David Shmuel Takes Down First Open Event at 2025 WSOP

David Shmuel is the first gold bracelet winner of an open in 2025 at the World Series of Poker, after taking down Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.

For a non NL/PLO event this early in the series, it was impressive to see 910 entrants turn out to play the niche game and create a prize pool of $1,208,025 to fight over, just as the likes of Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu were arriving to play.

Shmuel is a highly-respected specialist in this Omaha hi/lo format and now has 20 victories in live tournaments, according to his HendonMob page.

His record stretches back to 2011, only four days past Black Friday, but incredibly this is Shmuel’s career best prize from live tournaments.

Speaking after he was awarded his bracelet, David Shmuel said:

“Omaha Hi-Lo is my favorite game. It’s the game I actually started playing back in 1994. It’s a more relaxing game than hold’em and more fun to play. Two cards can get a little boring. Don’t get me wrong, Hold’em is a great game, but I think mixed games are more fun.

“I don’t have any immediate plans with the money, I just want to have some fun with the wife and travel. That’s the main thing.”

Action Recap

Even though this was a small buy-in event in the early days, it still took three full days of play to grind down to a winner.

As the order to shuffle up and deal came, the eliminations came thick and fast. Jon Kyte was out in 16th place for a $7,897 payday, and seconds later Dennis Morrison left the playing hall.

Matt Grapenthien, Austin Marks, and Martin Matranca soon followed and then play tightened up as the final table bubble approached.

Eric Polirer couldn’t get going and then Christopher Vitch ran out of steam to leave only nine players left in the hunt. Kevin Pier left in ninth with a $15,423 prize.

Nobody at the final table had a bracelet to their name so at least we were guaranteed a new winner.

Minutes after play restarted, Joseph Bertrand was on his way after losing his last small blind. Melvin McCraney started the day as chip leader but had a disaster on the final table. In a three-way pot his jacks ran into trips and we were down to seven.

Patrick Stacey from the Cayman Islands was having a turbulent day and it all came to a head when he got his chips all-in against Russia’s Ilya Krupin. A paired five gave Stacey sixes up but Krupin outdrew him to make aces up and we were down to the last five.

Krupin was next to leave. David Shmuel dished out this elimination really, baring the last few blinds, and then Gregory Wood finished the Russian off when the two both hit flushes on the river.

Wood might have been grateful for the extra chips but he didn’t make the most of them and he followed Krupin to the rail and bagged a $67,392 prize.

That left only three and Shmuel  was stretching his legs at the head of the field. Darren Taylor was hanging on but a few pots getting scooped against him left him with barely any chips and we were soon onto the heads-up match as  Taylor headed to the cage to collect his $95,253 prize.

Joe Ford, making his second final table in this event, was the last obstacle for Shmuel, but it didn’t take long to remove him.

Shmuel picked up aces and kings which was enough to pull in the whole pot as Ford risked his remaining chips.

Shmuel gave a few words after seizing his first WSOP bracelet:

“I was very focused and I had it in my mind that I was going to go deep, because last year in the PLO8 I finished in 17th. I said this year I was going to get deeper, and I focused more. I never was all in during the tournament, made the right decisions, and got lucky.

“It’s important to have a group of friends around you. You talk about them with situations, you support them, they support you, and that’s the idea of playing poker. It’s to have people around you, trying to enjoy it with them.”

Event #4: $1,500 Limit Omaha 8 or Better 8-Handed Final Table Results

Mark Patrickson

Professional Poker Journalist

Mark Patrickson is a poker journalist with over ten years of experience. He writes for VIP-Grinders.com, sharing his deep knowledge of poker. He creates interesting content about poker strategy, trends, and news for poker fans worldwide. [more]