WSOP 2025 Day 16 Recap: Schulman, Koon and Duong All Win Bracelets, Elias Misses Out Again

A thrilling day’s action in Las Vegas saw Nick Schulman claim his seventh WSOP bracelet, while Jason Koon won his second by taking down the high roller. Jason Duong came back from a huge chip deficit to win his first-ever WSOP title and five other events were in progress at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Schulman Reaches Seventh Heaven 

An epic eight-hour heads-up battle for glory gave Nick Schulman his seventh WSOP bracelet last night, and in doing so, denied Darren Elias his first. At a thrilling final table, players such as Dan Smith (6th for $83,179) and Chad Eveslage (3rd for $231,321) missed out. Heads-up, Nick Schulman took on Darren Elias and while the former was going for his seventh WSOP bracelet, for Darren Elias, he was after his first.

Eight hours later, Schulman had levelled with players such as Daniel Negreanu, Benny Glaser, Billy Baxter and John Hennigan as he joined legends such as those on seven bracelet wins. Humble in victory, Schulman admitted he was touched by the nature of the event’s conclusion and credited his opponent in being part of an incredible final duel.

“Emotionally and professionally, this one mans the most to me,” Schulman said. “To play Darren heads-up... six hours, that was the first time I was at peace with the result. He’s just such a great player and never gives an inch, so I feel lucky and thankful. If you keep showing up, stuff like this happens.”

Read all about how Nick Schulman made it seven WSOP wins in dramatic fashion in our full report on Event #30.

WSOP Event #30 $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Championship Results

King Koon Wins $1.9m Top Prize in High Roller 

The final day of the $50,000-entry High Roller Event #32 ended as it started, with Jason Koon in complete control. Starting with a massive chip lead, Koon faced all comers and saw off all his opponents, ending in a heads-up defeat of Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger, who won $1.31m in second place.

The victory also bumps Koon’s total tournament career earnings just over $66m, behind only Stephen Chidwick and Bryn Kenney at the top of the All-Time Money List on The Hendon Mob. This result took Koon past Justin Bonomo into third place on that neverending leaderboard. 

After victory, Koon was quick to dedicate the victory to his wife Bianca. 
“It's all possible because of her,” he said. “Stumbling home at 1am after bagging to wake up and help me get ready and not expect much from me. On days when poker is slow for me, I am all in as being a dad and try to pick up the slack the best that I can. Without her, I couldn't do any of this.”

You can find out exactly how ‘King Koon’ won his latest major title and claimed his second WSOP bracelet in our breakdown of the action. If you’re a PokerGO Subscriber, you can watch the final table in full too.

WSOP Event #32 $50,000 NLHE High Roller Final Table Results

Duong Recovers to Heroic Victory in Limit Hold’em

Jason Duong won the $1,500-entry Event #33, as he claimed victory against the overnight leader Adam Tyburski in a sensational finish to the tournament. Both Chris Hunichen (8th for $21,324) and Ian Johns (9th for $9,242) had a lot of WSOP experience, but their early departures meant a new name would win a WSOP bracelet.

For a long time, that looked like Tyburski, who had come into play with the advantage but the chips were almost level by the time the final battle for the gold began. A crucial hand took place when Tyburski flopped a pair of jacks and lost a big pot to Duong who had pocket kings. Duong had a dominating hand to close it out and afterwards, spoke of his pride at ending his bracelet wait.  

“I never doubted that I could win at any point,” Duong told reporters, describing how he battled back from being the short stack earlier in the final table. “I started getting more comfortable and picking up momentum.”

In the end, Jason Duong was unstoppable and deserved to take home the $130,061 top prize.

WSOP Event #33 $1,500 Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

Bohdanov Leads Freezeout with Ramos Chasing

In the $3,000-entry No Limit Hold’em Freezeout event, Ukrainian player Renat Bohdanov built the biggest stack as the penultimate day left just eight players in seats from 1,027 total entries in the event.

With a $451,600 top prize and the WSOP gold bracelet on the line tomorrow, Bohdanov is only marginally clear of Brazilian Dennys Luis Ramos on 8.93 million chips, with the only former bracelet winner other than the chip leader being Bulgarian Boris Kolev, who sits sixth in chips on 2.74 million.

WSOP Event #35 $3,000 NLHE Freezeout Final Table Chip Counts

Soverel on Top in PLO Hi-Lo Championship 

Popular PokerGO event crusher Sam Soverel (2.99m) leads the $10,00-entry PLO Hi-Lo Championship, with play going until the small hours to reduce 386 total entries to just 58 players in the money and 27 overnight survivors, as a top prize of $763,087 was confirmed after late registration closed on Day 2.

With other big names such as Christopher Vitch (2.59m), James Obst (1.66m), Brian Hastings (1.24m) and Shaun Deeb (1.2m) all in the top five, it could yet be the closest run WSOP event this series. The top 10 players have a collective 22 WSOP bracelets between them, and everyone will want another when tomorrow dawns.

WSOP Event #37 $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo Championship Chip Counts

Three Other Day 1s In Progress

In three other events, players sat down as they opened their bids to win gold anew. Day 1a of Event #37, the $1,500-entry Monster Stack event saw 1,872 players reduced to 476 players by the end of the day. American player Nikolay Volper topped the leaderboard with 793,000 chips, while Chinese player Zhengpeng Liu (642,000), and Matthew Russell (620,000) both made the podium places, with WSOP regulars David Jackson (373,500) and Brock Wilson (294,000) comfortably inside the top 70 players.

The $100,000-entry High Roller Event #38 saw 37 players make Day 2 from 77 entries as Thomas Boivin (3,840,000) led the field at the finish. Others to make the cut included Joao Vieira (2,920,000), Landon Tice (2,230,000), Adrian Mateos (1,815,000), Chris Hunichen (1,345,000), Isaac Haxton (1,140,000), Nacho Barbero (1,060,000), Jeremy Ausmus (835,000), and Chance Kornuth (740,000), all of whom made the top 25 in the chip counts.

Finally, in Event #39, 867 players entered the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, a record for the tournament, leaving just 195 to make it to the Day 2 seat draw. Top of the pile at the close of play was American player Michael Solheim (345,500), with the two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Tal Avivi (305,000) and French mixed games specialist Nicolas Milgrom (302,000) also making the top three. 

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