Philip Sternheimer Scoops PLO Hi-Lo Title After Extra Day

For those new to the game, the rules of PLO Hi-Lo (PLO8) are fairly simple: Players use two of their four hole cards in combination with three of the five community cards to make both a high and a low hand. 

The pot is split between the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand (8 or lower, no pairs). If no low hand qualifies, the high hand wins the entire pot.

With that brief explanation out of the way, the 386 entries produced a $3,589,500 prizepool, attracting the likes of Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren, Shaun Deeb, Brian Rast, Loni Hardwood and multiple other bracelet winners.

Ivey led the chip counts at the end of day one, but he would eventually fall short of the money on day two, as would Phil Hellmuth, Scott Seiver, Erik Seidel and Jeremy Ausmus.

The bubble bustout was delivered courtesy of Ryan Hoenig, fresh off his victory in the $10k Dealer’s Choice Championship event.

Andrew Voor: A♥ K♥ 6♣ 2♦

Ryan Hoenig: A♣ K♦ 5♣ 4♥

Voor was all-in and at risk pre-flop after Hoenig’s 3-bet and looked like he night escape when the flop appeared…

Flop: 10♠ 7♥ J♣

The turn was also safe…

Turn: 10♦

…but the river sent Voor sprawling out on the bubble…

River: 4♦

Notables who cashed but wouldn’t make it to day 3 included:

• Huck Seed (55^th for $20,262)
• Daniel Negreanu (51^st for $20,262)
• Mike Matusow (46^th for $20,262)
• Viktor Blom (37^th for $21,275)

They were joined on day 3 by Brian Rast, Allan Kessler and 2-time bracelet winner Loni Harwood Hui, but the final table still had such luminaries as Shaun Deeb, Sam Soverel and Brian Hastings.

Of those, only Deeb would survive to a podium spot, and it was Sternheimer who found himself in all kinds of trouble…

Philip Sternheimer: A♦ 7♣ 4♣ 3♦

Bruno Furth: A♣ Q♦ J♦ 5♦

Flop: 9♥ A♠ J♥

All the chips went in and Sternheimer needed help to avoid elimination…and he got it…

Turn: 8♣

River: 5♣

Eventually it was Deeb who fell in 3^rd spot, denied a 7^th WSOP gold in the process, and after ten 1-hour levels, Sternheimer and Furth would return for a fourth day of play to settle the title destination.

Furth survived a scare on the very first hand, avoiding 14 river outs to chop the pot, and he even fought back to take the lead. Play went back and forth until Furth jammed into Sternheimer’s flopped set…

Furth: K♦ J♥ 5♣ 3♥
Sternheimer: Q♦ Q♠ J♦ 9♠

Flop: 2♥ 9♦ Q♥

There were plenty of outs for Furth to scoop, then chop, but they never came…

Turn: 4♠ 

River: 2♠

…and with that, Sternheimer’s celebrations could begin…

OMG, I'm still in a daze about what happened today after what felt like a long, long journey. This video from @PokerGO made me re-live some of the moments from this morning and probably will for some time to come. I love poker! https://t.co/ONXUwedZWE

— Philip Sternheimer (@TheMannheim) June 14, 2025

Final Table Results

Of his maiden bracelet, the Englishman told reporters afterwards: “You know, there’s a lot of luck involved and whatnot, and you try to tell yourself that the outcomes don’t matter as much and you should focus on what you can control. But it’s just amazing.”

Andrew Burnett

Professional Poker Journalist

An avid poker player, he dreams of one day playing the WSOP Main Event and has promised himself he will fold aces and kings if he gets them on the first hand to avoid front-page headlines. [more]