Qinghai Pan held the chip lead at the end of day 2 of the 2025 World Series of Poker $10,000 seven card stud eight-or-better championship with 15 players left. When bags came out at the end of day 3 of the tournament, Pan once again led, with four players remaining.
And when the final hand was dealt on an unscheduled fourth day of play, Pan had all of the chips. The end result is a third career WSOP bracelet for Pan, the first live WSOP win and the most significant tournament cash of his life. The California-based pro outlasted a record-setting 186-player field for this tournament.
Pan won $411,051, the hardware, and 840 points in the Card Player Player of the Year race, presented by Coin Poker. Additionally, because it was a tournament with a buy-in of $10,000 or higher, Pan also earned 411 PokerGO Tour points towards that high-stakes-centric season-long leaderboard.
The two previous bracelet wins for Pan came in a pair of online no-limit hold’em events. He won a $600 freezeout during the 2022 WSOP Online and a $500 turbo the following year.
Pan On Top, When It Matters
While Pan ended the last three days of this tournament with the most chips, obviously the most important time to do so, he did not carry that lead for the entirety of the final table. Two-time bracelet winner Andrey Zhigalov overtook the top spot when the field reached seven players, and the pair spent an extended stretch trading off the lead.
Meanwhile, David Lin did the dirty work early on at the final table. After ousting Jared Rubin in eighth, Lin also picked off Alex Livingston in seventh. The chips got in by fifth street, with Livingston turning over (8♥6♥)4♥2♣8♠ for a pair of eights and a low draw. Lin had (A♥A♣) J♣3♣9♠ for hidden aces, and the lead for the high. Livingston made two-pair on sixth street, Lin made a better two-pair on seventh street, and Livingston couldn’t find a full house or a low to survive.
Pan finally picked off an elimination in one of the wildest final table pots of the summer thus far. A severely short-stacked Timothy Frazin was all-in on third street, and Pan, Lin, Zhigalov, and Tomasz Gluszko all got involved. Zhigalov bet on fifth street, Pan raised, and everyone remained in. Pan bet sixth and seventh streets, and everyone stuck around to the end.
When Pan tabled (9♣4♠2♠)7♠J♠3♣5♠ for a nine-high spade flush and a seven-five low, he scooped the giant pot. Frazin was out in sixth, and Pan’s lead was emphatically back in place.
Pan also knocked out Gluszko in fifth place. He made two-pair, tens and deuces, by fifth street, and despite having a pair of aces and a wheel draw, Gluszko missed everything on seventh street.
An Extra Day To Finish It
As can be the case in bigger buy-in events, and especially ones with split pots, the original three-day schedule was not enough to determine a winner.
Pan padded his lead early by dispatching former chip lead rival Zhigalov. The chips went in on third street, with Pan holding (K♦10♦) 7♦ against Zhigalov’s (8♦2♥) 5♦. Pan eventually made a pair of kings on fifth street, while Zhigalov had a pair of deuces and a low draw going into the final card. He bricked both, and his run was over in fourth.
Luke Schwartz made a valiant comeback after being desperately short-stacked at one point on day 3. But his luck ran out three-handed. On what would be his final hand, Schwartz had an incredibly strong hand when the chips went in, (4♠3♣) A♦5♦. But after three consecutive bricks, Schwartz could only make ace-king high. Lin made two pair, eights and sevens, and that was all for Schwartz.
Pan had a substantial lead going into heads-up play and never relinquished it. On the final hand, the chips went in on fifth street. Lin had (J♠7♦)7♣Q♦5♠ and Pan had (8♦4♣9♦A♦8♥. Pan’s eights were ahead, and he made two-pair, nines and eights, on seventh street. Lin could not find a winner when he peeled his own seventh street card, and with that, Pan became a three-time WSOP bracelet winner.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Qinghai Pan | $411,051 | 840 | 411 |
| 2 | David Lin | $274,023 | 700 | 274 |
| 3 | Luke Schwartz | $188,105 | 560 | 188 |
| 4 | Andrey Zhigalov | $132,423 | 420 | 132 |
| 5 | Tomasz Gluszko | $95,665 | 350 | 96 |
| 6 | Timothy Franzin | $70,970 | 280 | 71 |
| 7 | Alex Livingston | $54,105 | 210 | 54 |
| 8 | Jared Rubin | $42,421 | 140 | 42 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.
