The tournament saw a total of 98 entries, creating a massive prizepool of $4,800,000. Cesar Garcia entered the final table as the absolute chipleader with a stack of 20.2 million chips, equating to a massive 253 big blinds and over 40% of the total chips in play.
Garcia set a blistering pace from the first moment. He built his strategy on aggression, opening almost 80% of all hands in the early hours. His opponents aptly compared him to a "Spanish matador," relentlessly applying pressure on the middling stacks.
Footage of the entire final table is available on the Onyx Live YouTube channel, where you can watch Garcia's full journey to the title:
Dramatic Battle Garcia vs. Pugh-Jones
The path to the title wasn’t entirely straightforward. Garcia managed the first three eliminations at the final table but later faced strong resistance from the Welsh online wizard Gruffudd Pugh-Jones. At one point, Pugh-Jones even took the chiplead from Garcia after applying pressure with aces in a 3-bet pot.
Garcia reclaimed his lead soon after but entered the heads-up without a significant advantage. He faced off against the Welsh opponent, exchanging the lead several times until a turning point arrived. Garcia secured a commanding lead by flopping a set of fives and doubling up against Pugh-Jones’s aces.
In the final hand of the heads-up, Garcia completed a straight on the river, sealing his career-defining victory and earning the largest win of his career. Ironically, Garcia was initially a No-Limit Hold'em specialist and only transitioned to PLO a few years ago. However, he believes the popularity of PLO tournaments will continue to rise: “I love the competition and the emotions experienced in these tournaments. I think it's a great time to start playing PLO tournaments as they continue to grow and grow. And I hope it stays that way for a long time.”
Final Table Results for Event #10: $50,000 PLO Grand Slam
|
Place |
Player |
Country |
Winnings |
|
1. |
Cesar Garcia |
Spain |
$1,200,000 |
|
2. |
Gruffudd Pugh-Jones |
Wales |
$840,000 |
|
3. |
Filip Aleksic |
Austria |
$555,000 |
|
4. |
Sean Rafael |
USA |
$430,000 |
|
5. |
Nino Pansier |
Netherlands |
$340,000 |
|
6. |
Danielle Noja |
Australia |
$265,000 |
|
7. |
Espen Myrmo |
Norway |
$210,000 |
Sources: Onyx Club, PokerNews, YouTube, Flickr
