Andrew Lichtenberger Captures First Title of New PokerGO Tour Season

Andrew Lichtenberger’s first live tournament score was recorded back in November of 2007. In the 17 years since then, he has accumulated more than $22 million in earnings across 311 in-the-money finishes. On Tuesday, Jan. 21, the 37-year-old poker pro notched his 17th tournament title by taking down the first event of the 2025 PokerGO Tour Kickoff series. Lichtenberger navigated through an 84-entry field in the $5,100 buy-in tournament, earning $117,600 and the title after defeating six-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman heads-up.

This was Lichtenberger’s 42nd tournament cash for six figures or more. He has four scores for over a million, including his career-high payday of $2,798,700 that was secured for a third-place showing in the 2023 World Poker Tour World Championship.

Lichtenberger was awarded 384 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. The bracelet winner now sits inside the top 100 in the 2025 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

The second and final day of play in this event saw seven players return to the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas. The money bubble had burst late on day 1, with five players hitting the rail inside the money before action halted for the night.

Lichtenberger held the chip lead when play resumed. Ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel (7th – $16,800) was the first to be eliminated, with his pocket queens losing a preflop showdown with the A-Q suited of Schulman. He was soon joined by fellow bracelet winner Patrick Leonard (6th – $21,000), who lost a flip with pocket tens against Lichtenberger’s K-Q suited.

Dennis Beres (5th – $29,400) then ran A-8 into the A-Q of Schulman to finish fifth. Schulman continued his surge up the leaderboard by winning the next key all-in. His 55 held up against the A5 of two-time bracelet winner John Riordan (4th – $39,900) to narrow the field to three.

Matthew McEwan overtook the chip lead at one point during short-handed action, but Lichtenberger won a big all-in with pocket queens against his K-10 suited to move back in front. McEwan then got all-in with 98 dominated by Schulman’s A8. The A72Q5 runout gave Schulman a winning pair of aces, ending McEwan’s run in third place ($54,600).

Heads-up play began with 5,975,000 for Lichtenberger and 4,525,000 for Schulman. That gap grew in the early going, to the point that Lichtenberger held nearly a 4:1 when the final hand arose. Schulman shoved from the button for 11 big blinds with J7 and Lichtenberger called with K9. The board came down 1043K9 to give Lichtenberger two pair for the win. Schulman earned $75,600 for his third final-table finish of the young year. He’s already won a PGT Last Chance event for $283,050 and finished second in the PGT Championship for another $200,000. With 920 POY points already accrued, he has climbed to 15th place in the 2025 standings.

Check out the payouts and rankings points that were handed out at the final table:

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.