PGT Championship line-up confirmed after Schulman and Rheem top Last Chance #6

After a week of daily $10k tournaments the final PGT Last Chance is in the books, with Nick Schulman crowned the winner.

Schulman bagged the maximum leaderboard points for the win, but with a place already locked up in the top 40 the points were irrelevant. The same went for Chino Rheem, who officially took second spot in this Last Chance #6 tournament.

When it came to the prize money, Schulman and Rheem opted for an ICM chop as soon as they hit heads-up play, flipping for the trophy. It took seven hands, going this way and that between the two friends, before Schulman won a couple of hands in a row to end the tourney as the nominal winner. He banked $161,500, while Rheem took $170,300 for second as he'd held the chip lead when the deal was made.

Coleman and Morris leapfrog into top 40

With 79 runners and 12 places paid, there were a number of players hoping to edge into the top 40 of the PGT leaderboard and qualify for the end-of-year PGT Championship $1 million freeroll, which takes place tomorrow.

One of them was Andrew ‘luckychewy’ Lichtenberger who made the money, finishing 12th for $15,800, but fell short of the position he needed to qualify. Kristen Foxen suffered a similar fate, exiting in 11th for $23,700 but without the points to make the top 40. Her partner Alex, already qualified, made the final table alongside Schulman, Rheem, Stephen Chidwick, Samuel Laskowitz, Arthur Morris and Maxx Coleman.

For Morris and Coleman their trips to the final table would provide just enough points to sneak into the top 40 and claim a seat in the freeroll. Jim Collopy and Ben Lamb are the unfortunate players who have had their places usurped at the last minute by Morris and Coleman, while Jason Koon scraped in at the number 40 spot.

DeStefano and Laskowitz take the dream seats

Throughout the week’s tournaments an intriguing story has been playing out as to who will win the two ‘dream seats’. These are wild card spots in the PGT Championship freeroll, reserved for the two players who collected the most points during the week - excluding those who qualify via the top 40.

Looking back at the week’s winners, Daniel Negreanu (event 1), Artur Martirosyan (events 2 and 5) and Nick Schulman (event 6) had already booked their seats the old fashioned way, so it should come as little surprise that the other two victors - Samuel Laskowitz (event 3) and Dylan DeStefano (event 4) - should emerge as winners of the dream seats.

They’ll join the top 40 players in duking it out for the $500k up top in tomorrow’s freeroll.

Final table ends in a flip-fest

Maxx Coleman was the first to be eliminated at the seven-handed final table, slow-playing a flopped two pair long enough for Chino Rheem to turn a straight and send him packing. Coleman picked up $39,500 and 40 crucial points.

Stephen Chidwick was out in 6th, another final table performance awarding him another $47,400, but with a place in the top 40 already locked up. When Samuel Lankowitz followed in 5th, collecting $63,200 and 63 points, the line-up for the PGT Championship was set: all the remaining players had secured their spots.

Alex Foxen couldn’t hit either of his overcards when he shoved into Rheem’s 5-5, and was out in 4th for $79,000. Morris would follow soon after, his T-8 suited unable to improve against Rheem’s A-6.

An ICM chop was quickly agreed between Rheem and Schulman, before the two flipped for the official win. Seven hands later, Schulman closed it out.

PGT Last Chance #6 results

All eyes will now be on the PGT Championship, which starts at 8pm local time on January 9. We'll bring you results and stories from the $1m GTD freeroll tournament, and you can follow the final table action live at the PokerGO YouTube channel.

^{Images courtesy of PokerGO}