The 2025 WSOP Main Event is down to its final chapter. There are only nine players remaining, with the eyes of the poker world focused on Leo Margets, the first woman to make the final table of poker’s largest event since 1995.

Some stories are certainly bigger than others, but when it comes to the Main Event, all of them are special. Like every year, the 888poker team wrote its own story in Las Vegas, with Aaron Barone emerging as the hero after a very deep run that saw him outlast over 95% of the field.

Of course, other players defending the 888poker colors did their best to leave their mark, but things didn’t quite go their way this year. Most of them saw an early exit, with Nick Eastwood being the only other player to make it past the bubble.

Aaron Barone Enjoying His Main Event Run

This year’s Main Event may not have broken the attendance record, but it came pretty close with a field of 9,735 players. To even make it past the bubble in such a massive field is an accomplishment, even for the most experienced of grinders.

Aaron Barone managed to do more than that, though, as he outlasted over 95% of the field, eventually busting in 326th place and picking $45,000 for his efforts.

Barone came to the Main Event with a positive attitude and ready to have some fun, wearing a shirt with his measly Hendon Mob total of just over $8,000. He’ll need a new shirt now, though, as his stats have received a welcome refresh.

Of course, Barone’s live results are a bit of a red herring. He is a very successful and accomplished poker player, but he mostly sticks to the virtual felt.

888poker’s ambassador made it through the first day, nearly doubling his starting stack. He then found his way through the minefield of Day 2, bagging around 200k, which wasn’t a huge stack, but it was plenty of ammo for someone of Barone’s skills.

During Day 3, Aaron really zoomed in, building his stack to well over 800k by the time chip bags were brought out. Day 4 was a bit swingier, and he eventually ended right where he started.

Barone’s run eventually came to an end on Day 5, and although he had to miss his flight to stick around, he had no regrets about it. In his post on X the day after, he shared that the entire experience was much different (and more enjoyable) than his online routine, so maybe we can expect to see more Aaron Barone on the live circuit moving forward?

Rest of the Team Fighting the Good Fight

Other than Barone, the only other 888poker ambassador to make it across that magic line and get past the bubble was Nick Eastwood. He busted in 1,356th place, which was enough just for a min-cash of $15,000, but in a tournament with almost 10k people, this is nothing to sneeze at.

Lucia Navarro managed a fairly deep run herself but busted before the bubble. Vivian Saliba made it past the initial hurdle, but couldn’t find the bag at the end of Day 2. Ian Simpson had a similar fate, busting only a couple of levels into the second day of the Main Event.

All in all, it was a solid showing from the 888poker team, and Barone had an opportunity at a really deep run, but it wasn’t meant to be this time around. With the 2025 World Series of Poker now in the rearview mirror, they can start preparing for the 888poker LIVE event in London coming around in September!