Martin Kabrhel opened to 400,000 in the hijack with holding 10♥8♥ and Daniel Negreanu called in the cutoff with A♦J♦ as David Peters defended his big blind with A♠J♣.
Peters checked on the flop of 8♠J♠8♦ and Kabrhel continued for 200,000. Negreanu called and Peters check-raised to 750,000. Kabrhel responded by three-betting to 1,425,000. Negreanu got out of the way and Peters called. Both players then checked on the 3♠ turn.
The 9♣ river is where the real action began. Peters checked and Kabrhel engaged in a lengthy ritual of cutting out chips and eying up Peters, who sat still as a statue behind a pair of sunglasses. Kabrhel eventually pushed out a bet of 2,000,000.
Peters responded by check-jamming a stack of 6,900,000 to put Kabrhel at risk on the money bubble, leaving the Horseshoe completely silent for the first time today. Kabrhel took some time and folded his trips as Peters got the massive bluff through.
"Nice hand, David," Kabrhel said in a rare moment of humility.
"Never bluff David on the river," he later told Negreanu.
Alex Foxen raised the button to 600,000 and Thomas Boivin called from the small blind.
Boivin led out for 350,000 on the J♥5♠J♦ flop and was met by a raise to 925,000 from Foxen. Boivin called.
The 3♣ turn went check-check and the 5♥ appeared on the river. Boivin led out for 2,500,000, causing Foxen to go into the tank. Foxen, who was seated on Boivin's right, burned through a time bank card before folding and Boivin won the pot.
On the first hand after the bubble burst, Biao Ding jammed for 2,575,000 from the cutoff and Bryn Kenney called from the big blind.
Biao Ding: A♦4♦
Bryn Kenney: 7♥7♣
Ding needed some help to survive which he found on the Q♠10♦8♦ flop as he picked up a flush draw. He found additional outs on the 8♠ turn to counterfeit Kenney's sevens. However, it was a classic case of too many outs as the K♣ fell on the river and Kenney held.
The final nine players will now combine at a single final table.
Alex Foxen opened to 650,000 from early position before it folded to Daniel Negreanu in the big blind.
"I'm gonna use my first time extension," explained Negreanu as he counted out his chips.
He eventually announced all-in for 2,125,000, and Foxen snapped it off.
Daniel Negreanu: A♦9♥
Alex Foxen: A♣K♥
It went from grim to desperate for Negreanu on the K♠10♦6♣ flop as Foxen paired his king. He was drawing dead on the 3♣ turn to the irrelevant 7♥ on the river and the late-night rail cheered for Negreanu as he exited in ninth after another deep run this World Series.
The biggest buy-in of the 2025 World Series of Poker returned to the Horseshoe Event Center for Day 2 today. Event #46: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em saw a total of 63 entries tallied, with 46 coming out for Day 1 and 17 late registrants joining during the first two hours of play.
Once the dust settled, just eight players survived the day and will return tomorrow for the final table, all of whom are already in the money and guaranteed a payday of $581,411.
Leading the pack at the end of Day 2 is Thomas Boivin, who rode the momentum of a huge double-up against Andrew Lichtenberger on the soft bubble on his way to a bag of 28,025,000. Boivin has already had a successful summer, after a third-place finish in the $100,000 High Roller, and he looks to beat that performance.
Second in chips is none other than Ben Tollerene who always seems to bring his best on the brightest of stages. He was steady throughout the day as he finished with 15,450,000.
Ben Tollerene
Rounding out the podium in third is Alex Foxen with 14,525,000. The high-stakes crusher won several coin-flips throughout the day as he continues the chase for his fourth career bracelet.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Thomas Boivin
Belgium
28,025,000
93
2
Ben Tollerene
United States
15,450,000
52
3
Alex Foxen
United States
14,525,000
48
4
Seth Davies
United States
10,500,000
35
5
Bryn Kenney
United States
9,925,000
33
6
David Peters
United States
9,650,000
32
7
Martin Kabrhel
Czechia
3,675,000
12
8
Chris Brewer
United States
2,725,000
9
The Day's Action
Many of the greatest poker minds in the world descended upon the Horseshoe Event Center for a 12 p.m. kickoff, with Martin Kabrhel staying atop the headlines throughout the day, as per usual.
Martin Kabrhel
The first two hours were akin to a game of musical chairs as short stacks busted and new players entered, but not everyone made it to the end of registration. Dan Smith, Matthias Eibinger, and Chris Hunichen all busted two bullets before the field was finalized.
Dan Smith
The prize pool was announced shortly after as the final ten players from the 44 remaining would be guaranteed a minimum cash of $516,393, with the eventual champion set to receive $4,752,551.
Many big pots were played the next few levels as players jockeyed for position. Stephen Chidwickpicked off a river bluff from Samuel Mullur after the flop was three-bet by Mullur. Chidwick, however, was unable to make the money with a 23rd place finish.
The infamous Sean Perry registered at the last possible moment and busted within his first orbit of play. He was all in with ace-ten against the king-queen of Bryn Kenney. Unfortunately for him, Kenney spiked a queen on the turn to send Perry packing.
Sean Perry
High-stakes crusher Taylor von Kriegenbergh got his whole stack in the middle pre-flop with jacks against the pocket tens of Biao Ding. However, a ten fell on the flop and Von Kriegenbergh’s day ended early.
Many heavy hitters began to strike out, as Sean Winter, Danny Tang, Barak Wisbrod, and Leon Sturm were eliminated in quick succession.
Seth Daviesflopped quad eights in a hand against Alex Foxen and got his river raise paid off, to leave Foxen short, but he was able to spin it back up.
Jason Koon found himself short and jammed his final five big blinds with pocket threes, getting called by Kabrhel with ten-nine offsuit. Koon turned a set of threes, but Kabrhel made a flush on the river in a brutal runout.
Jason Koon
A total of 22 players made it to the dinner break, with Seth Davies leading the way.
A slew of bustouts ensued after dinner, as Ben Heath, Adrian Mateos, Jesse Lonis, and Nick Petrangelo were eliminated during the first level back.
Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey was the next to fall in 18th. He got the rest of his stack in with pocket fours against the pocket eights of Kabrhel, and could not find the two-outer on his way to the rail.
Phil Ivey
Kabrhel immediately knocked out another player, Jonathan Jaffe, after a brutal slow-roll. Kabrhel took over a minute to call Jaffe’s shove with ace-king, which held.
Kabrhel’s antics continued through the evening as an ever-growing rail formed to watch him and Daniel Negreanu battle it out at the same table. At one point, Negreanu blew up after a Kabrhel open, three-betting from the big blind as he stood up from his chair and announced, “One million, bitch!”
The eliminations of Joao Vieira, Jeremy Ausmus, Christoph Vogelsang, Alex Theologis, and Orpen Kisacikoglu meant that just 11 players remained, and hand-for-hand play began.
During hand-for-hand, David Peters pulled a savage river check-raise bluff against Kabrhel to put him at risk. Kabrhel flopped trips against the top pair of Peters, who used his naked ace of spades on a three-spade board to bluff the river in the highlight hand of the day.
David Peters
After eight hands, it was Andrew Lichtenberger who was the bubble boy. He jammed twelve and a half big blinds with ace-ten suited, but ran into the pocket kings of Boivin, who held as the remaining players celebrated making the money.
On the first hand after the bubble burst, Biao Ding fell in tenth place. He jammed 13 big blinds with ace-four suited and was called by the pocket sevens of Bryn Kenney. Ding picked up a flush draw and counterfeit outs, but bricked on the river as the final nine combined on a single table with an hour left to play.
It was Boivin who took the chip lead to the final table, holding almost double the chips of Ben Tollerene in second place, and Chris Brewer brought up the rear, but still had 15 big blinds.
The first casualty at the final table was poker legend Daniel Negreanu. He got short-stacked and jammed ace-nine over an Alex Foxen open. Unfortunately for him, he ran into the ace-king of Foxen and did not improve, exiting in ninth place.
Daniel Negreanu
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$4,752,551
2
$3,060,314
3
$2,057,430
4
$1,446,929
5
$1,066,731
6
$826,348
7
$674,359
8
$581,411
The final table resumes Tuesday, June 17, at 2 p.m. in the Horseshoe Event Center. Play will commence in Level 19 with blinds at 150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante with an average stack of 11,810,000, equivalent to 39 big blinds.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the updates from the $250,000 Super High Roller and all other bracelet events here at the 2025 World Series of Poker.
