Event #32: $50,000 High Roller Day 1 | 2025 World Series of Poker

06-09-2025 14:40 UTC-8

Ins and Outs

Adam Lamers

Level 4 : Blinds 2,500/5,000, 5,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Shannon Shorr	300,000

Pavel Plesuv	300,000

Cary Katz	300,000 300,000	300,000

Richard Green	300,000
Kathy Lehne	300,000
Clemen Deng	300,000
Alex Kulev	300,000 300,000	300,000

Andrew Pacheco	Busted
Dimitar Danchev	Busted

Paul Jager	Busted
Thomas Muehloecker	Busted
Jesse Lonis	Busted

Yang Wang	Busted

06-09-2025 14:35 UTC-8

Hunichen Doubles Through Suvarna

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Adam Lamers

Level 4 : Blinds 2,500/5,000, 5,000 ante

Santhosh Suvarna opened to 12,000 in early position and Chris Hunichen shoved all in for 77,000 in the cutoff. The action folded back to Suvarna who quickly called despite Hunichen pleading with him that he didn't have to.

Chris Hunichen: A♦9♣ All in
Santhosh Suvarna: 8♠8♦

It turned out to be a coin flip and the flop of Q♦7♥3♦ left Suvarna in the lead with his pocket pair. However, the A♠ on the turn gave Hunichen a pair of aces and the K♥ on the river secured his double up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Santhosh Suvarna	245,000

Chris Hunichen	166,000 134,000	134,000

Tags: Santhosh Suvarna Chris Hunichen

06-09-2025 14:28 UTC-8

Fritz Overbets the River

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Adam Lamers

Level 4 : Blinds 2,500/5,000, 5,000 ante

Stephen Chidwick raised to 11,000 from the hijack and Manuel Fritz defended from the big blind. The flop came Q♠9♠9♦ and Chidwick continued with a bet of 8,000. Fritz check-raised to 32,000 and Chidwick called.

The turn was the A♥ which slowed the action as both players checked to the J♣ on the river. Fritz counted out an overbet of 122,000 on the river and Chidwick instantly sent his cards to the muck.

Player	Chips	Progress
Manuel Fritz	390,000 90,000	90,000
Stephen Chidwick	251,000 166,000	166,000

Tags: Stephen Chidwick Manuel Fritz

06-09-2025 14:20 UTC-8

Mullur Four-Bet Jams on Vaitiekunas

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Connor Richards

Level 4 : Blinds 2,500/5,000, 5,000 ante

Samuel Mullur opened to 10,000 in middle position and two people called behind before Paulius Vaitiekunas three-bet to 50,000 in the small blind.

Mullur responded by four-bet jamming a stack of around 150,000 and all three of his opponents folded.

Player	Chips	Progress
Paulius Vaitiekunas	350,000 50,000	50,000

Samuel Mullur	225,000 75,000	75,000

Tags: Paulius Vaitiekunas Samuel Mullur

Level: 4

Blinds: 2,500/5,000

Ante: 5,000

06-09-2025 14:12 UTC-8

Belcher Runs Into a Flush

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Adam Lamers

Level 3 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

The board read A♥K♥10♣4♥ and Matthew Belcher led out with a bet of 56,000 from the big blind. Sergey Lebedev called in position and the 8♦ landed on the river.

Belcher reached back for another bet of 150,000 and Lebedev snapped him off. Belcher tabled Q♦10♥ which looked like a flush to some players for a moment, but Lebedev showed the real flush with 8♥6♥ to claim the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sergey Lebedev	476,000 92,000	92,000
Matthew Belcher	230,000 145,000	145,000

Tags: Sergey Lebedev Matthew Belcher

06-09-2025 14:09 UTC-8

'Ouch!' Lin Four-Bets, Slaps Gathy

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Connor Richards

Level 3 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Ren Lin opened to 10,000 from under the gun and Michael Gathy three-bet to 25,000 from the next seat.

"My friend! Every hand three-bet me." Lin cried. "Nine-high this time?"

Undeterred, Lin four-bet to 75,000. Gathy slid his cards forward as Lin grabbed his hand and gave it a playful slap.

"Every time three-bet!" said Lin. "So tilting."

"Ouch! I'm not doing that again," laughed Gathy.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Gathy	600,000 62,000	62,000

Ren Lin	340,000 40,000	40,000

Tags: Michael Gathy Ren Lin

06-09-2025 14:06 UTC-8

Updated Chip Counts

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Adam Lamers

Level 3 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Alexandre Reard	1,028,000 728,000	728,000

David Peters	595,000 145,000	145,000

Michael Gathy	538,000 118,000	118,000

Marius Gierse	500,000 200,000	200,000
Aleksejs Ponakovs	410,000 60,000	60,000

Paulius Vaitiekunas	400,000 100,000	100,000

Ren Lin	380,000

Michael Macchia	290,000
Nick Petrangelo	206,000 94,000	94,000

Joey Weissman	200,000 100,000	100,000

Michael Jozoff	138,000
Thomas Boivin	61,000 4,000	4,000

06-09-2025 13:55 UTC-8

Life Outside Poker: Embattled Poker Pro Brad Booth Vows to Make Amends

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Connor Richards

Level 3 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Life Outside Poker is a podcast for PokerNews hosted by Connor Richards that seeks to pull back the curtain on poker players and allow viewers and listeners to get to know them on a personal level.

In the 25th episode, Connor speaks with embattled poker pro Brad Booth about learning poker from his grandfather, climbing up stakes in Canada, living at the Bellagio and playing in Bobby's Room, bluffing Phil Ivey and getting cheated on Ultimate Bet.

Booth, who the poker community hasn't heard from for several years, opened up about his absence and going missing in 2020, as well as his gambling addiction and various poker debts to players like Doug Polk that he says he plans to make right.

"I got caught up in all of it and all I can try and do is make right now," he told PokerNews of his poker debts.

The Life Outside Poker podcast is available on major streaming platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud and iHeartRadio. You can also watch the interview with Brad Booth by heading to the PokerNews YouTube channel.

Learn More About Life Outside Poker!

Tags: Brad Booth Connor Richards Doug Polk Phil Ivey

06-09-2025 13:55 UTC-8

If You Chase Straight and Flushes, You Arrive on Planes and Leave on Buses

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Adam Lamers

Level 3 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Brandon Steven raised it up from middle position and Cary Katz called from the small blind. The flop came Q♠10♠6♣ and Katz check-called a bet from Steven.

The turn brought the 7♣ with around 50,000 in the middle now. The two players got all of their chips in the middle with Katz being at risk for around 250,000.

Katz: K♠8♠ All in
Brandon Steven: Q♥Q♣

Steven flopped a set of queens but Katz still had outs with a straight and flush draws. However, the 8♦ on the river was only a consolation prize for Katz who was forced to reenter.

Player	Chips	Progress
Brandon Steven	645,000 345,000	345,000
Cary Katz	Busted

Tags: Brandon Steven Cary Katz