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Event #67: $300 Gladiators of Poker
Day 1a Completed
2025 World Series of Poker
Event #67: $300 Gladiators of Poker
Day: 1a
Event Info
2025 World Series of Poker
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
Buy-in
$300
Prize Pool
$6,058,734
Total Entries
24,629
Level
45
Blinds
5,000,000 / 10,000,000
Ante
10,000,000
Entries
3,614
Players Left
119
Players Left 1 / 24,629
Filter
Day 1a of Event #67: $300 Gladiators of Poker here at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas saw the 3,614-strong crowd reduced to only 119 over the course of 22 levels. Chile Felix Barriga (4,720,000) finished at the top of the pile, with China's Yang Zhang (3,175,000) bagging up the second-largest stack.
Zhang became a bracelet winner in 2023 after taking down the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $717,879, the largest haul of his career. Since that victory, Zhang has dozens of cashes in live events around the world, including four at this year's WSOP. Zhang showed he knows his way around a big field by finishing 91st in the Millionaire Maker, leaving more than 11,000 players in his wake.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Felix Barriga | Chile | 4,720,000 | 94 |
| 2 | Yang Zhang | China | 3,175,000 | 64 |
| 3 | Takeya Okada | Japan | 2,590,000 | 52 |
| 4 | Yuzu Wang | China | 2,370,000 | 47 |
| 5 | Yuanzhi Cao | United States | 2,210,000 | 44 |
| 6 | John Dorsey | United States | 2,055,000 | 41 |
| 7 | Hao Chuang | Taiwan | 1,870,000 | 37 |
| 8 | Michael Willis | United States | 1,825,000 | 37 |
| 9 | Richard Kwon | United States | 1,780,000 | 36 |
| 10 | Siarhei Chudapal | Russia | 1,705,000 | 34 |
Like Zhang, Russia's Siarhei Chudapal (1,705,000) has four cashes this summer. Chudapal finished 93rd in the Colossus and 10th in the $500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout, proving he has a knack for large-field live events. The Russian finished in the top ten in this opening flight.
Others through to Day 2 at the first attempt include the United Kingdom's Barry Grime (1,365,000), Alan Mehamed (1,120,000), and two-time bracelet winner Barry Shulman (1,030,000).
Day 1b, the second of four flights, commences at 10 a.m. local time on June 26. There is every chance more than 4,000 or 5,000 players will jump into this low-cost event and attempt to spin up their 30,000 starting stacks like the heroes in this recap did.
PokerNews traditional coverage of this event starts on Day 2, Sunday, June 29.
Here are the chip count at the end of Day 1a, according to the WSOP+ App.
Jesse Yaginuma pulled off a wild comeback on Wednesday night at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) to win a gold bracelet, which normally would be celebrated by the poker community. But the victory has become controversial as many poker players have made allegations of chip dumping during heads-up play.
The champion took down Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker for $1,255,180. He also received an extra $1 million from a ClubWPT Gold promotion. Yaginuma won a Gold Rush ticket from the sweeps coin poker site, which made him eligible for the seven-figure bonus if he were to take down a qualifying WSOP event.
James Carroll, the second-place finisher, earned $1,012,320 as a consolation prize. But social media blew up during the PokerGO livestream with players accusing the heads-up opponents of chip dumping to allow Yaginuma to win the tournament so that the $1 million bonus would be awarded.
In poker, like in life, they say records are meant to be broken.
But sometimes, someone sets a milestone that just feels impossible to top. Whether it’s because of insane skill, perfect timing, a bit of luck, or a mix of all three, the World Series of Poker has seen some feats over the years that seem like they’ll never be matched.
However, while all records may eventually fall, these achievements are currently some of the most jaw-dropping in WSOP history. Will any of them ever be broken? Only time will tell. For now, though, here are the most incredible WSOP records that will (probably) never be broken.
Busted
For two decades, Tom Goldstein was at the top of the legal world. He argued more cases before the United States Supreme Court than almost any private attorney and founded SCOTUSblog, a legal blog that quickly became the go-to source for Supreme Court analysis. He lectured at Stanford University and Harvard University and regularly appeared on national news programs.
But Goldstein had another life. When he wasn’t arguing before Supreme Court justices, Goldstein was flying to Hollywood or Hong Kong and winning or losing millions in ultra-high-stakes poker matches. He played heads-up against California businessmen and foreign gamblers, at one point allegedly winning over $50 million in just a few sessions.
Goldstein’s luck turned in January 2025 when the US Department of Justice a federal grand jury initiated a 22-count indictment accusing the attorney of failing to report millions in poker winnings and diverting law firm funds to pay his personal poker debts.
In a new PokerNews video essay, we take a look at the life of Tom Goldstein and the high-stakes poker game that led to his federal indictment.
120,000
30,000
Table 431
Busted
43,000
1,800
Table 467Seat 5
