Fireworks in Las Vegas as Nick Ahmadi Wins PokerNews Deepstack Championship For $302,165

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Jul 04, 2025 4 min read

On a day when the United States celebrates its independence with fireworks, barbecues, and red, white, and blue, there was one more reason to celebrate inside the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Nick Ahmadi gave the home crowd something extra to cheer about by winning Event #78: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship, a uniquely special bracelet event on the 2025 World Series of Poker schedule.

With a record-setting 5,667 entries and a $302,165 top prize on the line, Ahmadi came out on top after defeating Israel’s Ran Kadur heads-up to claim his first WSOP bracelet and a 24-karat gold PokerNews Deepstack Championship winner’s coin.

It’s a fitting moment of glory for a tournament that proudly carries the PokerNews name, a brand heavily relied on for live coverage, stories from the felt, and the global poker scene. And this year, on America’s biggest holiday, it was an American who claimed the crown and the biggest share of the $2,856,168 prize pool.

The final table was a truly global affair, with players from eight different countries battling for the bracelet. Representing the United States, Israel, France, Argentina, Canada, Spain, Mexico and India, the diverse lineup showcased the worldwide reach of the PokerNews Deepstack Championship. Only the host nation had more than one finalist, with Ahmadi and Daniel Schill both flying the American flag on July 4th.

PokerNews Deepstack Championship Final Table Results

Ahmadi's Reaction to Winning the Bracelet

“Surreal,”. That’s how Ahmadi described the feeling moments after winning his first WSOP bracelet in the PokerNews Deepstack Championship. “It’s a pretty awesome experience. I don't know, kind of numb right now, so I'm sure it'll kick in pretty soon, but yeah, it feels awesome,” he said. “It’s every poker player’s dream, so super happy and fortunate to be in this spot.”

Ahmadi admitted the belief in winning this event began well before the final table. “I felt it yesterday as soon as we were down to like two or three tables,” he said. “I felt like I could win the thing honestly, so just tried to keep that mindset and hold in big spots.”

The bracelet meant more than just the title. “I guess it’s just like validation for the years and hours that I put into the game,” he said. “It hasn't been easy, but just pushing through the downswings and the tough times, it all just makes it worth it. It means a lot to me.”

In addition to the bracelet, Ahmadi was awarded the 24-karat gold PokerNews Deepstack Championship winner’s coin by Shirley Ang, Senior Global Live Events Manager of PokerNews. “I'll find a place for it to go,” he laughed. “I don’t really have a big trophy collection or anything, so maybe we’ll start something small and then hopefully grow it.”

Ahmadi, who comes to the WSOP every summer, had the PokerNews Deepstack Championship circled on his schedule. “I don't really play any huge buy-ins other than the Main. I try to stay under the $2,000 buy-ins, and pretty much this PokerNews event is the best $600 structure tournament, I think, of the year. Big fields, good structure, it's a bad one to miss.”

He also shared that he’s a regular PokerNews reader. “I use it often just to keep up with basic poker news, just to kind of stay informed with what’s going on,” he said. “Mostly for World Series updates is what I’ve been using it for over the last month, but yeah, I dabble with PokerNews quite a bit.”

As for what comes next, Ahmadi plans to keep the celebrations low-key for now. “I'll probably just take my friends out for a good dinner tonight and celebrate and just see where the night goes. I got to play the Main so I can't get too crazy,” he said. “I’ll be here until like July 14th, so whatever’s on the schedule, I’ll be playing poker. I’m just back to the grind tomorrow or whatever.”

Path to the PokerNews Deepstack Championship

Anyone could have bought in directly to the bracelet event, but there was also a way to qualify for free. During the first five weeks of the 2025 WSOP, ten seats were awarded each week through the Daily Deepstacks.

Players earned points by participating and cashing in the $250, $400, or $200 daily tournaments, with the top ten performers on each weekly leaderboard earning a free entry into the bracelet event.

Tanner Martinelli was the highest-finishing qualifier, turning his free $600 seat into a 47th-place result worth $6,680.

Final Day Action

Only six players returned for Day 4, and it was Jason Li was first to depart before Ahmadi dispatched the start-of-day chip leader Schill in fifth, when his pocket tens held against king-jack.

Ahmadi then picked up pocket kings and sent crowd favorite Jorge Dominguez out in fourth, who held ace-jack. The chips had flown in preflop and when Ahmadi turned a set, Dominguez also picked up a Royal Flush draw. The river bricked out for the Argentinian player, which left him out just shy of the podium places.

The eventual champion probably wished it was a bounty tournament as he picked up the Cowboys once again and called the shove of Nicolas Godard, who held king-queen. Godard did flop a queen, but he couldn't catch up, which left him out in third.

Heads Up

Ahmadi started heads-up with an over five-to-one chip advantage, but Kadur chipped away at that lead by taking down a lot of the early pots to reduce the deficit to around three-to-one.

However, the mountain was just too big to climb as Ahmadi flopped trips with jack-deuce on a paired board and got maximum value, with Kadur calling off his stack on the river holding just a pair of fives.

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