The PGT Championship, effectively the last remaining live tournament from 2023, is down to its six-handed final table as Daniel Smiljkovic holds a dominating chip lead. With 2.895 million chips, Smiljkovic has twice the stack of his nearest competitor.
2023 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Daniel Weinman is that nearest competitor, sitting in second place with 1.430 million chips. Next is Leon Sturm with 1.005 million. Heading up the back half of the final table is Artur Martirosyan with 720,000, followed by Arden Cho with 665,000. Darren Elias is the short stack with 180,000 chips.
The PGT Championship is a $1 million freeroll, open to the top 40 players on the 2023 PokerGO Tour leaderboard plus 14 other players who won “Dream Seats.” Two of those Dream Seats were just awarded earlier this week in the PGT Last Chance series.
In all, it looks like 47 of the 54 eligible players participated in the tournament, going by the posted table lineups in the live updates on PGT’s website. Only the six players at Wednedsay’s final table will cash, with $500,000 going to the winner. Everyone remaining is guaranteed at least $40,000.
Of the six final table players, Daniel Weinman ranked highest on the 2023 PGT leaderboard, finishing the year in the fourth spot. Smiljkovic was 16th, Sturm was 22nd, Elias was 30th, and Martirosyan was 32nd. Actress Arden Cho (“Teen Wolf,” “Chicago Med,” “Partner Track”) got into the Championship via a Dream Seat.
Where the players finished in the leaderboard rankings was important, beyond it qualifying them for the tournament. Players began the PGT Championship with 1,000 chips for every ten points they had on the leaderboard. Dream Seat winners started with 100,000 chips.
There was almost a second Dream Seater at the final table. Samuel Laskowitz, who just qualified for the PGT Championship at the Last Chance series, was eliminated in 7th place by Smiljkovic on the last hand of Day 1. Smiljkovic did a bunch of damage leading up to the final table, knocking out the 9th place, 11th place, and 13th place finishers, in addition to Laskowitz.
The final table of the PGT Championship is just about to get underway from the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. Tune in later to see how it turns out.
2024 PGT Championship – Final Table Chip Counts
- Daniel Smiljkovic – 2,895,000
- Daniel Weinman – 1,430,000
- Leon Sturm – 1,005,000
- Artur Martirosyan – 720,000
- Arden Cho – 665,000
- Darren Elias – 180,000
Image credit: PokerGO.com
