Welcome to PokerNews full coverage of Day 2 of Event #1: $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em, here at the 2025 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, a special tournament where at least three players will become millionaires, despite the buy-in costing only $1,000.
The five Day 1 flights have concluded, and the total of 19,654 entries mark this tournament as the largest version to date. Each buy-in contributes $300 to the bounty prize pool, which is divided into 1,045 secret envelopes. Players receive a mystery bounty envelope every time they eliminate an opponent. Tournament officials have confirmed that, once again, both the top two bounties and the first-place prize are guaranteed to be $1,000,000.
Last year, Valentyn Shabelnyk and DJ Buckley each pulled $1 million bounties before Malcolm Trayner came out on top, winning both the event’s bracelet and the $1 million top prize. Trayner navigated Day 1 successfully and is set to compete on Day 2 with a stack of 545,000 chips. This year’s Mystery Millions features a slightly larger field than in 2024, so expect similar payouts and bounties.
Brad Owen, a pioneer in the poker vlogging space, is sitting on a healthy stack of 1,535,000. Alex Foxen, with 1,225,000, has been on fire lately, securing multiple large scores, including a victory in a Triton Main Event at WSOP Aruba. Both players will be hoping to add chips to their stacks as the day progresses and bounties are collected.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craig Mason | United States | 7,552,000 |
| 2 | Mauricio Solano | United States | 6,400,000 |
| 3 | Clark Merritt | United States | 4,595,000 |
| 4 | Brad Laakso | United States | 3,550,000 |
| 5 | Veerachai Vongxaiburana | United States | 2,975,000 |
| 6 | Mark Seif | United States | 2,880,000 |
| 7 | Josh Reichard | United States | 2,675,000 |
| 8 | Nicholas Lee | Canada | 2,530,000 |
| 9 | Konstantin Held | Germany | 2,485,000 |
| 10 | Sergio Soriano | Spain | 2,475,000 |
The lure of $1 million mystery bounties has drawn hundreds of household-name poker players to the event. Mark Seif (2,880,0000) Josh Reichard (2,675,000), Brian Yoon (2,410,000), Jason Dewitt (2,000,000), John Hennigan (1,800,000), Craig Varnell (1,390,0000), Stephen Song (1,315,000), Martin Zamani (1,075,000), Jason Wheeler (725,000), and reigning WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Tamayo (200,000) are among the returning players.
Cards will be in the air at 11 a.m. local time, with plans to play 17 levels, each lasting 40 minutes, or until only five players remain, whichever comes first. They will begin with Level 23 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante.
Mystery bounties will be in play from the start of Day 2, though they can only be redeemed after 4 p.m. local time.
Stay with PokerNews for live and exclusive coverage of the Mystery Millions!
