WSOP 2025 Day 38 Recap: Shaun Deeb Wins Seventh Bracelet, Phil Hellmuth Rocks Up at Main Event

The latest day of action at the 56th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw Shaun Deeb win his seventh WSOP bracelet, while there was a third win for Qinghai Pan, dubbed ‘The Terminator’ by his tablemates as he conquered the Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. In the $10,000-entry WSOP Main Event, Phil Hellmuth made his entry as a rock n roll legend...but did he survive to Day 2?

Shaun Deeb Beats Ike Haxton to PLO Bracelet

Shaun Deeb won his seventh WSOP bracelet last night as he conquered the $100,000-entry PLO High Roller event for $2.95 million, the biggest single prize of his poker career. In doing so, Deeb also took over the lead at the top of the Player of the Year race. After players such as Phil Ivey (5th for $715,614) and Arthur Morris (3rd for $1.3m) both fell short, Deeb beat Haxton with a rivered flush to take the title in front of friends and family. Afterwards, Deeb was quick to be gracious about his win.

“Anyone could have won that tournament with the run of cards I had on all ends, you know,” he said. “I ran so above chip EV in every all-in. I really just won, so there wasn't much skill. I played really well pre-flop, I got outplayed post flop I am sure, but that's kind of I knew what was going to happen. I know how to reduce better players' edge .”

Deeb still loves coming to Las Vegas for the WSOP and is excited to be in the race for PY and other events, though he claims ‘The Main Event is the worst tournament for Player of the Year’.

"It's everything you hope for coming out here. God, this is the best one, I am probably going to play all summer to win. I appreciate all the staff here - the World Series does a great job. People got to realize just how hard it is to do what they do, and I appreciate all the staff.”

After his victory, Deeb’s result puts him marginally ahead of Benny Glaser in the race to win the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year title. The race to the finish should be incredible to participate in, let alone watch play out as poker fans.

“It's going to be me and Benny balloting,” said Deeb. “He's a favourite though, because I think he only has six or seven scores so any score he gets is just points on his total. I’ve really got to get 200 points or another final table.”

Read all about how Shaun Deeb won his seventh WSOP bracelet in our full report on the $100,000 PLO High Roller.

WSOP Event #79 $100,000 PLO High Roller Final Table Results

Pan Takes Gold in Seven Card Stud 

Qinghai Pan won the $10,000-entry Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship last night as the final four players battled to the win at The Horseshoe Las Vegas. After the Russian player Andrey Zhigalov busted in fourth place for $132,423, the British PLO cash game crusher Luke Schwartz won $188,105 in third place, missing all three streets on a massive draw.

Heads-up was an all-American affair as David Lin fell short in his bid to win his first bracelet. For Pan, who won his third WSOP title, it was a first live experience in Vegas, the mixed game player usually playing online.

“I play online so much, so online is really easy for me,” Pan said. “Live is more unique for me. I still have a lot of live - I like to play live mixed tournaments.”

After a stunning victory, Pan’s success earned him $411,051, the biggest live score of his career. 

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

Schill Leads Final Six in PokerNews Deepstack Championship

In Event #78, the $600-entry PokerNews Deepstack Championship, 55 players came back to battle to be a part of the six-handed final table. With a top prize of $302,165 on offer, Daniel Schill (41 million) ended Day 3 as the chip leader, with Schill’s fellow American Narimaan Ahmadi on 36.2 million.

With all six players hoping to win their first WSOP bracelets, Israel’s Ran Kadur (31.3m), Canadian Jason Li (23.5m), Frenchman Nicolas Godard (23.2m) and Argentinian short stack Jorge Dominguez (15.6m) will all be dreaming of lifting the gold bracelet tomorrow.

WSOP Event #78: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship Chip Counts

Mizrachi Makes Moves in Main Event on Day 1b

With a total of 1,096 players entering Day 1b of the $10,000-entry WSOP Main Event, the reigning four-time PPC champion Michael Mizrachi topped the field. Amassing a superb stack of 297,000 chips, Mizrachi’s mountainous stack ended Day 1b higher than any other, with Dakota Baggett (270,400) and Raoul Kanme (270,000) in the podium places with ‘The Grinder’.

While the players who survived made headlines, the entrance of Phil Hellmuth Junior, the 17-time WSOP bracelet winner, is always part of the circus on Day 1 of the World Championship and the Poker Brat didn’t disappoint. Arriving in ‘rock star’ garb, Hellmuth’s appearance, billed as ‘Highway to Hell-muth’ featured Dan Cates and Hellmuth’s own son Phil playing guitar in the hallways before a quitter walk to the feature table, albeit accompanied by the now-traditional phalanx of models, each holding up a number representing one of the Poker Brat’s record 17 WSOP victories.

To the important side of Hellmuth’s Day 1b. The Poker Brat survived, bagging up 85,000 chips, just a small amount more than his son, who amassed 82,700 on Day 1a. Both Hellmuths could yet meet on Day 2abc which is scheduled for Sunday. Hellmuth was among the survivors but others did even better, with Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow bagging up 158,200 for ‘the biggest stack I’ve had on Day 1 for 15 years’.

Daniel Negreanu, who was in his seat for the opening hand of the Main Event for the 28th year straight, ended Day 1b on over double the chips he started on with 122,500. The 2019 finalist Nick Marchington (217,300), 2023 WSOP Europe champion Max Neugebauer (193,300), and 2015 finalist  Max Steinberg (180,000) all survived to Day 2, as did Brazilian former world online number one Yuri Dzivielevski (161,300), Kevin Rabichow (119,600), UFC fighter Colby Covington (94,500), Nick Rigby (92,900), Jason Mercier (78,700), and Game of Gold player Olga Iermolcheva (59,700).

Legends such as John Hennigan (53,200) and Stephen Chidwick (51,600) both survived, albeit with fewer chips than they started. Three other former Main Event winners survived the day, as the 2016 world champion Qui Nguyen (94,500), 1987 and 1988 winner Johnny Chan (57,800) and 2012 winner Greg Merson (51,600) all joined Phil Hellmuth in the draw for Day 2.

WSOP Event #81: $10,000 Main Event World Championship Day 1b 

Thomas Taylor Leads Ausmus and Brunson in Eight Game

The $10,000-entry Eight Game Mixed Championship Event #82 saw 195 total entries reduced to just 13 finalists in the event, with a $422,421 top prize and a $1,813,500 prize pool. Thomas Taylor leads the final lucky 13, with a stack of 1.95 million chips, but legends of the felt sit not too far behind him in their pursuit of WSOP gold.

Jon Turner (1.58m) is closest to Taylor’s stack, while Kahle Burns (1.55m), Mike Gorodinsky (937,000), Jeremy Ausmus (572,000) and Poker Hall of Famer Todd Brunson (555,000) all have hope of clinching a bracelet victory tomorrow.

WSOP Event #82: $10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship Chip Counts

Two More Day1s Kick Off

In Event #80, the $800-entry Summer Celebration, Day 1b of the event saw 4,024 entries, bumping the total field to an incredible 7,078. Just 193 players made it to Day 2 from the Day 1b field, with Canadian player Darrin Oremba (2.47m), Zizhu Zhao (2.28m) and Shawn Pilot (2.19m) in the podium places, with the former bracelet winner Keven Stammen (1.49m) also on target for a deep run.

Finally, in Event #83, the $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em brought 1,299 entries, making a prize pool of $2.89m and a top prize of $449,245 on the line. Noel Rodriguez (840,000), Vitor Dzivielevski (568,000) and the 2020 Online Main Event world champion Stoyan Madanzhiev (254,000) all made the chip counts for Day 2, along with the former PPC champion Phil Hui (370,000), PokerGO chief Cary Katz (134,000), high roller Danny Wong (120,000), and Renan Bruschi (109,000) also bagging up chips on the night.

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