Yilong Wang Wins World Series of Poker $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Bracelet

While the focus of the poker world was trained on the final table of the 2025 World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players Championship that was eventually won for the fourth time by Michael Mizrachi, there was another sizable tournament wrapping up nearby at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.

Yilong Wang defeated a field of 2,338 entries in this year’s $3,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, earning his first bracelet and the top prize of $830,685. This was a new top tournament score for the Chinese player, besting the $113,119 he earned for a sixth-place finish in a $1,600 event at the 2019 Venetian DeepStack Championship.

With this windfall, Wang’s lifetime earnings now sit at more than $1.3 million.

The victory also came with 1,620 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was Wang’s first POY-qualified score of 2025, but it alone was enough to move him within striking distance of the top 150 in the overall rankings presented by Coin Poker.

Putting The ‘World’ In WSOP

There were six nations represented at the final table of this event. Wang and third-place finisher Ren Lin hail from China, while runner-up Ran Ilani represented Israel. Bulgarian two-time bracelet winner Yuliyan Kolev finished fourth for his latest deep run at the series. India’s Kunal Patni (5th) and Paawan Bansal (9th) had strong showings, as did Fabrizio Gonzalez of Uruguay (7th). That left two representatives of the United States:  Seunghyun Nam (6th) and Jason Richard (8th).

The top 351 finishers earned a share of the $6,242,460 prize pool in this event, with plenty of notables running deep, including bracelet winner and 2023 World Poker Tour World Championship winner Dan Sepiol (33rd), four-time bracelet winner Ari Engel (31st), 2020 WSOP main event champion Damian Salas (23rd), bracelet winner Romain Lewis (14th), WPT champion Olivier Busquet (12th), and 2023 WSOP main event runner-up Steven Jones (10th).

Closing It Out

The fourth and final day of this event began with 16 players remaining. Wang was second in chips to start, and remained near the top of the counts by the time the official final table was set. Wang busted Bansal to narrow the field to eight. Gonzalez then sent Richard packing, only to fall in seventh place when his A-9 ran into the A-J suited of Lin.

Nam got his last chips in with A♠8♠ leading the Q♠6♠ of Lin preflop, but the J♣10♣9♠3♥8♥ runout gave Lin a queen-high straight for the knockout. Nam earned a career-best score of $169,818 for his deep run.

Patni’s last stand came with middle pair of eighths on an ace-high board. He was up against top pair for Ilani, who made the call and held from there to set the final four. Kolev then lost a coin flip with K-J against Ilani’s pocket sixes. Kolev picked up a gutshot on the flop to go with his overcards, but bricked out to finish fourth ($300,649).

Lin’s last hand saw him shove for around 10 big blinds with J♠10♣ from the small blind. Ilani quickly called with K♠J♦ in the big blind and the K♦10♠K♥9♦8♠ runout gave him trips and the knockout. Lin walked away with $406,016 for his podium showing.

Ren Lin Eliminated from $3k NLH in 3rd place ($406,016)

Ran Ilani now holds a 2:1 chip lead over Yilong Wang going into heads-up play. #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/1O95E9xBT5

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 29, 2025

Ilani held better than a 2:1 chip lead going into heads-up play, but Wang was able to close the gap in the early going then eventually edge ahead. The final hand of the tournament began with a limp from Ilani with 9♥9♦ on the button. Wang moved all-in from the big blind with 6♦6♣ and Ilani quickly called. The board came down 10♦6♦4♠10♣K♥ and Wang made sixes full of tens to close out the victory. Ilani earned $553,692 as the runner-up.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.