After a long and grueling heads-up battle to cap things off, Joao Vieira rose to the top to capture his fourth World Series of Poker bracelet in Event #38: $100,000 High Roller. Along with the coveted piece of jewelry, Vieira also pocketed a cool $2,649,158 for his efforts after overcoming a field of 103 entries in the largest buy-in event of the summer thus far.
It was a long and extended heads-up match with runner-up Aram Oganyan, where the tides shifted with every drop of the cards. The two players even engaged in some choice words at one point but cooler heads prevailed, most predominantly that of the Portuguese poker pro. "It's heads up. I know things can go up and down. I just try to keep myself as levelheaded as possible. Do my best, fight until the end I didn't have time to complain about having to fight."
Despite having three WSOP bracelets to his name prior to this victory, Vieira came so close to winning the $100,000 High Roller at WSOP Paradise in September. He went home with a second-place finish but said that never crossed his mind or affected how he played today. "It is just today's event. I'm not thinking about what happened six months ago, or what's going to happen in the next six months. "
Over the past six months, Vieira has put up numerous big results including his largest ever score of $4.6 million just recently. While that does help with some of the confidence, the professionalism in him made it clear that the majority of his confidence comes from all of the hard work he has put in year after year. "The confidence comes from just waking up. Doing my best for 13 or 14 years and just showing up. Showing up, showing up, grinding, being in the present, just working really hard. That's where confidence comes from. Of course, results help."
Both players had a growing rail throughout the heads-up match, but Vieira's included some of those who are also well respected in the game at the highest of stakes. The likes of Adrian Mateos, Alex Kulev, and Ren Lin were seen on the sidelines supporting their friend as the match came to an end. "Nobody walks this life alone. I'm very happy to have the wife that I have, the parents, my sister raised me, my beautiful nieces, and the support group of my friends. My base is also very strong, and that helps me go through the ups and downs with a humble head."
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | $2,649,158 |
| 2 | Aram Oganyan | United States | $1,766,099 |
| 3 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | $1,212,020 |
| 4 | Isaac Haxton | United States | $857,253 |
| 5 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | $625,491 |
| 6 | Andrew Lichtenberger | United States | $471,281 |
| 7 | Emilien Pitavy | France | $367,069 |
| 8 | Vinny Lingham | United States | $295,883 |
The Two Big Stacks Take it to the End
There were just eight players who returned for the third and final day of this event, each having locked up nearly $300,000 thus far. There were two clear front-runners to begin the day with Oganyan and Vieira holding nearly 75% of the chips in play, while the other six players fought to ladder up.
Vinny Lingham was the only recreational coming into the day, and took a bad beat to start things off. That left him on the short stack and he took a spot from the big blind but ran straight into the pocket kings of Vieira. It was about 45 minutes later when Emilien Pitavy got his chips in the middle against the other powerhouse, Oganyan. What looked like it could be a chopped pot, was ruined by Oganyan making a pair on the flop to sent the Frenchman home in seventh place.
Under the spotlight for the second time in just a few days, Andrew Lichtenberger was looking to better his runner-up finish in the $50,000 where he fell to Jason Koon. What looked promising in the early going, turned sour quickly by the flip of a card. Lichtenberger flopped top pair and turned two pair, which looked promising for a double-up. However, Thomas Boivin found a key river to make a straight and send "Lucky Chewy" to the payout desk.
Ben Heath also had a rollercoaster of a day with a couple of double-ups, and some hands not going his way as well. With just five players remaining, Heath chose the ace-five suited to stick in the last of his eight big blinds. Unfortunately for him, he ran dead into the ace-king of Oganyan. Heath flopped a flush draw and some chop outs but was unable to find any help on the runout. Isaac Haxton came into the day as the clear short stack, and after being down to just five big blinds late on Day 2, he managed to ladder all the way up to a fourth-place finish. Haxton also looked poised for a double-up with his pocket queens but Oganyan was on a tear and spiked the lone over card he needed for the knockout.
The final three players battled for nearly an hour but it was the two heavy hitters continuously landing blows on Boivin. After being dwindled down to just 15 big blinds, Boivin picked up two face cards and his chips were in the middle. However, Oganyan was once again waiting with the best hand, holding a dominating ace that could not be defeated. Boivin bowed out in third place which set up an epic heads-up duel between the two dominating players.
It started over four hours ago, but Vieira managed to land the first punch with a rivered straight that earned him a double up. That was the first of many as the two players continued to trade glancing blows, the short stack winning every one of them. Vieira was finally looking to hoist the bracelet after taking the lead in a coin flip. Oganyan was down to just two outs but a roar from his rail was all that was needed to know that one of them landed on the river.
There was some more back-and-forth that resulted in Vieira taking the lead once again. Oganyan appeared to be frustrated at one point and his chips were in the middle as a huge underdog again. His ace-six looked to be no match for the pocket sixes of Vieira, but an ace in the window led to another double-up for the American. Over an hour later, with the stacks virtually even, Vieira was the one to find himself at risk but held a slight lead. Vieira's ace-high was able to hang on despite Oganyan holding two live cards and a straight draw.
With Oganyan down to just a few big blinds, the chips were back in the middle on the very next hand. Vieira held the best hand throughout this time and felt comfortable after flopping top pair. Oganyan turned a flush draw and was looking for another miracle river card, but this time it was not meant to be. The Portuguese rail erupted in cheers and Vieira was able to celebrate after securing his fourth WSOP gold bracelet.
That wraps up the coverage for this event, but the PokerNews team will have plenty more coming from the 2025 World Series of Poker, including the $250,000 Super High Roller that gets underway in just a couple of days.
