Matt Berkey came after his poker coaching competitor Jonathan Little Earlier this week, and perhaps that served as a bit of motivation for the latter to conquer this 2024 PokerGO Cup Final and overall victory of the series on Saturday. Daniel Negreanuwho defended Little was, to say the least, pretty pleased with the result.
Little, the founder of PokerCoaching.comwon Event #8: $25,200 No-Limit Hold’em for $453,750, his second win of the series. Although he cashed in 50% of the events and won two of them, he failed to capture the series title. That’s because David Peters was almost as impressive in the second part PokerGO Tour New Year series.
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Little proves his talent in the High Stakes Poker Series
Earlier this week, Berkey, the founder of the Find out why Poker training brand, some made Critical comments on Little’s poker strategy. Less than two days later, Little won the PokerGO Cup Event #3: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $229,500. And to prove it wasn’t a fluke, he took his second win of the series on Saturday.
In this series finale, Little faced stiff competition from some of the best high-stakes pros in the world, including Peters, who won no money, and against a field of 55 players at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas Stephen Chidwickthe eighth-place finisher ($55,000).
Event #8 final table results
| LOCATION | PLAYER | PRICE (IN USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Little | $453,700 |
| 2 | Justin Zaki | $288,750 |
| 3 | Justin Saliba | $192,500 |
| 4 | John Riordan | $137,500 |
| 5 | Seth Davies | $110,000 |
| 6 | Shanell Stokes | $82,500 |
When the final table began, Little had a small stack, only about a third the size of the chip leader John Riordan. After Justin Zaki won a race to broadcast Shanell Stokes After finishing in sixth place ($82,500), the eventual champion was stuck with the smallest stack.
Little would soon find a double when he flopped the middle pair against Zaki’s straight draw, which didn’t come through. Then he caught it Seth Davies He bluffed to win a big pot, which put him in a better position than earlier in the day.
Little would eventually edge out Davies for fifth place ($110,000), but was still well behind Zaki. That changed when the respected poker coach played most of his stack with a pair of aces against the small pair and missed the flush draw that Zaki was holding.
At this point, Little had taken full control of the final table. He defeated Riordan in fourth place ($137,500). AXQX against AXJXbefore Zaki was eliminated Justin Saliba in third place ($192,500), setting up a heads-up match where chips were low.
Little’s lead at the start of heads-up play was small, but he quickly increased it and never relinquished the lead. In the final hand, Zaki called an all-in K♥7♥ and hoped for an outdraw A♣3♣but the board was empty 7♠9♦A♥J♣J♥and thus ended the tournament. The runner-up took home $288,750 as a consolation prize.
Jonathan Little also wins the PokerGO Cup Series title
As if he had won $453,700 and his second title of the series, Little was also crowned the overall winner of the series. In the final event he collected 272 points, bringing his total points to 549. This put him 92 points ahead of Peters, the runner-up. Zaki (405 points) took third place, David Coleman (347 points) took fourth place, while Davies (277 points) settled for fifth place.
Peters and Little were the biggest stars at PokerGO Cup 2024. Had Little not won his heads-up match on Sunday, Zaki would have overtaken Peters and Little in the fight for the series title.
Little finished the tournament with four cashes in eight events, totaling $730,000, while Peters’ two cashes, both victories, resulted in $456,525 in prize money.
According to The Hendon Mob, the banner series brings in just over $8.8 million in live tournament funds. As for Berkey, who is often critical of his competitors’ poker strategy tweets, his lifetime earnings are $4.7 million, led by his best fifth-place finish of $1.1 million in the $300,000 Buy-in 2016 Super High Roller Bowl.
Coincidentally, Little’s top cash was almost exactly the same amount, but with a buy-in of $10,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) event in 2008. He won a separate WPT event in 2007 for just over $1 million. Both poker coaches have impressive resumes in the game, and it is unclear why Berkey has chosen to be so critical on social media of Little, one of the most respected players and poker coaches in the world.
Poker X takes sides in Berkey/Little Rivalry
Complete PokerGO Cup Series results
| EVENT | COMPETITION | ENTRIES | PRICE POOL | WINNER | PRICE (IN USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,100 No Limit Hold’em | 111 | $555,000 | David Peters | $141,525 |
| 2 | $10,100 No Limit Hold’em | 89 | $690,000 | Dylan Weisman | $240,300 |
| 3 | $10,100 No Limit Hold’em | 85 | $850,000 | Jonathan Little | $229,500 |
| 4 | $10,100 No Limit Hold’em | 81 | $810,000 | Cary Katz | $226,800 |
| 5 | $10,100 No Limit Hold’em | 83 | $830,000 | Justin Zaki | $232,400 |
| 6 | $15,100 No Limit Hold’em | 63 | $945,000 | David Coleman | $302,400 |
| 7 | $15,100 No Limit Hold’em | 70 | $1,050,000 | David Peters | $315,000 |
| 8th | $25,200 No Limit Hold’em | 55 | $1,375,000 | Jonathan Little | $453,750 |
