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.
Tags:
Alan MehamedBarry GrimeBarry ShulmanFelix BarrigaHao ChuangRichard KwonSiarhei ChudapalYang ZhangYuanzhi CaoYuzu Wang
