WSOP 2025 Day 17 Recap: Renat Bohdanov Wins Second Bracelet, Philip Sternheimer Bids to End Long Wait for Gold

Seven bracelet events took place on Day 17 of the 56th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, as Renat Bohdanov won his second title, Philip Sternheimer took a major step to ending his long wait for gold and the Seniors Championship got underway at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Bohdanov Wins Second Bracelet Six Years After First

Six years after he first tasted WSOP success in Las Vegas, Renat Bohdanov claimed gold for the second time. Winning the $3,000-entry NLHE Freezeout Event #35, the Ukrainian player, who took gold in 2019 in the opening event of the WSOP Europe series in Rozvadov for just over $60,000 won for much more today, taking home $451,600 after topping the field of 1,027 in this NLHE Freezeout event.

Closest to the winner was Denny Ramos, with the Brazilian beaten heads-up for a $300,830 runner-up prize. It was an unfortunate ending for him, as his dominating hand was way ahead when the chips went into on the turn, only for Bohdanov to spike a gutshot straight on the river. Afterwards, the Ukrainian was delighted to end his six-year wait for a second bracelet.

“This one was very important because it feels like a bigger one and more important, so I’m excited,” he told reporters. “I was trying to play my A game. I didn’t pay attention to any of my downs. I had a feeling that the game would be on my side. This is just the beginning.”

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

Sternheimer Pushes for Glory in PLO

Just two players remain in the $10,000-entry Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship as, after a busy day at the felt, Allen Kessler busted in 12th place, 11 places short of his first bracelet, while Shaun Deeb departed in third place as the final two players, Philip Sternheimer (14m) and Bruno Furth (9.1m) agreed to return tomorrow to see out the event.

For Sternheimer, the win would represent his first-ever WSOP bracelet, having now made it to the final table in WSOP events on six occasions. For Bruno Furth, victory would make him the second player to win two WSOP bracelets this series after Benny Glaser joined that exclusive club a week ago.

Either way, one of those two players is about to make WSOP history tomorrow, with Sternheimer holding the current advantage.

WSOP Event #36 $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

Aram Oganyan On Top in High Roller 

With just eight players still in the hunt for the top prize of $2,649,158, Event #38, the $100,000-entry High Roller, features some of the best poker players on the planet. A prize pool of $9,939,500 was amassed with the help of a dozen late entries into the event on Day 2, including the end of day chip leader, Americna pro Aram Oganyan, who piled up an incredible 20.4 million chips. Portuguese player Joao Vieira is the only player close to that total on 13.6 million, with everyone else at the final table struggling with around a quarter of the chip leader’s stack.

WSOP Event #38 $100,000 NLHE High Roller Chip Counts

Close Race in H.O.R.S.E. Event

Just 18 ‘horses’ remain in the running for a $197,923 top prize and the bracelet in the record-breaking Event #39, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event. With the field of 867 trimmed to a stable of 18 ready to run the last lap, chip leader Andrey Zhigalov (2,455,000) leads from other bracelet winners such as Ari Engel (1,340,000), Marcel Vonk (800,000), Linda Johnson (785,000), Alex Livingston (340,000) and Blaz Zerjav (115,000), all of whom has differing probabilities of success based on their chips.

Frenchman Nicolas Milgrom continues his hot streak in this year’s WSOP with a fifth cash that could turn into WSOP gold for the first time.

WSOP Event #39 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Chip Counts

Three Other Day 1s Begin

Day 1b of Event #37, the $1,500 buy-in Monster Stack event, took place on Thursday night.  Just 476 players advanced from a field of 1,872 players on Day 1a, and 6356 made it out of Day 1b, where more than 2,000 players descended on Las Vegas in pursuit of a massive top prize and bracelet glory. Caleb Larsen, who made the money in last year’s WSOP Main Event, ended Day 1b on top with 715,000 chips, with Benjamin Leilous (582,500) and the French Winamax ambassador Romain Lewis (507,000) also inside the top three stacks.

In Event #40, the $5,000 Seniors High Roller event, Poker Hall of Famers such as Billy Baxter (205,000), and John Juanda (133,000) and Erik Seidel (69,500) all survived to Day 2, with 274 making it out of Day 1 from 750 entries. Paul Snead bagged the lead with 507,000 chips, while Patrick White (479,000) and Gary Gelman (406,500) both ended Day 1 hot on the heels of the chip leader.

Finally, Event #41 saw 91 total entries take on the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship, with Viktor Blom reaching 372,000 chips by the close of play to lead the 43 survivors. The Swede is followed in the counts by Canadian players Benjamin Underwood (361,000) and Daniel Negreanu (241,000) with the former world champion Joe McKeehen, a winner from 2017 in this very event, on 319,000 and Anthony Zinno in the top 10 on $240,000. It’s anyone’s game as Kid Poker shoots again for his eighth WSOP title in Las Vegas.

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