On Mar. 16, 2023 Lautaro Guerra Cabrerizo took down event no. 5 at the inaugural PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series, topping a field of 112 entries in the $10,000 buy-in PLO event to earn $220,400. Just a couple days removed from that win, Guerra Cabrerizo battled his way back to the winner’s circle in event no. 7, the $15,000 PLO bounty tournament. The Spanish PLO specialist took home $228,000 from the main prize pool,
With $448,400 in total earnings across his two victories, Guerra Cabrerizo has taken the lead in the player of the series points race. His 463 PGT points (235 for event no. 5 and 228 for event no. 7) give him a 197-point lead over second-ranked Sean Troha. In addition to taking the lead for this series, Guerra Cabrerizo also climbed inside the top five in the season-long PGT points race.
Guerra Cabrerizo also secured 720 Card Player Player of the Year points for this recent victory. With the 600 he earned for his earlier title run, he now sits in 63rd place in the overall 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.
This tournament was originally slated to play out over the course of two days but ended up cruising to a winner in a single day. By the time the 114-entry field had been narrowed to a final table of seven, Guerra Cabrerizo held a sizable lead with just shy of half of the total chips in play.
Two-time bracelet winner Robert Cowen (7th – $57,000) was sent packing when his kings up were no good against the wheel of Jesse Chinni.
Isaac Haxton then busted in sixth place when his middle set on the flop ran into the top set of Guerra Cabrerizo. The cooler saw Haxton sent home with $68,400. This was his ninth final-table finish of 2023, with three titles won and more than $4.6 million in POY earnings accrued along the way. As a result, Haxton now sits in third place on the POY leaderboard.
Johann Ibanez Diaz was the next to fall at the hands of the seemingly unstoppable Guerra Cabrerizo. Diaz got all-in with a double-suited medium rundown facing the double-suited broadway rundown of Guerra Cabrerizo, who flopped the nut flush to leave Diaz drawing all but dead. The turn and river brought no miracles for Diaz and he was eliminated in fifth place ($85,500).
Jesse Chinni was left short when his set of queens lost out to the flush draw and pair of Isaac Kempton. The hearts came in for Kempton and Chini was left with around 17 big blinds. He soon got all-in with A-Q-5-4 rainbow facing the double-suited J-J-9-9 of bracelet winner Alex Foxen. Chinni surged ahead on a queen-high flop, but a nine on the river gave Foxen a set for the win. Chinni earned $102,000 for his second final-table finish of the series.
Foxen’s run came to an end when his pocket aces clashed with the turned trip threes of Guerra Cabrerizo. A blank on the river sent Foxen packing with $125,400. This was his seventh final-table finish of the year, with $885,160 in POY earnings and one title won. This latest score was enough to move him into fifth place in the overall POY standings.
With that, Guerra Cabrerizo took nearly a 6:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Kempton. A cooler (full house overfull house) saw Kempton double into the lead after having closed the gap in the early going, but a rivered flush for Guerra Cabrerizo in another big pot saw him jump back in front.
In the final hand, all of the chips went on on the river with a board of 107376. Kempton showed A972 for trips. Guerra Cabrerizo rolled over KJ98 for a ten-high straight to lock up the pot and the title. Kempton earned $171,000 as the runner-up, the fourth-largest cash of his career. The 2022 Wynn Millions main event second-place finisher now has more than $2.8 million in lifetime earings to his name.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
1 | Lautaro Guerra Cabrerizo | $228,000 | 720 | 228 |
2 | Isaac Kempton | $171,000 | 600 | 171 |
3 | Alex Foxen | $125,400 | 480 | 125 |
4 | Jesse Chinni | $102,600 | 360 | 103 |
5 | Johann Diaz | $85,500 | 300 | 86 |
6 | Isaac Haxton | $68,400 | 240 | 68 |
7 | Robert Cowen | $57,000 | 180 | 57 |
Photo credit: PokerGO Tour / Antonio Abrego.