In news from the High Roller Poker World, PokerGO owner Cary Katz emerged as the champion from the inaugural running of the PokerGO Cup $100,000 main event. That was not enough to give him the overall championship, however. That would go to another person who won only one event on the schedule, Daniel Negreanu, who will go into the record books as the Overall Champion of the 2021 PokerGO Cup.
Katz Survives 23-Entry Gauntlet for Title
The $100,000 buy in for the PokerGO Cup Main Event served its purpose: it kept the field to a minimum. Only 23 entries were racked up by the time late registration had ended, ensuring that only four men (no ladies stepped to the fore) would earn a payday from the event. Day 1 saw the field knocked down to five players, meaning the final day of the tournament would have some drama to it.
The first elimination came rather quickly with the five finalists. Dan Smith ran his pocket tens into Sam Soverel’s pocket Jacks and the board would provide no salvation for Smith. With the five card board dealt, Smith was the person who walked away from the $100,000 Main Event final table with nothing to show for his efforts.
The next player out was the winner of the preliminary to the Main Event, the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em event. Daniel Negreanu would be the one to go and it too was at the hands of Soverel. This time, however, Negreanu got his chips in with pocket Aces only to see Soverel’s pocket eights catch a set on the turn. The fourth-place finish was a good one for Negreanu (more on this in a moment), but he was going to have to have some luck himself in the near future.
Soverel’s rampage continued, taking out Sean Winter in third to get to heads up play against Katz holding a 3.3 million/1.3 million lead. For all the previous knockouts, however, Soverel could not solve the riddle that was Katz, letting the chips bleed through his fingers until Katz moved out to the lead. It got to the point that Soverel finally had to put his chips in with a connector, 10-9, to Katz’s Q-4. Once Katz flopped a four to extend his lead and dodged the turn and river, he was the inaugural champion of the PokerGO Cup Main Event.
1. Cary Katz, $1,058,000
2. Sam Soverel, $644,000
3. Sean Winter, $368,000
4. Daniel Negreanu, $230,000
Negreanu’s Finish Edges Ali Imsirovic for Overall Championship
Negreanu’s win in Event #7 was not enough for him to win the Overall Championship of the 2021 PokerGO Cup. He needed to have a cash finish in the Main Event, plus some help from the rest of that field, to be able to pass two-time PokerGO Cup victor Ali Imsirovic for the title. In the end, however, Negreanu had to watch out for another player he was competing against.
Coming to the five-man final table, Negreanu was assured of the Overall Championship if here were able to cash in the event AND Soverel did not win the event. Negreanu did his part in the event, with his fourth-place finish earning him 69 points and pushing him 40 points past Imsirovic, but he had to fade Soverel. Negreanu in fact waited tableside while Soverel was running roughshod over the festivities before Katz’s comeback earned Negreanu the title.
1. Daniel Negreanu, 537 points
2. Ali Imsirovic, 497
3. Cary Katz, 475
4. David Coleman, 470
5. Alex Foxen, 421
6. Sam Soverel, 361 (would have finished with 643 points with the win)