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- The Obvious Standouts
- The Moments You Might’ve Missed
- The Rougher Stuff
- The Bigger Threat: Poker’s Future in the U.S.
- Want the Full Story?
The PokerNews Podcast crew dropped their annual WSOP wrap-up episode, and as you'd expect, it was packed with big stories, strong opinions, and a few good laughs.
Chad Holloway, Kyna England, and Mike Holtz were joined by 2006 Main Event champ Jamie Gold to break down the highs, lows, and eyebrow-raising moments from the biggest summer in poker.
From Leo Margets’ history-making Main Event final table to a surprising chip dump scandal in the Millionaire Maker, they didn’t hold back. But as epic as this WSOP was, a few things might’ve slipped under the radar, so here’s a look at some of the best and worst moments and some you may not have heard about... yet.
The Obvious Standouts
Leo Margets Breaks a 30-Year Drought
When Margets made the Main Event final table, she became the first woman to do so since Barbara Enright in 1995. She played like a boss all tournament long and made history while doing it.
Margets ultimately finished in seventh place, earning a career-best $1,500,000. While Enright still holds the highest finishing position with her fifth-place result, Margets' deep run stands out as the best percentile finish by a woman in Main Event history.
Grinder’s Summer for the Ages
Michael Mizrachi might’ve just had the greatest tournament run we’ve ever seen.
First, he won the Poker Players Championship again — that’s four now — and then came from three big blinds at 24 players left to win the Main Event for $10 million.
Not long after? Inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Benny Glaser’s Bracelet Hat Trick
Three bracelets. One summer. Everyone knew Benny Glaser as a mixed-game wizard, but this year, he may have proved himself as poker's best mixed-game tournament player.
First the $1,500 Dealers Choice, then the $1,500 Mixed PLO8 and lastly was the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball (2-7, A-5, Badugi).
The wins all came within a span on three weeks and all in fields with more than 400 entries. That was the historic heater Glaser found himself on at the WSOP, as he became just the eighth player in WSOP history to win three gold bracelets in a single summer.
At just 36 years old, Glaser has now racked up eight WSOP bracelets in a ten-year span, trailing only six legends on the all-time list: Johnny Moss (9), Erik Seidel (10), Johnny Chan (10), Doyle Brunson (10), Phil Ivey (11), and Phil Hellmuth (17).
Deeb Gets That Second Banner
Shaun Deeb clinched the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year, edging Glaser and Martin Kabrhel in a highly competitive race.
It’s Deeb’s second POY title (2018), joining Daniel Negreanu as the only two-time winners.
Glaser led in June with three bracelets, but Deeb surged late, taking the lead with a win in Event #79: $100K PLO for $2.96M. He finished with four top-three results, including a runner-up in Event #84.
Nick Schulman, Seventh Bracelet, Hall of Fame
Nick Schulman added a seventh bracelet (in a heads-up duel with Darren Elias, no less) after winning the $10,000 2-7 Championship, then got inducted into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot.
How's Schulman been able to hang at poker's top table for two decades? He shared his process in an interview with PokerNews.
"A lot of reinventing the wheel, and a lot of rock bottoms," he said. "I feel like it's probably what you would think it is. I'm thankful to be here and I do love to play. End of the day, that's one of my big secrets."
The Moments You Might’ve Missed
Okamoto’s Quiet Dominance
Shiina Okamoto went back-to-back in the WSOP Ladies Championship. Oh, and she finished second in that event the year before her first title.
She’ll be in action again at the PokerStars Women’s Festival in August, so don’t be surprised if she runs deep again.
Elias Gets His First Bracelet
After just missing out on his first bracelet to Schulman, Elias got his redemption with a win during the WSOP Online series. A long time coming for one of the WPT’s most consistent crushers.
Elias had to beat Lachezar Petkov, a Bulgarian pro, heads up at the final table of Event #14: $888 NL Hold'em Crazy 8's. He won $170,208 for his first-place finish.
The Rougher Stuff
Kassouf Crosses the Line
Will Kassouf being Will Kassouf was already wearing thin. But it all boiled over after he berated Kenny Hallaert during the Main Event and had to be physically removed from the property.
The WSOP banned him for the rest of the summer and from all future 2025 events. It’s still unclear if he’ll be welcomed back next year.
Millionaire Maker Drama
An alleged chip dump between Jesse Yaginuma and James Carroll to lock up a $1 million bonus payday in the Millionaire Maker left such a bad taste, that the WSOP rescinded Yaginuma's bracelet win.
https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1939886890829979834
The WSOP handed down penalties after an investigation, but plenty of players felt the whole thing was mishandled. Nonetheless, Yaginuma still received the ClubWPT Gold bonus.
The Bracelet That Disappeared
One of the WSOP Online bracelet events was cancelled mid-tournament due to tech issues, which didn't exactly paint the WSOP in a good light after so many years of players asking for better software.
The Satellite That Sparked a Firestorm
Albert Ng won a Ladies Championship satellite online, despite being, well, not a lady. The online satellite didn’t have gender restrictions, but the Ladies Event itself does. Ng technically still would've had to pay an extra $9,000 to claim the seat, but the optics were ugly and was followed by a lot of backlash online.
For the record though, Ng did not participate in the Ladies Championship.
The Bigger Threat: Poker’s Future in the U.S.
While all the focus was on the action at Horseshoe and Paris, something way more serious was happening behind the scenes.
Tucked into a massive new piece of legislation, the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”, is a new tax rule that could hammer professional poker players: a cap on gambling loss deductions at 90% of winnings.
It doesn’t sound like much, but it could be devastating to poker's overall health and popularity.
Players would be taxed on gross winnings instead of net profit. A pro who wins $1M but spends $950K on buy-ins and travel could still owe taxes on $100K. Even recreational players could be taxed after breaking even. The poker world — and especially U.S. grinders — are sounding the alarm.
Phil Galfond, Doug Polk, Chris Brewer, Brock Wilson all said this is the most serious threat the game has faced since Black Friday.
Polk even dropped a YouTube breakdown, urging people to contact their representatives. Congresswoman Dina Titus says she’s working on a fix, but it’s unclear if that will do any good for the time being.
Here's What Tax Experts Want Poker Players to Know About Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Want the Full Story?
If you want the full breakdown, from chip dump drama to behind-the-scenes podcast stories, check out Episode #908 of the PokerNews Podcast. Jamie Gold even jumps in to share his thoughts on Kabrhel and Kassouf (you might be surprised where he lands).
- Listen to the Episode Here
- Watch on YouTube
- Subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
