With only a few hands left in the day, Adam Kharman raised to 18,000 and Matthew Schulte went all in over the top for approximately 175,000. Jonathan Pastore jammed for more, and Kharman got out of the way.
Matthew Schulte: J♦J♥
Jonathan Pastore: K♦K♥
The board ran out in favor of Pastore as it rolled off the 10♣2♦4♠10♠K♠, sending Schulte to the rail.
The board read 8♥2♠3♠4♦ as action was picked up on the turn. The pot was about 40,000. Michael Holtz was in the hijack and bet 34,000 after Xinze Li checked. Li made the call from the big blind. On the river 4♥, Li took the lead and bet out 50,000, and Holtz called and mucked. Li turned over A♣4♣ for trips.
The first freezeout event of the 2025 World Series of Poker attracted a total of 1,027 entries to Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, where the action was fast and furious on Day 1 of Event #35: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em.
The total prize pool is set at $2,742,090, with 156 players returning on Wednesday on the stone bubble.
Leading the way is Hongru Zhang, who bagged 992,000 for a slim lead over David Cabrera Polop (986,000). They represent the only players bringing back more than 80 big blinds for Day 2, where all eyes will be on locking the $6,000 prize after one more elimination.
Among the notable names lurking just outside the top ten is Kristen Foxen, who used a double knockout in Level 11 to climb up the leaderboard before finishing the night with 677,000 chips.
Sitting in 11th place is John Hennigan, who saved some chips by checking back against Michael Mizrachi’s straight flush and collected 511,000 by the end of 17 levels. Mizrachi also bagged a healthy 304,000 to sit inside the top 50 for Day 2.
John Hennigan
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Hongru Zhang
China
992,000
83
2
David Cabrera Polop
Andorra
986,000
82
3
Tony Huang
United States
930,000
78
4
Andrew Murphy
United Kingdom
799,000
67
5
Anil Jivani
United States
798,000
67
6
John Ciccarelli
United States
771,000
64
7
Erik Eisen
Germany
727,000
61
8
Hattori Lopez
United States
709,000
59
9
Matt Affleck
United States
690,000
58
10
Nicholas Marchington
United Kingdom
680,000
57
The field remains full of WSOP bracelet winners looking to add to their collections. That list includes Yuri Dzivielevski (393,000), Brian Yoon (239,000), and Simone Andrian (234,000). Scott Bohlman also returns for Day 2 with 292,000, searching for his second bracelet of the summer.
Many other notables took their shot but failed to find a bag on Day 1, including Adam Friedman, Stephen Song, Alex Foxen, Jack Sinclair, and GG Poker AmbassadorFelipe Ramos.
Felipe Ramos
The tournament will award $451,600 to the eventual winner, and will begin Day 2 on the direct money bubble. Only the top 155 places will be paid, with a $6,000 cash waiting on a single elimination.
Action resumes inside the Horseshoe Event Center at 12 p.m. local time on Level 18, with blinds at 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 big blind ante. The schedule calls for 10 more levels to be played before the penultimate day concludes.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back inside the ropes to bring you all of the exciting action, so be sure to check our updates throughout the day as they battle into the money and beyond.
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