The sixth event of the 2024 Poker Masters saw several of the series most consistent performers clash at the felt. After a tense and thrilling final table, players such as Nick Schulman, Aram Zobian, Sean Winter and Jeremy Becker fell short as Isaac Haxton took the title and $352,800 while his heads-up opponent grabbed the overall lead in the series with two events to play.

Cowboy Makes Gold but Shot Down by The Sheriff

As the entry fee ramped up to $15,000 to play, a drop-off in attendance might have been expected but that wasn’t the case, with 84 entries in total again meaning a dozen players would get paid. The last player to miss out on part of the $1.26 million prizepool was Daniel Weinand, who shoved for his last 605,000 chips with and was unable to hit against Michael Jozoff’s , with the seven-high board sending Weinand home with nothing.

The first player to make the money was Dan Smith as the man known to the poker world as ‘Cowboy’ was shot down by Jim Collopy, who is turning into something of the sheriff in this year’s PokerGO Poker Masters. All-in with , Smith lost to Collopy’s as a safe flop of and turn of were followed by the straight completing on the river to send the cowboy looking for his horse with $31,500 to collect from the cash desk first.

Players such as Jesse Lonis (11^th for $37,800), Filipp Khavin (10^th for $37,800) and PokerStake player David Coleman (9^th for $37,800) all lost their stacks before the final table bubble burst, Jozoff it was who lost out, as his shove for 610,000 with was called by Collopy with and a board of rivered Jozoff’s chances, sending him to the rail with $50,400.

Linde Luck is Out

When Day 1 of the two-day event ended, it was Isaac Haxton who led the field, with a big stack of 3.06 million chips, some way clear of Dylan Linde on 2.32m. Nick Schulman was a clear short stack and that proved pivotal as the some-time PokerGO commentator – when he isn’t consistently reaching final tables! – soon paid for it. All-in for 11 big blinds with , he lost a flip to Linde when held through the rollercoaster board of and cashed for $50,400.

Dylan Linde was still second in chips at that stage but slid all the way down the leaderboard after a clash with Haxton prompted an eventual exit for Linde. All-in with on a short stack, Linde lost to Collopy’s as a blank board meant Collopy’s queen played as a high card to reduce the field to five. Linde cashed for $63,000 in sixth place.

Soon after, Sean Winter was also taken out by Jim Collopy. Winter called off his stack with on a flop of but was wrong to do so as Collopy turned over the dominating and a turn and kept Collopy ahead to eliminate Winter for a score of $88,200 in fifth.

Haxton the Hero Again

Aram Zobian made more money for his PokerStake investors in fourth place as he cashed for $119,700 but was very unlucky to go no further, or at least stay his execution. All-in with against Jeremy Becker’s , Zobian was given cause to worry when a flop of fell, giving Becker a freeroll to the nut flush. A on the turn immediately paid off the flush draw and a on the river meant nothing, as Becker sent Zobian home in unfortunate circumstances.

Down to three, the stacks were tight. All three men had their moments of momentum but Jeremy Becker lost out in third for $163,800. All-in with , it was a good call from Becker as Isaac Haxton had shoved with . But a cruel board of rivered Becker’s chances as Haxton hit a flush to send the young poker prodigy home.

Heads-up, Haxton had 5.02m in chips but was still marginally behind Jim Collopy with 5.47m. Both men held the lead over the next two hours but the pivotal hand occurred when Haxton’s got there against Collopy’s with over 98% of the chips on the table in the middle pre-flop. Haxton paired both of his cards on the flop and held to sit with almost all the chips and while Collopy doubled up three times in a row, he still had less than a tenth of Haxton’s chips and when Collopy’s lost to Haxton’s across a board of it was all over.

Isaac Haxton had the latest win of his career for $352,800, consolidating his ninth position on the All-Time Money List on The Hendon Mob but although he came second on the night, Jim Collopy’s second place score of $226,800 put him top of the Poker Masters leaderboard with just two events to play, with Haxton now hot on his heels. Both men have cashed four times in the opening six events.