Mike Leah Among the Day 1b Leaders in the $1,000 Seniors Championship
Day 1b of Event #48: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em, part of the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, attracted 4,210 entrants while late registration was open. However, only 824 of those players progressed to Day 2 on June 18.
Canada's Mike Leah, a 25K Fantasy pick and bracelet winner, finds himself near the top of the Day 1b tree, having bagged and tagged 657,000 chips at the close of play. Leah already has six cashes to his name at the 2025 WSOP, and everything points to him adding a sixth in this event.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viacheslav Fentisov | Russian Federation | 715,000 |
| 2 | Mike Leah | Canada | 657,000 |
| 3 | Kevin Smith | United States | 524,000 |
| 4 | Charles Deatherage | United States | 359,500 |
| 5 | Daniel Casetta | United States | 320,500 |
| 6 | Jeffrey Petronack | United States | 319,000 |
| 7 | Christopher Bucceri | United States | 315,000 |
| 8 | Kevin Mcconnell | United States | 310,000 |
| 9 | Earnest Holthusen | United States | 309,000 |
| 10 | Jeffrey Niedelman | United States | 306,000 |
Lurking just outside the Day 1b top ten is China's three-time bracelet winner Xixiang Luo (285,000). The legendary Billy Baxter (200,000) is also through to Day 2, as are the likes of Yucel Eminoglu (200,000), Robert Cheung (149,500), Kevin Song (121,500), John Juanda (112,000), and Kathy Liebert (84,500).
Day 2 is scheduled to shuffle up and deal at 11 a.m. local time on June 18. At that time, the 1,445 surviving players from Day 1a and 1b will return to their seats and play another ten levels. Blinds will start at 1,000/2,500 with a 2,500 big blind ante.
Keep your browsers locked to PokerNews as we pick up coverage of the $1,000 Senior's No-Limit Hold'em Championship on June 18.