In a four-way pot on a board of 2♣8♦4♦, Laszlo Bujtas bet 42,000 from early position and Manuel Fritz called behind him before Vinny Lingham raised all in for around 235,000 from the button.
Jason Koon and Bujtas folded and Fritz called off with a stack of around 150,000.
Manuel Fritz: 9♥9♠
Vinny Lingham: 10♣8♠
Fritz had the better pair, but the board finished out Q♠10♠ to give Lingham the winner and Fritz hit the rail as Koon started singing "V-V-V-Vinny and the Jets."
"I didn't expect him to have an overpair," Lingham said.
"It was barely an overpair," commented Joao Vieira.
"What does GTO say?" Lingham asked as he thought through the hand.
Lander Lijo raised to 20,000 from under the gun and Nacho Barbero defended his big blind. The flop came 6♠4♦2♦ and Barbero checked to Lijo who bet 35,000. Barbero check-raised to 85,000 and Lijo just called.
The turn brought the 10♥ and Barbero slid out a stack of 175,000, leaving just 10,000 behind. Lijo announced all in and Barbero called it off.
Nacho Barbero: 9♥9♦
Lander Lijo: J♥J♣
Barbero's pair of nines were out-classed by Lijo jacks and the 3♥ was not going to save him, sending him to the rail late on Day 1.
Joao Vieira opened to 20,000 in the hijack and Danny Tang called on the button before Kristen Foxen three-bet to 85,000 in the small blind to bring folds from both opponents.
The next hand, Foxen opened to 23,000 on the button and Vinny Lingham called in the big blind.
Lingham checked on the flop of 6♠9♠2♠ and Foxen continued for 15,000. Lingham called. Lingham checked again on the Q♦ turn and Foxen sized up to 68,000. Lingham laid it down.
Viktor Blom raised it up from the cutoff and Oliver Weis three-bet to 75,000 in the small blind. Blom countered with a four-bet to 180,000 and Weis five-bet jammed all in for 625,000. Blom snapped him off and the cards were on their backs.
Oliver Weis: K♣J♣
Viktor Blom: 10♥10♣
The flop came J♥9♦7♥ and Weis took the lead with a pair of jacks. Blom had a straight draw to hit but the 6♠ and 6♣ runout was of no help.
Picking up the action on the flop with the board reading K♥9♠4♥, a little over 200,000 was in the middle with three people still alive in the hand. Vinny Lingham jammed all in for 540,000 which sent Orpen Kisacikoglu into the tank for over a minute before he eventually folded. Joao Vieira, on the other hand, snap-called and the cards were tabled.
Vinny Lingham: A♦A♣
Joao Vieira: 4♣4♦
Vieira flopped a set of fours to leave Lingham shaking his head in disbelief. The turn was the 4♠ and Vieira made quads to end Lingham's night on the last hand.
The highest buy-in event of the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) so far got underway with Event #32: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em, which drew 124 players on Day 1. France's Alexandre Reard bagged the chip lead over 52 remaining players.
Other big stacks at the end of Day 1 include American pros Jason Koon and Brock Wilson, Brazil's Joao Simao and online poker legend Viktor Blom.
Also among those who bagged are oil and gas magnate Kathy Lehne, PokerGO founder Cary Katz and high-stakes pros Chino Rheem, Kristen Foxen, Sam Soverel, Jeremy Ausmus and Joao Vieira, who got a late-night boost by hitting quads to crack the aces of Vinny Lingham.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Alexandre Reard
France
2,335,000
195
2
Viktor Blom
Sweden
1,810,000
151
3
Joao Simao
Brazil
1,636,000
136
4
Jack Roser
United States
1,496,000
125
5
Brock Wilson
United States
1,495,000
125
6
Joao Vieira
Portugal
1,380,000
115
7
Brandon Steven
United States
1,300,000
108
8
Marius Gierse
Austria
1,270,000
106
9
Oliver Weis
Germany
1,155,000
96
10
Jason Koon
United States
1,049,000
87
Day 1 Action
The $50,000 buy-in event started off slowly enough, with just one table that gradually multiplied to around a dozen.
Ren Lin and Martin Kabrhel were seated at adjacent tables for much of the day, but the two rowdy poker players were a lot quieter than usual. Kabrhel piped up a bit later in the evening as his chip stack grew, at one point telling an opponent he busted, "Good luck on your rebuy."
Despite Lin's good behavior, he did at one point give Gathy a playful slap on the wrist after three-betting Lin one too many times.
Ren Lin
There is no sign yet of defending champion Sergio Aido, who won this event last year for $2,026,506 and his first bracelet.
Day 2 will kick off at noon local time on Level 9 with blinds of 8,000/16,000/16,000. Late registration will remain open until the end of Level 10 at approximately 2:15 p.m.
The plan is to play ten levels with 15-minute breaks every two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after Level 14, around 6:30 p.m.
Stay tuned as PokerNews will be back tomorrow for continued coverage of Event #32: $50,000 High Roller at the 2025 WSOP.
