This year's Event #45: $500 SALUTE to Warriors No-Limit Hold’em at the World Series of Poker saw a staggering 3,937 entrants, generating a huge prize pool of $1,614,170 and a first-place prize of $187,937.
Alongside the enormous sum of money amassed to compete for, $40 of each entry was earmarked to be donated to United Service Organizations (USO) and other charities dedicated to supporting veterans. All said, a very significant sum of over $155,000 will be donated. An amount that will no doubt have a huge impact on the charities helping those who served their country.
It took three days to reduce the huge field down to a champion, and when the dust settled from a hectic final table, it was Joey Couden who emerged victorious, taking the top prize and second WSOP gold bracelet.
Vice President of the World Series of Poker, Jack Effel, gave a warm speech to open the event, and it was he who closed the event too, handing the winner an oversized check as they snapped some photos to mark the achievement.
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Event #45: $500 SALUTE to Warriors No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (USD)
1
Joey Couden
United States
$187,937
2
Richard Buckingham
United States
$125,034
3
Ofer Saha
United States
$92,221
4
Yu Hsiang Huang
Taiwan
$68,619
5
Alexander Savchenko
Russian Federation
$51,511
6
Brandon Sowers
United States
$39,015
7
Roger Hendren
United States
$29,818
8
Tim Caziarc
United States
$22,998
9
Luciano Melo
Brazil
$17,901
Winner's Reaction
Joey Couden
“I couldn’t be happier, good timing for me, for sure”, were Couden's immediate thoughts.
A humble response, but it would be understandable if Couden hadn’t yet soaked in his achievement; it all happened so fast.
No sooner had Couden eliminated a player in sixth place than he had eliminated every other player at the table and had his second WSOP bracelet in his hands.
It wasn’t smooth sailing from the off, but things did improve, as Couden recalled.
It was easy to be happy and have fun, I mean, this is why we do this, that’s as fun as it gets out here.
“To start the day, I had a bad first 30 minutes, maybe even 20 minutes, I lost like half my stack in the first 20 minutes. I started with 14 [million], and got all the way down to 5 million”.
“I won a couple of hands, double up to 25 [million], and it was pretty smooth from there. I didn’t have any real big pots until the final table, and at the final table, I kept winning small pots, and the field got shorter and shorter with their stack depths. Once it got sub 20 big blinds, it really just opened it up for me where I could put more pressure on everybody.”
With just five players left, Couden had a huge chip lead and looked unstoppable, especially as each of his opponents had similarly short stacks.
“At that time, me personally, I am just high on the moment. I’m not thinking about what is happening, just making the best decision I can in the moment. It was easy to be happy and have fun, I mean, this is why we do this, that’s as fun as it gets out here.”
Final Table Action
Couden & his rail.
Couden entered the final table with the lion’s share of the chips in play, and, consequently, many of the other players were playing with extremely short stacks. This, alongside the ever-increasing blinds, set the stage for chips to fly.
First to depart was Luciano Melo in 9th place, falling at the hands of Ofer Saha. His queen-ten was unable to improve against Saha’s king-seven, when all the money went in preflop.
Next out was Tim Carziarc, who got his chips in the middle in good shape, his ace-king dominating Alexander Savchenko’s king-four suited. Unfortunately for Carziarc, the deck favoured his opponent on this occasion, sending him home in 8th.
The remaining players all fell to the eventual champion.
Roger Hendren departed in 7th when his ace-king couldn’t hold against ace-ten. Brandon Sowers was next to head to the exit, as Couden rivered a pair, sealing his fate.
Couden then went on the offensive and removed Alexander Savchenko, Yu Hsiang Huang, and Ofer Saha within 15 minutes of each other.
Richard Buckingham
Last to fall was Richard Buckingham. Buckingham had done well to ladder up the prizes, having entered the final table with just eight big blinds, but his chip deficit proved insurmountable when the heads-up lasted just a few hands.
All said, Couden steamrolled his final six opponents in less than one hour, and in doing so, secured himself the top prize and a second WSOP bracelet.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event, but stay tuned for our continuing coverage of the 2025 WSOP.
