Event #3: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Day 1 | 2025 World Series of Poker

05-28-2025 16:00 UTC-8

Setup for Stacks

Robert Jones

Level 5 : Blinds 300/600, 600 ante

Atanas Malinov raised to 1,200 from the cutoff. Christopher Conrad called from the small blind, and from the big blind, Sergio Giha bumped up the price to 5,000. Both players called.

The flop came K♥7♠2♥ and Conrad checked. Giha bet 4,000, Malinov mucked, and Conrad called.

The turn was the 4♣, and after another check from Conrad, Giha fired 11,000.

Conrad was now ready to play for it all and rifled his remaining 30,900 chips into the middle. Giha called after some deliberation and was shown the bad news.

Sergio Giha: A♠K♣
Christopher Conrad 7x7x

An inconsequential river peeled off, but Giha was already counting out the 31,000 heading over the Conrad.

Player	Chips	Progress
Christopher Conrad	90,000 90,000	90,000
Sergio Giha	7,000 7,000	7,000

Tags: Atanas Malinov Christopher Conrad Sergio Giha

05-28-2025 16:17 UTC-8

Darner Puts a Dent in Frei's Mountain

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Kai Cocklin

Level 5 : Blinds 300/600, 600 ante

Joseph Frei has a mountain of chips in front of him, but just lost some of his fortune in a hand against Mark Darner.

Frei had raised from the hijack and Darner made it 6,400 from the small blind. When it got back to Frei, he called.

The flop came down 4♦A♥9♥ and after Darner checked, Frei bet 6,000. Darner called to see the A♦ turn, where again he check-called after Frei bet 10,000.

A 2♣ filled out the board and both players tapped the table, then Darner showed K♥K♦ for a pair of kings to claim the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph Frei	400,000 80,000	80,000
Mark Darner	65,000 65,000	65,000

Tags: Joseph Frei Mark Darner

05-28-2025 16:24 UTC-8

Elias Building Nicely

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Stewart Morrison

Level 5 : Blinds 300/600, 600 ante

Seeing Michael Troutt raise to 1,700 in front of him, Darren Elias three-bet to 5,500 in the cut off. Troutt, wearing a 'Poker Is War' cap, accepted the challenge and called.

The dealer put out a Q♦A♠J♥ board, and following a Troutt check, Elias continuation-bet for 7,000. Troutt undeterred, called.

The turn A♦ saw both players check, the 6♦ river followed, bringing in the backdoor flush draw.

Troutt took over the betting lead, placing 12,000 out. Elias wanted to play a bigger pot and made it 46,000.

Troutt took some time to make a decision, even removing his sunglasses to get a better look at Elias, before returning his cards to the dealer.

Player	Chips	Progress
Darren Elias	150,000 95,000	95,000

Michael Troutt	105,000 18,000	18,000

Tags: Darren Elias Michael Troutt

05-28-2025 17:14 UTC-8

Quads for Nasreddine

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Kai Cocklin

Level 6 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Michael Troutt opened from the cutoff and got a call out of Aaron Massey on the button and Rania Nasreddine in the big blind.

The flop came 4♦4♥Q♥ and after Nasreddine checked, Troutt bet 2,500. Both Massey and Nasreddine called to the 4♣ turn, where all three checked.

A 7♥ landed on the river and Nasreddine fired 10,000, which was around half of her stack. Troutt took some time before he made it 25,000 to go, which sent Massey into the tank. After some time, Massey folded, and Nasreddine quickly called off her stack of 20,800 total.

"I got it," said Nasreddine as she flipped over A♥4♠ for quads! Troutt showed he had a queen with Q♣8♣ before his cards hit the muck.

"I had a queen," mentioned Massey.

"Really?! Why didn't you call? I don't know if I believe you. " replied Nasreddine.

"It doesn't matter to me," were Massey's closing remarks.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Troutt	75,000 30,000	30,000
Aaron Massey	55,000 4,000	4,000
Rania Nasreddine	53,000 27,000	27,000

Tags: Aaron Massey Michael Troutt Rania Nasreddine

05-28-2025 19:02 UTC-8

Rundquist Dispatches Liperis

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Kai Cocklin

Level 7 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Kristopher Rundquist had put in chips from under the gun and Yiannis Liperis had his stack of almost 20,000 in the middle from the button. Rundquist quickly called.

Yiannis Liperis: 5♥5♣ All in
Kristopher Rundquist: J♥J♣

Liperis needed a five, but needed two of them after the 2♠J♦7♠ flop gave Rundquist top set. A Q♦ on the turn left Liperis drawing dead, and he was already walking away from the table when the 5♠ hit the river, which gave him a smaller set.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kristopher Rundquist	100,000 100,000	100,000
Yiannis Liperis	Busted

Tags: Kristopher Rundquist Yiannis Liperis

05-28-2025 19:08 UTC-8

Blom Barrells to No Avail

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Stewart Morrison

Level 7 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Anthony Marquez raised under the gun to 2,500. Viktor Blom, next to act, called and the big blind came along too.

A flop of Q♠3♣J♦, saw the big blind and Marquez both check and Blom take over the betting lead for 2,800. The big blind folded but Marquez stuck around.

The turn 2♥ did little to change the board and when Marquez again chose to check, Blom continued for 8,600. Marquez again called.

Marquez checked for a third time on the K♠ river and Blom wasted little time in barrelling again, this time for 17,200. No sooner had he let go of his chips before Marquez had thrown a chip in to signal a call.

Blom revealed 5♠5♣, which wasn't enough to beat the rivered straight of Marquez, who had 10♦9♦.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anthony Marquez	115,000 65,000	65,000

Viktor Blom	60,000 60,000	60,000

Tags: Anthony Marquez Viktor Blom

05-28-2025 19:31 UTC-8

Damphousse Sends Two Packing

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Kai Cocklin

Level 7 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Thomas Brabham opened from early position and Michael Damphousse called from the small blind before Joseph Spanne made it 8,300 to go from the big blind. Brabham called, leaving himself around 5,000 behind, and Damphousse also called.

The flop came 3♣2♣J♠ and after Damphousse checked, Spanne bet 5,400. Brabham called for his last 5,100, and Damphousse also called.

A 4♦ on the turn saw Damphousse check again, and then Spanne threw in six orange chips, worth 5,000 each. Damphousse then shoved, and Spanne took some time before he called off the extra 40,000 he had behind, leaving him at risk.

Thomas Brabham: AxAx All in
Joseph Spanne: Q♠Q♣ All in
Michael Damphousse: 4♠4♣

Damphousse had turned a set and was one card away from setting sail toward a 200,000-chip stack. Only an ace or a queen could prevent it, but the K♥ completed the board, sending both Spanne and Brabham to the rail.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Damphousse	220,000 135,000	135,000
Joseph Spanne	Busted
Thomas Brabham	Busted

Tags: Joseph Spanne Michael Damphousse Thomas Brabham

05-28-2025 19:40 UTC-8

Two Doubles Are Better Than One

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Stewart Morrison

Level 8 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Joao Vieira found himself all in at risk twice in the space of a few hands.

First Vieira moved all in for 3,900 and only Ricardo Eyzaguirre in the big blind called.

Joao Vieira: Q♥8♥ All in
Ricardo Eyzaguirre: Q♣5♥

The board ran out 3♠A♣7♦6♠8♦ to give Vieira his first double.

Just a few hands later Vieira moved all in from early position for 9,300 before Michael Troutt isolated on the button to 15,000.

Joao Vieira: A♠2♠ All in
Michael Troutt: A♦7♦

Vieira would need some help this time, seeing his holding dominated by his opponent.

The 10♠10♥6♠9♥ board gave Vieira plenty of opportunities to win or at least split the pot, and the 2♣ river was exactly what Vieira was hoping for.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Troutt	60,000 15,000	15,000
Ricardo Eyzaguirre	32,500 32,500	32,500
Joao Vieira	21,000 21,000	21,000

05-28-2025 20:22 UTC-8

Rizzo Wins a Flip

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Kai Cocklin

Level 8 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

There was an open before Erion Qoku three-bet from the button. Leonardo Rizzo then four-bet shoved from the small blind for 76,600 and once the action got back to Qoku, he called with a covering stack.

Leonardo Rizzo: 8♠8♣ All in
Erion Qoku: A♥Q♣

Rizzo was ahead with his Snowmen and the dealer wasn't about to let his bracelet dreams melt away as the 6♠3♦7♠J♠9♣ runout earned him a double-up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Leonardo Rizzo	155,000 19,700	19,700
Erion Qoku	50,000 50,000	50,000

Tags: Erion Qoku Leonardo Rizzo

05-28-2025 21:54 UTC-8

No Gamble, No Future

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Stewart Morrison

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The hand was joined with a full board already showing 4♥K♦Q♦7♥6♣ and about 20,000 in the pot. Zachary Grech had 23,500 out in front of him as a bet, but was facing a check-raise for his whole stack from Ren Lin, who had announced all-in from the big blind.

Grech took some time before folding. Lin then proudly exposed the 5♣. "No gamble, no future", said Lin, as he added to the chips to his stack.