Anatoly Nikitin Tops the Counts on Day 2 of $25,000 High Roller

The penultimate day of Event #26: $25,000 High Roller 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em at the 2025 World Series of Poker has wrapped up, with 18 players set to return and battle tomorrow for the $1,949,044 top prize and the coveted WSOP bracelet, inside the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.

An additional 92 entries were added before late registration closed, bringing the field to a record-breaking 392 and generating a prize pool of $9,212,000. After ten 60-minute levels, Russia’s Anatoly Nikitin soared to the top of the counts with a stack of 5,550,000, and is the only player to cross the five-million-chip mark.

Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Anatoly Nikitin	Russian Federation	5,550,000	56
2	Chin Wei Lim	Malaysia	4,830,000	48
3	Andrew Ostapchenko	United States	4,605,000	46
4	Orpen Kisacikoglu	Turkey	4,550,000	46
5	Byron Kaverman	United States	4,525,000	45
6	Punnat Punsri	Thailand	4,370,000	44
7	Mathew Frankland	United Kingdom	3,815,000	38
8	Rafael Mota	Brazil	3,460,000	35
9	Joao Simao	Brazil	3,440,000	34
10	Masato Yokosawa	Japan	3,220,000	32

Following behind Nikitin with 4,830,000 chips is Malaysia’s Chin Wei Lim, who picked up a big chunk of his stack in two key hands. First, he squeezed extra value with pocket aces in a four-bet pot against Asher Conniff. Then, he sent Josh McCully to the rail after turning bottom two pair against McCully’s top pair.

Once registration closed after the first level, the payouts for this record-breaking event were revealed. With the top 59 making the money, a min-cash was worth $50,645. Two more levels passed before hand-for-hand play began, as the next player to bust would leave empty-handed. In the end, it was Noel Rodriguez who became the bubble boy, after his pocket kings got cracked by Brandon Wittmeyer’s set of sixes.

After the bubble burst, eliminations came quickly. Among those who cashed but won't be back for Day 3 are Alex Kulev, Brad Owen, Nick Petrangelo, ten-time bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel. Also hitting the rail today were Ben Tollerene, Joey Weissman, Georgios Sotiropoulos, and six-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus.

Still in contention for the title and set to return tomorrow are Thailand’s Punnat Punsri (4,370,000), Joao Simao (3,440,000), 2015 Main Event champion Joe McKeehen. Malaysia's Wai Kiat Lee (1955,000), Aliaksandr Shylko (1680,000), and three-time bracelet winner Jim Collopy (1,355,000) also will be here at the start of play tomorrow.

The final day of this three-day affair kicks off at noon local time on Monday, June 9, with players returning to blinds of 50,000/100,000 and a big blind ante of 100,000. Levels will remain 60 minutes long, and everyone coming back has secured at least $73,639 for their efforts. All eyes will be on the $1,949,044 top prize and the coveted gold bracelet that awaits the winner.