When we recapped the races in the two Player of the Year battles on CardPlayer Magazine and with the Global Poker Index, we left off the one battle remaining. The fight for the PokerGO Tour Championship will not conclude until the start of 2026, with a “Last Chance” Series leading up to the 2026 PGT Championship Invitational. What is intriguing at this point is watching the players as they decide whether to jockey for position, cruise into the Invitational, or even show up for the $1 million freeroll.
Sam Soverel Holds Overall Lead
Following his run at the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl last week, Sam Soverel is riding high at the top of the standings on the PGT Leaderboard. Soverel collected a third-place finish at the Super High Roller Bowl X, picking up $350,000 in prize money for his efforts. More importantly, he earned 105 points for that finish, moving him into pole position for the PGT Championship Invitational.
The man he passed has gone on a bit of a cold streak. Alex Foxen was leading throughout much of the second half of 2025, but he has not been able to make a score on the PGT since the PLO Series II back in October. He will still be a dangerous man in the second-place slot, but he’s going to have to watch out for those behind him pushing him down the standings.
The trio of men within six hundred points of Foxen read like a “Who’s Who” of tournament poker excellence. Two-time PGT PLO Series Champion David ‘Chino’ Rheem is within four hundred points of Foxen and, if he should score big at the Last Chance Series, could pass Foxen for the second slot. Defending World Series of Poker World Champion Michael Mizrachi holds the fourth-place seat, but only by sixty-four points over Super High Roller Bowl X Champion Joao Simao in fifth place.
Here is how the standings look as the PGT goes into its Last Chance Series at the start of January:
1. Sam Soverel, 2919 points
2. Alex Foxen, 2864
3. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, 2468
4. Michael Mizrachi, 2286
5. Joao Simao, 2222
6. Nick Schulman, 2023
7. Jesse Lonis, 1854
8. Stephen Chidwick, 1653
9. Daniel Negreanu, 1630
10. Bernhard Binder, 1614
Bottom of Standings is Where the Battle is At
These men, and all the people who are ranked in the Top 40 on the PGT Leaderboard (and select invitees), will be automatically invited to the PGT Championship Invitational. These contestants will be assigned chip stacks based on their positions (but no less than 100 times the big blind) to compete for the title. PokerGO is putting up $1 million for these players to fight over, with the eventual champion walking away with the PGT Championship and a $500,000 payday.
You must be in it to win it, however, and that is where the bottom of the standings comes into play. The players between 35th and 45th place on the PGT Leaderboard will have to fight to either stay in the Invitational or to work their way into the tournament. It is also essential to be higher on the board as, if qualified players choose not to travel to Las Vegas and the PokerGO Studios to claim their Invitational seat, those ranked from 40th and below will then get the call to replace that player.
Right now, this is the “bottom ten” on both sides of the cutoff line that will be sweating it out in their efforts to make the PGT Championship Invitational:
35. Ben Lamb, 1180
36. Matthew Wantman, 1170
37. Eric Blair, 1157
38. Luka Bojovic, 1150
39. Masato Yokosawa, 1136
40. Joey Weissman, 1131 (cutoff)
41. Leo Margets, 1125
42. Jason Koon, 1108
43. Daehyung Lee, 1100
(tie) Jarod Minghini, 1100
45. Richard Gryko, 1099
These players (and others around them in the standings) might want to dive into the PGT Last Chance Series. That six-tournament schedule, with each tournament a $10,000 buy-in, will kick off on January 5 and offer players a final chance to move up (or down) the PGT Leaderboard. A deep finish in these tournaments can make the difference between qualifying for the 2026 PGT Championship Invitational, being one of those alternates on the sideline, or being out of the tournament outright.
The post Players Jockey for Position Ahead of 2026 PGT Championship Invitational appeared first on Poker News Daily.
About The Author
