Level 38
: Blinds 600,000/1,200,000, 1,200,000 ante
Carlos Caldas
While the other tables had slowed down because of a $4,000 pay jump, Carlos Caldas raised to 2,400,000 from the hijack. Anish Vithlani then jammed all in for 15,500,000 from the big blind, which Caldas quickly called.
Anish Vithlani: A♣4♣
Carlos Caldas: 8♠8♣
Vithlani paired his ace on the J♦A♦9♣ flop, celebrating when he won the pot by making two pair on the K♦4♠ runout.
One hand later, Caldas open-jammed his remaining 9,500,000 from early position. Rena Varghese called on the button, and the cards were tabled.
Carlos Caldas: A♥8♣
Rena Varghese: A♠Q♠
Varghese made a flush on the 6♠J♠7♠K♥K♠ board to eliminate Caldas in 36th place.
Level 37
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Matt Glantz
Sylvain Couturier was down to 4,600,000, which he pushed in from the hijack. Matt Glantz looked him up on the button, while the blinds got out of the way.
Sylvain Couturier: K♣J♥
Matt Glantz: 9♠9♣
Couturier made Broadway on the 4♠A♠10♠Q♦ turn, but Glantz one-upped him by making a flush on the 8♠ river, eliminating Couturier.
Kaiwen Wei in the big blind and Scott Webber in middle position were heads up on a turn of 6♣7♥Q♦8♣. Wei checked to Webber, who shoved his stack of 7,500,000 into the pot of 9,500,000.
Wei snap-called with the covering stack, and both players revealed their cards.
Scott Webber: A♣Q♠
Kaiwen Wei: 6♠6♦
Webber's top pair was drawing dead against the set of Wei. The inconsequential 4♥ river rolled off as Webber said his goodbyes and left to pick up his cash.
Ramaswamy Pyloore opened to 1,200,000. preflop Grayr Zograbyan then pushed in his remaining 5,225,000, and Julio Torres called off his stack of 3,500,000.
Pyloore did some maths before concluding his price was too good, and he made the call.
Julio Torres: A♦Q♥
Grayr Zograbyan: A♥K♥
Ramaswamy Pyloore: 3♠3♦
Torres and Zograbyan had counterfeit outs after the 4♣8♦8♣ flop and 5♥ turn, but the 9♠ river remained clean for Pyloore's small pair, scooping another multi-way all-in pot.
In the last hand of the previous level, Alexandre Zampieri opened to 1,000,000 from early position. Wesley Cannon then shoved all in for 12,000,000 from the cutoff, and Tom Verbruggen came over the top in the big blind.
Zampieri quickly moved out of the way, creating a heads up showdown.
Wesley Cannon: A♠K♦
Tom Verbruggen: J♠J♥
The board ran out an inconsequential 5♦6♠4♠Q♦8♠. Cannon failed to pair up, being sent to the rail by Verbruggen's jacks.
Thanh Duong got his stack of about 5,500,000 in from the small blind against Ryan Leng in the big blind, who had him covered.
Thanh Duong: A♠J♣
Ryan Leng: 7♦7♣
Duong flopped best on 2♣A♦5♥, but Leng retaliated on the 7♠ turn as his set left Duong without any outs. The 2♦ river was rendered meaningless as Duong was sent to the rail.
Adam Croffut had put in his final 75,000 chips from early position. Andrew Tang then rejammed for about 4,300,000 from the hijack, and Stavros Petychakis called off his stack of 3,400,000 in the hijack.
Table chipleader Ramaswamy Pyloore was in the small blind, calling to put the other three players at risk of elimination.
Adam Croffut: A♦6♥
Stavros Petychakis: A♠10♥
Andrew Tang: K♠Q♠
Ramaswamy Pyloore: J♠J♥
Tang shot ahead on the 10♦3♦Q♥ flop with his pair of queens. The 5♠ turn had Croffut drawing dead, while the J♦ river provided Pyloore with one of two outs to take down the pot and knock out all three players, much to the amazement of the many onlookers that had gathered.
Despite coming to the World Series of Poker for 25 years, accruing nearly nine million in tournament cashes throughout his long career, and making an appearance at a staggering 16 WSOP final tables, including a runner-up finish in 2005, Matt Glantz remains on the list of "best without a bracelet".
That might change at the 2025 World Series of Poker, as today, at 11 a.m. local time, Glantz will be one of 103 players returning to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for Day 3 of Event #19: $500 COLOSSUS, the final day of the massive event. The 25K Fantasy pick and Team Lucky member's bag is filled with 9,150,000 chips, an above-average stack, as the survivors of the 16,301-entrant field will divide the biggest prizes of the $6,664,102 prize pool, including the eye-watering $542,540 first-place prize and accompanying WSOP bracelet.
Glantz has his work cut out for him, however, as chipleader Carlos Caldas will start Day 3 with 31,375,000, more than three times Glantz's stack Tom Verbruggen also crossed the 30-million mark on Day 2, coming back with 30,345,000, while Day 1a chipleader Lok Chan remained near the top of the counts, sitting in fifth place with 19,500,000 as he hunts his second bracelet in four years.
Lok Chan
Start of Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Carlos Caldas
Portugal
31,375,000
78
2
Tom Verbruggen
Netherlands
30,345,000
76
3
Mark Tornai
United States
24,750,000
62
4
Zachary Hudson
United States
22,000,000
55
5
Lok Chan
Hong Kong
19,500,000
49
6
Bobby Poe
United States
15,875,000
40
7
Juan Capobianco
United States
15,450,000
39
8
Sergio Giha
United States
15,400,000
39
9
Courtenay Williams
United States
14,800,000
37
10
Sergei Petrushevskii
Russian Federation
14,200,000
36
Aside from Glantz, Ryan Leng is the only other 25K Fantasy draftee to make the final day of the COLOSSUS, looking to add a fourth bracelet to his collection and starting the day with 6,525,000 in chips. Other notable players who have bagged on Day 2 include Day 1b chipleader Theo Rebour, who sits just outside of the top ten with a stack of 14,000,000, UK regular Brandon Sheils (5,950,000), and three-time bracelet winner David Pham (4,000,000).
David Pham
The 103 returning players have all locked up nine buy-ins for their efforts, with $4,520 guaranteed to land in their pockets. Five-figure payouts will start from 62nd place, while the top six will walk away with at least $122,330. Meanwhile, the top prize of over half a million dollars will only be awarded to the winner.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
$542,540
14-17
$29,118
2
$361,690
18-26
$23,440
3
$273,260
27-35
$19,000
4
$207,740
36-44
$15,510
5
$158,910
45-53
$12,740
6
$122,330
54-62
$10,540
7
$94,760
63-71
$8,770
8
$73,880
72-80
$7,360
9
$57,970
81-89
$6,210
10-11
$45,770
90-98
$5,280
12-13
$36,380
99-103
$4,520
The players will return to blinds of 200,000/400,000 (400,000). With an average stack of just under 20 big blinds, the early proceedings are promising to be fast and furious. Those lucky enough to reach the deepest part of the colossal tournament may be in for a long night, as the plan is to play enough 40-minute levels to crown a new COLOSSUS champion. A 15-minute break will take place after every three levels, while details regarding a dinner break have yet to be confirmed.
PokerNews will be on the floor from start to finish for the marathon final day of this event, so stay tuned to this page to find out who will conquer one of the biggest fields of the 2025 WSOP and take home the bracelet.
