James Mendoza, Quan Zhou, Punnat Punsri, Yu Hsiang Huang Among Close Calls for Bracelet Early in the 2025 WSOP

The 2025 World Series of Poker is now underway for around two weeks and more than a dozen of the highly sought-after WSOP gold bracelets have already found new owners. Among the early winners were some of the biggest names in the global poker community with Benny Glaser from the UK the star, claiming six sixth and seventh victory within a few days. Several Asian poker pros also came close to lifting the piece of jewelry for the winner shots but they ultimately fell agonizingly close of the trademark win.

No fewer than eight tournaments at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas saw players from the Asia-Pacific region reach the final table but unfortunately, none of them were able to accumulate all of the chips. Let’s have a closer look at those who enjoyed a great start into the annual summer camp in Sin City.

2025 WSOP Deep Runs By Asia-Pacific Players And Asia Circuit Regulars

While technically being the opening event of the 2025 WSOP, Event #1 $1,000 Mystery Millions was not the first to give out the bracelet because the gargantuan field of 19,654 entries needed multiple flights to determine a champion and distribute all of the $17,295,520 in prize money. Defending champion Malcolm Trayner from Australia ran deep again but had to settle for 28^th place and a cash prize of $31,820.

Stephen Song, two-time TLPT Jeju winner two weeks ago, made it to the final three tables and earned $31,980 as did China’s WSOP bracelet winner Guoliang Wei in 21^st place. Two Asians reached the final table including Wesley Fei in sixth place for $197,550 – known to many for his high-stakes cash game appearances on Hustler Live. Taiwan’s Yu Hsiang Huang reached fourth place and earned a huge cash prize worth  $329,940.

Fast forward to Event #3 $5,000 8-Handed, a field of 693 entries produced $3,187,800 in prize money with China’s WSOP gold bracelet winner Renji Mao looking for a repeat victory. Mao reached the final day with five players remaining but he ultimately settled for fourth place and a consolation prize of $191,550.

Another card shark from China reached the final table in Event #6: $1,500 Seven Card Stud out of a field of 377 entries and that was MengQi Chen. Chen’s run came to an end in fifth place, which was worth a payday of $23,271.

As notable mention, we’d like to sneak in Edgar Antezana from South Africa who finished seventh in Event #10 $600 NLHE Deepstack out of a huge field of 6,090 entries. Antezana was the runner-up in the 2024 APT Manila Main Event back in October 2024 and had another decent showing, cashing for $52,377.

The mystery bounty envelopes came into play soon after again in Event #11 $10,000 Mystery Bounty and the high-stakes contest saw a very healthy field of 616 entries emerge with $5,728,800 in cash and bounty prizes up for grabs. On the official final table, two players from Asia were still in contention. Chao Duan had to settle for sixth place and $124,151 while James Mendoza continued his hot run after the TLPT Jeju series with a third place for $336,594. Based in California these days, Mendoza leaped into third place of the Philippines all-time money list with more than $2.7 million in cashes now.

At the same time, the mixed game aficionados showed their talents in Event #12: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw and two players from China reached the final table out of a field of 532 entries. Jun Weng finished in fourth place for $41,654 while Yueqi Zhu was the next casualty in third place for $60,738. Zhu was one of the first WSOP bracelet winners ever for China and missed out on a second victory.

The next Asian player to come close to victory also hails from China and Shundan Xiao reached third place out of a field of 2,354 entries in Event #13: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em. Her deep run was rewarded with a cash prize of $197,869.

In Event #14: $25,000 High Roller PLO/NLH Mixed, a field of 245 entries paid the top 37 spots with Biao Ding and Tsugunari Toma earning the min-cash of $50,829. The biggest slices of the $5,757,500 prize pool were up for grabs on the final table and yet another third place for a player from Asia unfolded. Chongxian Yang from China earned a huge payday of $598,285 while his elimination set up the heads-up between Ben Lamb and Lou Garza. Lamb had a big lead but Garza mounted a massive comeback to claim the top prize of $1,302,233.

Did we say third place for an Asian player? Sure enough, that history repeated in Event #20: $1,500 SHOOTOUT as well. With a field of 1,299 entries, players had to win two two shoot-out tables to advance to the final day with 15 players going through. China’s Tian Liu was among them but had to settle for 12^th place and $16,350.

Natural8 ambassador Punnat Punsri thrones atop Thailand’s all-time money list with more than $24.5 million in cashes on the live poker tour. That figure will rise further as it doesn’t include his latest deep run to third place for $130,560. During the 2024 WSOP Paradise, he was ninth in a $50,000 High-Roller and second last summer in Event #87 $5,000 No Limit Hold’em – 8-Handed for $523,648 … the WSOP gold bracelet seems to be just a matter of time for the Thai entrepreneur.

Last but not least for the time being, another two players from China fell just short of the gold bracelet in Event #17: $2,000 No-Limit Holdem in a field of 1,692 entries. Xiaohu Liu reached sixth place for $85,056 and TLPT co-owner Quan Zhou, a regular in the Triton Super High Roller Series, bowed out in fourth place for $153,576 just last night.

Other Asian Players At The Scene

Year after year, the presence of Asian players has grown stronger and with these impressive early results, all signs point to more making serious runs at the gold in the coming days. Among the players also picking up early cashes are: Ren Lin, Hieu Ngo, Lester Edoc, Charlie Chiu, Edward Yam, Ashish Munot, Sriharsha Doddapaneni, and multi-cashers Tugunari Toma, Jun Obara, and Wai Kiat Lee who is fresh from another strong showing at Triton in Montenegro.

Recently signed by QQPK, Danny Tang has announced an exciting promo where fans can win a share of 10% of his winnings. Tang has already cashed at the series, finishing 46th at the 5K NLH 8-Handed for $13,713.

When will the first player from Asia lift the gold bracelet for the winner shots in Las Vegas this time? Stay tuned right here on SoMuchPoker as a total of 100 gold bracelets are up for grabs until July 16, 2025.

*Photos by Pokernews