This week the same two players battled it out heads-up with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line on back-to-back days inside the PokerGO Studio. This wasn’t the latest edition of High Stakes Duel, though. Joey Weissman and Michael ‘Texas Mike’ Moncek had just managed to each make it down to the final two players in both of the first two events of the 2025 PokerGO Cup. While Moncek came out on top in event no. 1, Weissman was able to even the score the second time around.
According to the PokerGO broadcast, this was the first time in PokerGO Tour history that the same two players had managed to go heads-up in consecutive tournaments.
Weissman was awarded $295,000 as the champion of event no. 2, a $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event with 118 entries. With the $123,900 he earned a day earlier in the $5,000 kickoff event with a record field of 177, his total for the series now sits at $418,900.
For his part, Moncek has accumulated $368,750 with his one-two punch at the start of this eight-event festival. The two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner now has nearly $4.4 million in lifetime earnings.
This win grew Weissman’s career haul to nearly $8.3 million. The bracelet winner based out of Las Vegas is now ranked fourth in the 2025 Card Player Player of the Year race presented by Global Poker, having already made five final tables so far including this win for 600 points.
Weissman also earned 295 PGT points with this triumph. This was his fourth qualified cash on the tour already in 2025, making him the current leader in the season-long standings. He also leads the series points race thanks to his incredible start.
The final day of this event began with seven players remaining and Sam Laskowitz in the lead. Anthony Hu (7th – $47,200) was the first to fall, with his A-10 running into the pocket kings of Andrew Lichtenberger for his final six or so big blinds.
Six-handed action lasted for a couple of hours, with the stalemate eventually broken thanks to a cooler on the river. Bracelet winner Andrew Lichtenberger hit his gutshot straight draw in an already healthy pot and value bet on the end. 2021 Wynn Millions champion Andrew Moreno had also completed a backdoor draw of his own, with his being to the nut flush. He raised all-in and received a quick call, leaving Lichtenberger with just a handful of big blinds.
Stream the PokerGO Cup on PokerGO. https://t.co/mm91babAG7 pic.twitter.com/Wp8arsLJKc
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 14, 2025
Lichtenberger managed a double up not long after taking that hit, but was ultimately eliminated not long after that, earning $59,000 for his efforts. He now has nearly $22.1 million in career cashes to his name.
Laskowitz came into the final day of this event with the lead, but ended up hitting the rail in fifth place when his A
Q ran into the A
K
of ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who made the nut flush in spades to drag the pot and narrow the field to four. Laskowitz walked away with $76,700, which was enough to grow his lifetime haul to more than $3 million.
A classic preflop race spelled the end of Moreno’s tournament, with pocket jacks being outrun by the A-Q of Seidel. Moreno held through the turn, but a queen on the end gave Seidel his second straight knockout. Moreno was awarded $100,300 as the fourth-place finisher, which moved his career earnings north of $4.9 million.
Seidel soon lost a big chunk of his stack with top pair, top kicker against the overpair of aces of Joey Weissman, who doubled into the chip after getting his stack in on the turn and fading a king on the river. The last of Seidel’s stack went in from the small blind with J-9 trailing the J-10 of Moncek, who called the shove from the big. Moncek ended up with top pair of tens by the river to earn the pot and the knockout. Seidel grew his career earnings to more than $48.5 million thanks to the $129,800 payday he secured as the third-place finisher.
We lose
Erik_Seidel</a> in third place, meaning for the second consecutive event it's <a href="https://twitter.com/TexasMike2014?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">TexasMike2014 versus @JoeyWeissman for the title.Stream the PokerGO Cup on PokerGO. https://t.co/mm91babAG7 pic.twitter.com/5miqOp3I00
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 14, 2025
The second heads-up match between Moncek and Weissman in as many days began on fairly even footing, after the first had seen a big starting advantage for Moncek. The first big hand went Moncek’s way, with his picking off a bluff from Weissman with king high to pull well out in front. Weissman doubled back into the lead with A-10 besting K-4, only to have Moncek grind his way back into the lead.
Weisman doubled up again, this time with K-3 besting J-8 suited. Weissman made trip threes to move back in front for what would be the last time. Moncek came close to evening things up at a few points, but Weissman was able to hold and then extend this latest lead before closing out the win.
In the final hand Weissman min-raised to 800,000 from the button and Moncek three-bet shoved for 6,875,000 with K2
. Weissman called off with KJ and the board came down J769J to give Weissman trips and the victory. Moncek was awarded $182,900 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Joey Weissman | $295,000 | 600 | 295 |
| 2 | Michael Moncek | $182,900 | 500 | 183 |
| 3 | Erik Seidel | $129,800 | 400 | 130 |
| 4 | Andrew Moreno | $100,300 | 300 | 100 |
| 5 | Sam Laskowitz | $76,700 | 250 | 77 |
| 6 | Andrew Lichtenberger | $59,000 | 200 | 59 |
| 7 | Anthony Hu | $47,200 | 150 | 47 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.
