Starting today’s play more than 5 million chips clear of his nearest rival, Praise Ogwo increased his lead steadily en route to a runaway victory in the inaugural PokerAtlas Tour series $500,000 Guarantee $1,100 Title Event at Texas Card House Houston.
Ogwo earns $111,380 for his win, takes the Atlas trophy, the TCH winner’s trophy AND the Player of the Series award, for this is his second win in 12 series events – he also took down the $1,100 PLO for $19,575.
The final hand completed with Ogwo’s A.Q catching a Queen in the window against the Tens of Kamoro Yusuf, and holding for the win.
“I thought Praise had a fantastic performance,” said PokerAtlas CEO Jon Friedberg. “He made all the right bluffs, all the right folds, he played pretty much perfect poker at the final table.”
This final table played on the TCH LiVE stream on a 30-minute delay, so Ogwo had time after having his winner’s photo taken to walk over and watch the final hand play out. He was holding his phone in his hand, waiting to send out texts about his victory.
“I am trying not to spoil it for my parents, they are still watching” he said as he juggled all three trophies and his phone.
Here’s how the final table paid out:
- Praise Ogwo – $111,380
- Kamoru Yusuf – $64,690
- Derek Normand – $46,690
- Paul Lentschke – $40,000
- Lawrence Wayne – $23,900
- Adrian Curry – $18,480
- Andrew Huey – $15,090
- David Shaw – $12,590
- Linh Dinh – $10,420
The 12-event series – held May 18-30 – offered a wide variety of NLH and mixed games for player, paying out a total $1,243,760 throughout the series.
“We could not have asked for a better launch of the PokerAtlas Tour,” said tour Tournament Director Just Hammer. “We hit most of the guarantees, which I think is perfect, actually missing a couple.”
The PokerAtlas Tour returns to the Texas Card House properties Aug 17 – Sept. 4 for its next series, being hosted simultaneously at properties in Dallas and Las Colinas.
“We are very proud and lucky to have partnered with Texas Card House for this and our next stop in Dallas and Las Colinas,” said Hammer. “We are looking forward to building on the momentum that we started with this stop, and creating what is hopefully a successful tour for many, many years to come.”
“Overall it was a great launching pad for a very bright and fun future for the PokerAtlas Tour,” added Friedberg.
Dan is the founder of PokerLiveUpdates, a veteran poker tournament reporter who can be found wandering somewhat aimlessly through tournament arenas worldwide. As a founding member of FunTour2.0, he searches for the best in craft beer at all locations in the poker world.
