Event #8: $1,500 Dealers Choice Day 1 | 2025 World Series of Poker

05-30-2025 22:07 UTC-8

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan Hoenig	165,000 24,000	24,000

Matthew Schreiber	161,500 101,500	101,500

Justin Gardenhire	150,000
Andres Korn	145,000 60,000	60,000

Justin Liberto	143,500 33,500	33,500

Kevin Xu	143,000 33,000	33,000
Daisuke Ogita	133,000
James Van Alstyne	123,000

Troy Carpenter	122,000 17,000	17,000
Walter Chambers	122,000 116,000	116,000

Final Break

Brett Slezak

Level 12

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,500-2,500, 2,500-5,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 1,000 Bring-In, 2,500 Completion 2,500-5,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,500/2,000 Ante, 500-1,500 Blinds

The players are going on their final break of the night with three levels left to play.

Play resumes in Level 13 with blinds at 1,000/1,500 and limits at 3,000/6,000 with an average stack of 65,000. 228 of 597 players remain.

05-30-2025 21:45 UTC-8

Player	Chips	Progress
Alexander Frye	Busted
Dylan Linde	Busted

Brian Hastings	Busted

Ian Steinman	Busted

Andrew Yeh	Busted

Aloisio Dourado	Busted

Alex Livingston	Busted

Jesse Capps	Busted
Ray Fishman	Busted
Chino Rheem	Busted
Ari Engel	Busted

Steve Zolotow	Busted
David Mead	Busted
Mike Gorodinsky	Busted

Christopher Claassen	Busted

Jeffrey Mitseff	Busted
Mark Gregorich	Busted

Can Phil Ivey Survive? - $25,000 Heads Up Championship

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Milko van Winden

Level 12

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,500-2,500, 2,500-5,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 1,000 Bring-In, 2,500 Completion 2,500-5,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,500/2,000 Ante, 500-1,500 Blinds

Tags: Phil Ivey

05-30-2025 21:42 UTC-8

Smith Scoops Frazin While Gerhart Catches Some Strays

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David Salituro

Level 12

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,500-2,500, 2,500-5,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 1,000 Bring-In, 2,500 Completion 2,500-5,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,500/2,000 Ante, 500-1,500 Blinds

Badacey

Tim Frazin raised in the hijack, Dylan Smith reraised in the small blind, and Frazin called.

"Two kings, I'm going to break it," Frazin said as he drew two. Smith also drew two and bet as Frazin called.

"Two kings again. I'm going to break it, even though he called with two kings," Frazin said, pointing across at tablemate Kevin Gerhart.

"But look at his stack. When's the last time he won a bracelet?" Nitesh Rawtani added.

"It's been a while," Gerhart admitted.

Both players drew one and Smith bet again. Frazin called and drew one, while Smith stood pat and bet. Frazin called again.

Smith showed 6♥5♠4♣3♦2♥ for a 6-5 with a Badugi and Frazin mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dylan Smith	80,000 53,000	53,000
Nitesh Rawtani	40,000
Kevin Gerhart	35,000 13,000	13,000

Tim Frazin	30,000 30,000	30,000

Tags: Dylan Smith Kevin Gerhart Nitesh Rawtani Tim Frazin

05-30-2025 21:34 UTC-8

Obst, Brannan Chop a Five-Way Pot as Two Players Hit the Rail

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David Salituro

Level 12

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,500-2,500, 2,500-5,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 1,000 Bring-In, 2,500 Completion 2,500-5,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,500/2,000 Ante, 500-1,500 Blinds

Badacey

Richard Mirin put in his last 7,500 from under the gun as Paul Holder called in the cutoff, as did Michael Spegal on the button and James Obst in the small blind. Frank Brannan then reraised in the big blind and Holder, Spegal, and Obst all called.

Obst, Mirin, and Holder drew two, while Spegal and Brannan took one. Brannan then bet and all three opponents called.

Brannan stood pat on the second draw, Obst, Mirin, and Holder took two, and Spegal took one. Brannan bet all in and Holder committed his last chips. Spegal called, but Obst raised and Spegal called.

Brannan and Spegal stood pat on the last draw, while the other three each took one. Spegal and Obst then checked.

Obst showed J♣7♣6♠3♥2♦ for a 7-6-3-2 Badugi, while Brannan had 8♥7♦6♣4♥2♠ for an 8-7-6. Spegal mucked A♠9♥6♦5♣4♣, while Mirin and Holder also mucked as they headed to the rail.

"I pulled this on the second card," Brannan said, pointing out his eight. "Is it bad to just pat? I figure all my outs are dead. I'm just learning these games," he added.

Player	Chips	Progress
James Obst	95,000 45,000	45,000

Michael Spegal	90,000 62,000	62,000

Frank Brannan	35,000

Paul Holder	Busted
Richard Mirin	Busted

Tags: Frank Brannan James Obst Michael Spegal Paul Holder Richard Mirin

Level: 12

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,500-2,500, 2,500-5,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 1,000 Bring-In, 2,500 Completion 2,500-5,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,500/2,000 Ante, 500-1,500 Blinds

05-30-2025 21:07 UTC-8

Sammartino Makes the Nuts to Bust Wong

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David Salituro

Level 11

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,000-2,000, 2,000-4,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 500 Bring-In, 2,000 Completion 2,000-4,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,000/1,500 Ante, 500-1,000 Blinds

Badeucy

Around 20,000 was in the middle as Dario Sammartino and Timothy Wong went to the second draw. Wong then put in his last 10,000 from under the gun and Sammartino called in the hijack.

Both players stood pat and Sammartino turned over 7♦5♠4♥3♣2♣ for the nuts with a Badugi to scoop the pot and send Wong to the rail.

Jeremy Ausmus and David "Bakes" Baker were also among the recent eliminations.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dario Sammartino	45,000 10,000	10,000
Timothy Wong	Busted
Jeremy Ausmus	Busted

Michael Rodrigues	Busted

Yueqi Zhu	Busted

David "Bakes" Baker	Busted

Tags: Dario Sammartino Timothy Wong

05-30-2025 21:00 UTC-8

Alan Keating ‘Got Outplayed’ in WSOP Heads-Up Event; Wants to Face Negreanu

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Connor Richards

Level 11

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,000-2,000, 2,000-4,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 500 Bring-In, 2,000 Completion 2,000-4,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,000/1,500 Ante, 500-1,000 Blinds

Alan Keating had an opportunity to prove to the high-stakes tournament grinders — notably, Daniel Negreanu — that he can hang in their arena. But the Hustler Casino Live fan favorite bowed out in the second round of Event #7: $25,000 Heads-Up Championship on Friday at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Keating, known primarily for his high-stakes cash game appearances, has over $200,000 in career WSOP earnings but hasn’t recorded a WSOP cash since 2013. Recently, he’s been publicly challenged by several high-stakes pros—including Negreanu — to step outside the comfort of the private cash game scene and compete against the game's elites.

It seems Negreanu was on Keating’s mind when he registered for the event. When PokerNews caught up with him and asked about his motivation for playing, Keating said, “It’s a heads-up tournament, and I saw Negreanu was on the list,” adding that he thought to himself, “Alright, here’s my chance to find him in his streets.”

Recent Bustouts

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David Salituro

Level 11

Limit Flop/Draw: 1,000-2,000, 2,000-4,000 Limits
Stud Games: 500 Ante, 500 Bring-In, 2,000 Completion 2,000-4,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 1,000/1,500 Ante, 500-1,000 Blinds

Player	Chips	Progress
Dario Alioto	Busted

Bouwe Claushuis	Busted
Bradley Jansen	Busted

Taylor Paur	Busted

Ben Yu	Busted

Ken Aldridge	Busted
George Alexander	Busted

Leonard August	Busted
Ian Pelz	Busted

Scott Abrams	Busted

Toby Lewis	Busted

Dekel Balas	Busted
Justin Saliba	Busted

Hal Rotholz	Busted

Tal Avivi	Busted
Matt Grapenthien	Busted
David "ODB" Baker	Busted

Scott Seiver	Busted

Scott Clements	Busted