Two years ago, if you'd asked the average poker fan who Brandon Wilson was, you'd be unlikely to get much of a response. That was around the time when Wilson made his first appearances of note inside the PokerGO studio, rattling off a pair of final table appearances during the 2023 PokerGO Tour US Poker Open.
In the ensuing two years, Wilson has been nothing short of dominant. He's won a staggering four high roller titles at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood — two $25Ks and two $50Ks - and made a lot of noise in January when he won back-to-back titles during PGT's Last Chance series for over $580,000 in total.
Wilson returned to the winner's circle on Tuesday, taking down Event 6 of the 2025 USPO, a $15,100 event. For that victory, Wilson earned $382,200 — one of the biggest wins of his career to date.
W's in the chat
In what's becoming a trend during this USPO series, three-handed play was an out-and-out war. Wilson, Matthew Wantman and Sean Winter traded positions in the chip counts for the better part of two hours. After a battle of ace-highs ultimately favored Wilson over Winter — leaving Winter with just 25,000, a fraction of the blinds — a three-way all-in broke out that threatened to end the tournament in short order.
Wilson, the chip leader, shoved with on the button and Wantman called with
in the small blind. Winter was forced all in but had an active sweat with
.
The flop seemed likely to slam the door on everything in Wilson's favor, but the
turn flipped the script Wantman's way, leaving Wilson drawing dead. Winter had four outs to survive, but the
was a blank, leaving Wilson and Wantman to battle it out for the USPO title.
Wilson regained a stranglehold over the tournament in a flash, though. His held against Wantman's
for most of the chips in play, and then Wilson turned
into a flush to cap off his victory.
Bucky bursts forward in USPO Player of Series race
Wantman's efforts on Tuesday were well-rewarded, though. He walked away with $242,550 for second place and 194 PGT points. That, coupled with his victory in Event 4 and a sixth-place finish in Event 3, has made Wantman the leader in the clubhouse with two events left to play in the 2025 USPO Player of the Series race.
He played and was eliminated from Event 7 of the USPO on Tuesday evening, but Wantman will have Wednesday's $25,200 USPO Championship event left to try to extend his overall Player of the Series lead. The No. 1 player in the standings at the end of the series will receive a $25,000 PGT Passport and the coveted Golden Eagle trophy.
PokerGO Tour US Poker Open Event #6 ($15,100 NLH) final table results
Place | Player | Prize |
---|---|---|
1 | Brandon Wilson | $382,200 |
2 | Matthew Wantman | $242,550 |
3 | Sean Winter | $176,400 |
4 | Martin Zamani | $132,300 |
5 | Alex Foxen | $102,900 |
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO.