WSOP 2025 Update: Rails raise the roof on boisterous Thursday

Howard Swains
Posted on: June 27, 2025 02:48 PDT

Delicate eardrums were sent running for cover on Thursday at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) as two boisterous final tables wrapped up after poker's oldest tantrum maker served up a classic of the genre.

Starting with the very noisiest: Brazil's Kelvin Kerber and Peter Patricio surged to victory in the $1,000 Tag Team event, delighting what is always the most raucous cheering section in all of poker. 

By their usual standards, it's been a fairly quiet WSOP for Brazil, with a sole bracelet to this point landing around the wrist of Aloisio Dourado in the $1,500 Badugi. But Kerber and Patricio are not only old friends and former stablemates, they are two of the best players from the populous South American nation, and they were bellowed to victory over a 1,373-team field.

Kelvin Kerber: One half of the winning team Kelvin Kerber: One half of the winning team
Jess Beck

The final day began with 31 teams remaining and the Brazilians sitting in fourth place, but supporters drifted over throughout the day and began the chants in support of their pair. Tournament organisers were keen to retain order while the event was still being played on outer tables, but all hell duly broke loose when the tournament moved to the feature table.

By this point, French duo of Samy Boujmala and Hicham Mahmouki also had their supporters in attendance, and the soccer-stadium atmosphere persisted through a heads-up battle featuring those two teams. But Kerber and Patricio sent their fans delirious when Kerber turned trip jacks holding to down Mahmouki's , which had flopped top pair.

The $184,780 first prize is heading behind the bar of whichever establishment in Las Vegas has the most yellow and green flags draped in its windows tonight.

The Cody Daniels/Alan Keating partnership made it to 14th. Kristy and Andrew Moreno were knocked out in 12th. Angela Jordison and Maxwell Young perished in eighth. Overnight leaders Quirin Heinz  and Felix Rabas finished in seventh.

Last to first for Andrejevic in 6-Max

Before the Brazilians arrived, the main focus of the room had been the final five players of the ultra-competitive $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed event, who had Scotland's Niall 'Firaldo' Farrell among them. 

Farrell himself is a keen and frequently well-lubricated rail-bird if one of his many friends is running deep, and the Brits returned the compliment with Farrell alongside England's Brandon Shiels seeking victory this time.

The final five in the $5K Six-Max The final five in the $5K Six-Max
Jess Beck

Despite the vocal support from the sidelines, however, this topsy-turvy final ended with a long overdue first WSOP victory for Andjelko Andrejevic, a Miami-based player who nonetheless tops the Serbia all-time money list, the country of his birth.

Andrejevic has won tournaments across the world, but never before under the WSOP banner, and he rose from fifth of five coming back today to claim a spectacular first bracelet win. 

PokerOrg's Adam Hampton was embedded with the Brits on the rail to watch this one play out. Read his full report.

Hellmuth rants his way out of PPC

There's been a real blast-from-the-past vibe about the $50,000 Poker Players Championship this year, and if the sight of Erick Lindgren at the summit of the leaderboard on Day 2 wasn't enough, we were 'treated' to an old-school Phil Hellmuth rant on Day 3.

Raging at two players winning pots against him with sub-optimal starting hands -- the very thought of it! -- the 60-year-old, Super Seniors-qualified 'Poker Brat' launched into a couple of foul-mouthed tirades against Justin Liberto and then Albert Daher. PokerOrg's Mike Patrick leaned heavily on the asterisk key to bring the full details in his on-the-spot report, but the most significant detail is that, by the time the tournament wrapped for the night, Hellmuth was on the rail and both Liberto and Daher were not.

Phil Hellmuth has been eliminated from the Poker Players Championship Phil Hellmuth was up to his old tricks
Jess Beck

They sit in 10th and second places, respectively, as only 17 players remain from the 107-entry starting field.

Andrew Yeh is the chip leader, with other heavy hitters Ben Lamb, three-time PPC champ Michael Mizrachi, money list leader Bryn Kenney, and four-time bracelet winner Joao Vieira also riding high. There's no place on Day 4 for defending champion Daniel Negreanu, who was knocked out by a more level-headed Hellmuth earlier in the day. But fellow boom-timers Lindgren and Mike Matusow remain involved.

The tournament ended for the day on the bursting of the bubble, which finally occurred past 2:30am local time. Hand-for-hand play began at 10:45pm and continued for nearly four hours, until, finally, Chris Klodnicki took the unfortunate walk to wrap things up.

Check out Mike Patrick's full report from a hectic day.

Luske perishes in 10th as Super Seniors head to final

On the subject of bubbles, the $1,000 Super Seniors event made it to its final nine late on Thursday, and there was no room at the inn for the most recognizable player left in the last 10. Marcel Luske's elimination on the final table bubble denied the crooning Flying Dutchman a stab at a first WSOP bracelet, which would have been a nice late fillip in a long and illustrious career.

Instead, Luske's queens perished to Lawrence Whyte's kings in a last-gasp showdown. It booked Whyte's place at the final and sent Luske looking for $28,244 for 10th. 

Lonnie Weitzel leads the last nine in Super Seniors event Lonnie Weitzel leads the last nine in Super Seniors event
Hayley Hochstetler

The final nine are all from North America, headed by Lonny Weitzel's 14.7 million stack. Whyte is in seventh overall, with Canada's Damir Stefanic, in fourth, breaking up the wall of Stars and Stripes. They'll play to a winner on Friday, with $356,494 and the bracelet up for grabs.