The 2025 World Series of Poker Online has entered the back half of its 30-event schedule, which is available for players located in Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Card Player covered the results from events 1-10 in issue 15. Below is a look at events 11-15, which saw several highly-accomplished players come out on top, including two first-time bracelet winners.
First up was the $3,200 no-limit hold’em high roller, which was won by none other than Adrian Mateos. The 30-year-old high-stakes tournament regular has already secured five bracelets despite his youth. This latest triumph saw him outlast 444 entries. This event’s final table was played out live and in person at the Horseshoe Las Vegas on June 21. Mateos overcame a stacked final table, defeating Bulgarian bracelet winner Alex Kulev heads-up to claim his latest piece of hardware.
Mateos is just the fifth player in history to have won as many WSOP bracelets at his age. Living legend Phil Ivey managed the feat when he was 28 years old. All-time bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth did so at 29, while Allen Cunningham and Daniel Alaei were both 30 when they secured their fifth wins. This victory came less than two weeks before Mateos’ 31st birthday.
The Spanish all-time money leader took home $253,080 for the win. The cash pushed his career earnings past $56.1 million, with more than $14.6 million coming from his success in bracelet events. He also has a win in the European Poker Tour Grand Final to his name, in addition to myriad high-stakes victories over the years.
While Mateos’ victory saw him add to an already healthy bracelet collection, the next winner was getting his hands on the gold for the first time.
World Poker Tour champion Matthew Wantman came within one spot of earning his first bracelet on June 17, finishing as the runner-up in the $3,000 no-limit hold’em six-max event that was won by Tyler Patterson.
Wantman didn’t have to wait long for a shot at redemption, though. Just a few days later, he made it down to the final two in the $600 no-limit hold’em Monster Stack event online. The player who was standing between Wantman and the hardware was none other than Shaun Deeb, who is having a massive series of his own.
Wantman was able to close out the win this time around, earning $125,131 and his first bracelet as the champion. Deeb settled for $90,776 as the runner-up, one of several podium showings for the current WSOP Player of the Year race leader.
The winner of the $1 million guaranteed $500 no-limit hold’em mystery bounty event was Matthew Baker. He earned $109,720 from the main prize pool and his first gold bracelet as the champion. This was a new top score for Baker, besting the $40,000 he secured this spring with a third-place finish in a $1,100 event at One-Eyed Jacks Spring Fling in Sarasota, Florida.
Less than two weeks after losing a marathon eight-hour heads-up match against Nick Schulman in the $10,000 deuce-to-seven lowball championship, Darren Elias navigated his way to victory in the $888 no-limit hold’em ‘Crazy 8’s’ event, earning his first bracelet and $170,208.
Elias has long been a top tournament player on the scene, and indeed holds the record for the most WPT main event titles with four wins on that tour. Before this win, though, he had never been able to secure a victory at the series.
Before his runner-up showing in the no-limit deuce championship, Elias had finished third in the same event two times in previous years. He also finished third in a $25,000 high roller in 2023, fourth in the $3,000 six-max in 2022 for a few more close calls, and fifth in a $500 turbo online event in 2021 for a few more close calls. He has now made 13 total WSOP final tables.
Rounding out this latest batch of online winners is Frank Marasco, who took down the $400 deepstack. Marasco is no stranger to big wins online, having won a $525 WSOP Online Circuit main event in 2020 for $127,535. In addition to earning his first bracelet, Marasco also took home $93,373 for the win.
- Photos by Winamax, WSOP