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.
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.
