Daniyal Gheba raised on the button to 35,000 and Felipe Ramos put in a raise of his own to 115,000 from the small blind.
Michael Wasserman took some time charging up before putting in a cold four-bet to 240,000. Gheba decided to go all in, covering Wasserman but not by much.
Ramos folded and Wasserman looked pained before eventually mucking and awarding Gheba the pot.
Action was picked up preflop with Brian Borst having moved all in for 478,000 from the late position in response to raising behind him. Keven Stammen called in the cutoff and after having already put 140,000 in the middle from the button, Stoyan Madanzhiev mucked after spending two minutes thinking about it.
Brian Borst: 8♦8♠
Keven Stammen: A♠K♠
The board ran out 7♠6♣3♥2♠10♦ and the eights held up for Borst to double while Stammen was left with less than a big blind.
For the third time in an orbit, Zachary Hall raised to 60,000 preflop. Kevin Abecassis went all in from the small blind 606,000 from the small blind. Hall flicked in the call.
Kevin Abecassis: A♣Q♦
Zachary Hall: A♠K♥
The board ran out 4♥6♣5♣8♥6♥ and Hall was pushed a massive pot.
Day 2 of Event #52: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em saw 354 hopefuls return to Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas on their quest for World Series of Poker glory.
Only 29 competitors were able to survive the day and put chips into the bag for Day 3. All those who return will be guaranteed $12,762 but visions will be set on the $410,426 top prize – quite the slice from the $3,077,145 total prize pool. Bracelet winner, Julio Belluscio (6,900,000) bagged the lead and will be looking to earn his second gold bracelet. He’s closely followed by Asher Conniff (5,650,000), who will have the exact same objective.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts per WSOP+ App
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Julio Belluscio
Argentina
6,900,000
115
2
Asher Conniff
United States
5,650,000
94
3
Kurt Fitzgerald
United States
3,960,000
66
4
Stoyan Madanzhiev
Bulgaria
3,955,000
66
5
Carlos Kinil
Mexico
3,425,000
57
6
Carlos Leal Kinil
Mexico
3,425,000
57
7
Mauro Francolini
Italy
3,355,000
56
8
Samuel Rosborough
United States
3,220,000
54
9
Matan Mesika
Israel
2,875,000
48
10
Bryan Piccioli
United States
2,395,000
40
Asher Conniff
Day 2 Action
With only six eliminations separating the start of Day 2 field from securing a cash or leaving empty-handed, it didn’t take long into the first level of the day to go hand-for-hand. Justin Lett ended up being the true bubble of the tournament, as the hand after his elimination saw three people chop the prize money; Martin Mathis, Michel Molenaar, and 2009 WSOP Main Event Winner, Joe Cada, chopped the two minimum payouts on the bubble.
Among the notables to depart in the money were four-times bracelet winners Kristen Foxen (253rd - $3,022) and Georgios Sotiropoulos (114th - $4,012); start of the day chip leader Liran Betito (158th - $3,664); and Brett Apter (110th - $4,012) just to name a few. Jamie Gold (30th - $12,762) seemed poised for a deep run as he built his stack in the later phases of the tournament, but ended up losing his chips during the last three hands of the night.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
$410,426
10-11
$29,923
2
$273,545
12-13
$23,788
3
$200,173
14-17
$19,117
4
$147,952
18-26
$15,533
5
$110,463
27-29
$12,762
6
$83,318
7
$63,494
8
$48,892
9
$38,047
The remaining competitors will return at 1 p.m. local time Thursday, and the field is slated to play down to a winner, taking 15-minute breaks every two 60-minute levels. A possible dinner break will be determined as the day progresses.
Follow all the updates here on PokerNews through to the conclusion of this event, as well as the rest of the bracelet events from the 2025 WSOP.
