The most talked about final table of the 2025 World Series of Poker so far has wrapped up, with Ryan Bambrick eliminating two of poker’s biggest names, Daniel Negreanu and Viktor Blom, en route to victory in Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. Bambrick secured his second WSOP bracelet and a $470,437 payday for the victory.
Bambrick dominated the final table and eventually defeated Negreanu heads-up, denying the poker icon an eighth bracelet. Bambrick took home the lion’s share of the $2,018,100 prize pool that was generated from the record-breaking 217 entries, while Negreanu's runner-up finish earned him $313,615.
This marks the largest score of Bambrick’s career, more than doubling his live tournament earnings. Already a bracelet winner from a PLO event back in 2018, this was his first-ever cash in a five-figure buy-in event, and what a way to do it.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Bambrick | United States | $470,437 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | $313,615 |
| 3 | Ofir Mor | United States | $216,223 |
| 4 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | $152,315 |
| 5 | Hunter McClelland | United States | $109,679 |
| 6 | Maxx Coleman | United States | $80,772 |
| 7 | Micah Brooks | United States | $60,866 |
| 8 | Daniel Spear | United States | $46,957 |
| 9 | Ben Lamb | United States | $37,110 |
Winner's Reaction
Following his victory, Bambrick reflected on what it meant to come out on top in a stacked final table.
“It’s pretty sweet to beat Daniel Negreanu and Isildur1 at the final table,” he said. “I mean, it’s all good, it’s kind of surreal really.”
With much of the crowd rooting for Negreanu when they were heads-up, the champion admitted he noticed the atmosphere but wasn’t fazed. “For sure, everyone was clapping for him, but I had a couple of people clapping for me too. Honestly, I liked it, it didn’t intimidate me at all.”
This win marked his second appearance at a WSOP final table and his second bracelet, making him a perfect two for two on poker’s biggest stage. When asked about the secret to his success, he kept it simple: “Focus and play for the win. Don’t worry about ICM, just play to win.”
With a second bracelet now in the bag, Bambrick confirmed he’ll be sticking around for more: “Yeah, I’m probably going to play a pretty full slate this year.”
Asked about his mindset coming into the final table as second in chips, he explained, “I didn’t really have a specific stack strategy. It was more about constantly adapting to each opponent and picking up on their tendencies. That’s pretty much it.”
Final Day Action
When the cards hit the air, Viktor Blom held the chip lead, while Bambrick was tied in chips with Negreanu for second on the leaderboard. But it didn’t take long for Bambrick to snag the chip lead after rivering a better two pair against Blom, kicking off what would become a final table masterclass.
Bambrick tried to bust Hunter McClelland in the first level of the day, but after failing to do so, he slipped down the chip counts for a bit and it looked like he might not recover. Fortunately for him, sitting to the left of Blom ended up being a goldmine time after time. Bambrick regularly scooped the Swedish pro and began to pull away from the pack.
After McClelland bowed out in fifth, Bambrick and Negreanu were sitting one and two, while Blom was just barely hanging on with around four big bets. Bambrick kept chipping up, winning pots off all three opponents and building his stack to hold more than half the chips in play.
Blom’s final table only went from bad to worse, and his wait for a first WSOP bracelet will have to continue. He managed to survive one all-in, but Bambrick rivered a flush in the next to send the Swedish poker legend out in fourth.
From there, it felt like Bambrick was destined for the bracelet, holding more than six times as many chips as his closest rival, Negreanu. Still, Negreanu wasn’t about to roll over as he fought back, taking some pots off Bambrick, and then made quads to bust Ofir Mor in third, setting up a heads-up battle with his eyes on bracelet number eight.
When heads-up play began, Bambrick had a 4:1 chip lead over Negreanu. As always, a big crowd of Negreanu fans had gathered on the rail, hoping to see him bring home another piece of silverware. Negreanu closed the gap slightly with some perfectly-timed value bets, but the deck kept cooperating for Bambrick, who picked up a string of premiums to stay in control and extinguish any momentum from Negreanu.
Every time Negreanu dragged a pot, the rail would erupt, but Bambrick kept silencing them. The most notable pot came when Bambrick hit a dream river to leave Negreanu with just five big bets.
Negreanu didn’t get to the top of the poker world, or win seven WSOP bracelets, by giving up when things looked bleek. He regrouped and chipped away at the deficit, even getting the stacks nearly back to 2:1. But as tournament poker goes, the cards turned against Negreanu at the wrong moment and before long, he was back under five big bets.
It all ended when Negreanu got all-in on the turn with trips, only to run into Bambrick’s nut boat. No miracle river for Negreanu, who had to settle for second and was quick to congratulate Bambrick on an outstanding final table performance.
With that, Negreanu made a dash to the bathroom, and Bambrick was left to celebrate his second World Series of Poker bracelet and the $470,437 payday that came with it.
That wraps up PokerNews coverage of Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship here at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas. Be sure to stick with us for updates from all the other events at the 2025 World Series of Poker.
