British Pro Patrick Leonard Wins High Roller Poker Tournament

Popular British poker pro Patrick Leonard won his second PokerGO Tour title in Las Vegas as he took down Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em at the PGT Last Chance series for $315,000.

Leonard, who won his first PGT title almost exactly a year ago (in what was also the second event of the series), also earned enough PGT points to be well within the top 40 on the leaderboard, making him a near-lock to qualify for the $1 million freeroll PGT Championship.

Second PGT Title For British Pro

According to PokerGO updates, the second high roller of the Last Chance series drew 126 entrants for a prize pool of $1.2 million.

Leonard entered the final table with the chip lead but soon surrendered that distinction to recent Poker Hall of Fame inductee Nick Schulman, who hit quads after having his pocket eights in bad shape against the jacks of David Coleman.

Coleman was left with crumbs but miraculously managed to survive all the way to heads-up play, laddering past the likes of Schulman (3rd – $138,600), Brazilian pro Joao Simao (7th – $50,400) and Jeremy Ausmus (6th – $63,000), the reigning PGT Player of the Year and PGT Championship winner.

Leonard, a bracelet winner with $4.8 million in Hendon Mob earnings, had 943 in PGT points ahead of the event, putting him a few hundred points away from the top 40. But his 315-point victory puts him in 27th place, all but confirming his spot in the season-ending PGT Championship.

PGT Last Chance Event #2 Final Table Results

Can Reigning Champ Ausmus Climb Into Top 40?

Ausmus, who won last year’s edition for $500,000 and was also the reigning tour Player of the Year, earned 63 PGT points for his final table appearance, moving him into 50th place on the leaderboard with 1,037 points. Should Ausmus secure a podium finish in any upcoming events, he could make it into the top 40 to qualify for the PGT Championship.

The PGT Last Chance series kicked off earlier this week with Clemen Deng winning Event #1: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $277,950 after defeating heads-up opponent David “ODB” Baker.

That final table also included 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, whose son, Phillip Hellmuth III, made a final table of his own across the street at the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Planet Hollywood festival.

There are four more events on the series schedule, including the currently underway PGT Last Chance #3: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em. As of publishing, Hellmuth sits second in chips, while Ausmus is also among the chip leaders.

PGT Last Chance Winners So Far

PGT Last Chance Remaining Schedule

_{*Photos courtesy of PokerGO}

Connor Richards is a Senior Editor U.S. for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for three Global Poker Awards for his writing.