Editor
Daniel Negreanu’s 2025 WSOP has certainly started with a bang as he made a serious push for his eighth bracelet in Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship before ultimately finishing runner-up to Ryan Bambrick, who won his second bracelet.
Negreanu started the final day as the middle stack of five players left with Viktor Blum leading and Bambrick in second. Negreanu started the day strong and built his stack as he became more and more of a factor.
It was interesting to watch from the floor as a crowd grew around the PokerGO feature streaming table with all the fans hoping to see “DNegs” win WSOP bracelet #8 in one of the types of poker games he excels at. The fans also got a behind-the-scenes look at Negreanu’s very popular WSOP vlog, as he was filming segments for the next vlog during breaks, discussing his charge for the bracelet.
Eventually, the field would be cut down to just two. Negreanu was at a significant chip disadvantage with Bambrick holding a big lead. The odds and probabilities of him winning at that point were low, but it would have been foolish to discount them entirely.
But it was not to be as Bambrick ran read hot heads-up, picking up several hands. The chat in the live stream could not beleive how many big hands Bambrick was getting. He played the role of spoiler perfectly and denied the fans what they wanted to see by finishing off the GGPoker ambassador superstar as the crowd filtered out before Bambrick’s winner’s pics were taken.
| Place | Player | Earnings | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Bambrick | $470,437 | USA |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | $313,615 | Canada |
| 3 | Ofir Mor | $216,223 | USA |
| 4 | Viktor Blom | $152,315 | Sweden |
| 5 | Hunter McClelland | $109,679 | USA |
Continuing Momentum From 2024
Negreanu was looking to start his 2025 WSOP where he left off in 2024. Last year he won his first bracelet in eleven years and first in Las Vegas since 2008 to end a drought that had gone on far too long for his personal standard and for fans of poker in general.
This heads-up loss adds another runner-up finish to his resume. The 50-year-old poker legend now has a WSOP heads-up record of 7 wins and 12 losses.
Despite the disappointment of coming so close to a bracelet without winning it, this is still a great start to the summer for Negreanu who will no doubt play a full WSOP schedule.
