2023 PGT Mixed Games: John Monnette Ships Event #3: $10,300 8-Game to Win Maiden PGT Title ($211,200)

John Monnette
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  • Naman Sharma February 9, 2023
  • 4 Minutes Read

With the first two titles at the eight-event-long PGT Mixed Games series going to five-time WSOP golden bracelet winners Shaun Deeb and Eli Elezra, the inaugural festival found its third champion on Wednesday.

Four-time WSOP bracelet winner John Monnette came out on top of an 88-player field in Event #2: $10,300 8-Game to win his maiden PGT title and a $211,000 cash prize along with a beautiful PGT memento.

Monnette and his heads-up opponent Albert Daher paused the heads-up match on Monday as they did not want to miss late registrations for Event #3: $10,300 Triple Stud Mix. While initially pushed to Tuesday, the final showdown began just before noon yesterday, where the mixed-game specialist from Palmdale California, Monette, came out on the winning side of a swingy match in under an hour, relegating the #2 ranked player in Lebanon`s all-time money list to a runner-up finish worth $149,600.

Monnette is an old hand in the game and has been a part of the poker scene since 2004. He has won four WSOP bracelets to date – all in mixed games – and boasts $3.64 Million in live tournament earnings.

With the win, John Monnette (271 Points) added 211 points to his existing 60 points (from a fourth-place finish in Event #3: $10,300 Triple Stud Mix) to climb to the top of the PGT Mixed Games leaderboard. The Event #1 champion Shaun Deeb (209 Points), sits at #2, while Event #3 winner Eli Elezra (180 Points) occupies the #3 position on the series leaderboard.

The $10,300 entry buy-in tournament had 88 hopefuls vying for the beautiful PGT Mixed Games trophy and a share of the $880,000 prize pool. Only 13 players reached the money.

Phil Hui money-bubbled the tournament in 14th place.

Notables who crossed the money line but fell short of the final table include Michael Noori (8th for $35,200), Anthony Zinno (9th for $35,200), Mike Wattel (10th for $26,400), Jeff Madsen (11th for $26,400), Benny Glaser (12th for $17,600) and Billy O’Neil (13th for $17,600).

Final Table Chip Count

  1. Brian Rast – 4,310,000
  2. Albert Daher – 3,345,000
  3. John Monnette – 1,980,000
  4. Damjan Radanov – 1,585,000
  5. Chris Vitch – 895,000
  6. Craig Chait -805,000
  7. Mike Thorpe – 275,000

 

Final Table Recap

Chris Vitch busted seventh after losing most of his stack to Craig Chait and the remaining chips to Albert Daher.

Mike Thorpe entered the FT with the shortest stack but worked up a pay jump, falling in sixth place, courtesy of Brian Rast.

Damjan Radanov was sent packing in fifth place by Albert Daher in an Omaha Hi-Low hand.

Brian Rast got to work again by eliminating Craig Chait in fourth place but couldn`t take those chips far as he finished third.

After Rast’s departure, John Monnette (2,300,000) and Albert Daher (10,900,000) went at each other in an intense and long-fought heads-up battle, which mostly went in Monnette’s favor until the duo decided to pause the match as the late registrations for Event #3: $10,300 Triple Stud Mix were closing. Both players wanted to enter the event and decided to postpone the match, with Monnette (9,950,000) bagging an over 3:1 chip lead over Daher (3,250,000).

While initially scheduled for Tuesday, the heads-up match got postponed by another day since Monnette made a fourth-place finish in Event #3.

 

Day 3 Recap

The delayed heads-up finally resumed at 11 AM (PT) on Wednesday. A big underdog starting out, Daher quickly doubled up to almost get even, but Monnette came right back ahead. Daher was grappling but doubled up once before Monnette took down the tournament in a hand of Pot-Limit Omaha.

The hand in question saw John Monnette (11,800,000) raising to 600,000 from the button. Albert Daher (1,400,000) three-bet all in for 1,200,000, and Monnette called off.

John Monnette

Albert Daher

The community cards opened , and Monnette drilled a seven-high straight to win his maiden PGT title.

John Monnette
John Monnette

 

Final Table Results (USD)

  1. John Monnette – $211,200
  2. Albert Daher – $149,600
  3. Brian Rast – $105,600
  4. Craig Chait – $88,000
  5. Damjan Radanov – $70,400
  6. Mike Thorpe – $52,800
  7. Chris Vitch – $44,000

 

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerGO Tour

Keep following PokerGuru for the latest updates from the 2023 Mixed Games series!

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