WSOP Day 25: Chidwick in Prime Position for His First Bracelet in the $25K PLO High Roller

June 22, 2019

Day 25 will be another busy one with Day 1b of the Monster Stack bringing thousands of players to the Rio Convention Center.

The biggest story of the day will be whether Stephen Chidwick can find WSOP gold for the first time as he leads the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller that features a top prize of just over $1.6 million. Just seven players remain in this tournament with many big names still alive including eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel and four-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi.

Meanwhile, the Ladies event enters its penultimate day with popular Twitch stream Vanessa Kade and New Jersey grinder Stephanie Hubbard in the top five on the leaderboard, as well as 888poker's Ana Marquez still in contention.

The only new event kicking off today is the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, which will see many of the players that battled it out in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller give it another shot.

Here's what's on tap today, in the daily What to Watch For on PokerNews, sponsored by 888poker.

Event #45: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller

Stephen Chidwick could be poker's most successful player to never win a bracelet with more than $23 million in live tournament earnings and a third-place ranking on the GPI Ranking where he was once top dog.

That may all change for Chidwick in a big way as he has the chip lead in the most prestigious Pot-Limit Omaha tournament of the year with a stack of 12,975,000 with just seven players remaining.

Not too far behind Chidwick is Alex Epstein with 10,800,000 in chips. Epstein may have not been a household name for your average poker fan before this 2019 WSOP, but that all changed as he won a bracelet in the first-ever $10,000 Short Deck Championship earlier this festival for $296,227.

The duo have a sizeable lead over the rest of the field but anything can happen, especially in Pot-Limit Omaha. With a strong field of players at the final table, nothing is done before the gold has been awarded. Four-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi (5,525,000), Wasim Korkis (4,225,000), James Chen (3,100,000), eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel (2,950,000), and Matthew Gonzalez (1,100,000) make up the final table of seven.

The final day of action will begin at noon PDT with blinds at 100,000/200,000. Fans can follow the action here at PokerNews or via a live stream at CBS All Access in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and at PokerGO in the rest of the world starting at 1 p.m. PDT.

Event #45: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Final Table Seat Draw

Event #45: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Final Table Payout

After yesterday's final table eliminations of Ka Kwan Lau (eight - $150,483) and Ryan Tosac (ninth - $116,656), the remaining seven players are each guaranteed $197,637.

The top two players will each take home a seven-figure payout with the eventual winner walking away with the largest prize thus far in the series of $1,618,417 and the coveted gold bracelet.

Event #47: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship

After two days of play, the 968 entrant field is down to just 43 players for today's penultimate day starting at noon PDT. The remaining ladies are scheduled to battle today until just six players remain with live streaming taking place tomorrow simultaneously on PokerGO and CBS All Access.

Tu Dao (968,000) bagged the chip lead followed by Nancy Matson (856,000), Lexy Gavin (830,000), popular streamer Vanessa Kade (787,000), and New Jersey grinder Stephanie Hubbard (773,000).

Other big names to make it another day include bracelet winners Jackie Glazier (512,000) and Kathy Liebert (315,000) as well as Barbara Blechinger (645,000), 888poker Ambassador Ana Marquez (615,000), last year's runner-up Jill Pike (568,000), Deborah Worley-Roberts (330,000), and Katie Lindsay (308,000).

Event #48: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em

Baitai Li (1,686,000) finds himself in a familiar position heading into today's final day of action with the chip lead as he was in the exact same spot yesterday with 200 players remaining. With 26 players remaining out of the original field of 996, also entering Day 3 with seven-figure stacks are Michael Finstein (1,411,000) and Ryan Olisar (1,396,000).

Three two-time bracelet winners are in the top eight of the leaderboard in hopes of adding a third bracelet and taking home the $427,399 top prize are Josh Arieh (954,000), Barny Boatman (722,000), and David "Bakes" Baker (688,000). Also looking to add a third piece of hardware for their wrists are Kristen Bicknell (385,000) and Mark Radoja (327,000).

The action resumes today at 1 p.m. PDT with blinds at 8,000/16,000 and a big blind ante of 16,000. Blinds will increase every hour and the day isn't scheduled to end until one player is left with all of the chips.

Event #49: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship

This event is scheduled as a four-day affair but today's Day 3 could be the final day with the original field of 100 entries already down to just nine players.

Six of the nine remaining have found WSOP gold in the past. Interesting enough, the players residing in the top three of the leaderboard in George Wolff (1,380,000), Luke Schwartz (1,310,000), and Mark Gregorich (794,000) are the three players hunting for their first WSOP bracelet, which comes with a healthy $273,336 top prize this time around.

It won't be easy for any of this trio to be the last player standing with the other six players all packing a ton of experience. Four-time bracelet winner Brian Hastings (528,000), two-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson (519,000), bracelet winners Daniel Ospina (507,000) and Johannes Becker (399,000), two-time bracelet winner Mike Gorodinsky (364,000), and bracelet winner Yueqi Zhu (197,000) have a combined 11 bracelets.

The action will resume today at 2 p.m. PDT with blinds increasing every hour starting at 8,000/15,000 and limits at 15,000/30,000.

Event #49: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship Seat Draw

Event #50: Monster Stack - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

The Monster Stack is setting up to be even bigger than last year when Tommy Nguyen finished on top of a field of 6,260 entrants to win the $1,037,451 top prize.

The first of two opening flights yesterday attracted 2,428 entrants; 182 more than the 2,246 entrants in last year's Day 1a. Just 1,124 players bagged chips yesterday into tomorrow's Day 2 led by United Kingdom's online phenom Conor Beresford (724,000).

Today's Day 1b is expected to attract even more players than Day 1a starting at 10 a.m. PDT. The structure will be identical to that of yesterday with players beginning the action with a "monster stack" of 50,000 and play 11 blind levels of an hour each starting at 100/100.

Unlike some of the other multiple opening flight events, this event does not allow reentries. This even applies to players eliminated on yesterday's Day 1a. Players bagging chips during each of the opening flights will combine into a single field on June 23 before battling it out until a winner is scheduled to be crowned on June 26.

Event #51: $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

This event attracted 401 entrants to create a $902,250 prize pool with the winner slated to receive $213,750 when the three-day tournament ends on Sunday, June 23. This is just one player shy of last year's 402-entrant field when David Brookshire won his first bracelet and the $214,291 top prize.

WSOP bracelet winner Andrey Zaichenko will enter today's penultimate day starting at 2 p.m. in the lead with 135,700 in chips. He is closely followed by a pair of four-time bracelet winners with 2018 WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb bagging 134,700 and Tom Schneider bagging 134,200.

Interesting enough, Alex Foxen registered for this tournament late after finding a bag on Day 1a in the Monster Stack. Foxen bagged up chips in this event and will hope to run it up with a returning stack of 32,700.

Today's action is scheduled to feature ten blind levels of an hour each with games rotating between Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better and Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better.

Event #52: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

While the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller is wrapping up, another illustrious event with the same game is beginning today at 3 p.m. PDT.

Last year, Loren Klein won this event for his third bracelet and the $1,018,336 top prize. Klein already added a fourth bracelet this year when earlier this week he won the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet for $127,808. Remarkably, this puts Klein in an exclusive group of players that won at least one bracelet in four consecutive years.

Players begin today's event with 60,000 in chips and will play ten blind levels of an hour each starting at 100/100. The final field size won't be known until tomorrow with late registration remaining open until the start of Day 2.

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  Alex Foxen Calvin Anderson Erik Seidel Brian Hastings Josh Arieh Kathy Liebert Luke Schwartz Mark Radoja Robert Mizrachi Shaun Deeb Stephen Chidwick Tom Schneider Team PokerNews World Series of Poker WSOP Video

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  Erik SeidelShaun DeebKathy LiebertRobert MizrachiTom SchneiderJosh Arieh