Andrew Lichtenberger Wins 7th Career PGT Title and $117,600

Andrew Lichtenberger came into the final table of Event #1: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em with nearly forty percent of the chips in play but let Nick Schulman do most of the heavy lifting throughout the day before closing out the tournament by defeating Schulman heads up to win the $117,600 first place prize plus 235 PGT points. 

Schulman, who has put himself in a prime position for a Poker Hall of Fame nomination this summer, got the day started by sending 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Erik Seidel home in seventh place for $16,800 when his ace-queen flopped trips to send Seidel's pocket queens to the rail early. 

Longtime online poker crusher and U.K. native Patrick Leonard hasn't been seen in the PokerGo Studio often, but he parlayed his rare appearance into a sixth-place finish for $21,000 and 42 PGT Points after Lichtenberger's turned king-high flush bested his pocket tens. 

One hand later, start-of-day short stack, Dennis Beres finally got his chips into the middle with ace-eight off on the button only to run into the ace-queen of Schulman in the big blind. Beres could not find one of the three remaining eights in the deck but did manage to pick up his fifth career sixth-figure score and first since 2011 when he collected $29,400 and 59 PGT points for the fifth-place finish. 

It took almost a level, but John Riordan was the next to hit the rail when his ace-five off could not overcome Schulman's pocket fives. Riordan collected $39,900 plus 80 PGT Points for the fourth-place finish as the longtime PGT regular looks to be gearing up for a big year in 2025. 

With the tournament down to just three players, it turned into a slugfest, and Matthew McEwan came in as the short stack, but a quick double through Schulman set the stage for a massive hand with Lichtenberger to give him the chip lead. 

McEwan was all in for just over two million with ace-ten of spades, while Lichtenberger held ace-ten off, and what seemed like an almost afterthought of a hand quickly vaulted McEwan into the chip lead when he flopped a flush. 

The excitement was short-lived however, as minutes later, Lichtenberger would get all in with pocket queens against the king-ten of hearts from McEwan for the chip lead once again. The flop only produced two of McEwan's suits this time, and when the turn and river bricked, he handed the chip lead and control of the tournament right back to Lichtenberger. 

McEwan would fall in third place shortly thereafter when Schulman's ace-eight dominated his nine-eight. An ace on the flop sealed it for Schulman and McEwan was headed to the payout desk in third place for $54,600 plus 109 PGT points. 

Schulman and Lichtenberger began heads-up play with almost equal stacks, but it was just "Lucky Chewy's" day as the deck began to hit him with big hand after big hand to whittle down Schulman. 

The final hand of the day saw Schulman get in his last two million with jack-seven off, only for Lichtenberger to find king-nine suited. A king on the turn and a nine on the river gave Chewy two pair, and Schulman headed to the payout desk in second place, earning $75,600 and 151 PGT Points. 

Event #1: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

2025 PGT Kickoff Opens With A Bang 

Eighty-four hopefuls made their way inside the PokerGo Studio for the first event of the 2025 PGT season, and with double the PGT points awarded for the duration of the series, the $420,000 prize pool felt much bigger than usual but still only awarded cash to the top twelve finishers. 

Newcomer to the PGT studio, Nicholas Schulte, was the unfortunate bubble boy when his pocket queens fell to Dennis Beres' rivered diamond flush to deny Schulte his first recorded score of 2025. 

Schulte's loss was Mike Zulker's gain as he picked up his first cash inside the PokerGo Studio, finishing in twelfth place, one spot ahead of rising star Ethan "Rampage" Yau, who finished in eleventh after an ill-timed river call against Schulman. Zulker picked up $10,500 and 22 PGT Points, while Yau scored $12,600 and 26 PGT.

Also picking up $12,600 and 26 PGT points were Jesse Lonis and Manuel Fritz, who finished in ninth and tenth place, respectively. 2024 WSOP Bracelet winner Nicolas Seward was the final domino of the night to fall on day one as ace-ten could not catch up to Lichtenberger's pocket queens, leaving him headed to the payout desk in eighth place for $16,800 plus 34 PGT Points and just short of his first final table of the year. 

2025 PGT Leaderboard 

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