All the Surprises at the BetMGM Poker Championship Main Event Final Table

There’s nothing better than celebrating America’s favorite card game on Independence Day in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip at ARIA Resort & Casino. Seven players returned from a record field of 1,853 for the final table of the $3,500 BetMGM Poker Championship and Nguyen Le navigated his way to win $777,777.

“It feels wonderful to win,” Le said. “I felt like I might have an advantage three-handed, but it was so much money that we made a deal. I knew it (the field) was going to be sick with so many people on Day 1B.”

“Obviously, you have to be lucky to be here (final table),” he added. “I’m really happy with the result and with how the tournament was organized.”

A Turn of Events

Le was one chip away from elimination late on Day 3 with three tables remaining. He lost a pot with only 100,000 remaining and was in the 150,000 big blind on the next hand. He tripled up without being able to afford the blind or ante, more than tripled up on the subsequent hand with a set of deuces and spun his stack up to the overnight chip lead.

“I just had to play my stack and ladder up,” said Le. “I knew it could happen, but I didn’t think about it. I just thought about the next all-in and thought I would probably bust, but to get this far from one chip is just incredible.”

This is Le’s second BetMGM Poker Championship trophy after chopping the 2024 Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event for $425,000. He’s earned $1.2 million in two $3,500 BetMGM Poker Championships.

“These $3.5k BetMGM tournaments look pretty good to me,” laughed Le. “I’m going to play a bit more poker this week, play the (WSOP) Main Event and YOLO.”

Heating Up

When the final table reached three players, Asish Ghosh, Yaniv Peretz and Le discussed a deal. All three players agreed to a modified ICM chop, took $15,000 from each payout to go towards the winner of the trophy and title and ARIA Tournament Director Paul Campbell helped facilitate the process.

“All three players agreed to terms with an ICM deal and play for a predetermined amount of money,” Campbell said. “At ARIA, we are strong believers that it’s the player’s money that they are competing for, so when it gets to a point in a tournament where they can agree to a deal that’s fair and transparent, we’re happy to help them out.”

The fireworks started in broad daylight when the first three eliminations came in the first 13 minutes. Lars Kamphues was one of the shortest returning stacks, he shoved all in from the small blind on the second hand and Hasan el Hakim called from the big holding Ah 8d.

Kamphues was in rough shape holding 8c 6c, the board missed both players and el Hakim’s ace high was best. Then, Michael Rossitto got his short stack all in preflop holding pocket fives and Aleksandras Rusinovas called with Ad 8d. He paired his ace on the turn and Rossitto was felted.

The cage was still processing the paperwork for the previous payouts when Rusinovas and Le got into a preflop showdown. Le held pocket kings against Ah Ks, the board ran nine-high and Le furthered his chip lead while Rusinovas joined the payout line.

The four remaining players settled in with 50 big blind-deep stacks and nearly two hours passed before another player visited the cage. El Hakim’s stack slipped to under ten big blinds when he shoved in position holding Ks 6c. Le called, had him dominated with Kd Qh, the board ran all rags and el Hakim exited in fourth place.

The three finalists asked for a break, negotiations went smoothly and they shook hands. Levels were reduced to 30 minutes and cards hit the air again.

Peretz was the shortest stack of the three, opened preflop with pocket aces and Le called holding 7h 6s. The flop fell Qs 8h 5d, Le check-called to see the 4d turn. All the chips went in the middle, Peretz’ aces were cracked and he was eliminated in Le’s straight.

The final hand saw Le raise with Jd Td, Ghosh re-raised holding Ks 9d and Le called. The flop fell Tc 7h 2s, Ghosh bet and Le called to see the 5h turn. Ghosh quickly moved all in and Le tanked for a bit before he called.

Le looked surprised to see Ghosh holding just king high, the river came Qh, Le’s pair of tens was best and Ghosh was eliminated as runner-up. Ghosh improved his best tournament cash of $57,171 by a whole order of magnitude and rocketed up India’s all-time money list to 12th place.

A Record-Breaking Year For the BetMGM Poker Championship

Poker pros Joe Serock, Andrew Moreno, Eric Bunch, Victoria Livschitz and Shannon Shorr all made deep runs in the Championship. Serock bubbled the live-streamed final table with Moreno finishing one sport short of the final table in tenth place. Livschitz founded Octopi Poker and was the last woman standing in the event.

The Main Event grew nearly exponentially year over year and blew the 2025 $3 million guarantee out of the water with $5,929,600. In 2022, the event netted a $1.09 million prizepool, in 2023 the field grew to 1,026 entrants and 2024 saw 1,141 players generate a $3.6 million prizepool.

BetMGM Poker picks the tentpoles and ships back East for the Borgata Summer Poker Open. The series begins July 17th and features over $2.5 million in guarantees with a $2,700 Main Event holding a $1 million guarantee.

BetMGM Poker Championship Final Table Payouts

Nguyen Le – $777,777*
Asish Ghosh – $752,282*
Yaniv Peretz – $590,348*
Hasan el Hakim – $320,198
Aleksandras Rusinovas – $248,510
Michael Rossitto – $200,065
Lars Kamphues – $153,280

*Denotes an ICM deal with adjusted payouts.

ICYMI, check out more coverage from the 2025 BetMGM Poker Championship:

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