Jesse Lonis Captures $500K Side Bet As PGT PLO Series Champion

Jesse Lonis is the latest champion of the PokerGO Tour Pot-Limit Omaha Series, joining the likes of Lautaro Guerra, Daniel Geeng, Samuli Sipila, and Matthew Wantman. The 29-year-old poker pro cashed in five of the 11 tournaments offered at this year’s four-card festival, accumulating $799,140 for the highest total of any player.

Lonis made four final tables, placing inside the top three in each of those events. The two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner ensured his series champion honors thanks to his final podium finish, which saw him place third in the $25,000 championship.

This points-race victory came with a $10,000 PGT Passport and the PGT Gold Cup, but most importantly, Lonis also cashed in on $500,000 in side bets, taking down a $50,000 buy-in must-win pool of 10 competitors gunning for the series point-race victory.

The New York native came into the final day of the series in second place, trailing only fellow side-bet participant Alex Foxen, who went on to finish as the runner-up in a single-day $5,000 bounty event as time expired to come within 30 points of Lonis in the final standings. Foxen banked $647,185 along the way, matching Lonis in cashes and final tables made.

“Crazy two weeks of PLO. I started off slow, but stuck with the game plan and came out on top,” Lonis said on Twitter after securing the series championship. “I’m dangerous with two cards. You give me four and you’re drawing dead.”

He also discussed how the side bet impacted his play down the stretch.

“I had to fold hands/spots that, in theory, may seem awful, but hitting ladders was more important than trying to win the tournament for this scenario. Coming into the very last event [Foxen] needed to get first place to beat me, and of course he gave me the max sweat,” noted Lonis.

Lonis now has nearly $15.8 million in career earnings, with almost $7 million of that coming from his 46 lifetime cashes in PGT events. He also climbed inside the top 20 in the Card Player Player of the Year standings and to eighth in the season-long PGT points race thanks, in large part, to his success at this festival.

This fifth iteration of the PGT PLO Series drew 1,167 entries and awarded $9,572,000 in total prize money. A total of 77 players recorded a cash along the way, with 30 contenders accumulating over $100,000 during the series. Chino Rheem, who finished third in the points race, joined Lonis and Foxen in surpassing half a million in series earnings.

Daniel Negreanu Headlines Early Winners

The series kicked off with a trio of $5,000 buy-in events. Ky Nguyen outlasted a field of 164 entries in the very first tournament on offer. The poker pro and blogger from Los Angeles, known as ‘Suited Superman,’ walked away with his first PGT title and the top prize of $180,400.

Lonis’ first cash of the series saw him place third in event no. 2, a $5,000 progressive knockout (PKO) affair. He took home $47,700. His exit left Billy Tarango holding a 17.5:1 chip lead over Stephen Hubbard. That sizable advantage almost slipped away when Hubbard found three straight double-ups, but Tarango eventually regained the momentum and closed out the win, earning $88,245 as well as $85,000 in bounty payouts.

Seven-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu came out on top in event no. 3, besting a field of 159 entries to earn $182,850 and his 11th PGT title. The 50-year-old Poker Hall of Fame member now has 49 career victories on the circuit, with more than over $54.7 million in lifetime earnings across 521 in-the-money finishes. That puts him in eighth place on poker’s all-time money list.

Negreanu currently occupies the seventh-place spot in the PGT standings, with 10 cashes and two titles won so far this season. His earlier victory came in a $15,000 dealer’s choice event at the PGT Mixed Games series. He ultimately finished sixth in the series points race, with this win and four more cashes recorded throughout the festival.

Doubling The Stakes

The next three events all featured $10,000 buy-ins. As with the first trio of tournaments, this segment of the schedule featured a pair of standard PLO tournaments with a PKO sandwiched between them.

Chino Rheem bested a field of 118 entries to capture the title in event no. 4. The victory came with $295,000 in prize money. Rheem’s career haul now sits at more than $16.3 million. This was his fifth career PGT title, along with twice been crowned the PGT Mixed Games series champion.

The three-time World Poker Tour main event winner and 2019 European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion has secured hardware on nearly every major tours on the scene, outside of earning a WSOP bracelet. While a win at the series has so far eluded Rheem, he did make the main event final table at the series back in 2008, finishing seventh for nearly $1.8 million.

Dr. Christopher Costa took a day away from his plastic surgery clinic in Las Vegas to close out a win in the $10,000 PKO. Costa outlasted a field of 116 entries, earning $123,200 from the main prize pool and $190,000 in bounties as the champion.

He did have one prior win in Sin City, but it came in a smaller $400 PLO event during the 2023 Wynn Signature Series. This was also his largest score yet, blowing away the $58,125 he earned for a fourth-place showing in a $5,100 event at the 2024 PGT PLO Series II last fall.

Lonis lodged his second cash of this series in this event, placing ninth for $27,840.

The final $10,000 buy-in event on the slate was won by Dylan Smith, who has been around the circuit for nearly 15 years but has recorded most of his nine victories in the past four months. Smith kicked off the winning spree by taking down the 2024 WPT Seminole Rock’n’Roll Poker Open main event in early December for a career-best score of $662,200.

He has added four more trophies to his collection since then, with his latest being this PLO triumph. He outlasted 99 entries to earn $252,450. He now has nearly $4.6 million in career cashes to his name.

Foxen, Yockey, and Lonis Shine In $15,000 Buy-Ins

The $15,000 buy-in portion of the schedule kicked off with event no. 7, which drew 70 entries to create another seven-figure prize pool (six of the 11 tournaments managed that feat). The largest chunk of that money was ultimately awarded to Alex Foxen, who took home $315,000 and his eighth PGT title. More would follow in coming series.

The final heads-up showdown pitted Foxen against Lonis, who settled for $204,750 after falling just shy of the victory. Lonis, however, was just kicking off the spree of deep runs that ultimately helped secure him the series championship.

The next event was the $15,000 mystery bounty, which drew 78 entries to create an overall prize pool of $1,170,000. The bubble burst in this event thanks to a four-way all-in won by eventual champion Bryce Yockey. He scored the triple knockout to help set himself up for success on the final day.

The two-time bracelet winner went on to close out the victory, earning $218,400 and his second career PGT title, having previously taken down a $10,000 PLO event at the 2023 PGT PLO Series II.

In addition to the trophy and the six-figure top payday from the main prize pool, Yockey earned eight of the 15 total bounty payouts up for grabs to send another $110,000 his way. Among his haul were two of the three $25,000 bounties on offer.

While Yockey secured the most bounties, eventual runner-up Tyler Brown came away with the largest bounty payout. The bracelet winner picked up $280,000 across his seven bounties, thanks in large part to pulling the lone $125,000 bounty and both of the $50,000 bounties.

All $390,000 of the bounty payouts went to Yockey and Brown. They were the only players to score knockouts during the mystery bounty segment, which began when the field was three players away from the money bubble. Yockey ultimately finished fourth in the series points race with six cashes totaling $402,650. Brown wound up just behind him with six cashes for $354,895.

Jesse Lonis got back to his winning ways in event no. 9, outlasting the field of 71 entries to take down the title and the top prize of $308,850. The victory came with enough PGT points to put him in second place in the series standings heading into the final two events, trailing Foxen by just 28 points.

Foxen mitigated the damage in the rankings thanks to a third-place showing for $143,775. Chino Rheem, who was third on the leaderboard, helped his chances by placing second for $202,350. This was his final score of the series. He finished with one win and four cashes for a total of $540,475.

Jim Collopy Triumphs In $25,000 Championship, Lonis And Foxen Take It To The Wire

Jim Collopy had one of his best years ever on the live tournament circuit in 2024, making 26 final tables and winning six titles to finish eighth in the final POY standings. The three-time bracelet winner and reigning Poker Masters series champion secured his first victory of 2025 by taking down the $25,000 championship.

Collopy bested a field of 60 entries to earn his second career PGT title and the top payout of $450,367, the third-largest of the Washington D.C. native’s career. He currently sports more than $11.8 million in lifetime earnings.

Collopy managed four in-the-money finishes throughout the series, accumulating 356 PGT points and $505,492 in combined earnings along the way. As a result, he finished seventh in the series-long points race.

A total of 60 entries were made at $25,000 a piece, resulting in a prize pool of $1,500,000 that was ultimately split up amongst the top 10 finishers. Inaugural PGT PLO Series champion Lautaro Guerra finished fourth.

Lonis had navigated his way to the podium to increase his chances of winning the series champion honors, but was the clear short stack. He soon got all-in with an open-ended straight draw up against top pair of nines and a gutshot for Collopy. Lonis turned a pair of tens to take the lead, but the river gave Collopy nines and fives for the win.

Lonis added another $210,000 as the third-place finisher, but more importantly, the 126 PGT points he earned were enough to see him surpass Foxen to claim the top spot on the series-long leaderboard. The sweat was not yet over, though.

There was a single-day $5,000 bounty event running, and Foxen had made it down to the business-end of the tournament to keep his hopes alive. He needed to win it to earn player of the series honors.

Foxen came incredibly close to doing so, but ultimately finished second for $41,610. Zachary Schwartz earned $63,510 and the trophy as the champion, and as a result, Lonis eked out the series win and a cool $500,000 bonus by just 29 PGT points.