Ryan Miller Goes From Less Than A Big Bet To Title

Ryan Miller was down to less than a big bet after correctly folding two pair on seventh street in Stud to Samuel Sternfield's made flush, but Miller remained undeterred as he battled for the next two hours, eventually walking away with the trophy and $247,000 first-place prize plus 247 PGT points in Event #3: $10,200 H.O.R.S.E at PGT Mixed Game 2025. 

After Miller correctly saved himself 600,000, he hit trip fives on fifth street playing Stud to double through Sternfield's pair of kings. Miller then got another effective double playing Hold 'em to close the gap further before taking the chip lead when he rivered a straight against Sternfield's rivered two pair a few Hold 'em hands later. 

However, what had already been an hour-long back-and-forth heads-up match would continue to see-saw as the chip lead would change hands four more times in the next hour before there were less than ten big bets total in the table with the limits at 800,000/1,600,000.

With the limits well past nose bleed territory, Miller opened a nearly two-to-one gap in chips and then put the tournament away playing Hold 'em as his king-queen out turned the ace-queen of Sternfield, sending him to the rail in second place for $156,750 plus 157 PGT points. 

Just over three hours before the heads-up match came to an end, Chino Rheem got the last of his chips into the middle with straight and trip outs playing Stud Hi-Lo against Sternfield's buried kings. Neither player sniffed a low, and when Rheem failed to connect, he hit the rail in third place for $114,000 plus 114 PGT points. 

Benny Glaser picked up his third cash in as many events with a final table appearance in Event #3, but could get nothing going at the final table, eventually bowing out in fourth place for $85,500 plus 86 PGT points as his pair of kings in Stud were sent to the rail by Sternfield's tens and fives.

Germany's Johannes Becker made a rare appearance inside the PokerGO Studio as the mixed game specialist earned his first cash on the PGT tour in just over a year outside of WSOP events parlayed his was to a fifth place finish for $66,500 and 67 PGT points after Sternfield made an eight-seven on seventh in razz to send Becker's jack-seven home. 

Alex Livingston started the day on the short stack but scored a ladder when Robert Mizrachi and his buried aces were sent home by Miller's split kings in Stud eight or better. Miller made kings-up on fourth and all the money got into the middle on sixth with Mizrachi holding draws to a better two pair or a flush as neither player could make a low. Mizrachi missed and hit the rail in seventh place for $38,000 plus 38 PGT points. 

Livingston would score a pair of doubles to stay alive after the Mizrachi elimination. Still, he would only score the one ladder after getting the remainder of his chips into the middle in Omaha eight or better, holding the nut low draw and an open-ended straight draw against the turned full house of Miller and Rheem's worse low draw. 

With Livingston holding ace-duece against Rheem's three-duece, he looked destined for half the pot, but an ace on the river sent him home in seventh place for $38,000 plus 38 PGT points. 

Event #3: $10,200 H.O.R.S.E. Final Table Payouts

Event #3 Sets Another Record, Miller Atop the Series Leaderboard

Event #3 of the PGT Mixed Game 2025 continued the trend from the first two events as 95 entrants made their way into the PokerGO Studio, setting another field size record and topping the 88-entrant field from PGT Mixed Game 2023 Event #2 by seven entries. 

The record number of entries created a prize pool of $950,000, with the top fourteen players finishing in the money. Nick Schulman was the unfortunate bubble in Event #3 as David Funkhouser's spilt kings sent him to the rail in Stud late into the night on day one. 

With play not reaching the money till nearly 1:00 am PST a long night was in store for the rest of the field as Roberty Wells (14th), Yuri Dzivielevski (13th), Daniel Mayoh (12th), and Mike Thorpe (11th) all fell in the wee hours of the morning before Daniel Negreanu (9th) and Funkhouser (10th) were eliminated on the same hand to set the remaining eight players on the final table bubble nearly an hour latter. 

The play would continue for nearly an hour before Nick Guagenti had his aces cracked by Sternfield's two pair in Stud eight of better to fall in eighth place and send the remaining players home for the night. 

With the win, Miller picked up his second cash of the series to move into first place on the series leaderboard with 254 points. Sternfield also picked up a second cash and a second final table of the series to move into second place on the leaderboard with 213 points, thanks to the runner-up finish. 

Event #2 winner Adam Friedman and Event #1 winner Nicolas Milgrom failed to cash in Event #3, dropping to third and fourth place in the process, while Event #3 third-place finisher Rheem rounds out the top five with 114 points. 

As mentioned, Glaser picked up his third cash in as many events and currently sits in sixth place on the series leaderboard with 109 points, two points ahead of Tal Avivi. Jerry Wong, Schulman, and Benjamin Miner round out the top ten with four events to play. 

Event #4: $10,200 8-Game is already underway, and you can catch all the day-one action here before tuning into the final table tomorrow at 2:00 pm PST on March 1st at PokerGO.com and PokerGO's YouTube channel. 

PGT Mixed Game 2025 Leaderboard

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