Christopher Costa is one of the busiest plastic surgeons in Las Vegas, so you can forgive him if he didn’t know the PokerGO Studio was closed on Sunday.
As luck would have it, he bagged a massive chip lead in the $10K PLO Progressive Bounty at the PokerGO Tour PLO Series on Saturday, so Dr. Costa had to move a few appointments for Monday’s final table.
“I called my office manager yesterday at 8 am,” Costa told us. “I was like, ‘Hey, can you go in and help me out?’ And we moved basically three out of four of my surgeries today to help out because I thought this was going to be [Sunday]. So whoops.”
It’s a half-hearted whoops. Costa turned a massive chip lead into a $123,200 payday and his first PokerGO Tour victory. Appointments can be made up.
Work-life-poker balance
Off the felt, Costa owns and operates Platinum Plastic Surgery, a private practice that serves the Las Vegas Valley. He’s a native of Nevada but he cut his poker teeth on the East Coast.
On the felt, Costa is a self-described weekend warrior. “I'm lucky if I get to play one or two nights a week, you know. I like to play mostly in private games…bigger games, stuff like that I've just been really fortunate to network and meet some really amazing people and play in some really good games.”
Dr. Costa shifted a few appointments so he could take care of Alex Foxen on Monday. Costa’s family and medical practice take up a lot of his time and energy, but he’s been playing both live and online since 2008. His maiden entry on The Hendon Mob was an eighth-place finish in a $350 no-limit 'bird' at the 2011 Borgata Spring Poker Open in Atlantic City. “I grinded the 2-5 game at the Borgata for two years. And then had to go be a doctor and be a grown-up.”
He’s now a grown-up with a private medical practice, but he’s still a wild man on the PLO streets. Costa recently appeared on Venetian Poker Live and splashed big pots on his way to carving up a $6K victory in the $10/$10 PLO Mix.
“There's definitely a lifestyle balance because I have a family — I've got three kids. I've got a career, a practice, a couple of businesses, and then I want to like be good at poker too.”
Down goes Foxen
Costa had a chance to prove his chops on Monday in a heads-up confrontation with Alex Foxen, a PokerGO Studio stalwart and PGT End Boss. The giant Day 1 chip lead almost went up in smoke when Foxen staged a brief comeback, but the day was all Costa.
Only Alex Foxen stood in Costa's way, and not for very long. The good doctor knocked out everyone at the final table except for Kamel Mokhammad (that was Foxen), and he stacked up $190,000 in bounties alone — the royal share of $245,000 in play throughout the entire tournament.
“It feels really good. It feels like some validation because I've been playing for a long time. You know, I don't get to play professionally. I don't get to play with these guys on a regular basis.”
PGT PLO Series Event #5: $10,100 PLO Progressive Bounty final table results
| Place | Player | Prize+Bounties |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Costa | $123,200+$190,000 |
| 2 | Alex Foxen | $123,200+$10,000 |
| 3 | Jordan Glazer | $80,200+$5,000 |
| 4 | Bruno Furth | $62,640+$32,000 |
| 5 | Kamel Mokhammad | $48,720+$8,000 |
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/Enrique Malfavon/PokerGO.
