Patrick Leonard finds immediate PGT success with Kickoff win

Posted on: January 22, 2025 19:52 PST

On Wednesday, the seven remaining players in the PGT Kickoff Event #2: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em returned to the PokerGO Studio to play down to a winner. The 96 entrants garnered – an improvement attendance-wise from Event #1 – served to generate a $480,000 prize pool, with 14 players paid and $124,800 for the eventual winner.

When the chips had fallen and the final hand was dealt, Patrick Leonard stood alone atop the podium to lay claim to the $124,800 and the PGT Kickoff title. In his first two forays at the PokerGO Studio, Leonard has made consecutive final tables and now adds a PGT victory to his growing resume.

After notching several eliminations the day before, Joey Weissman took a solid chip lead into the final table, but Joseph Cheong and Sam Laskowitz weren't far behind, starting second and third in the counts. In the middle of the pack, Chino Rheem and Aram Zobian brought the exact same amount of chips to the final table, while Patrick Leonard sat just below them, having made his second final table appearance in as many attempts at the PokerGO Studio. Natalie Ferguson secured her first-ever PGT cash, but had her work cut out for her as she started proceedings as the clear short stack.

Ferguson triples, Leonard finds dream spot with aces

After hanging around for a few orbits, Ferguson took her shot when she moved all-in for her final three or so big blinds with . Weissman, next to act, flat-called the bet with , allowing Rheem to come along from the small blind with . The runout saw Rheem extract a little value from his second pair, but it was Ferguson hauling in the main pot as she more than tripled her stack.

Chino Rheem's run came to an end in three-way pocket pair cooler.

Then, a massive three-way collision saw Leonard, Rheem, and Laskowitz all find premium pocket pairs. Leonard started the pair party when he returned from an impromptu bathroom break to look down at . After coming in for a min-raise, Leonard watched on as Rheem moved all-in next to act and Laskowitz, after some deliberation, moved all-in as well. Leonard's snap call told the other two players all they needed to know as Rheem's and Laskowitz's were in rough shape. The runout kept it clean for Leonard to score more than a triple up and send Rheem to the payout desk in seventh place.

Ferguson, meanwhile, secured a second triple up a few hands later to leave Laskowitz as the shortest stack.

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Ferguson's top pair no good, Laskowitz out

Despite her two triple-ups, Ferguson wound up in a spot she couldn't get away from after making top pair on a flop. Ferguson had defended her big blind with against an under-the-gun open from Weissman. Unfortunately for Ferguson, she was pipped by Weissman's and when the chips went in on the turn, her hand was drawing thin. The river improved Weissman to top two pair and ended Ferguson's run in sixth place.

Natalie Ferguson's first-ever PGT cash came with a sixth-place finish.

With a little more than three big blinds remaining, Laskowitz committed his stack with and found himself in a good spot to double against Cheong's . The flop paired his opponent, however, to leave Laskowitz pulling at just three immediate outs. On the turn , Laskowitz's path to victory looked slim and the river confirmed his elimination in fifth place.

Weissman crashes out in fourth

After seeing his chip lead slip away throughout the course of four-handed play, Weissman grew noticeably frustrated by the card distribution. In a blind versus blind confrontation with Leonard, Weissman moved his remaining ten or so big blinds into the middle with . Leonard looked down at in the big blind and snap called. The flop offered up an open-ended straight draw for Weissman, but the turn cut down on his potential outs. On the river, Weissman's elimination was confirmed and he headed for the payout desk to collect his fourth-place prize.

Joey Weissman lost control of the chip lead during four-handed play and couldn't regain his footing.

From there, Leonard began to pull away as the chip leader before another blind versus blind confrontation saw him notch a second elimination. After calling off Cheong's all-in from the small blind, Leonard found himself in great shape to send Cheong to the rail as his dominated his opponent's . The runout offered neither player any help, but Leonard wasn't the one who needed it and Cheong's run came to an end with a third-place finish.

Leonard vs. Zobian

Until the heads-up stage of play, Zobian had remained fairly inactive as he let others fall by the wayside around him, but there was nowhere to hide now. With a near four-to-one chip lead, Leonard kept his foot on the gas as he looked to close out the win quickly.

On the river in a limped pot, the completed board read and Leonard bet enough to put Zobian all-in. After using a time extension, Zobian dug deep and made the hero call, tabling his , good for bottom pair. Unfortunately for Zobian, Leonard wasn't bluffing as he showed down for two pair, good enough to claim the pot and the PGT Kickoff Event #2 title.