Joshua Chudnovsky: A♠A♦2♥/3♦9♣Q♦8♠
Michelle Konig: J♣8♥8♣/8♦2♣4♠9♠
Patrick Quealy: 7♦3♥A♣/2♠K♦5♣2♦
Jason Daly: 7♣5♠4♦/A♥J♥K♥K♣
In a four-way capped pot, Jason Daly checked fourth street to Joshua Chudnovsky, who bet. Michelle Konig then raised, Patrick Quealy called, Daly called, and Chudnovsky called all-in.
The action checked to Konig on fifth and sixth street, and she fired a bet both times. Quealy and Daly both called to seventh street, where it checked to Quealy instead.
Quealy bet, and the remaining duo called to showdown. Konig showed three eights for the high, and Quealy had the only low hand with a seven-low.
Daly and Chudnovsky received nothing as the huge late-night pot was evenly divided between Konig and Quealy.
Another record turnout has been set at the 2025 World Series of Poker, as Event #69: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better attracted 615 unique players to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, enough to beat last year's record of 611 entries. At the end of the night, 132 players bagged up, 39 eliminations away from bursting the bubble of the $816,413 prize pool.
Kevin Choi gathered the chip lead on Day 1, ending up with 376,500 chips in his possession, for about 31 big bets when play resumes on Day 2. Choi has already proven his prowess in split-pot games earlier in the series with a runner-up finish in the $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo / Stud Hi-Lo event, and will be extra hungry for the bracelet and the $153,487 first-place prize after coming so tantalizingly close before.
Mary Jones bagged 332,000 on her journey to try to capture her first bracelet since 2006, and Jay Kerbel had another stellar Day 1, ending in third with 249,000. Jason Daly, who defeated Choi heads-up in the Omaha Hi-Lo / Stud Hi-Lo to capture his second bracelet last week, and four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen also secured a spot in the top ten.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Bets
1
Kevin Choi
Hong Kong
376,500
31
2
Mary Jones
United States
332,000
28
3
Jay Kerbel
United States
249,000
21
4
Jared Koppel
United States
249,000
21
5
William McMahan
United States
221,000
18
6
Jason Daly
United States
217,000
18
7
Michal Frejka
United States
203,500
17
8
Michael Moon
United States
196,500
16
9
Jeff Madsen
United States
190,500
16
10
Ryan Schoonbaert
United States
186,000
16
Jason Daly
As with the majority of the mixed games, a star-studded field made it through Day 1, and they include 2015 Main Event champion Joe McKeehen (167,000), old-school Andy Bloch (129,000), five-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi (89,500), Hall of Famer Huck Seed (80,000), and the short-stacked Calvin Anderson (27,500).
With the tournament being a freezeout, players only had one shot to make it to the end of Day 1, and many notable players did not manage to do so. Six-time bracelet winner Brian Hastings was one of the earliest eliminations, and he was soon followed by the likes of legendary poker commentator Norman Chad and actor James Woods.
Hall of Famers Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen, Todd Brunson, and Brian Rast did not join Seed in making it to Day 2. Defending champion Nikolay Fal fell halfway through Day 1, while Shaun Deeb was one of the final eliminations of the night.
Nikolay Fal
With 93 spots paid, they will reach the money on Day 2. Those who survive the early stages of the day and maneuver the bubble successfully will pocket at least $3,021 for their efforts, while five-figure payouts and higher are reserved for the unofficial final table of nine.
The tournament will resume Thursday, June 26, at 1 p.m. local time. The first level of Day 2 will be Level 16, with limits at 6,000/12,000. The antes will amount to 1,500 for each player, while the bring-in will be at 2,000.
The duration of the levels will increase to 60 minutes on Day 2, and there will be a break after every two levels, with a 60-minute dinner break scheduled after Level 21, around 7:30 p.m. local time. The plan for Day 2 is to play 10 levels, after which the remaining players will bag up for the third and final day of the event.
PokerNews will be back on the floor for the "shuffle up and deal" of Day 2, so tune back in on Thursday to not miss any of the split-pot action at the 2025 WSOP.
