Giuseppe Zarbo outdueled Ryo Kotake heads-up to win his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) title in Event #80: $800 Summer Celebration. The champion, who is of Italian descent, but lives in the South of France, earned his first gold bracelet along with a staggering payout of $504,180.
“It’s incredible,” Zarbo said after outlasting a field of 7,078 entries. “I played well, but I was very lucky. I won coin flip, coin flip, coin flip, then 20:80 percent, 30:70 percent, and on and on.”
Zarbo, who first came to the WSOP in 2011, has played in eight Main Events and said he will return on Saturday to play in Day 1D of this year’s signature event. He had made it to three final tables at international circuit events, but this was his first at the WSOP, and, of course, his first victory.
“I play when I have the time,” he said. “I’m no professional player — I have a regular job — but when I play, I play to win.”
$800 Summer Celebration Final Table Result
Place
Player
Country
Prize (USD)
1
Giuseppe Zarbo
Italy
$504,180
2
Ryo Kotake
Japan
$332,840
3
Wai Kit Lo
Hong Kong
$248,320
4
Jonathan Stoeber
United States
$186,650
5
Ciaran Duffy
United Kingdom
$141,350
6
Yansong Kou
United States
$107,850
7
Ionannis Panagopoulos
Greece
$82,920
8
Marat Shafigullin
Russian Federation
$64,250
9
Quinterol Mallette
United States
$50,161
Giuseppe Zarbo and rail.
La Célébration
Zarbo waded through a mega field that generated a whopping prize pool of $5,166,940 for the two-day event at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
He said he was energized by a strong contingent of French friends and fans on the rail, who chanted and sang in French, cheering on his every bet-and-call during play at the final two tables.
"I'm not certain I would have won without them," he said. 'They were amazing."
Zarbo admits to looking forward to all that comes with being a WSOP champion but says winning is what motivates him most.
“It’s incredible, not just the bracelet or the money, it’s the winning,” Zarbo said. “I like the competition. My children, I tell them that in sports, the important thing is to win. If you don’t win, at least play your very best.
“Today, I played my best and I won. Nothing is better than that.”
Second-day Action
With a 30-minute blind structure, Day 2 began with a rash of bust outs among the 361 players who bagged the night before. A whopping 201 competitors were sent packing in the first two hours of play Friday, and the field was down to just 73 players by the second break, four hours in.
Zarbo was in the middle of the pack at the first redraw for the final three tables, and made it to the final table in sixth, with just 21,200,000 chips, less than a third of leader Wai Kit Lo's total.
But Zarbo heated up at the right time, as he was responsible for four of the final five knockouts. He doubled up early in the final table, building chips with which to fight. And he put them to work in three hours of play at the final table.
Kotake earned his way into the final twosome with a huge win over Lo, who led for most of the plan on the final three tables until getting sliced up by a runner-runner four-card flush.
Wai Kit Lo.
Zarbo and Kotake had a back-and-forth battle for some time heads-up, with each taking the lead at points. Eventually Zarbo got the upper hand and won the tournament by smooth-calling a preflop bet with pocket aces to set Kotake up for the takeout.
"I waited until there were just eight players, before I started taking more opportunities," Zarbo said. "Then I get lucky.
"It is the best poker of my life."
This wraps up coverage of the Summer Celebration, but stay tuned to PokerNews, the official media partner of the 2025 World Series of Poker, for live updates on all bracelet events at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
