Nick Schulman Scores Opening Win of the Year in PGT Last Chance Triumph

Players such as Joao Simao, Victoria Livschitz and Bryce Yockey all made the final table of the PokerGO Last Chance Event #1 over the weekend. When the dust settled and the camera bulbs had flashed, it was Nick Schulman who became the year’s first major ranking event winner. The sometime PokerGO commentator wrote his own headline as he added yet more credence to arguments that he will become a Poker Hall of Famer in the summer.

Early Stages See Big Eliminations

With 111 entries, a prizepool of over $1.1 million saw 16 players make the money places. Some to miss out included Jeremy Ausmus, Amit Agarwal and the ‘Bubble Boy’ of the event, Jeremy Becker. ‘JBex’, who won the prop bet of the year last year at the WSOP against Landon Tice, fell in 17^th for nothing when his pocket kings were toppled by Joao Simao’s inferior ace-king. A painful board showing 7-6-2-9-A sunk Becker’s hopes on the river as the Brazilian’s chances were boosted instead.

Inside the final 16, Nick Petrangelo min-cashed for $16,650 in 16^th before David Coleman, Brian Kim and Joe Cheong all earned $22,200. Chris Brewer (12^th) and Byron Kaverman  (11^th) were both taken out for $27,750, before Sam Laskowitz (10^th) and Martin Carnero (9^th) missed out on the final table. Dan Shak fell short too, earning $44,400 when his king-ten fell to Simao’s ace-queen, an ace in the window dooming the American high roller regular.

Down to seven, the chip leader was Nick Schulman, who despite Simao’s surging run to the final table, still had 4,025,000 chips to the Brazilian’s stack of 2,295,000. Simao nevertheless carried on where he’d left off on finals day by busting a player inside a few minutes of play. All-in and at-risk with pocket fives, Aram Zobian couldn’t hold out against the king-queen of hearts that led to Simao’s call, a queen on the turn only usurped by a nine on the river that improved the Brazilian’s hand to a straight, sending Zobian home with $44,400.

Simao Takes Charge

Soon after that hand, Simao took the lead and that was how it stayed for some considerable time in the contest. Schulman dropped a little, only improving his lot when he took out Nguyen Le in sixth for $55,500.  Le shoved with king-queen from the small blind but Schulman called with pocket sixes from the big blind and held through the J-8-4-4-T board to reduce the field to five players.

Shortly after Victoria Livschitz doubled up to survive, Matthew McEwan was unable to replicate her efforts. All-in from the button with pocket threes, McEwan was shot down in fifth for $72,150 when Bryce Yockey’s ace-king counterfeited his opponent’s hand. A flop of T-7-7 was followed by a jack on the turn but a second ten on the river meant Yockey’s ace played and McEwan hit the rail.

Out in fourth was Yockey himself, who shipped his stack into the middle on a flop of T-4-3. He was quickly called by Simao, who held pocket kings and Yockey grimaced as he turned over ace-ten. Two deuces followed on turn and river to send Yockey home as the American headed home with a score of $99,900.

Schulman Pulls a Rabbit

Three-handed, Simao’s stack was almost double the total of Schulman and Livshitz’s piles of chips combined. Livschitz, a passionate mountain climber, crashed out for $127,650 when she shoved ace-three into Simao’s king-five and couldn’t hold, a cruel board of K-3-5-4-K landing to make the Brazilian player a full house and eliminate Livschitz against the odds.

Heads-up, that pot gave Simao a massive lead of 9.8 million chips to Schulman’s stack of just over 4 million. Schulman dropped further behind before doubling a micro-stack and then repeating the trick, with ace-ten coming from behind to eclipse Simao’s ace-jack when a board of Q-Q-J-5-K rivered Broadway for the American. Both players held the lead on multiple occasions across two hours but when Schulman doubled by calling off his stack with queen-eight, hitting an eight against the Brazilian’s pocket deuces, a 2:1 lead opened up.

In the final hand, Simao shoved with jack-deuce and Schulman once again read weakness, calling it off with the dominating jack-seven. A flop of K-6-6 threatened a chop but after a five on the turn, a seven on the river sealed victory for Schulman, who banked $283,050 while Simao had to console himself with a score of $177,600 as runner-up.