Cary Katz Finally Captures First World Series of Poker Bracelet With $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Victory

After a handful of top-five finishes in bracelet events, including three runner-up showings, longtime high-stakes tournament regular Cary Katz has finally broken through with a win at the World Series of Poker.

The 55-year-old founder of businesses like College Loan Corp and PokerGO defeated a field of 1,299 players in the 2025 World Series of Poker $2,500 no-limit hold’em freezeout to earn the top prize of $449,245 and his long-awaited hardware. Katz now boasts nearly $41 million in recorded tournament earnings.

“It feels amazing. I was really present throughout the tournament. I just wanted to enjoy every moment,” said Katz after coming out on top.

Bracelet secured! Cary Katz 🇺🇸 (@carykatz) breaks through with his first WSOP bracelet in Event #83: $2,500 Freezeout NLH, topping a tough field of 1,299 and cashing in for $449,245. A well-earned win! #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/QUiJU75LpB

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 7, 2025

A Welcome Win In An Unexpected Event

Nearly $7.8 million of Katz’s total earnings come from his 67 cashes in WSOP bracelet events, including a fifth-place finish in the 2016 Big One for One Drop Invitational for $1.9 million and a runner-up finish in the 2023 $100,000 high roller for $1.6 million. As one might guess from the two previous results, a lot of Katz’s success has come in the largest buy-in events around the globe. That makes the fact that his first bracelet came in a $2,500 tournament a bit of a surprise.

“Yeah. I wasn’t even supposed to play it. I didn’t even have it on my schedule, I was going to rest this weekend and get ready for the main. But I said, ‘I have a feeling. I kind of want to play this. I like freezeouts, I’m gonna go late reg the freezeout and see what happens.’  And boy, it was a good decision,” said Katz. “I’m glad I took my shot.”

This victory came more than a dozen years after Katz’s first second-place showing at the series in the 2013 $5,000 pot-limit hold’em event that was won by Davidi Kitai. Now he has, at long last, removed his name from the dreaded ‘best without a bracelet’ list. Katz was one of just two players in that company with more than $40 million in career scores, with the other being Steve O’Dwyer, who has not attended the WSOP for a while now.

Run The Numbers

Katz often is facing off against small but elite fields at the nosebleed stakes. In this particular event, he had to outlast nearly 1,300 other players on his way to securing the title.

The top 196 finishers earned a share of the $2,890,275 in prize pool, with multi-time WSOP champions like four-time bracelet winner Phil Hui (92nd), two-time bracelet winner Alex Livingston (60th), and two-time bracelet winner Boris Kolev (26th) all running deep.

Other notables who made it down to the final few tables included bracelet winners Klemens Roiter (23rd) and Vitor Dzivielevski (20th), Justin Zaki (18th), Michael Jozoff (17th), and bracelet winner Stefan Lehner (11th).

The tournament was meant to be a three-day affair, but an unscheduled fourth day was ultimately needed. Play was halted late on day 3 with Jaehoon Baek in the lead and Katz in third position among the remaining four contenders.

Katz Surges Early

Eight-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Preston McEwan was left short early on in day 4 when his pocket jacks were outrun by the K-J suited of Katz. The chips went in preflop with McEwan’s pair in the lead, but the board brought three diamonds to give Katz a flush and the double up. McEwan was left on fumes after that.

McEwan got the last of his stack in with top two pair, aces and jacks, after having committed the majority of his chips preflop. Unfortunately for him, he was up against top set of aces for Baek. McEwan was drawing dead after Baek forced a third contender, Breno Drumond, out of the pot on the turn. The river was a mere formality and McEwan was eliminated in fourth place ($155,010). He grew his recorded earnings to more than $2.4 million.

Here is a quick peek at the final 3 fighting it out in Event 83: $2,500 NL Hold’em Freezeout!@PokerGO’s own @carykatz is aiming for his first WSOP bracelet if he can get through Breno Drumond and Jaehoon Baek!#wsop2025 pic.twitter.com/46E6RYjiQv

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 6, 2025

A classic coin flip set up the final heads-up pairing. Drumond ripped from the button with 4♠4♦ and Baek called off from the big blind for less with K♦Q♦. The board came down 10♠3♣2♣J♠5♦ and Drumond’s small pocket pair dodged a bevy of overcards and straight outs heading into the river to win the pot. Baek busted in third place, earning a career-best payday of $213,800.

Heads Up

The final two squared up the table with a starting situation that looked as follows:

Drumond – 28,100,000

Katz – 17,400,000

Katz narrowed the gap then moved ahead thanks to a strong start. The two then swapped the lead back and forth. Katz then picked off a bluff with rivered second pair to chip up to a 2:1 advantage.

Drumond had slid even further behind before he found a double with 9♠8♠ against Katz’s A♦10♥. Drumond flopped the nut straight with an open-ended straight flush redraw. He wound up making a garden-variety flush to win the pot, but Katz was still out in front despite losing that all-in.

In the final hand, Katz open-shoved from the button with 3♥3♣. Drumond called off with A♦J♦ and the board came down 10♥7♥6♣2♠8♠. Katz’s small pocket pair remained best in the end, and Drumond was eliminated in second place. The Brazilian, who had the support of the rowdy rail typical of that country, earned a career-best live score of $298,690.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.