Bryce Yockey opened to 105,000 under the gun, and his only customer was Qiaonan Liu in the big blind.
Action went check-check all the way to the river, with the board reading 6♦2♦9♦10♠7♠ before Liao opted for a bet, sizing to 250,000. Yockey didn't think for long before making the call with Q♥Q♣4♥4♣ good for just one pair. Liao had K♣J♠5♦4♠ for a bluff.
Catching the action on a flop of A♥J♦2♦ with 680,000 in the pot. Rayan Chamas and Punnat Punsri got all of their chips into the middle, with Chamas being the player at risk.
Rayan Chamas: Q♣J♣10♦10♥
Punnat Punsri: A♦8♠6♦6♠
Punsri was ahead with top pair and flush draw, and just had to fade an unfortunate runout. The rest of the board came Q♠9♦ to give Punsri a flush a flush in the river, and Chamas was out in 12th.
Tomer Daniel limped in the small blind and Jacob Snider checked in the big blind.
The flop came 8♠2♥4♦ and both players checked to the 6♠ turn. Daniel led out for 200,000 and Snider called.
On the 4♣ river, Daniel checked and Snider bet 275,000. Daniel then bumped it up to 800,000 and Snider thought for a moment before calling and tabling K♥J♥7♦5♠ for the straight to take the pot.
Action picked up on the turn in a hand between Giuseppe Pantaleo in the small blind and Tomer Daniel in the big blind.
On a board of 7♣2♣9♥3♠, Pantaleo checked and Daniel bet 350,000. Pantaleo then reraised all in for 1,390,000 to put himself at risk and Daniel made the call.
Giuseppe Pantaleo: A♠J♦2♥2♦
Tomer Daniel: 8♣7♥5♣3♦
The river landed the Q♠ and Pantaleo took down the pot with three of a kind, deuces.
Giuseppe Pantaleo limped the button and Tomer Daniel called from the small blind. Jacob Snider opted to check his option from the big blind.
All three players checked the J♠6♠6♥ flop to see the 3♥ appear on the turn. Daniel checked, and Snider bet 325,000. Only Pantaleo called.
Snider led out again on the 3♦ river, this time for 600,000. Pantaleo went into the tank for almost two minutes before deciding to fold his cards and forfeit the pot to Snider.
The remaining 11 players are bagging up for the night and will return for Day 3 on Friday, June 20 at 12 p.m. local time where the event will play down to a winner.
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.
Punnat Punsri
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.
Tomer Daniel
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.
