WSOP 2025 Day 36 Recap: Michael Wang Wins 3rd Bracelet, Negreanu Falls Short as Kupin is King

Six events took place on Day 36 of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, as Michael Wang won his third bracelet event and Daniel Negreanu fell just short of adding his eighth title. With the Mini Main Event down to just five players, controversial character Martin Kabrhel is four players away from Vegas gold and a very big top prize.

Wang on Top in $10,000 PLO Championship

Michael Wang came back from less than a big blind to complete a miraculous victory in Event #74, the $10,000-entry PLO Championship. A long time after ‘A Chip and Chair’ was  a thing for Jack Straus in the Main Event, Michael Wang could be forgiven for believing in miracles as he came back from 65,000 chips after a beat from Erik Seidel to claim glory and his third WSOP title.  

Coming back to outlast a final table featuring Alex Foxen and overnight leader Quan Zhou, Wang’s win came after he beat Michael Zulker heads-up.

“It still doesn’t feel real,” Wang said after victory, looking back on his third WSOP bracelet. “The first one felt amazing. It was my first year of doing this full time and it happened right away. It felt like I didn’t deserve it. The second one was more validating, and now that it’s number three, it’s that feeling, but even more so. Obviously, I ran amazingly, but it doesn’t feel like a fluke anymore.”

Winning from nowhere, Wang’s incredible third title at the WSOP came without any pressure on him. It’s that which he believes to have helped him.  

“With two thirds of a big blind there were no expectations, no pressure. The very first hand after I was left short, I was automatically all in from the big blind. I won that to triple up. I thought it would be funny if I somehow won. For that to happen, it’s just so unreal.”

Read our full report on the event to get the lowdown on how Wang did it. 

WSOP Event #74 $10,000 PLO Championship Final Table Results

Kupin King after Kid Poker Falls in Fourth

Aaron Kupin went wire-to-wire to win Event #76, the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet event, after Daniel Negreanu finished fourth for $60,792 in Las Vegas last night. Another close run for Kid Poker saw  the Canadian get three places from his eighth WSOP bracelet but it was Kupin’s day, as the American, one of three to play out the latter stages, put on a late masterclass to claim gold.

"When you have the lead the whole day, you’re kind of already imagining winning," Kupin admitted after he beat Marco Johnson heads-up to deny his opponent a third title. “I’m in the car, I’m already thinking about what I’m going to say in the interview. And then when you get heads-up with a big lead, you almost feel like you have more to lose than you do gain.”

Kupin’s maiden victory at the World Series ended a long search for glory for the studied professional.

“I’ve been trying for a lot of years now to win one of these,” he said. “It’s really great to achieve that goal.”

WSOP Event #76 $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Final Table Results

Kabrhel Waits One More Day

An extra day was required in Event #75, the $1,000-entry Mini Main Event, as controversial Czech character Martin Kabrhel sat second in chips on route to glory and a possible top prize of $843,140. That would be some return on the $1,000 entry fee in the event, which saw 10,794 entries overall and will award just one bracelet tomorrow.

Alexander Yen (189.5m) has the chip lead with a day to play but Kabrhel isn’t far behind on 166.5m, with Belarussian Vadzim Lipauka (156m), Hungarian John Ishak (85m) and Polish player Bartlomiej Swieboda (50.5m) all still have a shot at glory.

WSOP Event #75 $1,000 Mini Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

Hellmuth Chasing Glory

American Qinghai Pan leads the final 15 players in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship Event #77. With the chip leader on 1.58 million chips, only Jordan Siegel (1.24m) and Andrey Zhigalov (1.1m) have also passed the seven-figure mark with chips.

There are some serious rivals behind the top three, with Phil Hellmuth (906,000) fourth in chips and chasing his 18th WSOP bracelet. Luke Schwartz (774,000) bids for glory in his own inimitable style, while Viktor Blom (674,000) and Alex Livingston (594,000) will be hoping to turn a good WSOP so far into a golden one.

WSOP Event #77 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

Two New Events Begin

In Event #78, the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship, a total field of 5,667 entries was reduced to just 635 players, as a prize pool of $2.85 million paid 851 players, with Prasad Vemulapalli on top with 1.54 million chips. Caleb Levesque (1,156,000) and Thanh Duong (1,057,000) round out the podium places, with two players bursting the bubble to receive the entry fee back instead of a $1,200 min-cash. Carson Nennstiel and Sean Troha both departed, but with big names in the race, the latest bracelet champion will take home $302,165.

Finally, in Event #79, the $100,000 PLO High Roller at the Horseshoe and Paris, a total field of 88 entries was cut to just 36 hopefuls, with the American Arthur Morris in charge on 4m chips. Some way back is the Latvian player Maxi Lehmanski on 2.94m, while it is Daniel Negreanu who took the third spot on the podium with 2.8m chips. 

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