€5,200 PLO Opener
Day 2 Completed
2025 PLO Grand Slam
€5,200 PLO Opener
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
2025 PLO Grand Slam
Buy-in
€5,200
Prize Pool
€1,057,500
Entries
225
Level
26
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
300,000
Entries
68
Players Left
1
Level 26
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Tom Vogelsang has been a force to be reckoned with in high-stakes no-limit hold'em tournaments for the past few years, traveling the European circuit to play five- and six-figure buy-ins. However, Vogelsang also knows his way around four cards, most notably winning a $25,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in 2022. Today, he added a Diamond Poker Series PLO trophy to his collection by winning the €5,200 Opener at the PLO Grand Slam, conquering a field of 225 entries on his way to victory.
Vogelsang received the Lion's share of the €1,057,500 prize pool, taking home €234,200. He bested Sean Rafael, who traveled from the United States to Arena Casino Tirana for some Omaha action, during a short and back-and-forth heads up battle. Rafael was awarded €158,100 for his runner-up finish, while Nino Pansier took home the bronze medal and the final six-figure payout of €108,800.
Other players at the final table included back-to-back final tabler Youness Barakat, 2019 WSOP Main Event winner Hossein Ensan, and PLO bracelet winner Ronald Keijzer.
€5,200 PLO Opener Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | €234,200 |
| 2 | Sean Rafael | United States | €158,100 |
| 3 | Nino Pansier | Netherlands | €108,800 |
| 4 | Youness Barakat | Italy | €88,700 |
| 5 | Fabian Riebau-Schmithals | Germany | €70,700 |
| 6 | Hossein Ensan | Germany | €54,300 |
| 7 | Harry Casagrande | Austria | €39,600 |
| 8 | Ronald Keijzer | Netherlands | €28,700 |
| 9 | Andrew Ige | United States | €23,700 |
Winner's Reaction
"It's been a while since I've won a live tournament, so I'm really happy," Vogelsang shared after his victory. "Winning a tournament always feels like a relief to me. If you have the chip lead, it feels like your tournament to lose. So I feel relieved first, happy next."
"I think I'm better in Omaha tournaments compared to hold'em ones, relative to the field at least," Vogelsang stated when asked about his preference for one or the other. "Everyone is good in no-limit hold'em but Omaha tournaments are relatively new, a lot of people don't know a lot of stuff yet. I've been playing more PLO than hold'em for the last few years, but it's mostly online cash so it flies a bit under the radar."
It was Vogelsang's first time playing a Diamond Poker Series event, but he was assured he would be back for more. "It's amazing here, I would love to visit every series. The buy-ins are perfect, not too low, not too high, and apparently, they're easy to win since I'm one for one."
Early Day 2 Action
Long before Vogelsang's eventual victory, 42 survivors of the two starting flights took their seats at the beginning of today. With one full level of late registration to go, they would be joined by 26 more entries, breaching the €1,000,000 guarantee with ease.
Diamond Poker Series ambassador Max Kruse was one of the early casualties of the day, busting shortly before the end of late registration and deciding not to fire a last shot. Soon, the likes of Bernd Gleissner, Blaz Zerjav, Joni Jouhkimainen, Tom-Aksel Bedell, and Nikolaos Lampropoulos joined him at the rail to leave 32 players remaining.
With 27 spots paid, Lautaro Guerra fell just short of the money, as did Gergo Nagy, whose elimination left the field on the stone bubble. Hand-for-hand did not last long before anonymous player "Alakazam" got his kings in against the tens of Barakat, but the latter flopped a set to burst the bubble, securing the min-cash of €10,600 for the remaining players.
Defending champion Aaron Pahlawani made the money but had to make due with a min-cash, and the same fate befell his former heads up opponent Pavel Izotov. Eventually, Espen Myrmo and "Lion King" busted almost simultaneously in 11th and tenth place to leave a final table of nine players.
Final Table
Andrew Ige started the final table near the bottom of the leaderboard and was the first to depart after bluffing off the majority of his stack. Not long thereafter, Vogelsang grabbed the tournament chip lead from Barakat, who had led from the start of the day until that point, by catching another bluff.
Pansier then landed in a dream spot when he had two players all-in while holding aces. Both Keijzer and Harry Casagrande had a pair of kings in their hands and were unable to perform a miraculous escape. Ensan was next to go, shipping his top pair into Rafael's aces, and Day 1b chipleader Fabian Riebau-Schmithals finished in fifth after getting some pay jumps with his middling stack.
Meanwhile, Barakat was looking to improve upon his third-place finish in this event from last November but could not seem to win any significant pots at the final table. Hemet his seemingly inevitable demise in fourth place after jamming his kings into Vogelsang's aces, falling one place short of equaling his previous placement. Three-handed play then lasted only for ten minutes before Pansier had his aces cracked by Vogelsang, setting up the heads up.
Vogelsang started the battle for the title with a two-to-one chip advantage, but Rafael won the majority of the early pots and took over the lead. However, Vogelsang quickly bounced back and soon had the same amount of chips he started with.
The last hand of the tournament came when Rafael three-bet aces preflop and shipped in his chips on a seemingly harmless flop. Vogelsang, however, had flopped a set of fives, leaving Rafael drawing slim. Indeed, Rafael did not hit the few outs he still had, declaring Vogelsang the champion.
Thus concludes the live report of the €5,200 Opener. Next on the PLO Grand Slam schedule is the €10,300 Championship, the marquee event of the series. Day 1 of the three-day event will get underway tomorrow, so tune back in to PokerNews to not miss any of the four-card action from the Albanian capital.
Level 26
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Tom Vogelsang raised his button to 900,000 and quickly called when Sean Rafael three-bet to 2,700,000 from the big blind.
Rafael bet 5,700,000 on the K♣3♠5♥ flop, after which Vogelsang put him all-in for about 12,000,000 total. Rafael snap-called and the cards were tabled.
Sean Rafael: A♥A♣8♦4♠ 
Tom Vogelsang: A♦9♠5♦5♣
Vogelsang had flopped a set to take a huge lead in the pot, leaving Rafael with just a few outs. Neither his wheel nor the last ace came in on the J♣9♥ runout, leaving Sean Rafael as the runner-up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
46,400,000
17,000,000
|
17,000,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 26
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Sean Rafael limped his button before calling the raise to 900,000 from Tom Vogelsang in the big blind.
Vogelsang continued for 1,500,000 on the 7♦6♠A♣ flop and Rafael put in a quick call.
However, when Vogelsang sized up to 5,100,000 on the K♣ turn, Rafael took a puzzled look at his cards before adding them to the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
29,400,000
4,500,000
|
4,500,000 |
|
|
17,000,000
-4,500,000
|
-4,500,000 |
Level 26
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Both players checked the 3♣10♦9♣ flop in a raised pot before the 7♦ arrived on the turn.
Tom Vogelsang checked again from the big blind before Sean Rafael fired a pot-sized bet of 2,100,000.
Vogelsang called and showed 9♠9♦6♠6♥ for a set of nines once the K♦ river was also checked through.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
24,900,000
5,500,000
|
5,500,000 |
|
|
21,500,000
-5,500,000
|
-5,500,000 |
Level 26
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Most of the small pots played have been going to Sean Rafael, who has taken the lead in the heads up resultingly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
27,000,000
5,600,000
|
5,600,000 |
|
|
19,400,000
-5,600,000
|
-5,600,000 |
Level 26
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Tom Vogelsang limped in on the button and called when Sean Rafael made it 900,000 from the big blind. The pair checked the 7♥4♠3♥ flop and 8♥ turn before Rafael fired 700,000 on the 10♣ river.
Vogelsang tossed in a quick call but mucked his cards when Rafael showed Q♣J♦9♦8♦ for a straight.
The next hand, Rafael raised his button to 900,000 and Vogelsang defended his big blind. The board was checked to the 8♥A♣5♦Q♦K♠ river, where Vogelsang snap-folded to a bet from Rafael.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
25,000,000
-5,400,000
|
-5,400,000 |
|
|
21,400,000
5,400,000
|
5,400,000 |
Level 26
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
After some small pots went back and forth, Sean Rafael limped in on the button and Tom Vogelsang checked his option in the big blind.
The pair checked through the 9♣K♣4♣ flop and 4♦ turn before the Q♠ river completed the board.
Vogelsang fired 900,000 and was snap-called. He announced a flush, but mucked his cards when Rafael quickly showed K♦10♣9♠2♣ for a ten-high flush.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,400,000
400,000
|
400,000 |
|
|
16,000,000
-400,000
|
-400,000 |
Level: 26
Blinds: 150,000/300,000
Ante: 300,000
Level 25
: Blinds 125,000/250,000, 250,000 ante
Tom Vogelsang raised his button to 875,000. Nino Pansier raised the stakes to 2,875,000 in the big blind and Vogelsang put in a quick call.
Pansier had 3,050,000 remaining on the Q♥5♦K♥ flop, and he pushed them in the middle. Vogelsang snapped him off as the cards were tabled.
Nino Pansier: A♠A♦8♠6♣
Tom Vogelsang: K♣Q♠J♣4♠
Vogelsang had flopped two pair to take over the lead against Pansier's aces. The K♠ turn improved him to a full house, and the 4♥ river remained free of an ace.
Pansier said his goodbyes in third place, leaving Vogelsang and Sean Rafael to battle it out heads up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000,000
6,500,000
|
6,500,000 |
|
|
16,400,000
1,400,000
|
1,400,000 |
|
Busted |