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Leo Taffe – Photo Credit: cardschat.com
Leo Taffe won the BetMGM Poker Championship on June 13 at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. Taffe grabbed the top prize worth $560,442 for the largest score of his poker career. It was his second tournament victory, and he took his total earnings close to $900,000.
The poker player from Ann Arbor, Michigan told reporters after the win that he was “elated” to win the title, and “embarrassed” about how well he ran in the tournament. And on the topic of his celebration plans after four days of poker? “Sleep for the next 24 hours,” said Taffe.
The $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted a field of 1,026 entries thanks to two starting flights. The top 129 players all scored a min-cash or better worth $2,397 in prize money. 307 returned for Day 2, and after the money bubble burst during the day there were just 56 players remaining at the end of the night. Day 3 saw the field play all the way down to the final seven. Notables that made a deep run in the event included Nadya Magnus (10th), Justin Young (13th), David Stamm (14th), Fabrice Bigot (18th), Anuj Agarwal (23rd), Ben Palmer (30th), and Major League Baseball player Jason Kipnis (107th).
Taffe was a dominant chip leader when the final day of play began with more than three times the chips of his closest competitor. Taffe kept that momentum going when he took out Johann Ibanez in sixth place after waking up with pocket aces at just the right time. Taffe followed that up by taking out Sundiata DeVore in fifth place to continue his dominant hold of the chip lead.
Taffe proved that “when you’re hot, you’re hot” when he woke up with pocket queens to take out his stiffest competition at the final table in Stephen Song in fourth place. The gold bracelet winner with over $5 million in career earnings was far behind with A-2, and the board brought no help for Song.
Mike Vanier was able to bring 15.5 million into the heads-up final after he took out Mo Zhou in third place, but he was still at a disadvantage against the 25.3 million held by Taffe. The final two players only got their chips into the middle once, and when they did Taffe had the upper hand with A
A
against the 53
of Vanier. The board was dealt 10
54KA, and that sealed the deal for Taffe. Vanier took home $392,704 for the runner-up finish, and his career earnings now stand at the precipice of $1.9 million.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Leo Taffe | $560,442 | 1,440 |
| 2 | Mike Vanier | $392,704 | 1,200 |
| 3 | Mo Zhou | $254,645 | 960 |
| 4 | Stephen Song | $188,193 | 720 |
| 5 | Sundiata DeVore | $142,665 | 600 |
| 6 | Johann Ibanez | $114,157 | 480 |
| 7 | Kevin Berthelsen | $94,523 | 360 |
| 8 | Bradley Hinson | $75,054 | 240 |
| 9 | Ivan Galinec | $56,044 | 120 |
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