Andrew Lichtenberger opened with a raise from under the gun to 80,000 with Q♦10♥, which was called by Aaron Kupin holding A♣J♠ in the cutoff and the big blind John Riordan with A♥10♦.
The flop came K♠K♣3♦ and it was checked to Kupin, who bet out 75,000, which was enough to take the pot as both Riordan and Lichtenberger folded.
The final event of the 2025 PokerGO Tour season is in full swing at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, where 54 players entered the PGT Championship $1,000,000 Freeroll. After Day 1, the field has been reduced to seven players, led by Michael Wang, who carries a stack of 2,890,000 into the final day as he looks to secure the $500,000 first-place prize.
Also returning for the final table are Daniel Negreanu, who sits in the middle of the chip counts just behind John Riordan, as well as Chad Eveslage and Eric Blair, who enter as the short stacks. Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger and Aaron Kupin, the last remaining Dream Seat winner, round out the field with two of the larger stacks. The tournament will return on the money bubble, with six paid places and a $40,000 minimum cash.
PGT Championship Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Michael Wang
United States
2,890,000
2
Andrew Lichtenberger
United States
2,410,000
3
Aaron Kupin
United States
1,690,000
4
John Riordan
United States
1,230,000
5
Daniel Negreanu
Canada
1,020,000
6
Chad Eveslage
United States
800,000
7
Eric Blair
United States
685,000
This stacked field, built from the top 40 players on the PGT Leaderboard and 14 Dream Seat winners, dwindled to just seven players on Day 1, with notable early exits including Jason Koon, Michael Mizrachi, Isaac Haxton, defending PGT Player of the Year and PGT Championship winner Jeremy Ausmus, and newly crowned 2025 PGT Player of the Year Alex Foxen.
Alex Foxen
Several other notable names fell as the tournament approached the money bubble, including Eric Wasserson, Bryce Yockey, Adam Hendrix, and Stephen Chidwick, the second-highest earner in poker history, who was eliminated shortly after moving to Hendrix’s seat. Chidwick’s exit set the final table, but no further eliminations followed, and play was halted at the end of Level 15 with seven players remaining.
PGT Championship Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$500,000
2
$200,000
3
$120,000
4
$80,000
5
$60,000
6
$40,000
Those seven players will return to the PokerGO Studio today at 1 p.m. local time on the stone bubble and will play down to a winner today.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on-site tomorrow to see the completion of the PGT Championship.
