Phillip Sternheimer has become the latest player to win his first WSOP bracelet in Event #36, the $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better. He was one of three players from the UK who made it through to the third day, with the 8th biggest stack of the 27 left.
By the time the final table of nine had been reached, Sternheimer was in third place with 3.2m, increasing it to over 4m in the opening few laps of the table and then pushing over the 5m mark after taking out Dennis Weiss. Assuming the chip lead from Bruno Firth, Sternheimer began to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field.
Firth retook the lead and by the time the tournament had been reduced to three, he had pushed on and had over half the chips in play. Sternheimer fell back to be the shortest stack of the three, as Shaun Deeb began a short stint as the chip leader.
The chip stacks had begun to level out when Sternheimer won a massive pot of over 15m against Deeb to retake the lead. Deeb was all but felted, and after he was taken out by Firth, Sternheimer took a lead of over 10m into the heads-up stage.
It was late and soon after the heads-up stage started, play was suspended into a 4th unscheduled day, with the stacks at 14m to 9m in favour of Sternheimer.
When play resumed, it began cagily, but Firth then retook the lead and began to pull away. But it was short-lived and after winning a massive pot, Sternheimer was back in the lead. Although Firth then fought back, the marathon tournament eventually drew to a close when they got it all in on a flop of 2♥9♦Q♥
Bruno K♦J♥5♣3♥
Philip Q♦Q♠J♦9♠
Sternheimer had a set of queens and was in the lead, but Firth had the flush draw and added an open-ended straight draw to his outs on a 4♠ turn. But the 2♠ on the river wasn’t one of them and with a full house on the river, Philip Sternheimer secured his first bracelet and the $763,087.
Emotion overcame Philip and he let out some tears of joy while celebrating with his family and friends on the rail. This victory is very well deserved, Philip has been having a great WSOP, this being his 6th cash of the series and his second final table, having taken 3rd place in the $10,000 Dealers Choice.
- Read More: Sternheimer Wins First Bracelet
Ben Heath Takes 5th in $100k High Roller
Ben Heath was one of eight players who returned on Friday for the final table of Event #38 $100,000 High Roller. His stack of 4.7m was the 5th largest stack at the start of the day. After the first hour of play, Heath won a big uncalled pot and increased his stack to 6.5m.
His stack then took a bit of a rollercoaster ride, dipping to just over 3m, then up again to over 5.5.m. But having been reduced to just under 3m, he was taken out in 5th place when he all-but jammed from under the gun with A♦5♦ only to run into the A♥K♣ of Aream Oganyun, departing in 5th, for $625,491.
- Read More: Joao Viera Wins $100k High Roller
Senior Moments
By the end of Day 2, just 47 players remain in Event #40 $5,000, the Seniors High Roller, all vying for the $646,845 first prize. Three of those left hailed from the UK, with Stuart Taylor up amongst the chip leaders, in 6th place overnight with 1.45m chips. Bracelet winner Steve Jelinek was in mid-division with 610k, while Peter Charalambous was one of the shorties, on just 155k.
But Day 3 didn’t go as planned for these old boys, as both Jelinek and Charalambous found the rail soon after the resumption of play, exiting in 44th and 42nd places, each cashing for $15,155. Stuart Taylor went in 21st place for $25,378.
Four other legendary faces of the UK poker scene cashed in this one, codger-ing their way to the cash desk to collect their not insignificant pension supplements. Ayr Utd Chairman Fraser McIntyre was one of these, as was former Ladbrokes and Grosvenor Poker ambassador Jeff “JaffaCake” Kimber.
| Place | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Stuart Taylor | $25,378 |
| 42 | Peter Charalambous | $15,155 |
| 44 | Steve Jelinek | $15,155 |
| 64 | Paul Sokoloff | $10,722 |
| 67 | Fraser Macintyre | $10,722 |
| 87 | Iwan Jones | $9,937 |
| 90 | Jeffrey Kimber | $9,937 |
Patrick Leonard’s cash in Event #41 $10,000 Limit Championship helped to maintain the UK’s current streak of having cashed in every bracelet event so far. With 22 players left and only 18 being paid, it looked like the streak might come to an end, as Leonard was the short stack of the tournament with just 3 big bets left. But he made it through the bubble and exited in 16th place for $20,701.
Robert Cowen 12th in $1k PLO
Double WSOP bracelet winner Rob Cowen had the 4th biggest stack of the 102 players who bagged on Day 1 of Event #42 $1,000 PLO. His stack of 1.115m was slightly ahead of Danish UK resident Martin Nielsen, who had the 5th biggest with 1.06m. Two others from the UK, James Cheung (539k) and Paul Haus (227k) also made it through to Day 2.
However Cowen did not manage to secure another final table this time, finishing in 12th place for $12,727. James Cheung took 16th for $10,204. Eight players from the UK managed to get a payday in this event.
| Place | Winner | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Robert Cowen | $12,727 |
| 16 | James Cheung | $10,204 |
| 64 | Martin Nielsen | $3,533 |
| 86 | Paul Haus | $2,755 |
| 131 | Lee Rogers | $2,270 |
| 137 | Richie Allen | $2,270 |
| 179 | Samuel Deering | $2,105 |
| 186 | Robert Price | $2,105 |
Hattori Lopez 6th in $3,000 Freezeout
In the last edition of this report, we mentioned that Andrew Murphy’s 16th place was the highest finish of the UK players in Event #35 $3,000 No Limit Hold’em. However it has since come to light that another British player went further, Hattori Lopez, whose 6th place finish earned him $82,260.
We apologise for this oversight, congratulate Hattori on his final table finish and look forward to the next time he challenges for a bracelet.
A Razz Eulogy for Mickey Wernick
The late Mickey Wernick made the final of the WSOP Razz in 2005, finishing 6th. The previous year he was 11th in the same event. Sadly, the former European number one is not with us anymore and the rising of this memory while I write this, is causing tears to flood down my face.
Halfway through 2005, Mickey was just inside the top ten in the European rankings, run by Jon Shoreman’s Poker In Europe site. Blue Square, who I worked for at the time, were part of the Rank Group that owned Grosvenor Casinos. Ben Warn, then the marketing director and I (then the poker manager at Blue Square) made Mickey an offer. Win the European rankings and you get a sponsorship deal. That panned out and Mickey became a sponsored player for the next few years.
I lost touch with Mickey in his later years and wish that hadn’t been the case, but did manage to speak to him a few weeks before he passed in 2023, but regret that I didn’t see him in person again. I guess this is delayed mourning hitting me now. RIP Mickey, you made it to the seven-figure cashes club, clocking out of planet earth with $1,072,023 in live scores. Hope the big man’s not deploying house bot to screw up the game in the great poker room in the sky, as is going on down here on terra firma.
Seven British players played on the first day of Event #43 $1,500 Razz. Seven-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser was one of those, as was Adam Owen, but neither of these crushers managed to survive the day. Two British players did make it however, Joe Brindle ending the day with an above 168,000 of the 97 players left in, with 71 getting paid. Nikolay Ponomarev has 68,500.
Only Joe Brindle managed to cash, taking $3,201 for 45th place. In doing so he preserved the UK’s current streak of cashing in every bracelet event so far at the 2025 WSOP!
British Monsters Still Munching
Two more starting days of Event #37, the $1,500 Monster Stack have now been completed. Lots of British players have made it through. Seun Oluwole was the highest placed of 17 Brits who made it to the end of Day 1b, bagging 456,000 chips, the 8th largest of the stack of the flight.
UK survivors from Day 1b
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Seun Oluwole | 456,000 |
| 16 | Jamie Dwan | 404,500 |
| 60 | Thomas Middleton | 288,000 |
| 108 | Joshua Boulton | 246,500 |
| 113 | Jacque Ramsden | 243,000 |
| 226 | Leo Worthington-Leese | 177,000 |
| 292 | Dale Hancock | 149,000 |
| 306 | Mitchell Hynam | 143,000 |
| 328 | Claudiu-Mihai Burlacu | 132,500 |
| 347 | Andreas Olympios | 125,500 |
| 362 | Grant Gardner | 121,000 |
| 372 | Wayne Thomas | 118,500 |
| 374 | Jamie O’Connor | 118,000 |
| 395 | Robert Bull | 113,500 |
| 415 | Daniel Charlton | 107,500 |
| 475 | Min Ji | 91,000 |
| 623 | Benjamin Taylor | 34,000 |
Although 27 players from the UK made it through Day 1c, none posted huge stacks. Daniel Jackson’s 260,500 was the 112th biggest of the flight. Andrew Hulme (238,500) and Ludovic Geilich (216,500) bagged the next biggest stacks of the UK players. Alli Mallu also has an above average stack of 165,000.
UK survivors from Day 1c
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 112 | Daniel Jackson | 260,500 |
| 153 | Andrew Hulme | 238,500 |
| 183 | Ludovic Geilich | 216,500 |
| 184 | Ryan Plant | 216,000 |
| 228 | David Welch | 194,500 |
| 243 | Pratik Patel | 189,000 |
| 256 | Robert Bickley | 183,000 |
| 274 | Oliver Bithell | 178,000 |
| 320 | Alli Mallu | 165,000 |
| 353 | Sinead Davenport | 154,500 |
| 357 | Bryan Taylor | 153,000 |
| 376 | Stephen Woodhead | 148,500 |
| 425 | Richard Forgan | 137,000 |
| 460 | Hattori Lopez | 130,000 |
| 467 | Christopher Whitaker | 128,500 |
| 483 | Glen Gaines | 125,000 |
| 504 | Arron Pointon | 119,500 |
| 523 | Benjamin Dobson | 114,500 |
| 634 | Robert Sherwood | 93,000 |
| 646 | Daniel Samson | 90,000 |
| 673 | John Fergusson | 84,000 |
| 710 | Andrew Teng | 75,000 |
| 723 | Sotiris Georgiou | 72,500 |
| 736 | Nicholas Marchington | 68,000 |
| 751 | Dean Lyall | 65,000 |
| 752 | Ketan Patel | 65,000 |
| 881 | Philippe Souki | 20,000 |
UK survivors from Day 1d
A further 40 Britons progressed from the fourth and final starting day. In total 106 players from the UK are among the 3,217 who will start Day 2 on Sunday.
| Position | Player Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saigokul Kannan | 460,000 |
| 2 | James Crawleyboevey | 386,500 |
| 3 | Danny Grogan | 386,500 |
| 4 | Laith Edris | 304,500 |
| 5 | Samuel Welbourne | 304,000 |
| 6 | Michael Clarke | 301,500 |
| 7 | Daniel Weaver | 245,000 |
| 8 | Richard Hare | 243,000 |
| 9 | Ryan Mandara | 214,000 |
| 10 | James Walker | 207,500 |
| 11 | Marius Wolmarans | 204,500 |
| 12 | Andrew Murphy | 198,000 |
| 13 | Mitchell Johnson | 194,500 |
| 14 | Niall Farrell | 186,500 |
| 15 | Kevin Allen | 185,000 |
| 16 | Andrew Wilson | 175,000 |
| 17 | Archibald Seaton | 171,500 |
| 18 | Wesley Lopez | 163,000 |
| 19 | James Clarke | 156,000 |
| 20 | William Stephenson | 153,000 |
| 21 | George White | 151,000 |
| 22 | Sven Mermans | 119,000 |
| 23 | Ben Collins | 117,000 |
| 24 | Luke Boynton | 110,500 |
| 25 | Matthew Hunt | 99,500 |
| 26 | David Brannigan | 90,500 |
| 27 | Ryan Hutchinson | 85,000 |
| 28 | Jonathan Mccann | 81,000 |
| 29 | Christopher Kondrat | 74,000 |
| 30 | Joe Hindry | 74,000 |
| 31 | Samuel Deering | 73,000 |
| 32 | Presciliano Abrego | 69,000 |
| 33 | Richard Stavert | 67,000 |
| 34 | Steven Frew | 66,000 |
| 35 | Josing Tang | 54,000 |
| 36 | Peter Charalambous | 52,000 |
| 37 | Jordan Lewis | 38,500 |
| 38 | James Tabor | 36,000 |
| 39 | Wilson Leung | 33,000 |
| 40 | Craig Kelly | 26,000 |
Brindle Highest Finishing Brit in $1,500 H.O.R.S.E
Three British players made the money in Event #39 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Joe Brindle has twice been the highest finishing British player in the last couple of days. He achieved this result before the Razz event reported earlier in this report.
| Place | Player | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 52 | Joe Brindle | $5,158 |
| 63 | David Tarbet | $4,321 |
| 123 | Nikolay Ponomarev | $2,695 |
Hands and photos courtesy of PokerNews and WSOP
