It was none-other than Spanish native Antonio Galiana who managed to navigate a field of 558 players full of rising stars, poker legends and full-time crushers. Galiana defeated a very talented Frederic Normand heads-up for $582,008 to take the lion’s share of the $3,720,960 prize pool.
Event #92: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Antonio Galiana
Spain
$582,008
2
Frederic Normand
Canada
$387,979
3
Christian Roberts
Venezuela
$270,407
4
Renji Mao
China
$191,550
5
Gaetan Balleur
France
$137,948
6
Uri Reichenstein
Israel
$101,028
7
Justin Liberto
United States
$75,263
8
Georgios Sotiropoulos
Greece
$57,051
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It was a dream come true for Galiana, who captured his second WSOP bracelet after an intense few days run that showcased both strategic brilliance on the felt, as some of opponents described him as “unbeatable”. When asked how he felt moments after the victory, the champion remained humble. "Second bracelet, I feel amazing... I have nothing else to say but I have to come back to reality”.
Galiana felt the momentum shift in different spots, during a pivotal hand against Uri Reichenstein on the final table. However, the belief didn’t fully settle in until deep into the heads-up match.
"There was no point I really thought I was winning it... but after the bluff in heads-up — when he folded — I said, ‘Okay, now we’re even.’ Heads-up is one of my specialties in poker."
A longtime grinder in single-table sit-and-go's, Galiana transitioned into tournament play just two years ago. After a strong run last year which gained him his first bracelet, he returned to the series this year with renewed focus and goals to win as many bracelets as possible.
"This year, I started coaching with a genius called Giuseppe Gallo. We worked hundreds of hours together. When I came back, I was four or five times better than last year." Adopting a GTO-centric approach, he emphasized preparation, discipline, and robotic precision in decision-making. "We don’t mind if the opponent bluffs or not — we’re trying to emulate the robot as much as we can. That’s what we worked for. At the end of the day, to play this properly, you have to know all the theory."
When asked about his switch from spins to tournaments, he put it simply: “I was looking for glory. No praise in spins.”
Final Day Action
The final five knew they were in for a grind due to the average stack playing over 50 big blinds, which brought methodical decision making. Despite an early lead, Galiana's road to victory was far from smooth, including a collision blind vs blind against the table’s short stack and eventual runner-up Normand. The loss of 6,000,000 chips sent Galiana's down to the bottom of the pack. Despite this setback, he did not lose his head as a few hands later, he found himself in a big pot against Renji Mao which sent him back into the chip lead.
At this point, Galiana closed the gap between himself, Normand and Christian Roberts making the chip stacks relatively even and all to play for. Galiana managed to grind Roberts down not long after, which furthered the gap between the two stacks. Galiana’s final table awareness was super apparent; he allowed Normand and Roberts to tangle a while later, leaving Roberts to make an incorrect hero call to exit in third place.
Despite the chip disadvantage going into the heads-up match, Galiana's skill and experience were apparent as he managed to grind his way to the chip lead. The turning point was when Galiana fired a big bluff, leaving Normand in the tank for ten minutes before ultimately folding.
Now that the bracelet is his, what’s next for the champion?
“I’ll play everything — probably up to the $25,000 events. That’s my top buy-in for this series.” Despite the huge score, he remains grounded. When asked about the money, his response was just as measured: “What’s the plan with the money? Keep saving. Saving money.”
That concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event but stay tuned for our continuing coverage of the next coming weeks of the 2025 WSOP.
