Sam Soverel and Joe McKeehen Among Late PGT Sprint Winners

After seven events, the PokerGO Tour PGT Sprint series came to a thrilling conclusion last night in Las Vegas. With the final three events of the series won by Sam Soverel, Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger and the 2015 WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen, there was no shortage of superstars in Sin City in the penultimate PGT event of the season.

Sam Soverel Event #5 for Record 18th PokerGO Title

The American high roller Sam Soverel took down the fifth PGT Sprint event of the series, winning the $195,200 top prize after the event kick-started the final trio of $10,500 buy-in events. With stars such as Jeremy Becker and Nick Seward reaching the final table, there were 61 entries in total, with the final nine players getting paid. The final table bubble was therefore the money bubble too, and it was the unfortunate Nicholas Schulte who missed out on both by busting in 10^th place.

After players such as Sam Laskowitz (9^th for $18,300) and Victoria Livshitz (8^th for $24,400) cashed, Michael Berk went from being the executioner to finding his own head on the block. Taken out in sixth place for $33,550, Berk’s departure was followed by that of Jeremy Becker, who lost his stack when Soverel rivered a flush to send the phenom home with $45,750 in fifth.

Nick Seward lost to David Coleman’s pocket aces to cash for $61,000 in fourth place,  before Kuan Han Lee exited in third for $85,400 when his dominating ace-jack lost to Soverel’s ace-three. Heads-up, Soverel had a 4:1 chip lead and got lucky one more time when his eight-seven overtook Coleman’s ace-ten to take the tournament and a top prize of $195,200 as Coleman claimed a runner-up result worth $122,000. Soverel’s win was his record 18^th PGT title of his career and his fifth PGT in 2026 alone.

Andrew Lichtenberger Chews Up Alex Foxen for Event #6 Win

The sixth and penultimate event of the series saw Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger take the title and another huge six-figure score as players such as Victoria Livschitz, Brandon Wilson and Jesse Lonis all fell short. The bubble was once again at nine players, with former PGT Sprint event Brock Wilson just missing out on the money.

After 60 total entries, Wilson’s ace-jack lost to Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger’s three-deuce after a three on the flop put everyone other than Wilson into the money places. Nicholas Schulte (9^th $18,000) squeaked into the money, with Neil Warren following him from the felt in eighth place for $24,400. Las Vegas local Daniyal Gheba lost a coinflip to bust to Jesse Lonis to win $24,400 in seventh place, before Victoria Livschitz shoved with pocket deuces pre-flop and once again saw Lonis win a crucial flip, she lost to Lonis’ ace-ten when Lonis hit an ace on the turn and she left for $33,000 in sixth place.

Dylan Linde left in fifth place for $45,000 before his fellow American Brandon Wilson lost in fourth for $60,000, Alex Foxen the conqueror. As play moved three-handed, Foxen’s lead grew even more as he took out Jesse Lonis in third place for $84,000. Three-betting all-in pre-flop with ace-queen, Lonis couldn’t hit against the pocket eights of Foxen, which held to set up a heads-up match that looked imbalanced as Foxen stacked up 6.8 million chips to Lichtenberger’s pile of just 700,000.

Two quick doubles, one with pocket queens,

A 10:1 chip lead heads-up might have led to a quick finish, but the duel was anything but. Chewy’s doubled up against the odds with queen-six before pocket queens then had the same effect, reducing Chewy’s arrears to him having just half of Foxen’s stack. After a board of [Ac][Kh][5d][6c][3d] landed, a river bet of 360,000 from Chewy into a raised pot pre-flop yielded a fold from Foxen and the lead changed hands.

Despite both men having momentum at different times, Chewy eventually took the title when his leading stack prompted him to shove with [Kd][6s]. Foxen called with [As][7s] as he hoped to double right back into contention but a king on the flop and no other drama instead have Chewy the most improbable of victories from 10:1 down in chips. Claiming $192,000 up top, Chewy’s triumph was worth considerably more than Foxen’s runner-up prize of $120,000.

Joe McKeehen Wins Final Event as Gheba Goes Close

The 2015 WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen won the Event #7 title in the final event of the 2026 PGT Sprint series in Las Vegas last night. With a total field of 53 players only eight players were due to be paid, but two players busted simultaneously when ten remained, meaning they split the min-cash to win $10,600 each. Martin Zamani lost a coinflip to Joe McKeehen to depart, while Patrick Leonard blew his short stack after being whittled down by Darren Elias beating his pocket aces with pocket queens in the hand before.

Brandon Wilson (7^th for $21,200) and Neil Warren (6^th for $31,800) both busted before the British WSOP High Roller bracelet winner Jamie Dwan was sent to the rail for $42,400. Nicholas Schulte soon followed Dwan out of the cardroom, losing with ace-jack to Daniyal Gheba’s king-jack when a king fell on the river to head home with $53,000 in fourth place.

Three-handed play lasted only a short time, as the four-time WPT champion Darren Elias got unlucky to lose his stack with ace-five of clubs. Vegas resident Daniyal Gheba called Elias’ shove with king-jack and a flop containing two kings was good enough to send Elias home with $74,200 and put Gheba in contention for the title.

Holding a lead of better than 2:1, Gheba couldn’t hold onto it against the 2015 world champion McKeehen, as a pair of fours brought the latter back into the battle and two hands that didn’t go to showdown edged him in front. Gheba four-bet all-in with ace-eight, and ran into the brick wall of McKeehen’s pocket kings, a nine-high board ending the event and sending Gheba home as runner-up for $111,300, with McKeehen winning $174,900 up top.