Dan Sepiol Bags Top Ten Stack in Day 1 of $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em
After ten levels of play, Day 1 action has come to a close here in Event #68: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2025 World Series of Poker, hosted by the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
Of the 1,882 runners who started the day, only 641 players will return for Day 2 on Thursday. Late registration will be open through the end of Level 12 on Day 2 and will close before the start of Level 13 at approximately 2:15 p.m. local time. One reentry is permitted, so there may be some familiar faces that return with a fresh 40,000 starting stack.
Petre Ionescu climbed steadily throughout the day and sits atop the leaderboard with 702,000. Sitting in second, not far behind Ionescu is Rehman Kassam, who ended the day with 691,500, and rounding out the podium is Valentyn Shabelnyk with 570,000.
Dan Sepiol stands out as the biggest name left in the field to reach the top-ten list at the end of Day 1. He bagged an impressive 360,000 which puts him in tenth on the leaderboard. Sepiol is a 25K Fantasy player that won his maiden bracelet last year at the 2024 WSOP in the $1,500 Shootout No-Limit Hold'em. He will look to leverage his experience and big stack on Day 2 to set himself up for another deep run.
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petre Ionescu | Romania | 702,000 | 281 |
| 2 | Rehman Kassam | United Kingdom | 691,500 | 277 |
| 3 | Valentyn Shabelnyk | Ukraine | 570,000 | 228 |
| 4 | Neng Zhao | Australia | 448,000 | 179 |
| 5 | Fabian Niederreiter | Germany | 433,000 | 173 |
| 6 | Armin Rezaei | Austria | 432,000 | 173 |
| 7 | Paawan Bansal | India | 388,000 | 155 |
| 8 | Kunal Patni | India | 382,500 | 153 |
| 9 | Rachid Amamou | Switzerland | 366,000 | 146 |
| 10 | Daniel Sepiol | United States | 360,000 | 144 |
Players to Keep an Eye On
Many big names will be returning for Day 2 action looking for a shot at WSOP glory. Those who bagged big include Steven Jones (240,500), Dylan Linde (239,000), Jason Wheeler (223,000), Scott Blumstein (175,000), Faraz Jaka (162,500), Jeff Platt (162,000), Chance Kornuth (159,500), and Alec Torelli (155,000).
Others to keep a lookout for are Noah Schwartz (147,500), Nick Schulman (143,000), Brock Wilson (139,000), John Juanda (128,500), Andy Tsai (125,500), Christian Harder (114,000), Kristen Foxen (107,500), Jessica Vierling (106,500), and Aram Oganyan (101,000).
Notable Eliminations
A lot of familiar faces were out and about in the field with several firing the two allotted bullets that the tournament's structure sheet allowed. Those who chose to reenter but couldn't find a bag for Day 2 include David Jackson, Punnat Punsri, Rania Nasreddine, Bin Weng, Jeremiah Williams, Klemens Roiter, Clemen Deng, Brian Hastings, Kahle Burns, Ryan Leng, Santhosh Suvarna, Barak Wisbrod, Frank Brannan, Michael Acevedo, Josh Arieh and Jamie Gold.
Day 2 will start at 12 p.m. local time on Thursday, June 26, where ten 60-minute levels are on the agenda. The tournament will resume in Level 11 with blinds at 1,000/2,500/2,500 and there will be a 15-minute break every two levels. A one-hour dinner break will take place after the completion of Level 16, at approximately 6:30 p.m.
Given that late registration is still open through the first two levels on Day 2, the prize pool and payouts will be announced later in the day once the information is made available.
Be sure to follow PokerNews for the remainder of this event, as well as future coverage throughout the summer.