Rafael Mota raised in the small blind to 150,000, and Virgile Turchi moved all in from the big blind for 600,000, and Mota made the call.
Virgile Turchi: A♥6♥
Rafael Mota: 9♠6♠
The board came out with no help for Turchi's tournament life 6♦5♣6♥4♣9♥, and Mota chipped up with a full house, while Turchi chipped out of the tournament.
Scott Bohlman opened to 100,000 on the button before Nicholas Verderamo moved all in from the small blind. Bohlman took some before option to toss in the call.
Nicholas Verderamo: A♦9♦
Scott Bohlman: A♠9♥
Both players turned over the same hand, but the 2♥4♦4♥ flop left Bohlman with a backdoor flush draw. The 10♥ turn got Bohlman close before the 3♥ river completed his hearts, knocking out Verderamo in 22nd position.
Dusti Smith raised to 130,000 from middle position, Michael Nia then reraised from the small blind to 375,000. Smith decided to wager enough to put Nia all in. Nia called for his remaining 1,600,000 and was at risk.
Michael Nia: A♣K♣
Dusti Smith: K♥K♠
The board ran out 9♣5♠6♥4♥4♠, sending Nia to the payout desk in 21st place.
Benjamin Underwood raised from the small blind to 200,000. Quan Zhou looked at the stack of Underwood and reraised to 630,000. Underwood jammed allin in the last hand of the night.
Benjamin Underwood: 10♥10♦
Quan Zhou: Q♠Q♣
The dealer revealed the board: 4♥9♥J♣3♥K♠
Zhou's pair of queens was too strong for Underwood, so he got eliminated in 20th place.
Another busy day at the 2025 World Series of Poker saw 264 players return for the second day of action in Event #17: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em. After ten more levels of play, Dusti Smith holds a commanding chip lead bagging up 142 big blinds at Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas.
Smith has already notched her best finish at the WSOP in Las Vegas with her run to the final three tables. Her poker resume includes a deep run in the 2021 WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship, finishing in 22nd place. She’ll carry a sizeable lead heading into Thursday’s final day of action, with some very notable names giving chase.
China’s Quan Zhou sits in second position, the only other player to bag more than 5,000,000 chips. The 25K Fantasy player is followed by another drafted WSOP bracelet winner in Scott Bohlman, who rounds out the top three with 80 big blinds.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dusti Smith
United States
8,500,000
142
2
Quan Zhou
China
5,245,000
87
3
Scott Bohlman
United States
4,815,000
80
4
Rafael Mota
Brazil
4,290,000
72
5
Benjamin Williams
United States
3,535,000
59
6
Ricardo Martinez
Costa Rica
2,830,000
47
7
Shuofei Geng
United States
2,825,000
47
8
Samy Dubonnet
France
2,690,000
45
9
Allen Shen
Canada
2,500,000
42
10
Xiaohu Liu
China
2,340,000
39
Bin Weng
Day 2 Action
The day began just 10 eliminations short of the money, with $4,011 up for grabs to the top 254 spots. After several double-ups on the direct bubble, Bin Weng got it in good but came up short to miss out on the cash.
From there, action was fast and furious as many notable names hit the rail including Alex Foxen (245th - $4,011) and Martin Kabrhel (219th - $4,011). Adam Hendrix fell in 209th place after being knocked out by Chino Rheem, who lasted a few more levels before falling in 105th position.
Jesse Lonis
Heading into the final day, Jesse Lonis represents the only other 25K Fantasy sweat, sitting in 15th place with 21 big blinds.
Among the other notables returning on Thursday are WSOP bracelet winners Pete Chen and Brian Green, who bagged just 11 big blinds and will be the short stack when cards are back in the air.
Action will resume at 1 p.m. local time in the Horseshoe Event Center, where the final three tables will continue with 60-minute levels. The blinds will be 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante.
It should be an exciting conclusion to Event #17, along with all the other WSOP action to come on Thursday. Be sure to stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will have full coverage from inside the ropes.
