2025 WSOP: More Deep Runs For Asia As Chang Lee Secures Second Asian Gold

Another week has come and gone at the 2025 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and more than a dozen of the highly sought-after gold bracelets have found new owners at the Horseshoe and Paris Hotel Las Vegas. The recent list of winners includes two of the biggest names of the global live poker scene in Jason Koon and Nick Schulman, but there has also been news for the Asia-Pacific community with a second triumph and several other deep runs.

2025 WSOP – Results

2025 WSOP Asia Highlights

Event #25: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship

One of the Championship Events in a mixed game variant crowned a winner this week and American poker pro Nick Guagenti earned his third bracelet – the second in as many years. It was an elite field with 127 entries that produced a prize pool of $1,181,100 and Guagenti earned the most after overcoming a large deficit in heads-up against Chino Rheem to claim the top prize of $295,008.

Rheem would have become the 11th player to win live poker’s Triple Crown – a victory in a WPT and EPT Main Event as well as a WSOP bracelet – but he had to settle for a runner-up finish once again to earn $196,662. For China’s Qiang Xu, he came two spots short in securing a career second bracelet, instead having to settle for 3rd place and a very decent payout of $135,828. Down the rung was fellow countryman Yueqi Zhu who cashed for $20,999 in 14th place.

Event #26: $25,000 High Roller

The next big story at the 2025 WSOP was the triumph of South Korea’s Chang Lee in Event #26: $25,000 High Roller, and he did so against poker’s elite in a big field of 392 entries for a big slice of the $9,212,000 prize pool. Prior to this event, Lee was rather unknown but not anymore as he prevailed in an absolutely stacked field and final table to earn the massive top prize of $1,949,044.

Among others, he had to overcome the Triton Super High Rollers Byron Kaverman and Orpen Kisacikoglu, as well as former WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen. Popular Japanese vlogger Masato Yokosawa was also on the final table and finished in fifth place for a decent payday worth $447,613. Malaysia’s Chin Wei “Webster” Lim just missed the final table in 9th place for $141,218.

Thailand’s top player Punnat Punsri earned his second series cash of $111,294 with an 11th place finish and Malaysia’s Wai Kiat Lee down several notches in 16th place for $73,639.

Event #28: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em; Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack

Many Asian players were seen at Event #28: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em; Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack, which produced a large field of 2,775 entries. Out of the ones that reached the money only China’s Jiaze Li made it all the way to single digits in ninth place. This was good enough for a sweet score of $15,779. The gold bracelet went to Tyler Brown and his second career WSOP victory came with $178,126 for the efforts.

In the top 100 were Asian players Frank Lin (18th), Alfie Poetra (26th), Guan Wang (67th), Jinghan Yan (80th), Dipanjan Chattopadhyahy (89th), Paul Wee Hsien 93rd), and Jereld Sam (94th).

Event #32: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller 8-Handed

After a dominating run at Triton Montenegro where he took down two events, Jason Koon carried the momentum to Las Vegas and quickly picked up his second career bracelet at Event $32: $50,0000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller 8-Handed. Koon outlasted an elite field of 171 to claim the lion’s share of $8,122,500 prize pool for a take of $1,968,927.

Only two Asian players got a return on their steep investment however both missed the final table. It was another strong performance by China’s Chongxian Yang, finishing 9th for $161,048. This came one week after Yang placed 3rd at the $25K NLH/PLO. Thailand’s Punnat Punsri finished 24th to double his money.

Event #34: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty

Third place finishes for players from China were the early theme of the annual summer camp in Sin City and that story repeated in the fast-paced one day Event #34: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty. It took 37 levels to reduce the field of 2,232 entries to a winner and John Racener won his third bracelet shortly after his third child was born – $247,595 should be enough to buy some pampers. Xinwen Zhang collected $120,457 for the bronze spot on the podium.

Other Asian finishers in the top 100 were Dhanesh Chainani (34th), Xiaohu Liu (47th), Vamerdino Magsakay (59th), Yohwan Lim (89th), Frank Lin (98th), and Jianing Zhao (99th).

Event #35: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em

The next third place went to Tsz Ho Chau from Hong Kong in Event #35: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em. That deep run, just shy of glory, was rewarded with a consolation prize of $212,820. Nearly 71 times the buy-in isn’t too shabby after all. Ukraine’s Renat Bohdanov earned more than two times of that, though, as his second WSOP bracelet was sweetened by $451,600.

Other players running deep were China’s Hongru Zhang in 11th place for $28,660 and Filipino Lester Edoc in 15th place for $$18,610. In the top 100 were Kuo Chang (48th), Lirui “Ivan” Zhang (51st), and Xinze Li (95th).

With more than one third of the in-person gold bracelets now awarded, the early resume is quite positive despite the fact that only two players from Asia leaped into the spotlight. However, the deep runs keep on coming and that is certainly a very promising sign for the rest of the 2025 WSOP until July 16, 2025.