Jesse King was all in and at risk from the big blind for 475,000 and was up against Sam Sonego in middle position.
Jesse King: K♥K♣
Sam Sonego: Q♥Q♦
The dealer ran out a board of 9♠8♣2♦9♥4♣. If Pocket Kings weren't at the top of King's favorite hands list before, it might be now as he secured a timely double-up to begin day 2.
After combining the remaining Day 1 prize pools, the final Day 2 payout structure has now been announced. A total of 24,629 entrants generated a total prize pool of $6,058,734. All players starting Day 2 are guaranteed a minimum payout of $1,230, but all players will be eyeing up the first-place prize of a cool $420,680 and the coveted WSOP Gold Bracelet. Full payout structure as follows:
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The time has finally come for Day 2 of Event #67: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold’em at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP), hosted at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Four Day 1 starting flights produced a massive 24,629 entrants, becoming the second largest poker tournament in the history of the game. Of those, 812 survived the Day 1 battle and are now set to continue the onslaught in Day 2 and battle it out for their share of the whopping $6,058,734 prize pool, the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and a first-place prize of $420,680.
All players will be chasing Karl Cooper, who enters Day 2 with 5,900,000 chips and the overall lead. Jonathan Kirch is second with 5,110,000 chips, and Felix Barriga rounds out the podium, starting Day 2 in third place with 4,720,000 chips.
Top Ten Chip Counts Going into Day 2
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Karl Cooper
United Kingdom
5,900,000
118
2
Jonathan Kirch
United States
5,110,000
102
3
Felix Barriga
Chile
4,720,000
94
4
Peter Bigelow
United States
3,310,000
66
5
Joseph Butler
United States
3,275,000
66
6
Yang Zhang
China
3,175,000
64
7
Joshua Palmer
United States
3,120,200
62
8
Sanjeev Kapoor
United States
2,960,000
59
9
Alfred Lopez
United States
2,960,000
59
10
Brendan Shiller
United States
2,895,000
58
Many other top-name players have also bagged up on one of the starting flights, and just a few to mention and keep eyes on are:
Poker Hall of Famer Barry Greenstein(545,000), bracelet winners Barry Shulman (1,030,000) Ernest Bennett(1,005,000), Joshua Palmer(3,120,200), Jeremy Pekarek(355,000) and Alexandros Kolonias(345,000).
Barry Shulman
All Day 1 survivors are already in the money and guaranteed a payout of $1,230, but they will all be eyeing up the first-place prize of $420,680. All gladiators who reach the final table of nine will lock up a payday of at least $47,770, and the final six players will be guaranteed a six-figure payday.
Day 2 is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. at Level 23, and the blinds will be 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante. The battling gladiators will play 17 40-minute levels with a 20-minute break every three levels. A 60-minute dinner break is scheduled after Level 31 at approximately 5:40 p.m.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live and exclusive coverage of the 2025 World Series of Poker!
