Phil Ivey raised to 250,000 from middle position and only Dejan Kaladjurdjevic called from the cutoff.
Ivey started with a check on the 3♠6♥5♥ flop, and Kaladjurdjevic decided to bet 200,000. Ivey took a few moments before check-raising to 600,000, which prompted Kaladjurdjevic to shove for Ivey's remaining 2,300,000. Ivey snap-called and the cards were tabled.
Phil Ivey: 5♠5♣
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic: A♥8♥
Ivey had flopped middle set against the nut flush draw of Kaladjurdjevic. A J♦ fell on the turn meaning Ivey just needed to avoid a heart on the river to double through Kaladjurdjevic. A clean 9♦ completed the board, and Ivey's stack increased to over seven million.
Sinan Unlu raised the hijack to 250,000 and Pieter Aerts shoved the button for 650,000. When it got back to Unlu, he called.
Pieter Aerts: 7♠7♥
Sinan Unlu: Q♦Q♣
Aerts needed a seven to hit the jackpot and stay alive, but the 2♠4♠4♥ flop had nothing to offer. No help arrived on either the 9♣ turn nor 8♣ river, and Aerts was out empty-handed.
Out of the hijack, Phil Ivey made it 250,000 to go. Tamas Adamszki, who had just had to fold to Ivey's four-bet jam preflop in the previous hand, shoved for 2,400,000 from the button. When it got back to Ivey, he got an exact count from the dealer, then slid in the call to put Adamszki at risk.
Tamas Adamszki: A♣Q♠
Phil Ivey: 8♠8♥
Adamszki was in a race for his tournament life with two overcards against the Snowmen of Ivey.
A devastating flop of 8♦2♥3♥ came down for Adamszki, as Ivey flopped a set to take a commanding lead in the hand. Adamszki was drawing dead after the K♣ turn as an inconsequential 10♣ fell on the river.
The pot went over to Ivey, while Adamszki headed to the exit.
Phil Ivey raised to 250,000 from under the gun and Markkos Ladev called from the next seat. "Loopoo" was in the small blind and shoved 1,200,000, then Daniel Dvoress also moved all in from the big blind for 3,225,000. Ivey announced a call, and Ladev quickly folded.
"Loopoo": 5♠5♦
Daniel Dvoress: J♠J♥
Phil Ivey: A♠K♥
Ivey had the chance to send two players to the rail in one go, but it was the jacks of Dvoress that clung onto the lead through the 9♠7♦4♥ flop. A 7♥ on the turn left "Loopoo" with one shot at survival, and Ivey one chance to score the double elimination.
It was the latter of the two options that played out as Ivey found a K♦ on the river, which meant both "Loopoo" and Dvoress hit the rail.
Rob Yong made it 500,000 from the small blind and Matt Moss defended his big blind.
Yong led out for 800,000 on the 5♠2♦7♠ flop, and Moss made the call.
The 10♣ turn checked through for the 8♦ to drop on the river. Yong checked, but Moss bet roughly 1,800,000, causing Yong to go into the tank.
Yong started talking out loud, saying, "You don't check back two pair on the turn, a busted a flush draw?". A few more moments passed before Yong elected to call.
Moss revealed a busted flush draw with J♠4♠, and lost the pot to Yong's A♠7♥ for just a pair of sevens.
Adrian Strobel shoved from under the gun for 800,000 and Jessica Teusl reshoved around 2,300,000 from the small blind. Albert Daher was in the big blind and was thinking what hand he would call off for his stack of 1,400,000.
"What do I need to call?" he asked himself. "Kings I guess,". Daher then peeled a king, "Well, the first one is a king,". Then he took a peek at his second card and snap-called.
Adrian Strobel: A♥K♦
Albert Daher: K♥K♣
Jessica Teusl: 9♠9♥
Amazingly, Daher had called out his kings and was a big favorite to almost triple up. Strobel held an ace and was live, but if a nine came, Teusl would burst the bubble and bring everybody else in the money.
"I never win these," commented Daher. "I'm so dead, like, zero percent."
However, it was Daher that kept his lead through the 7♣J♦3♥ flop, much to his surprise. An 8♥ on the turn did give Teusl a straight draw, and Daher still thought he couldn't win the hand.
"Ok that's it, I can't win," he said.
But win he did as the Q♥ on the river kept his pocket kings ahead the whole way, which sent Strobel to the rail.
On the direct bubble, the action folded to Matt Moss in the small blind and he jammed to put Sinan Unlu all in from the big blind. Unlu had 1,375,000 in his stack and made the call immediately after looking at his cards.
Sinan Unlu: A♠Q♠
Matt Moss :9♥7♥
Unlu just needed to hold with ace-high to keep the tournament on the bubble. However, the 7♣5♣J♠ flop propelled Moss into the lead with a pair of sevens. An 8♦ turn meant only an ace or queen would save Unlu. It wasn't to be, as the 5♦ appeared on the river, eliminating Unlu.
Unlu bubbled the $102,000 Onyx SHRS NLH Invitational, and the remaining 14 players were all in the money.
Jamil Wakil raised to 300,000 from under the gun and Jessica Teusl shoved her last few big blinds from the small blind. Wakil called.
Jessica Teusl: K♦Q♦
Jamil Wakil: A♠8♦
Teusl had live cards, but her chances of remaining in the tournament looked bleak on the A♥9♦3♠ flop. A J♥ on the turn did bring around an escape route in the form of a Broadway draw, but that didn't materialize as the 2♣ filled out the board.
The$102,000 Onyx SHRS NLH Invitational at the 2025 Onyx Super High Roller Series presented by Onyx Club played through another eight levels today, whittling the field down from 88 entries to just 13 players, who will return for the final day. The prize pool reached $8,536,000, with the winner set to walk away with a massive $2,000,000 first prize.
Ending the day as the big stack is the United Kingdom’s Rob Yong, who bagged up an impressive 15,625,000 to finish well clear of the rest. Trailing behind is Rahul Byrraju with 10,850,000, and Jamil Wakil on 10,100,000, while eleven-time WSOP bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey rounds out the top four with 10,650,000 heading into the final day.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Rob Yong
United Kingdom
15,625,000
78
2
Rahul Byrraju
India
10,850,000
54
3
Jamil Wakil
Canada
10,100,000
51
4
Phil Ivey
United States
10,065,000
50
5
Jesse Lonis
United States
7,425,000
37
6
Matt Moss
United Kingdom
5,850,000
29
7
Markkos Ladev
Estonia
5,750,000
29
8
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic
Montenegro
5,150,000
26
9
Mikita Badziakouski
Belarus
5,075,000
25
10
Albert Daher
Lebanon
3,925,000
20
11
Eric Wasserson
United States
3,075,000
15
12
Maher Nouira
Tunisia
2,875,000
14
13
Morten Klein
Norway
1,150,000
6
Penultimate Day's Action
When play began, Yong’s stack shot upward straight away after his pocket queens earned a full double-up through Byrraju. Ivey also got off to a dream start, winning a three-way all-in that sent Artur Martirosian to the rail and left Samuel Mullur in a position that he wasn't able to recover from, exiting the tournament soon after.
Artur Martirosian
Once late registration closed at the end of Level 10, the action slowed as the pros knew they only needed to survive two more hours before the full redraw, when invitees and pros would finally combine. Henrik Hecklen, Bryn Kenney, Nick Schulman, and Matthias Eibinger fell short of that mark, leaving just 24 players when the field came together.
With the money bubble now on the horizon and a cash of at least $200,000 within reach. Leon Sturm was among the first casualties after the redraw. Sturm tank-called off his stack on the turn with top pair top kicker, only to be shown an overpair by Yong. The river changed nothing, sending Sturm to the rail and putting Yong near the top of the chip counts for the first time in the event.
Phil Ivey
Ivey's stack got a huge boost thanks to a string of hands that saw him dispatch multiple opponents in quick succession. He first doubled through Dejan Kaladjurdjevic with a set of fives against a flush draw, then won a flip with two Snowmen to bust Tamas Adamszki. Lastly, Ivey’s Big Slick spiked a king on the river to eliminate both “Loopoo” and Daniel Dvoress, vaulting him to the top of the counts and taking the tournament into hand-for-hand play.
It didn’t take long for the bubble to burst, with Turkey’s Sinan Unlu being the last to leave empty-handed. Short on chips, Unlu called off his stack in the big blind after Matt Moss jammed from the small blind. Unlu had ace-queen, but Moss spiked a seven on the flop with nine-seven, which sent Unlu to the rail, leaving the remaining 14 players in the money. Just before the end of Day 2, Jessica Teusl was the first in the money casualty, when her two Broadway cards couldn't improve against Wakil's ace-high.
Sinan Unlu
Play resumes on Monday, August 18, at 1 p.m. local time inside the Onyx Club. Action starts at 100,000/200,000 blinds with a 200,000 big blind ante, and the plan is to play down to a winner. Each of the 13 survivors has secured $200,000, but the focus now shifts to the final table, where podium finishes guarantee seven-figure paydays, and the last player standing takes home $2,000,000.
Remianing Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$2,000,000
2
$1,450,000
3
$1,080,000
4
$856,000
5
$670,000
6
$520,000
7
$400,000
8
$310,000
9
$250,000
10-13
$200,000
Once the final table is reached, the cards will be in the air under the spotlight with every hand streamed on a 30-minute delay on the OnyxLiveTV YouTube channel.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates, chip counts, and exclusive coverage from the final day of this special event.
