Yuanzhi Cao Finds Two-Outer in $300 Gladiator to Bag the Chip Lead
After 17 levels of play, the 812 Gladiators who entered the arena on Day 2 fought their way down to only 13. All those who remain are guaranteed $30,120, but competitors will be fighting for the $420,680 first-place prize. Four starting flights allowed two reentries per day, which tallied a massive 24,629 entries, generating a total prize pool of $6,058,734.
Yuanzhi Cao (106,300,000) bagged the chip lead and is closely followed by Manuel Reyes (101,500,000) and Joseph Butler (97,000,000), who bagged the chip lead on his Day 1 flight. The only bracelet winner remaining is Roland Israelashvilli (34,000,000) while the rest of the field will be seeking their first taste of the gold.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yuanzhi Cao | United States | 106,300,000 | 44 |
| 2 | Manuel Reyes | United States | 101,500,000 | 42 |
| 3 | Joseph Butler | United States | 97,000,000 | 40 |
| 4 | Sang Sim | United States | 91,000,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Santiago Moises | Argentina | 62,000,000 | 26 |
| 6 | Timothy Thorp | United States | 61,000,000 | 25 |
| 7 | Albert Felarca | United States | 42,200,000 | 18 |
| 8 | Jesus Rodriguez | United States | 36,000,000 | 15 |
| 9 | Roland Israelashvili | United States | 34,000,000 | 14 |
| 10 | Ken Takayama | Japan | 28,500,000 | 12 |
Day 2 Action
With only 40-minute levels on the schedule, the field quickly thinned and consolidated before play slowed in the final hundred. With pay jumps occurring more frequently and for increasingly larger stakes, the clock was called all around the room, and the eliminations slowed.
Action did pick up at the end of the night as Jesus Rodriguez (36,000,000) found a more than triple when he flopped quads with his pocket tens. Popular Japanese player, Hiroki Nawa, was on the precipice of bagging for Day 3 before he was two-outed on the river to abruptly end his run and miss the pay jump.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $420,680 | 7 | $77,580 |
| 2 | $300,160 | 8 | $60,700 |
| 3 | $219,410 | 9 | $47,770 |
| 4 | $167,730 | 10-11 | $37,820 |
| 5 | $128,970 | 12-13 | $30,120 |
| 6 | $100,120 |
The remaining Gladiators will return to battle at 1 p.m. local time on Monday, June 30 at the 2025 World Series of Poker hosted by Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas. Once the field is narrowed to seven hopefuls, stream coverage will be available on PokerGO.
That concludes coverage of Day 2, but be sure to check back with PokerNews to catch all the action from this and other WSOP bracelet events.