While 1,373 teams of players entered the 2025 World Series of Poker $1,000 no-limit hold’em tag team event, only one could walk away as champions.
After three days of communication and co-operation, Kelvin Kerber and Peter Patricio emerged as the victors. The friends and longtime poker grinders from Brazil both secured their first WSOP gold bracelets thanks to this triumph, along with a team payout of $184,780. That amounts to a $92,390 per each player with an even split.
While this was a new top live score for Patricio, Kerber already had a few six-figure scores under his belt on the brick-and-mortar scene, including a win in a Brazilian Series of Poker Millions event for $330,170. It was Kerber who took the lead down the stretch for the team, including closing out the victory in what ended up being a brief heads-up clash with the French duo of Samy Boujmala and Hicham Mahmouki.
“When we were six left, I just told him, if you want to, I got this. I think I got this guy,” Kerber told PokerNews live reporters after all was said and done. “He was like, ‘Just go for it. I trust you.’”
31 Flavors For Day 3
This event ran from June 24-26 inside Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas. The strong turnout resulted in a prize pool of $1,208,240, with 206 teams making the money.
The third and final day began with just 31 pairs still in contention. Among them were Jamie Kerstetter and Corey Paggeot (23rd), who finished second in this tournament in 2022. Other notables who ran deep included high-stakes cash game stream star Alan Keating and partner Cody Daniels (14th), married couple Kristy Moreno and Andrew Moreno (12th), and mid-majors crushers Angela Jordison and Maxwell Young (8th).
A classic preflop race spelled the end of Jordison and Young’s hopes in this event, with their pocket eights losing out to the A-J of South Korea’s Kyeongrim Shin and Hyomo Kang.
Kerber and Patricio scored their first knockout with a king high flush ending Shin and Kang’s run in sixth place ($34,793). The next key confrontation saw Kerber’s A♣4♦ outrun the 5♦5♣ of David Suthie and Conor Hannan (5th – $46,784). The board came down 6♥3♦2♠5♥Q♣, with the turn giving Kerber a straight while Sathue made a set of fives. There was no board pair on the river, though, and the field was narrowed to four teams.
Surging To The Finish line
Boujmala and Mahmouki then knocked out Michael Lancaster and Derek Stark in fourth place to set the podium finishers for the event. The French players scored the next elimination as well, with A♣J♣ holding against the A♥10♦ of Steven McCartney and Dominic Coombe. Both teams made a pair of aces on the turn, but the kickers played to see McCartney and Coombe sent to the rail in third place ($88,015).
The final showdown for the bracelet began with roughly a 2:1 lead for the Brazilians. It didn’t take long for that advantage to be converted into the title. Kerber opened from the button to 500,000 with J♦8♦ and Mahmouki three-bet to 2,000,000 with A♠K♣ . Kerber called and the flop came down K♠J♥3♣ . Mahmouki c-bet 1,200,000 and Kerber called with middle pair. The 6♠ turn drew another barrel from Mahmouki, this time for 2,300,000. Kerber called again and the J♠ completed the board, giving Kerber trips. Mahmouki moved all-in and Kerber quickly called to win the pot and the title.
Boujmala and Mahmouki earned $123,102 as the runners-up.
Final Table Results
| Place | Team | Payout |
| 1 | Kelvin Kerber – Peter Patricio | $184,780 |
| 2 | Samy Boujmala – Hicham Mahmouki | $123,102 |
| 3 | Steven Mccartney – Dominic Coombe | $88,015 |
| 4 | Michael Lancaster – Derek Stark | $63,750 |
| 5 | Conor Hannan – David Sathue | $46,784 |
| 6 | Kyeongrim Shin – Hyomo Kang | $34,793 |
| 7 | Quirin Heinz – Felix Rabas | $26,227 |
| 8 | Angela Jordison – Maxwell Young | $20,042 |
| 9 | Feng Qian – Zhou Lin | $15,529 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.
