Toy Charizard, Pink Slipper Carry Canadian Family Man to WSOP Victory

Copy link Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Jun 11, 2025 5 min read

As we started Day 3 here in Event #33: $1,500 Limit Hold’em at the 2025 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, only seven players were in with a shot of taking home a World Series of Poker Bracelet, along with a top prize of $130,062. All seven were rooting for their first WSOP win, but it would be Jason Duong who took it down in the end, for a huge career-high six-figure score.

His heads-up battle against Adam Tyburski was a gruelling one, as they started with just a single big bet difference in their stacks, and the following chess match that ensued took over two and a half hours. Not long into the match-up, Duong found himself down to just two big bets, however he didn't let that stop him from fighting his way back, all the way up to getting back to even with his adversary.

From this point, he began wearing away at Tyburski’s stack, picking up an advantage little by little. Both players showed a lot of respect to each other, and there was plenty of table talk as the two discussed family life, but Duong was all business when it came time to play his cards.

Final Table Results

Journey to the Final Table

Duong started playing Limit Hold’em in his hometown of Toronto, Canada, where the local casino offered cash games, and hasn't looked back since. As he began moving to the online streets, Duong realised that Limit was his game when he noticed his competence in the "strategy and discipline" elements of the game, and enjoys "seeing more flops, turns, and rivers", giving him more opportunity to outplay his opponents. He has already cashed in this event twice before, consecutively in 2022 and 2023, and despite only playing two limit tournaments a year, he's managed to make one truly count in 2025.

He came into Day 3 a huge underdog, last in chips with only six big bets to his name. That being said, he started off steady by making hands and making pay jumps, constantly adding to his stack until he found himself heads-up with Tyburski, who was chipleading at the start of the day. Despite their even stacks, Duong started chipping down and down, and was ready to be "forced all in," before narrowly avoiding that fate as he started winning pots, and clawing back from the twenty-to-one chip deficit he found himself in.

The path to victory wasn’t easy, as many big names hit the rail early. Main Event Champions Joe McKeehen and Scott Blumstein both left during Day 1 of the competition. With 16 bracelets between them, Barry Greenstein, Benny Glaser, and Brian Hastings were all favourites to make a deep run, however they too fell at the first hurdle. Chris Hunichen went out during Day 2, and Day 1 chip leader John Monnette was also unable to bring his stack to the final day.

Winner’s Reaction

In conversation with PokerNews, Duong recalled that the moment winning a bracelet became a real possibility for him came on day 2, when he went runner-runner to beat a flopped full house. From that point on he "never doubted that [he] could win at any point," even on the final table, demonstrating the sheer mental resilience needed to make it back from such a short stack. As he reached the even mark in his heads-up showdown, he "started getting more comfortable, picking up momentum", and from then on he was unstoppable, chipping away at an opponent he became more and more confident in beating.

Duong not only plays due to poker being "a hobby of his," but also for his loving family. Coming into the final day, he brought with him his daughter's slipper, along with his son's toy Charizard, which carried him through all the way to the end, and they got a special feature in his winner's photos, along with a picture of "the ones he loves most". They featured during the final table, as he chatted with Tyburski about raising children, as well as after it, as his family was the first to receive the news of his win. The first-place finish was made even more special for him as he reminisced about meeting his wife at the WSOP, in this very building, and never looking back.

After recovering and grounding himself from cloud nine, Duong plans to have some relaxed celebrations, by going out for a meal with friends (a meal that will most definitely be on him) before firing in the $3,000 Limit event that is coming up. In the higher buy-in event, he will be looking to make yet another deep run, and possibly taking down a second bracelet in a matter of days. Joining a very select group of Limit Hold'em bracelet winners, Duong has now made a name for himself in the poker world, and could well have more celebration awaiting.

Final Day Action

Ian Johns and Chris Hunichen both made the final table, but were unable to hold on until Day 3, with Ian Johns busting in ninth, and Hunichen being the last casualty of the evening, shortly after running into quads.

David Rogers lost a flip to be the first Day 3 elimination, before Bobbi Harrell ended her first-ever WSOP tournament in a very respectable sixth place. Nicholas Tsoukalas then couldn’t hit his outs against Andrew Beversdorf, as he hit the rail just before action moved over to the feature table.

Beversdorf himself was next to leave, as his preflop advantage was completely decimated by Duong flopping trips, and we found ourselves heads up shortly after, as Duong then went runner-runner to eliminate Lawrence Robinson.

Adam Tyburski put up an incredible fight, outlasting over 480 players to take home more than $80,000, but in the end couldn’t find the cards he needed, as he bowed out with grace after fighting right until the very end.

That brings PokerNews live coverage on this event to a close, but be sure to stay tuned as we bring you all of the action from the remaining 67 events to take place at this year’s World Series of Poker

• Tags WSOP25 WSOP Adam Tyburski Andrew Beversdorf Barry Greenstein Benny Glaser Bobbi Harrell Brian Hastings Lawrence Robinson Las Vegas World Series of Poker John Monnette Joe McKeehen Jason Duong Scott Blumstein Paris Las Vegas David Rogers Nicholas Tsoukalas
• Related Tournaments World Series of Poker
• Related Players Barry GreensteinJohn MonnetteBrian HastingsBenny GlaserJoe McKeehenScott Blumstein