Daniel Maor Claims PGT True Classic Rags to Riches Title and $110,000
Table Of Contents
Daniel Maor defeated a tough final table on his way to victory in the PGT True Classic Rags to Riches tournament for $110,000.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner outlasted a field of 164 entrants in the $3,300 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. That field included some heavy hitters, a few of whom he had to battle against at the final table.
Maor Gets it Done
Maor was an unknown in the poker world before taking down the WSOP Online Championship for $330,000 last year. Since then, he's gone on to build quite an impressive resume that had reached over $1.3 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. He added on another six-figure cash on Friday thanks to a stellar final table performance.
The champion bested a WPT Champions Club member (Jared Jaffee) and two multiple-times WSOP bracelet winners (Calvin Anderson and Michael Wang) at the final table. But it wasn't an easy task.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Maor | $110,000 | |
| 2 | Terry Fleischer | $74,000 | |
| 3 | Calvin Anderson | $50,000 | |
| 4 | Jared Jaffee | $35,000 | |
| 5 | Anthony Hu | $25,000 | |
| 6 | Michael Wang | $20,000 | |
| 7 | Jack Hardcastle | $15,000 |
Maor came back for the finale in a decent position with an average stack, but only had about half the chips that Anderson, Jaffee, and Terry Fleischer each held. The eventual winner didn't have much success early at the final table. By the time Wang busted in sixth place ($20,000), he'd lost about one-third of his starting stack from the beginning of the session.
Anderson, a five-time bracelet winner, then sent Anthony Hu home in fifth place ($25,000). Maor was far and away the shortest stack among the four remaining players. But he'd begin to chip up before doubling through Anderson when Ax10x cracked AxQx in an all-in-preflop hand.
Fleischer than took down a monster pot to move into a commanding lead. Jaffee, who lost most of his stack in that hand, fell in fourth place ($35,000) after losing a race against Anderson, who then doubled into the chip lead against Fleischer with pocket kings holding up against a weaker pocket pair.
Maor finally moved into the chip lead when he flopped a full house against Anderson's top pair for a monster pot. He then began to pull away and claimed all of Anderson's remaining chips with pocket kings holding up against a suited ace. Anderson went home in third place for $50,000.
Fleischer began heads-up play down nearly 3:1 in chips, and the match didn't last long. Maor called an all-in bet with 9x9x against AxKx, and the pocket pair won the race, sending Fleischer home in second place for $74,000.
PGT will host a Last Chance Series starting Jan. 5, giving tournament grinders one last opportunity to earn their way into the season-ending $1 million PGT Championship freeroll on Jan. 12.
*Feature image courtesy of PokerGO.
