Level 42
: Blinds 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Yansong Kou
Action folded to Yansong Kou on the button, and she moved all in for her last 6,200,000. Wai Kit Lo called without hesitation from the big blind.
Yansong Kou: 9♥9♦
Wai Kit Lo: Q♦2♥
Not only did Kou find one nine, she flopped quads as the board ran out 6♦9♠9♣8♠J♦. The miracle flop secured her a double-up and gave her new life in the tournament.
Level 42
: Blinds 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Ionannis Panagopoulos
Everyone folded to Ionannis Panagopoulos on the button, and he moved all in for 15,600,000. Wai Kit Lo made the call from the small blind, and the cards were tabled.
Ionannis Panagopoulos: A♦K♠
Wai Kit Lo: A♣2♠
Lo's rail was calling for a deuce, and the flop delivered with 3♠2♦5♣. Just to be sure, the 2♥ landed on the turn, giving Lo trips and leaving Panagopoulos with very few outs. The 7♣ on the river sealed it, sending Panagopoulos to the rail and keeping Lo at the top of the chip counts.
Level 43
: Blinds 2,000,000/4,000,000, 4,000,000 ante
Jonathan Stoeber
Wai Kit Lo applied pressure once again, shoving all in from the button and putting both blinds at risk. Jonathan Stoeber didn’t have much left and made the call from the small blind, while Giuseppe Zarbo folded the big blind, sending the hand to a showdown.
Jonathan Stoeber: A♦2♣
Wai Kit Lo: K♦6♦
Lo took the lead on the 6♠8♦Q♥ flop with a pair of sixes. The 7♣ turn changed nothing, and the K♥ river gave Lo two pair to lock it up, eliminating Stoeber and further boosting his chip lead.
Ryo Kotake moved all in as first to act, putting both opponents at risk. Wai Kit Lo took a moment before calling, and Giuseppe Zarbo asked for a count before deciding to call as well, setting up a three-way showdown.
Wai Kit Lo: Q♥J♥
Giuseppe Zarbo: A♦9♥
Ryo Kotake: 10♥4♥
Zarbo was ahead with ace-high and stayed in front as the board ran out 2♠K♣3♣5♠8♣, with none of the players connecting. Zarbo nearly tripled up, while Lo was eliminated in third place, setting the stage for the final heads-up battle.
Level 45
: Blinds 3,000,000/6,000,000, 6,000,000 ante
Ryo Kotake
After relentlessly applying pressure and chipping away at Ryo Kotake, Giuseppe Zarbo opened another hand with a raise to 13,000,000. Kotake made the call to see a flop.
The dealer spread 3♦8♣10♥, and Kotake checked. Zarbo continued for 9,000,000, and Kotake called.
On the 2♦ turn, Kotake checked again and Zarbo ramped it up with a bet of 22,000,000. Kotake instantly moved all in, and Zarbo snap-called.
Ryo Kotake: Q♠8♠
Giuseppe Zarbo: A♣A♥
Kotake was in trouble with just a pair of eights against Zarbo’s overpair. The A♦ on the river sealed it with a set of aces, crowning Giuseppe Zarbo the champion and sending Ryo Kotake out as the runner-up.
Level 45
: Blinds 3,000,000/6,000,000, 6,000,000 ante
Giuseppe Zarbo
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 win 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 tournament. 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
10
Tanith Rothman
South Africa
$39,420
Giuseppe Zarbo
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.”
Giuseppe Zarbo
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.
