Bin Weng Bags Big as Bubble Looms in Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Another busy day at the 2025 World Series of Poker saw a total of 1,493 entrants take their shot in Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em, with just 225 returning to action on Tuesday.
Play will resume at 12:00 p.m. local time at Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, where hand-for-hand will be in order right from the start. The top 224 spots are set to earn a minimum of $5,020, meaning the day will begin on the stone bubble as players will look to grab their share of the $3,321,925 prize pool.
Leading the way through Day 1 is Sheldon Gross, who battled his way to bag up 761,000 chips. That was good for a slight lead over Daniel Lee, while Gregory Brown rounds out the top three spots.
Lurking behind that trio is Bin Weng, who will return to the felt with more than 90 big blinds in his bag.
Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheldon Gross | United States | 761,000 | 95 |
| 2 | Daniel Lee | United States | 755,000 | 94 |
| 3 | Gregory Brown | United States | 743,000 | 93 |
| 4 | Bin Weng | United States | 724,000 | 91 |
| 5 | Kevin Andriamahefa | United States | 721,000 | 90 |
| 6 | Mans Montgomery | United States | 713,000 | 89 |
| 7 | Seunghyun Nam | United States | 679,000 | 85 |
| 8 | Ian O'Hara | United States | 674,000 | 84 |
| 9 | Ryan Wolfson | United States | 664,000 | 83 |
| 10 | Steven Forman | United States | 660,000 | 83 |
Other notable names to collect a sizeable amount of chips on the opening day include Christian Roberts (520,000), Faraz Jaka (446,000), David Coleman (426,000), Dong Chen(409,000), and John Juanda (153,000).
Among the familiar faces to come up short were Stephen Song, Jonathan Tamayo, Alex Foxen and Justin Saliba.
As time ticked down on Day 1, the field inched closer to the money bubble, finishing just one elimination away. Several players will take their seats with some work to do, including Ethan Yau (73,000) and PokerNews Podcast host Mike Holtz, who sits as the short stack with 11,000 chips in his bag.
Event 29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $496,826 | 18-26 | $17,693 |
| 2 | $331,163 | 27-35 | $14,678 |
| 3 | $238,204 | 36-44 | $12,349 |
| 4 | $173,435 | 45-53 | $10,539 |
| 5 | $127,841 | 54-62 | $9,125 |
| 6 | $95,415 | 63-71 | $8,017 |
| 7 | $72,119 | 72-80 | $7,149 |
| 8 | $55,212 | 81-89 | $6,472 |
| 9 | $42,819 | 90-98 | $5,950 |
| 10-11 | $33,646 | 99-125 | $5,556 |
| 12-13 | $26,793 | 126-152 | $5,271 |
| 14-17 | $21,624 | 153-224 | $5,020 |
Play will resume at 12:00 p.m. local time on Level 18, with blinds of 5,000-10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. The Day 2 schedule calls for players to navigate 10 more levels, with a 15-minute break after every pair of levels.
The schedule also calls for a 60-minute dinner break after level 23, which should fall just after 6:30 p.m. in Las Vegas.
As always, the PokerNews live reporting team will have all of the action covered, as we move closer to crowning the next WSOP champion this week.