Jake Daniels was the grim reaper at the final table of the third event at the 2022 PokerGO Cup. He came into the final day of the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event in the middle of the pack with six players remaining but managed to knock out each of his five opponents on his way to the title and the top prize of $200,000.
This was Daniel’s 11th career six-figure score, and the fourth-largest payout on his tournament resume. He now has nearly $2.6 million in lifetime live earnings to his name.
In addition to the title and the money, Daniels was also awarded plenty of rankings points for his victory. He earned 480 Card Player Player of the Year points for defeating the 80-entry field. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having also placed eighth in the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open $3,500 buy-in main event for and $124,365 and 270 points. The two scores were enough to move Daniels into 28th place in the overall 2022 POY race standings. He also secured 200 PokerGO Tour points for the win, enough to catapult him into 12th place on that leaderboard.
“I’ve hired a couple of coaches and I’ve put in a ton of work in the last five or six months trying to get better because these guys are so stinking good,” Daniels told PokerGO Tour reporters after coming out on top in this event. “I had a nice deep run in Florida for a WPT a couple of weeks ago, made a final table there. I love the competition.”
The first player to hit the rail on the final day was short stack Brock Wilson. He ran his pocket sixes into Daniels’ pocket kings to finish sixth for $48,000. Wilson increased his career earnings to $4,172,381 with this latest deep run.
The next major showdown began with high-stakes tournament regular Sean Winter raise to 400,000 from the button with AClub Suit5Diamond Suit, leaving himself with just 25,000 behind. Daniels looked down at ASpade SuitKClub Suit in the small blind and three-bet to 920,000. Two-time bracelet winner and WPT champion Chris Moorman called all-in for 840,000 from the big blind with AHeart SuitQSpade Suit and Winter came along for the ride. The board came down JHeart Suit9Club Suit6Spade Suit7Spade SuitKSpade Suit and Daniels’ kings with an ace kicker secured him the pot and the double-elimination. Winter earned $64,000 as the fifth-place finisher, increasing his lifetime earnings to more than $19.5 million in the process. Moorman earned $80,000 for his fourth-place showing. He now has more than $7 million in live earnings to his name, with another $19 million more in online tournament scores as well, according to PocketFives’ leaderboard.
With that, Daniels took roughly a 2:1 chip advantage over his nearest opponent, Daniel Weinand, heading into three-handed action. Three-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus was not far behind at that point, but fell further back as play continued. Ausmus was down to just over five big blinds when the next big clash arose. Weinand raised to 250,000 from the button with ASpade Suit9Diamond Suit and Daniels called from the big blind with JSpade Suit10Heart Suit. The flop came down 9Heart Suit5Spade Suit2Diamond Suit and Daniels checked. Weinand bet 175,000 with his top pair, top kicker. Daniels check-raised to 625,000 and Weinand called. Daniels overtook the lead in the hand when the 10Diamond Suit on the turn gave him a higher pair. He bet 850,000 and Weinand moved all-in for around 2.2 million. Daniels thought it over before making the call to put Weinand at risk. The river brought the 2Spade Suit to lock up the pot for Daniels. Weinand earned $96,000 as the third-place finisher. This was the second-largest score of his career, behind only his runner-up showing in a $15,000 buy-in event at last year’s inaugural PokerGO Cup.
Daniels held an overwhelming chip lead, with roughly a 19:1 advantage over Ausmus, when heads-up play began. Ausmus put together the start of a comeback, winning a couple of all-ins to narrow the gap somewhat. Ausmus got all-in again with his ASpade SuitJClub Suit leading the JHeart Suit2Heart Suit of Daniels, who had shoved from the button. The board came down 8Heart Suit5Diamond Suit2Spade Suit9Club Suit4Diamond Suit to secure the title for Daniels. Ausmus earned $144,000 and 400 points for his fourth POY-qualified score of the year.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points | PokerGO |
1 | Jake Daniels | $200,000 | 480 | 200 |
2 | Jeremy Ausmus | $144,000 | 400 | 144 |
3 | Daniel Weinand | $96,000 | 320 | 96 |
4 | Chris Moorman | $80,000 | 240 | 80 |
5 | Sean Winter | $64,000 | 200 | 64 |
6 | Brock Wilson | $48,000 | 160 | 48 |
7 | Michael Wang | $40,000 | 120 | 40 |
8 | Scott Ball | $32,000 | 80 | 32 |
Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.