Is this how you’d react winning $525,700?! 🤯👇🏽
Former officer-turned-poker-player (Brandon Mitchell) does the unthinkable, besting a field of 3,546 and coming from behind at the final table to WIN the 2025 Arizona State Poker Championship ♠️🏆💰🎉 pic.twitter.com/XzasUVvg8a
— Talking Stick Resort (@TS_Resort) August 21, 2025
The 2025 Arizona State Poker Championship at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale attracted a massive turnout of 3,546 entries at $1,100 a piece. As a result, the prize pool swelled to the point that the top prize sat at $525,700. That sum was ultimately awarded to Brandon Mitchell, who can be seen celebrating in the video above after dragging the final pot with trip fives.
Hayley Hanna
Mitchell is no stranger to taking down large-field events at this price point. A couple of years before this win, he topped 3,737 entries in an event at the Wynn Summer Classic to earn $327,817. Thanks in large part to these two victories, Mitchell now boasts career tournament earnings of nearly $1.5 million.
The huge turnout for this event saw the top six finishers walk away with six-figure payouts. Among the finalists was Hayley Hanna, the wife of 2016 Card Player Player of the Year award winner David Peters. Hanna earned $157,900 as the fourth-place finisher. This was her largest recorded score yet, blowing away the $37,708 she earned with a runner-up showing in an online WSOP Circuit event last spring.
Hanna’s run ended when her combo draw failed to improve against the pair and gutshot of Mitchell.
Runner-up David Levy was the chip leader heading into short-handed play, but lost a big pot against the trips of Mitchell to give up the advantage. The final hand saw Mitchell’s K♣5♣ hold against the K♦2♣ of Levy. The board ran out 6♣5♠4♠8♣5♦ and Mitchell’s three fives locked up the title.
Levy walked away with $310,000 for his strong showing.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Brandon Mitchell | $525,700 | 1320 |
| 2 | David Levy | $310,000 | 1100 |
| 3 | Nicholas Rogers | $210,500 | 880 |
| 4 | Hayley Hanna | $157,900 | 660 |
| 5 | Zachary Powers | $131,600 | 550 |
| 6 | Christopher Collins | $105,300 | 440 |
| 7 | Senh Cong | $78,900 | 330 |
| 8 | James Pausch | $65,800 | 220 |
| 9 | Mark Evangelista | $52,600 | 110 |
Photo via Talking Stick Resort X account.
