Dante Goya Goes From 2 Big Blinds to WSOP Paradise PLO Champion

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Dec 15, 2023 3 min read

The last WSOP gold bracelet of the 2023 World Series of Poker Paradise has been awarded at Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas. Brazil��s Dante Goya Fernandes completed a stunning comeback to win his first bracelet and $277,700 in Event #13: $10,000 PLO Championship. Goya defeated three-time bracelet winner Jim Collopy in heads-up play to clinch the title.

The four-card tournament drew 104 entries to create a $1,040,000 prize pool. The top 16 finishers made it into the money and only 13 bagged for the final day with eyes on the bracelet.

Goya was down to two big blinds at one point during three-handed play against Collopy and bracelet winner Bryce Yockey, but the Brazilian online crusher was able to spin up his stack to become the chip leader as he applied pressure on his path to victory.

Event #13: $10,000 PLO Championship Final Table Results

Read More About Stanislav Zegal Winner Of The First WSOP Paradise Main Event

��That was insane,�� Goya said about his unlikely comeback. ��I was very lucky three-handed.��

Goya had one other WSOP final table on his poker r��sum�� - a fourth-place finish in the 2022 WSOP $5,000 Mixed NLH/PLO event. Fellow countryman Joao Simao took down that event, and Goya was thrilled to have now earned his own piece of the prestigious poker jewelry.

��It means a lot to me,�� he said about winning his maiden bracelet. ��That (2022 WSOP $5,000 Mixed NLH/PLO final table) was my only (previous) final table live, but online I have�� four or five or six (final tables), but this was the one, so it means a lot to me.��

Action of the Day

Day 2 started with 13 players in their seats and GGPoker Ambassador Jeff Gross (13th - $19,800), Boris Angelov (12th - $19,800), and Kazuhiko Yotsushika (11th - $22,700) all fell shortly after the day began. Jeffrey Trudeau (10th - $22,700) and Stefan Lehner (9th - $26,400) were the next to go before the final table of eight was set.

Two players earned $25,000 in addition to their payout in this tournament thanks to GGPoker's WSOP Paradise Parlay. Josh Arieh and Isaac Haxton each made their third final table between the 2023 WSOP and 2023 WSOP Paradise and collected the additional score.

Arieh was the short stack at the final table and was the next to go in eighth place when he ran into a dominating hand and failed to improve. Haxton was eliminated shortly after when he ran into aces and found no help, exiting in seventh place.

From there, six-handed play lasted for more than two hours. Yockey once had a sizable chip lead, but following several doubles, stacks became fairly even and shallow as blinds increased. Eventually, Yockey eliminated Yuriy Anisimov in sixth place and Gavin Andreanoff in fifth place to regain the lead, before James Casement was gone in fourth when he flopped a flush draw but failed to improve against Collopy.

Three-handed play began with Goya as the short stack and his stack dwindled further down to only two big blinds. He scored a couple of short-stacked doubles and then picked up aces to double into the chip lead through Collopy. Yockey became the shortest stack and he got his chips in on a flop with flush and straight draws, but the runout bricked and he missed out on a second bracelet.

Collopy had a chance to win a $100,000 bonus courtesy of GGPoker's WSOP Paradise Parlay if he could snag his second bracelet of the year, but he would need to mount a comeback as he entered heads-up play with nearly a three-to-one deficit. However, on the first hand, Collopy got the rest of his chips in on the flop and needed to improve. Goya was an equity favorite and the board ran out to keep the Brazilian ahead, eliminating Collopy as runner-up, while Goya claimed his first WSOP gold bracelet.

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