A Few Cocktails on the Road to First WSOP Bracelet for Mark Darner

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Jun 11, 2025 3 min read

It was like a rollercoaster ride at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with emotions going up and down watching the heads-up match between Mark Darner and David Mcgowan in Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Just when you thought the match was over, something would happen to keep the excitement going.

After a thrilling battle, Darner ultimately took home the top prize of $496,826 and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet. The event attracted a total field of 1,493 entries, amassing a total prize pool of $3,321,925.

Darner was a dark horse heading into the final day with an average stack and entered the final table third from the bottom. But his strongest supporter, his wife, who railed him throughout the heads-up match, said that they felt good about the tournament from Day 1. Although he denied it on record, his wife claimed that he dressed earlier in the day for the cameras.

Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

Darner’s Road to Victory

Coming from the bottom, Darner’s strategy was to stay patient and wait for his spots. And those spots to build his stack rose when he eliminated [Removed:510] with pocket sevens in eighth place and Alexander Greenblatt with ace-three soon after in seventh. But what placed him second in chips was defeating Day 3 chip leader Jon Vallinas in a battle of the blinds, where he eliminated the Spaniard in fifth place.

Despite his rise up the leaderboard, the real change was the dinner break, where he requested a 75-minute break instead of the normal 60 minutes.

“The 75-minute dinner break was because I was sober. So we had to have four to five cocktails. And that’s when I knew I was going to win.”

Short-Handed Comeback

Mcgowen was the runaway chip leader, holding 60 percent of the total chips when there were three players left. Darner was able to catch up to Mcgowen by standing firm against Mcgowen’s aggression and pushing back at the right time.

Entering heads-up, their chip stacks were almost level, and it stayed that way for some time until Darner’s fortune started to turn. Short-stacked, he called Mcgowan’s all-in with nine-seven, thinking he’d be eliminated. But Darner turned a straight, and doubled up one hand after another until he took the chip lead.

“I was thinking I’m probably dead. But I also said to him, I’ve seen crazier stuff heads-up.”

The heads-up match, however, wasn’t as straightforward as that. The chip lead transferred between the two players multiple times until it ended with Darner’s kings holding up against Mcgowan’s ace-eight.

“There was a point heads-up that I kind of figured him out. I was getting better cards, too. It took me a minute, but the last 45 minutes went pretty smoothly.”

And with that, Darner and his wife intend to stay for the whole summer and hopefully win some more bracelets. But for tonight, there will definitely be more drinking to be done.

Stay with PokerNews for continuing coverage of the 2025 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

• Tags WSOP25 Alexander Greenblatt Christopher Puetz David Mcgowan Dylan Linde Ian O'hara Jon Vallinas Las Vegas Mark Darner WSOP World Series of Poker Yaroslav Ohulchanskyi
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• Related Players Dylan LindeAlexander GreenblattMark DarnerDavid McGowanChristopher PuetzJon Vallinas Santos