Chino Rheem Wins PGT Sprint Event #1 for $119,600 and a 10th PokerGO Tour Title

Some players need a few days to find their rhythm in a new series. Chino Rheem needed one. On October 27, the 46-year-old Californian topped a 92-entry field in the $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em opener of the 2026 PGT Sprint at the PokerGO Studio inside ARIA Las Vegas. He collected $119,600 and the tenth PokerGO Tour (PGT) trophy of his career.

The headline number is nice, but the story is in the details. There was a gutsy river call with pocket tens that turned the heads-up match. The final table was stacked with bracelet winners. And the result quietly reshapes the race for seats in January’s PGT Championship. Here’s everything you need to know.

What Is the PGT Sprint? (A Quick Primer)

If you’re newer to the high-stakes circuit, the PGT Sprint is exactly what the name suggests. It’s a fast-paced festival of seven single-day No-Limit Hold’em tournaments. There are no Day 2 restarts and no multi-flight marathons. You register, you play, and someone lifts a trophy before the night is out.

That format matters. Faster structures mean shallower stacks sooner. That puts a premium on aggression, push-fold skill and late-game decision-making. It also suits players with a lot of tournament reps, which helps explain why the opening final table looked like a who’s-who of PokerGO Studio regulars.

2026 PGT Sprint Schedule

Event	Date	Buy-in	Game	Status*
#1	Tue, Oct 27	$5,300	NLH	Won by Chino Rheem
#2	Wed, Oct 28	$5,300	NLH	Results pending
#3	Thu, Oct 29	$5,300	NLH	Today
#4	Fri, Oct 30	$5,300	NLH	Upcoming
#5	Mon, Nov 2	$10,500	NLH	Upcoming
#6	Tue, Nov 3	$10,500	NLH	Upcoming
#7	Wed, Nov 4	$10,500	NLH	Upcoming

Status as of October 29, 2026. We’ll update this table as each event finishes.

How the Final Table Played Out

Fourteen players reached the money after three-time WSOP bracelet winner Jim Collopy fell on the bubble. Six more players were eliminated before the official final table formed:

• Justin Vaysman
• Joe McKeehen
• David Coleman
• Darren Rabinowitz
• Brock Wilson
• Nick Seward, fresh off his Poker Masters Event #9 win

Neil Warren carried the chip lead into the last seven, with Rheem sitting third. The action moved quickly:

• 7th – John Riordan ($18,400): His A-Q suited lost a coin flip to Andrew Lichtenberger’s pocket tens.
• 6th – Jesse Lonis ($23,000): The reigning Card Player Player of the Year got it in with A♣ 10♦ against Michael Berk’s Q♥ J♥. A jack on the flop did the damage.
• 5th – Neil Warren ($32,200): The former chip leader saw his A-Q cracked by Berk’s A-3.
• 4th – Michael Berk ($41,400): A big clash with Lichtenberger left him short. He then ran J♦ 5♦ into Rheem’s K♥ J♥.
• 3rd – Patrick Leonard ($55,200): The UK pro’s A♣ Q♥ couldn’t catch up against Lichtenberger’s K♦ K♣.

The Hand That Decided It: Pocket Tens vs. a River Bluff

Lichtenberger actually started heads-up as the chip leader. Then came the pivotal pot. The board ran out Q♥ 8♣ 6♦ 8♦ J♦. Lichtenberger fired a big river bet holding 9♣ 5♣, which was complete air. Rheem tanked, then called with pocket tens.

Why is this a great call and not a reckless one? Think about what Lichtenberger is representing. The river completed a flush draw, and the board had paired, so a large bet looks scary. But two details work in Rheem’s favour:

1. His tens are blockers. The obvious straight on that board is T-9 (Q-J-T-9-8). Rheem holds two of the four tens, which halves the number of T-9 combinations Lichtenberger could have.
2. Missed draws are common. On a board this coordinated, plenty of hands picked up draws along the way and bricked, such as 9-5, 9-7 or 7-5. A polarised river bet from someone who has been aggressive all night is exactly where those hands show up.

Rheem took a commanding lead from that pot, and the finish came shortly after. Lichtenberger, short-stacked, got it in preflop with 6-5 against Rheem’s 7-2. The board came A-9-8-4-Q. Neither player made a pair, so Rheem’s seven played as the decisive kicker. It was a rare case of the “worst hand in poker” winning a trophy.

Takeaway for your own game: When you face a big river bet, don’t only ask “what beats me?” Also ask which of their value hands your cards block, and which bluffs make sense here. Blockers are one of the most underused tools at low and mid stakes.

Full Payouts: PGT Sprint Event #1

Place	Player	Prize	PGT Points
1st	Chino Rheem	$119,600	179
2nd	Andrew Lichtenberger	$75,900	114
3rd	Patrick Leonard	$55,200	83
4th	Michael Berk	$41,400	62
5th	Neil Warren	$32,200	48
6th	Jesse Lonis	$23,000	35
7th	John Riordan	$18,400	28
8th	Nick Seward	$18,400	–
9th	Brock Wilson	$13,800	–
10th	Darren Rabinowitz	$13,800	–
11th	David Coleman	$13,800	–
12th	Joe McKeehen	$11,500	–
13th	Justin Vaysman	$11,500	–
14th	Michael Rossitto	$11,500	–

By the Numbers: What This Payout Structure Tells You

• 15.2% of the field got paid (14 of 92), close to the industry-standard 15%.
• The winner took 26% of the prize pool ($119,600 of $460,000).
• A min-cash returned about 2.2x the buy-in ($11,500 on $5,300). First place returned roughly 22.5x.
• The fee was $300 per entry, about 5.7% of the total buy-in. That’s fairly typical for high-roller events.

How Sprint #1 Compares With Other $5K PGT Events in 2026

Ninety-two entries is a healthy turnout for a single-day $5,300 event. It’s slightly below earlier $5K-level PGT openers this year:

Event (2026)	Buy-in	Entries	Winner	1st Prize
PokerGO Cup #2 (NLH)	$5,100	111	Filipp Khavin	$124,525
PGT Mixed Games #1 (H.O.R.S.E.)	$5,300	101	Chino Rheem	$112,100*
PGT Sprint #1 (NLH)	$5,300	92	Chino Rheem	$119,600

Following a heads-up deal with Dylan Linde.

Notice a name appearing twice? Rheem has won two of the three events in that table, across two completely different game formats.

Chino Rheem’s Remarkable Run

Rheem has been one of the PokerGO Studio’s most dangerous players for two straight years. He won five PGT titles in 2025, including a $510,000 score in the PLO Series II finale and $280,000 at the Poker Masters. That added up to a career-best year of roughly $3.49 million in live earnings.

He hasn’t slowed down in 2026:

• February: Won the PGT Mixed Games H.O.R.S.E. opener (title #9).
• March: Finished runner-up to Bruno Furth in the PGT PLO Series Main Event for $100,000. He then won the series leaderboard for a second straight year.
• October: Won PGT Sprint #1 (title #10). It was his 12th final table of the year.

That PLO Series crown made him the only player in PGT history with four series titles: Mixed Games in 2023 and 2025, and PLO in 2025 and 2026. With 179 points already, he leads the Sprint leaderboard and has a real shot at a record-extending fifth.

The win also pushed his lifetime live earnings past $20.3 million. Only 86 players worldwide have crossed the $20 million mark. Add three World Poker Tour titles and the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, and his résumé speaks for itself.

What It Means for the PGT Leaderboard

The 179 points moved Rheem to 19th in the 2026 season standings. That matters because the top 40 qualify for the PGT Championship, a $500,000 freeroll on January 11–12, 2027, at the PokerGO Studio. Starting stacks are based on leaderboard position, so every point counts.

Rank	Player	PGT Points
1	Sean Winter	2,223
2	Eelis Parssinen	1,843
3	Jeremy Ausmus	1,812
4	Alex Foxen	1,777
5	Brandon Wilson	1,761
19	Chino Rheem	–

Top-5 standings per PGT.com as of October 29, 2026. Rheem’s rank per Card Player’s post-event report.

Sean Winter remains the clear favourite for Player of the Year after winning the Poker Masters finale. He’s the only player above 2,000 points. For players hovering around 30th to 45th, though, the Sprint and January’s PGT Last Chance series are the final chances to lock in a seat. To qualify, players need at least four PGT cashes this season, including one in a PGT-owned event. They must also opt in before Last Chance begins.

One more storyline worth watching: Lichtenberger, who finished second here, was also the runner-up in last season’s PGT Championship. He’ll be eager to flip that script.

What Recreational Players Can Learn From Sprint #1

• Single-day events reward focus, not just skill. Rheem played a full field down to a trophy in one session. If you play turbo or single-day events online, build your stamina and avoid playing on autopilot late at night.
• Know when the flip is coming. Several eliminations here were classic preflop races: A-Q against tens, A-Q against kings. Shorter stacks force these spots, so learn standard shove-and-call ranges.
• Bluff-catchers win big pots. The winning hand was a medium pair that beat nothing but bluffs. Picking the right spot to call is just as valuable as picking the right spot to bet.

Final Thoughts

Rheem’s Sprint #1 win wasn’t about running hot. He read one big river spot correctly and then closed out against one of the toughest heads-up opponents on tour. With six events left and a fifth series title within reach, he’s the player to watch at ARIA over the next week. We’ll keep this page updated as the remaining Sprint results come in.

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