Dutch PLO specialist Ronald Keijzer mounted a major heads-up comeback on Monday to win Event #5 of the ongoing 2024 PokerGO Tour PLO Series, $5,100 PLO Progressive Bounty, to collect $80,275 in first-place money and an additional $80,000 in bounties. Keijzer erased an 8:1 deficit to Josh Arieh at the start of heads-up play to earn his fourth career PGT trophy.
Keijzer arrived at the live-streamed, Day 2 finale mired in fifth place among the six surviving players, well behind the start-of-day leaders Bruno Firth and Arieh. Arieh dominated the early part of Day 2 action, including a big double-through against Firth that put Arieh in command of the table.
Firth, the Day 1 leader, eventually exited with a fourth-place finish worth $33,369 plus another $15,000 in bounties. That allowed first-time PGT finalist Kamel Mokhammad, from Ukraine to ladder up to third, his third upstep of the day. Mokhammad never won a hand on Day 2, but the early fast-paced knockouts and chip-stack collisions still allowed him to climb three spots before busting.
Two double-ups gave Keijzer the lead
Meanwhile, Keijzer survived the early clashes but still faced a steep climb against Arieh. He scored a quick double to add some room, then claimed several small pots before again doubling, this time surging through to his own dominant chip lead. Arieh logged one double-up himself but Keijzer capped off the comeback in hand where he flopped a straight and dodged the all-in Arieh's outs to a higher straight.
Keijzer's triumph moved him over $2.2 million in recorded live-tourney winnings. He's specialized in PLO events in recent years, having cashed in nothing other than an Omaha tournament since 2018. Keijzer's largest live cash remains the $475,033 he collected, along with his sole WSOP bracelet, in a 2018 $3,000 PLO 6-Max WSOP event.
Keijzer's third cash of the series also put him narrowly atop the PGT PLO series leaderboard, just six points ahead of Event #4 winner Samuli Sipila. With half of the 2024 PGT PLO series completed, European PLO specialists occupy the leaderboard's top three spots.
Event #5, $5,100 PLO Progressive Bounty, drew 139 paid entries and accumulated a prize pool of $695,000, including the bounty payouts. The top 20 finishers made the money.
Event #5: $5,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Progressive Bounty Final Table Payouts
Place | Name | Country | PGT Points | Prize | Bounties |
1st | Ronald Keijzer | Netherlands | 140 | $80,275 | $80,000 |
2nd | Josh Arieh | United States | 85 | $80,275 | $31,000 |
3rd | Kamel Mokhammad | Ukraine | 61 | $43,780 | $15,000 |
4th | Bruno Furth | United States | 47 | $33,360 | $15,000 |
5th | Ben Lamb | United States | 35 | $25,020 | $5,000 |
6th | Blake Hanson | United States | 29 | $20,850 | $8,000 |
Data / Featured image courtesy PokerGO