Heads-up to a flop of 4♣7♦3♣ with around 30,000 in the middle. Andrew Whitaker was first to act from the big blind and opted to lead out for 17,000. Mike Matusow called from early position.
When the 5♠ appeared on the turn, Whitaker led out again, this time for 35,000. Matusow looked back at his cards and did some inventory before opting to fold.
George Wolff limped from early position before Joshua Pollock raised to 18,000 from the hijack. Felipe Tavares Ramos called for his last 9,000 and Wolff made the call as well.
With Ramos all-in, the dealer burned a card to reveal the flop of 9♦7♦10♥. Wolff bet enough to put Pollock all in, and after showing he had pocket aces in the hole, Pollock opted to fold.
Felipe Tavares Ramos: A♦6♣5♦3♣
George Wolff: Q♦J♠10♣8♣
Wolff had flopped a straight, and Ramos needed to find a diamond to double-up. The turn was the 8♦ to give Ramos a flush, but the river came the 8♠ improving Wolff to a boat.
Kevin Hyde made it 17,000 from early position with Allan Le calling from the cutoff and Filip Lovric defending out of the big blind.
Lovric knuckled the table on the K♦9♦2♣ flop and Hyde put out a continuation-bet of 37,000. Le called, but Lovric folded.
Upon seeing the 8♥ roll off on the turn, Hyde shoved for Le's remaining stack. Le called for his final 153,000, and the cards were revealed.
Allen Le: Q♠J♣9♠9♣
Kevin Hyde: A♥K♣8♠3♥
Le was ahead with middle set and just needed to fade a king on the river to double-up. The river came the 2♥ and Le took a huge chunk of chips from Hyde's stack.
Chris Hunichen got all of his 100,000 chips into the middle preflop, and Michael Duek made the call to try to end his tournament.
Chris Hunichen: A♦A♥J♠4♣
Michael Duek: K♥K♦7♦6♥
Hunichen was in great shape with aces versus Duek's kings. However, the dealer put out a flop of 7♠K♣9♦ to put Duek in the lead with top set. The 9♣ turn improved Duek to a boat and meant only an ace on the river could save Hunichen. The river was the Q♥ and Hunichen was out.
Martin Kabrhel was all-in preflop for his last 58,000 with Bryce Yockey calling from the small blind and Samuel Stranak making the call from early position.
Yockey bet 40,000 on the 4♠6♣6♦ flop and was met by a raise to around 100,000 from Stranek. Yockey folded and the cards were turned over with Kabrhel at risk.
Martin Kabrhel: A♣J♠10♣6♠
Samuel Stranak: J♦J♣8♣5♦
Kabrhel looked poised to triple up with trip sixes, unless an unfortunate runout came. The turn came the 2♦ and the river was the A♥, improving Kabrhel to a full house.
Today at the 2025 World Series of Poker, Event #5: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha began. This prestigious event brought in 757 entries and created a $3,573,040 prize pool. Each one of the 123 players remaining will be fighting for the first-place prize of $620,696 inside Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
Matthew Beck (1,320,000) currently leads the field, but there is a plethora of big names and big stacks breathing down his neck. With a total of 87 WSOP bracelets having been won by the players collectively, Beck’s job is far from done.
Second in chips, Michael Duek (1,026,000) played a crucial pot late in the day in which he cracked the aces of Chris Hunichen with kings. Duek is no stranger to star-studded fields; with over $7,500,000 in cashes and a third-place finish in the 2022 WSOP Main Event, he has set himself up for another monumental score in this event.
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Matthew Beck
New Zealand
1,320,000
165
2
Michael Duek
United States
1,026,000
128
3
Konstantinos Bouloutsos
Greece
900,000
113
4
Andreas Zampas
Greece
822,000
103
5
Jason Lademan
United States
816,000
102
6
Wagner Wysotchanski
Brazil
808,000
101
7
Ap Garza
United States
770,000
96
8
Kevin Hyde
United States
720,000
90
9
Christopher Demaci
United States
689,000
86
10
Michael Wang
United States
686,000
86
Some notable names that will be hunting Beck include Main Event winner Ryan Riess, six-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman, Shaun Deeb, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Martin Kabrhel, 2022 WSOP player of the Year Daniel Zack, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, and two of the greatest ever, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.
Phil Hellmuth
Currently eighth in chips, Kevin Hyde is competing against the best in the world during his third-ever live tournament. He sailed smoothly through most of the day as the chip leader, but made one misstep against Allan Le late in the day to knock him down the leaderboard seven spots.
While everyone will be hunting for one of the toughest bracelets of the summer and $620,696, the top 114 places will get paid. That means nine players who found a bag will be going home empty-handed. A min-cash is worth $9,960.
Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$620,696
2
$413,762
3
$288,775
4
$204,808
5
$147,647
6
$108,221
7
$80,673
8
$61,179
9
$47,213
10 - 11
$37,089
12 - 15
$29,668
16 - 23
$24,173
24 - 31
$20,070
32 - 39
$16,985
40 - 47
$14,657
48 - 55
$12,903
56 - 63
$11,592
64 - 71
$10,632
72 - 114
$9,960
On Day 2, players will return to blinds of 4,000/8,000/8,000 and complete ten 60-minute levels, with 15-minute breaks after every two levels, and a 60-minute dinner break after Level 21.
Continue to stay tuned to PokerNews as we give you live coverage directly from the tournament floor.
