Isaac Haxton Wins 2024 Poker Masters $15,100 Buy-In No-Limit Hold’em Title

Isaac Haxton is picking up steam at precisely the right time during this year’s Poker Masters series. He recorded an eighth place finish in the kickoff event, but then was quiet through the next two tournaments. Now, as the stakes ratchet up for the final few events, the 39-year-old American poker pro has put together back-to-back-to-back final table finishes, topping off the streak with an outright win in event no. 6. Haxton overcame a field of 84 entries in that $15,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament, earning $352,800.

With $51.5 million in career cashes, Haxton now sits in eighth place on poker’s all-time money list. He is one of just nine players in the history of the game to accumulate more than $50 million in earnings.

In addition the title and the money, Haxton also walked away from this event with plenty of rankings points. The 576 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured moved him into 26th place in the 2024 POY race presented by Global Poker. This was his second title and 13th final-table finish of the year.

Haxton also secured 353 PokerGO Tour points. With 567 on the year, he now sits just outside the top 75 on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard.

This event ran across two days at the PokerGO Studio inside ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The final day began with seven remaining and Haxton in the lead. World Poker Tour champion and five-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman was eliminated just a few minutes into the day, with his A-9 suited failing to outrace the pocket eights of fellow bracelet winner and WPT champ Dylan Linde. The dramatic runout saw Schulman turn the nut flush with the same card that gave Linde a set. The river paired the board and Schulman headed to the payout window to collect $50,400. He now has more than $20.5 million in career tournament earnings after this latest deep run.

Despite scoring that first knockout, Linde was ultimately the next to fall. Linde lost a big pot with top pair against the rivered two pair of Jeremy Becker, who took down event no. 2 earlier this series. Linde was left with just a couple big blinds after that clash and was soon sent packing in sixth place ($63,000). He now sports nearly $10.4 million in lifetime earnings.

Sean Winter came into the day as the second shortest stack. He managed to survive to the top five, but was severely low on chips by the time his final hand arose. He limped in with K-2 suited under the gun for roughly a third of his stack and it folded to Jim Collopy on the button. Collopy raised to 165,000 with K-J and it folded back to Winter, who made the call to leave himself with just over a single big blind remaining. Both players paired their lower cards. Winter check-called all-in with his deuces and was in need of help. None came on the turn or river and he was eliminated in fifth place ($88,200). The 2022 Poker Masters Purple Jacket winner now has over $31.7 million in total cashes under his belt.

Aram Zobian’s final hand saw his AK lose out to the AK of Becker. Three clubs appeared on board by the turn to leave Zobian drawing dead. The bracelet winner and former WSOP main event final tablist cashed for $119,700, bringing his lifetime haul to more than $7.1 million.

Becker overtook the lead during three-handed play, but lost a big pot with an open-ended straight draw against the top pair of Collopy to slide into a virtual tie for second chip position with Haxton.

Those two short stacks consolidated thanks to a blind-on-blind confrontation. Haxton open-shoved for nearly 21 big blinds with 106 from the small blind and Becker made the call with A6 out of the big blind. The board came down KQ279 and Haxton made a flush to send Becker to the rail in third place ($163,800). This score saw his lifetime earnings tick past the $2 million mark.

Heads-up play began with Collopy holding 5,475,000 to Haxton’s 5,025,000. After some back and forth, Haxton won a key all-in with A-4 against the pocket jacks of Collopy. The two agreed to a deal and flipped for the title after that hand to bring things back to even. Haxton won the first blind all-in with A-2 besting pocket tens for Collopy, who was left on fumes. Collopy doubled up twice, but lost the fourth and final flip with 109 against 62 for Haxton. The board came down K7676 to give Haxton sixes full of sevens for the win.

Collopy, who was at his fourth consecutive final table, earned $226,800 for his second runner-up finish in a row. He has now cashed for $521,600 across his four in-the-money finishes, accruing 522 PGT points along the way. As a result, he leads in the race for this year’s Poker Masters Purple Jacket, with Haxton and Becker being his closest competition.

Collopy, a three-time bracelet winner, now sits in sixth place in the POY standings and 12th place in the PGT season-long race.

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

Check out the current standings in the race for the Purple Jacket:

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.