World Series of Poker Digest: June 15–20

The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas has rolled through another ten tournaments. More than half of the bracelets have already found their new owners. And we're rapidly approaching the most prestigious events on the schedule: the Poker Players Championship and, of course, the Main Event. But last week's events gave us plenty to talk about too. We've packed everything most interesting into our digest. 

Historic victories

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

Earlier this week the most expensive tournament of the World Series wrapped up — the $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em. Its winner was Adrian Mateos. During Day 2 the Spaniard busted after getting it in with AK against Christoph Vogelsang's pocket kings, but he made the most of his second chance — 100% of it. 

In the heads-up, Mateos beat All Time Money List leader Bryn Kenney, despite trailing him in chips at the start of the duel. In the decisive hand, the Spanish high roller successfully played the "Doyle Brunson hand": with 10♣️2♣️ he flopped two pair on a 2♥️10♠️4♣️8♦️3♦️ board against the American's 10♥️9♦️.  The 31-year-old Adrian Mateos earned $4,334,411 and wrote his name into the history books, becoming the youngest six-time WSOP champion. 

Photo: Regina Cortina

Another landmark achievement came from Calvin Anderson. The American regular became the first player in history to win the $10,000 Razz Championship twice. Anderson led the event's chipcount after both Day 1 and Day 2, and in the heads-up he confidently beat Eric Rodawig. 

The bracelet was Calvin Anderson's sixth of his career, putting him level on titles with players like Mateos, Jeremy Ausmus and Kristen Foxen. In addition, the American took the largest prize in the history of the Razz championship — $357,026. This boosted his earnings in WSOP Razz tournaments to $759,280 and pushed Phil Hellmuth off the top spot in that category.

Photo: PokerGO

And here it's also worth mentioning Alex Foxen. The American pro won the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty last week, eliminating six of the eight opponents at the final table. Foxen kept up the trend set by his wife Kristen, who a few days earlier had become champion of the $25,000 high roller. For Alex himself, this bracelet was the fourth of his career.

Debut bracelets

Photo: Jess Beck

But it wasn't only the established stars taking bracelets. Several players reached their first World Series titles. And that, of course, is also a piece of history. Briton Matthew Moss beat a field of 3,903 entrants and won the $800 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em. In the heads-up the Englishman dispatched Darryll Ronconi in under an hour. 

In the $1,500 Razz tournament, two Germans met in a heads-up for the first time in WSOP history. The stubborn battle between Sebastian Pauli and Dennis Weiss lasted 4.5 hours. Pauli eventually caught the winning hand on sixth street, leaving his opponent without outs or chips. This bracelet was special for Sebastian, since he had been trying to win it for the past 13 years. In 2013 Pauli finished fourth in the $2,500 Razz and has since regularly entered Razz events at the World Series. 

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

Daniel Aharoni is nowhere near as avid a WSOP participant as Pauli. The American cash player rarely plays tournaments at all, and hadn't come to Las Vegas since 2024. This time Aharoni made a successful entry into the $10,000 Big O Championship, getting past 456 opponents, including Nick Schulman (5th place) and Sam Soverel (7th place). In the heads-up Daniel beat Aaron Kupin and took the top prize of $861,287, which exceeded his entire previous live tournament earnings combined.

After the $5,000 Seniors High Roller event, a new name was also added to the list of World Series winners. Juan Rodriguez claimed the title, beating the Iranian Nariman Yaghmai in the heads-up. The opponents went all-in preflop, and the 52-year-old Peruvian, loudly cheered by the rail, hit a pair of kings on the river. Rodriguez earned $673,011, many times more than his previous best cash — $47,000. 

Photo: Jess Beck

Alex Anton had to wait much less for his first bracelet. The 25-year-old American won the $10,000 Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold'em. In the heads-up he disposed of Julien Sitbon, who already had a WSOP title, in just 20 minutes. During the tournament Anton eliminated Croatian Gregor Sverko (7th place), who pulled the largest bounty of $250,000. 

Anton also set a new best cash, earning $678,300. His previous best result had come in April, when he finished fourth in the €20,000 Super High Roller 8-Handed at WSOP Europe and took €340,000. And after the win, the American player revealed that he only started playing live tournaments a couple of years ago:
"I played online cash, then switched to live cash, and then, about two years ago, started playing tournaments more often. For the past year and a half I've been constantly on the road. I've been playing nearly all day every day since I was 20. Online tournaments were like I was just grinding in my cave, and my family never saw it. And now my girlfriend was able to come and see me play live. I'm not in my underwear in front of a computer screen, so it's cool." 

Nikolai Fal's final table

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

Nikolai Fal was very close to the second bracelet of his career. In 2024 the Russian regular won the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better. And this time he fought right to the end for the title in another mixed event: $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better. 

The tournament drew 587 entries, and Fal finished Day 1 with the 91st stack. But the Russian played a strong Day 2 and bagged the fourth stack, getting past, among others, Hall of Fame members Barbara Enright and John Juanda. He reached the final table in that same position. Only Eddie Blumenthal, Dekel Balas and Donovan Bates were ahead of the Russian regular. 

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

During the final table Nikolai Fal eliminated Adam Walter and Soshi Yasoshima back to back, cutting the number of participants to three. The 3-max ran for quite a while until former chip leader Bates gradually lost his chips and busted to Blumenthal. In the heads-up the American regular methodically chipped away at the Russian's stack. 

In the decisive hand Fal went all-in for his last 525,000 chips. Blumenthal called, and queens on the turn and river brought him trips with the better low and the first title of his career. The Russian regular earned $165,530, which was the third-largest cash of his career. Blumenthal, meanwhile, took the top prize of $248,545. 

Phil Hellmuth's wager and illness

Photo: PokerOrg

Phil Hellmuth hasn't been dazzling with loud successes at the World Series tables so far, but away from them he remains a true showman. Last week the 17-time WSOP champion advertised pieces of his son Phillip Hellmuth III in the Main Event at odds of 1.4. Shaun Deeb showed up in the comments and called such odds biased. And then Hellmuth Sr. proposed a money wager.

Under the terms of the bet, Hellmuth put up $14,000 that his son would cash in the Main. If that didn't happen, Shaun Deeb and his friend Jason Mo would take that sum. However, if Hellmuth Jr. did cash, then Deeb and Mo would be obligated to pay Phil whatever amount his son earned. That is, if Hellmuth III wins the Main and gets $10,000,000, then the 17-time champion would get the same amount on top. Moreover, Deeb personally would be obligated to pay $1,000,000. 

Photo: Phil Hellmuth's X account

And on June 20 Hellmuth explained why he hadn't appeared at the tables in recent days. On his X the poker player revealed that he had come down with COVID-19. The 61-year-old player noted that he would return to tournaments as soon as he got a negative test. 

Has Shaun Deeb beaten the curse?

Photo: Eloy Cabacas

In the previous digest we told you that WWE wrestler Danhausen, at the request of commentator Jeff Platt, cast a curse on Shaun Deeb. Since then the eight-time WSOP champion has made several dozen entries in various tournaments, yet only cashed once, finishing fifth in the 2-7 Lowball championship. 

And now this week Deeb seems to have overcome the curse. The American regular led the chipcount by a huge margin after Day 2 in the $3,000 nine-game mix. He continued his dominance on Day 3 as well, eliminating Noah Bronstein, Antonios Onoufriou, Yu Li and Kazuhiro Shirasawa. He also entered the heads-up against Joey Couden with a big chip lead.

Photo: Regina Cortina

However, Couden managed to claw back and even pull ahead. The key was a big pot in Seven Card Stud, which Couden took. In the next hand of Razz, Deeb went all-in, but his opponent improved on the last street and took the third bracelet of his career. Shaun Deeb had to settle for his second cash of the summer in Vegas, which brought him $166,540.

Results of all WSOP events last week

What awaits us next week?

Photo: PokerOrg

Next week's schedule will also delight us with big and interesting events. The main course is, of course, the Poker Players Championship. The fight for the World Series' second most prestigious title and the Chip Reese trophy starts as soon as June 21. In addition, we'll find out the winner of the $50,000 PLO high roller and the $25,000 buy-in PLO/NLH mixed high roller. And at the end of the week the world's best women poker players will compete in the $1,000 Ladies Championship No-Limit Hold'em. Pokerflow will, of course, tell you about all this and much more.