Isaac Haxton Wins PGT PLO Series II $15,100 Progressive Bounty Title

Isaac Haxton has been a force on the live tournament poker scene for decades, but he has really stepped up as a closer in the past two years. The 39-year-old American professional player has secured 10 of his 19 recorded titles since the start of 2023, with seven last year and three so far in 2024.

The most recent victory saw Haxton outlast a field of 82 entries in the PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series II $15,100 buy-in progressive knockout event, earning $169,740 from the main prize pool and $214,000 in bounty payouts.

Haxton now has more than $51.7 million in recorded tournament earnings, which is good for eighth on poker’s all-time money list. The World Series of Poker bracelet winner and two-time Super High Roller Bowl champion is one of just nine players with more than $50 million in career cashes.

This latest victory added 576 Card Player Player of the Year points to Haxton’s haul, bringing his total to 4,289. With the aforementioned three titles, 14 final-table finishes, and more than $2.5 million in to-date POY earnings, he now sits in 21st place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Haxton also secured 289 PokerGO Tour points. He now sits in second place in the series standings with 340 points earned across three cashes. With 886 total points on the season, he has climbed to 43rd place on the high-stakes-centric PGT leaderboard.

Among those to cash in this event were bracelet winner Ronald Keijzer (12th), PGT PLO Series II event no. 3 champion Matthew Wantman (11th), two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (9th), two-time bracelet winner John Riordan (8th), and recent event no. 2 champion of this series Dylan Weisman (7th).

The second and final day of this event began with six contenders remaining and Haxton well out in front. In fact, he had nearly 58 percent of the total chips in play when cards got in the air inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas.

Two-time bracelet winner Ben Lamb had the second-largest stack, which he added to by eliminating fellow two-time bracelet winner Bryce Yockey in sixth place ($36,900). Yockey got all-in with pocket aces after the flop and was up against deuces full of queens for Lamb and trip deuces for Haxton. Lamb’s hand remained best through the river and the field was narrowed to five.

Finnish bracelet winner Joni Jouhkimainen got the last of his short stack in preflop with AJ66 facing the KK106 of Haxton. Jouhkimainen flopped a flush draw and hit it on the turn, but the river put trips on the board to give Haxton eights full of kings and the pot. Jouhkimainen earned $51,660 for his fifth-place showing.

2024 WSOP main event eighth-place finisher Joe Serock recorded his second fourth-place showing of the series when his pocket kings were bested by Haxton’s rivered fours and threes. Serock earned $70,110 for his latest deep run.

Bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Alex Foxen was the next to fall. He got all-in preflop with KK97 facing the QQJ10 of Haxton. The flop came down Q82, giving Haxton top set and a flush draw. The A on the turn left Foxen drawing dead, as his outs to a higher set would now give Haxton broadway. The 5 on the end was a mere formality and Foxen was eliminated in third place ($95,940). This was the 15th final-table finish of 2024 for Foxen, who climbed to 28th place in the POY standings as a result. This score was also enough to put him inside the top ten in the PGT PLO Series II rankings.

Haxton entered heads-up play with 8,615,000 to Lamb’s 1,640,000. The final hand saw Haxton raise from the button with Q992. Lamb defended his big blind with 101083 and the flop came down Q84. Both players checked and the 2 prompted Lamb to bet pot (420,000). Haxton re-potted and Lamb called off his remaining 225,000. Haxton’s queens and deuces were leading at the time, and the 9 river improved him to a set of nines, which was good enough to lock up the pot and the title.

Lamb earned $169,740 as the runner-up finisher, along with $40,000 in bounty payouts. He now has nearly $16.8 million in career tournament earnings.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.