WSOP 2025

Hits and Exit Wounds for Brits at WSOP

by Jonathan Raab June 19, 2025
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Mad Turk Amongst Chip Leaders in $1,000 Seniors

Yucel “Mad Turk” Eminoglu had a torrid start to his trip to the series, failing to cash in anything in town during his first thirteen days in Las Vegas.

Hits and Exit Wounds for Brits at WSOP

That all changed when he bagged a stack for Day 2 of Event #48, the $1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold’em. Things got even better on the second day, when he not only made it past the bubble, but ended the day with the 5th largest stack of just over 2m. 

Hits and Exit Wounds for Brits at WSOP

He’s listed unsurprisingly as having Turkish nationality in official event reports, but you can be sure we’ll be claiming any bracelets that the Midlander returns home with as UK wins. Last year he went very close, ending up in 2nd place in the $1,000 Super Seniors, despite taking a chip lead into the heads-up stage. But he’s long since recovered from the trauma of that loss and has had multiple successes on the UK circuit in the last 12 months. He’s currently in 2nd place on Grosvenor’s leaderboard and now has his eyes set on another deep bracelet run.

Five other players from the UK are among the 202 players who will return for Day 3. The $1,000 Seniors is such a popular event that it requires two starting days. One player who tried, but failed to make Day 2 in this is Blondepoker’s Tony Kendall. He has been min-cashing all over town, often twice in the same day, but this time he failed to continue his run of cashing in bracelet events, having made journeys to the payout desk on both his previous attempts in the series.

PositionPlayerChips
5Yucel “Mad Turk” Eminoglu2,070,000
17Martin Nielsen1,515,000
26David Campbell1,250,000
36Andrew Bradshaw1,145,000
62David Welch900,000
67Anthony Woolley880,000
114William Gibbons550,000

Andy Wilson 4th in $3,000 6-Handed NLH for $189,863

Andy Wilson was the highest placed British player in Event #49, $3,000 6-Handed No Limit Hold’em, taking fourth for $189,863. He was the only one of eleven from the UK who cashed to make the final table, five of whom made the second and final day of the event. 

Wilson started the day in 26th place of the 69 who returned, with Dean Lyall bagging the largest Brit-stack at the end of the first day. Lyall eventually finished in 28th, two places behind Chris Moorman in 26th, but it was Wilson who carried British hopes of a further bracelet onto the final table.

He was in second place, just a handful of chips behind chip leader and eventual winner Tyler Patterson when the final table began. However he lost half his stack in a pot against Matthew Wantaman when they were five-handed and never recovered, losing his last 4.5m chips with sevens against Patterson’s jacks.

Finishing PositionPlayerPrize
4Andy Wilson$189,863
26Christopher Moorman$21,152
28Dean Lyall$21,152
50Elior Sion$10,471
59Scott Margereson$9,180
94Ben Jones$6,913
101Philip Almond$6,534
107Patrick Leonard$6,534
174Mitchell Hynam$6,000
184Andrew Hulme$6,000
193Felix Mcpeake$6,000

Nikolay Ponomarev Takes 5th $10k Razz for $74,857

Just one player from the UK made the money in Event #50, the $10,000 Razz. Nikolay Ponomarev went into the final day with the fourth largest chip stack and pushed on to make the final table, exiting in 5th for $74,857. It was his second biggest live cash, but still some distance off the $150,000 he banked for winning the Party Poker Mini Millions at Dusk Till Dawn in 2020. His biggest ever cash was online.

Nikolay has come a long way since his first live tournament win, in a £150 side event on the GUKPT in 2016. This was his third cash of the 2025 WSOP and he also has a 2nd place finish from one of the $1,100 Turbo events at the Wynn Summer Classic, for $23,405.

Brandon Sheils Wins Trophy at Wynn Summer Classic

Soon after arriving in Las Vegas, Brandon Sheils booked his first win of the trip, taking down a $600 buy-in MonsterStack event at the Venetian DeepStack Series for almost $29,000. Now he has won his second event of the trip by winning a $1,100 NLH Turbo event at the Wynn Summer Classic, defeating 174 other players to take the $41,764 first prize. 

What delighted Brandon the most was the iconic Wynn trophy, shaped like the hotel’s main tower, as he is not the first member of his family to win one. His mother won a similar one a few years ago. With two victories in two separate venues, Brandon is now focusing on securing a third win, ideally in a WSOP bracelet event.

Glaser & Price Price Bust Early on Day 3 of Mixed Omaha

Benny Glaser and Robert Price both bagged top ten stacks at the end of Day 2 of Event #47 $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi Lo 8 or Better, Seven Card Stud Hi Lo 8 or Better. Along with short-stack Robert Wells, they were the last three British players amongst the 27 who returned for the third and final day of the event. 

Wells departed first in 27th and neither Glaser nor Price made the final. Glaser went the deepest, exiting in 16th place, unable to push on for a tilt at his eighth career bracelet. 

Price had a shocker of a day, which lasted less than half an hour, getting scooped in three of the four hands he played. Traumatised, he returned to his hotel, describing it on Twitter as “the most brutal 25 minutes of poker” he has had in 20 years of playing the game. 

Three other British players made the prize money, but not the final day of the event.

Finishing PositionPlayerPrize
16Benny Glaser$9,257
25Robert Price$7,771
27Robert Wells$7,771
55Steve Jelinek$5,259
60Stuart Rutter$5,008
62Suketu Patel$5,008

Talal Shakerchi Through to Day 2 of $25k High Roller

Talal Shakerchi is the only British player left in Event #51, $25,000 High Roller, which goes into its third day on Thursday. He posted the 8th largest of 28 remaining stacks with 3.85m chips. Only one other Brit made the money in this event, Robert Cowen, who took $61,103 for 34th place. Talal, who had been the overnight chip leader after the first day of the event, will be playing for his first bracelet and the top prize of nearly $2.3m.

Charlie Cuff Last Brit Left in $1,500 Freezeout

Only one player from the UK made it to the end of the second day of Event #52, $1,500 Freezeout No Limit Hold’em. With a 1.5m chip stack, Charlie Cuff sits in 13th place out of the last 29, from a starting field of 2,320 players. Play in this one ended when former WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold busted in 30th place. Charlie now has a shot at his first bracelet and the first prize of over $410k

* Hands and photos courtesy of PokerNews and WSOP

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Andy Wilson Benny Glaser Brandon Sheils British Poker Players Charlie Cuff Nikolay Ponomarev Robert Price Talal Shakerchi UK Poker WSOP WSOP 2025 Yucel Eminoglu

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