The fight for the championship of the 2025 PokerGO Tour PLO Series II is heating up, and so is Sean Winter. After coming up short in two consecutive events, Winter would finally break through in his third bite at the apple. After Winter’s victory in Event #5 (and Bryce Yockey’s win in Event #6), Winter has taken a dominant lead in the race for the overall title of the 2025 PGT PLO Series II.
Three Final Tables = Overall Lead
Winter has been on an incredible heater of late. In both Event #3, the final $5,000 tournament on the PLO schedule, and Event #4, the first $10,000 tournament, Winter had a shot at the championship but would come up short. He would come to the five-handed final table of Event #5, the $10,000 Progressive Bounty tournament, as the chip leader, but faced challenges from Sam Soverel, Jesse Lonis, Nicholas Palma, and Taylor Wilson. With the progressive bounty format (half of a bounty goes in your pocket, the other half adds to your own bounty), Winter was going to be a target, as he had a $46,000 bounty on his own head.
Instead of going after Winter, the other four men targeted each other. Soverel would devastate the stack of Lonis, his A-Q-10-5 scoring on an A-Q-3-A-J that completely missed Lonis. Lonis would depart in fifth place at the hands of Palma, who picked up his first bounty (worth $19,000). Winter came to life by eliminating Wilson from the tournament after he made two pairs, while Wilson missed everything. Wilson would then knock off Palma in third to take a dominant lead (nine million to 4.25 million) into heads-up play against Soverel.
In a rapid twenty-minute squabble, Winter would take care of seizing his first title of the series. On a 10♦ 6♦ 2x flop, Winter popped a pot bet that Soverel called. A 5♦ on the turn slowed Winter with a quarter-pot bet of 810,00, while Soverel was interested enough to stick around. A nine came on the river, and Winter potted, forcing Soverel to a decision for his remaining stack. After some agonizing moments, Soverel made the call and saw the unwelcome news:
Soverel: J-10-8-7 (nine high straight, using the 8-7)
Winter: A♦ Ax Q♦ 9♦ (nut flush, using the A♦ Q♦)
1. Sean Winter, $122,300 ($155,000 in bounties, 253 PGT PLO Series II points)
2. Sam Soverel, $122,300 ($19,000, 153)
3. Nicholas Palma, $73,100 ($19,000, 121)
4. Taylor Wilson, $57,200 ($16,000, 95)
5. Jesse Lonis, $41,700 ($33,000, 69)
6. Kamel Mokhammad, $31,800 ($2,000, 53)
7. Stephen Hubbard, $25,300 ($4,000, 42)
With the victory and the run of three consecutive final tables, Winter has now taken a dominant lead for the Player of the Series:
1. Sean Winter, 416 points*
2. Ben Lamb, 293*
3. Jesse Lonis, 264*
4. Bryce Yockey, 255*
5. Frederic Normand, 201
6. Alex Foxen, 188*
7. Fernando Habegger, 181
8. Sam Soverel, 175
9. Erik Seidel, 172*
10. John Riordan, 158
* – tournament winners during the 2025 PGT PLO Series II
Bryce Yockey Tosses Hat in the Ring
88 entries had been whittled down to the final four on Tuesday afternoon in the final $10,000 tournament of the 2025 PGT PLO Series II, featuring some fresh faces on the table. Frederic Normand was at the wheel of the ship when the festivities began, but he faced challenges from Yockey, Matthew Wantman, and Brevin Andreadis in a tightly bunched foursome. After Normand had taken care of Andreadis moments into play, it looked like Normand was in complete control.
That would prove to be anything but the truth. It was the high-water mark for Normand, as first he doubled up Wantman and then Yockey to fall into the cellar. The action became two-handed, with Normand starting in the lead, but by the river, his hand was topped by Yockey in typical Omaha fashion. All the chips went to the center, with Normand at risk, and Normand had the edge pre-flop:
Yockey (button): Q-Q-7-7
Normand (big blind): K♥ K♦ 6♥ 5♦
Both men had fantastic Omaha hands (Yockey’s double-pair hand and Normand’s double-suited with a pair), indicative of the pre-flop betting, and the J-10-3 rainbow flop changed nothing. The lightning bolt of a 7♦ on the turn, however, pushed Yockey to the lead, but opened some doors for Normand to a gutter ball straight draw. The river nine didn’t do anything for either player, giving Yockey the pot and sending Normand to the rail in third place.
Yockey held a 4:1 lead over Wantman to start heads-up play, and Yockey would try to make short work of the situation. It would take slightly more than an hour for Yockey to complete the deal; however, as Wantman played excellent short-stack Omaha (Yockey was also concerned with doubling up such a dangerous player), but would never sniff the lead.
On the final hand, Wantman found a Q-J-10-7 good enough to go to war with against Yockey’s K-K-Q-8. The J-3-4 flop gave Wantman an inferior pair to Yockey, but the seven on the turn upped Wantman to two pair. The river cruelly came down with a second trey, however, giving Yockey a better two pair to earn the checkmark and the championship.
1. Bryce Yockey, $237,600 (238 PGT PLO Series II points)
2. Matthew Wantman, $154,000 (154)
3. Frederic Normand, $110,000 (110)
4. Brevin Andreadis, $79,200 (79)
(Photo provided by PokerGO)
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