WSOP 2025 in Las Vegas Officially Underway With Many Asians Hoping for Glory

It has been a week since the 2025 World Series of Poker officially kicked off at the Horseshoe and Paris Hotel Las Vegas. This is the fifth installment at the joint venue on the Las Vegas Strip and the first one under the new ownership of the NSUS Group, parent company of the currently largest online poker operator in the world GGPoker.

WSOP 2025 Underway

For seven weeks, running from May 27 to July 16, the gambling paradise in the desert of Nevada becomes the Mecca for poker enthusiasts from all over the world to chase for the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and major paydays.

Not only the change in ownership brings some changes with it but there is one major improvement for all participating players that actually caused some major headaches and long waiting lines during the opening days of the world’s largest annual live poker festival.

WSOP+ APP

As of the summer of 2025, the new WSOP+ is used in Sin City after it had been thoroughly tested during the last two WSOP Paradise stops on The Bahamas in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

So why exactly had there been a ruckus to begin with? In order to use the app and fund the accounts, several verification steps are necessary for everyone and one can imagine that this certainly leads to long queues at the venue with thousands upon thousands of card game lovers all eager to join the action. The initial bottlenecks despite counters being open twenty two and a half out of twenty four hours per day were predictable, but once all of that is taken care of, fewer and fewer players in need to complete all the steps are expected.

Don’t worry, though, as the entire process will be worth the wait and smoothens the entire journey from there on out as it is no longer needed to head to any kiosks to print tournament entry tickets. After funding the accounts with various available payment methods, players can use the app to register for events and will receive their seat assignments automatically. They can also see the (nick)names of their opponents at the respective table, who is in the field and much more information such as the tournament structures and payout distribution to name all but a few things.

WSOP Bracelets Up For Grabs

In total, 100 WSOP gold bracelets are up for grabs in Las Vegas but that only accounts for the in-person action at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Online bracelet events are available as well, some of which then culminate in the final table being played out in the Horseshoe Event Center. Millions of US Dollars are up for grabs and that attracts poker enthusiasts from all calibers, be it seasoned pros, high-stakes crushers, or recreational players hoping for their one shot.

Asian Players Spotted And Expected

The pursuit of glory attracts some of the most talented players from all over the world and several notables of the Asia-Pacific region are certainly among those to join the action not only in the mainstream No-Limit Hold’em variants but also mixed games as well. In 2024, the Asian community had to wait a few weeks until the first gold bracelet winners emerged and the first to shine was China’s Xixiang Luo, who ended up winning his second title on the tail end of the summer.

Another particular player to emerge in the spotlight was Japan’s rising star and Japan Open Poker Tour (JOPT) ambassador Shiina Okamoto, who won the WSOP Ladies Event one year after finishing as the runner-up. Okamoto has racked up several deep runs after that and has already arrived in Las Vegas to join the action.

Alongside her are fellow Japanese players Ryutaro Suzuki and Naoya Kihara, both of which already have a bracelet on their resume. Two years ago in 2023, Suzuki won the $3,000 Nine Game Mix at just 23 years of age and will be eager to add to his tally in various different variants. Kihara will be one to watch as well, having previously participated in the elusive $50,000 Poker Players Championship that may very well be on his schedule for 2025 again.

As far as further notable Japanese poker enthusiasts are concerned, Nozomu Shimizu, Jun Obara, Kosei Ichinose, Tsugunari Toma, and Kyosuke Nagami are others to watch out for at the tables. And of course, it wouldn’t be a WSOP without the ever popular vlogger Masato Yokosawa, who has been dabbling in live-streamed cash game sessions in the US a lot throughout the last two years as well. Yokosawa already jumped into the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship but was eliminated in the second round.

Team Hong Kong has certainly arrived in Las Vegas already, too. Headlined by Danny Tang and Yan Shing “Anson” Tsang, the new generation with the likes of Hokyiu Lee and Wing Po “Andy” Liu already made their marks in Sin City and during the WSOP Europe in previous years. Park Yu “Sparrow” Cheung and Hon Cheong “Ivan” Lee are also sure candidates to enter many of the WSOP gold bracelet events as well.

Representing Taiwan will be Yen Han “Pete” Chen, Hui Chen “Kitty” Kuo, Ting Yi “Eric” Tsai, Justin Chu, Chih Wei Fan, Chien Chih “Maggie” Weng, Yu Hsiang Huang, and Charlie Chiu as well as the duo of winpokercouple Nevan Chang and Hua-Wei Lin to name all but a few of the up-and-coming island nation.

Certainly one of the strongest line-ups is expected from mainland China, which has had a very successful last few years when it comes to WSOP gold bracelets. One player in particular who you will be able to spot from far away is the always talkative Ren “Tony” Lin, who is having a blast whenever there are poker cards near his palms. Pot-Limit Omaha specialist Tong Li, Lei Yu, Guoliang Wei, and Renji Mao are also already in Las Vegas and it is expected that they are joined by Weiran Pu, Dong Chen, Yingui Li, and 2024 WSOP Paradise champion Yinan Zhou.

Other Asian countries represented in Las Vegas include South Korea, Vietnam, India, and Thailand. The very successful Santhosh Suvarna,Hieu Ngo, and Punnat Punsri are among them, the latter falling short a couple of times to win his first WSOP gold bracelet but he is a strong contender to get that feat crossed off his bucket list very soon. That also applies to Joonhee “Steve” Yea, who already has more than half a million US Dollars in WSOP cashes to his name.

Asian Poker Tour Booth

Many more names will certainly appear in the payout lists in the next few weeks as the WSOP 2025 is going to pick up a lot more steam going forward. And they will stumble over something that has never been present during the annual summer poker festival of the year: A dedicated booth of the Asian Poker Tour which will certainly advertise the upcoming APT Championship in November 2025 with it’s flagship NTD 165 million (~USD 5 million) Main Event. 

Source of photos: PokerNews