Seed Looking for First Bracelet Since 2003 in $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo
Bring-In: 15,000
Completion: 50,000
Limits: 50,000-100,000
In Event #69: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 Or Better at the 2025 World Series of Poker, held at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, play began with 132 players who made Day 2, and they were playing for a prize pool of $816,413, with the first prize being $153,487, and of course, the coveted WSOP gold bracelet. There were quite a few bracelet winners in the field to start the day, including Mary Jones, Tom Koral, Robert Mizrachi and Jeff Madsen.
The bubble loomed as play began. 1996 WSOP Main Event Huck Seed was all in on the bubble and managed to win the pot. The bubble was burst shortly after when Kyle Miholich lost to the straight of Koji Fujimoto.
Notable names who finished inside the money were David "Bakes" Baker, Mark Gregorich, Frederik Brink, Jake Schwartz and Allen Kessler.
Seed was a big story throughout the day. He managed to stay alive a number of times when he was all in, including this one just after the bubble. He currently sits in eighth place among the 11 players that are heading into Day 3.
Apart from winning the main event, Seed has three other bracelets. His last bracelet was in 2003, so it's been a long time coming for him. That bracelet and his one just prior to that were in Razz, so he is no stranger to stud variants of poker.
Ending the day second in chips is Blaz Zerjav. You may recognize the name if you've been following the 2025 WSOP, as Zerjav was the winner of Event #22: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed. The game type and buy-in may be completely different, but Zerjav has demonstrated the ability to play Stud 8 throughout the event, including in this hand.
The chip leader to end play for the night is Jay Kerbel. Kerbel went on a massive heater towards the end of the night, being the first player to cross the three-million chip mark.
Here's the entire list of players and their chip counts after play concluded for the night:
End of Day Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jay Kerbel | United States | 3,525,000 |
| 2 | Blaz Zerjav | Slovenia | 2,515,000 |
| 3 | Aaron Lugibihl | Canada | 2,350,000 |
| 4 | David Lin | United States | 2,200,000 |
| 5 | Michal Frejka | United States | 1,925,000 |
| 6 | Sergei Tolkachov | United States | 830,000 |
| 7 | Michelle Konig | United States | 720,000 |
| 8 | Huck Seed | United States | 635,000 |
| 9 | John Comeau | United States | 330,000 |
| 10 | Denis Strebkov | Russian Federation | 320,000 |
| 11 | Vasu Amarapu | United States | 160,000 |
Play will resume on June 27 at 1:00 p.m. local time at Level 26, with the ante starting at 15,000, the bring-in at 20,000, 60,000 for a completion, and 60,000/120,000 limits. The remaining 11 players will play down to a winner, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for updates from this tournament, and every bracelet event at the 2025 WSOP.