David Peters and Brandon Adams Win Opening Events at 2018 Poker Masters

Last Friday, the 2018 Poker Masters kicked-off at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, with poker fans able to keep an eye on the high stakes action via exclusive live streams on PokerGO. The following day, David Peters took down the first tournament of the series, the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em event, after besting a field of 69 players over the course of two days, including Brian Green heads-up, to collect a top prize worth $193,200.

Meanwhile, Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em attracted 50 runners on the Saturday, and was eventually won by Brandon Adams, who defeated Jared Jaffee after just two heads-up hands to walk away with a first place prize of $400,000.

2018 Poker Masters

The Poker Masters runs from Sept 7-15, and features the following seven high roller events:

1: $10,000 NLH
2: $25,000 NLH
3: $25,000 PLO
4: $25,000 NLH
5: $25,000 NLH
6: $50,000 NLH
7: $100,000 NLH Main Event

Whoever earns the most amount of money at the end of the competition will also be awarded the Poker Masters Purple Jacket. Last year, that honor went to German pro Steffen Sontheimer, who cashed in four events for $2,733,000, including winning the $50,000 event for $900,000, and the $100,000 event for $1,512,000.

Event #1: $10,000 NLH

The $10,000 NLH event featured a $690,000 prize pool, and rewarded 10 players with cash payouts. This included Matthias Eibinger in 10th ($20,700), Cary Katz in 9th ($20,700), and Almedin Imsirovic in 8th ($27,600). David Eldridge (10d-4d) then bubbled the final table after check-raising all in against Rainer Kempe (Qd-10s) on a 5d-10c-2h flop, who made the call and saw off his opponent after an Ac and 7d fell on turn and river.

Final Table

Isaac Haxton started the final table as the short stack, and before long exited in 6th after re-raising all-in holding A-J against Brandon Adams (A-2), with the ensuing 7-6-2-5-2 board sealing his fate.

As the new short stack, Cord Garcia would eventually push his remaining chips preflop holding pocket eights versus Peters’ A-2 hand, before hitting the rail in 5th when an ace spiked on the river. Next, David Peters (Qd-Jh) made a flush on a 5s-Ah-4h-5h-3h board to eliminate Brandon Adams (Kc-Jd) in 4th, while Peters (2s-2d) enjoyed similar luck against Rainer Kempe (8d-8c), having made a runner-runner flush on a 9s-10s-3c-As-5s board to see off the lone non-US player at the table in 3rd.

David Peters vs Brian Green

David Peters started heads-up play holding a massive 9-1 chip advantage over Brian Green. Despite picking his spots carefully and making a comeback, however, Green eventually shoved all in preflop holding pocket eights, but unfortunately for him Peters was sitting on pocket kings. With no help from the board, Green finished the runner-up for $138,000, in the process pushing his career earnings past the $3 million mark.

David Peters, on the other hand, picked up top honors and consolidated his position as number one on Ohio’s ‘All Time Money List’, with a second placed Byron Kaverman almost $9 million adrift on $14,740,197. The WSOP bracelet holder is also ranked the 13th best tournament player in the world with $23,462,763 in earnings to go with the $5,404,053 he has amassed playing online tournaments under the screen name Davidp18. Following his latest victory, Peters said that he was ready to make further waves in the series, stating:

“It is nice to get off to a good start and yea I feel great”.

Final Table Results

1st: David Peters $193,200
2nd: Brian Green $138,000
3rd: Rainer Kempe $89,700
4th: Brandon Adams $69,000
5th: Cord Garcia $55,200
6th: Isaac Haxton $41,400

Event #2: $25,000 NLH

The $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em event featured a $1,250,000 prize pool, meaning just eight players would see a return on their huge buy-ins. On Day 2, Daniel Negreanu (10-10) subsequently eliminated Cary Katz (A-K) in 8th, while Jason Koon (A-J) sent Dominik Nitsche (A-9) to the rail in 7th to get the final table underway.

Final Table

At the final table, Adams got off to a fortunate start after moving all-in on the flop holding a pair of aces against table leader Jared Jaffee’s who had flopped a set. The turn and river made Adams a full house, though, who was then able to use his new chip lead to pressure his opponents.

First to exit the arena was Daniel Negreanu, who was dealt pocket tens but was ousted from the contest by Brandon Adams (Q-Q) in 6th, albeit having earned a $75,000 payout for his deep run. Next, Jared Jaffee (10-7) moved all-in from the small blind against a short stacked Jason Koon (8-2), who made the call for his remaining chips in the dark. The A-10-8-Q-K brought him no relief, however, and so he exited in 5th place.

Jake Schindler (A-8) then eliminated Bill Klein (K-J) in 4th, but after being reduced to a short stack himself was dealt Q-10 and called Adams’ A-5 shove, only to depart in 3rd following an 8-3-2-9-6 deal.

Brandon Adams vs Jared Jaffee

Brandon Adams started heads-up as the short stack, and was unable to improve on the situation after being dealt pocket kings and failing to get any action from Adams holding Q-2. The very next hand, Jaffee (K-5) opted to move all-in preflop, but unfortunately for him, Adams had been dealt A-9, and promptly closed out the contest after the dealer laid out an 8-4-4-7-2 board.

Last year, Brandon Adams won the Poker Masters $50,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $819,000. Commenting how his latest victory fares in comparison, the 39 year-old pro and Ph.D. graduate of Harvard Business School, stated:

“The last one I would say was really smooth. It felt like I was playing good and running good and I had a chip lead on the final table for a lot of the final table. This time, it was a rollercoaster. I had to get really lucky in some spots.”

Adams is making an impressive run at this year’s Poker Masters Purple Jacket, and has now made the final table of Event #3: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, making it three final tables from three events so far. The tournament is due to resume at 1 p.m. local time, and an hour later Event #4: $10,000 Short Deck will also kick-0ff.

Final Table Results

1st: Brandon Adams $400,000
2nd: Jared Jaffee $262,000
3rd: Jake Schindler $175,000
4th: Bill Klein $125,000
5th: Jason Koon $100,000
6th: Daniel Negreanu $75,000