WCOOP 2025 First Week Recap: Blaz «Scarmak3r» Zerjav Wins Three Titles and Leads the Overall Leaderboard

WCOOP 2025 First Week Recap: Blaz «Scarmak3r» Zerjav Wins Three Titles and Leads the Overall Leaderboard
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Alex Sakuta Content Editor
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: September 17, 2025
  • Read time: 2 min

The first week of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was so action-packed that we published a recap after just three days. Here are more victories we hadn’t yet covered.

Blaz «Scarmak3r» Zerjav Scores Three WCOOP 2025 Titles

Blaž “Scarmak3r” Žerjav (source: PGT.com)
Blaz “Scarmak3r” Zerjav (source: PGT.com)

On Sunday he won the $1K FLO8 event with 55 entries for $17.4K. Zerjav nearly added another title in the $1K Thursday Thrill but lost heads-up to Ireland’s «BC1989RF». First place paid $76.5K; second place $42.8K.

Earlier, Zerjav captured two titles in a single night: the $215 HORSE for $8.5K and the $320 NLHE for $22K. He also finished runner-up in the $1K World Championship of HORSE for $14.9K.

Patrick «pads1161» Leonard Earns His 12th WCOOP Victory

PGT Cup 2025 Patrick Leonard
Patrick Leonard (Source: PGT.com)

Nine days, countless deep runs, and three heads-up battles were needed for Patrick «pads1161» Leonard to claim his first WCOOP 2025 title. He won the $109 Sunday Kickoff with 1,866 entries for $28K.

Leonard shared the story on Instagram:

«My Mums been ill recently and she said her best medicine would be me to play as well as possible and get her a trophy to shine. Well Mum get the duster out.»

Here’s the full list of pads1161’s WCOOP victories:

YearTournamentPrize
2015$700 NLHE 6-Max$108,416
2016$700 NLHE Ultra-Deep$162,055
2021$5,200 NLHE PKO HR$121,328
2021$1,050 NL 2-7 SD$20,475
2022$1,050 6+ Hold’em$17,445
2023$1,050 NLHE Super Tuesday$54,506
2023$109 FLHE 6-Max$4,011
2023$109 NLO8$7,449
2023$5,200 World Championship of Heads-Up NLHE$80,500
2024$1,050 World Championship of of Razz$19,414
2024$2,100 NLHE Warm-Up$103,349
2025$109 Sunday Kickoff$28,023

Leonard clearly means business this series: he has advanced to Day 2 in five more events scheduled to finish Wednesday night.

Leon «RUMUKU1US» Sturm Takes Two Titles

EPT Barcelona 2025 Leon Sturm
Leon «RUMUKU1US» Sturm (Source: pokerstars.com)

Sturm won the $5K PKO Super High Roller for $109.8K and the $5K NLHE Turbo for $64.2K. He nearly claimed a third title in the $530 PKO Turbo but lost heads-up to Bosnia & Herzegovina’s «99dm84». First place paid $26.5K; second $16.9K.

Fierce Race for the Leaderboards

The fight for the Overall Player of the Series title is tougher than ever. Standings as of September 17:

WCOOP Leader Board Overall

  1. Blaz «Scarmak3r» Zerjav — 1,200
  2. Vitaly «king153246» — 1,170
  3. Patrick «pads1161» Leonard — 1,115

High

  1. Patrick «pads1161» Leonard — 655
  2. Vitaly «king153246» — 570
  3. Blaz «Scarmak3r» Zerjav — 515

Medium

  1. Ben «benmiller500» Miller — 345
  2. Patrick «pads1161» Leonard — 315
  3. Blaz «Scarmak3r» Zerjav — 300

Low

  1. Vitaly «king153246» — 410
  2. «lyren154» — 410
  3. Andrey «AwadeuS» — 395

A total of $100K will be awarded across the leaderboards. The Overall winner receives $25K. High pays the top three ($15K, $10K, $5K). Medium rewards the top 10, with $10K to the winner. Low pays the top 20, with $5K to the winner.

Points are calculated as follows: 1st place — 100 points, 2nd — 80, 3rd — 70, and so on, with a minimum of 5 points for ITM.