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Jon Kyte was the 55th player nominated, and successive bids brought him up over $20. Six more bids brought it up to $26, which sold to Team Glue Factory and put him on the roster alongside Phil Ivey and Nacho Barbero.
25K Fantasy Draft 2025
2025 Draft
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Yuval Brunstein, who warned teams he may play a lighter schedule this WSOP was the next to be nominated.
Players seemed unconcerned by the warning, as his price quickly went in to the 30s.
After another short bidding war, Team Brown was determined to land Brunstein and added their first team member with a $44 winning bid.
With the 53rd nomination, former WSOP POY Dan Zack was put on the block, and Team BTG got him for $13. He became the second player on Team BTG's roster beside Nick Guagenti.
Jerry Wong was up next and went to Team Australia for $19.
Matt Glantz was nominated for an opening bid of $5.
Several teams quickly bid to get him into the 20s.
Daniel Negreanu and Team Negreanu seemed determined to land Glantz, but a late bidding surge from Team Hoggers saw Negreanu bow out after $35 bid, sending Glantz to the Hoggers, who also have Aaron Kupin and Jake Schwartz.
Jake Schwartz's nomination garnered a lot of interest as bids rolled in.
Bryce Yockey was foremost among them, taking it to $30, but once again he missed out as Team BTG went a dollar more and nabbed him for $31. That put him alongside Aaron Kupin as the only two players on Team Hoggers thus far.
Dylan Smith was up next, and there seemed to be even more interest in him. Martin Zamani bid high and managed to secure Smith to Team Frog Poison for $64.
Shannon Shorr was nominated $1, before quickly being shot up into the 20s.
Shorr's price ended up landing on $35, going to Team Lang, giving them their first player of the draft.
Right after, 2023 WSOP Player of the Year Ian Matakis was nominated.
Team Lang wasted no time, adding a second player to their roster after a short bidding war, landing Matakis for $20.
Yingui Li was the next nominee, a name that a lot of the teams didn't seem to be familiar with. Perhaps that is why he went for an affordable $3 to Team Jeremy's.
Robert Mizrachi, who was attending the draft, was the next player put on the block, and he fetched an admirable $40 from Team Splashy Octopi.
Brad Ruben was nominated for $1.
His price was driven up to the 30's before going for $31 to Team NOVIG.
Right after Yequi Rich Zhu was nominated for $1. It looked as if Zhu would go for only a couple of dollars, before a small bidding war saw his price land on the $13, as Team NOVIG claims back-to-back players.
Bryce Yockey nominated Jim Collopy with a starting bid of $11, and seemed intent on getting him as every time another team bid, Yockey shot back $1 higher.
That continued through the $20s, $30s, and into the $40s.
"$42 going once... $42 going twice..." auctioneer Tim Duckworth said before Team Noori sniped in with $43. That was enough to get the job done as Yockey conceded defeat.
Jeremy Becker was then the 43rd player nominated for $1, and Team Jeremy's bid to $2. That did the trick as Becker became the cheapest player drafted thus far.
Dylan Weisman was nominated for $1.
Daniel Negreanu and Bryce Yockey quickly shot that price into the 40s, before Yockey bowed out and Team Dinkers joined the bidding war.
After making a bid for $50, Team Negreanu gave up after Team Dinkers bid $51, as Weisman joined Benny Glaser on Team Dinkers.
