Event #44: $10,000 Big O Championship Day 1 | 2025 World Series of Poker

06-14-2025 22:00 UTC-8

Player	Chips	Progress
Aaron Kupin	320,000 195,200	195,200

Corel Theuma	304,500 21,400	21,400
Matthew Wantman	284,000 231,600	231,600

Evgeni Tourevski	270,000 210,000	210,000
Leandro Pimentel	250,500 186,500	186,500
Sam Soverel	250,000 70,000	70,000

Walter Chambers	236,500 23,000	23,000

Nick Schulman	229,000 63,000	63,000

Matthew Beinner	227,500 27,500	27,500
Xixiang Luo	223,000 35,000	35,000

Yevgeniy Timoshenko	213,500 25,500	25,500
Nick Guagenti	212,000 8,000	8,000

Rishi Amin	199,000 29,000	29,000
Sean Baker	197,000 161,500	161,500
Eduards Rakuss	187,000 92,000	92,000
Jeffrey Karp	184,900 20,000	20,000
Patrick Leonard	181,000 45,000	45,000

Alex Livingston	171,000 108,000	108,000

Adam Owen	164,000 10,000	10,000
Lawrence Brandt	159,500 20,500	20,500

David Williams	158,500 103,500	103,500

Andrew Yeh	158,500 104,500	104,500

Yueqi Zhu	148,000 56,000	56,000

Peter Neff	147,000 23,000	23,000
Adam Friedman	144,000 4,000	4,000

Player	Chips	Progress
Jon Shoreman	60,000 4,500	4,500

Josh Arieh	60,000 23,000	23,000

Quan Zhou	60,000
Paul Volpe	60,000 60,000	60,000

Viktor Blom	60,000 60,000	60,000
Stanislav Ivanov	60,000 16,000	16,000
Robert Cowen	60,000 60,000	60,000

Dario Alioto	60,000 48,200	48,200

Dan Heimiller	60,000 60,000	60,000

Johannes Becker	60,000 54,500	54,500

Nikiforov Shows Aces

Josh Noy

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Adrian Buckley limped in the cutoff before Anthony Zinno raised to 5,000 on the button. Ilya Nikiforov made the call in the big blind, as did Buckley.

Nikiforov and Buckley checked the K♥K♣9♥ flop and Zinno continued for 11,000. Nikiforov called while Buckley got out of the way.

The dealer revealed the 5♥ turn, where both players checked and the 8♦ river was revealed.

Nikiforov led out with a bet of 20,000, adding chips to his growing stack as Zinno folded.

"Show something," implored Zinno before Nikiforov turned over A♣A♥.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ilya Nikiforov	234,000 174,500	174,500
Adrian Buckley	118,000 28,500	28,500

Anthony Zinno	46,000 46,000	46,000

Tags: Adrian Buckley Anthony Zinno Ilya Nikiforov

06-14-2025 22:23 UTC-8

"What Are the Odds"; Garza Ibarrola Goes Runner-Runner to Stun Ahmed

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David Salituro

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Jacobo Garza Ibarrola was in middle position and got the rest of his 63,500 in the middle on a flop of K♠J♣9♠ as Owais Ahmed put him at risk in the hijack.

Jacobo Garza Ibarrola: A♣A♦5♣4♠2♥ All in
Owais Ahmed: A♥K♣Q♥10♣2♠

Ahmed had flopped the nut straight to leave Garza Ibarrola in danger of elimination with just his aces as the turn came the J♦. The river was the A♠ and Garza Ibarrola spiked the last one in the deck to make a running full house and earn a miraculous double up.

"Oh my goodness. What are the odds?" tablemate Patrick Leonard yelled out as Garza Ibarrola snapped a photo of the board before taking in the chips.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jacobo Garza Ibarrola	130,000 50,000	50,000
Owais Ahmed	60,000 20,200	20,200

Tags: Jacobo Garza Ibarrola Owais Ahmed

06-14-2025 22:33 UTC-8

Hacker Scoops a Double Off Garcia Garay

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David Salituro

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Four players saw a flop of 9♦8♠4♦ when Brian Hacker bet 39,000 from the cutoff. Fernando Garcia Garay then moved all in from the small blind Christopher Yott and James Chen both folded back around to Hacker who called for 83,500.

Brian Hacker: A♦9♠4♠2♦2♠ All in
Fernando Garcia Garay: K♣K♠Q♣J♦10♣

Hacker was ahead with two pair, while Garcia Garay was on a straight draw. The turn was the 5♥, while the 4♣ came on the river to improve Hacker to a full house with a low as he scooped the pot to double up.

Brian Rast recently joined this table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Brian Hacker	200,000 145,500	145,500
Christopher Yott	160,000 100,200	100,200
James Chen (US)	140,000

Brian Rast	60,000 60,000	60,000

Fernando Garcia Garay	30,000 30,000	30,000

Tags: Brian Hacker Fernando Garcia Garay

06-14-2025 22:41 UTC-8

Amin Cracks Leonard's Aces For Three-Quarters

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David Salituro

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Rishi Amin had been sitting near the top of the chip counts for most of the day but just had his last 70,000 at risk from the button against Patrick Leonard in the small blind on a flop of 6♣7♠Q♦.

Rishi Amin: A♣9♥8♣6♠2♠ All in
Patrick Leonard: A♠A♥J♣J♥2♦

Leonard was ahead with his aces, while Amin had a straight draw. The 8♠ turn improved Amin to two pair, while the 8♥ river gave him a full house. Both players had the same low and Amin took three-quarters of the pot to survive.

Player	Chips	Progress
Patrick Leonard	140,000 41,000	41,000

Rishi Amin	110,000 89,000	89,000

Tags: Patrick Leonard Rishi Amin

06-14-2025 22:45 UTC-8

Brandt Quarters Kupin

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Josh Noy

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Lawrence Brandt raised to 4,000 in the cutoff and was called by Aaron Kupin in the small blind.

The 7♣7♦6♠ flop was followed by a pair of checks, and the 2♦ hit the turn. Kupin checked again, calling after Brandt fired 7,500 into the middle.

Kupin the led out for 26,000 on the 3♦ river. Brandt did not take long to call, showing A♦10♣9♣8♦4♥ for the nut low with the nut flush.

Kupin tabled A♣K♠J♣6♦4♦ for an inferior flush and the same low, with only a quarter of the pot sent his way.

Player	Chips	Progress
Aaron Kupin	248,000 72,000	72,000

Lawrence Brandt	198,000 38,500	38,500

Tags: Aaron Kupin Lawrence Brandt

06-14-2025 22:47 UTC-8

Blom Scores a Knockout

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David Salituro

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Anthony Arvidson three-bet to 25,000 on the button and Viktor Blom called in the cutoff.

The flop came K♠9♦2♦ and Blom moved all in as Arvidson quickly called for his last 23,000.

Anthony Arvidson: A♠A♣10♠8♣3♦ All in
Viktor Blom: A♥K♦7♥6♦4♠

Arvidson was ahead with his aces until the K♣ fell on the turn, giving Blom trips. The river was the 5♣ and Arvidson was sent to the rail.

"If you're running so hot, how did you not win heads-up?" tablemate Tyler Phillips said to Blom, who finished runner-up in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship earlier today.

Mike Matusow was eliminated from this table a few hands later.

Player	Chips	Progress
Viktor Blom	150,000 90,000	90,000
Anthony Arvidson	Busted
Mike Matusow	Busted

Tags: Anthony Arvidson Viktor Blom Mike Matusow

06-14-2025 22:55 UTC-8

Smith Scoops a Three-Way All In to Bust Hoenig

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David Salituro

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Justin Smith was all in for 39,000 from early position, Ryan Hoenig put in his last 35,000 on the button, and Dylan Lambe in the hijack had both players covered and at risk.

Ryan Hoenig: A♦K♥10♦7♠3♣ All in
Justin Smith: A♠Q♣J♥4♥3♠ All in
Dylan Lambe: A♣K♦Q♠5♣2♥

The flop came Q♦J♦J♠ to give Smith a full house and the lead. The rest of the board ran out 9♣K♠ and he scooped the pot, earning a double up off Lambe while sending Hoenig, who was already on his second bullet of the day, to the rail for good.

Player	Chips	Progress
Justin Smith	100,000 59,000	59,000
Dylan Lambe	60,000 32,000	32,000
Ryan Hoenig	Busted

Tags: Dylan Lambe Justin Smith Ryan Hoenig

06-14-2025 23:01 UTC-8

Recent Eliminations

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Josh Noy

Level 10 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Renan Bruschi	Busted

Alan Sternberg	Busted

John Fauver	Busted

David DiCarlo	Busted
Anson Tsang	Busted

Anthony Arvidson	Busted
Tobias Hausen	Busted
Rob Hollink	Busted

John Sill	Busted
Brandon Shack-Harris	Busted

Joshua Pender	Busted
Chad Eveslage	Busted

Likith Govindaiah	Busted
Andrew Brown	Busted

Jeramy Govert	Busted
Josh Arieh	Busted