Michael Gathy Leads Star Studded Field into Day 2; Schulman and Bleznick Chasing
Day 1 of Event #22: $25,000 High Roller 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em at the 2025 World Series of Poker has concluded here at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas. The event attracted 272 entries, generating a prize pool, so far, of $6,514,400. Having played eight hour-long levels, 72 players bagged chips to return to Day 2.
It will be Michael Gathy taking the chip lead into Day 2. A high-stakes regular, the Belgian is chasing his fourth WSOP gold bracelet. He will go into Day 2 with a stack of 1,836,000, good for 184 big blinds to start the day.
Hot on his heels, Aram Oganyan (1,800,000) and Nick Schulman (1,519,000) round out the top three. Oganyan is yet to win a WSOP bracelet but boasts over $4,500,000 in live tournament earnings. Schulman will be looking to add bracelet number seven to his trophy cabinet and improve on his already impressive $23,000,000 in winnings when he returns for Day 2.
Other notable names that progressed to Day 2 include, but are not limited to, David Peters (476,000), Brian Rast (612,000), Phil Hellmuth (150,000) and John Hennigan (143,000).
Day 1 Chip Leaders
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Gathy | Belgium | 1,836,000 | 184 |
| 2 | Aram Oganyan | United States | 1,800,000 | 180 |
| 3 | Nick Schulman | United States | 1,519,000 | 152 |
| 4 | Blaz Zerjav | Slovenia | 1,433,000 | 143 |
| 5 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 1,300,000 | 130 |
| 6 | Seth Davies | United States | 1,112,000 | 111 |
| 7 | David Coleman | United States | 1,017,000 | 102 |
| 8 | Michael Jozoff | United States | 980,000 | 98 |
| 9 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | 975,000 | 98 |
| 10 | Jakob Miegel | Germany | 971,000 | 97 |
Plenty more of the game's elite entered the field, but unfortunately, they did not survive the flight. Players such as Daniel Negreanu, Eric Seidel, Dan Smith, Artur Martirosian, Stephen Chidwick and Adrian Mateos were among those who fell before the end of the day. Each of whom has also used their one allowed reentry.
For those who did not enter (or reenter) today, late registration is still available during the first level of play on Day 2.
The tournament will resume for Day 2 at noon local time on June 6 and is scheduled for ten 60-minute levels. Play will begin at Level 9, blinds 5,000/10,000/10,000. Players will take a 15-minute break after every two levels, and there will also be an hour-long dinner break at the end of Level 13 - approximately 5:30 p.m. local time.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews to get all the latest updates as they happen here at the 2025 World Series of Poker.