Philip Tom Leads Star-Studded Field After Day 1 of $3,000 Limit Hold’em
Limits: 3000-6000
After 12 levels of play, Day 1 action has come to a close here in Event #60: $3,000 Limit Hold’em at the 2025 World Series of Poker, hosted by the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
Of the 343 runners who started the day, only 100 players will return for Day 2 on Monday. The remaining competitors will be battling it out for a piece of the $915,810 prize pool, with the winner taking home the first-place prize of $200,303, as well as the coveted gold bracelet. Only 52 players will get paid, so they've got to get rid of nearly half the remaining field to reach the money.
Philip Tom climbed steadily throughout the day and sits atop the leaderboard with 380,000. Tom won a bracelet at the 2008 WSOP by taking down the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em - Shootout event. He will look to leverage his experience and big stack on Day 2 to set himself up for another deep run.
Sitting in second, not far behind Tom, is two-time bracelet winner Marco Johnson, who ended the day with 355,000. Rounding out the podium is Roland Israelashvili with 284,000, who also owns a piece of WSOP hardware.
Other notables to make the top ten list include Patrick Leonard (279,000), Noah Boeken (278,000), Xixiang Luo (247,000), and Ren Lin (220,000).
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philip Tom | United States | 380,000 | 95 |
| 2 | Marco Johnson | United States | 355,000 | 89 |
| 3 | Roland Israelashvili | United States | 284,000 | 71 |
| 4 | Patrick Leonard | United Kingdom | 279,000 | 70 |
| 5 | Noah Boeken | Netherlands | 278,000 | 70 |
| 6 | Robert Klein | United States | 268,000 | 67 |
| 7 | Xixiang Luo | China | 247,000 | 62 |
| 8 | Alex Torry | United States | 244,000 | 61 |
| 9 | Nicholas Tsoukalas | United States | 226,000 | 57 |
| 10 | Ren Lin | China | 220,000 | 55 |
Players to Keep an Eye On
Many big names will be returning for Day 2 action looking for a shot at WSOP glory. Those who bagged big include Ali Eslami (189,500), James Obst (185,000), Jason Daly (180,000), Terrence Chan (176,000), Nick Guagenti (175,000), Juha Helppi (119,000), Benny Glaser (110,000), and Ian Johns (104,000).
Others to keep a lookout for are Scott Bohlman (87,000), Martin Kabrhel (81,000), Christian Roberts (80,000), Michael Moncek (65,000), Shaun Deeb (46,000), and 2024 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Tamayo (35,500).
Notable Eliminations
A lot of familiar faces were out and about in the field with several firing the two allotted bullets that the tournament's structure sheet allowed. Those who chose to reenter but couldn't find a bag for Day 2 include Josh Arieh, Mike Leah, John Hennigan, Mike Matusow, Jesse Sylvia, Anthony Zinno, Barny Boatman, Nick Schulman, Matthew Wantman and Dan Shak.
Others who took the one-and-done approach were Ryan Leng, Daniel Negreanu, Ronnie Bardah, Yaser Al-Keliddar, Nadya Magnus, Lee Markholt, Joey Couden, Greg Mueller, and 2015 WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen.
Day 2 will restart at 1 p.m. local time on Monday, June 23, where ten 60-minute levels are on the agenda. The tournament will resume in Level 13 with blinds at 2,000/4,000 and there will be a 15-minute break every two levels. A one-hour dinner break will take place after the completion of Level 18, at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Be sure to follow PokerNews for the remainder of this event, as well as future coverage throughout the summer.