Poker Writer
Team BTG is the new leader in the WSOP $25K Fantasy League standings as the series passes its halfway point.
Four weeks into the 2025 WSOP, we’ve seen 57 of the 100 scheduled events reach their conclusion. The more results roll in, the more the $25K Fantasy League front-runners are separating themselves from other teams in the pack. Our last update had Team Dinkers out front, but Dylan Linde has propelled Team BTG to the top, making them the first group to pass the 900-point mark.
Team BTG now enjoys a 163-point margin over Dinkers, more than twice as wide as the 71 points separating Dinkers from third-place Team Lady Gaga.
Current Standings
Team BTG — 907 points
BTG are the big movers of the week, rising all the way from third place to a substantial lead. Most of that is thanks to Dylan Linde, who gave his team a big 126 points by winning the $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for his third career bracelet. He defeated several other heavy-hitter fantasy players at that final table to secure the victory. Any bracelet win in a tournament with a buy-in over $10,000 is worth the same 126 points, per the league’s scoring rules. That event would have been huge for BTG either way, as Linde’s heads-up opponent was also on the team. Stephen Chidwick finished as the runner-up, good for another 91 points to give BTG over 200 points in a single event.
Team Dinkers — 744 points
Last week’s first-place team has slipped to second, needing at least one big win to catch BTG. Their star performer continues to be Viktor Blom, now tied for most individual points with Linde. Team Dinkers got a quick start thanks to Benny Glaser’s back-to-back bracelets very early in the series, and he has since added a third. He is just the seventh player ever to win three bracelets in a single series.
Unfortunately for Dinkers, Glaser’s achievements have been diminished by the league’s scoring rules. He only received 79 points for his win in Event #56: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw since it features a small buy-in (under $5,000) and small field size (under 500). As impressive as his triple-bracelet feat might be, it only puts him in third place in the individual point standings.
Also in Contention
Although Team BTG is starting to pull away, Team Dinkers has several other teams hot on its heels, contending for second place.
- Team Lady Gaga (673 points) – They have made a move up the standings thanks to Joao Vieira’s continued impressive results, as well as Adam Hendrix, who made a deep run in the Millionaire Maker. Although he ended up finishing in 49th place, the massive field for that event made that finish worth 101 points—more than Glaser’s third bracelet!
- Team Handsome Horses (661 points) – Nearly tied with Lady Gaga. Phillip Sternheimer holds the reins with 241 points as the fourth-place individual point holder. Chino Rheem has also chipped in a strong 108 points for his team.
- Team Brown’s Bargain Bin (635 points) – In fifth place, but still closer to second than second is to first. This team actually has the highest number of cashes of any team at 55. Unfortunately, its members haven’t put together any deep runs, which has held the team back from making the top of the leaderboard. That consistency could make the team an immediate threat if it were to pick up a bracelet, or perhaps a large-field final table.
Scoring Quirks Continue to Shape the Standings
The big story for the league so far is Glaser trailing Linde and Blom in the individual standings despite winning three bracelets. The multiplier bonus for higher buy-ins and field sizes hurt Glaser’s point total. Naturally, any reasonable scoring system needs to account for those factors, but a differently-designed model could easily have Glaser way out in front.
The Millionaire Maker alone produced four players who beat Glaser’s 79-point triple draw bracelet. None of those players finished in the top 40 for the event. Aside from Hendrix, there were Chris Moorman and Aram Zobian going out simultaneously in 75th, and Chris Moorman in 51st, all of whom received the same 101 points. Glaser fans and Team Dinkers members might gripe that field size weighs a little too heavily in comparison to bracelet wins.
Depending on the league’s outcome, there could be questions raised about whether to revise the scoring in future years to reward bracelets better. After all, they are the ultimate goal of many poker players and often the metric by which their long-term success is gauged.
