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Limits: 5,000-10,000
After nearly a year away, some of the top names in the poker world couldn’t wait to come together and battle for World Series of Poker glory once again on Day 1 of Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.
A total of 910 players packed the Paris Las Vegas today for the first non-Hold’em event of the 2025 WSOP, but only 224 managed to find a bag after 15 40-minute levels. David Shmuel ended up as chip leader with 249,000, followed by Jon Kyte (247,000), Jason Bral (225,000), Chuning Tan (225,000), and Joe Ford (224,000).
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Shmuel | United States | 249,000 | 42 |
| 2 | Jon Kyte | Norway | 247,000 | 41 |
| 3 | Jason Bral | United States | 225,000 | 38 |
| 4 | Chuning Tan | China | 225,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Joe Ford | United States | 224,000 | 37 |
| 6 | Joseph Bertrand | United States | 224,000 | 37 |
| 7 | Richard Mirin | United States | 219,000 | 37 |
| 8 | Jeremy Trojand | Germany | 218,000 | 36 |
| 9 | Douglas Lorgeree | United States | 217,000 | 36 |
| 10 | David Thurston | United States | 216,000 | 36 |
The rest of the star-studded field who survived the day included Alex Livingston (215,000), Stoyan Madanzhiev (179,000), Mike Matusow (172,000), 2023 runner-up Nick Kost (171,000), and Dylan Smith (170,000). Others who will return for Day 2 are Ray Fishman (158,000), Scott Bohlman (156,000), Brad Owen (154,000), voluminous WSOP casher Yueqi Zhu (153,000), Chris Hunichen (141,000), Yuval Bronshtein (132,000), Dominick Sarle (130,000), and Christopher Vitch (125,000). Further down the leaderboard are Robert Mizrachi (104,000), Kane Kalas (103,000), Michael Moncek (80,000), Ari Engel (76,000), 2019 champion Derek McMaster (76,000), Todd Brunson (60,000), and reigning Player of the Year Scott Seiver (50,000).
Not everyone was fortunate enough to have their WSOP start off on a positive note. Defending champion James Chen had a short title defense and was among the first to bust today, as did his two predecessors, Jim Collopy and Amnon Filippi. Daniel Zack, Jerry Wong, Allen Kessler, Huck Seed, Matt Glantz, Josh Arieh, James Obst, and Brian Rast also will have to wait for another event to add a WSOP gold bracelet to their collection.
The remaining 224 players return Thursday at 1 p.m. local time inside the Horseshoe Event Center for Day 2. The action resumes on Level 16 with blinds of 3,000/6,000 and 6,000/12,000 limits. Only the top 137 players will finish in the money, so nearly 90 players have made it this far but will still leave with nothing. The eventual champion takes home $205,333 out of the $1,255,117 prize pool.
Stay tuned as PokerNews returns to follow all the action leading up to the bursting of the money bubble and beyond.
