Michael Lavin Nabs 2nd WSOP Bracelet, Bonus $1 Million in Shootout

Cross-branded and piggybacking promotion is nothing new in advertising. It’s almost commonplace to hear advertisements and promotions refer to the National Football League’s ‘Big Game’ to get around rights deals.

But what happened on Friday is several orders of magnitude bigger than a free taco or anything along those lines.

Michael Lavin of New Jersey won his second career World Series of Poker bracelet and $267,373 in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout. He outlasted a field of 1,299 entrants, and banked 960 Card Player Player of the Year points.

But the biggest story of the day, overshadowing everything else, is the $1 million bonus that Lavin earned from ClubWPT Gold thanks to this victory.

As part of a summer promotion, the sweepstakes poker platform has been giving away ‘Gold Rush’ tickets in daily freerolls and a variety of other live and online promotions. Anyone who earned a ticket, and then went on to win one of 11 qualifying summer tournament majors, would bank an extra $1,000,000.

Enter Lavin. His victory in the shootout, one of the 11 events on the list, earned him a $1 million bonus worth almost four times the first-place prize that came with the hardware.

It’s the biggest result of Lavin’s career to date, to say the least. He captured his first career WSOP bracelet in 2021, in a Pennsylvania WSOP Online no-limit hold’em Monster Stack. He’s also among the all-time leaders in WSOP Circuit rings, sitting fourth all-time with 17 such victories.

Slow And Steady Start

The top 150 finishers in this event earned a share of the $1,724,423 prize pool. Lavin was one of 15 players who claimed their spot on day 3 of this tournament by winning two consecutive 10-player single table freezeouts. There were four previous WSOP bracelet winners among that 15, including Fred Goldberg, Jason Wheeler and Drew Oconnell. High roller and recently crowned four-time Triton Poker Series winner Punnat Punsri was also in the mix.

The stage was set for a growing trend that Lavin continued. We are only 20% of the way through the live World Series of Poker schedule for 2025, but the continued success for previous winners is noteworthy. Of the first 20 WSOP bracelets awarded this summer, 12 have gone to players who already had at least one in their collection.

In the lead-up to the final table of nine, Lavin didn’t score a single knockout. He did manage to chip up steadily to start the final table in the middle of the pack, but he and everyone else was looking up at Punsri, who opened up a big lead.

A little bit of luck in a big spot went a long way for Lavin. More than half of his chips were in the middle with A♠ Q♣ against Joel Vazquez’s A♥ K♠, but a Q♠ on the flop flipped the pot in his favor.

ACES CRACKED at the @WSOP $1,500 NL Hold’em Shootout final table.

Watch live now on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG. pic.twitter.com/XDiJN2bbcG

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 7, 2025

Lavin claimed the chip lead from Punsri, and then flopped a set in a crucial spot, as seen in the replay above from PokerGO’s exclusive live streaming coverage. Holding 9♠ 9♣ on the button, Lavin flat-called a raise from Jordan Westmorland, who held A♥ A♦. The K♦ 9♦ 3♥ flop was a dream, and it got better for Lavin when Westmorland check-raised. Westmorland kept the lead on the 8♠ turn, and fired all-in on the J♠ river. Lavin was all too happy to oblige with a call, and Westmorland was out in seventh.

Lavin Completes $1 Million Sun Run

While Lavin conceded a double to Wheeler with Q♥ T♥ against pocket queens, he’d get those chips and more back quickly. In a big race, Lavin’s pocket jacks held off Wheeler’s A♠ K♠ as one bracelet winner eliminated another.

With five left, Lavin picked off another short stack with some good fortune. Lavin’s A♣ 4♦ connected with just enough of the flop, with a 4♣, to beat A♥ 9♣ and bust Luis Yepez Carmona in fifth.

This run of punishing big hands seemingly became unceasing for Lavin. His pocket nines were well behind Linyang Song’s pocket queens, and yet the 9♥ on the turn struck again.

At this point, three-handed, Lavin became relentless. He knocked off Punsri in third when his A♦ Q♥ made trip queens by the turn.

Michael Lavin does it! He wins the @WSOP $1,500 NL Hold’em Shootout for $267,373 and his second gold bracelet.

Don’t miss the WSOP streaming all summer long on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG. pic.twitter.com/YyvIfsZssM

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 7, 2025

Michael Rossitto fought hard, but Lavin had one more bit of magic left in him to end the tournament. Rossitto and Lavin seemed likely headed for a chop, with Rossitto’s A♣ 3♠ and Lavin’s A♠ 2♣ squaring off in a preflop all-in. It seemed even likelier after a K♥ 10♠ 7♦ flop, but then Lavin pulled out perhaps his most ridiculous runout: 2♠ on the turn, 2♦ on the river, and that was it. A nearly $1.3 million, life-changing day for Lavin.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Miguel Cortes.