It was another quick evening at Wynn Las Vegas for the World Poker Tour, where Schuyler Thornton and Soheb Porbandarwala dominated the final table of the 2025 WPT World Championship before Thornton emerged victorious from a heads up battle that was over in just 13 hands.
No one would have predicted the end result when heads-up play started with over 300 big blinds left on the table. And fresh in everyone's mind was the previous evening's WPT Prime Championship, where Aaron Johnson survived a three-hour grind to win $1.1 million. But a struggle it was not, and Thornton won 12 straight hands to finish the tournament. Had it not been for a fold on the first hand of heads-up play, it would have been a clean sweep for the Texan.
It's the first major win for Thornton after a career of near misses, most recently a runner-up finish in the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw at this summer's WSOP.
"I ran hotter than anyone could ever dream of running," Thornton told PokerOrg after the win. "I had it every single time. And he made good falls a couple of times. Then I just dwindled him down. I think I made one bluff."
The final two adjusted the payouts before heads-up play started, leaving $2,098,456 for first and $1,969,344 for second with $160,000 left up top, so Thornton wins $2,258,856. Add that to the $2 million he has already earned since his first score in 2012 and the Corpus Christi, Texas native has over $4.2 million in lifetime earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.
Easy work for top two
The finale was a quick one. It started with Porbandarwala in the lead and Maxx Coleman on the short stack, with the eventual champion Thornton holding down the second spot.
Coleman was first out, handing his chips to a charging Thornton after the 19th hand of the evening. Thornton was the only player who had managed to close any of the distance with the leader at that point, with Jeremy Brown, Chad Lipton, and Jeremy Becker all losing ground in the opening salvo.
From there, Porbandarwala started to pull away from the pack, holding half the chips in play at the end of hand #33. A short time later, Becker was next out in fifth when he limp-shoved 
into Thornton's 
. The hand allowed Thornton to once again move closer to the leader, leaving Lipton as the short stack and Brown as a distance third.
Lipton was soon gone in fourth and Brown tried to get something done from the bottom in three-handed play. He would tread water for a short time, but the big double finally came during the 54th hand of the evening. Brown raised with 
and Porbandarwala three-bet with 
, setting up a shove from Brown for his last 18 million. The flop turned over with a queen and Brown held onto it through the turn and river to find new life.
Something gives
Meanwhile, Brown's double moved Porbandarwala back to the pack, giving Thornton the opportunity to take the lead a short time later. The top two would trade the chip lead while Brown looked for a spot, and it would come on the river against Thornton with 
showing. Brown shoved his last 26 million with 
and Thornton snap-called with a set of fours to send him off the stage in third.
The final two players adjusted the payouts during an extended break and they returned with Thornton holding 185 big blinds to Porbandarwala's 125. Thornton folded the first hand of heads-up play, but that would be the last hand Porbandarwala would win for the rest of the night. A pair of pocket aces helped break it open in the biggest pot of heads-up play for Thornton, who won the next 12 hands to finish the job.
2025 WPT World Championship final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Schuyler Thornton | $2,256,856* |
| 2 | Soheb Porbandarwala | $1,969,344* |
| 3 | Jeremy Brown | $1,250,000 |
| 4 | Chad Lipton | $940,000 |
| 5 | Jeremy Becker | $710,000 |
| 6 | Maxx Coleman | $540,000 |
* - denotes adjusted heads-up payouts.
Images courtesy of World Poker Tour/Rachel Kay Winter.
