The 2025 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 no-limit hold’em championship, which began nearly two months ago, has finally crowned its champion. The final table of this event was set on April 8 and it resumed on May 29 in Las Vegas. In the end, it was Art Peacock who bested the field of 1,755 entries to win this prestigious event. The Florida resident earned a career-best $776,000 for his win.
This was Art Peacock’s maiden WPT triumph etching his name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup and taking his live earnings to over $2.4 million. The latest score surpassed his previous top score of $358,700 he won as the champion of last year’s Moneymaker Poker Tour main event. Notably, this was his second main event victory, following his 2025 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Pompano Beach main event win for $230,794., which came on his birthday in February.
2025 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event Recap
The strong turnout for this event resulted in a prize pool of $5,616,000, comfortably crushing the $3.5 million guarantee. The top 221 finishers cashed in this event, including WSOPC ring winner Nadya Magnus (38th), triple crown winner Harrison Gimbel (32nd), bracelet winner David Moses (21st), WPT champion Asher Conniff (19th), three-time WPT champion Brian Altman (18th), two-time bracelet winner Frank Funaro (11th), and five-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Yoon (9th).
Art Peacock entered the live-streamed final table of this event as a chip leader holding 100 big blinds. He started off well, eliminating Jeffery Fritz in sixth place and following that up by busting Mitchell Hynam in fourth place. He continued his momentum, busting Daniel Marcus in third place.
The heads-up saw Mihai Niste holding 52,600,000 over Art Peacock’s 34,700,000 chips. The lead exchanged several times before Peacock doubled with A-4 against pocket nines to take a 2:1 lead. Peacock was still ahead when the final hand arose. In the final hand of the tournament, Niste three-bet shove over Peacock’s raise with 4♥4♦. Peacock called with his 8♥8♦. The board ran out A♥A♣K♣9♥7♠, ending Niste’s run in second place and giving the pot and title to Art Peacock.
2025 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event Final Table Results
Mike Vanier Breaks Through to Win 2025 WPT Choctaw Main Event Title
The week saw the two World Poker Tour main events reach their conclusion. The second main event title was won by Mike Vanier, who took down the 2025 WPT Choctaw $3,800 no-limit hold’em main event, earning him $338,000 after besting a star-studded 586-entry field. This was Vanier’s third WPT final table, following a runner-up finish in the 2022 WPT Venetian main event and a third place in this same tournament in 2023.
2025 WPT Choctaw Championship Quick Recap
The strong turnout for the $3,800 buy-in WPT Choctaw Championship resulted in $2,051,000, comfortably crushing its $2 Million guarantee. The top 74 players were paid out and some notables to cash among them were WPT champions, Jared Ward (60th), Harrison Gimbel (50th), Kevin Eyster (31st), Nick Yunis (30th), bracelet winner Jeremy Wien (14th), bracelet winner Faraz Jaka (13th), and bracelet winner Mike Liang (9th).
This event’s field whittled to six contenders back on May 5, with the Southern California grinder Vanier knocking out Trung Pham in seventh place ($54,000) to bring action to a halt. The final six players who made it to the final table were guaranteed at least $70,000, with Vanier leading them with 80 big blinds when the action for the final table resumed on May 30.
The heads-up was reached after the elimination of Lifu Zhang, who made a move with K♣J♦ against the A♣3♠ of Vanier, whose hand held through 7♠5♠2♠Q♥5♥ runout to end Zhang’s tournament in third place.
Heads-up saw Vanier holding a 2:1 chip lead over Vieth, who fought well but could not go all the way. On the final hand, Vanier min-raised to 800k with A♠Q♣ and Vieth three-bet shoved with A♣9♣. Vanier called and the board Q♦J♥4♠5♠10♣ gave Vanier top pair to win the title.
2025 WPT Choctaw Championship Final Table Results
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Source: World Poker Tour
Image Credit: World Poker Tour
