Throughout his long and successful career, David “ODB” Baker won his first three WSOP bracelets in 8-Game, Limit Hold’em, and Razz events, establishing himself as one of the most renowned mixed-game specialists at the World Series of Poker. However, despite coming close several times, a No-Limit Hold’em bracelet had always eluded him until now.
That changed in Event #40: $5,000 Seniors High Roller, where Baker finally completed his collection at the Horseshoe and Paris Casino Las Vegas. Emerging victorious from a field of 801 entries, which generated a total prize pool of $3,684,600, “ODB” claimed the first-place prize of $646,845 after a dominant heads-up performance against China’s Chuanshu Chen, who earned $431,173 for his runner-up finish.
Event #40: $5,000 Seniors High Roller Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David "ODB" Baker | United States | $646,845 |
| 2 | Chuanshu Chen | China | $431,173 |
| 3 | Carmino Argiero | United States | $302,208 |
| 4 | Ron West | United States | $215,095 |
| 5 | Peter Kiem | United States | $155,498 |
| 6 | Ramana Epparla | United States | $114,208 |
| 7 | John Esposito | United States | $85,244 |
| 8 | Stephen Bierman | United States | $64,674 |
| 9 | Joseph Mole | United States | $49,891 |
Winner's Reaction
“It’s hard to put into words. I’ve always wanted to win a No-Limit bracelet,” said an emotional David “ODB” Baker, tears in his eyes after his victory. After taking a short moment next to his wife and mother to wipe his tears, he continued, thinking about his first three WSOP bracelets.
“All my bracelets have their own thing,” he explained. “The first one, I beat an old friend of mine and it was ‘get the monkey off your back’. The second one came right after I won the LAPC, so it was kind of cool because it was the only summer I did side bets on bracelets and stuff. And I grew up playing Limit Hold’em, so that one felt special too. The third one was in the $1,500 Razz and that one really felt special because a few years earlier, I had been heads up and I had a 30 to 1 chip lead and I ended up losing and then I came back in the same event. All three of those were about the bracelet, but this one, it’s still about the bracelet because I love the World Series, but it’s also about the money. I mean, $650,000 is a lot of money.”
As previously mentioned, Baker is mostly known for his mixed games results. But labeling him as just a mixed game specialist would be overlooking his past accomplishments in No-Limit Hold’em : “I am more of a mixed game player at the World Series, but I’ve been playing No-Limit forever. I’ve always really wanted a No-Limit bracelet. Back in 2010, I finished third in one and felt like I let it slip away. I also got 17th in the Main Event that year, and around 50th in 2012," he listed. “In the last couple of years, I’ve dedicated myself a bit more. Not really studying, but talking, discussing hands. I think I’m pretty well-rounded. I think my strength as a poker player is situational analysis, and I don't think it necessarily means to any particular game.”
Winning the $5,000 Seniors High Roller clearly brought him a sense of relief, especially considering the performance of Chuanshu Chen, who held the chip lead for most of the tournament : "It’s the Seniors, so people say it’s soft, but it’s not. I’ve never played heads-up poker like I did today versus Chen. I told everyone he was the toughest player at the final table and that I hoped I wouldn’t end up heads-up with him. Now that I've won, I'm glad it was him because that dude is good. I'm pretty proud of it because I battled hard”.
Like a premonition, Baker explained that he woke up before the final table thinking about a similar situation he had faced at the same stage of a tournament. “It wasn’t No-Limit Hold’em, but two years ago, I had a big chip lead against Chris Brewer and Alex Livingston, and I let it slip away,” he said. “Today, I was thinking of Chris Brewer, and I just tried to remember how he acted when he was short and how he battled me. So I was like, ‘OK, if I get in this situation again, I’m not going to make the mistakes that I made versus him. And if I end up in the spot Chris Brewer was in, I’m not going to get rattled or feel desperate, because that’s the example he showed me.’"
After arriving at the final table as the chip leader, Baker soon found himself in the short stack situation he had envisioned after two “unlucky hands” against Carmino Argiero. But an all-in and call situation where he hit quads against kings put him back in contention and ultimately propelled him to the title.
Now that his fourth bracelet is secured, what’s next? “I’m going to take this afternoon off, and then I’ve gotta decide what I wanna play. I mean, I won a Seniors bracelet, I’ve won a Razz bracelet, and they’re both tomorrow. But you guys know me, I don’t take days off. If there’s something to register for, I play it and I love it.”
Final Day Action
As the four remaining players couldn’t play down to a winner on Day 3, an extra day was needed to determine who would claim the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.
This final day couldn’t have started better for Chuanshu Chen, who picked up aces on the very first hand. However, he didn’t win as many chips as he might have hoped, as an ace appeared on the flop and made Carmino Argiero fold kings. “If you raise preflop, I’m out,” Argiero said after narrowly avoiding elimination.
With fourth place no longer an option for Argiero, someone had to take it, and it was Ron West, who exited in fourth place for $215,095, running into Chen’s rivered straight.
That pot allowed Chen to reclaim the lead he had lost on Day 3 to David “ODB” Baker, while Argiero was left with the shortest stack. He found himself on the edge of elimination twice but managed to double up in preflop all-in and call situations to stay alive and close the gap.
Three-handed play saw the stacks grow increasingly close until “ODB” moved all-in. Argiero, to his left, found kings, and Baker’s fate seemed sealed. But he miraculously hit quads to crack kings and get right back in the mix.
Now down to just a few big blinds, Argiero’s bad run continued as moments later, he ran into Chen’s aces and was eliminated in third place for $114,399.
Heads-up play began with Chen holding a slight chip lead. But little by little, Baker turned the tide and found himself holding three-fourths of the chips in play by the break. When play resumed, his first chance to seal the win came, and it was the right one, as ace-three held against king-ten to deliver “ODB” his fourth WSOP bracelet.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event but be sure to stay tuned for more exciting action from the 2025 WSOP.
