The action was red hot on Day 14 as Daniel Vampan won his first-ever WSOP bracelet, the Gladiators of Poker event reached its final day and stars such as Phil Ivey, Shaun Deeb and Nick Schulman battled for supremacy in the latest WSOP High Roller event. The Horseshoe and Paris casinos were packed in Las Vegas as thousands of players returned to the felt seeking fame, fortune and a gold bracelet that is the envy of every poker player on the planet.
Vampan Victorious after Latest Near-Miss for Israelishvili
Roland Israelishvili will have to wait for his next chance to end an epic WSOP bracelet quest that has gone past 500 cashes in WSOP Events. The final ten gathered in Event #25, the $3,000 6-Max Limit hold’em event knowing that in the middle of the field sat the man who had just extended his own record of 500 WSOP cashes. Sadly for numerically enthusiastic neutrals and Roland Israelishvili himself, there was no bracelet win on his 500th cash, as he came fifth for $33,387. Instead, Daniel Vampan went wire-to-wire for his first-ever WSOP bracelet instead.
The event, which had 248 entries and reached a prize pool of $662,160, awarded Vampan the top prize of $148,635 after he outlasted a table full of passionate and experienced mixed game players such as Nick Caltabiano, Frank Yakubson and British player Robert Wells, who finished as runner-up for the second time this WSOP.
The proud Welshman also lost heads-up in Event #7, the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice event, losing to John Hennigan as ‘Johnny World’ sealed his seventh WSOP title. A 12th-place finish in Event #13, the $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship followed for Wells, and with this latest runner-up score of $99,578, he has put himself in the frame for WSOP Player of the Year, but how dearly he’d love to win one having got so close on two occasions.
Back to Vampan, however, and his lifelong dream. Because this is a fever that started young, as he described to PokerNews after the event.
“My dad is actually an ex-professional limit hold’em player. I would sneak into the Commerce and the Bike when I was like 18 or 19 so I’ve been playing limit for a very long time.”
Vampan put his win down to a moment he felt it was going to turn around at his lowest ebb in the tournament.
“I had 2,000 chips at 3,000/5,000 limits, and I tripled up to 6,000. Then I had like six-nine off in the big [blind], and it came ten-nine-five turn nine and I beat queen-ten. It was at that moment that I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to win this tournament’. I just had this weird feeling, like I just knew it was going to happen.”
If Vampan gets a feeling about this weekend’s lotto numbers, listen to him. He’s not just a poker professional anymore, he’s a World Series of Poker bracelet winner.
| WSOP Event #25: $3,000 6-Max Limit Hold’em Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Daniel Vampan | United States | $148,635 |
| 2nd | Robert Wells | United Kingdom | $99,578 |
| 3rd | Nick Caltabiano | United States | $67,919 |
| 4th | Lucas Wagner | United States | $47,179 |
| 5th | Roland Israelashvili | United States | $33,387 |
| 6th | Frank Yakubson | United States | $24,078 |
Li Leads Last 19 in $25,000 High Roller as Deeb Delivers on Day 2
Just 19 players remain in the $25,000-entry High Roller Event #26 as Yingui Li leads the field to a top prize of $1,667,842 in a day’s time. There was a packed field in the event with 318 players, an increase of 17 from 2023’s numbers. Of them, some of the world’s best players on the planet were in seats and among them stars such as 2024 bracelet winner Dylan Weisman, Brazilian online crusher Yuri Dzivielevski, British record holder for online winnings Chris Moorman, 10-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel and the poker legend Daniel Negreanu all busted outside the money places.
Others still had time to fall short before the bubble burst, with Jason Mercier and Maria Ho two of those to miss out on profit, before Andy Wilson and Sam Soverel both lost on the bubble. Once in profit, players such as All-time Money List rivals Bryn Kenney and Justin Bonomo were knocked out, while Chance Kornuth and the 2022 world champion Espen Jorstad both missed out on the latter stages.
All eyes on the rail seemed to be directed towards Phil Ivey but the Poker Hall of Famer departed when his pocket aces were cracked in 22nd place for a score of $62,737. When the chips were counted at 19 survivors, Daniel Sepiol, who won his first-ever bracelet this weekend was on the rail for the same amount, sliding out in 21st.
Chinese player Yingui Li has the biggest stack on 5.6 million chips, but he is followed by plenty of others who will hope to win gold, with Shaun Deeb (3.51m) chief amongst them. The six-time bracelet winner has reached this stage on a few occasions this WSOP and seems due a deep run… perhaps even a seventh WSOP title to his name. Nick Schulman (2.81m) and Ben Heath (1.49m) among others will likely have something to say about that.
| WSOP Event #26: $25,000 8-Max High Roller Day 2 Chipcounts: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Yingui Li | China | 5,600,000 |
| 2nd | David Stamm | United States | 4,955,000 |
| 3rd | Andrew Ostapchenko | United States | 4,215,000 |
| 4th | Shaun Deeb | United States | 3,510,000 |
| 5th | Roberto Perez | Spain | 3,185,000 |
| 6th | Chongxian Yang | China | 2,885,000 |
| 7th | Samuel Laskowitz | United States | 2,885,000 |
| 8th | Nick Schulman | United States | 2,815,000 |
| 9th | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | 2,545,000 |
| 10th | Jared Bleznick | United States | 2,425,000 |
Britton on Top as Gladiatorial Showdown Looms
Just 14 players remain in the event with 20,647 entrants, the $300 Gladiators of Poker event, which saw 757 players reduced to just over a dozen during 17 levels of Day 2 play. With a massive prize pool of $5,079,162 up for grabs, the top prize of $499,852 and the gold WSOP bracelet will be awarded tomorrow, with American player Simon Britton (67.1 million) the chip leader.
With players such as Stephen Winters (64,975,000), Rami Hammond (64,950,000) and Brendon Herrick (63.5m) all in his rear-view mirror, Britton will need to speed away from his pursuers on the final day to have any sort of command over what will likely be a shallow-stacked final table. There is a big difference between the top prize of just under half a million dollars and the next payout of just over $20,000, so everything comes down to one last battle in the Gladiators arena tomorrow.
| WSOP Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker Final Day Chipcounts: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Simon Britton | United States | 67,100,000 |
| 2nd | Stephen Winters | United States | 64,975,000 |
| 3rd | Rami Hammoud | Canada | 64,950,000 |
| 4th | Brendon Herrick | United States | 63,500,000 |
| 5th | Quang Vu | United States | 61,825,000 |
| 6th | Steve Foutty | United States | 58,000,000 |
| 7th | Caleb Levesque | United States | 49,450,000 |
| 8th | Mario Lopez | Italy | 41,025,000 |
| 9th | James Morgan | Canada | 38,900,000 |
| 10th | Petri Nikkinen | Finland | 33,000,000 |
Matsuda the Super Stack in Big O
Event #27, the $1,500-entry Big O event saw a total field of 1,555 start with just 232 players on Day 2. After a busy day at the felt, just 20 remain in the hunt for a top prize of $306,884 and the WSOP bracelet.
Top of the leaderboard after two days is the Japanese player Tomoki Matsuda, who closed play with 4,285,000 chips, good for a solid lead from American player John Bunch (4m) and Michael Christ (3,335,000). The two-time bracelet winner Nathan Gamble (455,000) will be one to watch if he can start the final day strongly and with other stars of the felt such as Todd Brunson, Jeff Madsen and Calvin Anderson busting on the penultimate day, it’s anyone’s bracelet tomorrow.
| WSOP Event #27: $1,500 Big O Day 2 Chip Counts: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Tomoki Matsuda | Japan | 4,285,000 |
| 2nd | John Bunch | United States | 4,005,000 |
| 3rd | Michael Christ | United States | 3,335,000 |
| 4th | Paul Fehlig | United States | 3,310,000 |
| 5th | Lucas Zwingmann-Gocht | Germany | 3,075,000 |
| 6th | Seth Frederici | United States | 2,700,000 |
| 7th | James McWhorter | United States | 2,460,000 |
| 8th | Matthew Bretzfield | United States | 2,400,000 |
| 9th | Damjan Radanov | United States | 1,875,000 |
| 10th | Sam Farha | United States | 1,420,000 |
Two More Events Enjoy Huge Day 1 Fields
There were two more WSOP bracelet events that took place on Monday, with Phil Hellmuth starring in one of them. The $1,500 Freezeout Event #28 featured 2,319 entries and at the close of play, 215 survivors were topped by Brian Barker on 951,000 chips. Behind him, Conor Hannan (950,000), Nick Maimone (830,000) and John Riordan (755,000) weren’t far off the lead, but all eyes will be on the 17-time world record bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (207,000) on Day 2. The Poker Brat made Day 2 where thousands of others failed, including but not limited to Jack Sinclair, Martin Kahbrel, Adrian Mateos, Davidi Kitai, Martin Jacobson, John Juanda, and five-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver.
In Event #29, the $10,000 buy-in Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship, Naoya Kihara (237,000) led the remaining 65 players from 125 entries on Day 1. Second-placed Marco Johnson (227,000) and third-placed Bryce Yockey (213,000) will be dangerous, while other luminaries Calvin Anderson (210,500), Jason Mercier (206,500) defending champion Benny Glaser (195,500), Chino Rheem (175,500), Jeremy Ausmus (175,000), Nacho Barbero (155,000) and PokerStake player Allen Kessler (123,500) all made the cut.
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