Andrew Lichtenberger’s first reside event rating was recorded again in November of 2007. In the 17 years since then, he has gathered greater than $22 million in earnings throughout 311 in-the-money finishes. On Tuesday, Jan. 21, the 37-year-old poker professional notched his seventeenth event title by taking down the primary occasion of the 2025 PokerGO Tour Kickoff sequence. Lichtenberger navigated by means of an 84-entry area within the $5,100 buy-in event, incomes $117,600 and the title after defeating six-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman heads-up.
This was Lichtenberger’s forty second event money for six figures or extra. He has 4 scores for over 1,000,000, together with his career-high payday of $2,798,700 that was secured for a third-place exhibiting within the 2023 World Poker Tour World Championship.
Lichtenberger was awarded 384 Card Player Player of the Year factors for the win. The bracelet winner now sits inside the highest 100 within the 2025 POY race standings offered by Global Poker.
The second and last day of play on this occasion noticed seven gamers return to the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas. The cash bubble had burst late on day 1, with 5 gamers hitting the rail inside the cash earlier than motion halted for the night time.
Lichtenberger held the chip lead when play resumed. Ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel (seventh – $16,800) was the primary to be eradicated, along with his pocket queens dropping a preflop showdown with the A-Q suited of Schulman. He was quickly joined by fellow bracelet winner Patrick Leonard (sixth – $21,000), who misplaced a flip with pocket tens towards Lichtenberger’s Ok-Q suited.
Dennis Beres (fifth – $29,400) then ran A-8 into the A-Q of Schulman to complete fifth. Schulman continued his surge up the leaderboard by profitable the subsequent key all-in. His 5
5
held up towards the A5
of two-time bracelet winner John Riordan (4th – $39,900) to slender the sphere to a few.
Matthew McEwan overtook the chip lead at one level throughout short-handed motion, however Lichtenberger gained a giant all-in with pocket queens towards his Ok-10 suited to maneuver again in entrance. McEwan then received all-in with 98 dominated by Schulman’s A
8. The A72Q5 runout gave Schulman a profitable pair of aces, ending McEwan’s run in third place ($54,600).
Heads-up play started with 5,975,000 for Lichtenberger and 4,525,000 for Schulman. That hole grew within the early going, to the purpose that Lichtenberger held almost a 4:1 when the ultimate hand arose. Schulman shoved from the button for 11 massive blinds with J7 and Lichtenberger known as with Ok9. The board got here down 1043Ok9 to provide Lichtenberger two pair for the win. Schulman earned $75,600 for his third final-table end of the younger 12 months. He’s already gained a PGT Last Chance occasion for $283,050 and completed second within the PGT Championship for an additional $200,000. With 920 POY factors already accrued, he has climbed to fifteenth place within the 2025 standings.
Check out the payouts and rankings factors that had been handed out on the last desk:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Andrew Lichtenberger | $117,600 | 384 | 235 |
| 2 | Nick Schulman | $75,600 | 320 | 151 |
| 3 | Matthew Mcewan | $54,600 | 256 | 109 |
| 4 | John Riordan | $39,900 | 192 | 80 |
| 5 | Dennis Beres | $29,400 | 160 | 59 |
| 6 | Patrick Leonard | $21,000 | 128 | 42 |
| 7 | Erik Seidel | $16,800 | 96 | 34 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.
