Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker Day 1a | 2025 World Series of Poker

06-18-2025 21:49 UTC-8

Shooting Across Street from WSOP, Color Up Controversy & Event Cancelled | PokerNews Podcast #897

Kai Cocklin

In the 897th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway and Kyna England are joined by PokerNews Ontario Ambassador Kyle Anderson, who fills in for Mike Holtz. The trio discusses the deadly shooting that took place across the street from the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in front of the Bellagio Fountains, and then dives into the color-up controversy involving Tyler Brown, who shared his story with PokerNews.

Kyna then sounds off on the cancelled WSOP Online bracelet event, Michael Lavin won a gold bracelet and an extra $1,000,000 thanks to ClubWPT Gold, and Benny Glaser claimed two bracelets early in the summer. Other tournament winners include Josh Reichard, Brad Ruben, Blaz Zerjav, and Nick Guagenti, who denied Chino Rheem his first bracelet.

After recapping Dusti Smith's win in the Wynn Ladies High Roller and a look ahead to some upcoming poker charity events, Chad shares details on his recent Live Reality Game (LRG) adventure in which he left the WSOP for 10 days to compete in a Survivor-based game, Surviving Reelfoot Season 13, in the woods of Tennessee.

Learn about all those stories and more in the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast!

Click here to listen to the new PN Podcast!

06-19-2025 00:21 UTC-8

End of Day 1a Chip Counts (full)

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Matthew Pitt

These are the $1,500 Monster Stack End of Day 1a chip counts, provided by the WSOP+ App.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sascha Manns	776,000 776,000	776,000

Damarjai Davenport	427,000 427,000	427,000
Ciaran Duffy	418,500 418,500	418,500
Alex Kim	392,000 392,000	392,000
Kristaps Zarins	380,500 380,500	380,500
Lee Flemming	376,500 376,500	376,500
Pedro Fernandes	338,000 338,000	338,000
Yen-Tuan Chen	335,000 335,000	335,000
John Oneal	329,500 329,500	329,500
Grant Gardner	316,500 316,500	316,500
Allan Farber	316,000 316,000	316,000
Yilong Wang	315,500 315,500	315,500

Jiaofang Duan	282,000 282,000	282,000
Zdenek Zizka	276,000 276,000	276,000

Marcio Zacconi	273,500 273,500	273,500
Portia Mcdaniels	271,000 271,000	271,000

Jiaming Zhao	269,000 269,000	269,000
Cristian Diaz	267,500 267,500	267,500
Yake Wu	266,500 266,500	266,500
Santiago Sordo	241,000 241,000	241,000
Noah Harthcock	234,000 234,000	234,000
Erik Eisen	230,500 230,500	230,500
Tom Verbruggen	230,500 230,500	230,500
Eugene Tung	227,000 227,000	227,000
Alexander Kartveli	223,500 223,500	223,500

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06-19-2025 00:53 UTC-8

Sascha Manns Grabs Day 1a Lead as Millionaire Maker Explodes Into Action

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Matthew Pitt

Today saw 1,612 players begin their quest for glory in Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em here at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP), but after 11 action-packed levels, only 345 of them left the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas having bagged up chips for Day 2.

Germany's Sascha Manns (776,000) clinched the Day 1a chip lead and returns on Day 2 armed with the equivalent of 310 big blinds.

End of Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Sascha Manns	Germany	776,000
2	Damarjai Davenport	United States	427,000
3	Ciaran Duffy	Ireland	418,500
4	Alex Kim	United States	392,000
5	Kristaps Zarins	United States	380,500
6	Lee Flemming	United States	376,500
7	Pedro Fernandes	Portugal	338,000
8	Yen-Tuan Chen	Taiwan	335,000
9	John Oneal	United States	329,500
10	Grant Gardner	United Kingdom	316,500

Last year's Millionaire Maker champion, Franco Spitale (183,500) looks set to make another deep run after bagging a decent stack, while Matthew Bode (180,500), David Singontiko (176,500), Thomas Cazayous (175,000), David Pham (174,000), Boris Angelov (172,500), and Mathew Frankland (156,000) all ended Day 1a with a stack worth a place in the top third of the overnight leaderboard.

Below them, but by no means out of contention due to this event's structure, are the likes of David "ODB" Baker (132,500), Adam Owen (122,500), Brett Schaffer (109,500), Brock Wilson (101,500), Joe McKeehen (101,000), Maria Konnikova (74,000), Barry Greenstein (73,000), and Caitlin Comeskey (71,000).

Day 1b is scheduled to shuffle up and deal at 10 a.m. local time on June 19, with entrants hoping to navigate through 11 hour-long levels and join the 345 Day 1a survivors on Day 2. PokerNews traditional coverage begins on Day 2 on June 22.

Tags: Adam Owen Barry Greenstein Boris Angelov Brett Schaffer Brock Wilson Caitlin Comeskey Damarjai Davenport David Pham Franco Spitale Joe McKeehen Maria Konnikova Mateusz Moolhuizen Mathew Frankland Matthew Bode Pedro Fernandes Sascha Manns Thomas Cazayous Yen-Tuan Chen

Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker

Day 1a Completed

06-19-2025 16:49 UTC-8

Gus Hansen Involved in One of the Rarest Poker Hands You'll See at the 2025 WSOP

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Bobby Harr

PokerNews' Brad Whitehouse captured a hand on Saturday that might end up being the rarest we'll see all summer at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP). At the very least, the rarest chop pot.

Gus Hansen and Dzmitry Urbanovich battled for a hefty pot on Day 2 in Event #23: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship with 35 out of 127 players remaining. The pot ended in a chop, but it left future Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman in awe.

"I've never seen that before," Schulman, who has seen nearly everything at the poker table, was overheard saying as he glanced at the tabled cards. "Wow, that's an amazing one."

Catch the Hand Here

06-19-2025 17:42 UTC-8

Phil Ivey is the Big Chip Leader with 10 Left in WSOP $25K PLO High Roller

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Bobby Harr

Phil Ivey is starting to heat up at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP), and he could be just one day away from capturing his 12th gold bracelet.

The Poker Hall of Famer, with 10 players remaining at the time of publishing, held the chip lead in Event #51: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, a tournament with 489 entrants.

Bryn Kenney, who is closing in on $80 million in live tournament cashes, busted in 11th place ($134,007). The remaining players still have a shot at the $2,292,155 first-place prize, to be awarded on Friday.

Read About Ivey's PLO Run!