Phovieng Keokham claimed the respect of being awarded the primary gold bracelet of the 2025 World Collection of Poker, profitable Occasion #2: $500 Trade Staff No-Restrict Maintain’em for his maiden WSOP accolade and a finest money of $64,369.
Keokham surged to the bracelet after spiking two pair on the river to get rid of Shaun Colquhoun in third place. From there, Keokham might hardly sit tightly on his chair as he received nearer to turning into the champion, driving that momentum into heads-up play, the place he wanted simply two palms to defeat Christopher Zollo and shut out the victory inside Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Coming into the ultimate desk, Keokham was the shortest stack with solely ten large blinds when he shoved all-in in opposition to Colquhoun. Keokham’s prospects have been trying grim, however the tides turned in his favor after catching a straight on the river to earn a pivotal double-up to start the ultimate desk.
“After I shoved with queen-jack and the opposite man had pocket queens, and I rivered a ten for a straight, that doubled me up and I felt like this [tournament] is mine.”
From there, as an alternative of being the participant in danger, he started eliminating his opponents. Keokham took out 4 last desk challengers on his method to the highest.
With the win, Keokham intends to have a brief celebration and has plans to play in quite a few occasions within the sequence. “It’s a freeroll for me,” he mentioned, rounding out his winner’s interview.
$500 Trade Staff Remaining Desk Outcomes
1Phovieng KeokhamUnited States$64,369
2Christopher ZolloUnited States$42,886
3Shaun ColquhounUnited States$29,850
4Michael CoombsUnited States$21,126
5Mark KawamotoUnited States$15,207
6Pedro InexperiencedDominican Republic$11,138
7Connor RichardsUnited States$8,301
8Rick MunizUnited States$6,299
9Francois TruongUnited States$4,867
Day 2 Motion
The ultimate day began with 138 gamers returning to the sphere, all assured a minimal payout of $1,006. However the goal was to take house the biggest share of the $402,617 prize pool and the much-coveted WSOP bracelet.
The primary few ranges of the day proved to whittle the sphere down quick, as quick stacks seemed for a spin-up. Sadly, one of many gamers to fall was 2013 champion Chad Holloway. He hoped to seize one other bracelet however was eradicated earlier than the primary break of the day. Holloway was certainly one of six PokerNews crew members in competition, with Connor Richards going the furthest, making the ultimate desk earlier than bowing out in seventh-place for $8,301.
Colquhoun, the start-of-day chip chief, instructed PokerNews that he was fairly assured together with his probability to seize a bracelet. His self perception was well-placed as he was continually among the many prime 5 chip leaders, and entered the ultimate desk with a really wholesome stack. Having positioned fourth in the identical match in 2022, he needed to enhance on that end result. However his hopes have been dashed by Keokham’s luck, because the eventual champion outdrew him twice in the course of the last desk.
The Remaining Three
After eliminating Michael Coombs in fourth place, Keokham grew to become unstoppable. Dealing with Culquhoun as soon as once more, Keokham decimated his opponent’s goals of profitable the match by replicating the occasions that occurred firstly of the ultimate desk.
Culquhoun was forward with a flopped pair of aces, however Keokham hit the river as soon as once more to arrange a heads-up battle with Zollo.
Celebrations started rapidly with simply the 2 gamers remaining as Keokham claimed a 3rd of Zollo’s chips on the primary hand of heads-up. The latest WSOP bracelet winner wanted only one extra hand to complete the job, drilling the flip this time to say victory.
