Horace Wei Takes Home USOP Main Event Title After Gruelling Heads-Up Battle

Three days, five flights, 1,486 entrants, and more than 50 hours of poker came down to a single champion. Horace Wei etched his name into USOP history tonight, securing his first USOP title along with the coveted trophy and a massive payday. At the Dojima River Forum in the heart of Osaka, Wei outlasted a field packed with both seasoned professionals and ambitious amateurs, navigating every all-in, fold, and call with precision and composure to claim the title.

Wei’s Road to Victory

Wei first landed on the radar after the bubble on Day 2. While not being logged as a chip leader in any of the first flights, he’d made his way up through the ranks, topping the stacks of the 149 players that made it into the money, and never really left the sights after that point. Wei’s turning point came during the final hands of Day 2 in a massive clash against Ryusuke Kasaki. After Kasaki opened, Wei three-bet and quickly called when Kasaki shoved over the top. Kasaki held ace-five offsuit but Wei had kings, and after he connected with the flop making a set it sent a mountain of chips Wei’s way and locked him into the overnight lead heading into Day 3.

Day 3 began with just 24 players still in contention for the Main Event title, and all eyes were on Wei to see if he could turn his overnight chip lead into a deep run. Starting as the only player with more than 5 million in chips, Wei never looked back. His stack never seemed to dip below that mark, instead climbing steadily hand after hand until the final nine were set by the middle of the day.

The Final Nine

Final Table Action

Horace Wei briefly slipped to second place early at the final table after losing a key pot to Koo , who rivered the nut straight in a blind-defense battle to overtake the lead. Sitting on just over 9 million chips while Indonesia’s Jonathan Philip Joseph had surged beyond 32 million, Wei needed to readjust and recompose himself.

He did just that a few orbits later, picking up ace-nine and calling the short-stacked shove from Pasukaru in the big blind. Pasukaru’s king-nine couldn’t connect, and Wei scored his first elimination of the final table – a timely boost that helped put him back on track.

From then on, it was a battle between Wei and Joseph; who could take out as many players as possible to give himself the biggest boost to his stack. Joseph wasted no time in collecting scalps from around the table, eventually building his stack to around 44 million. Wei couldn’t quite generate the same amount of traction as Joseph, eliminating fewer players and building up to around half his eventual heads-up opponent, roughly 23 million.

Heads-Up Play

Away from the felt, the two finalists were certainly friendly, but the hands of heads-up play truly set the tone for what would be a gruelling final table. In the first hand after coming back to the felt , holding middle pair and a flush draw, Joseph shoved with queen-seven, only to lose to Wei’s jack-ten for top pair, awarding him a perfectly-timed double up and shifting the momentum completely.

Joseph embarked on a steady comeback, and after securing a crucial double-up, he kept the pressure on, winning several more big pots and steadily chipping away at Wei’s lead. With smart aggression and well-timed bets, he mounted an impressive comeback. Ultimately, however, after five brutal hours of final table play, the hall of the Dojima River Forum calmed, and everyone turned their attention to the screen to see what would be the final hand of the USOP Osaka Main Event. Wei shoved with king-queen suited, and Joseph called with ace-jack. Wei hit the nut straight on the turn, leaving his opponent drawing extremely thin on the river. No such miracle arrived for Joseph, as Wei’s straight held, and he was officially crowned the champion.

The host spoke to him during the ceremony:

How do you feel now?

I’m happy and i feel i’m lucky,

What’s your strategy when playing?

I think mostly it’s my gut feelings,

Any last words for the every player here?

Good luck, and I also wanna express my appreciation to each staff, thank you, you’ve done a good job!

When runner up Joseph was interviewed and asked how he felt, he replied with one word:

Sad

The Indonesian still left the ceremony in good spirits, having left with his best career-live cash to date and almost tripling his lifetime earnings. He certainly won’t be sad once he leaves the payout desk!

Even with the Main Event wrapped, Horace Wei claiming the title, USOP Osaka 2025 still has plenty of poker action ahead. Tomorrow, we’ll cover Day 2 of the Mini Main Event, where the remaining players will fight to move closer to the trophy. The Mystery Dragon Event is also on the schedule, offering a different format and plenty of opportunities for surprises. Finally, the SEZEN DRAGON – ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP will see seven players from each country go head-to-head for regional supremacy.

Stick around to see how the rest of the series unfolds – and whether Wei will be relaxing or jumping straight back into the action.