Jim Collopy Wins PGT PLO Championship, Jesse Lonis Takes Leaderboard Title
The PokerGO Tour PLO Series has concluded and after 11 thrilling events, six-figure wins for PokerStake players and some terrific four-card action in Las Vegas, Jim Collopy won the $25,000-entry PLO Championship event for over $450,000. While Collopy’s win heralded the biggest single score of the series, it was Jesse Lonis who took the overall leaderboard title as PGT PLO champion. His third-place finish in the Championship event put him in the lead and Alex Foxen fell just short of glory, coming second in the 11th and final event to hand the title to his rival.
Ausmus Falls Late as Weisman Rises
The penultimate event of the 2025 PGT PLO Series was the biggest, with the ‘Main Event’ of the Series costing $25,000 to play and featuring some of the best Pot Limit Omaha players on the planet. Stars such as Daniel Negreanu, Jeremy Ausmus and Dylan Weisman were among 60 entries, building a prizepool of $1.5 million.
The money bubble burst in ninth instead of tenth, as two players split the $45,000 payout on offer originally. Both Tyler Brown and Firas Kashat won $22,500 when Weisman and Jesse Lonis respectively took out the two men, with 14 PGT points and that minimum cash going to each player as they made their way from the PokerGO Studio at ARIA on the Las Vegas Strip.
Artem Maksimov was the next to bust in eighth place as he earned a profit-making $60,000. Jim Collopy began his ascent to the title when his kings in the hole beat Maksimov’s queens and the final seven were moved to the last table of the tournament. At that stage, Dylan Weisman led the field on 3.65 million chips, with Collopy third in chips on just half of that total.
Jeremy Ausmus was the short stack of the seven in play on just 690,000 chips and soon paid for that poverty in chip terms. Ausmus was all-in on a board showing 
with two tens for a turned set. It was no good, however, as Dylan Weisman’s 
made a Broadway straight to reduce the field to six and send Ausmus home with a score of $60,000 in seventh place.
Collopy Takes Crown after First Hand of Heads-Up
Six players returned to the felt on the final day, but Christopher Frank was hardly in his seat before he was heading to collect $82,500 in sixth place. Frank was ahead pre-flop when he got his chips into the middle, but Collopy flopped two pair and turned the full house, sealing a pot that moved him into the lead. That lead lengthened soon after, as the eventual champion took out Kamel Mohammad in fifth for $112,500, the Ukrainian’s top pair and flush draw being cruelly rivered by Collopy’s hand which made two pair to reduce the field to four.
Spanish PLO expert Lautaro Guerra’s departure in fourth place for $150,000 made sure it was an all-American podium, as his drawing hand failed to catch Dylan Weisman’s pocket aces in the hole. Weisman and Collopy looked to be on a collision course and so it proved when Jesse Lonis busted in third place for $210,000, as he flopped 11 outs, hit one of them on the turn but once again fell to a rivered two pair hand for Collopy.
Heads-up, Collopy’s 7.55 million played Weisman’s 4.44m but while the stacks were deep enough, the drama would only last one hand. It was aces against kings in Weisman’s favor and in a big way, with the at-risk player also holding a king. Somehow, Collopy found the last remaining king in the deck to miracle a superior hand of a set of cowboys.
Here’s how the dramatic final hand played out in Las Vegas.
| PokerGO Tour PLO Series $25,000 Event #10 Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Jim Collopy | United States | $450,367 |
| 2nd | Dylan Weisman | United States | $329,633 |
| 3rd | Jesse Lonis | United States | $210,000 |
| 4th | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | $150,000 |
| 5th | Kamel Mokhammad | United States | $112,500 |
| 6th | Christopher Frank | Germany | $82,500 |
| 7th | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $60,000 |
| 8th | Artem Maksimov | United States | $60,000 |
| 9th | Firas Kashat | United States | $22,500 |
| 10th | Tyler Brown | United States | $22,500 |
Jesse Lonis Crowned 2025 PGT PLO King
After 10 events of the 2025 PGT PLO Series, Jesse Lonis may not have won the championship but combined with his performances in the previous nine events, his third-place finish in the showstopper gave him the overall lead. With 662 points, Lonis was ahead but in the clubhouse after he bricked out Event #11 to sit back and hope that his prior results would be enough to win him the title, the PGT Gold Cup and a $10,000 PGT Passport.
Lonis got off to a slow start in his quest for glory, only finishing third in Event #3 across the first four events. In Event #5, Lonis scraped a ninth-place score of $27,840 in the $10,000-entry Progressive Bounty event, but two events later, Lonis’s surge to glory began in earnest. Coming second in Event #7 for $204,750, Lonis then bagged the outright win in Event #9 for a top score of $308,850. Finishing third in Event #10 for $210,000, Lonis won almost $800,000 as he raced to the top of the leaderboard.
Event #11 played out in dramatic fashion, as Alex Foxen could take the leaderboard prize with the outright win. The former Global Poker Index world number one battled superbly, making the money, reaching the final table and even getting heads-up for victory. Sadly for Foxen fans, their man went into the final duel with just 2.48 million chips to Zach Schwartz’ 6.64 million. When Foxen flopped top two pair and the chips went in on the turn but Foxen was behind to Schwartz’s flopped set of threes. They held and not only did Schwartz win Event #11 for $63,510 but Foxen remained in second place on the overall leaderboard, as Lonis could celebrate the ultimate victory.
Lonis’ latest run of form has tipped him over the $15 million mark on The Hendon Mob, putting him into 88th place on the All-Time Money List. Following in the footsteps of Lautaro Guerra (2023), Daniel Geeng (2023), Samuli Sipila (2024), and Matthew Wantman (2024) to become the latest PGT PLO Series champion, Lonis was ecstatic on X after victory was confirmed.
“What a beautiful game. 🦍 went back in the lab and got the 🦊 this time!”
After a thrilling series finale, a terrific Main Event and a worthy winner, here’s how the final leaderboard looked in the 2025 PGT PLO Series:
| PokerGO Tour 2025 PLO Series Leaderboard Top 10 (After 11 Events): | ||||||
| Place | Player | Country | Wins | Final Tables | Winnings | Points |
| 1st | Jesse Lonis | United States | 1 | 4 | $799,140 | 662 |
| 2nd | Alex Foxen | United States | 1 | 4 | $605,575 | 633 |
| 3rd | Chino Rheem | United States | 1 | 3 | $540,475 | 506 |
| 4th | Bryce Yockey | United States | 1 | 3 | $402,650 | 437 |
| 5th | Tyler Brown | United States | 0 | 4 | $390,900 | 407 |
| 6th | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 1 | 3 | $325,330 | 397 |
| 7th | Jim Collopy | United States | 1 | 1 | $505,492 | 356 |
| 8th | Dylan Weisman | United States | 0 | 3 | $481,433 | 324 |
| 9th | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 0 | 3 | $383,865 | 314 |
| 10th | Dylan Smith | United States | 1 | 1 | $295,870 | 305 |
Photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of the PGT PLO Series and the forthcoming 56th annual World Series of Poker.