Almost exactly nine months to the day since his last major victory, David Peters bagged the opener in the 2024 PokerGO Cup series last night, scooping the $141,525 top prize.
Peters was one of 111 entries to the first PokerGO Cup event, a $5k buy-in for the first time and a successful one at that, with plenty of fresh blood mixing it with the high-roller regs.
With 16 spots being paid from the $555,000 prizepool, the day 1 money bubble was obviously of great interest. Anthony Hu was the unfortunate player to miss out, when his ace-queen was unable to catch Peters’ pocket fours in a straight race.
Farah Galfond was among those to cash, in 16th for an $8,325 payout, one spot behind Erik Seidel.
Poker dream shattered
The final six who returned on day 2 to play for the trophy and title were headed by Peters, with Cody Daniels starting as the short stack. Daniels had the full support of the poker community behind him as he looked to parlay a bucket list event into a dream finish.
Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. He doubled up almost immediately through Peters with A-Q. But A-Q was his downfall the very next hand as he got it in against Mark Ioli. It was the perfect spot for Daniels, with Ioli holding A-J, but Ioli found a three-outer on the river. The gods of poker are cruel but Daniels took it with absolute class.
Successful return for Quoss
Another new face at the bigger buy-in level, Dusti Smith, fell in fifth when she ran smack bang into Shawn Daniels’ pocket queens and then it was the turn of an “old” face making a surprise appearance, Fabian Quoss.
He was part of the first wave of really strong German high stakes live tournament players, alongside the likes of Philip Gruissem.
Taking down the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100k SHR and the Aussie Millions $100k Challenge in 2016, Quoss won close to $10 million before packing poker in to travel the world and find a “more conscious” way of living.
His return came to an end in fourth for $49,950.
Down to just three, it was Daniels who eventually found himself short-stacked, all-in and at risk against that man Peters, the board bricking to send him out in third spot for $63,825.
Ioli had a big chip lead heads-up but the stacks flipped after he tried a big bluff at the wrong time.
And Peters closed it out when the stacks went in with Ioli's K-5 failing to improve against the dominating K-T. "That one mis-step cost me," said Ioli ruefully as the board completed.
2024 PokerGO Cup: Event 1 results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | David Peters | $141,525 |
| 2 | Mark Ioli | $88,800 |
| 3 | Shawn Daniels | $63,625 |
| 4 | Fabian Quoss | $49,950 |
| 5 | Dusti Smith | $36,075 |
| 6 | Cody Daniels | $27,750 |
Event 2 final table live on YouTube tonight
The 2024 PGT Cup series continues with four $10k events, before two $15ks and a $25k finale.
Event 2 is already underway, with the final table set to play out tonight. You can watch that on the PokerGO YouTube channel, where Mike Watson will start as the chip leader.
| Seat | Player | Chips |
| 1 | Mike Watson | 2,630,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Smiljkovic | 1,635,000 |
| 3 | Byron Kaverman | 2,405,000 |
| 4 | David Coleman | 425,000 |
| 5 | Anthony Hu | 2,505,000 |
| 6 | Dylan Weisman | 1,930,000 |
