Chino Rheem Takes Home Third PGT Title of the Year

Chino Rheem came into the final table of Event #4: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em PKO with the chip lead and after scoring an elimination on the day's first few hands, never looked back to claim the $28,100 first-place prize, the 54 PGT points, and $37,000 in bounties for his third PGT title of the year. 

Start of day short stack Alex Condon was all in for 120,000 from the cutoff on the first hand of the day with king-eight, and Rheem looked him up in the big blind with jack-eight. Condon was well ahead until the river when Rheem spiked a jack to claim his first bounty of the day and send Condon home in sixth place for $8,600, 14 PGT points, and $2,000 in bounties, and Rheem was off to the races. 

 Rheem, who took a FaceTime call with his son as the action unfolded, took a back seat as a pair of doubles from short stacks, Andrew Kelsall and Jeremy Becker, left the remaining five players near even in chips before a three-way all-in changed the tournament. Chris Hunichen, who had been second in chips before handing Kelsall the double, was all in for 495,000 with pocket fives, Jeremy Becker was all in for 380,000 with pocket jacks, and Mike Zulker had called, covering both players with ace-jack. 

A jack on the river gave Becker a set for the triple up, but it also gave Zulker a pair, leaving Hunichen out the door in fifth place for $10,800, plus 18 PGT points and $3,000 in bounties as Big Huni went from second in chips to out of the tournament in two hands. From there, Rheem hung up the phone and got down to business. 

First, in a classic flip, Zulker was all in with ace-queen against Rheem's pocket jacks. Rheem faded the ace or the queen, and Zulker hit the rail in fourth place for $14,000 plus 23 PGT points and $5,000 in bounties as Rheem moved to over fifty percent of the chips in play. This left Beker on the short stack, but Kelsall wasn't in the mood to wait around as he moved all in for 785,000 from the small blind, and Rheem called with a covering stack from the button. 

Rheem tabled king-ten of diamonds and was well ahead of Kelsall's eight-seven of clubs. Neither player improved on their hole cards, and Rheem's king-high was best, sending Kelsall to the rail in third place for $18,400, 31 PGT points, and $5,000 in bounties and securing him a nearly seven-to-one chip lead to start the heads-up match. 

Becker, who was looking for his second PGT Bounty Blitz title of the series, tried to make a game of it as he scored a double on the first hand of heads-up play, but from there it was all Rheem who won pot after pot to whittle Becker back down to near 15 big blinds. The final hand of the tournament saw Rheem move all in on the button with king-queen, and Becker made the call with queen-jack from the big blind. 

Rheem would then flop a pair and turn trip kings to deny Becker his second title and send him home in second place for $28,100 plus 39 PGT points and $7,000 in bounties. 

Event #4: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em PKO Payouts

Rheem Moves into Top Seven on Season Leaderboard

The third win of the 2025 PGT Season now moves Rheem into seventh place on the season leaderboard with 1,401 points and moves him into a tie with Sam Soverel and Kristen Foxen for most wins on the PGT this season with three. 

Mike Zulker picked up his fourth cash of the year and now sits comfortably in the top at 27th place with 1,007 PGT points on the year. The rest of the final table still has a ton of work to do, as none of the four players sit inside the top 40, with Chris Hunichen sitting the closest at 228th with just 208 PGT points on the year. 

PGT Leaderboard Top Ten

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