'I was out': Crazy cooler ends WSOPC New Orleans Main Event

Six years ago, at this very event, Yousef Saleh was cruising along at the final table before a blunder during seven-handed play cost him most of his stack, and he finished in a disappointing seventh place. This year, he wasn't going to make that same mistake, and after letting the game come to him, he defeated a field of 510 entrants to claim his second career WSOP gold ring, the $149,268 first-place prize, and the $5,000 package to WSOP Paradise. 

"It is so awesome to come back and just get it all," Saleh said immediately following the victory. "It was a hard job, I was down a lot after taking three bad beats earlier in the tournament, and I didn't think I was gonna recover, but I was never all in and I think this proves you can win a tournament without flipping." 

The Main Event win is Yousef Saleh's second WSOPC ring.

'I didn't want to gamble'

Saleh made some unorthodox plays to claim his ring, as twice he had a chance to flip for a pay jump. The first time, he limp-folded ace-queen from the small blind as the chip leader against the short stack of Andrew Dykeman for roughly 20 big blinds, and then a few orbits later, he opened the button with two red tens and then folded face up when Dykeman shoved for close to 30 big blinds from the small blind. 

"I felt like I was the only one at the final table that could play post-flop," Saleh said of his unorthodox plays. "I just didn't want to gamble. I know, probably everyone is calling me stupid for that, but I didn't want to gamble. I am not good with flipping. I usually lose, but maybe that is just me being superstitious."   

After making the two theoretically questionable lay downs, Samuel Rosen decided he wasn't going to wait around for other players to take their flips. He got his last three million into the middle with pocket nines against the ace-queen of Kane Keller. However, a queen in the window sealed Rosen's fate, and he hit the rail in fifth place for $33,161. 

Final four deadlock

Action slowed down at this point as the remaining four players were all near dead even in chips, and the players started passing chips back and forth before Dykeman and Saleh clashed in the first all-in confrontation of four-handed play. 

Dykeman was the player at risk with ace-queen and was well behind the ace-king of Saleh, but when the river landed a ten, Dykeman made Broadway to double into the chip lead. 

Dykeman's stint at the top of the counts was short-lived, as a few hands later, he was once again all-in with ace-queen and once again ran into ace-king, but this time Alexander Jones was the shorter stack. No miracle river came for Dykeman this time, and Jones found the double to bring the players back to even in chips. 

Kane Keller couldn't overcome a deficit in heads-up play.

However, a cooler was in store for Jones as he limped in a pot pre-flop, and on a board reading nine-eight-six two spades, he got around three million chips into the middle post-flop with five-four of spades, only to see the bad news when Keller tabled seven-five for the flopped straight. No spade materialized on the runout for Jones, and he hit the rail in fourth place for $46,704, leaving the final three players once again even in chips. 

Three-handed play was another slugfest, but without many big pots as the blinds were mostly tossed back and forth for about a level with Keller, Saleh, and Dykeman trading the chip lead back and forth before another clash between Dykeman and Saleh appeared on the horizon. 

Dykeman was all in for about three million from the button with ace-queen and faded the ace-king this time, but still trailed the pocket queens of Saleh. Dykeman found a Broadway draw on the turn but no miracle ten appeared to save him this time, and he hit the rail in third place for $67,291. 

Closing the deal

The elimination gave Saleh the chip lead going into the heads-up match with Keller, but once again, a back-and-forth battle started to develop before another cooler ended the tournament. 

With the board reading , Keller bet 1,000,000 into a pot of roughly two million, only to see Saleh move all in for 6.7 million, effectively covering him. After about a minute, Keller flicked in the call with  for the turned straight, but Saleh confidently slammed the down onto the table for the full house, and Keller hit the rail in second place for $99,135.

"If the eight doesn't hit the river, I was out of the hand," Saleh said of his winning moment. "If the eight didn't hit the river, I was going to fold. I had already made up my mind about what I wanted to do. I wasn't going to go all in unless I had it and it worked out." 

Saleh now turns his attention to the 2025 WSOP Paradise, but his wife, Areej, might be more excited than he is, as her primary focus all day was telling him how much she was looking forward to the trip down to The Bahamas when he won. 

2025 WSOPC New Orleans Main Event final table results