Antonio Galiana Captures Second WSOP Bracelet In As Many Years

Antonio Galiana emerged victorious from a field of 693 entries in the 2025 World Series of Poker $5,000 no-limit hold’em event to secure his second gold bracelet and the first-place prize of $582,008. This triumph came just under a year after he won the $2,500 freezeout at last year’s series for $439,395.

“It’s amazing. I won a bracelet last year, and when I came back to Vegas I went like, ‘Okay, don’t expect anything like that,’ and the first event I played, I win it,” Galiana said in his post-win interview on PokerGO’s exclusive live streaming coverage.

The Spanish player now has nearly $1.1 million in recorded tournament earnings, with the vast majority coming from his two big triumphs in Las Vegas.

This tournament ran over the course of four days at Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, with the top 104 finishers earning a share of the $3,270,960 prize pool. A plethora of big names ran deep in this event including two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (29th), bracelet winner and WPT champion Asher Conniff (26th), bracelet winner Francis Anderson (23rd), two-time bracelet winner Sam Soverel (22nd), two-time bracelet winner Joshua Remitio (21st), bracelet winner Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau (17th), two-time bracelet winner Justin Saliba (15th), bracelet winner Raj Vohra (14th), bracelet winner Bradley Gafford (11th), two-time bracelet winner ‘Texas Mike’ Moncek (9th), four-time bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos (8th), bracelet winner Justin Liberto (7th), and Uri Reichenstein (6th).

The fourth and final day began with just five players remaining, with the three largest stacks belonging to players who were all looking to secure the second bracelet of their career. Venezuelan bracelet winner Christian Roberts held the outright lead when cards got back in the air, with Galiana in second position to start.

Gaetan Balleur was the first to be bounced out of the main featured table affectionately known as the ‘Thunderdome.’ The French player ran pocket sevens into the pocket jacks of Galiana, who three-bet from the small blind over Balleur’s button raise then called the shove. Balleur flopped a flush draw with the lone spade in his hand, but failed to improve any further and was eliminated in fifth place ($137,948). This was a new top live score for Balleur, besting the $63,192 he earned for a third-place showing in a $400 buy-in WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Cherokee in 2024.

Gaetan Balleur four-bet rips pocket sevens into Antonio Galiana’s pocket jacks. Can he crack’em?

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Galiana was out in front heading into four-handed play, but he lost a big all-in with A-J against the A-K of Canada’s Frederic Normand which saw the lead change hands. There was plenty of movement around the leaderboard as the battle raged on, but eventually China’s Renji Mao was eliminated in fourth place when his 10♠9♣ failed to outrun the A♠5♦ of Normand. The board came down J♦3♠3♣5♣Q♦ and Mao, the 2023 WSOP $800 deepstack event champion, was sent to the rail with $191,550. He now has nearly $2.3 million in recorded scores to his name.

The next key pot was a wild one. Galiana limped in for 300,000 total from the small blind with K♣4♠ and Roberts, who had him covered by just over six big blinds, checked with 10♠8♠ from the big blind. The flop came down J♠6♣4♦ and Galiana checked. Roberts bet 450,000 and Galiana check-raised to 1,125,000 with his bottom pair. Roberts then three-bet to 2,000,000 with nothing but backdoor flush and straight draws. Galiana made the call and the 9♣ turn saw him check a second time. Roberts bet 1,000,000 into the pot of 4,900,000 with his fully-fledged straight draw and Galiana called, leaving himself with 6,100,000 while the pot ballooned to 6,900,000. The 5♥ completed the board and Galiana elected to lead out for 5,000,000. Roberts folded and Galiana showed his king as he dragged the hefty pot to pull into a virtual tie for the chip lead.

This was far from the first time that Galiana has been caught taking it to the streets on a livestream. He won a huge pot while playing heads-up for his first bracelet against Johan ‘Yoh Viral’ Guilbert, five-bet bluffing the river on an all-club board after the flop and turn were checked through.

Roberts fell to the short stack after that, and was soon involved in his final pot of the tournament. Roberts raised to 800,000 from the small blind with K♥7♣ and Normand called with Q♣10♣ out of the big blind. The flop came down 7♠6♣2♥ and Roberts checked top pair. Normand checked behind and the Q♦ turn gave Normand the lead. Roberts check-called a bet of 675,000 from Normand and the 2♠ completed the board. Roberts checked yet again and Normand moved all-in. Roberts called off his last 5,150,000 and was shown the bad news. The 2023 WSOP Online $500 no-limit hold’em event winner settled for $270,407 as the third-place finisher.

Heads-up play began with Normand holding roughly a 3:2 chip lead of Galiana. That gap was narrowed considerably when Galiana ran a multi-street bluff with six high that eventually forced Normand off of bottom pair, but not before a tank of approximately ten minutes. Check out a replay of the hand below:

Get comfy, this one lasts a while—a DEEEEEEP tank from Frederic Normand.

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Galiana had narrowly edged into the lead in time for the final hand of the tournament. With blinds at 150,000-300,000 and a big blind ante of 300,000, Galiana raised to 700,000 on the button with A♣3♣ and Normand defended his blind with 7♠6♣. The Q♣5♣3♠ flop saw Normand check with his gutshot straight draw, only to check-raise over Galiana’s 350,000 continuation bet. Galiana called with his bottom pair and but flush draw and the 4♣ rolled off on the turn. Normand fired a hefty bet of 3,900,000 into the pot of 4,600,000 with his turned straight. Galiana just called with the nut flush and the 9♥ appeared on the end.

Normand bet all but 300,000 of his remaining stack (around 11 million), and quickly called when Galiana moved all-in. With that, Normand was eliminated as the runner-up. The 2023 World Poker Tour bestbet Scramble main event champion walked away with $387,979, growing his lifetime haul to $2.1 million in the process.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon