Event #61 $500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout welcomed a large field of 5,082 entries, but after a long day of 22 levels of play, only 211 remain in the hunt for the $229,628 top prize and the gold bracelet at the 2025 World Series of Poker hosted at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Finishing the day on top of the chip count leaderboard was Juan Lucena. Lucena bagged a total of 1,990,000 to lead the pack after the first day. Lucena will be one of many players looking to make a name for themselves as they chase their first bracelet. Should he succeed, it would likely be the biggest cash prize of his career, according to his results on The Hendon Mob Database.
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Juan Lucena
Spain
1,990,000
66
2
Anatoly Korochenskiy
Russia
1,815,000
60
3
Sherwin Basti
United States
1,755,000
58
4
Massimo De Mario
Italy
1,750,000
58
5
Gregory Robbins
United States
1,750,000
58
6
Edwin Chang
United States
1,650,000
55
7
Aditya Sushant
India
1,605,000
53
8
Rittie Chuaprasert
United States
1,560,000
52
9
Jesse Jones
United States
1,530,000
51
10
David Coffman
United States
1,445,000
48
Anatoly Korochenskiy is not far behind Lucena, bagging the second-most chips with 1,815,000. Korochenskiy is looking to improve on his 10th-place finish in the $800 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack event in 2024 to top his highest finish at a WSOP event. Like Lucena, Korochenskiy is aiming to score the first bracelet of his career, and should he secure the top prize will surpass the highest prize he has earned in his career by nearly 100-fold.
Eric Olson
Eric Olson was the story as he held court over the field, leading in chips through several breaks. For Olson, it was “now or never,” in his own words, as he was playing with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). It did not deter Olson from stacking his opponents throughout the early parts of Day 1 to vault to the top of the leaderboards, where he stayed until the second half of play.
Olson shared with PokerNews that he took a break from the WSOP once he and his wife Andrea had six kids named Sophie, MeiLi, Tristan, Bryce, Scarlett, and Rini. Unfortunately for Olson, he fell short of the dream of winning a bracelet, but did cash as he finished in 408th place, which was good enough for a prize of $1,102.
Johnnie Moreno
Popular streamer Johnnie “Vibes” Moreno made an appearance at the event. Moreno quickly found traction after coming into the tournament later in the day, and found himself with a healthy stack after he scored a double-up against Taro Miura with pocket queens. Moreno would carry that momentum late into Day 1 before he ran out of steam, losing a critical hand to Tony Harrison that left him with little chips shortly before busting out.
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
$229,628
54-62
$4,178
2
$152,874
63-71
$3,531
3
$113,244
72-80
$3,012
4
$84,584
81-89
$2,595
5
$63,706
90-98
$2,257
6
$48,387
99-143
$1,982
7
$37,064
144-188
$1,757
8
$28,635
189-242
$1,574
9
$22,314
243-296
$1,424
10-11
$17,541
297-350
$1,301
12-13
$13,910
351-404
$1,201
14-17
$11,129
405-458
$1,120
18-26
$8,984
459-512
$1,056
27-35
$7,317
513-763
$1,006
36-44
$6,015
45-53
$4,990
The 211 remaining players will return at 11 a.m. local time with the blinds at 15,000/30,000. Each player will be guaranteed at least $1,574 after making it to Day 2. Play is scheduled to continue until there is a winner.
Stay tuned here at PokerNews for more updates on Day 2 action and the eventual champion.
