After another 10 levels on Day 2, the action has wrapped up here at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, in Event #74: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship with just 56 players advancing through to the penultimate day. Coming into the day as the chip leader was Javier Francort, who had a roller coaster of a day, but managed once again to bag the overall lead with a stack of 4,060,000.
A whopping $8,128,200 prize pool was recorded for this event, and the winner will be taking home a seven-figure payday of $1,394,579 from the 2025 World Series of Poker.
Francort remained near the top of the leaderboard in the early parts of the day but started to slip during the middle portion. However, a late-night heater on the heels of a couple of eliminations, including Kyle Ho and Joao Estanislau, led to Francort sitting at the top for the second straight night. Francort took the gamble approach when he eliminated Ho with a rivered flush and then flopped a set to end Estanislau's night slightly early.
While the Dutchman has yet to reach a WSOP final table in his career, he knows how to close the deal in the four-card game with five titles to his name and three of them coming at the recent Irish Poker Open. A strong finish in this event could mark Francort's largest-ever recorded score in his young career and possibly even outdo his total career earnings of over $220,000.
Many big names and familiar faces will be standing in his way, and they also have their sights set on WSOP glory and a gold bracelet. Some other big stacks looking up on the leaderboard include Quan Zhou (2,410,000) as the only player over two million chips and Alex Foxen (1,910,000) in third place. Thomas Taylor (1,645,000) already has two runner-up finishes this summer and will be hoping to take it one step further to capture his first WSOP title.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Javier Francort | Netherlands | 4,060,000 | 162 |
| 2 | Quan Zhou | China | 2,410,000 | 96 |
| 3 | Alex Foxen | United States | 1,910,000 | 76 |
| 4 | Simeon Tsonev | Bulgaria | 1,850,000 | 74 |
| 5 | Roussos Koliakoudakis | Greece | 1,835,000 | 73 |
| 6 | David Paredes | United States | 1,700,000 | 68 |
| 7 | Thomas Taylor | Canada | 1,645,000 | 66 |
| 8 | Brandon Crawford | United States | 1,590,000 | 64 |
| 9 | Isaac Kempton | United States | 1,475,000 | 59 |
| 10 | Dominykas Karmazinas | Lithuania | 1,465,000 | 59 |
Day 2 Action
There were just shy of 300 players who returned to their seats on Day 2, and late registration was still open for an additional two levels. Many big names entered the field in those two hours with Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth both making an appearance and quickly spinning up a stack. The field grew to an impressive 874 entries when late registration closed, which meant 132 places would be paid.
As the bubble approached, the pace of play nearly came to a halt, and the tournament staff were forced to go hand-for-hand still five players off the money. A couple of the short stacks were quickly eliminated, which led to Edgar Varas wagering all of his chips with pocket aces and the nut flush draw on the stone bubble. Unfortunately for him, Michael Rocco was sitting with two pair and a straight draw. A clean runout for Rocco spelled the end for Varas, and the remaining players were guaranteed a profitable day at the felt.
It was a mad rush to the payout desk after that, as many of the short stacks couldn't wait to say the infamous word "Pot" in the coming hours. Both Ivey and Hellmuth were looking poised to make a deep run at another bracelet, but saw their hopes dashed in the last level of the night. Some other notables to hit the rail in the money were Benny Glaser, Bryn Kenney, and Seth Davies.
The action is scheduled to resume at 1 p.m. PDT on June 30, with another 10 levels on the docket or when the field is down to just five players. The blinds will resume on Level 21 at 10,000/25,000 and a 25,000 big blind ante, with a 60-minute dinner break scheduled for the end of level 26. Each player has locked up at least $25,918 for their efforts thus far, but the pay jumps will start to become increasingly significant as Day 3 continues.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to bring you all of the live updates en route to the final table in this marquee event.
