James Cheung and Frank Brannan began the day with almost the same amount of chips. They went head-to-head early on.
Cheung set the pace, three-betting to 100,000 preflop. Brannan made the call.
The flop hit 7♦7♣A♦, prompting a 50,000-chip bet from Cheung. Brannan again called.
Brannas also threw in 90,000 chips to call on the 2♠ turn. But when the 6♥ rivered, Brannan folded to the tall stack of green (25,000 each) chips Cheung slid forward.
In less than 10 minutes of play, Ryan Riess eliminated two players. James Athanas went all in with the possibility of becoming his third victim.
James Athanas: K♦K♥Q♠4♠
Ryan Riess: A♦A♥K♠9♠
The flop 5♣8♣4♣5♥10♠ didn't provide the help Athanas needed, as Riess' pocket aces topped his pocket kings. Riess nearly doubled his stack in less than 20 minutes.
Welcome to Day 2 of Event #42: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, with 102 players remaining from 1,932 entries. At stake is a first-place prize of $237,852, from a prize pool of $1,769,712, and, of course, a WSOP bracelet.
Two-time bracelet winner John Riordan walked away from the first day of play as the chip leader, with 1,293,000 in his bag.
Among the contenders on the chase is China’s Zhen Chen, who is second in chips and Canada's Mike Leah, who led for much of Day 1, before slipping to seventh overall.
Chen has four cashes on his ledger this series, all in no-limit hold’em events. Of his 50 WSOP cashes, including a host of online events, none have come in PLO, and according to The Hendon Mob, all of his nearly $1.3 million in career earnings is from hold’em.
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
John Riordan
United States
1,293,000
129
2
Zhen Chen
China
1,176,000
118
3
Benny Chen
Canada
1,161,000
116
4
Robert Cowen
United Kingdom
1,155,000
116
5
Martin Nielsen
United Kingdom
1,060,000
106
6
Gene Grieshaber
United States
948,000
95
7
Mike Leah
Canada
859,000
86
8
Ernest Essad
United States
848,000
85
9
Dylan Weisman
United States
845,000
85
10
Georgios Tsoupras
Greece
832,000
83
Benny Chen, who bested 6,343 entries – at the time the largest single-day starting field in WSOP history – to win a bracelet in a $1,500 hold’em event in 2013, rounds out the top three. Zhen Chen and Benny Chen will begin today's play at the same table.
Others in the top ten who have WSOP jewelry are Robert Cohen and Dylan Weisman, who won this event in 2021. Ryan Riess, the 2013 Main Event Champion, is lurking with just under a half a million chips.
Dylan Weisman
The restart is at noon local time in the Horseshoe Silver Section, with hour-long levels, and play scheduled to continue until only five players remain.
Stay tuned to PokerNews, the official media partner of the 2025 World Series of Poker, for live updates from this and all bracelet events at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
