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True to Texas fashion, it was another action-packed day at Champions Club in Houston as the $1,100 PLO Championship came to a close. When the dust settled, local crusher Vladyslav Shovkovyi emerged victorious—not only securing the win but also cashing in PLO for the first time.

Shovkovyi capped off his night with a heads-up victory over runner-up Nan Liu, hitting his wrap draw to overcome Liu’s pair and flush draw. With the win, he pocketed $50,730 and the coveted champion’s trophy, while Liu took home $34,800 for his second-place finish.

Coming into Day 2 with a commanding chip lead, Shovkovyi showed no signs of slowing down. Known for his hyper-aggressive NLH play, he looked right at home in the PLO streets.

PLO Championship Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

“Umm, it was super easy,” Shovkovyi joked after his victory. “I’m going to start playing PLO tournaments more!”

A man of few words, the Ukrainian recalled the pivotal moment that set him up for success on Day 1c:

“Oh yes, it was definitely yesterday when I decided to gamble all in three ways… I thought, if I win this pot, I’m going to run this table. So I won it, got 600K, and didn’t even have to play a big pot after that… I just did bubble punishment at my table—they loved it.”

As for his winnings? Shovkovyi kept it simple: “Now I have 20 bullets for the high roller tomorrow.”

Action of the Day

Contrary to what is usually expected on Day 2, action started off slow for the 26 returning players, taking several hours to trim the field down to two tables.

Once that happened, the floodgates opened as eliminations came fast and furious. It was during this period that Shovkovyi found himself in the most pivotal hand of the day. He got it all in on the flop with a pair and a flush draw against the top two pair of recently-made chip leader John Compton, the only player in the tournament who had him covered. Both players stood as the turn was a brick, but the river brought in Shovkovyi’s flush, awarding him a massive 131-big-blind pot.

From there, he continued his charge, knocking out Southisak ‘Tony’ Seunsom in tenth place, while David ‘Lefty’ Diaz was simultaneously eliminated in ninth place at the other table.

With those two eliminations, the final eight players took their seats at the feature table.

Final Table Action

Once cards were in the air, it took some time to lose the first player, as short-stacked Compton doubled up on the second hand of the stream. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t do it again, as he was eliminated 12 hands later. He got it in with top two pair on the flop, but Nan Liu turned a bigger two pair to send him out in eighth place.

Exactly an orbit later, a massive cooler unfolded. Karim Bevans moved all in on the river of an all-diamond board with the ace-high flush, only to run into Liu’s straight flush, ending his run in seventh place in dramatic fashion.

As the pay jumps increased, the action slowed. Over an hour passed before the next elimination, when Joshua Barney fell in sixth place. In two consecutive hands against Jake White, both players held near-identical hands, resulting in a chop in the first. However, in the second, White spiked a deuce to double up, leaving Barney on life support. Soon after, Barney got his last chips in with pocket tens but couldn’t hold against Liu, whose ace-king improved to two pair to send him to the rail.

Two orbits later, Tennessee native Carl Masters found himself at risk, getting it in with A-K-3-3 against Shovkovyi’s rundown hand. A superior pair of sevens on the flop and a straight on the river sealed Masters’ fate, eliminating him in fifth place. This was Masters’ first time playing at Champions Club, inspired by watching the Monster Stack stream. He later shared that he thoroughly enjoyed his experience, so Houston may be seeing more of him in the future!

The Final Stretch

Shovkovyi stayed hot, eliminating Jake White in fourth place when his aces held up against White’s queens. On the very next hand, he also eliminated He Feng, flopping two pair against Feng’s big straight and flush draw. The board bricked out, giving Shovkovyi the pot and sending Feng out in third place.

After over an hour of back-and-forth heads-up play, the tournament finally came to a close. Shovkovyi and Liu got it all in on the flop, but Shovkovyi turned a straight and successfully faded Liu’s flush draw to lock up the win. With that, he was awarded the Champions Club trophy and the $50,730 top prize!

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