Ryan Hoenig Wins WSOP Dealers Choice Championship

Ryan Hoenig came into the 2025 World Series of Poker with 11 live tournament titles to his name, many in lower-stakes mixed game events around the country. Three of those triumphs came in a three day span at the 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, with Hoenig posing for back-to-back-to-back winner photos in the deuce-to-seven triple draw, Omaha eight-or-better, and badugi tournaments.

While the Fort Collins, Colorado resident was no stranger to closing out wins in the mixed-game streets, he had yet to do so at the series. That all changed when he emerged victorious in this year’s WSOP $10,000 dealers choice event, securing his first gold bracelet and the top prize of $354,444. This was the second-largest score of Hoenig’s career, trailing only the $369,972 he earned as the runner-up in the 2023 WSOP $10,000 Omaha eight-or-better championship.

Hoenig was also awarded 354 PokerGO Tour points as the champion. This was his first PGT-qualified score of 2025.

This year’s dealers choice event offered a selection of 21 games for players to choose from. It drew 152 entries to the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, an increase of nearly 23 percent over the 124-entry turnout for the 2024 running. The tournament was slated to run for three days from June 3-5, but an unscheduled fourth was ultimately required, perhaps in part due to the surge in turnout.

The bubble had burst back on day 2, with the top 23 finishers earning a share of the $1,413,600 prize pool. Plenty of big names ran deep, as one might expect in such a prestigious event. Among those to cash were bracelet winners Alex Livingston (19th),  Phil Hellmuth (15th),  Gus Hansen (14th),  Allan Le (13th), Nick Guagenti (12th), Andrew Kelsall (10th), Dan Zack (9th), Adam Friedman (7th), Brandon Cantu (6th), and Dario Alioto (4th). Friedman is particularly of note, as he came close to taking down this tournament for a fourth time. The five-time overall bracelet winner went back-to-back-to-back in this very event in 2018, 2019, and 2021. The event did not run during the live poker shutdown that came with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.

Friedman was sent packing late on day 3, along with Cantu and Matthew Vengrin (5th).  The final knockout of the night saw Alioto get the last of his stack in preflop with single-suited A-K-3-3-2 in Big O. He was up against the single-suited A-7-6-5-3 of Philip Sternheimer. There was no low possible after a jack-high runout with a pair of nines on board, and Sternheimer scooped the pot with nines and sixes to send Alioto packing with $106,935.

Event #18: $10K Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship

Ryan Hoenig is way out in front with 4.9M chips (99.9 BB) as the $10K Dealers Choice rolls toward a $354,444 finish. 🔥

Chasing him:

2. Dylan Smith – 2.2M (44.4 BB)

3. Philip Sternheimer – 1.9M (38.2 BB) pic.twitter.com/gTMkDuVjux

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

Hoenig was well out in front going into day 4. Sternheimer was still the short stack, even after landing the last elimination of day 3. He made his final stand during a round of pot-limit Omaha, with a completed board of J♠9♣8♠7♣8♥. Hoenig had led on both the flop and the turn, then shoved on the river. Sternheimer tanked and then called with J♣7♥6♣5♣ for a low straight with some boat blockers. Hoenig showed Q♠10♦9♥5♦ for a higher straight to drag the pot. Sternheimer earned $154,460 as the third-place finisher.

With that Hoenig took 7,650,000 into heads-up play with Dylan Smith, who sat with 1,400,000. The early action favored Hoenig, who was able to whittle his opponent down to crumbs. In the final hand, Smith three-bet shoved from the big blind for 300,000 and Hoenig, who had opened to 150,000 on the button with K♦Q♠J♦4♥, called. Smith showed K♣10♠6♥4♠. The board came down 9♦8♦3♣3♦5♠ and Hoenig turned a king-high flush to leave Smith drawing dead.

Smith earned $230,374 as the runner-up. This was his 15th cash of the year, with nine final tables and three titles earned so far. He now has nearly $4.8 million in career cashes to his name, with nearly $1.2 million of that coming from his success in 2025.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.