Who is On Target to Qualify for the PokerGO Tour $1m Freeroll Championship?
In the first few days of the 2025, PokerStake player Jeremy won the biggest prize he’s claimed so far this year. Scooping the most PokerGO Tour Points in 2024, the six-time WSOP bracelet winner then played the PGT $1m Freeroll Championship, and eventually beat Nick Schulman heads-up for the top prize of $500,000.
Others to win in the event included this year’s Poker Hall of Fame inductee Schulman ($200,000), Calvin Anderson ($120,000), PGT Mixed Games Series crusher Dylan Weisman ($80,000), Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen ($60,000) and Jim Collopy, who min-cashed in sixth place for $40,000. Which PokerStake players are on course to make the top 40 on the PGT Leaderboard and guarantee their spot for next year’s New Year extravaganza? With the PokerGO Tour into its second half of the season, it’s time for a recap.
Where is the Reigning Champion?
With over half of 2025 in the can, how is the reigning champion getting on? Well, Jeremy Ausmus isn’t inside the top 10 as it stands currently. In fact, this year’s PGT Freeroll Championship winner currently sits in 99th place, some 59 places below the qualification spots.
On 486 points, this can all change, of course, and with event series such as 2025 Poker Masters, the PGT PLO Series and the 2025 Las Vegas Super High Roller Bowl all taking place before December, all the tournaments that fit in Jeremy’s wheelhouse are coming up.
The final opportunity for players to log PGT points in the current season comes at the start of 2026, across six fiercely competed PGT ‘Last Chance’ events, which conclude on January 11. A day later, the qualifying players will assemble in Las Vegas at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA on the Sin City Strip to decide who will take down the PGT crown for the current season.
Who Leads the Way?
The current pacesetter should be no surprise to anyone – it is of course Michael Mizrachi. The latest inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame – an emergency one at that – won both the $10,000-entry WSOP Main Event and the $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship for cashes of $10 million and $1.1 million respectively. He also amassed plenty of PGT Points and sits top of the leaderboard on a score of 2,250.
Only a short distance behind ‘The Grinder’ is Alex Foxen. The fearless high roller regular has won $5.22 million in PGT-qualifying events since the start of the current season and while his earnings are less than half that of Mizrachi, his points total isn’t far behind at all. Foxen sits on 2,132 points, with PokerGO favorite Sam Soverel in third place on 1,883, some way behind the top two.
Elsewhere in the top 10, Nick Schulman – also a Poker Hall of Fame inductee during the summer – is on 1,781 PGT Points, while Daniel Negreanu rounds out the top five on 1,597. Four American players follow, with Adam Hendrix (1,503) sixth thanks to his deep run in the WSOP Main Event. His fellow Main Event finalists John Wasnock (1,350) and Braxton Dunaway (1,250) sandwich PGT regular Chino Rheem on 1,327 points, with British powerhouse Philip Sternheimer in 10th place on 1,214.
In the Hunt or On the Chase
Behind the top 10 players, mixed games specialists, NLHE Experts and bracelet winners jockey for position. Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger (1,211) is closest to the top 10, with Jesse Lonis (1,208), Main Event finalist Kenny Hallaert (1,200) and Kristen Foxen (1,127) all close by. Leo Margets’ superb performance in the Main Event saw her become the first woman to reach the final table in 30 years and sitting in 19th place on the PGT leaderboard with 1.125 points, she’s a favorite to make the cut-off in January.
Stephen Chidwick, a former Poker Masters Purple Jacket winner, currently sits in 23rd place on 1,059 points, with the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb (1,044) not far behind. Isaac Haxton (969), Thomas Boivin (953) and Patrick Leonard (902) all sit inside the qualifying places too, with Ben Lamb (887 points) currently the player occupying the perilous 40th place position.
Outside the qualification zone but chasing hard in the second half of 2025 are some of poker’s finest ever to play the game. The Poker Hall of Famer Brian Rast (869 points), The Hendon Mob All-Time Money List leader Bryn Kenney (835), Shannon Shorr (801), Jason Koon (780 points), and Viktor Blom (763 points) all sit inside the top 60 but outside the top 40. Other poker luminaries such as Chris Moorman, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey and Darren Elias will be hoping that a strong end to the year puts them in a position to win the half-million top prize likely to be on offer in the New Year.
| PokerGO Tour 2025 Leaderboard (correct as of August 4): | ||||
| Place | Player | Country | Earnings | PGT Points |
| 1st | Michael Mizrachi | United States | $11,331,322 | 2,250 |
| 2nd | Alex Foxen | United States | $5,227,098 | 2,132 |
| 3rd | Sam Soverel | United States | $2,168,528 | 1,883 |
| 4th | Nick Schulman | United States | $1,943,753 | 1,781 |
| 5th | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | $2,397,441 | 1,597 |
| 6th | Adam Hendrix | United States | $2,302,532 | 1,503 |
| 7th | John Wasnock | United States | $6,000,000 | 1,350 |
| 8th | Chino Rheem | United States | $1,410,103 | 1,327 |
| 9th | Braxton Dunaway | United States | $4,000,000 | 1,250 |
| 10th | Philip Sternheimer | United Kingdom | $1,448,513 | 1,214 |