As the poker world debated the merits of playing in high-stakes poker games over the weekend, the PokerGO Tour went about the business of concluding its latest series. The 2025 PGT PLO Series II came to a close with a $25,000 Main Event, and it brought out 68 entries for the four-card variant of the game. Etching his name into the history books was David ‘Chino’ Rheem, who not only took down the finale of the series but also sealed the overall championship of the series for the third time in its history.
You KNOW it Don’t Come Easy…
Day Two of the $25,000 Main Event for the 2025 PGT PLO Series II began on Saturday with eleven men left holding the dream of a PGT championship. Of those eleven men, only Rheem (second or better), Sam Soverel, Joao Simao, Alex Foxen, and Sean Rafael (needed to win) were in contention for the overall championship, which was held by Bryce Yockey after a second win during the festival (more on this in a moment). At stake on Saturday, however, was the Main Event title and a healthy payday of $510,000.
Rheem was in the middle of the pack, looking up at chip leader Artem Maksimov and second-place Isaac Haxton as the final day of the tournament began. Rafael’s dream of the overall title fell to the wayside as he was the first departure of the day, falling to Dylan Weisman in eleventh place. After LaDarren Blanks and Christopher Frank left in relatively typical fashion in tenth and ninth places, respectively, a rare occurrence brought the tournament to the official final table.
After a button raise from Jason Mercier to 105K, Weisman would three-bet the action to 345K from the small blind, and a short-stacked Foxen put his final chips in the center. Mercier made the call and, following an A-K-Q flop, Weisman moved all in and was met with an immediate call from Mercier as the cards were turned up:
Weisman (small blind): K-K-5-4
Foxen (big blind): A-J-5-3
Mercier (button): Q-J-10-9
Mercier had flopped the world with his Broadway straight, but there were still chances for Weisman (pairing the board for a full house or the case King for quads) and Foxen (a ten to match Mercier’s straight) to pull out the win. Alas, it wasn’t to be; a nine on the turn and a six on the river didn’t change any of the positions, and Mercier pulled off a double knockout, with Foxen going out in eighth and Weisman out in seventh to bring the tournament to the official final table.
It was at this point that Rheem came to life. He would earn a double up through Maksimov, Rheem’s two pair holding against the open-ended straight draw of Maksimov, to take over the chip lead. After that, Rheem was never seriously challenged for the title, knocking off Maksimov in fifth place to firmly take control. Although Haxton would eliminate Joao Simao (who had taken out Sam Soverel in fourth) in third, he only had half the chips that Rheem had going to heads-up play.
In a brief forty-five-minute run, Rheem would vanquish Haxton. In arguably the worst situation ever, Rheem took a pot that would leave Mercier with a singular 5000 chip before the tournament was concluded. On that last hand, Haxton had the edge pre-flop with his A-Q-Q-9 over Rheem’s A-6-6-4, but the 10-5-3-8-2 runout flipped the script in favor of Rheem, earning him the championship and the series title with a six-high straight.
1. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, $510,000 (306 PGT PLO Series II points)
2. Isaac Haxton, $331,000 (199)
3. Joao Simao, $230,000 (138)
4. Sam Soverel, $170,000 (102)
5. Artem Maksimov, $127,000 (76)
6. Jason Mercier, $94,000 (56)
Rheem Takes Third-Ever Omaha Series Title
He needed to finish in second or better to take the title from Bryce Yockey, and Rheem would do just that to eke his way past for his third career Omaha title on the PGT circuit.
Yockey had pushed his way into the lead after winning his second PGT PLO Series II title when he took down Event #9, the final $15,000 preliminary on the schedule. With that win, Yockey pushed his way past Sean Winter, who had used a three-tournament final table streak to put what looked like a hammerlock on the overall title. Neither Winter nor Yockey could keep up with what Rheem did during the series, however.
Overall, Rheem finished in the money in seven of the 10 events on the 2025 PGT PLO Series II schedule, earning nearly $800,000 in prize money. After winning the Main Event, he captured the overall title by a substantial margin, which is his third-ever overall title in a PGT-sanctioned Omaha tournament; no other player has won more than two PGT overall titles in any discipline.
1. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, 597 points
2. Bryce Yockey, 487
3. Sean Winter, 459
4. Isaac Haxton, 360
5. Veselin Karakitukov, 358
There will be no rest for the big guns in the tournament poker world. The Super High Roller Bowl is trying something new: an Omaha-based schedule, beginning on Monday with a $100,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha tournament. There will be two other “smaller” events on this limited schedule, both $25,000 tournaments, but all eyes will be on who is getting in the game on Monday with that massive $100K buy-in.
(Photo provided by PokerGO.com)
The post He’s an Omaholic! ‘Chino’ Rheem Wins Finale, THIRD PGT PLO Series Championship appeared first on Poker News Daily.
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