In recent years, the PokerGO Tour has debuted several new series centered on certain game types or formats. With the popularity of festivals like the PGT PLO Series and PGT Mixed Games, it’s no surprise that the tour would try out a series dedicated to bounty tournaments.
The inaugural PGT Bounty Blitz was composed of six events, each at the $5,000 price point. A total of $1,390,000 in prize money was awarded across the half-dozen tournaments that ran from Sept. 1-6 inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas.
While no official player of the series was crowned, the title would have certainly gone to tournament grinder Jeremy Becker. The Florida native staked his claim as the king of the Las Vegas daily tournaments when he won eight at the Wynn in a single month back in 2023. At this series, he displayed that penchant for streaks once again, making the final table in all but one of the tournaments, including winning the kickoff event.
Becker’s spree began with him outlasting a field of 46 entries in the no-limit hold’em bounty event, claiming a first-place prize of $55,600. That included $10,000 in bounties, courtesy of five eliminations recorded on his way to victory. This was Becker’s second career PGT trophy, joining his triumph in a 2024 Poker Masters event.
By the end of the series, Becker would add a runner-up showing in the progressive knockout event and third in the mystery bounty finale. All told, he cashed for $138,400 during the festival, including bounties.
Sergio Aido And Landon Tice Find The Winner’s Circle
Sergio Aido And Landon Tice Find The Winner’s CircleBecker was close to an even bigger series, but he lost a massive pot early on at the final table of event 2. Spanish World Series of Poker bracelet winner Sergio Aido cracked Becker’s pocket aces with pocket kings during six-handed play to score an early elimination. Becker settled for $15,400 in total prize money as the sixth-place finisher, while Aido went on to lock up the title and $69,000.
Aido bested 48 entries in the escalator bounty event, earning $47,500 from the main prize pool and another $21,500 in bounties. This grew Aido’s recorded title count to a dozen, while his career tournament earnings surpassed $23.9 million.
Bracelet winner Chris Hunichen was the eventual runner-up. He banked $57,600 in total cashes across two final-table showings at this series.
Landon Tice, who had a very public prop bet against Becker in 2024, emerged victorious in the only event that Becker failed to final table. He defeated a field of 51 entries in event no. 3, the quattro bounty tournament. After a final table with wild swings, Tice was the last person standing with a total payout of $79,500, including four $8,000 bounties.
John Andress final tabled the first three events of the series, finishing with a sixth-place showing in the third event. He cashed for a total of $65,000 across his trio of deep runs.
Chino Rheem And Jason Hickey Earn Their Trophies
Chino Rheem scored four of the final five knockouts on his way to winning the progressive knockout (PKO) title. The skull-shaped trophy will join his extensive collection, including those from his three World Poker Tour main event victories and the 2019 European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event title. Rheem is also a two-time PGT Mixed Games series champion.
Rheem defeated a field of 36 entries to earn $65,100. While $28,100 came from the main prize pool, the remaining $37,000 was due to the accumulated bounties. He now boasts lifetime tournament earnings of nearly $16.9 million. This win also came with 54 PGT points for Rheem, bringing his total to 1,401 on the year. As a result, he now sits in seventh place in the tour’s season-long standings.
Becker finished runner-up to Rheem, earning $35,100 in the process. Hunichen’s second final-table of the festival saw him place fifth for $13,800.
Jason Hickey won the penultimate event on the schedule. He outlasted 59 entries in the mystery bounty event to earn $50,000 and $47,000 in bounty payouts. The $97,000 overall windfall amounted to the largest score yet for the Texas resident. This was also the first PGT title for Hickey.
Two-time bracelet winner Steve Zolotow locked up $33,500 by surviving to the heads-up match with Hickey, but was trailing by a hefty margin of more than 12:1. Hickey was able to convert that healthy lead into the title in short order.
Andrew Ostapchenko finished sixth in this event for $10,500. This was the 11th final table of 2025 for Ostapchenko, with three wins along the way, including taking down a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event at this year’s WSOP for his first bracelet. He had also finished second in a $25,000 buy-in earlier at the series for a career-best payday of $1.3 million. With 6,556 total points, he now sits fifth in the POY standings.
Sam Laskowitz Takes Down The Finale
Lawyer-turned-poker pro Sam Laskowitz outlasted a field of 38 entries in the $5,000 mystery bounty event to earn $36,500 from the main prize pool and $13,600 in bounties.
All told, Laskowitz cashed for $71,500 across this series when you include his third-place finish in event no. 3, giving him lifetime earnings of nearly $3.8 million. This was Laskowitz’s second overall PGT title, having also taken down a $10,000 event during the tour’s Last Chance series in January of 2024.
Becker capped his impressive run with another podium finish for $18,200. He was eliminated by bracelet winner Andrew Lichtenberger, who went on to strike a heads-up deal with Laskowitz to redistribute the remaining prize money a bit. Lichtenberger held the lead at the time, but the two swapped positions when Laskowitz won a big pot with jacks and tens besting his opponents’ lower two pair.
Lichtenberger was awarded $25,100 from the main prize pool and $39,400 in bounties. His career tournament haul now sits at $24.2 million.
- Photos by PokerGO – Antonio Abrego