Steve Buell secured the biggest victory of his poker profession on Monday, April 14. The longtime event grinder has stay outcomes relationship again to 2009, however none as huge as his win within the 2025 World Sequence of Poker Circuit Grand Victoria On line casino $1,700 no-limit maintain’em foremost occasion. The Wisconsin native outlasted 637 entries that turned as much as the Elgin, Illinois venue to earn a brand new high rating of $175,684 and his third WSOPC gold ring.
Buell’s earlier rings got here in a $400 thriller bounty occasion on the Horseshoe Council Bluffs cease final 12 months and a $400 double-stack occasion on the 2018 cease at Potawatomi On line casino.
“It’s been so shut with quite a lot of WSOP Circuit mains, MSPT, and different huge tournaments. I’ve been getting quite a lot of sevenths, quite a lot of fourths, and it simply feels nice to shut one out. A giant one no much less,” he advised WSOP reporters after popping out on high.
Earlier than this victory, Buell’s high rating was the $104,261 he earned for a sixth-place displaying in a $10,000 tremendous turbo bounty occasion ultimately 12 months’s WSOP. This newest win grew his lifetime haul to greater than $1.7 million.
The robust turnout resulted in a prize pool of $965,055, which meant the assure was cleared by greater than $215,000. The highest 92 finishers cashed, with notables like World Poker Tour champion Ravi Raghavan (twenty third), reigning WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond foremost occasion winner Evan Bethyo (twenty first), bracelet winner Scott Bohlman (14th), and 2024 WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond foremost occasion winner Michael Estes (thirteenth) all making it right down to the ultimate few tables.
The ultimate day of this occasion started with six gamers remaining and Steve Wangler within the lead. Buell received a giant pot of Wangler early to ship him tumbling down the leaderboard. Buell then completed off Wangler (sixth – $29,674) with a queen-high straight.
Ian Greendale quickly adopted (fifth – $40,637) when his A-5 suited misplaced a preflop showdown in opposition to the pocket tens of Matthew Lubawski. Buell then received one other all-in after the deal, together with his A-8 besting the Q-J suited of Jason Flock (4th – $56,753).
Buell then discovered himself in a basic race state of affairs, with pocket jacks up in opposition to the Ok-Q of Derek Hanauer. The pocket pair remained finest by the river and Hanauer was despatched packing in third place ($80,803).
With that, Buell took roughly a 4:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Lubawski. The ultimate hand noticed all of the chips get in after an 8
4
3
flop. Lubawski was forward with QQ
for an overpair, whereas Buell held A8. The 4 on the flip modified nothing, however the 8 on the top gave Buell eights full for the win.
Lubawski was awarded $117,241 because the runner-up, by far his largest rating on the circuit. Buell’s victory got here with 840 Card Participant Participant of the 12 months factors. He now sits inside the highest 250 within the 2025 standings due to this win.
Closing Desk Outcomes
Place
Participant
Earnings
POY Factors
1
Steve Buell
$175,684
840
2
Matthew Lubawski
$117,241
700
3
Derek Hanauer
$80,803
560
4
Jason Flock
$56,753
420
5
Ian Greendale
$40,637
350
6
Steve Wangler
$29,674
280
7
Sung Pil Kim
$22,108
210
8
George Dietz
$16,811
140
9
Andres German
$13,053
70
Photograph offered by WSOP.
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