Ben Tollerene Takes Down 2024 PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series II $25,000 Finale

Benjamin Tollerene is making a habit of swooping in at the end of PokerGO Tour festivals to win the largest buy-in event on the schedule. In September he closed out the Poker Masters with a victory in the $25,200 finale, and he has done the same in the $25,200 buy-in pot-limit Omaha championship that capped off the 2024 PGT PLO Series II. The latest triumph saw Tollerene beat out a field of 62 entries to secure the trophy and the top prize of $496,000.

This was the 12th recorded title for the 37-year-old poker pro from originally hailing from Lubbock, Texas. Despite spending much of his career focused on high-stakes online cash games, he now has more than $16.6 million in tournament earnings to his name.

Nearly $5.6 million of that total haul has come from eight cashes this year. He has made six final tables and earned the previously mentioned pair of PGT titles along the way. The 504 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured with his latest win moved him into 95th place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Tollerene also climbed to eighth place in the series points race with this one score with 298 PGT points. With 1,268 total points, he now sits in 21st place on the season-long PGT leaderboard as well.

The $1,550,000 prize pool that resulted from the 62 entries in this tournament was the largest of the festival. The top nine finishers earned a cut, with Billy Tarango (9th – $46,500) and two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (8th – $62,000) making the money but falling short of the official final table.

Fernando ‘JNandezPoker’ Habegger (7th – $62,000) was the first to fall among the final seven, with his two pair facing a pair, flush draw, and open-ended straight draw for 2024 PGT PLO Series I festival champion Samuli Sipila. The river gave Sipila a winning flush to narrow the field to six.

Six-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh also got the last of his chips against Sipila. Arieh called all-in for around ten big blinds with AKQ6 facing a three-bet from Sipila, who had AK87. The board came down 86435 to five Sipila a winning eight-high straight. Arieh settled for $85,250 as the sixth-place finisher. He is now approaching $13.1 million in career earnings after adding this score to his tally.

Tollerene overtook the lead during five-handed play, but was soon surpassed by Finnish bracelet winner Joni Jouhkimainen, who flopped top set of jacks against the pocket aces of two-time bracelet winner Ben Lamb and got all of the chips in. Lamb earned $116,000 as the fifth-place finisher. The two-time WSOP main event final table finisher now has nearly $16.9 million in career cashes.

The next big showdown pitted the KK108 of 2022 WSOP main event third-place finisher Michael Duek against the AKJ9 of Tollerene. A 10625 start gave Tollerene two flush draws for the win. The diamonds came in on a 7 river, giving him the nuts and the knockout. Duek earned $155,000 for his fourth-place showing. This was his fourth cash of the series, with $238,050 in total earnings accrued along the way.

With that, Tollerene moved back into the lead, while Sipila became the short stack. He managed to survive to heads-up play, though, because the two larger stacks squared off in a massive pot that led to the elimination of Jouhkimainen. After limp-calling a raise from the small-blind with AQ95, Jouhkimainen checked the 973 flop. Tollerene bet 250,000 with the KKJ10 and forced out Sipila, who had come along from the button. Jouhkimainen then check-raised to 1,790,000. Tollerene shoved and Jouhkimainen called all-in for 3,750,000 total. The 2 turn gave Jouhkimainen a wheel draw to go with his nut heart outs and overcard to Tollerene’s pocket kings. The 8 on the end was of no help, though, and Jouhkimainen was sent packing in third place. The $217,000 he secured grew his lifetime haul to over $7.5 million.

Heads-up play began with Tollerene holding 9,525,000 to Sipila’s 2,870,000. He pulled even further ahead before the final hand was dealt. Sipila limped on the button with Q1074 and Tollerene raised to 300,000 from the big blind with K987. Sipila called and the flop came down 753. Tollerene bet pot then called Sipila’s shove for 825,000. Both players had top pair with live kickers and straight draws. The 9 improved Tollerene to top two pair, which held through the J river. Sipila walked away with $310,000 as the runner-up, the fourth-largest score of his career.

Sipila finished fifth in the final series-long points race thanks to three final table finishes totaling $471,000 in earnings.

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

Here is a look at the top ten in the final standings in the PGT PLO Series II points race:

Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.