‘We play poker for this moment’ - Brazil wins WSOP Tag Team gold

Some WSOP events are built for fun. 

The $1,000 Tag Team pits teams of two against each other in a battle for the bracelet. The rules are simple: the two players must register together, and each player must play at least one round of blinds. There are no breaks, so you either need to tag in at some point (not during a hand) or hope your partner is an iron man/lady. 

It’s a chance for friends to play together, stars to let their hair down, and fancy dress costumes to come out. You get husband and wife combos, brothers and sisters… it all contributes to a real party atmosphere. 

But, at the end of it, there’s still a bracelet and a huge first prize. 1,373 teams entered this year, creating a prize pool of $1,208,240 and $184,780 up top. 276 teams made Day 2, 206 got paid at least the min-cash of $2,008, and 31 teams made it through to Day 3, when things would normally get serious. 

2009 Main Event champ Joe Cada was one of the first to go out on Day 3, along with partner Alan Merdita. Jamie Kerstetter and Corey Paggeot were looking to go one better than in 2022, when they finished runner-up in this event to Patrick Leonard and Espen Jorstad. They couldn’t make it and dropped in 23rd.

Caitlin Comesky and Nikki Limo didn't cash in the Tag Team but had a blast regardless.

Hayley Hochstetler

The road to the final table

Two big teams fell just before the final table this year. 

First, Alan Keating and Cody Daniels. A month ago, Keating was playing on Hustler Casino Live with a $1 million buy-in and blinds as big as a buy-in here. He regularly plays the biggest cash games in the world, and occasionally some high rollers. 

His partner, Daniels, has history with him. Last year Keating put Daniels into the 2024 Main Event — “It was just the most generous thing ever,” Daniels said at the time — where he battled against his body to pull off a poker miracle and cashed for $32,000. Daniels has a terminal illness that can make playing poker way more of a challenge than for most other players. 

This year, Keating donated his time in a bid to try and get Daniels (and him) a bracelet. They made it all the way through to the final day, only to go out in cruel fashion. Daniels got his jacks cracked by tens.

“That’s my kryptonite hand,” Daniels said to Keating on the rail, and so it proved. 

Cody Daniels teamed up with Alan Keating and nearly went all the way.

Jess Beck

Talking to PokerOrg afterwards, Daniels said, “I went in to start the tournament on Day 1 thinking I would keep the ship afloat, but I ended up losing half our stack right off the bat. He [Keating] has done brilliantly for us. I’m just glad I made it. 

"This is the only event I'm playing this summer. We’ve had the tournament on the calendar for a long time, and I was hoping I would be able to make it out. So I'm good.”

Next were Andrew and Kristy Moreno. Due to circumstances beyond his control, Kristy was left to ride pretty much solo, and with no breaks in the tournament, that's a tough gig.

Incredibly, Kristy almost brought the bracelet home single-handedly but was eliminated in 12th.

Final table — party time!

The final table was all about the noise. And it was LOUD. It seemed inevitable that the bracelet would be played out between the two teams with the loudest rails — Team Kerber (Kelvin Kerber and Peter Patricio from Brazil) and Team Boujmala (Samy Boujmala and Hicham Mahmouki from France). 

Their supporters were warned several times — to take their drinks off the rail and not make so much noise — but any pause in the revelry was only temporary. 

The rail was the loudest in the Horseshoe this summer.

Jess Beck

Four-handed, the WSOP made the decision that the outer feature table was too close to the $50K Poker Players Championship — at this point down to 22 and approaching the bubble — and too small to cope with the crowds and moved the players onto the main feature. 

That was a signal for the rails to take opposing sides and make even more noise, as you can hear in the video below. 

Duelling rails

It felt like Team McCartney (USA) and Team Lancaster (USA) were just bit parts in the main show, and they departed soon after the move, leaving the two giant rails to put on a show. 

Each took it in turn to put their lungs to the test. Brazil had the flag, but France had the edge, just. 

Brazil had the chips, though — double that of France — and it didn’t take long for them to go into the middle on a board. 

Mahmouki had top-top with AK but was beaten by Kerber’s . Kerber ran to his rail, and then the celebrations really began. 

Kerber has been here before, but in very different circumstances. Back in 2023, he finished fourth when Phil Hellmuth won his 17th bracelet in a one-day Super Turbo in the early hours of the morning. 

“Man, last time I was here I played a final table that was a one-day event,” he said. “It was like 5am; it did not have the same vibe, and there were very few people watching. 

"We were told that we’d finish the next day, so my friends weren’t even there anymore. It was a bigger final table, but it didn’t feel like it. And now, we’ve had the full experience with the big rail on the main table, and it was incredible.”

He played in sync with his partner all the way through the event, but he also paid tribute to his rail, saying it was “special.”

“It was fantastic,” Patricio added. “We play poker our whole lives for this moment.” 

$1,000 WSOP Tag Team results