David Lin: 5♠3♥2♠/A♥Q♠4♥9♣
Timothy Batow: A♠A♦/A♣8♣7♥Q♣/J♦
David Lin completed, and Timothy Batow raised. It folded back to Lin, who called.
Lin went on to check-call bets from Batow on fourth, fifth, and sixth street. Lin also checked seventh street, and Batow checked behind after about a minute in the tank.
"Good check," Lin calmly said as he showed a wheel.
"Unbelievable! I started with rolled up aces!" Batow lamented in disbelief.
While the rest of the table complimented his check-back, Batow saw most of his stack being shipped to Lin, being left with only two big bets.
Timothy Batow: Q♣J♠ / Q♦4♦8♥K♦ / 10♦
Michelle Konig: A♥3♦ / 4♣5♠7♦A♠ / J♣
Robert Mizrachi: XxXx/ 6♦ - folded on third street
David Lin: XxXx/ 7♣ - folded on third street
Robert Mizrachi and David Lin called before Michelle Konig raised and Timothy Batow three bet. Mizrachi and Lin both folded, but Konig called.
Batow bet fourth and was all in, and Konig called. Konig hit a pair of aces on sixth and that was enough to win the hand. Batow finished in 14th place.
Robert Mizrachi: 6♠3♦/8♥2♦10♠6♦/Xx
David Lin: XxXx/8♣9♣5♥- folded on fifth street
Jay Kerbel: 7♠7♥/Q♥A♠Q♣J♣/A♦
Robert Mizrachi called the bring-in, and so did David Lin. Jay Kerbel then completed, and Mizrachi and Lin both called.
Kerbel bet on fourth street, being called by both opponents. He bet again on fifth street. Mizrachi called again, but Lin folded. Mizrachi's final chips flew in on sixth street.
Mizrachi's low draw bricked on seventh street, and his card did not help him for the high either as he flung it into Kerbel's board. Mizrachi said his goodbyes and left the tournament area to pick up his payout.
David Lin: Q♣8♠8♥/4♣7♠3♠Q♥
Vasu Amarapu: XxXx/4♦J♠K♦10♠/Xx
David Lin brought in, Vasu Amarapu completed, and Lin called. Amarapu check-raised Lin's bet on fourth street, and Lin called.
Amarapu checked again on fifth street, but this time he just called Lin's bet. Sixth street then checked through to seventh street, where Amarapu checked a final time.
Lin fired a bet, and Amarapu called. Lin tabled queens and eights, and Amarapu took a few moments before tossing his cards into the muck, leaving himself with less than two big bets.
Hal Rotholz: Q♥2♣/2♠4♠J♠2♥/7♠
Blaz Zerjav: A♥7♥4♥/5♥A♣J♦K♥
Sergei Tolkachov: XxXx/8♦3♣6♥9♦/Xx
Hal Rotholz used his option to complete all in. Blaz Zerjav and Sergei Tolkachov called, after which Zerjav created a side pot by betting on fourth street.
Tolkachov called before fifth street checked through. Zerjav bet again on sixth street, and did so too on seventh street, both times being called by Tolkachov.
Zerjav tabled a flush, and Tolkachov sent his cards into the muck. Rotholz showed three deuces but failed to fill up with his last card, eliminating him in the final minutes of Day 2.
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 Seedwas all in on the bubble and managed to win the pot. The bubble was burst shortly after when Kyle Miholichlost to the straight ofKoji Fujimoto.
Notable names who finished inside the money were David "Bakes" Baker, Mark Gregorich, Frederik Brink, Jake Schwartzand 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.
Blaz Zerjav
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.
