Jesse Lonis Wins Final $15,000 Event At PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series

Jesse Lonis only logged his first poker tournament cash midway through 2018. By the start of 2021, he has accumulated roughly $116,000 in total scores. In the four years and few months since then, the Little Falls, New York native has grown his career haul to nearly $15.6 million. The latest triumph for the two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner came in event no. 9 of the 2025 PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series. Lonis bested a field of 71 entries in the $15,000 buy-in affair to earn $308,850 and his fourth PGT title, further cementing himself as a mainstay on the high-stakes circuit.

This was the 16th overall title for Lonis, and his second of 2025. Earlier this spring he took down a $10,500 no-limit hold’em event at the Wynn Millions for $173,160. With six final tables and nearly $816,000 in to-date Card Player Player of the Year earnings, Lonis has moved inside the top 30 in the 2025 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Lonis also climbed to eighth place in the PGT season-long standings and second in the PGT PLO Series ranks. This was his third top-three finish of the festival, having placed third in event no. 2 and second in event no. 7.

This was the third and final $15,000 buy-in event on the schedule. The top 11 finishers earned a share of the $1,065,000 prize pool. Big names like John Riordan (11th), Nick Schulman (9th), Bryce Yockey (8th), Dylan Weisman (7th), and RIchard Gryko (6th) all cashed, only to hit the rail late on day 1.

Day 2 began with Lonis leading the remaining five contenders. Daniel Negreanu was the first to fall. Just a few minutes into the final day he got all-in with third pair and an open-ended straight draw against the second pair, flush draw, and gutshot of Chino Rheem with one card to come. The river came Rheem jacks and eights for the win, sending Negreanu to the rail in fifth place ($74,550). This was the third final-table finish of the series for the seven-time bracelet winner, who is now approaching $54.7 million in career earnings. That puts him just in eighth place on poker’s all-time money list, just $42,654 behind seventh-ranked Adrian Mateos ($54,727,198).

Out in a flash! @RealKidPoker eliminated in 6th on the very first hand of the final table.

https://t.co/CL89Z3d67q pic.twitter.com/Tg4PiOUveA

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) April 4, 2025

This was Negreanu’s sixth overall final-table finish of the year already, with two titles won, including his victory in event no. 3 at this festival. With 1,874 total POY points, the two-time POY award winner now sits in 23rd place in this year’s rankings. His 789 PGT points are good for fifth on that leaderboard.

Lonis fell to the bottom of the chips counts as four-handed play wore on, but he doubled through Lautaro Guerra with a pair and a straight draw overcoming an overpair to surge back up the standings. Guerra, who was crowned the first-ever PGT PLO Series champion, was left short after that hand. He ultimately bowed out in fifth place when he was unable to get away from a turned broadway straight that was second-best to Lonis’ flopped full house. Guerra earned $101,175 for his latest deep in a PLO event. The Spanish four-card star now has more than $6.2 million in career cashes.

With that, Lonis seized the lead heading into three-handed play. PGT PLO Series event no. 7 champion Alex Foxen was sent to the rail in third place when his nine-high straight ran into the ten-high straight of Lonis. Both players got there on the turn, and the money went in with Foxen needing a ten on the end to chop. Instead, a blank showed up to send him home with $143,775. This was his third podium finish of the festival, having also been the runner-up in event no. 5. Foxen sits in first place in the series-long standings with 564 points. He also joined the top ten in both the PGT and POY rankings thanks to this deep run.

Straight over straight! JesseLonis</a> turns the nuts to end <a href="https://twitter.com/WAFoxen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">WAFoxen's run in 3rd place.

https://t.co/CL89Z3d67q pic.twitter.com/MpRixVre04

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) April 4, 2025

Heads-up play began with Lonis holding 4,970,000 to Rheem’s 3,910,000. The three-time World Poker Tour champion’s final hand saw him three-bet to 600,000 with AKQJ facing a button raise to 200,000 from Lonis, who held Q533. Lonis called and the flop came down Q52. Rheem led out for 400,000 with his top pair and was met with a pot-sized raise from Lonis. Rheem shoved for 2,690,000 total and Lonis called the small remainder with his top two pair. The 9 turn gave Rheem some additional outs to a straight, but the 4 river kept Lonis’ hand best.

Rheem secured $202,350 as the runner-up. He now sits in third place in the player of the series ranks and first in the PGT season-long standings. He now has eight qualified cashes totaling more than $908,000, including two titles won. Most recent of those was a victory in event no. 4, which came with $295,000. All of this success in PGT events has catapulted Rheem into 13th place in the POY standings as well, with 2,154 total points earned so far in 2025.

Final Day Results

PGT PLO Series Points Leaders

Photo credit: PokerGO.

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