Halfway through the first month of the year, 2024 promises to be a great one. Conquering the PGT Last Chance opener for $218,400, Daniel Negreanu a.k.a. ‘Kid Poker’ is like a child in a candy store, leading Event #5 of the PGT Kick Off festival. Meanwhile, Kick Off Event #1 winner David Coleman bagged his second title of the series when he won Event #4 last night.

Coleman Cuts the Mustard in Event #4

A total of 41 players entered for $5,000 apiece in the fourth event of the PokerGO Tour’s Kick Off series, which launches a brand-new leaderboard after the 2023 version was topped by Isaac Haxton.

Just six players made the money in Event #4 of the PGT Kick Off series, and it was PokerStake’s regular seller Victoria Livschitz who cashed in sixth for $12,300. Her was ahead when she committed her chips pre-flop with it, too, but David Coleman is running as well as he is playing right now and his paired up on the board.

Justin Bonomo busted next, cashing for $16,400 when his couldn’t overtake Jeremy Becker’s after another pre-flop all-in and call was followed by a nine-high board. Becker claimed another scalp when he busted Nikita Kalinin in fourth place before he himself busted in third place, his short stack shove with punished by Coleman’s call with .

With a heads-up lead of better than 2-to-1, Coleman cruised home after another three gave him the title. All-in with the covering stack holding , Coleman needed some luck against the calling Russian player Viktor Ustinov, and got it in spades (literally) when the board of saw the three of spades in particular hand Coleman his second title in four events.

Negreanu the Man to Catch in Event #5

In Event #5, the PGT Kick Off ramped up the buy-in. The first four events of the series cost $5,000 to play but the stakes were doubled in Event #5, with 50 entrants eventually putting up the $10,000 entry fee. That left a prizepool of half a million dollars to be fought over between the eight highest-placed players. Out just before the money were the Event #2 winner Dylan Weisman (10^th) and on the bubble itself in ninth place, Jim Collopy. He had every right to be disappointed, with his making a flush on the board of only to be usurped by Aram Zobian’s full house hand of .

Into the final eight, there was a swift exit stage left in the PokerGO Studio as Dylan Linde min-cashed for $20,000. Linde was all-in with but couldn’t hit against Zobian’s as the board of instead gave Zobian a full house on the river. Linde’s elimination in eighth was followed by Eric Baldwin losing his stack in seventh place for $20,000 too. The American called off his stack on the river of a board showing with having hit his set on fifth street. He was doomed, however, with the all-in player on the river none other than Negreanu with for a flopped top set.

That hand propelled Kid Poker to the top of the remaining six players, the Canadian’s stack of 2,515,000 looming large over all the others. Zobian trails closest to Negreanu with 1.63 million chips, with Sam Laskowitz on 1.49 million. All three of the other players still in with a chance of banking the $165,000 top prize have six-figure chip-stacks, with married poker couple Kristen Foxen (870,000) and Alex Foxen (855,000) having a little more hope than short stack Masashi Oya on 140,000 chips.

Who Else Can You Stake in January?

This month is a fortnight old but there are still numerous events where PokerStake players are putting their action up for sale and there is value in every one of them. The Thunder Valley Casino WSOP Circuit series takes place until the 22^nd January, with both Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler and Lexy Gavin-Mather selling action to Events #8 and #12 respectively, with each player selling at markup of 1.20.

Kessler also has action up for sale in the Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open, along with Elanit Hasas and Judy Bielan. The L.A. Poker Classic is always a big draw, and as it plays out until March 3, players such as Kathy Chang will be selling action to the popular poker festival.

Finally, but by no means the lowest value package, the 2024 PokerGO Cup will be fiercely fought for between late January and early February. Players such as the ever-popular Victoria Livschitz and exciting talent Hayley Hanna are both available ‘at spot’, i.e. with no markup at 1.00.