Breaking Down the Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 3

Event #25 – $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship

Nick Guagenti defeated Chino Rheem and 125 other poker players in his quest to take down the $10k Seven Card Championship, denying Rheem a chance to win the Triple Crown, ending Mike Matusow’s dream of ending his 12-year drought, as well as Dan Heimiller’s second WSOP bracelet in Stud this year. 

Rheem fought him for over five hours heads up before Guagenti pulled away and secured the victory, and we’re going to look at one of those hands from the heads-up battle, soon after Rheem had taken back the lead.

In Level 36 with the ante at 30k, Rheem sat with a 2M stack, while Guagenti had 5.6 million to his name when a calm hand at first turned crazy on seventh street. Rheem raised Guagenti’s completion, and the two stayed quiet until sixth street when a bet was called. On the seventh and final street though, action went bet; raise; re-raise sending Rheem into the tank for several minutes. 

Guagenti flashed him his last card – a 2 (Note: Guagenti is showing 3 hearts up) and this seems to spiral Rheem even more when Guagenti commented that this seems like déjà vu – earlier Eheem tank-called on seventh street with a flush. Rheem exposed two clubs, confirming he did in fact have a five-card club flush. 

Despite over half of his stack in the middle, Rheem found a fold, only to have Guagenti exposed the fifth heart in his hand, confirming the correct fold was made.

The fireworks could have been even more intense had Guagenti made his flush on sixth street, but the Q – his only face hard in his flush – being down was Rheem’s downfall in this hand. 

When you look at the card sequence, Guagenti ran out four hearts to get there on the river without a club in his hand. Rheem got there on sixth street but had two of Guagenti’s outs – one exposed which makes Rheem’s fold even more unbelievable. 

What was most interesting was the lack of action before sixth street especially considering Rheem made it a full bet on third street with three suited clubs. The fourth club coming on fifth street might have brought a fold from Guagenti who only a pair of fours at that point had but as soon as the fourth heart appeared for the chip leader, it was not likely he was going anywhere, especially with only three clubs showing for Rheem.  It was a very unlucky runout for Rheem who sacrificed half of his chips to fold an eight high flush heads-up in seven card stud – a very tough fold considering how powerful that hand is heads-up.

Event #26 – $25,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller

Chang Lee took down the $25k High Roller for $1.9 million and his first WSOP bracelet beating several top pros on his way to the victory circle including former WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen. Lee used aggression in several spots to gain leverage and everyone’s chips, and some of his value bets later at the final table may have been set-up in this hand against Matthew Frankland.

In Level 21 with blinds at 80k and 160k with a 160k big blind ante, Chang opened from the cutoff and Matthew Frankland called from the button to see a relatively low, dry flop that brought checks from both. The A on the turn saw Lee bet 875l, to which Frankland called. 

The 5 on the river saw Lee push 2.6 million chips into the middle, which brough an eventual fold and a comment from Lee, saying that it was a good fold. Frankland replied that he didn’t think so, and Lee confirmed that by showing his hand.

The pot going to the river was 2.8 million – roughly a quarter of each’s stacks at this point of the tournament, so if you are going to risk sending that many chips at a final table, your plan better had been ironclad.  What makes this hand so interesting is that it felt like Frankland knew it was a bluff – why else would you comment that it wasn’t a good fold in that moment? 

We don’t know Frankland’s hand, but one has to think that based on his position and calling the turn bet, that Frankland was likely on the Eight somehow – Seven-Eight or Eight-Nine suited seem to make the most sense – especially if he was on hearts. 

If that was true, it would be unlikely that Frankland would have called a sizeable bet on the river, and Lee may have known that.  After all, this was Lee’s first live poker tournament – ever, but his preparation to play a $25k obviously worked.

To Lee’s credit, two things were working in his favor here – aggression, and his story telling.  He was active at the final table, putting his opponents in tough spots and using his chip stack and the lack of information on his playing style to his credit against some of the biggest names in the game today. Raising out of position, checking an eight-high flop, and then waking up when an ace hit looks like the actions of a less experienced player playing Ace-X, so the story he told to Frankland sure made sense, making the bluff more believable.

The key though is he showed the bluff when questioned – not only does this bring a lot more doubt into one’s head when playing a hand against Lee later, but it also showed that his skills were not at the level of a novice poker player which could have altered how Frankland and others approached Lee later in the tournament. 

The degree of uncertainty goes up, and the ability for Lee to get paid off on value hands later also increases, and Lee used that to help with take down the WSOP $25k High Roller title.

Photo Credit: Regina Cortina

Event #30 – $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship

When we read that Nick Schulman had one his seventh bracelet, we were expecting an epic winner’s photos, like the one he had back in 2023 with his feet up on the poker table. He was a little more subdued this time, but that may have been a result of battling Darren Elias for eight hours heads-up to win just shy of $500k.

But it almost wasn’t to be for Nick – he got down early in the heads-up match, but a properly read hand gave Nick back the lead, on his way to victory. Let’s go back through that one where Schulman saw through Elias.

We’re in Level 27 with the blinds 60k and 120k with a 180k ante, and Schulman sitting on 5.35 million, and Elias’s stack at 8.95 million. 

From the button, Elias raised to 260k and Schulman called, drawing one to Elias’s two cards. Schulman fired 250k and Elias raised back to 1.1 million.  It took a few looks at his hand for Schulman to drop the call into the middle, and Elias showed two cards to allow Schulman to scoop the pot.

We never saw Elias’s entire hand but the exposed pair of sixes is all that he needed to show – we have to think that Elias was sitting on a better hand than Schulman, but pairing one of the two cards he drew was devasting to Elias who decided to fire away anyways, knowing that was the only way he was going to win the pot. 

To Nick’s credit, drawing one and hitting a ten low, with Elias drawing two, this would still have been a difficult call especially considering the chip stacks at this point. Had Nick been wrong, he would have been around 3 million to Elias’s 10 million plus, putting his at risk of losing the heads-up battle. 

If Nick’s ten had been a queen, this would have been a much tougher call, but heads-up, with the hands in front of him, the call should have been made with confidence that the chips were coming his way.

Photo Credit: Rachel Kay Winter

Event #32 – $50,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller

In Level 23, with blinds at 200k and 400k with a 400k big blind ante, Lichtenberger had a stack of 21.2 million on the button, and Koon was in the big blind with just over 30 million. Lichtenberger raised it up to 1 million even, and Koon found a call. The flop brought two checks, but on the turn 6 , Koob decided to take control, leading for 3.6 million that was called. 

The 5 on the river pairs the board and completes the flush draw, and Koon fired 2 million, to which Lichtenberger shoved. After a few minutes and going through several time extensions, Koon talked himself into a fold and laid his hand down.

We weren’t given Lichtenberger’s hand, but this was a difficult fold for Koon to make. Heads-up, the small blind is going to be raising wide – to the point where the big blind will almost never fold, so when Jason flops top pair he’s not going to be folding, but the check by Lichtenberger on the flop certainly gave Koon the green light to fire on the turn, especially when it bricks as it did. 

The river is a horrible card for Koon – not only does his hand diminish in value but being out of position and firing on the turn, he may have felt compelled to bet a second time which is why he downsized from 3.6 to 2 million as he did. 

Lichtenberger shoving over the top was not what Koon wanted to see but what exactly could Lichtenberger have had we’ll never know but there is an argument to be had that Lichtenberger had the flush, had the five or had nothing. Koon felt the risk to look him up wasn’t worth it at that point, and giving up the chip lead hurt momentarily, but it didn’t take long for Koon to get the lead back, and all of Lichtenberger’s chips.

This year’s series has been one of the most enjoyable and engaging to watch thus far, and the best is still to come with many more big tournaments on the horizon, producing even more great moments! 

We can’t wait to see what is going to happen next!