Chino Rheem Wins PGT Mixed Games Championship… Again

Chino Rheem is now a two-time PokerGO Tour Mixed Games series champion. The longtime poker pro backed up his 2023 PGT Mixed Games II championship by securing the most points during the latest running of the same series.

The 2025 PGT Mixed Games featured seven events inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Casino in Las Vegas, with $6,335,000 in total prize money awarded. Rheem cashed three times, accumulating $348,500 and 384 points along the way for the PGT Gold Cup and a $10,000 PGT Passport as the series champion.

Rheem’s largest score of the series came when he topped a field of 92 entries in the $10,000 eight-game mix event for $195,500. That win came just one day after Rheem had finished third in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament for $114,000. His final cash of the series saw him place eighth in the $15,000 dealer’s choice event for $39,000.

Six-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman ultimately finished second in the series standings thanks to a trio of top-three finishes totaling $374,525. Maxx Coleman placed third, while Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu (302 points) and Ryan Miller (285) rounded out the top five.

Coleman had a chance to surpass Rheem, having outlasted him in the $25,000 10-game finale event. He made the money, finishing eighth for $56,000 and 34 PGT points, but was unable to run deep enough to edge into the lead at the last moment.

Rheem now has nearly $15.7 million in career tournament earnings to his name, including three World Poker Tour titles and a win in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Milgrom And Friedman Kick It Off

The first two events on the schedule both had a $5,000 price tag. The kickoff event featured the longtime go-to mix of H.O.R.S.E. (hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, stud, and stud eight-or-better). A total of 130 entries were made in the event, building a $650,000 prize pool.

France’s Nicolas Milgrom was down to just a couple of big bets at one point during his heads-up match with bracelet winner Jerry Wong. However, Milgrom battled back from a big chip deficit and netted a career-best score of $159,250.

Mixed games tournament legend Adam Friedman emerged victorious in event no. 2, the $5,000 eight-game. The five-time bracelet winner and back-to-back-to-back WSOP $10,000 dealer’s choice champion overcame a tough final table that included the likes of Toby Lewis (6th) and Nick Schulman (3rd).

Friedman outlasted 148 entries in this event, the largest field of the festival, to earn $170,200.

Rheem Catches Fire

The middle section of this festival was comprised of three $10,000 buy-in tournaments. The first of that trio was the H.O.R.S.E. event, which drew 95 entries. Two-time bracelet winner Ryan Miller topped a stacked final table, including Rheem (3rd), on his way to securing the title and the top prize of $247,000.

This was the second-largest live score for Miller, trailing only the $344,677 payout he earned for winning the 2023 WSOP stud eight-or-better championship. The Pennsylvanian now has more than $1.3 million in recorded earnings. Miller ended up cashing three times throughout the festival, with two final-table showings. As a result, he ended up in fifth place in the final standings with 285 points and $293,400 in cashes.

One day after a podium finish in the first $10,000 buy-in, Chino Rheem came out on top of a field of 92 entries in the eight-game tournament at the same price point. He took home the trophy and $195,500 for his efforts, overtaking the top spot in the series-long points race in the process.

Six-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh finished second after he and Rheem chopped the remaining prize money, leaving the title and the points to play for. Schulman finished third for $110,400. This was his second top-three finish of the series. The 40-year-old poker pro was not done accumulating stats at this festival, though.

The final $10,000 event on the schedule was named for Poker Hall of Famer and PokerGO President Mori Eskandani, a legend of the game who was a driving force behind many of the most popular broadcasts in the history of the game, including shows like High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark, and more. His preferred mix included a rotation of limit hold’em, limit Omaha high, razz, stud, badugi, and triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball.

Eskandani nearly won his ‘own’ event, eventually finishing second to Maxx Coleman, who pocketed $210,000 as the champion. Eskandani earned $136,000 as the runner-up, the second-largest score of his career. He now has $1.1 million in lifetime earnings.

This was Coleman’s first cash of the series, but not his last. He went on to place fourth in the penultimate event and eighth in the finale, bringing his total haul for the festival to $363,500, Coleman now has more than $5.2 million in career earnings under his belt after his latest impressive run inside the PokerGO Studio.

Negreanu Holds Off Schulman

Daniel Negreanu looked to be running away with the title for most of the final day of the $15,000 dealer’s choice event.

The seven-time bracelet winner overtook the lead early in the day and really separated from the pack, such that he held more than a 26:1 chip lead going into heads-up play with Nick Schulman.

Incredibly, Schulman was able to battle almost all the way back to even at one point, but Negreanu was able to put the tournament away during a round of pot-limit Omaha. Schulman was eliminated in second place for $190,125, bringing his total earnings for the festival to $374,525. His 336 total PGT points were good for second in the final series-long rankings.

Negreanu banked $292,500, bringing his career earnings to nearly $54 million. The 50-year-old now sits in eighth place on the game’s all-time money list.

Obst Wins Series-Ending $25,000 High Roller

The final title of the festival was captured by James Obst, which was his only cash. Obst beat out a field of 56 entries in the $25,000 10-game mix event, winning $462,000 and the PGT trophy. The Australian poker pro now has nearly $4.5 million in recorded tournament earnings, including two victories in WSOP bracelet events.

Obst took a few years away from professional play to pursue a career in tennis, but returned to the scene in 2023 and quickly got back to his winning ways. This latest triumph was his largest payday yet, topping the $427,930 he earned for a 13th-place finish in the 2016 WSOP main event.

The tournament drew 56 entries, which resulted in a $1,400,000 prize pool. The top eight finishers made the money, with six-figure scores for the final five which included Michael Duek, Philip Sternheimer, and Robert Wells. Aaron Sacks earned $294,000 as the runner-up, his best tournament result yet on the scene. ♠