Brad Ruben Bags Five WSOP Bracelets In Five Years

Brad Ruben first broke through at the World Series of Poker in August of 2020, taking down an online pot-limit Omaha event to virtually hoist the gold. Less than five years removed from that triumph, Ruben has already grown his bracelet collection to five. Ruben’s latest piece of hardware came from a win in the 2025 WSOP $1,500 no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw lowball. The 39-year-old Florida resident overcame a field of 532 entries on his way to securing the title and the top prize of $138,080. He now boasts career live earnings of more than $2.8 million. The majority of that haul has come from his success at the series.

Ruben is just the 44th player in poker history to have won five or more bracelets, and he captured all of his hardware in the span of just half a decade. His second and third bracelets were both won in 2021. He first took down a second online PLO bracelet in the summer, then the $1,500 razz event at the live WSOP festival in the fall. The following summer he emerged victorious in the $1,500 dealers choice event, further proving his mixed-games chops.

“I’m very blessed,” Ruben told the PokerNews live update team. “I mean, I love all the mixed games so to win another bracelet in another variant is a blessing. I’m honored, and I have a lot of people to thank. First, God, just having a strong connection with him has helped me through some difficult times. And also my girlfriend Sunny, we’ve been together for a little over two and a half years. She’s been very supportive of me and I love her very much.”

“Another thing is this sweater is important to me,” Ruben continued. “It’s been very lucky for me, but also it’s the color of mental health awareness. I’m very passionate about that and want to get a message out: Whatever people are going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and I’m happy to talk to anyone, at anytime, about whatever.”

We have a winner in Event 12: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw!

Congrats to Brad Ruben (@Brad_Ruben_) on his fifth bracelet and $138,080 prize!#WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/6C5zPycA0s

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 3, 2025

Fighting For No. 5

The turnout for this event was up more than 17 percent from the 453-entry field of 2024. The strong showing built a prize pool of $706,230 that was split amongst the top 80 finishers. Big names like Adam Owen (33rd), Owais Ahmed (29th), James Chen (19th), Huck Seed (18th), and Sean Yu (9th) all ran deep.

Just five players advanced to day 3, with three of them already owning WSOP bracelets. Han Liu held the chip lead, with Ruben hot on his heels. Ruben closed the gap with a hero call early, picking off a pair of nines with his pair of fours.

Five-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon was the short stack when play resumed. He ultimately hit the rail in fifth place ($29,228) when his 10-7-6-5 draw was unable to beat out the 9-6-4-3 of China’s Jun Weng. Yoon made a ten low, but Weng made his nine low to secure the knockout. Yoon now has more than $7.1 million in career cashes to his name.

Despite scoring that elimination, Weng was the next to hit the rail. His final hand saw him square off against bracelet winner Yueqi Zhu, who opened to 125,000 as the first to act and drew one after Weng called from the big blind. Weng also asked for a single card. Weng checked and Zhu bet 300,000. Wen check-raised all-in for more than 600,000 total and Zhu called with 8-6-5-4-3. Weng was making a move with key blockers: 7-7-6-5-2. He settled for $41,654 as the fourth-place finisher.

Zhu’s run came to an end in third place ($60,738). He open-shoved for 920,000 from the button and Ruben made the call with a pat 10-8-7-5-2. Zhu drew two, keeping 6-4-2. Zhu made a jack-six low, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the event. This score grew his lifetime earnings to $3.8 million.

Big Hand Swings Heads-Up Match

Heads-up began with Liu holding 8,770,000 to Ruben’s 4,350,000. Ruben battled his way closer to even in the early going, then won a healthy pot with a pat 10-9-7-6-3 to overtake the lead. Liu was able to edge back out in front briefly before the decisive hand of the match was dealt. With blinds of 30,000-60,000 with a 90,000 big blind ante, Ruben raised to 200,000 from the button. Liu three-bet from the big blind, making it 750,000. Ruben four-bet to 1,900,000 and Liu called. He mulled his options before deciding to draw one, while Ruben patted in position. Liu moved all-in and Ruben snap-called his remaining 4,290,000 with 8-6-5-3-2. Liu was making a move with 10-6-6-5-3, and was left facing a 15:1 chip disparity after the pot was pushed.

The final hand began with a Ruben button raise to 180,000. Liu defended and both took one. The post-draw action began with a 400,000 bet from Liu, which prompted Ruben to move all-in. Liu thought it over for a while before calling with 10-9-7-6-5. Ruben rolled over 9-7-6-3-2 to claim the pot and the title. Liu was awarded a career-best score of $90,569 as the runner-up.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Trevor Scott.