The second week of the 2025 World Series of Poker has wrapped up, bringing heaps of excitement once more.
Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu was one of the players to watch last week, coming as close as possible to winning another bracelet in the $10k Omaha 8 Championship but falling just short. He then proceeded to make another deep run, announcing this just might be the summer of Kid Poker.
One player went on an incredibly lucky run to claim a huge $1,000,000 bonus awarded by ClubWPT Gold after qualifying for one of the operator’s Gold Rush tickets and then proceeding to win a bracelet. It was truly an extraordinary feat.
Another player who stole the headlines was Benny Glaser. An undisputed master of mixed games, Glaser has already claimed two WSOP bracelets, and there are many more tournaments to go.
Week 2 Bracelet Winners
The first week of the World Series was just a warm-up. From our last report, 19 more bracelets found new owners. Two of them went to Benny Glaser, who triumphed in the $1,500 Dealers Choice and $1,500 Mixed PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better events for a combined prize of over $400k.
Artur Martirosian triumphed in the extremely competitive $25,000 Heads Up Championship, outlasting some of the best players around. For his efforts, he picked up an even $500,000.
Below is an overview of all the bracelet winners from all events that have been completed at the time of writing this article:
- Event #7: $25,000 Heads Up Championship – Artur Martirosian ($500,000)
- Event #8: $1,500 Dealers Choice – Benny Glaser ($150,246)
- Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship – Ryan Bambrick ($470,437)
- Event #10: $600 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack – Kenneth Kim ($318,842)
- Event #11: $10,000 Mystery Bounty – Yosef Fox ($729,333)
- Event #12: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw – Brad Ruben ($138,080)
- Event #13: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em – Christopher Staats ($414,950)
- Event #14: $25,000 High Roller PLO/NLH Mixed – Lou Garza – ($1,302,233)
- Event #15: $1,500 Mixed: Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better – Benny Glaser ($258,193(
- Event #16: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack – Cristian Guiterrez ($193,780)
- Event #17: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Scott Bohlman ($436,044)
- Event #18: $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship – Ryan Hoenig ($354,444)
- Event #20: $1,500 Shootout – Michael Lavin ($267,373)
- Event #21: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better – Zachary Zaret ($248,245)
- Event #22> $25,000 High Roller – Blaz Zerjav ($1,34,717)
Event #19 $500 Colossus is still happening. After all starting flights had finally been completed, a total of 2,326 players made it to Day 2.
Kid Poker Has His Eyes Set on Bracelets
Daniel Negreanu came into the 2025 World Series of Poker ready to play and eager to make some noise. While the man they call Kid Poker has already unlocked the legendary status in the poker world, winning a few more WSOP bracelets seems to still be on his to-do list.
Negreanu came very close to winning his eighth bracelet early on in the series, making it all the way to heads-up in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. Unfortunately, cards just wouldn’t cooperate when he needed it the most, and Daniel eventually succumbed to Ryan Bambrick.
A few days later, Negreanu was at it again, making a deep run in the $10,000 Stud Championship, but couldn’t get the momentum going close to the finish line. He eventually busted in 11th place.
These early successes could be a good indicator of things to come. In one of his interviews prior to the summer series, Daniel said that he’d love to have a really good WSOP, winning two, three, or maybe even four bracelets to set a new record. It’s a tall order, but Negreanu is the caliber of player who can make it happen.
Benny Glaser Leading the Player of the Year Race
One player not struggling to win bracelets this year is Benny Glaser. With about a quarter of the series in the books, he already added two to his resume, and the way he’s been playing and running, another one or two might be in the air.
With these early results, Glaser managed to pull out ahead of the pack for the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year race. Of course, there is plenty of time for other players to catch up, but from everything we’ve seen so far, we certainly wouldn’t bet against Glaser.
It’s also well worth mentioning that the mixed game specialist now has seven WSOP bracelets to his name, making him the most decorated WSOP player from Europe.
Michael Levin Beats Long Odds to Pick an Extra $1M
Winning a WSOP bracelet is always a special moment, but it was especially so for Michael Levin, the winner of the $1,500 Shootout.
While Laving picked up over $260k as the first prize, this pales in comparison to the $1,000,000 he stands to receive from ClubWPT Gold, a recently launched sweepstakes poker site.
Namely, ahead of WSOP, ClubWPT Gold organized a special freeroll where qualifying players battled it out for Gold Rush passes, which entered them into WSOP events. The operator further promised that if any of the pass winners ended up claiming a bracelet, they would give them an extra $1,000,000.
By this point, you’ve probably figured out the rest of the story. Lavin first beat long odds to win a pass in the first place. Then, he proceeded to outlast a massive field of 1,299 entries to win the actual bracelet.
2025 Poker Hall of Fame Nominations Announced
The World Series of Poker has officially opened nominations for the 2025 Player of the Year. Everyone is invited to pitch in.
If you have a player you’d like to see in the Hall of Fame, you should visit this page, where you’ll find a nomination ballot. Fill in your information, name the player, and briefly explain why you feel they’re deserving of this ultimate honor.
It appears that only one person will be inducted this year. The ten finalists will be announced on June 17, while the name of the 64th inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame will be revealed on July 11.
