Chang Lee Tops Record WSOP High Roller In Second Tournament He Ever Entered

For many players, it takes decades of grinding before they finally break through to capture their first bracelet. Some of the top tournament poker earners in the game, like Cary Katz and Christoph Vogelsang, have accumulated tens of millions worth of scores on the circuit without managing to close out a win at the World Series of Poker.

For South Korea’s Chang Lee, the opposite was true. The high-stakes cash game player reportedly had played in only one other tournament prior to deciding to take a shot at the $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller at the 2025 WSOP.

Incredibly, Lee navigated his way through a record field of 392 entries to come away with the bracelet and the massive top prize of $1,949,044. He also secured 750 PokerGO Tour rankings points as the champion, surging inside the top 15 in the PGT season-long standings despite no prior cashes thanks to the sheer magnitude of this single triumph.

The huge turnout built a prize pool of $9,212,000, with the top 59 finishers making the money. Brad Owen (49th), Erik Seidel (45th), Ben Tollerene (39th), Asher Conniff (32nd), Jeremy Ausmus (22nd), Seth Davies (19th), Kiat Lee (16th), Jim Collopy (14th), Punnat Punsri (11th), and Joao Simao (10th) were among the many highly-accomplished players to run deep.

Thinning The Ranks

The third and final day saw 18 players return to Horseshoe Las Vegas to play down to a champion. Russia’s Anatoly Nikitin was out in front, while Lee sat in the middle of the pack.

Lee worked his way inside the top three on the leaderboard by the time the final table was set. Bracelet winner Byron Kaverman scored the first knockout, winning with A-J against the A-6 of Triton Poker regular Webster Lim (9th – $141,218). Kaverman soon got involved in another all-in confrontation with the same holding. This time around, he got the money in with second pair trailing the top pair made by the K-Q suited of Matthew Frankland. Kaverman took home $182,902 as the eighth-place finisher.

Andrew Ostapchenko then sent bracelet winner Orpen Kisacikoglu packing in seventh place, with his A-K winning a battle of the blinds against the A-7 of his opponent. Kisacikoglu earned $241,701 for his latest high-stakes final-table finish, bringing his career haul to nearly $21.7 million.

2015 WSOP main event champion Joe McKeehen was the next to fall. He squared off against Lee, three-bet jamming over a button raise to 500,000 for a total of 2,200,000 with K♣Q♠. Lee called the shove with A♠J♠ and held through a 7♦6♣2♠2♣5♠ runout to end the three-time bracelet winner’s tournament. McKeehen walked away with $325,757. He now has more than $21.1 million in lifetime earnings to his name.

Joe McKeehen (@dude904) out in sixth from the @WSOP $25,000 High Roller final table. He collects $325,757.

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Finishing Strong

Lee entered the final five in second chip position. He accumulated more early, but Ostapchenko was also busy adding to his leading stack. He open-shoved from the small blind with Q-3 in the next key showdown and popular Japanese poker vlogger Masato Yokosawa took a stand with J-5 from the big blind for his last handful of blinds. Ostapchenko flopped a three and held from there to eliminate Yokosawa in fifth place ($447,613). This was a new career-best payday for the 2013 World Poker Tour South Korea champion.

The UK’s Mathew Frankland was fresh off of a big series at European Poker Tour Monte Carlo in May, having won a €2,200 side event for $463,000  and finished fourth in a €25,000 high roller for another $447,000. He rode that momentum all the way to the final four in this huge event, only to have a big bluff picked off by Ostapchenko. His fourth pair river bet was looked up by third pair, which left him with just 1.5 big blinds remaining in his stack.

Andrew Ostapchenko (@AOchenko) picks off the bluff!

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— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 10, 2025

Frankland was forced all-in on the next hand and was soon heading to the payout desk to collect $626,823, a new top-score for the Englishman.

Berg was the short stack heading into three-handed play. As the night wore on he began to fall behind the pack. He was down to fewer than 10 big blinds when his last hand arrived. He three-bet shoved with J♦8♠ over the top of Ostapchenko’s button min-raise to 800,000. Ostapchenko called with Q♣4♣.

The board came down Q♦7♣5♣J♣4♦ and Ostapchenko made a flush to score the knockout. Berg also set a new career best with his showing in this event, earning $894,265 as the third-place finisher.

Heads-up play began with Ostapchenko holding 31,500,000 to Lee’s 27,225,000. He won a hefty pot with aces full of eights to overtake the lead, then began to stretch it.

The final hand began with Lee raising to 1,350,000 from the button with K♥4♥. Ostapchenko three-bet to 5,500,000 with A♦K♠ and Lee called. The flop came down 6♣5♥3♥ to give Lee a monster combo draw. Ostapchenko check-called a 6,000,000 bet from Lee and the K♦ hit the turn. Both players checked after making top pair and the 4♠ completed the board. Ostapchenko shoved for 10,100,000 and Lee quickly called with his rivered kings up to secure the pot and the title.

Ostapchenko earned $1,299,333 as the runner-up. This was the first seven-figure payday for the Carlsbad, California resident. His career earnings now sit at more than $4.9 million after this second-place run.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP / Regina Cortina.