Han Liu Maintains Chip Lead Throughout Action-Packed Day 2 of $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw
At the start of Day 2 of Event #12: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw of the 2025 World Series of Poker, Han Liu returned to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas with the most chips. He maintained his position at the upper region of the leadboard throughout the day, and by eliminating Tyler Phillips during the last hand of the night, he once again secured the chip lead with only five contenders remaining.
The five players left standing have outlasted a field of 532 entries and will be battling for the biggest part of the $706,230 prize pool. Whoever gets crowned the champion on Day 3 will walk away with $138,080, the only six-figure prize to be awarded in this event, and a WSOP bracelet.
Liu's 4,050,000 chips will be worth a staggering 162 big blinds when Day 3 commences. Four-time bracelet winner Brad Ruben is second on the leaderboard with 3,520,000, while Jun Weng and Yueqi Zhu ended Day 2 with 2,280,000 and 1,915,000 on their quest to capture China's first bracelet of 2025. The final player to make it through to Day 3 is Brian Yoon, who will have to navigate the absurdly deep-stacked finale as the shortest stack with 1,425,000, 57 big blinds, to try and capture his sixth bracelet.
Final Table Seating
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Yoon | United States | 1,425,000 | 57 |
| 2 | Jun Weng | China | 2,280,000 | 91 |
| 3 | Yueqi Zhu | China | 1,915,000 | 77 |
| 4 | Han Liu | United States | 4,050,000 | 162 |
| 5 | Brad Ruben | United States | 3,520,000 | 141 |
Day 2 Action
It took less than seven levels to reduce the 78 players who started the day to the five who bagged at the end of the night. The bubble had burst late on Day 1, resulting in many short stacks at the start of the day and a rapid pace of eliminations. 25K Fantasy picks Philip Sternheimer and Lawrence Brandt brought their teams some precious points by picking up the min-cash of $3,045. Phil Hellmuth received the same amount as his quest for an 18th bracelet came to an early end due to being outdrawn by Yoon.
Hellmuth's fellow Hall of Famers Barry Greenstein (47th -$3,397) and Huck Seed (18th - $5,823) had also made it to Day 2 and added another WSOP cash to their ever-growing legacies. Eventually, a double elimination on the final table bubble left seven players standing, who were moved to one of the feature tables in the Horshoe Event Center.
Eric Moum started the final table as the shortest stack, and swiftly lost his 27 big blinds to Liu. With the average nearing 90 big blinds and no one having fewer than 50 of them with six remaining, it looked like it might take a while before the final five players could bag up. However, Phillips, who had reached his second final table of the summer, got caught snowing by Ruben, which left him relatively short.
Not much later, Phillips committed his final chips to the middle and became the final elimination of the night when he broke a better hand against Liu's pat jack.
The players have already secured a payday of $29,228. That alone will be enough to double Liu's lifetime earnings, but his eyes, along with all the others', will be on the big bucks that come with being crowned a WSOP champion.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $130,080 | |
| 2 | $90,569 | |
| 3 | $60,738 | |
| 4 | $41,654 | |
| 5 | $29,228 | |
| 6 | Tyler Phillips | $20,994 |
| 7 | Eric Moum | $15,446 |
The players will return for the final day Tuesday, June 3, at noon local time. There will be four minutes and 22 seconds left to play with the blinds at 10,000/25,000 (35,000) before they will increase to 15,000/30,000 with a 45,000 big blind ante. All levels will remain 60 minutes in length, with a break after every two of them, and the day will end only when a winner has been declared.
PokerNews will be present from start to finish, so check back in then to not miss anything of the conclusion of the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw.