WSOP 2025

2025 WSOP: Khoi Le Nguyen Scoops $50k High Roller

by Jonathan Raab July 14, 2025
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Khoi Le Nguyen has won Event #88 $50,000 High Roller, defeating a record field of 252 players to take down his first bracelet and a whopping $2,689,913. He defeated Frenchman Alexandre Reard on the third day of the tournament, after a short-but-eventful heads up tussle. 

Khoi Le Nguyen
Khoi Le Nguyen

Nguyen had been well placed in third place overnight of the 17 who returned for the final day of the event, with the chip lead being held by another player with the same surname, Christopher Nguyen, from Germany. He finished 10th, just missing the official final table. However it was not until there were six players left that Khoi Le built a stack big enough to be a contender for the title. 

A relative newcomer to the game, in achieving the win Khoi Le Nguyen has also risen to the number one position on the Vietnamese all-time money list. Less than one year ago he was nowhere on this leaderboard, but had a string of good results in the last 12 months. This was the first $50,000 buy-in event he has ever played in. His previous best was $425,000 in January this year, for winning the $3,500 Borgata Poker Open Championship.

Astonishingly, he also revealed to PokerNews that while he has been tearing it up at the tables for the last year, he has done so without telling his parents what he was up to. They don’t even know that he plays poker.

“I don’t think I can hide (it) from them now,” he commented afterwards.

There were several WSOP bracelet holders among those who made the money, including 8-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser (34th for $102,024), still looking to make it four wins in one series. Another seeking his 8th bracelet was Shaun Deeb (19th for $123,968). Both the runner-up Reard and third-placed Sergio Aido were in the hunt for bracelet number 3, as was 9th-placed Sam Soverel.

2025 WSOP: Event #88 $50,000 High Roller Final Table Result

PositionPlayerPrize
1Viet Nam Khoi Le Nguyen$2,686,913
2France Alexandre Reard$1,791,267
3Spain Sergio Aido$1,242,660
4Japan Jun Obara$879,939
5United States of America Vinny Lingham$636,279
6Bulgaria Fahredin Mustafov$470,036
7United States of America Martin Zamani$354,901
8United States of America Matthew Wantman$274,023
9United States of America Sam Soverel$216,467

2025 WSOP: Event #88 $50,000 High Roller Recap

Seventeen of the 252 entrants returned for the third and final day of the high roller event. At that point, Christopher Nguyen was the chip leader, with Martin Zamani in second and Khoi Le in third. Seven of those who returned were already bracelet holders, and it was a truly international field, with players from 10 different countries still competing.

Jovan Kenjic was the first to bust, doing so just after the restart. Main Event Stone Cold Bubble Boy Mathew Frankland from the UK departed in 16th shortly thereafter. Kyle Julius left the tournament in 15th, by which time Khoi Le Nguyen had lost more than half his chips and was in the elimination danger zone. However he recovered most of his lost chips when taking out Masashi Oya in 14th. 

With the final table getting closer, play tightened up and it was quite some time before Philip Sternheimer saw his quest for a second bracelet this summer fizzle out. He was taken out in 13th by Vinny Lingham. A spate of quick exits then followed, Manuel Fritz in 12th, Leonard Maue in 11th and then overnight chip leader Christiopher Nguyen in 10th.

Going into the final table, Japanese Jun Obara, on 12.1m, was over 3m ahead of Matthew Wantman on just over 9m. Khoi Le Nguyen had moved back up to third place on 8.75m, just ahead of Vinny Lingham on 8.4m. Nobody was particularly short stacked, Martin Zamani’s 5.3m being the shortest at that point, with the blinds at 120k/240k (240k ante).

Nobody hit the rail before the dinner break, by which time Zamani had moved from the bottom of the pile to the top, on 12.275m, just a pip ahead of Sergio Aido on 12.2m Jun Obara’s fortunes had reversed and he had the second smallest stack, with Sam Soverel being the short stack on 2.9m.

Matthew Zamani – 2025 WSOP: Khoi Le Nguyen Scoops k High Roller
Matthew Zamani

Play continued slowly after the dinner break and it was not until they reached level 26, with blinds of 200k/400k (400k ante) that Sam Soverel became the 9th place finisher, for $216,467. Soon after this, the domino effect began, with Matthew Wantman heading out in 8th for $274,023 in a hand that would send Fahredin Mustafov into the chip lead. 

The game had become quite loose at this point, with nobody having more than 40 big blinds. Having fallen back to just above 6m, Martin Zamani open shoved from middle position with K♠Q♥. After using several time banks, Vinny Lingham made the call with A♦Q♦ and although Zamani picked up an open-ended straight draw on the flop, two black threes on the turn and river were no help, and he departed in 7th place for $354,901.

By the next break in play Alexandre Reard (18.125m) held a slender chip lead over Khoi Le Nguyen (16m), with Sergio Aido in third (14.75m). Soon after the restart, with the blinds up to 250k/500k (500k ante) Reard won a big pot from Nguyen to jump up to 27m, staking a serious claim for his third career bracelet.

Alexandre Reard – 2025 WSOP: Khoi Le Nguyen Scoops k High Roller
Alexandre Reard

Nguyen had slipped back to under 10m chips, but soon bounced back, eliminating Fahredin Mustafov in 6th for $470,036, when his A♠Q♥ held up against A♣10♦. But Reard consolidated his lead, sending Vinny Lingham to the rail in 5th. This one was a small blind v big blind shove/call situation in which the last standing American in the big blind called Reard’s K♥8♠ shove with A♥9♠. An eight fell on the flop to bring Lingham’s tournament to an end, collecting $636,279 for his efforts.

Reard moved up to 37m after this hand and soon pushed over the 40m barrier, looking very much like the champion elect at this point. Nguyen stayed in the hunt when he took out Jun Obara in 4th, his K♠10♣ getting the better of A♠7♥ to send the Japanese player home with $879,939.

Over the course of the next few hands, Nguyen closed the gap on Reard and then overtook him for the chip lead. By this time Sergio Aido had become quite short stacked and although he managed one double up, his 6m chips were still only equivalent to 10 big blinds. In another blinds on blinds all-in and call hand, Aido’s K♠2♥ was flushed out by Nguyen’s A♣9♣ on a Q♥Q♣10♣7♥K♣ and he departed in 3rd for $1,242,660.

Sergio Aido – 2025 WSOP: Khoi Le Nguyen Scoops k High Roller
Sergio Aido

Going into the heads up encounter Nguyen on 51.2m held more than a 2-1 chip lead over Reard, on 24.4, with the blinds at 300k/600k (600k ante). Almost immediately Reard retook the lead, as they got it all in, each with a small pair. Nguyen’s deuces were the smaller of the two hands and holding pocket sixes, Reard moved up to 45m, to the delight of the French rail. 

However, just a few hands later, the decisive hand took place and for once, this wasn’t an all-in and call situation. Reard opened to 1.5m and after Nguyen called they saw a flop of 3♠4♥9♠. Reard made a c-bet for 1m, Nguyen raised it to 4m and was called.

The turn was the 2♣ and Nguyen led for 7.5m. Reard moved all-in and was called, flipping over 5♠4♦ for middle pair and an open ended straight draw. Nguyen was ahead with4♣3♣ for two pair. But there was no improvement for Reard and after that hand, the Frenchman had just 2m chips left to the Vietnamese’s 73m. 

2025 WSOP: Khoi Le Nguyen Scoops k High Roller

One hand later it was all over when Nguyen’s Q♥3♠ held on versus 8♦5♠ to bring the three day event to a close. Alexandre Reard collected $1,791,267 for his second place finish, hopefully enough to console him for missing out on a 3rd career bracelet. 

Khoi Le Nguyen, along with his toy turtle chip guard, had amassed all the chips in the tournament, the bracelet and the 1st prize of $2,686,913.

* Hands and photos courtesy of PokerNews and WSOP

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