Stephen Chidwick Is Hunting Bracelet No. 3 in the $25K High Roller

Stephen Chidwick has $17,263,262 in career tournament earnings, two gold bracelets, and 36 career final tables. At 5:50 a.m. on June 6 inside the Horseshoe, he was still alive with 27 players left in WSOP Event #19: the $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed.

A third bracelet would push Chidwick into rare company among British-born players and deepen a résumé already stacked with nosebleed results. The $25K buy-in tier is precisely where he's built that résumé, grinding super-high-roller fields across three continents for a decade.

A third bracelet would push Chidwick into rare company among British-born players and deepen a résumé already stacked with nosebleed results.

The Field Around Him

Chidwick isn't the only decorated name still in contention. Byron Kaverman, a one-bracelet winner from the United States with $7,583,015 in lifetime cashes and 13 career final tables, also survived into the 27-player group. So did Boris Angelov of Bulgaria, who carries $4,745,891 in lifetime earnings and six final tables but has never won WSOP gold.

Then there's the other end of the spectrum. Giuseppe Calio, a U.S.-based player with $116,116 in lifetime earnings, sat on 2,650,000 chips at the time of the count, one of the larger stacks reported. Raoul Kanme of the Netherlands, with $297,046 in career cashes and three final tables, held 345,000. Both are relative unknowns in a field designed to filter out anyone without deep pockets or a sponsor's backing.

The contrast matters. A $25K eight-handed event concentrates talent into a smaller field, but it also creates variance pockets. When a player like Calio stacks up chips against professionals who have cashed for eight figures, bracket-busting hands become inevitable. That dynamic can work in either direction.

Why This Event Fits Chidwick

Chidwick's 36 career final tables tell a specific story. He doesn't just enter high rollers. He goes deep in them, over and over. That volume of final-table appearances across a $17.3M earning base means he's converting at an elite rate in exactly the format running at the Horseshoe right now: short-handed, high buy-in, and built for players who thrive post-flop against world-class opposition.

Two bracelets already separates Chidwick from most of his generation of British tournament players. A third in a $25K event would be a statement result, not just another cash on a Hendon Mob page that already scrolls for miles.

What Stands Between Him and Gold

Twenty-six other players, for starters. The chip counts available at the 27-player mark don't include Chidwick's exact stack, which means he could be sitting comfortably or grinding a short stack through the early hours. What's clear is that he survived Day 2 deep enough to be named among the remaining field.

Kaverman and Angelov both have the tournament experience to navigate final-table pressure. And the possibility that a less-credentialed player like Calio, already holding a healthy stack, could run hot through the closing stages is real. High rollers produce upsets. That's part of why the format exists.

Chidwick's path to a third bracelet runs through a field that combines proven killers and short-stacked longshots. The next cards off the deck will sort out which group survives.