Christian Roberts: 9x2x / 6x5x7xAx / Jx
Maksim Pisarenko: 9x8x / 5x6x2xKx / Xx
Christian Roberts completed and Maksim Pisarenko called. Fourth street checked through to fifth street where Pisarenko bet. Roberts called all-in for less than the big bet and the cards turned over.
Roberts picked up an aces on sixth street to leave Pisarenko drawing dead. Roberts has spun up to 130,000 from 5,000 in the last two hands.
Brian Yoon: 7x4x2x / Jx8x6x6x
Ali Eslami: XxXxXx / Jx9x5x5x
David Steicke: XxXxXx / Jx3xJx9x
David Steicke completed on his Jx, with Brian Yoon and Ali Eslami calling with their Jx upcards.
Steicke was the low on fourth street and bet. Yoon and Eslami called. Yoon picked up the betting lead on fifth street and bet. Eslami called and so did Steicke after mulling over his options with his open pair of jacks.
Yoon and Eslami then paired up on sixth street to the amusement of the table and railbirds. Eslami became the new low with a pair of fives. He checked and so did Steicke.
"We're playing Razz boys," said Yoon as he bet.
Eslami was not be outdone however. "Let's torch someone's tournament," he said as he declared a raise.
"That's big dick energy," commented Brian Rast while Ray Fishman's mind could not comprehend what was taking place.
"I'll make it 120,000" said Steicke, just to make the hand that bit more unconventional.
"I love that!," exclaimed Eslami, who was full of praise for Steicke.
Yoon called and so did Eslami to set up a massive pot heading to seventh street.
The action once again checked to Yoon, who made bet once more. Somehow, he was called in both spots.
"I've got it," said Yoon, tabling 7x4x2x to make an eight-seven. Eslami and Steicke both said they had nines, but of course the pot was pushed to Yoon.
Christian Roberts: 4x3x/5x6x5xJx/9x
Joao Vieira: 7x3x/AxKx6xJx/Jx
David Funkhouser: XxXx/5x - folded on third street
David Funkhouser completed and was raised by Joao Vieira. Christian Roberts made it three bets to go, which got a fold from Funkhouser and a call from Vieira.
Vieira called a bet from Roberts on fourth street and then called all in facing a bet from Vieira on fifth.
Roberts drew to a nine-low, which was best against Vieira's jack-low for the double up as Day 2 comes to an end.
As the 2025 World Series of Poker buzzed with excitement on Tuesday, with champions crowned in the Big O Championship, $250K Super High Roller, SALUTE to Warriors, and Mixed OE, Day 2 of the $10,000 Razz Championship quietly ticked along in the Silver section of the Horseshoe Event Center.
After eight levels of wheel-y good poker, 2022 WSOP $1,500 Stud Hi-Lo champ Ali Eslami bagged the chip lead to pace the 12 players who advanced to Wednesday’s finale. He ended the day with 1,336,000, good for 27 big bets, and returns in pole position for the bracelet and the $306,644 top prize from the $1,246,200 prize pool.
Eslami ascended into the chip lead in Level 16, scooping a huge three-handed pot that was capped on fifth street. A bet on seventh street folded out his opponents, and he breached the million-chip mark without showdown. That wasn't the only wild pot Eslami was involved in. During the final level of the night, the most bizarre Razz hand you'll ever see took place, and it was Brian Yoon who came out on top in that one, vaulting him into second place with 1,240,000.
Brian Yoon
Bracelet winners Yoon and Andrew Yeh (1,231,000) are Eslami's closest rivals, each sitting two big bets behind. In the middle of the pack are Nikolay Ponomarev, Ryutaro Suzuki, Brian Rast, and Maksim Pisarenko, the only other players with more than ten big bets.
Joao Vieira, winner of the $100,000 High Roller, along with David Funkhouser and Christian Roberts, sit in the lower half of the counts. Ray Fishman and David Steicke round out the remaining players with just two and one big bets, respectively.
The final dozen have a combined 21 WSOP bracelets between them. Rast leads with six and is the only Poker Hall of Famer still in contention.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Bets
1
Ali Eslami
United States
1,336,000
27
2
Brian Yoon
United States
1,240,000
25
3
Andrew Yeh
United States
1,231,000
25
4
Nikolay Ponomarev
United Kingdom
939,000
19
5
Ryutaro Suzuki
Japan
741,000
15
6
Brian Rast
United States
694,000
14
7
Maksim Pisarenko
Russian Federation
692,000
14
8
Joao Vieira
Portugal
461,000
9
9
David Funkhouser
United States
361,000
7
10
Christian Roberts
Venezuela
230,000
5
11
Ray Fishman
United States
94,000
2
12
David Steicke
Australia
47,000
1
Day 2 Action
With 32 entries added during the late registration period, the field grew to 134 players, making this the second-largest WSOP Razz Championship in history, just behind the 139-entry edition in 2022, won by Julien Martini.
Among those to take their shot at the last moment were Patrick Leonard, Dan Zack, Gus Hansen, and Phil Ivey, though none managed to spin up a stack deep enough to challenge for a payday.
Others who late-registered fared far better, including David Lin and the aforementioned Vieira, Suzuki, Rast, and Steicke, all of whom navigated their way past the money bubble, as did Day 2 entrant Daniel Negreanu.
Boyd Burnett
The money bubble burst with the departure of Boyd Burnett, who hung on several times to avoid elimination. However, after overplaying a ten-low against Yeh, he was reduced to his last ante. In his final hand, he made a "f****** boat," and was eliminated by Maxx Coleman.
After the bubble burst, there were quick-fire eliminations. Stecike made an eight-seven to see off Matthew Schreiber in 21st. Max Hoffman (20th), Negreanu (19th), Yuri Dzivielevski (18th), James Obst (17th) and defending champion George Alexander (16th) rounded out the $20,000 min-cashers.
"Razz Master" Ren Lin was felled in 15th, Coleman went in 14th with David Lin being the final elimination of the night. Roberts looked like he would fall at the last moment, but he managed to spin a T-5,000 chip into 230,000.
Roberts, along with the 11 other competitors, will return to play down to a winner at 1 p.m. They'll return to Level 19, where the limits are 25,000/50,000 (5,000 ante).
As always, stick with PokerNews to keep up with all the action from the 2025 WSOP.
