WSOP 2025 Day 9 Recap: Staats Wins Second Bracelet, Gutierrez Gets First as Benny Glaser and Ben Lamb Go for Gold 

Kenneth McMillanNine WSOP events took place on the ninth day of action at Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos in Las Vegas as the 56th annual WSOP ramped up the action. Two bracelets were won as Christopher Staats and Cristian Gutierrez claimed titles, while Ben Lamb and Benny Glaser both grabbed vital leads as they look to extend their legacies tomorrow.  

Staats Add Up as Christopher Wins Second Bracelet

Christopher Staats won his second WSOP bracelet just three years after his first as he came from behind to win a thrilling heads-up against David Jackson. Just 11 players came back to play down to a winner on the third day of action in Event #13, but after sitting in the middle of the pack for much of the day, Staats timed his sprint to the line to perfection.

He may have won a WSOP bracelet three years ago, but a year ago, Staats left Las Vegas a year ago burned out after 15 years of travelling the world playing poker.

“I just took a break, got a job in a warehouse, waking up at 3:30 a.m. for six months,” he told reporters. “I just needed to check out. I don't think people understand how much putting into this game involves traveling away from your family and your kids to get at the highest level. You sacrifice a lot.”

Staats may have quit poker but it turned out that was just a break. He realised that he loved the game too much to walk away permanently and the final table was a pressure cooker of emotions for him as he came back from 4:1 down in chips to beat the experience David Jackson.

“I really felt coming into the summer like this was going to be special,” said Staats. “David Jackson is an awesome player that I've respected a lot for a long time and I couldn't have had a better person to battle with.”

WSOP Event #13 $1,500 6-Handed NLHE Final Table Results

Gutierrez Wins Maiden Gold in PLO Deepstack

Cristian Gutierrez also won a WSOP bracelet on Day 9 of the 2025 WSOP but unlike Staats, it was his first-ever victory. The $600-entry Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack event had 3,110 total entries, creating a prize pool of $1,657,008 and it took 12 hours on the final day for Gutierrez became the latest WSOP champion. Heads-up, Gutierrez beat his fellow American Robert Chorlian to take the bracelet and his biggest-ever live poker result of $193,780, three times his previous best cash.

Coming into the final table second in chips, Gutierrez battled to a big double-up against Robert Chorlian and once he grabbed the lead from the man in front, he had all the momentum. Those two players would make the final heads-up, and flopping two-pair, Gutierrez held against Chorlian’s pocket aces, relegating the latter to runner-up and claiming the first bracelet of his career.

“I came from a family that struggled money-wise, where my grandpa had a huge family,” he told reporters after the event. “We lived a farm, just basic necessities, you know, no cable, just water and food. You gotta get up at six in the morning and work to get a payday. So I come from all of that. It’s not about the money to me, I made this money to help my family and also keep playing the game that I love.”

Cristian Gutierrez’s history was that of a soccer player, but when he found poker, he fell in love with a new game. Today, the game loved him right back. 

WSOP Event #16 $600 Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack Final Table Results

Ben Lamb On Target for Third Bracelet in High Roller Mix

Just five players remain in Event #14, which has a top prize of $1,302,233 on offer.  The $25,000-entry High Roller, which takes part in Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em, saw players such as Michael ‘Texas Mike’ Moncek (9th for $103,821) leave before the final day.

Heading into the last day of action, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Ben Lamb has a huge lead with 17,140,000 chips, almost three times as many as his nearest rival, Lou Garza. He’ll be ‘proposing’ victory tomorrow from a base of 6.65 million, with Chinese player Chongxian Yang (5.17m), Welshman Robert Cowen (4.53m) and the overnight chip leader Brandon Mitchell (3.16) all still in with a chance. 

WSOP Event #14 $25,000 High Roller PLO/NLHE Final Table Results

Benny Glaser Two Opponents from Double Delight 

With just three players left in the battle to win Event #15, one is a very familiar face. Ending the night with the chip in the $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better event was British mixed games specialist Benny Glaser. With 12.12 million chips, Glaser has a slim lead over Travis Pearson (11.8m), with David Shmuel hanging in the three-handed battle for glory with a stack of 7.05m chips.

At an entertaining final table, Alan Sterberg finished sixth for $46,879 after Tyler Brown had earlier become the first player to bust from the final table, exiting in eighth for $26,666. The event, which had 1,239 entrants, also saw deep runs from Patrick Leonard (9th for $20,564), Rep Porter (22nd for $10,336) and Ryan Laplante, who busted in 31st place for $8,480. 

WSOP Event #15 $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table

Smith in Control in NLHE Event 

Dusti Smith sits as a big chip leader in Event #17, the $2,000-entry No-Limit Hold’em event. Dusti Smith (8.5m) is some way clear with 142 big blinds with Chinese player Quan Zhou 95.24m) second in chips. With another former WSOP bracelet winner Scott Bohlman in third place on 4.81m, the final 19 players will do battle for a top prize of $436,044 tomorrow, with Jesse Lonis hoping to spin up 1.24m into a spectacular comeback win. 

WSOP Event #17 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em Chip Counts

Hoenig Hopes for Maiden Victory in Dealers Choice 
With just 14 players still in the hunt, Ryan Hoenig bids to win his first-ever bracelet in Event #18, the $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship. Hoenig has a massive pile of 2.05 million chips, good for a sizeable lead from Dario Alioto (1,228,000) and over double the chips of any other opponent.
 The American has glittering competition behind him in the chipcounts, however, with the Itlaian and Daniel Zack (813,000), Allan Le (510,000), Adam Friedman (504,000), Nick Guagenti (393,000), Brandon Cantu (348,000), Andrew Kelsall (282,000) and Gus Hansen (91,000) having 16 WSOP bracelets between them.
A dramatic day at the felt in the event saw Phil Hellmuth bust in 15th for $20,088 as The Poker Brat busted to Ryan Hoenig. As he left the room, Hellmuth said ‘I hate poker’... but we’re sure he doesn’t really mean it.

WSOP Event#18 $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship  Chip Counts

Three New Events Kick Off in Las Vegas

Three more WSOP bracelet events began in Sin City on Wednesday as the $500-entry Event #19, the ‘Colossus’ saw 3,378 total entries with just 410 players Making the Day 2 cut. Gulnara Taul (4,520,000) led the field at the close of play, with her stack ahead of Lok Chan (1,635,000). With former bracelet winners Brett Shaffer (696,000), Jack Sinclair (602,000), and Benjamin Ector (549,000) all surviving too, Day 2 is bound to be an exciting one.

In Event #20, the $1,500 Shootout event, players such as the 2016 WSOP Main Event winner Qui Nguyen and other bracelet winners Aram Zobian and Kevin Song survived their nine-player ‘Sit n Go’ style tables to progress to Day 2. Michael Rossitto, Yulian Bogdanov, Brock Wilson and Punnat Punsri made it too, but there was no place inside the money places for the reigning champion in the event, Daniel Sepiol, as well as other former winners Brett Apter or Faraz Jaka. Erik Seidel, Jonathan Tamayo, Brian Rast and Joe Cada all battled for some time but eventually lost out late to be denied passage to Day 2.

Finally, in Event #21, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 Better event, 176 players survived from 1,176 entries as a prize pool of over $1.5m went into the pot. Top of the chip counts at close of play was Juan Lamprea (1,050,000), with Nitesh Rawtani (985,000) and Christopher Vitch (684,000) the top three stacks, with Bryce Yockey (515,000) and Jon Kyte (488,000) also in the top 10. 

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