Jonah Labranche raised to 400,000 in middle position, leaving himself with just 30,000 behind, and Alexander Greenblatt called on the button.
The flop came K♥7♥3♣ and both players checked to the J♠ turn. Labranche checked again and Greenblatt bet enough to put Labranche all in. Labranche looked over to the clock as it was close to a pay jump and took a minute or two to make the call.
Jonah Labranche: J♦10♦
Alexander Greenblatt: A♠A♦
"Just aces huh," said Labranche as the Q♦ rolled off on the river, sending him to the rail.
Seunghyun Nam raised to 60,000 in early position, Fabian Niederreiter flatted in the hijack, and Steven Jones three-bet to 230,000 in the cutoff. Nam then moved all in, prompting Niederreiter to get out of the way and Jones to call for 925,000 total to put himself at risk.
Steven Jones: K♠K♦
Seunghyun Nam: A♦Q♦
Nam picked up a little bit of help on the 8♣8♥Q♠ flop, but Jones was still in the lead with his kings. The board ran out safe for Jones with the 2♣ landing on the turn and the river bringing the 9♥ to secure him the double up.
Ken Aldridge moved all in from early position for 250,000 and Hamid Toghyan called in the big blind with the covering stack.
Ken Aldridge: 9♥8♥
Hamid Toghyan: Q♣J♣
Aldridge pulled ahead on the 8♠A♣5♣ flop, pairing his eight but Toghyan picked up additional outs with a flush draw. The board ran out 3♦, 2♥, earning Aldridge the much needed double up.
Fady Khabbaz raised from early position to 50,000 and found calls from Ehsan Amiri in late position and Olivier Busquet in the cutoff.
The flop came K♦2♦9♣ and Khabbaz continued for 30,000. Amiri folded, and Busquet pumped it up to 105,000, Khabbaz called, and the players saw the K♥ drop on the turn.
Khabbaz checked and Busquet tossed out a bet of 135,000, which sent Khabbaz into the tank for a good 2-3 minutes. He decided to fold and showed Busquet Q♦Q♥, which made Busquet smile.
"You don't have the king, do you?" stated Khabbaz.
"Do you want to see?" asked Busquet.
"Sure," came the reply, as Busquet tabled 7♣6♣ for a bluff.
Jessica Vierling moved all in for 125,000 in early position and in late position, Jerry Yang raised to 360,000 and everyone else folded.
Jessica Vierling: A♠7♦
Jerry Yang: A♣K♣
The board ran out 3♥5♠3♦J♣K♦, and Vierling wished her tablemates luck as she exited the tournament while the 2007 WSOP Main Event champion took down the pot.
Pursuit of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet in Event #68: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em continues today at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas at noon local time. Of the 351 players who reached the money in Day 2, just 127 remain, out of a field of 2,338 total entries, vying for the first-place prize of $830,685.
Kunal Patni, who has an extensive list of cashes at WSOP events in the past decade, is in prime position to claim his first bracelet. Patni, who finished 20th in this event a year ago, and eighth in a $3,000 Freezeout here two years ago, enters the day second in chips with 2,125,000.
Hamid Toghyan holds the chip lead (2,545,000) on an international leaderboard that has eight countries represented among the top ten players.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Hamid Toghyan
United Kingdom
2,545,000
127
2
Kunal Patni
India
2,125,000
106
3
Ilan Cukrowicz
France
2,055,000
103
4
Yuliyan Kolev
Bulgaria
1,920,000
96
5
Alexander Greenblatt
United States
1,855,000
93
6
Yuriy Boyko
Ireland
1,815,000
91
7
Ehsan Amiri
Australia
1,695,000
85
8
Jerry Yang
United States
1,680,000
84
9
Romain Lewis
France
1,660,000
83
10
[Removed:546]
Austria
1,530,000
77
Bracelet winners Yuliyan Kolev, Jerry Yang, Romain Lewis, Daniel Sepiol, Diego Ventura and Martin Finger are all in the hunt with more than 1,000,000 in chips.
Day 3 will begin with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000. The schedule calls for the field to play down to five players, through 60-minute levels, with breaks after every two levels and a one-hour dinner break after Level 26 (around 6:30 p.m.).
Stay tuned to PokerNews, the official media partner of the 2025 World Series of Poker, for live updates from this and all bracelet events at the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas.
