Chino Rheem Takes Home 5th Career PGT Title

Patience was the name of the game for Chino Rheem as he outlasted Richard Gryko, Arthur Morris, Michael Duek, and Allan Le to reach heads-up play with Ben Tollerene, but once he got their aggression proved the game plan of choice as he captured his fifth PGT title and the $295,000 first-place prize in Event #4: $10,100 Pot-Limit Omaha. 

Tollerene, who started the day as the chip leader, quickly turned the final table on its head when he got into a huge clash with Gryko minutes into the stream. Gryko, who came into the day second in chips, four-bet shoved with aces, and after a time extension, Tollerene called with kings. 

While premium pocket pairs got all the money pre-flop, it was the side cards that proved the difference. Tollerene flopped trips with his three to send Gryko out the door in sixth place for $59,000 plus 59 PGT points and rake in nearly half the chips in play. 

With Tollerene holding most of the chips in play, the short stacks at the final table would go to war as Morris scored a double through Duek to stay alive. Duek would be left at the bottom of the counts on the leaderboard, and Rheem took advantage, putting him to the test from the big blind. 

Duek used a few time extensions before he put all his money into the middle with pocket kings, and Rheem was left drawing with pocket jacks. The flop fell ace-high, giving Rheem top and bottom pair, but the middle card was a king, giving Duek a set. However, the river was an ace, Rheem made the best boat, and Duek hit the rail in fifth place for $76,700 plus 77 PGT points.

This left Rheem comfortably second in chips, but Le would flop a set of nines to send Morris out the door in fourth place for $100,300 plus 100 PGT points, a few hands later to draw the final three near equal in chips. 

 Three-handed play started as a slugfest with each player moving chips around, but only Rheem and Tollerene would trade the chip lead. Le finally took a stand and got all of his chips into the middle with a pair and a flush draw on the flop, but he was in deep trouble as Tollerene had flopped top set of aces, plus had Le's flush draw covered. Le turned a different flush draw, but when the river paired the board, Tollerene made a full house, and Le hit the payout window in third place for $129,800 plus 130 PGT points.  

This left Tollerene with the chip lead as the heads-up match began, and he dropped Rheem to under twenty big blinds rather quickly before Rheem flopped a set of tens to crack Tollerene's pocket aces and move back to even. 

From there, Rheem looked to be running away with it before he paid off a river bet for most of Tollerene's stack with just a pair of aces. Tollerene held aces and queens for two pair and moved right back into the chip lead, but the stacks were basically even. 

However, Rheem kept his foot on the gas and quickly moved back in front before he flopped another set, this time with eights, leaving Tollerene all in for his tournament life with just a flush draw. 

The turn completed Tollerene's flush, and it looked like the drawn-out heads-up match would continue, but the board paired on the river, giving Rheem a full house, and Tollerene settled for the $182,900 second-place prize plus 183 PGT points. 

Event #4: $10,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Payouts

Rheem Takes Over the Player of the Series Leaderboard

The fourth Event of the PGT PLO Series 2025 drew 118 entrants into the PokerGO Studio and created a prize pool of $1,180,000, making it the second-largest $10,000 PLO event in series history, missing out on the record set by PGT PLO Series 2023 Event #3: $10k PLO by twelve entrants. 

The near record-setting prize pool paid out the top seventeen places, with PGT regulars, Sean Winter (8th for $47,200), Dylan Linde (10th for $35,400), Jeremy Ausmus (13th for $23,600), Nick Schulman (14th for $23,600), and  Alex Foxen (16th for $23,600) all finding a piece of the prize pool.

Rounding out the payouts for Event #4 are Frank Brannan (7th for $47,200), former PGT PLO Series Champion Lautaro Guerra (9th for $35,400), Dylan Smith (11th for $29,500), Tyler Brown (12th for $29,500), Stefan Christopher (15th for $23,600), and Taylor Wilson (17th for $17,700).

The win gives Rheem two cashes through four events, and he now sits on top of the series leaderboard with 307 points, 62 points ahead of James Chen (US), who failed to find his fourth cash of the series after making the first three final tables. 

Daniel Negreanu and Billy Tarango, the other two event winners so far this series, are separated by just five points, with Negreanu holding on to the third-place spot with 195 points. Event #4 runner-up Tollerene is fifth with 183 points, seven points behind Tarango. 

Event #1 winner Ky Nguyen is sixth with 180 points, nine points ahead of Morris, who picked up his third cash and second final table of the series in Event #4. Le sits in eighth with 142 points after picking up his second cash of the series and sits 23 points ahead of Matthew McEwan, who leads Stephen Hubbard by eight points for the last place in the top ten. 

PGT PLO Series 2025 Leaderboard 

Rheem's Second Win of the Season Moves Him to Fourth on the Leaderboard

While it may be the fifth career win on the PGT for Rheem, it also marked his second victory of the young season, and he now sits with 729 points, jumping Nick Schulman by one point for fourth on the 2025 season leaderboard. 

The top three remain unchanged as Joey Weissman still sits at the top with 907 points, while Kristen Foxen (857 points) and Eric Blair (782 points) failed to pick up a cash in Event #4 to stay stuck on their previous point totals. 

With Rheem finding his way into the top five, Michael Moncek, at 702 points, falls into sixth place, Patrick Leonard (610 points) falls to seventh, Daniel Negreanu (587 points) falls to eighth, and Joao Simao (519 points) falls to ninth. Chad Eveslage still sits in tenth with 415 points. 

For a look at the complete top 40 in the season standings, click here.

2025 PGT Season Leaderboard

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