Level 43
: Blinds 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Robbie Schiffbauer
Tony Harrison raised to 6,000,000 on the button and Robbie Schiffbauer three-bet jammed in the small blind for about 20,000,000 to put himself at risk. Harrison quickly called.
Robbie Schiffbauer: 6♠6♥
Tony Harrison: Q♦Q♥
The flop came 3♠J♥K♣, with Harrion's pair of queens still out in the lead. Schiffbauer needed a six but couldn't find one when the board ran out 3♣, J♦ to end his deep tournament run.
Level 43
: Blinds 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Tony Harrison
It was a classic battle of two premium hands when Tony Harrison raised to 6,000,000 from the small blind and faced a reraise by Craig Savage to 12,000,000. Harrison responded with a jam for approximately 48,000,000, and Savage instantly called to send them to a showdown.
Tony Harrison: A♣K♦
Craig Savage: Q♦Q♣
The classic race did not stay a close one after the Q♥6♣7♦ flop gave Savage a set of queens. The 5♠ turn ended it as the 8♣ completed the board to eliminate Harrison in second place. Harrison earned $113,244 for his finish.
Level 43
: Blinds 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Craig Savage
Event #61: $500 No-Limit Holdem Freezeout at the 2025 World Series of Poker has concluded here at The Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. The event attracted a massive field of 5,082 runners, generating a total prize pool of $2,109,030 with $229,628 being awarded to the champion.
A total of 211 players bagged up from Day 1 of the tournament to fight it out in Day 2 for the title and take home the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet along with the first-place prize.
After a relatively quick Day 2’s play, the 211 players were whittled down to the final table of nine who battled it out for the title. The final table was a lengthy affair that lasted over three hours. After a short heads-up match between Tony Harrison and Craig Savage, Savage was crowned the champion and took home the $229,628 first place prize whilst Harrison took home the runners-up second place prize of $152,874.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (USD)
1
Craig Savage
United States
$229,628
2
Tony Harrison
United States
$152,874
3
Robbie Schiffbauer
United States
$113,244
4
Arthur Morris
United States
$84,584
5
Ben Fan
China
$63,706
6
Edwin Chang
United States
$48,387
7
Abhishek Mhatre
Canada
$37,064
8
Yudai Futai
Japan
$28,635
9
Sean Cronin
United States
$22,314
By far the biggest cash of Savage’s career and his first WSOP bracelet, the Dallas native had a relatively slow start to Day 2 and in his own words, was relatively short-stacked throughout the whole tournament.
His philosophy was to just stay in the event and not take any unnecessary risks, and he felt that he would then be able to push on and win what he had promised himself to do at the beginning of the year.
Savage got a great boost to his stack by eliminating Mark Evangelista in 18th place to help him through to the final table, where he started off in fifth spot.
Again he picked his spots and bided his time laddering up the payouts and picked up some much-needed double-ups through Arthur Morris and then again when he needed luck on his side, he was awarded it and also doubled up through Robbie Schiffbauer twice and also once through Harrison.
Arthur Morris
The crucial hand at the final table came when he took a monster pot from Schiffbauer, spiking an ace to send him into the chip lead and leave Schiffbauer on fumes, and he was eliminated shortly afterwards.
Robbie Schiffbauer
The heads-up battle against Harrison lasted only three to four hands until Savage picked up pocket queens against Harrison’s ace-king and spiked a queen on the flop to leave Harrison drawing dead and give Savage the title and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Tony Harrison
That wraps up coverage of Event 61, but stay tuned to PokerNews all Summer long.
