The first series of the new calendar year finish in Las Vegas at the Aria Casino with the 2025 PGT Last Chance, which also had potential implications for the upcoming $1,000,000 Championship Freeroll. Shannon Shorr and Brandon Wilson each won two events, while Nick Schulman and Martin Zamani both shipped one event. Along the way, Zamani also won the largest $10K event in PGT history. Shorr finished ahead of Wilson in the leaderboard standings to clinch a Dream Seat in the $1 million Championship.

The PokerGo Tour kicked off 2025 with a fun event in Las Vegas. The PGT hosted a special series at the Aria Casino in their lead up to the $1 million Championship Freeroll, which began on Friday. The Championship invited only 50 players including the Top 40 spots on the 2024 leaderboard plus 10 Dream Seat winners. The PGT Last Chance was a six-event series at the start of January which gave players the final opportunity to qualify for the freeroll, or improve their starting stack if they had already qualified. There was also a last-gasp opportunity for players to lock up one of the final three Dream Seats if they finished among the top three highest-ranked players on the PGT Last Chance leaderboard (if they weren't in the Top 40). Yeah, there was a lot at stake here for a shot aside from usually tournament cashola.
PGT Second Chance Event #1 $10,100 NLH attracted 111 runners and a prize pool worth $1.11 million. The top 16 places paid out with $283,500 set aside to the champion. Among the noteworthy names who cashed were Dan Shak, Aram Zobian, Martin Carnero, Sam Laskowitz, Chris Brewer, Byron Kaverman, Joe Cheong, Brian Kim, David Coleman, and Nick Petrangelo. The final six included Nick Schulman, Joao Simao, Victoria Livschitz, Bryce Yockey, Matt McEwan, and Nguyen Le. Simao busted in second, and Schulman snatched the first title of the series for $283K.
Event #2 $10,100 NLH had 119 entrants and a prize pool worth $1.19 million. The top 17 places got a cut of the prize pool. Among the notables who cashed included Adam Hendrix, Jeremy Becker, Sam Laskowitz, Steve Yea, Chino Rheem, Ian Bradley, Stephen Chidwick, and Dylan Weisman. The final six included Shannon Shorr, Joe Serock, David Chen, Stephen Song, Ben Tollerene, and Ren Lin. Shorr picked off Serock to win the title and $297,500.
Event #3 $10,100 NLH also attracted 199 runners. The top 17 places earned a cut of the $1.19 million prize pool. Among those who went deep and cashed included David Chen, Dan Shak, Sam Laskowitz, Joe Serock, Chino Rheem, and Nick Schulman. The final six included Brandon Wilson, Landon Tice, Keith Lehr, Sam Soverel, Dylan Linde, and Darren Elias. Wilson knocked out Tice in second, and took down the third event for $297,500.
Event #4 $10,100 NLH only had 114 players, but the top 17 places still paid out of the $1.14 million prize pool. Brandon Wilson's run good continued and he shipped back-to-back events. Wilson knocked out Jeremy Ausmus in second place to claim another title and $285K in cash. Also among the final six were Byron Kaverman, Dylan Linde, Kristina Holst, and Sam Laskowitz. Among those who went deep and cashed were Stoyan Madanzhiev, Mike Jozoff, Stephen Song, Joe Cheong, Brian Batt, Jesse Lonis, Justin Saliba, and Matt Wantman.
Event #5 $10,100 NLH set a record with 121 entrants for a PGT $10K event. The record-setting prize pool was $1.21 million and the top 18 places earned a piece of the pie. The final six included Martin Zamani, Kristen Foxen, Rania Nasreddine, Brekstyn Schutten, Ren Lin, and Chris Brewer. Those fortunate to secure a cash in the fifth event included Joey Weisman, Adam Hendrix, Jeremy Becker, Neil Warren, Elvyn Bello, David Samm, Shannon Shorr, Joe Cheong, Joe Serock, Darren Ellias, Nick Seward, and Linglin Zeng. Foxen busted in second place which paid out $187,550 for a runner-up finish. Not too shabby, eh! Zamani was the last one standing in the record-setting event, which paid out $302,500 to the victor.
Event #6 $10,100 NLH attracted 116 runners for the final event in the Last Chance series. The prize pool was $1.16 million and the top 17 places were paid out. Shannon Shorr was the chip leader heading into the final day of action. The final six also included Bros Angelov, Rn Lin, Sean Winter, Stephen Chidwick, and Jeremy Becker. Shorr and Angelov were heads up for the last crown in the last chance and when the dust settled, Angelov hit the rail in second place for a smidge under $180K. Shorr claimed a second title and he won $290K in cash. Heck of a win. The lucky souls who cashed in Event #6 included Dylan Linde, Jonathan Tamayo, Matt McEwan, Aran Oganyan, David Chen, Jim Collopy, Martin Carnero, Chino Rheem, Joe Cheong, Justin Zaki, and Stephen Song.
Shorr edged out Wilson for the top of the PGT Second Chance leaderboard as the two players who took down multiple events. Wilson finished in second with 582 points and Shorr locked up the top spot with 612 points thanks to a victory in Event #6. Shorr cashed in three events for a total of $611,700. Wilson cashed in only two and won both of those for a total of $582,500. Shorr locked up a Dream Seat to the $1 million Championship Freeroll.