Juan Rodriguez Triumphant In $637K WSOP Seniors High Roller Win

In other professional sports and endeavors, seniors events and tours showcase past their prime athletes competing on a slightly less punishing stage, often reducing the pace or intensity. That’s anything but the case when it comes to tournament poker, especially at the World Series of Poker.

The level of play, combined with the tremendous sums that are often on the line, pit the 50-and-over crowd against each other for some of the biggest prizes of the summer. In the $5,000 WSOP seniors high roller, Juan Rodriguez claimed a life-changing sum, along with his first career bracelet.

Rodriguez, originally from Peru, and a long-time Indiana resident now living in Florida, outlasted 844 players on his way to a $637,011 first-place prize. After four days of poker, Rodriguez claimed the greatest share of a $3,882,400 prize pool, eventually defeating Nariman Yaghmai of Iran heads-up in dramatic fashion to clinch the victory.

A rivered king on the final hand, which sealed Rodriguez’s victory, triggered a celebration from both Rodriguez and his contingent of friends and family cheering him on from the rail. He’s just the third Peruvian-born player in the history of the WSOP to win a bracelet.

Navigating The Field

The third edition of the WSOP’s $5,000 seniors high roller, which debuted in 2024, had its highest turnout to date with 844 entries. Mark Checkwicz won the inaugural running of this event in 2024, and David Baker claimed his fourth career bracelet in his 2025 seniors high roller victory, worth $646,845.

This four-day event, held just ahead of the traditional $1,000 buy-in seniors event on the schedule, tested the endurance of all involved. There were 291 players remaining after day 1, and 44 who played their way to the end of day 2.

Rodriguez started day 3 of the tournament just outside the top 10, and by the time the field reached a final table late on that third day, Rodriguez was one of the shortest stacks remaining. Gary Herstein (ninth place, $51,804) and Luke Graham (eighth place) each went out before day 3 concluded. On the very last hand of day 3 action, Rodriguez doubled up with pocket jacks against A♣10♠, setting himself up for a real chance at the bracelet.

Qing Lu started the final day in the chip lead, but the chip counts quickly bunched up. Any of the six players trailing Lu could double up into the chip lead on any given hand. Rodriguez did just that, winning a coin flip with A♠J♦ against Arie Kliper’s pocket tens to surge to the front of the pack. Rodriguez won another coin flip, this time with pocket nines against Kenneth Kim’s A♣J♥, to eliminate Kim in seventh place ($88,469).

Kim was the lone bracelet winner heading into this final table, guaranteeing a first-time champion. From that point on, the lead primarily belonged to Rodriguez for the remainder of the event.

Getting Down To Business

Kliper became Rodriguez’s next victim. He shoved his last 13 big blinds from the button with A♥6♥, and Rodriguez called with A♦9♣ in the small blind. The board paired on the turn, but Rodriguez’s nine ultimately played as Kliper was eliminated in sixth place ($118,541). This was Kliper’s second final table appearance in three years in this tournament. He finished runner up to Checkwicz in the inaugural edition.

After a brief dip in chips, Lu re-established her momentum and pushed towards the top of the chip counts. In a battle of the blinds, Rivera jammed 10 big blinds and ran head-first into Lu’s pocket kings. Rivera was drawing dead by the turn of a clean runout, resigned to finishing in fifth place ($161,446).

Rodriguez seemed poised to run away with the tournament, but a tough runout briefly stemmed his momentum. His pocket queens had Chad Lipton on the ropes with A♥3♥, and while Lipton didn’t connect on his flopped heart flush draw, a river A♠ earned him a massive double up.

Yaghmai became the beneficiary of Lipton’s chips. His K♦Q♥ dwarfed Lipton’s K♣8♣, sending Lipton to the rail in fourth place ($223,439). Yaghmai coolered Lu out of the tournament, too, flopping top and bottom pair on a Q♣3♥2♦ board to beat Lu’s K♥Q♦. Lu was out in third place ($314,158), and Yaghmai led Rodriguez going into heads-up play.

Rodriguez quickly reclaimed the lead, extended it, and with Yaghmai reduced under 20 big blinds, the final hand materialized quickly. Rodriguez exerted maximum pressure, shoving the button with K♣8♣. Yaghmai called, and remained ahead through the turn with A♦3♥. The K♠ landed on the river, making Rodriguez’s pair, ending the tournament with a dramatic flair.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Tyler Abrams