Michael Wang Leads PGT Championship Final Table, Negreanu Remains

Michael Wang leads the final seven players in the 2025 PGT $1,000,000 Championship, and he’s in pole position for the $500,000 top prize come Tuesday’s finale at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.

Joining him are Andrew Lichtenberger, Aaron Kupin, John Riordan, Daniel Negreanu, Chad Eveslage, and Eric Blair.

PGT $1,000,000 Championship Final Table

The 2025 PGT $1,000,000 Championship began on Monday with a field of 54 players made up of the top 40-ranked players on the PGT leaderboard and 14 Dream Seat winners. PGT Player of the Year Alex Foxen started with the largest chip stack, and notables Michael Mizrachi, Jesse Lonis, Nick Schulman, Jason Koon, and Jeremy Ausmus were among those competing.

Richard Gryko was the first player eliminated when his pocket aces went down to the pocket kings of RunGood Poker Series Dream Seay qualifier Ed Miller. Following Gryko’s exit, a steady flow of eliminations took place that included Masato Yokosawa, Ben Lamb, Patrick Leonard, and John Wasnock.

Ausmus, last season’s PGT Player of the Year and the defending champion of this event, busted in 41st place when his pocket fours were out-flipped by Stephen Chidwick’s ace-jack. Lonis would bust soon thereafter in 38th place when he also lost a race, holding ace-king to Chad Eveslage’s pocket queens. Then, Koon was knocked out in 35th as a result of a double elimination scored by Philip Sternheimer. Sternheimer had both Koon and Dream Seat winner Timothy Tuveson at risk, and it was Sternheimer’s ace-queen that spiked an ace on the flop to beat Koon’s kings and Tuveson’s sevens.

Schulman fell in 32nd place, then Mizrachi went out in 29th. Mizrachi busted to Andrew Lichtenberger when his ace-seven couldn’t come from behind against Lichtenberger’s ace-jack. It was around this time that Lichtenberger really began to pad his stack as he pushed further and further into seven figures. He then leaped over the 2,000,000-chip mark when his ace-king drilled an ace on the turn against Sternheimer’s pocket queens. Although Lichtenberger took some hits here and there as the day went on, he maintained a stack well north of 1,000,000.

Other notable eliminations included Kristen Foxen in 24th, Chino Rheem in 16th, David “ODB” Baker in 14th, and Alex Foxen in 13th.

Wang got the biggest boost to his stack when he knocked out Rheem. After Wang opened with a suited ace-king and both John Riordan and Daniel Negreanu called, Rheem moved all in for more than 50 big blinds holding two eights. Wang called, the others folded, and Wang went on to win the enormous flip. From there, it was steady climbing for Wang, who didn't seem to have much resistance come his way on the way to bagging.

The final seven players will return to action on Tuesday, and cards will be back in the air at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas at 1 p.m. local time. A fresh level will begin the day, with the blinds at 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante.

Be sure to tune in to PokerGO.com to watch the epic finale to the 2025 PGT season. For those interested in live updates of the event, please visit PokerNews.com.

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