Chino Rheem surged across the finish line in event no. 5 of the 2025 Poker Masters, scoring the final three knockouts to close out the victory. Rheem earned $280,000 for topping the field of 112 entries in the $10,000 buy-in event, growing his career earnings to $17.2 million in the process.
The three-time World Poker Tour champion and 2019 European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner now has 18 recorded titles to his name. He is also a two-time PGT Mixed Games series champion. His triumph in this event now puts him in contention for another PokerGO Tour series win.
The 280 PGT points brought his season-long total to 1,691 points, which is currently good for fifth place in the 2025 standings. Rheem has four qualifying titles and 12 final tables so far.
Exciting Action Early
The turnout for this event built a final prize pool of $1,120,000, with 16 earning a share. The final day began with seven still in contention and Rheem atop the chip counts.
The eliminations began with a brutal multi-way preflop cooler just two hands into the day. Aram Zobian ran A♠K♣ into the K♠K♣ of Andrew Lichtenberger and the A♥A♣ of Anatoly Nikitin. All the chips got in before a runout of J♥J♣4♥3♥6♥ that saw Nikitin score the double knockout.
WHAT A START TO THE FINAL TABLE!!!
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Zobian earned $44,800 as the seventh-place finisher, while Lichtenberger walked with $56,200 thanks to having Zobian covered. Nikitin surged to over 90 big blinds after dragging the pot, but was still trailing Rheem by nearly 20 big blinds.
Two-time bracelet winner John Riordan had entered the day with just over five big blinds, but managed to ladder up multiple spots in a matter of minutes while watching that massive clash from the sideline. He was left with half of a small blind after defending his big blind and losing to Rheem’s top pair. That soon got all-in with Q♦10♣ facing the 7♥6♥ of Nikitin. The 10♦3♠3♥ gave Riordan a sizable lead in the hand, but the 7♠ turn gave Nikitin outs to a running full house. The 7♣ rolled off on the end and Riordan was sent packing in fifth place ($72,500).
Rheem Speeds, Full-Steam, To The Title
Four-handed play continued for nearly two hours before another elimination took place. Bracelet winner and European Poker Tour champion Stephen Song was on the undesirable side of a pair-over-pair preflop clash. His pocket threes ran into the pocket fives of Rheem and found no help on an ace-high runout with a pair of nines on board. This was Song’s third final-table finish of the series, having also placed fourth in both the kickoff $1,000,000 Showcase and event no. 4. Song has now cashed for $301,250 so far this series, accruing enough PGT points to move into second place in the race for the Purple Jacket.
Nikitin’s run in this event came to a close in third place. The Russian got the last of his stack in with A♦K♦ leading the A♠10♠ of a Rheem. There was seemingly no stopping Rheem, though, as the flop came down 10♣5♥2♦ to turn the tables. The 8♦ turn made things interesting, but the 3♠ river sent Nikitin to the rail with $129,000.
Rheem held better than a 10:1 lead going into heads-up play with Daniyal Gheba. It didn’t take long for him to convert the lead into the title. Gheba shoved his last eight or so big blinds with 6♥4♥ from the button. Rheem called with 7♦5♦ and the K♥9♣7♣2♠7♠ runout gave Rheem trips sevens and the title.
Gheba secured a career-best score of $185,000 as the runner-up. He now has nearly $1.1 million in recorded cashes under his belt.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Chino Rheem | $280,000 | 600 | 280 |
| 2 | Daniyal Gheba | $185,000 | 500 | 185 |
| 3 | Anatoly Nikitin | $129,000 | 400 | 129 |
| 4 | Stephen Song | $100,500 | 300 | 101 |
| 5 | John Riordan | $72,500 | 250 | 73 |
| 6 | Andrew Lichtenberger | $56,200 | 200 | 56 |
| 7 | Aram Zobian | $44,800 | 150 | 45 |
Photo credit: PokerGO Tour / Antonio Abrego.
