Ian O'Hara raised to 1,200,000 in the hijack and it folded to Mikhail Zavoloka in the small blind who decided to three-bet to 6,500,000. O'Hara shoved and Zavoloka called all in for a stack around 10,800,000 total.
Mikhail Zavoloka: Q♦Q♣
Ian O'Hara: A♠A♦
Zavoloka didn't find any miracle throughout the 7♥3♦9♠6♣9♣ board and exited the tournament's area to collect his payout.
Andrew Robinson in the cutoff opened to 5,000,000. Maximiliano Castagnini in the small blind raised all in, and Robinson called with the 950,000 he had left.
Andrew Robinson: A♠10♣
Maximiliano Castagnini: 8♠8♦
"Ocho," Castagnini's friends shouted, and they were heard as he hit a set on Q♦6♠8♥. But applauses were followed by a deep "ohhh" when Robinson hit a lucky straight with the J♦K♠ runout to double up.
Maximiliano Castagnini opened to 10,000,000 from the cutoff. Jacopo Achille in the big blind looked at his cards and shoved. Castagnini snap-called, being the player at risk for approximately 11,300,000.
Maximiliano Castagnini: A♣J♦
Jacopo Achille: A♥10♠
Achille flopped a pair on 10♦2♦7♣. Castagnini didn't improve with the 9♥K♦ runout and he was eliminated.
Level 37
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Simon Wilson
Simon Wilson raised to 4,000,000 from the button. Ian O'Hara in the big blind moved all in and Wilson snap-called with the last blue chip worth 100,000 he had left.
Simon Wilson: J♠8♦
Ian O'Hara: J♦7♥
Despite having a pretty bad hand, Wilson was in the lead. But a board of K♠7♠3♣3♥4♠ dashed his hopes, giving two pair to O'Hara and sending Wilson to the rail.
Level 37
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Bogdan Munteanu
In a blind versus blind battle, Bogdan Munteanu completed and Bahar Musa raised it to 3,000,000. Munteanu replied by shoving for a stack of 16,200,000, and Musa quickly called:
Bogdan Munteanu: Q♣J♣
Bahar Musa: A♥9♥
Musa was ahead, and improved into a pair of aces on the board 8♣7♠8♠A♦J♥ to send Munteanu to the payout desk.
Level 37
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Andrew Robinson
Bahar Musa raised to 2,000,000 from the cutoff and saw Andrew Robinson in the small blind three-bet to 7,500,000. Musa went into the tank and four-bet to 12,000,000. Robinson snap-called with the 2,000,000 he had left.
Andrew Robinson: K♦10♥
Bahar Musa: Q♥J♣
Robinson was in the lead, but Musa hit the best flush draw thanks to a flop of 6♥3♥5♥. The 7♥ turn completed the flush, so Robinson didn't need to see the 2♦ river to know that he was eliminated.
Level 37
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Jacopo Achille
Bahar Musa raised to 2,000,000 on the button and Jacopo Achille shoved in the small blind for 12,900,000. Ian O'Hara folded and Musa announced the call.
Jacopo Achille: A♣Q♦
Bahar Musa: A♥5♥
Achile was ahead and had good hopes for a double-up, but the board 4♣5♠8♠3♠J♦ gave a pair of fives to Musa to bust him in the third place of the podium.
Level 38
: Blinds 600,000/1,200,000, 1,200,000 ante
Bahar Musa
Ian O'Hara opened with a raise, and Bahar Musa responded with a three-bet. O'Hara then slid a stack of 1-million chips forward, and Musa called all in for a total of around 20,000,000.
Bahar Musa: 8♥8♠
Ian O'Hara: 10♣6♦
Musa had the dominating hand but O'Hara found a board 10♠3♠9♣9♥4♥ to claim the pot with two pair and bust Musa at the second place of the podium.
Level 38
: Blinds 600,000/1,200,000, 1,200,000 ante
Ian O'Hara
The final day of Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship of the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas crowned Ian O'Hara as the champion, and a first-time bracelet winner. On top of the prestigious achievement of winning the most coveted trophy in all of poker, O'Hara will also take home first-place prize money of $1,189,408.
After defeating Bahar Musa in a heads-up match that ended quicker than expected, now stands atop a start-studded field of 3,797 entrants who came together to create a prize pool worth a staggering $10,137,990.
O’Hara, who had previously finished second and third in WSOP events, finally captured his first gold bracelet. "It’s amazing. It’s nice to finally get the mockery off your back when you’ve been that close so many times," he said with a smile.
The heads-up match began with deep stacks but ended quicker than expected in O’Hara’s favor. "I thought we’d be playing for a while with those stacks, but I got lucky to make a big hand against a big hand and that was pretty much the end of it," he explained.
As for the celebrations? "They’ll definitely happen, but I need some good sleep first!"
O’Hara, who had friends cheering him on from the rail, said their support meant a lot and confirmed he’ll be back next year to defend his title.
Final Table Results Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Ian O'Hara
United States
$1,189,408
2
Bahar Musa
Bulgaria
$792,714
3
Jacopo Achille
Italy
$589,980
4
Andrew Robinson
United States
$442,604
5
Bogdan Munteanu
Romania
$334,718
6
Simon Wilson
Ireland
$255,186
7
Maximiliano Castagnini
Argentina
$196,145
8
Mikhail Zavoloka
Ukraine
$152,009
9
Ankit Ahuja
India
$118,785
Start of the Day Action
The final day began with 26 hopefuls returning to the felt. Action kicked off quickly, with 25K Fantasy Draft pick Xixiang Luo and Andrew Hulme both eliminated in a double knockout. They were soon followed by Michel Molenaar, Gaston Catzman, and Inigo Naveiro, all of whom hit the rail in the first level for a payout of $48,190.
Eliminations continued at a steady pace into the next level, with Osmin Dardon becoming the last player to bust before the two-table redraw. He finished in 13th place, also earning $48,190. From there, the pace slowed as players tightened up, eyeing the next pay jumps. Yannick Jobin and George Tomescu were the next to fall, finishing 15th and 14th respectively, each collecting $59,615.
The action picked up again shortly after. Short-stacked Artem Tuliupa was eliminated in 11th place for $93,602 by Bogdan Munteanu. Then, start-of-day chipleader Eshaan Bhalla was eliminated by Ian O’Hara in tenth place setting the stage for the official final table.
Final Table Action
Indian player Ankit Ahuja was the first to hit the rail after in 9th place for $118,785, and was followed only 10 minutes later by Mikhail Zavoloka (8th - $152,009) who was in the wrong side of a confrontation against O’Hara with queens against aces.
Maximiliano Castagnini (7th -$196,145) hit the rail just after the dinner break in unfortunate fashion, as his ace-jack was cracked by Achille’s ace-ten. O’Hara was also responsible for the elimination of Simon Wilson (6th- $255,186), who had been among the top stacks during the early levels of the day. However, Wilson tumbled down the leaderboard at the final table and lost his last few big blinds with jack-seven.
Simon Wilson
Musa was responsible for the next three exits. He first dispatched Bogdan Munteanu (5th – $334,718), seizing a commanding chip lead. That knockout gave Andrew Robinson (4th – $442,604) a welcome pay jump before he, too, fell moments later, again at the hands of Musa. Musa struck again when he eliminated Jacopo Achille in 3rd place for $589,980, winning a lucky ace-five versus ace-queen confrontation.
Bahar Musa
The Bulgarian player appeared to be on a hot streak and began the final duel holding nearly twice as many chips as O’Hara. However, the battle ended much quicker than expected. O’Hara took down a few pots in a row before the turning point came when he flopped two pair with queen-nine to secure a massive double-up. Musa was left with just 15 big blinds, and the end came minutes later as O’Hara cracked his pocket eights with two pair to clinch the win and send him out in 2nd place.
That wraps up PokerNews’ coverage of this event but stay connected, the WSOP action continues with the Main Event heading toward its final table.
