Matt Vengrin Tops Final 11 in Hunt for Maiden Bracelet
The penultimate day of Event #54: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha at the 2025 World Series of Poker has wrapped up, with 11 players set to return and battle tomorrow for the $306,791 top prize and the coveted WSOP bracelet, inside the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
After ten one-hour levels, Matt Vengrin of the United States ended the day as chip leader, bagging a stack of 7,260,000 heading into the final day, and is the only player to have crossed the seven-million chip mark. He began the day with a top-twenty stack, then steadily climbed the leaderboard as the day progressed.
Vengrin moved into the lead by the time play reached the final three tables, helped in part by a hand where Scott Dulaney called his river bet and was shown a rivered straight. Still in search of his first bracelet, Vengrin has put himself in the best position possible to change that tomorrow.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Vengrin | United States | 7,620,000 | 76 |
| 2 | Punnat Punsri | Thailand | 5,305,000 | 53 |
| 3 | Matthew Beck | New Zealand | 4,790,000 | 48 |
| 4 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 4,645,000 | 47 |
| 5 | Jason Lang | United States | 3,280,000 | 33 |
| 6 | Jacob Snider | United States | 3,050,000 | 31 |
| 7 | Tomer Daniel | Israel | 2,900,000 | 29 |
| 8 | Giuseppe Pantaleo | Germany | 2,460,000 | 25 |
| 9 | Jason Stockfish | United States | 1,905,000 | 19 |
| 10 | Qiaonan Liu | China | 1,705,000 | 17 |
| 11 | Antti Marttinen | Finland | 1,700,000 | 17 |
Thailand’s number one, Punnat Punsri bagged the second-biggest stack with 5,305,000 after a strong final few levels. Punsri doubled up with the nuts against Michael Monroig, then claimed the rest of Monroig’s stack soon after. In the final two levels, he added three more knockouts to his tally and has set himself up perfectly to potentially claim his and Thailand's first bracelet.
The day began with 114 players returning from the record-breaking field of 1,564. The eliminations came quickly after the cards got in the air at noon, as it took only four hours of play to reduce the field to the final three tables just before the scheduled dinner break.
Among those who failed to make it that far were Juan Rodriguez, whose combo draw didn’t improve against Vengrin’s kings. Also eliminated before the break were bracelet winners Patrick Moulder, Martin Finger, and Bruno Furth, who started the day as one of the chip leaders. Rajesh Vohra, Samuel Stranak, and three-time bracelet winner Sean Troha also saw their tournament runs come to an end.
Still in contention for the title and set to return tomorrow are New Zealand's Matthew Beck (4,790,000), two-time bracelet winner Bryce Yockey (4,645,000), Jason Lang (3,280,000), Tomer Daniel (2,900,000), and the Day 1 chip leader Giuseppe Pantaleo (2,460,000). China's Qiaonan Liu (1,705,000) and Finland's Antti Marttinen (1,700,000) come in at the bottom of the pack, and have the most work to do tomorrow when the cards hit the baize.
The final day of this three-day affair kicks off at noon local time on Friday, June 20, with players returning to blinds of 50,000/100,000 and a big blind ante of 100,000. Levels will remain 60 minutes long, and everyone coming back has secured at least $28,986 for their efforts. All eyes will be on the $452,689 top prize and the coveted gold bracelet that awaits the winner.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $452,689 |
| 2 | $301,786 |
| 3 | $206,747 |
| 4 | $144,965 |
| 5 | $104,089 |
| 6 | $76,581 |
| 7 | $57,766 |
| 8 | $44,703 |
| 9 | $35,515 |
| 10-11 | $28,986 |
Be sure to tune back into PokerNews tomorrow for all the latest updates, chip counts, eliminations, and drama straight from the tournament floor.