Derrick Yamada did a lot of winning to get himself into the field at the PGT Championship. The San Diego resident and part-time poker player took the first step of that journey by winning the RunGood Poker Series Jamul Main Event in February.
That win (his second consecutive RGPS Jamul Main Event victory) qualified Yamada for the $300 Dream Seat Invitational at Thunder Valley Casino in December. Yamada made the short flight to the Sacramento-area poker room and topped a field of 47 RGPS ring winners to secure another victory.
The grand prize in that event awarded a seat to the PGT Championship. Yamada found himself among a field of more than 40 of the world’s best tournament players at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on Friday.
Yamada not intimidated
The PGT Championship runs as a two-day freeroll event with a $1,000,000 prize pool. The action started Friday with the top 40 players from the 2024 PokerGo Tour leaderboard in the field, along with various other qualifiers.
Despite the star-studded field, Yamada planned on conducting business as usual at the poker table. He spoke with PokerOrg just prior to the start of play.
“Ten years ago, I think I would give this situation a whole lot of weight,” Yamada said. “At this point in my poker lifetime, I understand what poker is and the different avenues to get to the top.”
“It’s a tournament, you have a stack, and every stack has value. There are big blinds and people. It’s just a game at this point. It’s a great opportunity, obviously, but at this point in my poker life, I don’t give too much weight to any one tournament.”
Yamada’s poker lifetime includes more than $450,000 in live tournament earnings. He’s a staple of success at San Diego-area poker events.
In addition to his status as a two-time defending Main Event champion at the RGPS Jamul series, Yamada also scored a win in the MSPT Sycuan Main Event in May 2023.
Navigating a star-studded field
Other pros in the field on Friday included Viktor Blom, Jeremy Ausmus, Daniel Negreanu, Seth Davies, Jesse Lonis, Alex Foxen, Kristen Foxen, and many other crushers from the high-stakes tournament circuit.
Ultimately, Yamada was out in the early going of Day 1 and the $500K dream was over. Ausmus, Nick Schulman, Chris Hunichen, Calvin Anderson, Dylan Weisman, and Jim Collopy made Saturday's final table, and they'll move on without him.
That collection of players is vying for the $500,000 first-place prize, and the champion will be crowned at the PokerGO Studio on Saturday. Yamada, however, planned on catching the first available flight home to San Diego to get back to his family.
“I pride myself on everything I’ve learned throughout the years, and my experience,” Yamada said. “It comes down to staying even-keel mentally and looking at the situation as these are my chips, this is the right way to play, and sticking to that as opposed to making emotional decisions.”
Photos courtesy of RGPS/Alicia Skillman and PokerGO/Antonio Abrego
