WSOP Main Event Chip Leader Busts Immediately After Dinner Break
One moment you're chip leader in the biggest poker tournament on Earth. The next, you're out the door, shell-shocked and wondering how it all went wrong.
That’s the brutal reality Michael Hawker faced on Day 5 of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event. After going into the dinner break with a field-leading stack of 6,090,000 (152 big blinds), Hawker was eliminated within twenty minutes of returning, watching his dream unravel in sickening fashion.
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Hawker Goes from Chip Leader to Busto in Two Hands
PokerNews' Erick Torres was present for Hawker's painful exit, and reported:
Two hands after dinner break shot Sebastian Schulze to the chip lead, as he dueled against Michael Hawker in back-to-back hands that neither player is likely to forget any time soon.
With the blinds at 20,000/40,000, the first hand was picked up on the river on a board that read 4♥4♠A♠9♠5♠ with over one million in chips already in the pot.
Schulze fired a bet before Hawker announced all-in over the top. Schulze quickly called to be at risk for 1,785,000.
Hawker asked, "You don't have aces, do you?" as he rolled over a full house with 9♥9♣. Schulze replied, "Yes," and showed A♣A♦ to take down a massive pot.
Hawker stood up in disbelief as he paced away from the table in shock, but was still left with a stack of over 3,500,000 in chips to play with.
The second hand took place immediately after.
Schulze opened the action with a raise to 85,000 from the cutoff and was called by Hawker in the small blind. Hawker checked the 7♣8♣5♣ flop before Schulze fired 90,000. Hawker called to see a turn.
The 9♦ turn led to a bet of 210,000 from Hawker before Schulze raised it to 700,000. The chips had hardly been pushed toward the middle when Hawker announced all-in. Schulze quickly called to put Hawker at risk.
Hawker asked, "You didn't flop a flush, did you?" Hawker showed a straight with K♥6♠ before Schulze showed him the bad news when he revealed J♣9♣.
The meaningless J♠ hit the river as Hawker grappled with the sequence of two hands that derailed his main event.
"Oh my god, I can't believe it," he said as he got up from the table.
As Schulze scooped the pot, Guy Leathley, a player sitting to his right, asked him jokingly, "What did you have for dinner, buddy?"
Schulze replied, "Chicken teriyaki."
With those two hands, Schulze became the first player in the Main Event to cross the 10 million chip mark.
At the time of writing, just 271 players remain, each guaranteed at least $52,500. Schulze and the rest of the field are chasing the ultimate poker prize: $10 million and the title of World Champion.
