Chi-Jen Chu put himself into the PGT Championship Dream Seat picture with a win on Saturday afternoon, taking down the fifth event in PGT's Last Chance series for just over $263,000.
The series, as the name implies, is the last shot for players to sneak into next week's $1,000,000 freeroll. One way to lock in a seat is to finish in the top 40 of the PGT's season-long leaderboard. But most of those slots are locked up, so the next best chance is to lock up one of the five remaining Dream Seats with a top-five finish on the PGT Last Chance leaderboard.
Chu now occupies spot #5 on that leaderboard after he beat a chunky field of 117 players to score 293 PGT points. He beat David 'ODB' Baker after a back-and-forth heads-up match at a final table that also featured Chino Rheem and Kristen Foxen, with a supporting cast of Matthew McEwan, Nick Seward, and Connor Rash.
Chi-Jen Chu now holds the fifth spot in the PGT Last Chance Dream Seat race. Chu catches the leaders
The day started with a trio of Baker, Foxen, and Rheem holding the top three stacks. Chu, along with Seward, held up the other end of the scoreboard with the short stacks while everyone else joined together the middle.
Rash would go first, sending around 18 big blinds into the middle with 
in the opening minutes of the final table. Rheem was there with 
and the 
flop provided an unrequited sweat before Rash hit the door. Two doubles from Chu would follow, both through Rheem, which put the former in play and kept the latter from running away from the group. Sewart and McEwan followed in quick succession, leaving just four. Seward had pocket aces in his hand when he met his demise, losing when Rheem's pocket fives flopped a friend. McEwan's last hand was more straight forward and Chu's pocket kings had no problem holding off his unsuited jack-ten.
Runner-up David Baker is running away with the Last Chance points race. Baker led the final four players, followed by a bunched together Rheem, Foxen, and Chu. A prolonged battle followed and Foxen was next go, running pocket threes into Baker's aces. Chu doubled twice again, this time through Rheem, who would be left with the short stack. He was settled for third and only Chu and Baker remained. They would trade the lead and battle one another for a while until Chu broke the stalemate. It finally ended when Baker shoved 
, but Chu's 
prevailed when the board ran out 
.
PGT Last Chance Event #5 final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chi-Jen Chu | $263,850 |
| 2 | David 'ODB' Baker | $210,000 |
| 3 | Chino Rheem | $128,700 |
| 4 | Kristen Foxen | $99,450 |
| 5 | Matthew McEwan | $76,050 |
| 6 | Nick Seward | $58,500 |
| 7 | Connor Rash | $46,800 |
The series will now head into its climactic final event, the $10,100 One-Day Turbo. Baker holds onto a lead on the PGT Last Chance series leaderboard, followed by Neil Warren, Clemen Deng, Brandon Wilson, and Chi-Jen Chu. The rest of the top ten can still grab one of the final five Dream Seats, but they would probably have to win or finish second in the final event.
PGT Last Chance series 2026 leaderboard (through 5 events)
| Rank | Player | PGT Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David 'ODB' Baker | 355 |
| 2 | Neil Warren | 315 |
| 3 | Clemen Deng | 313 |
| 4 | Brandon Wilson | 297 |
| 5 | Chi-Jen Chu | 293 |
| 6 | Jeremy Becker | 193 |
| 7 | Phil Hellmuth | 186 |
| 8 | Landon Tice | 162 |
| 9 | Jared Jaffee | 140 |
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO.
