Ethan Yau Builds a Big Day 1b Stack in the Mini Main Event
Day 1b of Event #74: $1,000 Mini Main Event No-Limit Hold'em attracted 6,717 entrants to the Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, taking the total attendance to 10,794. From that Day 1b field, 541 progressed to Day 2, with France's Bernard Kobis (7,770,000) leading the way.
This flight attracted more than its fair share of stars, and several of those finished with a top ten stack. Harry Lodge (4,955,000), fresh from winning an online bracelet, bagged up the fourth-largest stack. The polarizing Martin Kabrhel (2,275,000) finished Day 1b tenth on the leaderboard.
Ethan "Rampage" Yau (2,350,000) is sandwiched between those two players. Earlier in the series, Yau spoke to PokerNews about how frustrating the 2025 WSOP had been for him. However, he has stuck to his guns, continued with his aggressive playing style, and now finds himself among the frontrunners going into Day 2.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bernard Kobis | France | 7,770,000 | 194 |
| 2 | Chakib Mhiri | Turkey | 7,480,000 | 187 |
| 3 | Jens Ullrich | Germany | 7,355,000 | 184 |
| 4 | Harry Lodge | United Kingdom | 4,955,000 | 124 |
| 5 | Freedom Burrows | Bermuda | 3,610,000 | 90 |
| 6 | Jonathan Fhima | France | 2,815,000 | 70 |
| 7 | William Blais | Canada | 2,670,000 | 67 |
| 8 | Ethan Yau | United States | 2,350,000 | 59 |
| 9 | Tao Chu | Taiwan | 2,280,000 | 57 |
| 10 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 2,275,000 | 57 |
Others who progressed from Day 1b include Justin Liberto (1,185,000), Yilong Wang (965,000), Thomas Cazayous (660,000), Uri Reichenstein (640,000), Matt Affleck (485,000), Joe Cada (470,000), and Alexandre Reard (245,000).
Day 2 kicks off at 11 a.m. local time on Tuesday, July 1, with 859 hopefuls returning to the action. The plan is to whittle that large crowd to the final five players. Will that happen? Return to PokerNews on July 1 to find out.