The PokerGO Tour PLO Series II is displaying the skills of the four-card masters this week in Las Vegas. Over the weekend, Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel picked up his first PGT title of 2025 in Event #3, while Ben Lamb put his name in the mix for the PLO Series II championship. In Seidel’s case, his victory has put him near the top in the race for the overall PLO Series II championship and the accoutrements that go with the title.
Seidel Rides Chip Lead to Championship
One of the templates of the early events on the 2025 PLO Series II tournaments has been the rapid final tables. This is perhaps because other events are starting on the same day, and players are looking to get into those events to chase the overall title. Event #3, another $5,000 buy-in tournament, held to this mantra, and Seidel was the main driver of the fight.
Coming to the final table with nearly half of the chips in play, Seidel displayed his mastery of poker in driving James Chen and Sean Winter off the final table in fifth and third places, respectively. The only one who found some chips to battle with was John Riordan, who knocked off Daniel Kim in fourth place. It set up a heads-up battle between Seidel (eleven million) and Riordan (6.875 million), and Riordan did not roll over for the Hall of Famer.
It took over an hour for Seidel to even get Riordan close to the felt, finding a call after Riordan bluffed at an A-K-Q-A-7 board. Riordan could only turn up a J-8-5-4 for battle (complete air), while Seidel stoically showed a K-10-7-6 (two pair) to capture the hand and leave Riordan with only about a million chips. Those would go in on the next hand, with the cards lining up like this:
Seidel: A-A-K-5
Riordan: K-Q-J-3
While Seidel had the lead pre-flop, Riordan held a better drawing hand, but the board would decide the champion. Coming ten high (10-4-3-6-8), the board missed both men, leaving Seidel’s Aces as the winning hand and earning the title for arguably one of the greatest poker champions in the game’s history.
1. Erik Seidel, $171,500 (172 PLO Series II points)
2. John Riordan, $103,700 (104)
3. Sean Winter, $75,100 (75)
4. Daniel Kim, $57,200 (57)
5. James Chen, $42,900 (43)
6. Bruno Furth, $35,800 (36)*
7. Brevin Andreadis, $28,600 (29)*
* – knocked out on Thursday, part of official final table
With the victory, Seidel (at that time) moved into second place in the race for the overall PGT PLO Series II championship…but there is a long way to go.
Lamb Becomes the Lion, Dominates in Event #4
Although he started the final table in the second slot on the leaderboard from the 117 entries, Lamb would dominate the first $10,000 tournament on the 2025 PGT PLO Series II schedule. Lamb was only behind Christopher Costa on the leaderboard, but Winter demonstrated his skills in the game by finishing third in Event #3, racing across the PokerGO Studios floor, hopping in Event #4, and making his second consecutive final table. Cary Katz, Stefan Christopher, and Fernando Habegger rounded out what was a competitive final table.
Starting the day as the second-shortest stack, Katz got healthier in forcing Habegger off a hand. Winter, the short stack, was not as fortunate, falling to Costa after an interesting hand. Winter (A-J-10-9) would flop a set on an A-A-Q opening run, but Costa (K-K-10-6) had some outs. A deuce didn’t change anything, but the King on the river improved Costa to a full house to top Winter’s improved hand (a Broadway straight), but the improvement wasn’t enough for Winter as he left in sixth.
Habegger would eventually get Katz’s scalp for his wall, sending the PokerGO founder to the rail in fifth place. Once down to four-handed play, Lamb began his attack, knocking off Christopher in fourth place to take over the lead and Costa in third to go to heads-up with Habegger with nearly a 6:1 lead. It only took two hands for Lamb to finish the deal, flopping and rivering a Queen (Q-8-4-3) to defeat Habegger’s pair of Kings (K-K-9-7) on a Q-5-4-10-Q board to take the title.
1. Ben Lamb, $292,500 (293 PGT PLO Series II points)
2. Fernando Habegger, $181,400 (181)
3. Christopher Costa, $128,700 (129)
4. Stefan Christopher, $99,400 (99)
5. Cary Katz, $76,100 (76)
6. Sean Winter, $58,500 (59)
7. Daniel Aharoni, $46,800 (47)*
* – knocked out on Friday, part of official final table Because of the higher points for the $10,000 event, Lamb now takes over the lead in the overall race for the PGT PLO Series II championship:
1. Ben Lamb, 293 points*
2. Jesse Lonis, 195*
3. Fernando Habegger, 181
4. Erik Seidel, 172*
5. Sean Winter, 163
6. Alex Foxen, 162*
7. John Riordan, 132
8. Michael Wang, 129
(tie) Christopher Costa, 129
10. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, 117
* – 2025 PGT PLO Series II winners
After a day off on Sunday, the 2025 PGT PLO Series II returns with a tournament that will upend the race on the overall championship leaderboard. Sean Winter has made his third consecutive final table, but this time he is on top of the Event #5 standings. Sam Soverel, who is at his second final table of the series, is right behind him, while Jesse Lonis looks to move up in both this tournament and the overall standings. Nicholas Palma and Taylor Wilson will be poised to strike should one of those men falter. With Event #5 also serving as a $10K bounty tournament, there is plenty of money, and plenty of PLO points, on the table as we reach the halfway mark of the 2025 PGT PLO Series II.
(Photo courtesy of PokerGO)
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