for most entries in an owned-and-operated tournament PGT Case. The huge turnout resulted in a $1,000,000 prize pool, which was paid out among the top 29 finishers. After two days of action, Daniyal Iqbal won the title and most of the prize money: $160,000.

Iqbal is an engineer from Rochester, NY who plays poker as a hobby. “I play PLO cash at home. Some home games. I’m an engineer, just here for a week to have some fun,” he said PGT Reporters after they prevail.

This win earned Iqbal many ranking points. With 720 card player With player of the year points, he is now in the top 200 in 2023 POY Race classification presented by Global Poker. He also earned 160 PGT Points, enough for climbing within the top 40 on this ranking.

The 200-strong field was reduced to just nine participants by the end of the first day of action, with Iqbal leading the way and several big names still in the running. Bracelet Winners and Poekr World Tour Champion David Williams was the first to fall (9th – $30,000) as his bottom pair and straight draw off the flop failed to improve against a higher pair from Finnish bracelet winner Eelis Parssinen.

Ethan “Rampage” Yau, a bracelet winner and popular vlogger, was the next to hit the rails. Yau’s pocket aces were overtaken by Peng Zheng’s two-color pocket kings.

Four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen cracked the pocket aces of bracelet winner Sean Troha (7th place – $40,000) before moving all in to face two-color pocket kings against another pocket pair of aces. The larger pair held against Parssinen and the field was narrowed down to five with Madsen earning $50,000 for his sixth place finish.

Zheng’s run in the event ended when his flopped middle set collided with Stanislav Halatenko’s flush and wrap draws. The flush came on the turn and Zheng (5th – $60,000) ended up failing to fill up.

Iqbal won a big pot against Parssinen to take the lead, narrowly leaving the Finn. He was soon all in with top pair and three live overcards, and faced an overpair to Iqbal. The turn brought Parssinen aces, but the river put Iqbal up to a winning set of nines. Parssinen earned $70,000 for his efforts while Iqbal extended his lead into three-handed action.

In Halatenko’s final hand, he moved all-in with QJ8th6 master the KQQ9 by Iqbal. The board fell 1062K3 and a pair of kings was enough to secure the pot for Iqbal.

The heads-up game started with Iqbal holding 17,700,000 against Rousso’s Koliakoudakis 6,500,000. An early double strike briefly turned the tables, but Iqbal soon regained and extended his lead. In the final hand, chips came in on a board of 10654 with Koliakoudakis, the J442 for lower set. Iqbal held AQ8th7 for the eight-high straight and a flush redraw. The 8th completed the board to secure the pot and title for Iqbal. Koliakoudakis earned $120,000 for second place.

Here’s a look at the payouts and leaderboard points awarded at the final table:

Copyright: PokerGO Tour / Antonio Abrego.