PokerGO Cup Events Won by Brock Wilson and Michael Berk in Las Vegas

Two massive PokerGO Cup events saw wins for Brock Wilson and Michael Berk as players such as David Coleman and Landon Tice both came close to glory themselves. Seven players made the final table in each event, with legends of the felt such as Chino Rheem, Jesse Lonis and John Hennigan all winning money as they ran close to glory.

Brock Wilson Wins Event #4 for $112,720

The fourth PokerGO Cup event of the series saw 104 total entries, creating a prize pool of $520,000 prize pool. Only 15 players made the money, with Qinghai Pan the first of them, cashing for $10,400 in 15^th place, doubling his money. Others such as Jesse Lonis (14^th for $10,400), Jeremy Becker (13^th for $13,000) and Michael Brinkenhoff (12^th for $13,000) followed before PokerGO legend Chino Rheem busted in 11^th place for $15,600.

After John ‘Johnny World’ Hennigan busted in ninth place for the same amount, Sean Winter’s elimination in eighth place for $20,800 saw the final table formed, with David Coleman leading the way on 47 big blinds, with Brock Wilson his closest challenger on 35 big blinds. Connor Rash busted for $20,800 in seventh place after David Coleman’s pocket aces held.

Shannon Shorr’s exit in sixth for $26,000 followed, with Jeremy Dan (5^th for $33,800) and Myles Mullaly (4^th for $46,800) departing soon afterwards. Drake Kemper had done a lot of the hard work running to three-handed poker but he missed out on the heads-up when his ace-three lost to the dominating ace-eight of Coleman, meaning Kemper cashed for $59,800.

Heads-up, Coleman had a 2:1 chip lead but a deal was done between the two players and that looked smart of Coleman’s part when Wilson first levelled the stacks then overtook his fellow American. Coleman got his chips in with an ace-high nut flush draw on the flop but Wilson called with top pair and held through turn and river to claim the PokerGO Cup gold trophy and the $112,720 top prize.

Michael Berk Wins Event #5 for $207,000

In Event #5, Michael Berk reigned supreme as he took home the $207,000 top prize after beating Landon Tice heads-up. After a field of 69 players battled to 10 in-the-money players, Brock Wilson cashed for $20,700, with Drake Kemper joining him in profit by winning $24,150 in ninth place. Bubbling the final table was Darren Elias as the four-time WPT Main Event winner also claimed $24,150.

Inside the final seven, Landon Tice went into the fight with more chips than anyone, with Berk close behind on 52 bigs. Everyone else had less than half of Berk’s stack let alone Tice’s, and the early levels showed that imbalance. Aram Zobian’s exit in seventh place for $27,600 came before Sam Laskowitz joined him on the rail with $37,950 in sixth. Qinghai Pan busted for $51,750 in fifth place before Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen missed out on the podium places, claiming $69,000 when his ace-eight couldn’t hit against the pocket fives of Michael Berk.

Three-handed play initially saw Tice plummet to short-stack after a big hand against Berk, but Sean Winter was the player to miss out on heads-up when ace-four couldn’t hold against Berk’s queen-eight, a queen coming on the flop to put Winter out in the cold with $93,150.

The final battle saw Berk carry a 3:1 chip lead into the action and he soon made Tice pay. On a board showing 8-4-4-K-7, Berk shoved with ace-four and Tice called it off with king-eight for two pair. That ended matters in Berk’s favor, with Tice winning $134,550 as runner-up, with Berk winning the top prize of $207,000 and the PGT Gold Cup.

Brock Wilson Wins Event #6 for $210,000

Brock Wilson made it two wins from three events in Event #6, with the Las Vegas resident winning $210,000 after outlasting a final table full of his fellow professionals. The sixth event of the 10-event series saw Wilson take over at the top of the overall leaderboard with two wins from the half-dozen events to have taken place so far.

With 70 runners, a prize pool of $700,000 was divided up inequally between 10 players, just as in Event #5. Filipp Khavin cashed for the lowest amount as he banked $21,000, before Dong Min Suh (9^th for $21,000) and Sam Soverel (8^th for $28,000) both made the money places too.

At the final table of seven, Brandon Wilson left the party early, cashing for $28,000 to leave Chris Hunichen as the chip leader on 82 big blinds. Big Huni couldn’t hold that lead, however, as Brock Wilson’s elimination of Qinghai Pan in sixth place for $38,500 and Darren Elias in fifth for $52,500 vaulted the eventual winner Brock Wilson into a commanding position.

Nick Seward busted in fourth place for $70,000 before Big Huni’s king-six fell to Shannon Shorr’s ace-five. Hunichen cashed for $94,500 in third place as Shorr re-established a big lead going into the final duel. Brock Wilson wasn’t finished, however, doubling up with a degree of fortune as his queen-three flopped a queen against Shorr’s pocket eights. The two men battled for some time, both holding the lead until Wilson made trip kings on the river and snap-called Shorr’s bold bluff with queen-high. Down to less than a big blind, Shorr busted soon after when ten-high ran into Wilson’s king-seven.

“I play in these events a lot and I really enjoy them,” said Wilson to PokerNews after the event. “It’s cool sort of when everything comes together and works out great. I got heads-up against two friends, Shannon and David Coleman, it was really cool to beat them both on a big stage.”