Steve Buell Wins World Series of Poker Grand Victoria Casino Main Event In Illinois

Steve Buell secured the largest victory of his poker career on Monday, April 14. The longtime tournament grinder has live results dating back to 2009, but none as big as his win in the 2025 World Series of Poker Circuit Grand Victoria Casino $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event. The Wisconsin native outlasted 637 entries that turned up to the Elgin, Illinois venue to earn a new top score of $175,684 and his third WSOPC gold ring.

Buell’s previous rings came in a $400 mystery bounty event at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs stop last year and a $400 double-stack event at the 2018 stop at Potawatomi Casino.

“It’s been so close with a lot of WSOP Circuit mains, MSPT, and other big tournaments. I’ve been getting a lot of sevenths, a lot of fourths, and it just feels great to close one out. A big one no less,” he told WSOP reporters after coming out on top.

Before this victory, Buell’s top score was the $104,261 he earned for a sixth-place showing in a $10,000 super turbo bounty event at last year’s WSOP. This latest win grew his lifetime haul to more than $1.7 million.

The strong turnout resulted in a prize pool of $965,055, which meant the guarantee was cleared by more than $215,000. The top 92 finishers cashed, with notables like World Poker Tour champion Ravi Raghavan (23rd), reigning WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond main event winner Evan Bethyo (21st), bracelet winner Scott Bohlman (14th), and 2024 WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond main event winner Michael Estes (13th) all making it down to the final few tables.

The final day of this event began with six players remaining and Steve Wangler in the lead. Buell won a big pot of Wangler early to send him tumbling down the leaderboard. Buell then finished off Wangler (6th – $29,674) with a queen-high straight.

Ian Greendale soon followed (5th – $40,637) when his A-5 suited lost a preflop showdown against the pocket tens of Matthew Lubawski. Buell then won another all-in after the deal, with his A-8 besting the Q-J suited of Jason Flock (4th – $56,753).

Buell then found himself in a classic race situation, with pocket jacks up against the K-Q of Derek Hanauer. The pocket pair remained best by the river and Hanauer was sent packing in third place ($80,803).

With that, Buell took roughly a 4:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Lubawski. The final hand saw all the chips get in after an 843 flop. Lubawski was ahead with QQ for an overpair, while Buell held A8. The 4 on the turn changed nothing, but the 8 on the end gave Buell eights full for the win.

Lubawski was awarded $117,241 as the runner-up, by far his largest score on the circuit. Buell’s victory came with 840 Card Player Player of the Year points. He now sits inside the top 250 in the 2025 standings thanks to this win.

Final Table Results

Photo provided by WSOP.