When Lou Garza won his first World Series of Poker bracelet back in 2023, the Texan punctuated his celebration with a marriage proposal to his then-girlfriend Carla. Nearly two years later, a now-married Garza scored a second triumph at the series. This time around, instead of an engagement, Garza had to engage comeback mode to stop what seemed at the time like a runaway freight train in the form of two-time bracelet winner Ben Lamb.
Garza bounced back from more than a 3:1 chip deficit at that start of heads-up play to hoist the hardware and secure the top prize of $1,302,233 as the champion of the 2025 WSOP $25,000 pot-limit Omaha and no-limit hold’em mixed event. This huge payday fell just short of surpassing Garza’s previous top score of $1,309,232 that came with his bracelet in the $10,000 PLO championship at the series a couple of years earlier. He now has nearly $4.7 million in recorded scores to his name.
The 700 PokerGO Tour points that came with this title were enough to catapult Garza into 14th place in the PGT season-long standings despite no prior qualifying cashes.
This tournament drew 245 entries to create a final prize pool of $5,757,500. Only the final 37 finishers cashed, with stars of the game like John Hennigan (36th), Jason Koon (32nd), Joao Simao (28th), Bruce Yockey (26th), Stephen Chidwick (21st), Dan Smith (20th), Shaun Deeb (17th), Eric Wasserson (16th), Nick Schulman (14th), Ben Tollerene (12th), and ‘Texas Mike’ Moncek (9th) making deep runs.
The fourth and final day saw just five players return to Horseshoe Las Vegas, with the action broadcast as part of PokerGO’s exclusive live streaming coverage of the WSOP. Lamb was well out in front when play resumed, and his lead only expanded in the early going. Garza did his best to keep pace, scoring the first knockout of the day with pocket kings against K-9 suited for Brandon Mitchell (5th – $303,773). Even with that knockout, Lamb still had more than 2.5x as many chips as Garza, who was the second-largest stack.
The next big confrontation saw Lamb open the button to 560,000 with K♥9♠7♠6♥. Robert Cowen, a two-time bracelet winner from the UK, three bet to 1,800,000 with A♦A♣5♣4♠ from the big blind and Lamb made the call. The flop came down 8♦5♥2♣ and Cowen moved all-in for 2,735,000 and Lamb called with his wrap straight draw. The A♠ on the turn improved Cowen to top set, but the 6♣ river gave Lamb a nine-high straight and the elimination. Cowen earned $421,524 as the fourth-place finisher, the third-largest score of his career.
When Ben Lamb is hot, Ben Lamb is HOT!
Can he win another @WSOP gold bracelet? Watch live now on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG. pic.twitter.com/w7LUa8PB60
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 5, 2025
Lamb had more than four times as many chips Garza heading into three-handed action, while Chongxian Yang was even shorter with fewer than eight big blinds to work with. Yang was soon all-in with with A♥Q♣7♥4♠ up against the A♦K♦6♠2♠ of Garza. The board came out A♠K♠10♠ to all but end it, with Garza having flopped a flush and top two pair for a full house redraw. The J♦ turn officially left Yang drawing dead, making the K♣ river a mere formality.
Garza Surges, Slips Back, Then Makes One Big Final Push To Victory
Heads-up play began with more than a 3:1 chip lead for Lamb. Garza got off to a strong start, winning a hefty pot with aces up during a round of two-card poker. Lamb went for a hero call with top pair of kings from the flop, but found out that Garza had indeed hit the ace on the turn.
Garza then took the lead, turning the wheel against another second pair for Lamb. This time around, Lamb folded on the river to minimize the damage somewhat, but the pot still resulted in Garza overtaking the lead roughly 15 minutes after heads-up play began with Lamb solidly out in front.
Lamb was able to edge back into the lead during the final few hands of NLH, then continued his counter-surge through the round of PLO. Garza pulled off a big bluff in the next round of hold’em, though, to kickstart what would turn out to be his final streak to the title. The hand began with a button raise from Garza to 800,000 with 9♠8♦. Lamb defended his big blind with Q♣7♠ and the flop came down Q♥7♥5♥. Lamb check-called a bet of 700,o00 and the turn paired the board with the 2♦. The turn also went check, call, this time for 1,600,000. The river brought the J♥ and Lamb checked a third time. Garza bombed 5,300,000 with air and drew a fairly quick fold from Lamb. Garza rolled over his nine-high bluff and dragged the healthy pot.
From there, he continued to battle back towards even and then overtook the lead, winning a healthy pot with turned trips in PLO to move back out in front. Lamb continued to slide from there, sliding to just shy of 14 big blinds ahead of the final hand of the tournament. Lamb open-shoved from the button for 5,525,000 with K♣10♣ and Garza snap-called with A♥A♣. The Q♠J♥J♦7♥Q♦ runout was no help to Lamb and he was sent to the rail with $868,140 for his runner-up finish. The two-time WSOP main event final tablist now has more than $17.7 million in recorded earnings after this strong showing.
Aces for Lou Garza and he’s the champion of the @WSOP $25,000 NLH/PLO High Roller! Garza wins more than $1,300,000.
If you missed the stream, catch the on-demand replay on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG. pic.twitter.com/5HoygJGWAg
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 5, 2025
| Place | Player | Prize Money | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Lou Garza | $1,302,233 | 1,428 | 700 |
| 2 | Ben Lamb | $868,140 | 1,190 | 521 |
| 3 | Chongxian Yang | $598,285 | 952 | 359 |
| 4 | Robert Cowen | $421,524 | 714 | 253 |
| 5 | Brandon Mitchell | $303,773 | 595 | 182 |
| 6 | John Pannucci | $224,034 | 476 | 134 |
| 7 | Zhargal Tsydypov | $169,183 | 357 | 102 |
| 8 | Youness Barakat | $130,896 | 238 | 79 |
| 9 | Michael Moncek | $103,821 | 119 | 62 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.
