The race toward the largest guaranteed prize pool in poker history continued at the 2025 World Series of Poker Paradise, where another 378 entries took their shot in Event #11: $25,000 Super Main Event.
That puts the headlining event past the midway point of the total field required to reach the $60,000,000 guarantee, with plenty of registration time still ahead at Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas.
The opening flight saw 295 survivors from 869 entries, and another 124 players from Day 1b joined the group advancing to the first Day 2 of the tournament on Friday, December 12. That brings the total for the event to 1,247 entrants, with the first bubble on tap when play resumes.
Sitting atop the counts from the second flight is Andy Wilson, who was among the chip leaders all day long after registering a few hours into play. Wilson bagged up 5,150,000 for more than ten starting stacks, and sits as the overall leader from the first two flights. He has a pair of runner-up finishes in WSOP events, and will be looking for a shot at his first career bracelet as the event continues to unfold.
Two other players collected more than 4,000,000 chips, as Aaron Olechnowicz (4,405,000) used an early rise to sit in second spot. After an unsuccessful attempt on Day 1a, Jesse Lonis (4,190,000) bounced back from an early elimination on this day to build a big stack by night's end.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andy Wilson | United Kingdom | 5,150,000 | 172 |
| 2 | Aaron Olechnowicz | Mexico | 4,405,000 | 147 |
| 3 | Jesse Lonis | United States | 4,190,000 | 140 |
| 4 | Pascal LeFrancois | Canada | 3,965,000 | 132 |
| 5 | Alex Keating | United States | 3,800,000 | 127 |
| 6 | Gilles Simon | 3,745,000 | 125 | |
| 7 | Neville Costa | Brazil | 3,740,000 | 125 |
| 8 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | 3,585,000 | 120 |
| 9 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 3,440,000 | 115 |
| 10 | Eric Yanovsky | United States | 3,230,000 | 108 |
Notable Names Everywhere
Day 1b was an up and down affair for Alex Keating (3,800,000), as the WSOP bracelet winner grew his stack before a bad beat saw pocket kings get cracked. Keating battled back from there, knocking out several opponents to finish just behind Pascal Lefrancois (3,965,000) to round out the top five on the leaderboard.
Several other bracelet winners are in great shape, including Lautaro Guerra (3,440,000) and Isaac Haxton (2,750,000). Guerra, who won his first WSOP title last year right here in Paradise, was among the big stacks early and maintained his spot throughout the day. Haxton found a double through Katie Lindsay (1,265,000) and built a stack from there.
The day also saw some WSOP Main Event champions take their seat, including 2020 Online Main Event winner Stoyan Madanzhiev (2,440,000) who sits just outside the top 20. Scotty Nguyen sat down after the first break of the day but was unable to gain any momentum, while Espen Jorstad entered on the opening level and was sent to the rail in the final hands of the night.
One of the more notable hands of the day came on the final level, when Daniel Rezaei (1,485,000) caught up to Kyle Lin's flopped set of aces. The hand became a talking point for those at the table, and Lin went on to bag more than Rezaei with 2,703,000.
Among the other names moving on to Day 2a are Nick Schulman (2,375,000) and Stephen Chidwick (245,000), while Martin Kabrhel (2,370,000) provided the room with "The greatest piece of content from the whole WSOP" and will be back to entertain the crowd again on Friday.
Looking Ahead to Day 2a
Action will begin on Day 2a at 12:00 p.m. local time, where survivors from the opening two flights will combine into a single field. Play will resume on Level 11, with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante.
The schedule calls for breaks after every pair of 60-minute levels, with players looking to navigate their way into the top 7% of the field for a spot in Day 3.
The day begins with four more hours of late registration, ending prior to the start of Level 14. At that point, the prize pool for the Day 2a field will be determined and the battle for the money will begin. After that, two more opening flights remain, with another Day 2 ahead on December 15 before the entire remaining field combines for the first time on Day 3.
Don't miss any of the action from the $25,000 Super Main Event, as the PokerNews team will have everything covered on the way to the first money bubble at Atlantis.
