Nathan Thrush Becomes The River King After BPO Pro-Am $32K Victory

After two intense days of motion right here on the Golden Nugget Las Vegas, the 2025 Bar Poker Open (BPO) Vegas World Championship has come to an finish with Nathan Thrush claiming victory within the $1,000 Professional-Am and taking dwelling a five-figure payday of $32,624.

The ultimate day noticed solely eight gamers return from a discipline that began with 125 rivals, all combating for a bit of the $111,250 prize pool.

Thrush got here into the ultimate desk because the overwhelming chip chief and saved piling on the stress, eliminating half the desk on his technique to victory. He gained the title by defeating a younger however skilled Kaiwen Wei in a heads-up match, Thrush sought max worth with the perfect hand and folded the worst making him an especially powerful opponent to play. Though this isn’t the most important rating of his profession, Thrush felt extraordinarily grateful to have taken the title in such a tricky discipline.

“I really feel wonderful, I simply hold it easy” stated Thrush after the win. Nonetheless, nothing was easy about how he performed within the ultimate levels of this event. Thrush was additionally impressed by his newly minted nickname “The River King” after he burst the cash and ultimate desk bubbles by spiking the river.

“I prefer it, I hope it will get me into some good dwelling video games.” Thrush added.

2025 Bar Poker Open Professional-Am Closing Desk Outcomes

From $30 House Video games to the $1K Grind

Lengthy earlier than his nice run on the BPO, Thrush was only a informal participant grinding $30 tournaments in his hometown of Susanville, California. Regardless of being of age within the poker increase, Thrush didn’t get into poker till a lot later.

“I keep in mind making a foul play and somebody would name me a donkey” Thrush laughed. “Now, I believe again to myself it offended me a bit on the time, however possibly I used to be a donkey.”

Earlier than taking poker extra critically Thrush used to get pleasure from enjoying sports activities and as he stands at 6’7, basketball was his predominant alternative.

The very completed Thrush, now primarily based in Florida, labels himself as a semi-professional as he splits his time up between unbiased contract work and enjoying poker. A really humble however disciplined man particularly in terms of bankroll administration.

“I follow the $1,000 stage largely it’s the place I really feel snug and aggressive,” he defined. “I’m not attempting to leap into excessive rollers or something. There are nonetheless loads of gamers higher than me on the market, however at this stage, I do fairly properly.”

What began as an informal pastime become a severe pursuit. Over time, Thrush started learning the sport extra, speaking arms with mates on-line, and ultimately subscribing to Jonathan Little’s coaching website.

“He teaches you what you’ll want to know with out overcomplicating it,” Thrush stated. “That actually helped form my sport.” His measured strategy has paid off with a couple of scores north of $30,000 already underneath his belt, with two of these coming inside this yr.

The Turning Level: Folding Prime Pair Heads-Up

Thrush trusted his instincts and made an enormous fold that preserved his chip lead. “I simply didn’t really feel like I used to be good there,” he recalled. “If I name and I’m flawed, he [Kaiwen Wei] turns into chip chief and has all of the momentum. Folding let me keep forward and in management, it was a disciplined transfer, and one which in the end cleared the trail to victory for my part”

So what’s subsequent for the Professional-Am champion?

“I’m simply going to maintain grinding the $1Ks, play inside my bankroll, and hold learning”. You could find Thrush grinding the WSOP schedule and his subsequent occasion would be the $1,500 Monster Stack. “Once I’m carried out with the schedule, I dwell in Florida proper subsequent to the seashore and I plan to go there to calm down after this grind”.