The 2025 PGT Championship field of 54 has been whittled down to just seven players for Day 2 of the $1,000,000 freeroll. While they still need one more player to be eliminated to burst the bubble, they’ll all be eyeing the $500,000 grand prize at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.
PGT Championship final table
Michael Wang leads all returning players with nearly 2.9 million chips, just ahead of Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger.
Daniel Negreanu is the clear headliner, and he will begin the day in fifth place with a little over 25 big blinds.
Only one of the “Dream Seat” winners has reached the final seven, with Aaron Kupin, who won the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet WSOP bracelet this year, coming into the day in third place. He won his Dream Seat by winning the 19-entry $50,000 PGT 9-Game Mix at WSOP Paradise for a career-high $282,609.
The PGT Championship will begin on the 20,000/40,000 blind level, which has a 40,000 big blind ante.
| Rank | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Michael Wang | 2,890,000 | 72.25 |
| 2 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 2,410,000 | 60.25 |
| 3 | Aaron Kupin | 1,690,000 | 42.25 |
| 4 | John Riordan | 1,230,000 | 30.75 |
| 5 | Daniel Negreanu | 1,020,000 | 25.5 |
| 6 | Chad Eveslage | 800,000 | 20 |
| 7 | Eric Blair | 685,000 | 17.125 |
PGT Championship payouts
The next player who is eliminated will be the bubble boy, while all others are guaranteed at least $40,000. The prizes are paid out via a combination of cash and PGT Passport, which acts as tournament dollars for PokerGO Tour events.
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | $500,000 |
| 2nd | $200,000 |
| 3rd | $120,000 |
| 4th | $80,000 |
| 5th | $60,000 |
| 6th | $40,000 |
PGT Championship profiles
Michael Wang (72bbs)
Michael Wang finished 25th on this year’s PGT Championship Leaderboard with seven cashes totalling over $1.6 million. The large majority of his points and his money came in the 874-entry WSOP $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship Freezeout, where he won his third bracelet and a career-high $1.4 million. This came just 19 days after winning the 2,405-entry $1,600 NLH event at the Wynn for $555,528.
Wang is 203rd on poker’s all-time money list and is a true live poker grinder, with over 500 live cashes to his name. In addition to his three WSOP bracelets, he won a WPT Main Event title at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal in 2024.
Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger (60bbs)
Lucky Chewy finished 9th on the 2025 PGT Championship Leaderboard with 17 cashes totalling nearly $2.5 million. While he won the first PGT event of the season at the PGT Kickoff, the bulk of his PGT points and money came via a second-place finish at the WSOP $50,000 High Roller, where he cashed for over $1.3 million.
Lichtenberger is a PGT regular and a high-stakes crusher. The co-founder and former CEO of Octopi Poker currently ranks 51st on poker’s all-time money list with over $23.8 million in earnings, and comes into the PGT Championship final table as the likely favorite to win.
The one-time WSOP bracelet winner also has a prestigious WPT Alpha8 title to his name. He recently finished third at the WPT World Championship in 2023, winning a career-high $2,798,700.
Aaron Kupin (42bbs)
Just because Kupin is technically a “Dream Seat” winner doesn’t mean he’s lucky to be here. Kupin has been dabbling in the high-roller scene over the past few years, earning most of his money and accolades in mixed-games events. With over $1.8 million in career live tournament earnings, Kupin will feel he belongs at this table as much as anyone else.
Over the last three years, Kupin has played tournament poker exclusively at WSOP events and big buy-in events in his home state of Florida. As we mentioned earlier, Kupin is a recent WSOP bracelet winner, winning the $2,500 Big Bet Mix in 2025 for $206,982.
John Riordan (31bbs)
John Riordan qualified by finishing 15th on the PGT Championship Leaderboard, picking up a win and 28 cashes throughout the year. Of course, the lone win was one of the biggest wins in poker, as Riordan topped Sam Soverel to win the PLO Super High Roller Bowl. That came with 400 PGT points and $1.25 million, by far the largest cash of his career.
Riordan, like Wang, is another true grinder who loves to mix it up, no matter what the format is. Riordan has six-figure scores in three different game formats and has 283 live tournament cashes to his name.
While mostly a PLO player, Riordan is not to be messed with in NLHE. He’s won a WSOP Circuit Main Event, one of his five WSOPC rings, along with a pair of WSOP online bracelets, which both came online in 2023.
Daniel Negreanu (25bbs)
We all know who Daniel Negreanu is and all of his accomplishments. One of poker’s biggest names has reached the final table in fifth place, qualifying via an 11th-place finish on the PGT Championship Leaderboard.
According to The Hendon Mob, Negreanu is the most popular player in the world. His $57.6 million in career live tournament earnings is eighth all-time. It’s insanely impressive how Negreanu continues to adapt and win each and every year, even as the game grows along with him.
The seven-time bracelet winner finally ended his WSOP bracelet drought in style in 2024, winning the prestigious $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship. With nearly $26 million in WSOP earnings alone, he has made more money than anyone else in history at the World Series of Poker.
Needless to say, the majority of viewers will be tuning in to watch him play.
Chad Eveslage (20bbs)
Though Eveslage only accumulated seven PGT cashes in 2025, the majority of them were huge. Eveslage won the $25,000 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. High Roller for $883,841, winning his fourth bracelet. Earlier in the year, he was crowned the PGT Mixed Games Super High Roller Bowl champion, winning $1.2 million, the second-largest score of his illustrious career.
Eveslage, somehow, flies under the radar when it comes to the best overall poker player in the game. Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t play everything, and that he keeps mostly to himself, but four bracelets, countless other huge titles, and $11.2 million in career earnings don’t lie.
If he can find a double-up, he’ll surely be in the running to make a run at this title.
Eric Blair (17bbs)
The short stack at the table is Eric Blair, who grinded the PokerGO Tour in the first half of 2025, winning a pair of PokerGO Cup trophies and finishing second in the overall PokerGO Cup standings. After a dominant first few months of the year, complete with five six-figure scores, Blair went off the radar and didn’t record a single cash until appearing at the WPT World Championship last month. Still, he managed to qualify via the top-40 eligible players after finishing 41st in the regular-season standings.
Blair is one of the newer faces in the high-roller scene, though he’s been a constant grinder for the last 17 years. With 166 scores and over $4 million in career live tournament earnings, he didn’t get to this point by pure luck. A win today would top his career-high score of $352,350, which he earned in the aforementioned PokerGO Cup.
References
PokerGO Tour – www.pgt.com
The Hendon Mob – https://www.thehendonmob.com/
