Glaser and Martirosian Highlight First Week of 2025 WSOP

The 2025 WSOP kicked off the day after Memorial Day on May 27th, and after one week of action, we already have seven bracelet winners, a mix of familiar and new names alike.

Let’s start with the familiar names. These are players who already have multiple bracelets or are big names in the game.

Benny Glaser Wins Sixth Bracelet

Event #8: $1,500 Dealers Choice was won by mixed game master Benny Glaser of the UK, who added bracelet #6 to his already extensive resume. He outlasted a field of 597 players to win the first-place prize of $150,246.

Glaser is now just the 26th player all-time to win six or more bracelets. All six of Glaser’s bracelets have come in various mixed games, showing how well he knows how to play Razz, Omaha, and other formats. Now he can add the ultimate mixed game bracelet, Dealer’s Choice, a tournament that requires you to know 21 different variants, to the collection.

Funnily enough, while happy that he won a bracelet, Glaser revealed how big of a mixed game lover he is after the win, as he admitted he was a bit disappointed that he had to miss other events because he made it so far in this one. He told PokerNews in a post-win interview that he was sad to miss the $10K Omaha-8 event and the No-Limit Single Draw.

With the bracelet win coming so early in the series for Glaser, he will undoubtedly be on the hunt to win multiple ones in this series. He will be a strong contender to keep the multi-year streak of at least one player every year to win more than one bracelet in the series alive.

Artur Martirosian: Heads Up King

One of the most anticipated and most exciting event to follow during every WSOP is the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship. It is a very prestigious event, requiring players to win multiple heads up duels in a bracket style format against the best players in the world to conquer the title.

This year, it was Artur Martirosian of Russia who stole the show, winning his second heads up bracelet to cement himself as a heads up master. He went through the field of 64 players, winning six matches en route to the $500,000 first place prize.

His path to the final of the players he defeated included:

• R1: Jeremy Ausmus
• R2: Faraz Jaka
• R16: Kevin Rabichow
• QF: Chance Kornuth
• SF: Patrick Leonard
• F: Aliaksei Boika

The Russian all-time money leader with over $24 million, also won the 2023 WSOP Online $10K Heads Up Championship, as well as being a semifinalist in last year’s version of the $25K event.

This result was also a big boon for the 25K fantasy competition. The team called “Team Jeremy’s” who gained 125 points thanks to Martirosian’s win.

Dan Heimiller Beats David Bach Heads Up

Event #6: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud has 377 entries and ended up having a heads-up battle between two veterans of the game. Dan Heimiller won his third bracelet and denied David Bach his fourth in an intense back and forth battle.

The Michigan native Heimiller moved closer to $8 million in total earnings with this $106,480 top prize. Bach meanwhile had to settle for his fourth runner-up finish instead of a fourth bracelet.

Other Bracelet Winners in Week One

• Caleb Furth won Event #5: $5,000 PLO for $620,696 in a remarkable comeback from being down to one chip at one point. It was the second career bracelet for the Las Vegas local.
• David Shmuel won his first bracelet in Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $205,333
• Spaniard Antonio Galiana won his second bracelet by conquering a 693 player field in Event #3: $5,000 NLH 8-Handed. He topped a final table that featured eight different nationalities to win the $582,008 grand prize.
• The 2025 WSOP kicked off with the Industry Employees event, which featured people who work in poker. It drew 914 entries and handed out the first bracelet of the summer to Phovieng Keokham who won $64,369.